Lei and the Fire Goddess, page 1
PENGUIN WORKSHOP
An imprint of Penguin Random House LLC, New York
First published in the United States of America by Penguin Workshop, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC, New York, 2023
Text copyright © 2023 by Malia Maunakea
Illustrations copyright © 2023 by Penguin Random House LLC
Cover and interior illustrations by Phung Nguyen Quang and Huynh Kim Lien
Chapter and postcard illustrations by Shar Tuiasoa
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available.
Ebook ISBN 9780593522042
Design by Mary Claire Cruz, adapted for ebook by Andrew Wheatley
This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.
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CONTENTS
Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Curses Aren’t Real
Listen to Tūtū
Long Walk Off a Short Trail
How Bad Could It Be?
Stuck
A Bat
The Fissure
A Goddess
A Bad Plan and a Worse Plan
Sometimes You Need to Ask
Slimy Monkey Bars
Which Way Do We Go?
My, What Big Eyes You Have
Clean Cave, Happy Home
Picture It
Don’t Look Down
With Friends Like These
He’s Not Who You Thought
Bat Cave
This Little Piggy
B-A-N-A-N-A-S
Make Die Dead
Try Not to Stare
Alone Time
Closer . . . Closer . . .
Someone’s Always Watching
Blastoff!
Be the Lobster
Sing It Loud
Hale o Pele
Smells like Fireworks
Maunakea
There’s Two of Them
Hōlua
Don’t Let Go
What’s in a Name?
Chutes and Ladders
All Pau
Acknowledgments
About the Author
_143790368_
This book is dedicated to anyone who:
☑ Has
☑ Ever
☑ Questioned
☑ Which
☑ Box
☑ To
☑ Check
☐ Other (please specify)
You don’t have to prove anything.
You are enough.
Curses Aren’t Real
Curses aren’t real.
Anna repeated the mantra to herself as she spotted Tūtū on the far side of the Hilo airport terminal.
“Leilani!” her grandma called as she made her way down the escalator. The big, smiley wrinkles around her tūtū’s eyes and mouth had multiplied since last summer.
Anna mustered up a weak grin, trying to hide her crankiness. She had asked her grandma not to call her by her middle name the last time she was here. But her grandma had just said, “Pah, you don’t even know what Anna means, why would you want to be called that?” Then her best-friend-in-Hawaiʻi, Kaipo, had whispered, “I told you it wouldn’t work.” Anna groaned because she had to buy him a pack of dried cuttlefish for losing their bet.
She waved at her grandma but stood firmly planted atop the escalator, instead of rushing down like she normally did. She needed time to go over her plan—a plan she’d tried to come up with when she wasn’t staring at a tiny movie screen on the two planes it took to get to Hawaiʻi from Colorado.
It was all part of the deal Tūtū struck with her parents when Anna was too young to have any say. Mom had a job offer that let her use her physics degree at a climate-research company in Boulder, and though they were reluctant to leave their home in the islands, they’d be able to afford a better quality of life in Colorado with the income Mom’s new job promised. Tūtū was crushed that her only grandchild was being taken so far away, so she made her son and daughter-in-law swear to send Anna back to visit her for just shy of a month every year so she “wouldn’t forget her history.” Tūtū claimed to have tried to teach it to her son, Anna’s dad, but for all his writing out of the family tree, he said he just couldn’t remember their roots. So it was up to Anna to memorize the stories. To become the keeper of the moʻolelo.
She was twelve now and knew—KNEW!—Tūtū was gonna make a big deal about what that meant in their family. It was annoying, having these random extra responsibilities attached to an even randomer birthday. Thirteen? Sure. Finally becoming a teen was pretty massive. Or better yet, sixteen and having extra responsibilities that go along with being allowed to drive. But twelve? Random.
Even more annoying was how her parents had forced her to review the moʻolelo and history factoids since her birthday. Dad even had quizzed her in the car on the ride to the airport, saying hopefully the solid foundation would make it easier for her to absorb the new stories Tūtū had in store this summer. Whenever she brought up doing something else with Tūtū, he liked to remind her that she had it easy by repeating things like, “When I turned twelve, I was supposed to recite our family tree from the beginning. I only managed to remember back to the early eighteen hundreds, so she gave up on me. You’re lucky you just need to learn the stories.” He wasn’t going to help her out of it. She needed to convince Tūtū on her own.
Anna scratched the webbing of her backpack strap as she waited her turn to step off the escalator. The long flight gave her brain plenty of time to replay on a loop what had happened with Ridley. The last month without her friend had been the absolute worst ever. It was like showing-up-with-her-shirt-tucked-into-her-underwear-level awful on a daily basis. The final nail in their friendship coffin had been the horrible volcano incident.
They were finishing their geology unit right before spring break, and her science teacher, Ms. Finwell, asked, “Can anyone tell me why the Hawaiian Islands are formed in a line?”
They barely ever talked about Hawaiʻi in her Boulder school, so Anna was pumped to share what she knew. Her hand flew up, words spilling out of her mouth before she was even called on.
“The fire goddess, Pele, used her ʻōʻō to dig down deep and find a new volcanic crater to call home,” Anna proudly explained. “She’s on Hawaiʻi Island now, and people make sure not to make her mad.”
Snickers immediately erupted around her, and Hennley Schinecky coughed “freak” behind a perfectly manicured hand. Heat blossomed in Anna’s cheeks, and she sank lower into her seat, regretting her outburst.
“Class.” Ms. Finwell had clapped her hands together to get them to settle. “Okay, that could be a theory. Thank you, Anna.” She nodded at Anna and offered a tight smile before looking around the room. “That doesn’t really tell us why they’re in a line, though.”
Anna squeezed her eyes shut and wished she could disappear.
“Yes, Ridley?”
Ridley lowered her raised hand and sat up straighter. “The tectonic plate that the islands are on is moving slowly in a northwest direction over a hotspot. Magma comes out of that hotspot and forms the islands. That’s why they are in a line, with the oldest being in the northwest and the youngest in the southeast.”
“Precisely! Very good.”
Anna peeked at Ridley in time to see her best-friend-on-the-continent’s proud smile at Hennley’s approving nod and hair toss. That was that. The deal was sealed.
Before lunch, Hennley’s flock, with their perfectly matching sneakers and perfectly parted hair, swarmed Ridley. Anna’d been held up changing after PE and had no idea that she really should have skipped the paper-towel wipe down in favor of speed that day.
By the time Anna got to the cafeteria, Ridley was at Hennley’s table, the one closest to the doors where everyone would see them. Anna stood there like the ultimate fool, blinking and holding her sack lunch, before ducking her head and hurrying past the loud laughter to the empty table near the stinky trash cans.
Their plan going into sixth grade had been “New School, New Cool.” They were in middle school, and Ridley was determined to find the right group of girls for her and Anna to hang out with. Now the year was over, and it seemed like Ridley ha
Anna blinked hard, the sound of rain on the airport’s metal roof bringing her back to the present, and she shivered, grateful to be in a hoodie and jeans. The painful memory of her mistake was slowly healing, but like a newly formed scab she couldn’t stop herself from picking at. Why hadn’t she just kept her big mouth shut? It was science class, not mythology. She should have focused on the facts. And the facts stated that curses, legends, and all of Tūtū’s gods and goddesses weren’t real. Maybe then she’d still have Ridley.
Ugh. This summer’s trip had to be different.
Anna checked her phone. Two new messages had appeared in reply to her letting her parents know she’d landed.
MOM: Be respectful and help with dishes! Love you, sweetie!
DAD:
Anna analyzed the text. Dad liked to communicate in memes and emojis. Unfortunately, it made it tough to understand him at times. This one probably meant he was celebrating that she landed in Hawaiʻi and loved her. Nothing new from Ridley, and she didn’t click on her friend’s name again. She had the last message Ridley had sent her memorized, burned into her brain.
ANNA: Are you going to go to the BoardRider retreat this summer
RIDLEY: Im going w H to Paris
That was it.
No crying emoji at missing the camp they’d been going to together for the past five years at the end of every summer. How was Ridley going to get in shape for the winter snowboarding season? And who was Anna going to tell all about this trip during their endless cross-training runs?
And, seriously, she didn’t even act excited about a trip to Paris?!
No “OMG can u evn BELIEVE” that they could both squee and gush over.
No “I really like you more, but Mom is having me expand my horizons.”
Nope. She was going to freaking Paris with freaking Hennley, and there was zero chance Anna and her Hawaiian stories could ever compete. Well, maybe not zero. But it’d take some major convincing of Tūtū to change her plans. Which was exactly what Anna was going to do.
Anna stuffed her phone into the side pocket of her backpack. She straightened her spine, squared her shoulders, and prepared to go head-to-head with her grandma to earn a summer that would make her the equivalent of Paris chic in the eyes of Ridley.
Anna stepped off the escalator and weaved between groups of people reuniting, her ears filled with cries of joy and happiness. Tūtū draped a sweetly scented pīkake lei over Anna’s head so it hung around her shoulders.
“Welcome home,” she said as they gave each other a kiss on the cheek and a huge hug, smashing the lei between them, Tūtū’s Hawaiian bracelets jangling in Anna’s ear.
Anna closed her eyes and inhaled deeply, her mind skipping back along the memories of previous trips to Hawaiʻi Island over the years. The familiar scent wafted around her, and a real smile stretched her cheeks. It was good to be with her grandma again, even if this wasn’t home.
“Where’s Kaipo?” Anna asked, scanning the crowd for her friend’s wavy black hair. What if he’d ditched her like Ridley did? What if he suddenly got cool, too, and didn’t want to hang out anymore? She chewed her lip. She could hardly remember a summer here without him. Maybe it would have been a good idea to call him a couple of times over the year to stay in touch. But she’d never had to do that before, and he’d always been here every summer when she returned, ready to pick up where they left off.
“He wanted to wait in the car,” Tūtū answered. Relief flooded Anna. “You know how he gets with crowds. Oh, he told me to give you these as soon as I saw you.” Tūtū rummaged through her huge purse for a minute, then pulled out a bag of li hing mui gummi bears. “He knows how you get after the long flight.”
“Yesss,” Anna said. She immediately ripped the bag open and popped a yellow one in her mouth, savoring the salty-sweet combo. One of the best things about her visits back here was the food.
Thank goodness Kaipo was still her friend. He was her grandma’s neighbor and Anna’s constant companion on these trips home—a friendship born of convenience that grew into something solid. More recently, he always seemed to know what Anna needed, sometimes even before she did. Gummi bears, distractions from Tūtū, a listening ear, knowledge of the best trees to climb. All the necessary things. Where things back home seemed to change all the time with invisible rules Anna never really understood (why did Ridley suddenly care about having the same shoes as Hennley and her friends?), Kaipo was constant. Reliable. And he rarely wore shoes, so he’d ignore that cool-school-shoe rule, too. She didn’t know what she’d do if she were stuck here all summer without him.
Tūtū guided them through the breezy, open-sided building over to the baggage claim. Some of Anna’s dark waves escaped her ponytail and stuck to her neck in the oppressive humidity. It always took a little bit to get used to the feeling of practically drinking the thick air here at sea level compared to her mile-high home.
“Tell me everything, Leilani,” Tūtū said. She was holding her elbow as if being physically connected would speed up the process of getting reacquainted after a year apart. “Whatchu been up to? So good to see you. You taller than me now!”
Anna’s ears adjusted to her grandma’s pidgin English. She took a deep breath. Time to jump in.
“I’m good!” she started, words flowing in a torrent. “It is so great to see you and be here again. Thanks for the lei.” She paused to take a deep, appreciative inhale, enjoying this last bit of peace before coming at Tūtū’s world like a wrecking ball. But maybe breaking things down meant making room for new traditions. Surely Tūtū would agree that new isn’t always bad, right? Only one way to find out. Putting a lid on the jar of butterflies in her stomach, Anna pressed on. “So I was thinking, you know how we usually hang out around the house for most of the time? What if we went over to Kona and did some touristy things on the cheap? Like, checked out some of the cool resort pools or followed a snorkel tour at a discreet distance or something? Wouldn’t that be fun? Kaipo could come, too. We could do something interesting for once.” Oh shoot. That last sentence was too much. Anna slammed her lips together and hoped she didn’t just blow it.
“You don’t think things are interesting here?” Tūtū asked, glancing at Anna as the carousel of luggage chugged slowly around. Anna kept her eyes trained on the bags, looking for her silver suitcase with the rainbow strap. “Pah. You should hear about Pele’s latest curse. She went swallow one guy whole!” Then Tūtū changed directions with lightning speed. “Hoooeee, you’re twelve now.” Called it on the age thing, Anna thought, shoulders drooping. Tūtū continued, “You are old enough to start really memorizing our moʻolelo. All the parts of our family history. Even some parts I never tell you about yet. Needed you to be old enough. Things going get interesting for you.”
“Well, they would if we could have a real vacation,” Anna muttered. She didn’t so much as blink at Tūtū’s claim that the fire goddess had cursed a guy. Anna was used to Tūtū’s tales of Hawaiian gods and goddesses.
“Eh? Try talk louder, Leilani,” Tūtū said.
“Never mind, Tūtū. But, you know, just because I’m twelve doesn’t mean things are going to magically become interesting in Volcano.” Tūtū might think being older meant being able to handle more stories, but what it really meant was having to juggle all the expectations of being who people wanted you to be and cramming the you that you really were deep down into a little box or risk losing your friend forever. Anna kicked a lava rock wall that framed a pretty planting display full of red and pink anthuriums.
Tūtū gave her elbow another squeeze. Whoops, too much thinking. She had to loosen up.
“Unless you guys finally got a movie theater or arcade or something,” Anna said with a smile at Tūtū, knowing that’d never happen in the small village. “Go on, tell me about this latest curse. Pele doesn’t usually swallow people, right?” Exhaustion from the flight seeped into her bones. One story. I can get through ONE of her stories. Then maybe I can bring up Kona again. That’s not rude, right? Dad would totally approve.
