by Phil Gabriel
I backed up to the edge of the clearing as he tracked my movement with his nocked arrow. Damn, he was fast enough to track me even at my highest speed. Goddamn ghosts and their refusal to follow the laws of physics.
Upon reaching the edge of the clearing, but still inside the onsen’s wards, I quickly ducked behind a large cedar hoping to catch my breath and wake up my dormant arm. A few deep breaths, inhaling the aroma of cedar, helped immensely. I saw the spiny needles of cedar leaves hanging in the air, knocked from the tree by my passage. I let go of time, and the world sped up around me and the cedar needles dropped to the ground. As I started to feel pins and needles in my arm, I heard the voice of my ghost apprentice: “Scott-sensei, those arrows will go through the trees.”
Crap. I dropped quickly to the ground. Three ectoplasmic arrows flew through the tree in a vertical line. Head, heart, and balls would have been hit if not for the warning from Akiko. Lying on the ground, breathing deeply, I found myself nose-to-nose with a red-haired fox. The fox stared at me with her slit eyes, seeming to enjoy my discomfort. On her white chest fur was a heart-shaped patch of red fur. Around her neck was a small black leather collar embedded with jewels.
“Go find your own hiding place,” I whispered to the fox while scrambling backward on hands and knees. The fox scampered away, wagging her two tails.
Akiko wisely stayed invisible as I scrambled, still hampered by a weak arm, putting more distance between me and the bowman. After another dozen arrows had been sent my way, I muttered, “When is this asshole going to run out of arrows?”
“Scott-sensei, he has an inexhaustible supply of arrows,” said Akiko.
I could back beyond the onsen’s wards, preventing the samurai from attacking, but that wouldn’t help complete the mission. I did have a ward against ghosts that should also stop the fusillade of arrows, but it would require some preparation. At least he wasn’t coming into the forest after me, giving me time to recover and prepare for the next phase.
My mind flashed back to the call that had started this misadventure.
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Also by Phil Gabriel
Other Tokyo Supernatural Books by Phil Gabriel
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The Ghost in Roppongi Station - A Tokyo Supernatural Short Story
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The Haunted Onsen
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About the Author
Phil Gabriel hates talking about himself in the third person.
After making history in several mutually exclusive careers, he has set his sights on wowing the reading public with stories about magicians, witches, and Japanese supernatural creatures.
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For more information
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