Queen Liliuokalani: Royal Prisoner by Ann Hood Read Free Book Online Page B

more than a ton!”
    “Look!” Bernice said. She pointed across the street to where a new storefront had a freshly paintedsign reading MONTGOMERY’S .
    A man with thick dark hair and a thick beard stood there, jangling keys. His bright blue eyes lit up when he saw the royal children approaching. Felix assumed he was a missionary, like all the westerners he had met here so far.
    “Mr. Herman Melville,” Lydia said. “Good day.”
    “Have you defected from the church yet?” Mr. Melville asked.
    “Mr. Melville vehemently opposes the missionaries,” Bernice told Felix.
    Surprised, Felix asked why.
    The man peered down at Felix. “They’ve defiled the people here, young man!” he roared. “They’ve suppressed all of their traditions, their culture, their sport, their very nature! Do you see that monstrosity across the street?” He didn’t wait for an answer. “They used the Hawaiians to build that, and their roads, and every other thing they desire. It’s a sin what they’re doing.”
    “Mr. Melville came here on a whaler from Massachusetts,” Bernice told Felix.
    “I took the long way around,” Mr. Melville said with a grin.
    “He’s been to Tahiti and just about everywhere else in the South Pacific,” Lot said.
    “And he sets the pins at the bowling alley,” Lydia added happily.
    “Not anymore, I’m afraid,” Mr. Melville said, holding up the keys. “I’m now employed as a clerk for Mr. Montgomery’s store here.”
    “Well, we’ll miss you then, because we’re going bowling,” Lydia said.
    They all said good-bye to Mr. Melville and continued to the bowling alley. Bowling, it seemed to Felix, had not changed much over time. Except for the fact that there were nine pins instead of ten, and that a man reset the pins each time, the game and the rules were the same as when he and Maisie used to go bowling at Bowlmor Lanes with their parents in New York. Still, all the time they bowled, the name Herman Melville stuck in his head. He was certain he had heard it somewhere before. But with the noise of the balls crashing into the pins, and the excited shrieks of the children, Felix could not remember where.
    When the game was finished, they began to walk back to the palace, and Felix took theopportunity of their silence to put his idea to the test.
    “Do any of you happen to know someone named Liliu?” he asked, certain from what he’d seen in the vortex that she was the person he and Maisie needed to find.
    All the royal children stopped walking and stared at him.
    “Why, you know her, too,” Bernice said finally.
    “I do?” Felix asked.
    “Didn’t you know that the missionaries made us all take English names?” Lydia asked.
    Felix shook his head.
    “They did,” Lydia continued.
    She took a step closer to Felix and smiled.
    “I am Liliu,” Lydia said proudly.
    Despite the hot sun, Felix shivered.
    He was standing just a few inches from the person he knew would someday become the queen of Hawaii.

CHAPTER 6
Restoration Day
    I t took almost a week for Maisie to recover. With her headaches and sleepiness, she mostly stayed in bed. All the royal children visited her, and even Paki stopped by every morning, but she grew too tired to do much more than listen to their reports about life in Honolulu and around the court. Felix split his time between sitting at his sister’s side and joining the others for luaus, trips to the beach, or more bowling expeditions. Despite the friction between some of the Hawaiians and the missionaries and westerners, life here was easy. The food was fresh and plentiful, and everyone liked to have fun.
    The longer Felix stayed, the more he came to understand and appreciate the concept of aloha.Before he’d come to Hawaii, he thought the word meant just “hello” and “good-bye.” But he quickly came to understand that it meant much more. It was almost a way of life. Lydia had explained to him that aloha was a way to spread goodness to other people. Letting