Koji smiled and didn’t move. He closed his eyes. It took a moment for it to flicker through his brain before his eyes opened wide. He was in Mariko’s room and lying in her bed again.

* * *

Three days later, Koji was up, sitting on the edge of Mariko’s bed. He’d slept most of the first two days, realizing he hadn’t slept that much since he was a baby. When he woke this morning, his headache was all but gone and the sunlight no longer bothered him. The bandage across his forehead made things look much worse than he felt. Koji stood and slowly dressed, still a bit unsteady as he stopped to take a good look around the room now that he was upright. It was just as he remembered it, warm and comfortable, uncluttered except for the top of Mariko’s dresser, which was covered with small objects she’d collected over the years, stones and shells and carved kukui nut shells. “I’m leaving a trail of my life,” she once told him. “Tells folks where I’ve been and what meant something to me.” He could see her once again holding each small prize, delight radiating across her face. Then, from the corner of his eye, he saw a small black lava rock that she must have taken the day they visited the lava cave so many years ago. He had reminded her it was bad luck to take any lava rocks. “No bad omens,” she said, “as long as the lava doesn’t leave the island, yeah.” But when he looked closer, he was relieved to see it was a piece of black obsidian glass instead.

Koji stared at her collection, his throat dry. There was so little he had collected along the way, so little to show for except for Mariko and Daniel. All the other surfaces in his life were empty.

* * *

Koji heard voices from the kitchen and knew Nori had arrived. She and Maile had come by each day bringing food, making sure he was eating and comfortable. “Don’t know how you’re going back up to Puli after being so pampered,” Daniel teased. Koji had seen the worry in Nori’s eyes when she’d visited the morning after he’d fallen. Each day since, he lay in bed waiting for her to scold him for being so foolish, for going so close to the lava flow, but she still hadn’t said a word.

Koji knew Nori wouldn’t be happy to see him out of bed and dressed. If she had her way, he would rest for a few days more, a full week preferably, but he couldn’t; he was already going stir-crazy lying in bed the past few days.

Koji paused in the living room, listening.

“Lava’s been flowing for ten days now, folks don’t know whether to stay or leave,” Nori said. “Uncle Samuel wants to wait it out.”