They walked on, in the middle of the empty road now. They heard crickets chirping and the honk of an island animal. “Check ’em out,” Kanani said. “Dat one nēnē bird.”

“Adorable. Sounds like a goose with a cold,” Lett said, smiling.

Kanani punched him in the arm. “Nēnē, dey rare now.”

“Careful. You’re slipping into that Pidgin you speak,” Lett said.

A grin stretched across her face and she wagged a finger at him. “Right, you’re correct. I normally speak like you haole folks. We learned it in school—English Standard School. I make my voice all nasally like you. I prefer Pidgin, but I better talk like you. No want sound stupid, yeah? Local kids like to pick out American first names. Joey, Freddy. Susy. Plenty haole-fied.”

“You don’t have a name in mind?”

She shook her head. “Kanani stay my name.”

Lett wondered if they should part ways. A special truck would transport him to The Preserve from town if he wanted—it left every morning from the billet. Yet they kept slogging along, which felt all too natural to the old dogface under Lett’s skin.

“You can see why I need The Preserve,” he said. “It’s my noggin. They told me they can fix what’s wrong in my head.”

“They did? They said that?”

“Sure. They’re working on a new therapy. They want to try it on me.”

“Oh.” She walked a few more paces, nodding along to them as if searching for the right response. “Well, The Preserve, it’s also a training camp. But you probably know that.”

“Sure,” Lett said. He didn’t know that, or anything really. He only knew they could help him. He felt a twitch of unease in his gut but told himself not to worry about it.

“I got lucky. It’s not easy for a local to get a post like that,” she said. “No more tough streets of Honolulu for me. Maybe they’ll send me to Tokyo, on assignment.”

“You mean, like an agent of some sort?” Lett’s twitch had turned into a rumble, like a sour stomach.

“Maybe. We’ll see.”

“This have anything to do with that gold lighter—with that person who gave it to you?”

She turned and stared, her teeth shining in the light. But she wasn’t grinning this time.

***

Full darkness came fast. Alii Drive straightened out and stayed inland, the roadsides overgrown. Any lights were dim and sparse.