Island's End Read Online Free PDF

Danna remembers the stories of women who became oko-jumu.
    He looks deep into my eyes. “There is just one important question, Uido. Do you want to become Lah-ame’s apprentice?”
    “I do, Danna, more than anything else. In the Otherworld my spirit feels as though it touches something endless. Like I am one tiny bead on a giant necklace, but also the necklace itself.” I pause. “But Lah-ame spoke about how painful and hard the training and the tests will be. I am scared. What if I fail?”
    “Would you feel better if you never tried?”
    A sudden rustle in the bushes near us startles me. Danna pulls an arrow out of his quiver and whirls around, looking for the source of the noise.
    “Ashu!” My shock turns to irritation when I realize my brother was hiding in the darkness.
    “Why are you stalking us like a cat?” Danna’s voice is thick with annoyance. “I almost shot at you!”
    Ashu’s lips curl derisively. “You are too slow to shoot me.”
    Danna grits his teeth, as though he is trying to bite back angry words.
    Ashu turns on me. “If you have special powers, why did you not see me hiding all this while?”
    “Not even Lah-ame knows everything, Ashu,” Danna says.
    “He certainly knows nothing about my sister. I cannot believe Lah-ame thinks she could become oko-jumu. None of the spirits talk to her.”
    “They do,” I say, struggling to remain as calm as Danna.
    “Prove it to me, then,” Ashu challenges. “Make a prediction. Surely you can look into the future and tell us when the strangers will come next?”
    “No, Uido.” Danna grabs my arm as if to try and hold me back. “You do not need to prove anything to Ashu.”
    I jerk my arm free although I know Danna is right. I am tired of controlling my anger while Ashu insults me. If there is any way to see into the future using the Otherworld, I feel determined to find it.
    With my eyes closed, I try to imagine my spirit as a circle of light—just as when Lah-ame guided me to see far across the ocean through the Otherworld. But the spirits seem unwilling to let me in this time. However hard I concentrate, the circle of light keeps disappearing. And when I search for an image in my mind, all I see is a dark wall.
    Feeling too angry at Ashu to give up, I imagine myself pounding at the wall with my fists, repeatedly shouting Ashu’s question about the strangers. I refuse to stop until I force an answer out of the Otherworld. At last, a whisper comes through the darkness in my mind, a single word.
    Tomorrow.
    “Tomorrow.” The moment I say the word aloud, I regret it.
    “We shall find out,” Ashu says.
    I see a flicker of resentment in his eyes before he turns to leave. He strides away to the village ahead of us. We follow, taking care to keep our distance from Ashu.
    “Please,” I whisper to Danna. “Do not tell anyone what I said about the strangers coming tomorrow.”
    “Why not?”
    “The spirits did not want to let me into the Otherworld—I forced myself in for the wrong reasons. Maybe they felt upset and lied to me.”
    “Will you at least let Lah-ame know what happened?”
    “What if he gets angry that I tried to prove myself to Ashu? Let us just wait and see what happens. Ashu will surely tell no one because he would not want anyone else to know Lah-ame offered to teach me.”
    Danna reluctantly agrees to keep our secret.
    All evening I cannot help wondering if my behavior angered the spirits. That night, I squirm restlessly on my mat, wishing I had listened to Danna and ignored my older brother’s taunts.

9

    T he next day, I wake much later than usual, with no memory of any dream. My mind is like a beach without footprints and I worry that the spirits kept me out of the Otherworld because they are angry about yesterday.
    Mimi bends over me and runs her hand over my forehead. “Are you unwell, Uido?”
    “No.” I sit up at once.
    “It is not like you to sleep so late.”
    “Please do not worry, Mimi. I am not hurting at