One of Her Own: A Gemi Kittredge Mystery, Book 1 (Gemi Kittredge Mysteries) by Shawn McGuire

Author:Shawn McGuire [McGuire, Shawn]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Brown Bag Books
Published: 2021-02-01T06:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

I woke to fluttering nerves. As in excitement, not fear or worry. I always felt this way the day before a fight. I’d never had an issue at weigh-in. My weight might fluctuate a little, but I naturally hovered near the middle of the 125-to-135 range for bantamweight fighters. There was a touch of irritation swirling around in me, too, which came from the rules I’d have to follow today. All imposed by Salomon, they completely messed with my normal daily routine. Starting with my morning run.

“Five miles is all you need to stay loose,” he’d said last night as he had before every fight. As though I’d forgotten. “Treadmill is best. Stay inside where you won’t get hit by a car.”

Salomon was abnormally paranoid about injuries. Among other things.

“So it’s all right for me to get hit at any other time?” I couldn’t help poking at him.

“That’s not what I mean, and you know it.”

“Treadmills cause more injuries, coach,” I’d responded, as I did every time. “Easier to pull a groin muscle or hamstring on a treadmill.”

Then he glowered in that scary Polynesian way of his before relenting. “Fine. But stay in quiet neighborhoods. I don’t understand why you insist on running on busy narrow roads.” He crossed his arms over his expansive chest and added, “Watch for debris on your path. One wrong step and you twist your ankle. Just that fast”—he snapped his fingers—“and this fight is done before it starts. And in the name of Ku, stay off that motorcycle.”

Ku was the god of war and Salomon’s favorite of all the Hawaiian deities. I found it amusing that a man who trained people to fight honored a war god. To be honest, Salomon’s freak-out stage before every fight calmed me. If he didn’t worry about everything, I would, and I’d be a jumble of nerves.

Maybe that’s why he did it.

He’d spouted his superstitions at me so many times over the years, I’d adopted some of them. That meant I put on my running gear and stuck to only five miles through the quiet streets of my neighborhood. Today, that turned out to be a good plan because I wasn’t paying attention. Mrs. Ly called out to me twice before I heard her and waved.

Heleena was distracting me. In fact, I could almost feel her ghost running next to me.

I usually dismissed supernatural things, but the islands were chock full of myths and lore. Like the Night Marchers, ghosts of ancient warriors who roamed specific areas to the beat of drums during certain phases of the moon. Pele’s Curse stated that bad luck would come to anyone who took sand, rocks, or pumice off the island. It was said that pretty much anyone who grew up here had encountered a ghost, even if they didn’t realize it. I figured a few of the legends must have some truth behind them due to odds and the sheer number of stories.

As for who was running with me today, it was more likely the little girl at my heels than Heleena.

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