Just like the butterfly, I too will awaken in my own time….
~DEBORAH CHASKIN~
The treasure chest launches out of my arms and I get a mouthful of sand. Then someone huge and strong reaches around and claps their hand across my mouth. A whiff of cologne and sweat mingle together, but it’s faint and I can’t place it.
“Let me go!” I yelp, squirming as sand crawls up my swimsuit. And I am not a girl who enjoys itchy, pebbly sand up her bathing suit. Even if I am currently on the beach.
Somewhere to my left, Riley screams like a maniac, but I can’t see her. Whoever has me in the armlock sticks a knee into my back, and I can’t even twist my head. Across the water, the sinking sun burns a hole right into my eyes.
I hear kicking, grunts, then more yelling. Is Riley still wearing her combat boots? I can’t remember, but I hope so. And I hope she kicks and slams everyone in sight. Tears start leaking out my eyes. Mostly, I hope she’s okay. The hands holding me are strong, muscular. It hurts, and I suddenly worry that Tafko has me in his grip. Don’t people who play things like guitars and banjos have strong fingers?
I lie still for a moment, catching my breath while male voices mumble overhead. I try to flip my body over, but I feel as helpless as a bug, my arms and legs flailing stupidly. “Get off me!”
Nobody answers. I don’t think they care that they’re hurting me. I try to calm down and listen to see if I recognize their voices, but my heart is pounding too hard. Then I realize that they must have masks over their mouths because their voices are so muffled, the words brief, clipped.
“Rope.”
“No. Grotto.”
“You mean drown?”
“Hmm … might be easiest.”
“… found Claire’s hidden chest. Look like they drowned getting it.”
They’re going to drown us? If there is any method of dying that terrifies me, it’s drowning.
Think. Think!
Even though Grammy Claire had said in her last letter that I was smart, my brain is muddled. I’m panicked, petrified. And where is the treasure chest? I’m supposed to guard it with my life! Grammy Claire died for the nipwisipwis. Surely I can fight for them!
Instead of lying motionless under somebody’s foot, I start screaming and clawing, trying to get out from under him. Riley must have the same idea because I suddenly hear her fighting somewhere across the sand.
It doesn’t take long before I’m exhausted, but all at once I realize that the air is filled with shouting voices. Not just mine and my sister’s but other people’s.
I swear I hear drums. The pounding of feet — or is it the surf? Enemies or friends? I pray Butler Reginald has come to our rescue! He’s tall and big and I’ll bet that even though he’s our butler/nanny, he’s secretly got a black belt in karate. If I could just get two seconds to run for the tree house, Butler Reginald can call the island police. We can lock the doors and fend off these evil people. I picture him brandishing a sword. No, a gun.
I think I’m hallucinating.
My head hurts. Strangely, my teeth do, too. I think I slammed my mouth together when I was knocked down. My arms and legs and wrists are aching, and I’m trying not to cry.
The next second, someone flips me onto my back. The world tilts. I spit out sand and drool dribbles down my mouth. I try to look for Riley but can’t move. Someone has my arms and legs pinned.
In the deepening twilight, a big man looms over me, kneels down, and grabs my jaw in his fist. “Give me the key!”
I stare at him and begin to choke. Literally. I can’t breathe. I’m going to die. Not because they’re going to kill me but because I’m in shock.
Still clenching my face in his hands, he orders, “Shoot off the lock. Don’t have time to waste. There should be formulas in there, everything we need. And a map to the island where the Giant Pinks are going. There should also be another key. To Claire’s new security box. The one she hid from me.”
I hear a shot and the ringing deafens me. Feels like my hearing got blasted. A moment later, it clears and I hear another voice. A voice I know well. “Got it open. Documents are all here.”
A whimper rises in my throat. They’ve got Grammy Claire’s secrets!
Two large shadows hold Riley to the ground. And two more hold me down. My sister is cursing up a storm. Calling them every name in the book — some I’ve never heard before.
The man barks out four names I don’t recognize. “Take them back into the grotto and hold them under the water. After they sink to the bottom, nobody will find them for months. I can see the headline now: ‘Sisters accidentally drown while on vacation — in a spot they should never have been swimming.’”
He gives a harsh laugh and his face looms over me. Tears spill down my cheeks, and I fight to hold them back.
The English accent is as warm and beautiful as ever.
He was the man who was supposed to save us.
The man Grammy Claire told me I could trust.
I try to lift my chin and spit at him, but only manage to drip more drool.
Butler Reginald just laughs. “Take them to the grotto — and make it fast!”
“Wait, wait!” I hear Riley desperately yell. “You have the treasure chest. What more do you want?”
“You don’t get it, do you? Claire Chaisson’s granddaughters need to be out of the picture. With you both dead, and your mother safely put away in an institution, the research, the butterfly potion, and the money all belong to me.”
“What don’t I get?” Riley flings back, and she sounds so unafraid I can’t help being impressed. “That you’re a kidnapper, a thief, a liar — a murderer?”
Butler Reginald’s voice is full of disdain. “Such is life when those Giant Pinks are worth billions.”
My throat burns as I try to swallow. “You’re going to kill them all?” The most beautiful butterfly I’ve ever seen is going to be … gone … forever?
“Killing them is the fastest way to harvest the chemical compound they possess,” he says. “Claire figured it out just a few months ago — as I served her iced tea and watched from the polite silence of lawyerly butler-hood. We’ll keep a few for reproduction, but it will be in a carefully controlled and monitored environment. Back in the States. Not out here on this godforsaken island where supplies are nonexistent. Your grandmother was an idiot when it came to true laboratory methods. We could have multiplied the Giant Pinks ten times by now, but she wanted to go slow. Retest over and over again. Stupid, sympathetic women scientists!”
My blood starts to boil. “Yeah,” I say sarcastically. “Men who murder and steal make better scientists!”
Riley yells encouragement. “You tell him, Tara!”
Instead, I get a slap across the mouth for my insolence. It stings so bad, I’m really crying now.
The men lift me up by my arms and legs and start dragging me back to the grotto. Their faces are dark, unfamiliar shapes in the hour after sunset. As we lurch over the rocks, it feels like they’re pulling me apart. My entire body aches and my eyes are swimming with terror. They’re really going to drown us!
“Let me go!” I scream. “Help! Help!” I yell over and over again, but all I can hear are the waves rushing in and out. Even though we’re miles from Eloni’s village, I keep screaming. Riley screams along with me in the slim chance somebody might be out there to hear us. Unfortunately, all the dive boats came in for the night long ago.
I don’t recognize Tafko, but I think one of the men holding me might be Mr. Masako from the bank. I want to spit at him, too. Anger bubbles up over his pretended sympathy the day I went there. He’s also one of the fake witnesses to Grammy Claire’s “new” will.
Just as my head is shoved under the rock overhang, I hear the sound of drums again. Is the sound coming from one of the nipwisipwis species? Like the purple butterfly who creates music?
The grotto is dark now, but the men have flashlights, the beams bouncing off the rock formations. I hear the gurgle of water, smell the salt. I can picture the crystal-clear pool just two feet away from me. And I start shivering uncontrollably. How long can I hold my breath?
“Hold their heads under,” Butler Reginald orders. “But hang on to them so they don’t get away.”
They hold me over the ledge and plunge me into the water, still gripping my arms and legs, even though I’m thrashing like a maniac.
Riley screams, “Taraaaaaaaaaa!”
Her voice is instantly muffled as a hand roughly shoves my head under the water. I never get a chance to take a decent breath. Almost immediately, bubbles escape my nose. After twenty more seconds, my eyes bulge, trying to see in the dark water, staring up at the cavern roof. Beams of light flash here and there, squiggly and hazy.
I’m losing air; it’s growing darker. The heavy male hands keep pushing at me as I try to reach for Riley, but they’re holding me so tightly, it’s impossible to touch her. I can feel her legs flailing, the water moving next to me. Desperately, I try to reach for her fingers, a foot, anything. If I’m going to drown I want to at least drown in my sister’s arms.
Now I’m bursting. I truly am drowning. My lungs are on fire. I’m going to die! Die!
“Grammy Claire!” I scream as my mouth finally opens and salt water rushes in.
Then, suddenly, the men’s arms release me, and I’m floating away.
My legs and arms feel dead, heavy. I can’t move, can’t swim.
I start to sink.
A second later, Riley’s hand catches mine. She’s pulling me up, toward the lights, which are bright as day now. Where did they come from? Am I in heaven? But why am I still underwater if I’m floating toward heaven?
My head breaks the surface of the lagoon, the fog clears, water streams out of my nose and mouth. My throat is burning, my lungs have collapsed, but I start to cough.
And then I hear the strangest sound of all. My mamma is screaming my name. “Tara! Riley! I’m here! I’m here! Get my babies out of that water!”
I choke on the sting of salt water. I must be dreaming. My mamma is thousands of miles away. Maybe I really am hallucinating. Maybe this is what it’s like to drown. I’m seeing my life flash before my eyes.
As I keep coughing, I never realized how truly horrible and nasty it is to swallow seawater. It’s coming out of my nose and my eyes, and I’m gagging it up. And yet I’m above water, even though the grotto rock ledge seems a mile away. I can’t swim the distance. It’s impossible. My arms and legs feel like dead weights; I can’t get them to move.
As my ears and eyes clear, I finally realize, in the noise and flashing lights, that the grotto is filled with Chuuk Island Police. Every one of them is holding a gun in their hand. Both hands. In a stance, and ready to fire. I shiver when I see that all those guns are trained on Butler Reginald and Mr. Masako and the other men I don’t even recognize. Are they members of Eloni’s family? I have no idea.
Riley yells in my ear, pulling at me. “I got you, Tara, I got you! Swim already, swim!”
For the first time in my life, I obey her and manage to pull myself through the water. Arms reach out and lift me up, scraping my legs along the rock ledge. Finally, I’m hanging on to the ledge on my own, still coughing and spluttering.
I see Eloni. And Tafko, his brother. And his cousins and uncles. And I can smell the scent of barbecued pig filling the grotto. Eloni had rounded up his family and they’d come looking for us. He knew I’d planned to come here to the Butterfly Lagoon.
Before I can comprehend anything else, I let out a gasp. My heart pounds so fast, I think I’m gonna faint dead away.
On the outskirts of the police and Eloni’s crowd of family, I see a small woman with dark hair and sturdy black shoes. Madame See.
Straining my burning eyes through the haze of flashing lights, I want to have the satisfaction of seeing the woman handcuffed and hauled away. Instead, my mamma drops to her knees in front of me like an angel. She’s scooping me up in her arms, kissing my forehead, smoothing back my tangled, salty hair. “Are you real?” I whimper, grabbing at her.
“Yes, Tara, I’m here, I’m really here.” She kisses me again and holds me tight against her.
“Where’s Riley?” I croak, my throat swollen from the salt and screaming.
“Shh, Tara, she’s right here,” Mamma whispers. “Don’t talk no more. You’re gonna be okay. We’re all gonna be okay now.”
Turns out, Riley’s been sitting next to me the whole time. She crawls over and throws her arms around me. We’re both drenched, salty, a mess, and have sick all over us, but I hang on tight. And then I start to cry real hard. As hard as I did the day Grammy Claire was killed in the car accident. I think I’m more terrified now that it’s over. Riley and me were drowning. We were really going to die. I realize that I almost never saw my mamma again.
“We got Grammy Claire’s treasure chest?” I ask.
Riley shakes her head. “Don’t know where it ended up, but we’ll find it, Tara. Now hush up before they take you to the hospital and stick some tubes down your throat.”
I close my mouth, but it’s okay because all three of us keep holding on to each other. In the distance, I hear sirens, police shouting orders, noise and confusion as they haul several dark shadows out of the grotto.
I stay quiet for about two seconds because I can’t quit asking questions. “Mamma, how’d you know to come out here to Grammy Claire’s Nipwisipwis Lagoon?”
Under the flickering torches, I see her smile. “I got a letter from your Grammy Claire.”
* * *
Dawn is brushing pink strokes across the sky when I wake up to the sounds of rustling the next morning. I yawn and roll over, trying to figure out where the noises are coming from.
Mamma and Riley and I stayed up half the night talking and talking and talking. Long after midnight, Riley finally crawled off to her own bedroom and Mamma crawled in with me, sharing Grammy Claire’s big bed. I slept hard and deep, better than I had in three weeks.
Now, next to me, Mamma is softly breathing, her dark hair spilling over her pillow.
I watch the room lighten and hear the rustling noises draw closer. Footsteps creep along the walkway between the outside staircase and the walkway to the master bedroom tree.
Who is that? All my senses go on high alert.
Slipping out of bed, I kneel on the rug next to the door. Someone is crouching on the opposite side of the wall next to the bedroom door. I can see cracks of daylight filtering through the bamboo — and the shadow of a person.
Hardly daring to breathe, I wait and watch. Who can it be? Riley playing a joke? Hardly. She’ll probably sleep until noon.
A scratching noise comes next and suddenly I see an object being pushed through the slits of the bamboo. Something wooden with a golden burnish.
The stick comes into view, inch by inch, and now I see a leaping fish, sea drops glistening on its carved wooden scales, sprays of stars and a sliver of moon etched into the other side.
My heart flutters just like a butterfly.
The stick slides through until the whole piece is in view, the end of it held on the other side by someone I can hear breathing. I wonder if his heart is pounding as hard as mine.
I wait. He waits.
A laugh tickles my throat as I finally reach out and grasp the stick, pulling it toward me. I think my heart is gonna burst right out of my chest any minute.
Once the stick is through, I hold it in my hands, studying the beautifully carved pictures. It’s still warm from someone’s pocket. I run my fingers along each nick and groove and deeply cut line. And I know that I will treasure this.
The shadow still waits, so I get down on the floor and lie on my stomach, peeking through the bamboo. The shadow has big brown eyes. He finally whispers, “Tie the stick into your hair, Miss Tara. Then I’ll know for sure.”
“Okay, I will,” I whisper back.
When Mamma gets up, she helps me wash my hair. I dry it on the balcony in the sea breeze. Then she helps me wrap my Pantene Princess hair around the love stick, knotting it in swirls so it stays tight on the back of my head.
Mamma finds a bouquet of red hibiscus on the dining room table and inserts a big red flower above my ear. “It’s perfect,” she says as we admire the effect in the hall mirror. “I think you’re an island girl now.”
“I’m so glad you’re here, Mamma,” I tell her as we stare at each other in the glass.
“Me, too, Tara. I think I needed to get out of that house for a while. Been suffocating me ever since your daddy left. This island is like a breath of fresh air.”
“It’s sea air. Literally!” I add, and we laugh together. For the first time in a long, long time.
Everything feels almost perfect. Almost. I only wish Grammy Claire were here to see me dressed up with Eloni’s beautiful stick in my hair.
Later that morning, Eloni and I sit side by side on the beach of Nipwisipwis Lagoon inside the Beautiful Empty. Which isn’t empty at all when there are thousands of butterflies swirling overhead. “The Giant Pinks never showed up yesterday,” I tell him. “When Riley and I got to the grotto in the dune buggy, we never saw them. Do you think they’re dead? Did Butler Reginald capture them before we got there?”
Waves lap the shore in a soothing motion. The sea caresses the island like a mother stroking her child. I can’t stop thinking about Key Number Eleven — the key to the box where the new will is hidden. Plus the envelope thick with Grammy Claire’s secret research. I gotta get to the bank. I wonder if Alvios will take me in his taxi. Tafko might drive me to town himself. Eloni has been telling me how worried his quiet older brother has been about me and Riley. After the gunfire, he’d darted off into the trees, chasing after Mr. Masako.
Eloni touches my hair where I’ve tied his carefully crafted stick, and his eyes smile. “I like your flower,” he says.
“Thank you,” I say, feeling prim and shy.
He scoops up a handful of sand and lets it sift through his fingers. “Maybe it was the day the Giant Pinks left to go to their new island.”
“Do you think they knew they had to leave? Did they know someone was going to kill them? Harvest them?”
He looks thoughtful. “We don’t know what they think. No nipwisipwis can talk — yet.” He grins and I can’t help smiling back. What if there really was a butterfly that could communicate — or talk!
“Did the police find Grammy Claire’s treasure chest?”
“Tafko found it broken on the beach. Don’t worry. Everything is still there. The envelopes and key. He rescued it and we got it hidden. But you have to come to my family’s party tonight to get it.”
I glance at him. “Another party?”
“To celebrate your life. And that the butterflies are safe now.”
We smile at each other, and I look away and start sifting sand myself. Bury my toes in the warmth of it, feeling pebbly, itchy sand go right up my swimsuit under my new sundress. But I don’t care anymore. The island almost swallowed me last night. It’s part of me forever now.
Eloni bumps my shoulder with his. “Come for a boat ride with me and Tafko and my grandfather?”
I stare at those dark brown eyes, and my stomach leaps into my throat. “You know where the secret island is, don’t you?”
He gazes back at me, and then he leans in to whisper, “Yes, Miss Tara, I do!”
I clap my hands over my mouth. “You’ve been there with Grammy Claire, haven’t you?”
Eloni doesn’t answer. He just heaps a big glob of sand over my toes. Which need a fresh coat of nail polish and more glittery stars. They look pathetic, but I don’t care about that, either, at the moment.
“Oh, my gosh,” I hiss, staring out at the blue, blue ocean shimmering under the sun. “I have to go! Now! Today! I have to see them again. We have to keep them safe!”
“They will be safe, Miss Tara. My people will help to keep them safe.”
A breeze lifts the hair off my neck and I raise my face to the salty, beautiful sky. I’m going to Grammy Claire’s secret butterfly island! “How far away is it?”
“Not gonna tell,” he says, copying my bayou accent. “Pack food. And another one of those swimsuits.”
I turn my head, frowning. Then my gut drops and I clutch Eloni’s arm. “Look! Over there! That’s — that’s Madame See!”
“Who?”
“Madame See! She’s been following us. She stole Grammy Claire’s money! Why didn’t the police arrest her? She was in the grotto last night; I saw her myself! I thought she was going to jail! She was spying and planning to kill me with Butler Reginald!”
“Why do you think that? That woman called the police while my grandfather got the men in my village to rescue you. She had a cell phone. How do you know her?”
“I thought you knew her!”
“Nope. Never saw her before last night.”
“She was with Butler Reginald at Grammy Claire’s house in Louisiana! Then she secretly came back here.”
Eloni lies back on his beach towel. “Maybe she’s a scientist, too.”
I watch the strange woman stand near the water. She’s only about a hundred yards away now, and my stomach tightens. I wouldn’t trust her as far as I could throw her. Even if she did call the police, she’s still a thief. And a liar.
Narrowing my eyes, I continue studying her. Why does Madame See wear those ugly black shoes to the beach? Doesn’t she own a pair of flip-flops? She must be hot in all those clothes.
I watch the woman scratch her neck. She looks sweaty and uncomfortable. Is she waiting to steal more money — or steal the butterflies? Maybe she’s actually been a spy for Butler Reginald all along.
Beyond her, out on the water, a diving boat sails, cutting across the waves, the ship filled with tourists. I listen to the ocean and sometimes it feels like it’s talking to me. I want to lie back on my towel, enjoy the sun. Open up the picnic basket Mamma packed for us. Eloni said he’d build a bonfire and we’d roast hot dogs and marshmallows for lunch as soon as Riley and Mamma get here.
My eyes cut back to Madame See.
She stands stock-still at the shoreline. She’s looking out to sea. I wonder if she came from China or Hong Kong. I wonder if she’s homesick and just trying to get back to her family. Doesn’t matter. I’m not gonna feel sorry for her!
As I’m watching, she raises her right leg and rubs the side of her foot along her left leg. Like she’s scratching an itch. Then she rests her foot there, standing just like a stork.
Wind ripples the water.
Goose bumps rise along my arms.
Madame See rubs her foot along her leg once more. “Oh, my gosh, oh, my gosh, oh, my gosh!” I let out in a gigantic, almighty breath.
“Hey, ready to go swimming?” Eloni asks.
I don’t answer. I leap to my feet, tearing straight for Madame See as fast as I can. My flip-flops go flying out from under my feet. My hair whips straight out like a flag as I pound the sand with my bare toes.
I reach the woman in about five seconds flat. And grab her arm and whirl her around to face me. Then I grab her hat and rip it off her head.
I pull at her sweater, yanking it halfway down her arm.
Then I touch her short black hair.
And pull. Hard.
The wig slides off her head and falls to the beach.
Long, silvery gray hair tumbles down her shoulders. Pantene Princess hair turned gray.
I’ve never stood this close to Madame Erial See before. She was always just a shadow in the kitchen. Quiet as a mouse. Hovering, watching. She really was a spy.
But her eyes aren’t black at all.
Her eyes are blue, the very same color as mine.
I reach out and touch her hair, and it feels just like mine, too. Soft and silky, but without any sucked-on ends.
Madame See smiles softly, her eyes crinkling at me. “My dearest Tara,” she whispers. “Oh, how I’ve missed you!”
“Grammy Claire, it’s you! It was you all this time!” I throw myself into her arms and great big sobs wrench out of my chest. My throat is raw and painful as she clutches me back, tight as can be. My arms clasp her neck, but I still can’t seem to get close enough as she whirls me around on the sand. “You’re not dead! You’re alive! We gave you a — a funeral!” Then I run my hands along her arms and touch her hair. “How can you be alive?”
She gives me a wry smile. “Because I’m smarter than Reginald Godwin, that’s why!”
“What kind of a name is Erial See?” I burst out as another avalanche of tears floods my face. My nose starts running, but all I can do is keep on hugging her. We fall to the sand, hugging and laughing.
Grammy Claire gives a snort. “It’s my name, silly girl. And I know you’re smart enough to figure it out.”
My mind instantly turns her words around. Erial See. That’s how I’d heard it from Butler Reginald, but he’d never spelled it out. Heck, he didn’t even know it himself! Erial See. Or Erial C. — backward — was Claire. For Grammy Claire.
“But why?” I ask. “Why?”
We sit at the water’s edge, soft waves rushing over our toes. Tears keep spilling out of my eyes as she strokes my hair. I think my heart is going to leap out of my chest every time I look at her. “I had to do all this crazy scheming and lying and sneaking around for the nipwisipwis. I had to find out who was stealing my research, and who was killing them. There were so many suspects. After a couple of strange ‘accidents’ in my laboratory and tampering with my dune buggy, I knew it was only a matter of time before somebody actually succeeded in killing me. Somebody who didn’t want to save the nipwisipwis. Somebody who only wanted the wealth they could get from them.
“So I hurriedly wrote those last letters. And staged a car accident with the help of my insurance company and Bayou Bridge’s sheriff, your best friend’s father.”
My eyes widen. “You mean Alyson’s daddy? Sheriff Granger?”
“The one and only. He was an enormous help to keep everything hushed up and out of the news. Just about did me in when I thought of you and Riley and your mamma grieving so horribly, but I finally had to go through with it — if I didn’t want you truly mourning my murder down the road.”
I rest my head in the crook of her neck and weep some more. She was here all along. In the shadows. Watching over us.
“You got Mamma to come, too, didn’t you?”
Grammy Claire shakes her head. “No, Tara, that was you. You wrote the letter to my old friend’s daughter Mirage Allemond. Mirage helped your mamma get some medicine and a dose of prayer. Then Mirage, along with her daughter, Shelby Jayne, helped your mamma pack her luggage and took her to the airport. That was your doing, my strong, wise granddaughter.”
“But Mamma said she got a letter from you.”
“After she arrived here. It was waiting for her at the tree house. The message told her to immediately go to the butterfly grotto, along with a map.”
Tears fill up my eyes again so I can’t hardly see no more.
“Saddest part is learning that my trusted attorney and friend was working behind my back all this time. Greed and envy are dangerous traits. But the butterflies fought back.”
“What do you mean?”
“The nipwisipwis are amazing creatures, Tara. Each species has its own uniquely special ability. They follow those with a pure heart. Those who love unconditionally.”
“Is that why the Giant Pinks left this island? Because they knew Butler Reginald wanted to kill them?”
“That’s my theory. Reginald decided he wanted to control the nipwisipwis. He produced a false will, had it signed, deceived everyone, even me — until yesterday. I knew there was someone, but I wasn’t sure exactly who it was. My keys and letters to you were also a trap. To lure in the person who was trying to hurt me and the nipwisipwis.”
“You found some dead Pinks in your laboratory, didn’t you?” I ask her, realizing that it was Butler Reginald who killed the Giant Pink back home to run tests on it or take its DNA for himself. “I saw you that night. In the hall. I was hiding behind the clock.”
Grammy Claire laughs. “I was busy following Butler Reginald, but he faked me out and I never actually caught him doing anything wrong. That’s when I spent far too long suspecting Tafko or Alvios or Mr. Masako.”
“And I was too busy watching you,” I tell her. “I guess some of those noises were actually Butler Reginald all along.” Butler Reginald stole my two thousand dollars! “He took the money so Riley and I couldn’t escape once we were on the island.”
“He needed you and those keys desperately, Tara. Eternal youth — eternal life — is a coveted commodity. Those who seek it must do so carefully. And the nipwisipwis instinctively know to save themselves. They were here to help the island people, who revere them and hold them sacred.”
I try to take in everything she’s telling me, but it’s so overwhelming. I think about Butler Reginald now spending his days in the local jail. Then a trial and prison.
“He tried to drown me and Riley — and he was the one that sabotaged those stairs that almost killed Riley, too.” I swipe my hands across my eyes. “I want to help you, Grammy Claire. I want to save the Giant Pinks. Teach me what to do. I knew they were smart and wonderful and magical the moment the first purple butterfly flew into my room.”
My grandmother looks startled. “They came to you? The nipwisipwis found you?”
“The first butterfly came the day after your funeral. Flew right into my bedroom window. The purple-and-yellow one — the one that makes angel music.”
“Oh!” Grammy Claire chokes out, and then she begins to weep herself, tears rolling down her beautiful, wrinkled cheeks.
“What is it?” I grip her arm, frightened. “What’s wrong? Why are you crying?”
Grammy Claire pulls me close, and I can feel her trembling. “I asked the nipwisipwis to watch over you. The day I left the island. And the day I left my old home, not knowing if I’d ever return. And they did.” She sounds completely overwhelmed. “They came to you — they really came!”
“Grammy Claire, what does it mean?” I think about the purple butterfly, the transparent butterfly, and the Giant Pink that flew into my grandmother’s bedroom window.
“It means they heard me. They understood. And they found you. They have even more capabilities than I realized.”
I want to cry and laugh with happiness. Excitement bubbles up my throat. Mamma and Riley are at the tree house, and I want them to be here with us, to share everything with them. I have a feeling we’re not flying back home in two days any more. The tree house still belongs to Head Lepidoptera Scientist Professor Claire, and the whole summer is ahead of me. To spend with Grammy Claire. With my family. And with Eloni.
Something fizzy and stupendous shoots straight up my spine. “What do we do now?”
“Get your shoes and your shorts, my dear, because we’re going to take a voyage across the ocean. To a place you will not believe. A place of dreams. An island inhabited by the nipwisipwis.” My grandmother pulls me to my feet and turns me around. An outrigger canoe has pulled up along the shoreline, just beyond the waves.
“Eloni!” she calls across the beach. “Hurry!”
Eloni races over, kicking up sand as if he’s just been waiting for permission to join us. “Professor Claire! It’s you, it’s you! Today is the happiest day of my life!”
“Yes, it’s really me, my dear boy.” He starts to bow to her, but my grandmother tsks her tongue and grabs him in a big hug. When she releases him, I see tears in both their eyes.
“Do you remember the way?” Grammy Claire asks.
Eloni’s face shines. “Yes, Professor Claire, I know the way. It’s the island of all things beautiful, the home of eternity.”
“Then let’s make sure the Giant Pinks have arrived safely. We need to get back tonight, you know.”
“Why?” I ask as I glance between them.
Eloni takes my fingers in his for a moment. “We’re having a party, remember? I found a purple orchid for your hair, too.”
I feel my face lighting up into the biggest smile of my life.
Grammy Claire grips my hand as we walk down the shoreline. Steadying the outrigger canoe, she helps me climb inside. I sit down in the middle, recognizing Tafko and Alvios, and a few of Eloni’s uncles and cousins, ready to row us to the island.
Eloni hands me an oar of my own. “We get to row, too. I promise you’ll like it.”
The sun blazes overhead as the barefoot men push the outrigger into the surf and steady it. I dip my oar into the clear water, just like my daddy taught me when I was a little girl and he took me down the Bayou Teche. I think about seeing him again one day. Maybe I’ll call him. Or Skype on Sundays.
Grammy Claire squeezes my shoulder and kisses my cheek. “Look, Tara,” she whispers. “The butterflies are coming!”
Whipping back my head, I see the sky filling with purple butterflies edged in lemon-pound-cake yellow. They’re following us to the secret island of the nipwisipwis!
As I pull hard on my oar, thousands of wings flutter while angel music saturates the sky and fills up every single corner of my heart.
Over the edge of the boat, I spot rainbow coral, and sea turtles, and polka-dot fish swimming below us in the ocean’s depths. Soon I will swim with them, while nipwisipwis drench the skies.
Fluttering.
Joyful.
Magical.
My heart pounds in my throat as I gaze overhead, surrounded by all those hundreds of exquisite purple butterflies. We’re being guarded by a cloud of nipwisipwis as we cross the water.
They’re singing us over the sea.