Warpaint

“I can’t believe you were able to work with her and keep her a secret from us this entire time. I should be mad at you.”



“Are you? Mad at me?” Bodo looked worried.



“No. I’m not sure why. Maybe because I know your motivations are pure.”



“I luff her. Dat’s true. She is a very special bird.”



I looked at him sideways. “Should I be jealous?”



He squeezed my hand. “No. I can’t be away from you for longer dan one day either. Und I like you better.”



I smiled. “Good. I like you a lot, too.”



“Maybe some day you can luff me.”



“Yeah. Maybe some day,” I said, finishing our trip in silence, thinking about all the things we would be risking on this mission and how one of them would be Bodo himself.



Chapter Four



THE MORNING OF OUR CANNER recon mission dawned overcast and dark. The heavy-looking gray clouds booming with rolling thunder just off in the distance felt like a really bad omen, and made me wonder how long it would be before the rain began to fall and completely soaked us.



“Do you think those five days of training helped?” asked Peter, standing next to me, looking up at the sky.



“Maybe. Maybe not. It’s hard to say. I’d like to think so.”



“You’re under a lot of pressure. It’s okay to admit that.”



“Yeah, I know. I just don’t want to let anyone down.”



“You’re not going to. Everyone knows you’ve done your best, and that’s all you can do. Even I learned some things.” Peter made some quick palm thrust motions with the heel of his hand, breaking into smiles when he was done.



I grinned back. “Well, you do have good reflexes. Must be all that ping pong you’ve played.”



“You mock what you don’t understand. I’ll take you on, any day of the week.”



“Maybe someday we can do that,” I said wistfully, turning my attention to the backpacks in the doorway of the hut. Ping pong sounded so much more appealing than hunting canners right now. Hopefully, it always would.



“Ready to go?” asked Bodo, coming through the trees.



“How’s Nina?” asked Peter.



“Good. She’ss ready.”



“Time to go,” said Peter, hiking his backpack up onto his shoulders, straightening the straps and making sure his shirt underneath wasn’t wrinkled.



“She doesn’t like da rain, dough. Neither do I.”



“Can she fly in it?” I asked.



“Yes, but if it’s really bad, it’s dangerous for her. If it pours, I will wait with her somewhere close by. I’m sorry for dat.”



I sighed. “Don’t worry about it. We’ll make do. At least we don’t have to try and make up excuses for you when you disappear. I’m glad you decided to tell the chiefs.”



“Yes, well, his crazy girlfriend was gonna tell. Better dey hear it from me.”



“You’re right,” said Peter, waiting for us to get our backpacks on. “But they’d be stupid to be upset over it. You’ve already brought them three rabbits and two snakes. That’s more than enough to cover the amount of food that we eat.”



We left our hut carrying a minimum of supplies, wearing the jeans and t-shirts Winky’s friends had found for us, traipsing over the woven root ground with our new moccasins.



“Man, I love these shoes,” I said, for the tenth time at least. “I can’t believe they keep all the pokey things out. I’m pretty sure I’m quieter with them on, too.”



“Don’t bet on it,” said Peter. “Coli is only too happy to remind me how loud we are whenever we step foot anywhere in the swamp. Just yesterday, she and her friends were calling you a swamp elephant.”



I curled my lip in distaste. “Yeah, well, I’m convinced she’s not a real person. She’s an evil spirit that just floats over the ground without actually touching it. That’s why she’s so quiet all the time.”



“Who’s an evil spirit?” asked Coli, coming out on my left from between two large trees, their roots all tangled together to form a net wall, rising up out of the ground.



“Geez, Coli. Enough with the spying crap,” I said, not unkindly.



“I’m not spying. I’m just coming to the send-off, along with everyone else.”



I sighed. “They’re making a big deal out of this, aren’t they?”



“Of course they are. Wouldn’t you?”



“No. I wouldn’t.”



“Yeah, well, you’re different than we are.”



You’re not kidding. Before I could get my next thought out, we’d arrived at the ceremonial hut. A large crowd had gathered to say goodbye, and at the center of it all was Celia.



My eyes were drawn to her arm wrapped in its bandages, and I had to swallow the lump in my throat. Her half-limb hung at her side, a testament to the seriousness and danger present in our mission. Seeing it really brought home the fact that my entire family was going to be at risk for the next few days - even our pets. The ridiculously awfulness of it was hitting me hard. I battled tears that threatened to come and embarrass me with their presence in the face of all these bold warriors. I was glad we had decided to put our warpaint on later.



Bodo and Peter moved in closer, both of them stuck close to my sides. Normally, I’d just shove them away, but today I was glad for their nearness. It gave me a sense of security - probably a false sense - but I’d take that over feeling alone and vulnerable any day.



“Looks like everybody’s here,” said Peter softly.



The faces were all turned towards us. I didn’t see anything negative or that looked like judgment, but still, it made me uncomfortable. I focused on looking for my team. One person wasn’t there. “Everyone but Trip, actually,” I said.



“Wow, how could I have missed him?” said Peter under his breath, looking from left to right.



I scanned the crowd and the trees around us to be sure. Nope. No Trip. “Well, we can’t wait for him. Let’s go. Maybe he’ll catch up.”



“Why can’t we wait?” asked Peter. “He’s important, isn’t he?”



“Of course he is. But we’re about to get rained on, and I’d like to be in place before the noise from the storm wakes up those canners and the rain gets so hard Nina and Bodo can’t keep up.”



I separated myself from my roommates and went to stand by Kowi.



“Hey.”



“Hey, what’s up? Ready to go?”



“Yeah. Where’s Trip?”



“Getting some things for us to take.”



“What things?” I looked at him suspiciously, not liking his evasive tone. We had already very carefully planned what we were taking and everyone had packed as lightly as possible. We couldn’t afford to be weighed down with extra stuff.



“Things that will help us.” He looked up, his eyes catching something in the distance. “Ah. There he is. Right on time.”



I looked over to see Trip entering the hut carrying the case holding the grenades I had brought with us when we arrived.



“Oh, crap, are you kidding me?”



“No. We discussed it and decided it was a good idea.”



“Well, we weren’t in on that discussion,” said Peter, indignantly. “They’re our grenades, so I’m pretty sure we should have been included.”



Trip stepped up and gave Peter a death stare. “You were asleep. And we figured you wouldn’t mind giving them to us to help. But maybe we have you all wrong.” He put the case down and puffed his chest out a little.



“I’m easily wakened, and it has nothing to do with wanting to help, obviously, or I wouldn’t be standing here,” said Peter, his hands on his hips, staring Trip down with the meanest look I knew he was capable of making.



“Well, next time I’ll come in and interrupt your little love fest in there and get your permission to do what I want in my swamp!”



“Love fest? Love fest?! …” Peter took two steps forward, moving closer to Trip and letting his arms drop at his sides. He adjusted his feet to get better balanced, a move I’d taught him recently. Peter was ready to fight.



Kowi snapped out of his daze and jumped in between them. “Whoa, whoa, guys, chill. What the heck is this all about?” He looked back and forth from Trip to Peter, like all the rest of us were doing, his face screwed up in confusion.



I was just as lost as Kowi looked. Peter and Trip sounded like me and Bodo arguing - like a couple. And neither of them seemed to realize it or notice that the rest of us were stunned into silence over it.



Bodo leaned over and whispered, “Dey chust need to cuddle I think.”



I elbowed him, telling him silently to shut up.



Trip finally broke the stare between the two, stalking away. “Just forget it,” he said, without looking back. He left in the direction of the boats, through the trees. They were docked a few minutes away.



“He’s right. Never mind,” said Peter, now more in control of his emotions. He almost looked hurt, in a way.



I moved closer to him and put my hand on his upper arm, trying to get him to look at me. “You okay?”



He put a big, fake smile on his face and said brightly, “Yep! Let’s get this show on the road.” He looked over at the grenade case. “Are we bringing those or not?”



I looked at Kowi. “Want to discuss this real quick?”



He shrugged. “Sure. We just thought it’d be a good idea to have a little more firepower.”



“I just worry we’ll need it later, if they ever come here,” I said.



Kowi nodded. “Yeah, but what if we need some firepower there? You wanted a distraction. It seems like the easiest way to make one that will be hard to ignore.”



“Let’s just take a couple, how’s that?”



“Sounds fair. I agree with you. I don’t like the idea of being out here and so vulnerable. I mean, what the hell. They could roll in with tanks someday.” He was smiling, but what he said wasn’t funny at all.



“Yes. They could.” I fixed him with a hard stare, which erased all the humor from his face.



“You know, sometimes you scare the crap out of me, Bryn Mathis.”



I tried to smile, but it came out more like a grimace. “Yeah, well, sometimes I scare myself.”



“I think it is a good compromising,” said Bodo, breaking the freaky mood that had started to develop. “Who iss going to carry da grenades?”



Kowi answered, “Trip and Paci. They’re in charge of creating the distraction.”



I shrugged. “Fine with me. Just be sure they have padding around them. I think they can go off if they’re tossed around too much, even with the pins still inside.”



“None of us know for sure, so we’ll just be extra careful.”



“In the movies they always throw them a special way. I think that’s to keep them from blowing up in your hand,” said Peter.



“Please be sure to show Paci and Trip the technique,” said Kowi, before motioning to everyone to start walking to the boats. Three canoes were bringing us and our backpacks to the dock where we left the bodies of William and Rachel Coleman, the former kid owners of a canoe and boat rental place.



There were too many people to gather around the boat launch, so they lined the path leading the way. We gave out high fives to almost everyone and a few hugs to others. Peter seemed to have made friends with most of the girls from both tribes.



A few people were crying, and it did nothing to help my nervousness. When I got to the boat and saw that Celia had gotten there first and was waiting for us to get in, I felt sick to my stomach. It wasn’t because of her injury; it was because I didn’t want to let her down. We were going after the people who had taken something very precious from her. A limb, yes, but it was more than that. She’d lost some of her faith in the decentness of humans the day those animals had taken her arm. I felt like today, it was our job to restore it somehow; and I wasn’t sure we were up to the task.