And then Moki stepped out onto the lanai. His eyes flared when he saw the two of them touching. He took Kolabati by the arm and pulled her away.
"Come. We'll start the ceremony early tonight." He glared at Jack. "I'm especially looking forward to this one."
As Kolabati followed him into the house, she looked back at Jack and mouthed three words: Wear…the…necklace.
When they debarked from the Isuzu, Moki turned to Jack and jabbed his index finger at his chest.
"We came early because it will be you who faces Maui tonight."
Jack smiled. "I don't think so."
"If you can defeat me in the ceremony, you may have her. Otherwise she stays with me and you return to America."
Jack noticed how Moki had said "America" instead of "the mainland." Apparently Maui had seceded from the union, at least in Moki's mind.
Jack looked at Kolabati. She returned his stare coolly.
"So…this is what you meant by 'after the ceremony.' Swell."
She nodded. That was all.
"Come," Moki said, gesturing to the crater's edge. "It's time."
Jack hesitated. This was happening too fast. None of it was in his plan. He didn't like surprises, and this was a particularly ugly one. Kolabati had known about it before when they were whispering on the lanai. Had she cooked it up with Moki, or was this all his idea?
At least Jack had one of the necklaces…
Or did he?
What was that around Moki's neck? Jack's fake, or the real thing? He cursed himself for not checking the one Kolabati had given him more closely. It didn't feel any different, and if he remembered correctly from years ago, the necklace had caused an unpleasant tingle the first time he'd touched it. But that sensation had dissipated after he'd worn it for a while. Was that why he felt nothing when he touched it now? Or was there nothing to feel because it was the fake?
"What's the matter?" Moki said, his grin broadening. "Afraid?"
"I will go," Ba said, stepping forward.
Jack held up a hand. He couldn't allow that. After all, he'd promised Sylvia Nash he'd get Ba back safely.
"It's okay, Ba. I'm going. But thanks for offering."
"Remove your shirt and follow me," Moki said, then turned and started up to the crater's edge.
Jack followed, removing his shirt as he went. The cold air raised and then flattened gooseflesh on his skin. He tossed his shirt to Kolabati as he passed. Her dark, almond eyes widened when she saw no necklace around his neck.
What had she wanted to do? Rattle Moki by letting him see that Jack wore a necklace exactly like his? Uh-uh. Jack wasn't playing her games.
Jack welcomed the heat from Haleakala's fires when they reached the ridge. Moki stopped and faced him. He looked like a grinning demon in the orange light as he produced two knives with slim, six-inch blades. The flames from below glinted off their polished surfaces. He handed one to Jack, wooden handle first. As Jack gripped it, a chorus of shouting erupted from below. He turned and saw the Niihauans approaching, angrily waving their arms.
"I was afraid of this," Moki said, sighing like an indulgent father watching his unruly children. "That's why I brought you up here early tonight. They want one of their own to defeat me, not some malihini. I'll have to tell them not to worry. They'll get their turn."
But he didn't have to. Ba had stepped between the Niihauans and the crater rim. He spread his arms wide and spoke to them. Jack couldn't hear what he said over the roar of the inferno below, but they were looking up at him in awe. Finally they stepped back and waited.
"Good!" Moki said. "Your friend has bought us some time. Let's get on with it." He put his hands on his hips and puffed up his chest. "You strike first."
"Take the necklace off first," Jack said.
"Stop stalling," Moki said. "Is this the brave Repairman Jack Bati told me about? I think you're a coward."
"You won't take it off?"
"My necklace is not a subject for discussion. It is part of me. It will remain with me until I die. Which shall be never."
"Okay," Jack said slowly, "since we're on the subject of courage, let's give ourselves a real test: Each of us will pierce his own heart."
Moki stared at him with wide eyes. "You mean…I will plunge my knife into my chest and you will do the same into yours?"
"You got it. Simultaneously. It's one thing to stab somebody else, but it takes a god to stab himself."
Moki's grin widened. "I believe you are right. You are a worthy rival, Repairman Jack. I'll be sorry to see you die."
Not as sorry as I'll be if Kolabati has suckered me.
Moki positioned his knife over his chest, the point indenting the scarred area just to the left of the breast bone. Jack did the same. His sweaty palms were slippery on the handle. The touch of the point sent a chill straight through to the organ beating barely an inch beneath it. It picked up its tempo in response.
This had to work.
"Ready?" Jack said. "On three. One…two…" He shouted the last number. "Three!"
Jack watched as Moki rammed the blade deep into his chest, saw his torso hunch, his grin vanish, his features constrict with the sudden agony, watched his eyes fill with shock, horror, rage, betrayal as the sick realization of what had just happened to him filtered through the haze of pain.
Moki looked down at the knife protruding from his chest. Blood welled up against the hilt and ran down his skin. Then he looked at Jack's blade, still poised over Jack's chest. His lips worked.
"You…didn't…"
"You're the crazy one, pal. Not me."
Moki glanced over to where Kolabati stood in the flame-flickered darkness. The hurt in his eyes was unsoundable. Jack almost felt sorry for him, until he remembered the brave Niihauan who hadn't had a chance against him last night and had died the same way. Jack followed his gaze and saw Kolabati staring at him with unmasked fury. Why? Because he hadn't stabbed himself?
Suddenly pain seared across his chest. He staggered back and saw Moki go down on his knees, blood pumping from the slit in his chest, his bloody knife free in his hand. And across Jack's chest—a deep gash. Moki had pulled his own knife from his wound and slashed Jack.
Jack pressed his hand against the gash but it had already stopped bleeding. The pain, too, was gone. And as he watched in amazement, the wound edges closed and began to knit.
He looked up and saw Moki watching too. Moki reached a bloody hand up to the necklace that encircled his neck. Ashen faced now, he looked at Jack's unadorned neck, his eyes pleading for an explanation. He couldn't speak, but he could move his lips.
They said: How?
Jack pulled up the left cuff of his jeans to show where he'd wound the true necklace around his ankle.
"Just because they call it a necklace doesn't mean you have to wear it around your neck."
Moki pitched forward on his face, twitched, shuddered, then lay still.
Jack looked at the blade in his hand and tossed it onto the hardened lava beside Moki. Another victory for Rasalom, another talented human gone mad, and now dead. Suddenly Jack felt exhausted, empty. Must it have ended like this? Couldn't he have found another way? Was the mad darkness in the air seeping into him as well? Or had he always carried a piece of the darkness within him? Was that what he felt twisting and thrashing against the walls of the cage he'd built for it?
Shouts made him turn. The Niihauans had broken away from Ba and were charging up the slope. Jack backed away, unsure of their intent. But they ignored him, rushing directly to Moki's body. They prayed by it, then lifted him by his hands and feet and tossed his remains into Haleakala's fires.
As the others began to pray, the chief turned to Jack.