by Erin Johnson
I wanted to ask the same thing, but was too busy struggling to breathe. My head swam, and my legs buckled. I dropped to the ground again, landing hard on one knee. I ignored the ache and kept my eyes glued to the thick wooden doors. Could it scale the walls? They’d looked pretty steep from the outside, but who knew what this thing was capable of? Maple dropped to a crouch beside me.
“Are you okay, Imogen?”
I could only nod. She wiped my damp forehead with her hand and then hugged me to her.
The monster shrieked again, which sent goose bumps prickling up my arms. Then a huge splash sounded on the other side of the wall, followed by silence.
I let out a shuddering breath. “Oh good.” My chest heaved hard and fast. “It can swim.”
Maple gave a little whimper of a laugh and I leaned my head against her shoulder.
Iggy, burning in his lantern at my other side, let out a groan. “I want to go home.”
I pressed my eyes closed and sighed. Me too.
My little flame sniffed. “I know I said I wanted adventure, but I miss my warm, dry bakery oven right now and the—”
“Show some gratitude.”
I opened my eyes and looked up.
The stocky guard stood above us, his scarf down around his neck and hood pulled back to reveal a buzzed head. “If it were up to me, we would’ve left you out there.”
Another guard sidled up to him. “The council might still choose to kick them out.” His raspy voice contrasted with his surfer look. He had full lips and bleached jaw-length hair, but his hard eyes bored into us. “If they have any sense.”
Misaki stepped over and glared at the gate before turning to us. “Come on. I want to get you lot in front of the council before the whole town’s up and clambering to see you.”
“Gee, thanks for your concern.” Iggy rolled his eyes, but Misaki only spared him a quick, hard glance before she moved up the road.
Wiley helped Maple and me to our feet. I dusted the dried mud off my legs and shorts, though it didn’t help much to freshen me up, then dipped to lift Iggy. I shuffled over to Yann and Annie, who stood over Hank. They’d laid him down on a soft patch of grass beside the road. His lips moved, as did his eyes beneath their lids.
I stood over him, longing to drop down and give him a hug. But I doubted I would be able to stand back up again. “He’s awake… kind of.” I shot Yann a little smile.
The tall bear of a man nodded. His bushy red beard sparkled in the pale morning light, beaded with dewdrops. “Yah. He has been talking een hees sleep a leetle beet.”
I let out a weary but relieved sigh. “Good.”
Wiley dragged himself over and crouched down. He slid his arms under Hank’s, and Yann dipped down to grab his feet. They lifted him again, and Hank’s head lolled toward me. I reached a scraped hand out and gently brushed his damp, dark hair out of his eyes.
“He’ll be okay.” Wiley nodded at me and I gave him a tight-lipped smile.
“I hope so.”
Hank’s forehead shone with sweat and a crease worried the space between his brows.
“He better.” Wiley flashed me a weary grin. “He owes me and Yann that much for hauling his princely derriere up a mountain.”
4
Kusuri Town
We wound slowly through the main street of the town, which meandered leisurely up the mountain. More uphill… goody. The guards closed rank around us, talking in quiet but excited voices in their own tongue. I stood between Annie, with her walking stick clicking along the square stones of the road, and Sam, who shrugged and rolled his neck.
I leaned closer to him and lowered my voice. “You all right, Sam?”
He blinked at me with his big milky eyes and pushed his glasses up his nose. A thin scratch stretched across his cheek, and dark mud speckled the back of his hand. “I’m ssshedding all over again.” He gulped.
My brows drew together in concern. “But you already shed a skin yesterday… er, today?” I frowned. “Recently. Is that… bad for your health?”
He rolled his shoulders and stretched his neck, clearly uncomfortable. “No. It’sss jussst.” He looked left and right at the guards that surrounded us as we marched into town. “What will they think?”
I lifted a brow. “What do you mean?”
Sam took my wrist in both his chilled hands and his eyes welled with tears. He spoke in such a low whisper that I had to turn my ear to him to hear. “What will they think if I ssshed a ssskin and they find out I’m a ssshifter?”
“Oh.” I turned to him, then looked again at our captors. My eyes landed on tall Jun, who walked in front beside Misaki. “You know, Sam, some of them have been really kind and I’m sure once we sort out this confusion, they won’t see us as a threat.” I spoke with more confidence than I felt. “And hey, Francis has giant bat wings right now, and they don’t seem to mind.”
I scrounged up the energy for what I hoped was an encouraging smile, but Sam just blinked and then hastily wiped away the tear that trickled down his dirty cheek. “But Francisss isss a vampire, and back home no one minded that. But they ssstill didn’t like me.”
Oh geez. He had a point there. I clicked my tongue and slid an arm around Sam’s narrow shoulders. “It’ll be fine, just try not to worry. Maybe you’ll shed at a time when no one even notices.”
He hung his head, his chin nearly touching his chest, but nodded. “I hope sssso.”
We walked on in the pale morning light. A knee-high cross-hatched bamboo fence lined the road for the first stretch, with blooming cherry trees forming a canopy overhead. Delicate pink petals littered the gray stone and green moss underfoot, decorating the road like confetti. Wooden lantern posts with peaked roofs glowed among the trees trunks in the pale dawn light. Soon, we walked between two-story wooden homes and then businesses. The dark wood of the buildings and black lettering of the signs looked somber, but the twittering birds, pink blossoms, and glowing paper lanterns lent them a softness. As a backdrop to the city, more greenery and even taller mountains peeked between buildings and over black-tiled rooftops. I might have found it charming if I hadn’t been bone weary and a captive in a foreign land.
As we wound our way up, my friends and I silent and the guards enjoying quiet conversations, the front door to a shop with a pot of flowers outside slid open with a cool whisk. The bald little old man who stepped out in slippers froze upon seeing us, a ceramic watering can in one hand. His mouth dropped open in a silent O, and then he scurried inside, sliding the door shut again. Annie and I exchanged a look.
She lifted a brow, deep bags beneath her eyes. “And so the gossip mill starts.”
As though she were Rhonda making one of her infallible predictions, within moments second-story windows flew open above our heads, children pushed their way past their parents into the street, still in their pajamas, and neighbors gathered to watch our progress, speaking in expressive whispers.
“Take a picture, it’ll last longer,” Iggy grumbled at a group of gawkers in robes and slippers.
Annie sniffed. “Don’t give them ideas.”
I glanced back. Rhonda walked along, flashing smiles and waving at the gathering crowd. It almost made me smile. Back home, she and Francis were interkingdom celebrities, so she was probably used to working the crowd. Beside her, Francis bobbed along. He beat his giant wings in slow flaps, his legs dangling limply as he dragged himself along, the toes of his shoes scraping the ground. He panted, his mouth open, revealing his fangs. The exertion turned him even whiter than usual—and I hadn’t thought that possible.
We passed a group of children. A little boy pointed at Francis and said something loudly before his mother hugged him tight against her, turning his face away, though he scrambled to get free. Whatever he said made Jun in front of me chuckle, though he immediately ducked his chin and tried to hide it with a cough.
I hurried forward and tapped his shoulder. “What did he say? The little boy.” I angled my head toward the kid.
Jun turned around and pressed his lips tight to hide his mirth. Beside him, even the serious Misaki’s eyes sparkled a little. “He, uh, he called him fudo kozo no akuma.”
“Which means?” Annie plunked her walking stick down heavily on the stone road.
Jun couldn’t stop his lips from curling up in a grin. “Floating clown demon.”
I glanced back. He was floating, pale like a clown, and with the fangs and wings, I could see demon. Sick burn, kid.
“Those kids don’t know anything,” Iggy grumbled.
I grinned. “You’re just mad you didn’t think of it first.”
“You didn’t think of it first.”
I lifted my brows. “Somebody’s hangry.”
“Come on.” Misaki angled her head to the right, and we followed her down a narrow side street, away from all the staring townspeople. I dropped back and walked beside Sam, the road only wide enough to walk two across. I glanced back. Francis folded his wings to his sides and had to resort to using his legs. His lip curled in disdain. Dark wooden buildings stood tall beside us. I glanced up at the lightening sky to find a soft blanket of clouds hanging low overhead—looked to be a gray day. A few black crows flew past, cawing. Cheery. We exited the narrow alley and wound through more residential streets, no businesses or black-lettered signs in sight, just houses. They sat further apart with little gardens in front and wild spaces of green forest between them.
The stretches between houses grew longer and wilder, until Misaki led the way down a narrow, winding brick path. The path through the garden, lined with short, neat bamboo shoots, led to a wide building with a long front porch and a faded, black-tiled roof.
Blue and red birds twittered in the trees and flitted across our path as our feet scuffed up to the quiet building. I took one step up onto the wooden porch and noted the rows of shoes and slippers neatly lined up against the wall. Without speaking, Misaki, Jun, and the other guards stepped out of their muddy, split-toe shoes and added them to the lineup. Maple bit her lip, and Annie frowned at the guards’ socked feet.
I lifted a finger. “Do we, uh— Should we—?” I gestured at my feet.
Misaki crossed her arms and gave me a once-over. “We remove our shoes before entering a home.”
The stocky guard with the buzzed head scoffed. “Because we’re not barbarians.” He scowled at Wiley as he and Yann shuffled up onto the porch and gently lowered Hank to the ground. Wiley stood with a grunt and stretched his arms upward, arching his back. He stood so tall he smacked his hand against a low-hanging lantern and winced, shaking his hand.
“Yeah.” A younger guard with a scarf tied around his head Rambo-style bounced over. “We’re not barbarians.”
Iggy’s eyes narrowed and he gave the kid a slow once-over, then spoke in his driest voice, dripping with disdain. “Good one.”
I shot him a look but my little flame only glared back at me. Yeah, definitely hangry.
The young one grinned at the stocky guy, then at the one with the raspy voice, but both ignored him. I set Iggy down and crouched to undo the buckles of my sandals. I glanced over my shoulder toward Hank. His eyes fluttered and his mouth moved, mumbling to himself. That still wasn’t awake, but it was so much better than out cold. I bit my lip and willed back the tears that clouded my eyes. He’ll be okay. But a twisting doubt made my stomach cramp. Weeeooooo. I glanced down at my noisy belly. Could be the hunger, too.
“Urg.” It took an inhuman strength to stand back up again, but I did it. I placed my sandals against the wall next to the other pairs of shoes. My friends did the same, and I walked across the wooden porch, following a few guards who’d gone through the open door hung with two blue curtains. Misaki stepped in front of me and blocked my path. I stopped, surprised, and she lifted a dark brow at me.
“What?” I blinked at her. “I took off my shoes.”
Her eyes flitted to my feet and back up again.
I glanced down. “Oh.” My feet were a mess of bloody blisters, caked-on mud, and green moss stains.
“You’ve got a whole ecosystem going on down there.” Iggy cackled.
I was too tired to come up with a retort, but it didn’t matter because Iggy did it himself. “That’s what she said!” He burst into wild laughter.
I winced. “Gross, Iggy.”
Misaki’s dark eyes widened as she stared at my magical flame. “I don’t understand this one.”
I shook my head. “No one does.”
She pulled out her wand from where she’d tucked it in the wide black belt wound several times around her middle and pointed it at my feet. A cool ripple of air blew over my toes and when I looked down, the mud had disappeared, and my clean skin shone back at me, though the pink blisters remained.
I looked down and wiggled my toes, grateful to have clean, dry feet. “Thank you.”
Misaki pressed her full lips together, forming a pout with her small mouth. “I’ll have my grandma take a look at those sores.”
“Your grandma?”
Misaki ducked her head. “This is my family’s guesthouse.” Her eyes flitted upward. “Well, more of a bathhouse now.” She sobered and the heavy lines below her eyes revealed her weariness. “We don’t get many guests these days.”
I didn’t quite understand her reaction or why they wouldn’t get guests anymore, but hesitated to ask. She and Jun were acting kindly toward me and my friends, but they’d also technically arrested us so… I wasn’t sure where that put us. Frenemies?
“Why are you being nice to me?” I rubbed my arm. “I thought you blamed us for your friend going missing?”
Her eyes hardened and she put on her poker face. “He’s our captain. And while I still think you lot showing up can’t just be coincidence…” She sighed and looked me over. “You don’t seem to know your way around the wild… or to be remotely prepared for it.”
I nodded. “That is one hundred percent true.”
She cocked her head and glared at me. “You’re not in the clear. Council still has to make up its mind, and I’ve got a lot of questions for you, but…” She looked almost disappointed. “I’m pretty convinced Captain Kenta could have taken you all on single-handedly and walked away without a scratch.”
She let out a heavy sigh and turned away from me.
I lifted a brow. “You seem to have a pretty high opinion of this captain of yours?”
Jun, who stood nearby, looked ashen and turned his back to us, pretending not to listen.
Misaki glanced over her shoulder. “Yes. But also a low opinion of you.”
I nodded. “Right, right, right.” Good talk.
Feeling really pumped up by that interaction, I walked across the smooth wooden floor and knelt beside Hank. Wiley gave me a nod, and he and Yann moved away to stand beside Maple and the others. I smoothed Hank’s damp, dark hair back from his forehead and bent low to whisper in his ear. “It’s all going to be okay. Well, I think it is. But at least we’re safe from the monsters here.”
I leaned back to look at his pale face. His eyes moved below the lids, but still he didn’t wake. I roughly wiped away the tear that trickled down my cheek and bent low again. I pressed my lips to his cheek and squeezed my eyes shut. “Thank you. Thank you for standing up for me. And for taking a lance for me.” I blinked and more tears spilled down my cheeks, then pulled back the black strips of fabric that Francis had wound around Hank’s side. I smoothed a finger lightly along the raised pink line beneath. I didn’t have much medical knowledge, but the skin around it, though bruised, felt cool, and the bleeding had completely stopped.
The vampire dragged himself over, using the fingers that tipped his wings to pull himself across the porch, his legs nearly limp. The guards shot him wide-eyed looks and cleared a path for him.
I lifted my eyes. “I wish he’d wake up.” I gulped. “Is it okay, you think, that he hasn’t?”
Francis, despite having leathery wings instead of arms, lifted his chin and still managed to look han
dsome in a strange and androgynous way. “He smelled of death before your brother healed him. Now he doesn’t. So I think he’s doing remarkably well.”
My shoulders shook with something between a sob and a chuckle and more tears trickled down my face as I looked down at Hank’s worried brow. “What’s he smell like now?”
Francis cleared his throat and I blinked up at him. “I’ll be honest, it’s difficult to tell as his scent is masked by other, more pungent odors.”
“Oh.” My eyes widened and I glanced around at the guards and my friends. “Like, some of us?”
Francis lowered his chin and stared down his strong nose at me, his brows lifted significantly. “Like, one of us.”
My brows drew slightly together.
He continued to stare.
“Oh my goddess, me?” I pressed a hand to my chest, and Iggy, who I’d left in his lantern beside Maple, burst into hysterics. My friends looked down at him, then toward me.
I shook my head and shot Francis a flat look. “This coming from a man who—whose bat wings are probably crawling with mites.” I scoffed.
Francis turned his head right and left, glancing at his leathery wings. He shrugged. “Possibly.” He looked bored. “But no more than are in your eyelashes.”
I rolled my eyes, and the vampire turned and used the fingers that tipped his wings to pull himself slowly back across the porch.
“Psh. Yeah, right. Eyelash mites. I don’t have eyelash mites.” He ignored me and moved off. I frowned and muttered to myself, “I don’t have eyelash mites.” My lip curled in disgust at the thought. “Do I?”
I was about to haul myself to my feet and chase Francis down to see if he’d been joking, when a tiny old woman with a white cat on her shoulder walked through the blue curtains that hung over the front door and joined us on the porch. The chatter hushed as she folded her hands in front of her hips and bowed. The guards returned the bow. Maple glanced back at me, a question in her eyes, and I shrugged. When in Rome…. I dipped my head in a bow, cast Hank another look, then pushed to my feet. The little old lady barely stood as tall as my shoulder, but she beamed at us, her eyes crinkled with mirth.