But Mauna Loa was not about to remain quiet today. In the next moment, Koji watched the piglets scatter as the bloated white cloud soundlessly spread across the sky. A sudden shifting underfoot shook the ground again, and the nervous onlookers stared at one another and then back up at Mauna Loa. Even the air seemed to pulsate with their helplessness. The great white plumes of smoke turned an ash-filled dusty brown before emerging white again, only to be chased away by a spewing red-hot curtain of lava that blew from the fissures hundreds of feet into the air.

“Pele using her fire to let us know who’s boss, yeah!” yelled a local in the crowd.

As soon as Koji saw Nori and the other aunties standing outside amid the crowd, he relaxed.

“You’re here, yeah,” Nori said, happy to see him.

“Any damage?” he asked.

“Just some broken bottles,” she said.

“What’s that?” He eyed the jar in her hands.

“Mango jam,” Nori said. “The mangoes from Mariko’s tree,” she added.

Koji felt something inside of him slowly dissipate, something hard in the middle of his chest. He wanted to reach out and hug Nori.

Instead he asked, “Daniel?”

“He hasn’t arrived yet.”

Another eruption colored the sky. Koji was captivated by the raw power of Mauna Loa. He knew all they could do was worry and wait. It was just the beginning; the real fear was the unstoppable flow of lava, the searing slow-moving rivers of fire that could continue to flow for months in any direction. Just nine years ago, memories of the 1926 eruption, which had buried the village of Ho’opuloa Makai on the other side of the island, still haunted—the lava that crossed roads and fields, setting trees, shrubbery, houses, and anything else in its path on fire with a chorus of popping and sizzling methane bursts, could now be heading toward Hilo.

As if she read his thoughts, Nori asked, “When will the geologists know the direction of the flow?”

“I’m sure they’re keeping a close watch, yeah,” Koji said. “It won’t be long now.”

Most of the locals stayed on at the market, waiting for word.

As darkness fell, fountains of lava continued to spew from the fissure. The air grew oppressive with the stink of sulfur, clouds of ash, and the red-hot beast that illuminated the night.

6. Homecoming

6

Homecoming