Senshi (A Katana Novel)

by Cole Gibsen

  Dr. Wendell stopped just outside of the door, aiming his flashlight at me so I had to squint into the light. “What did you find?”

  “Probably nothing. It’s just a business card for … ” With his added light I angled the card so I could read it. “Ace Elevator Services.”

  The flashlight beam fell as his hand dropped to his side. “Rileigh—”

  I fished my cell phone out of my pocket and held it up. “I’m already on it.”

  I waited until we were safely inside Dr. Wendell’s car and on our way back to the condo before I dialed the number.

  “Ace Elevator Services,” a gruff voice answered.

  “Yeah, hi. I’m calling about the elevator work you guys did at the building on Washington.

  The guy snorted. “Is that supposed to be some kind of joke?”

  “Um … ”

  The guy continued, “Are you with the building management?”

  “Uh, sure?”

  “Good,” he said. “Just so you know, our invoice is in the mail. It doesn’t matter that we didn’t do any work. You called us out, and we showed up. There’s a fee for that.”

  “Wait, why didn’t you do any work?”

  The guy sighed impatiently. “Well, I can see how this mistake happened in the first place. You guys are really disorganized.”

  “What mistake?” I prodded.

  “Didn’t your door guy tell you?” There was an edge to his voice and I knew I had to get my answers fast before he lost his cool and hung up. “You called us about an elevator repair, but when my guy showed up, we found the elevator had already been serviced by another company that same day.”

  That didn’t make sense. Why would Whitley call a legit elevator-repair service after the ninja had reprogrammed the elevators?

  “Were you scheduled to show up in advance?”

  “No! That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you. You called us an hour before we showed up, probably when the other guys were already working on your elevators.” He sucked in a breath. “Look, before you waste another company’s time, I suggest you guys get organized. Our invoice is in the mail.” With that, he hung up.

  I put the phone down and looked at Dr. Wendell. “That didn’t make an ounce of sense.”

  “What did he say?”

  “Basically, someone called them around the time when the ninja hijacked the elevators. It’s almost as if whoever called wanted the ninja to be caught.”

  Dr. Wendell frowned and adjusted his grip on the wheel. “You’re right. That doesn’t make sense.”

  “Right? If Whitley called, why would he want to thwart his own assassination attempt?”

  “Well … ” He shrugged. “You said that the ninja were there to meet him. Maybe one of them dropped the card.”

  That didn’t make a lot of sense, either. “I don’t know. That would imply one of them wanted me to live. And my past experience with them has proven that’s not the case.”

  “You’re right.” He sighed. “Just add it to the list of things we don’t understand.”

  “That’s getting to be a pretty long list.” I leaned my head against the headrest. “We might have better luck making a list of things we do understand.”

  He stopped at a light and gave me a sidelong look. “Oh, really? Name one thing you understand.”

  Huh. He had me there. I stared at the people walking along the sidewalk as I thought about it. Between Q’s mood swings, Kim breaking up with me for Sumi, the samurai not speaking to me, and my archenemy returning from the dead, I had nothing. But there was one thing …

  “You,” I said.

  “What?” Dr. Wendell looked at me long enough that the car behind him blared its horn to alert him of the light change.

  “Yeah.” Even though Dr. Wendell was a major pain in my ass, it seemed like he really wanted to help. And I needed all the help I could get. “You’re not as bad as I thought.”

  He laughed. “It’s not a glowing endorsement, but I’ll take it.”

  I shrugged. “Oh, and before I forget, if we’re making a list of things we don’t understand, I have something else to add.”

  “Yes?”

  “I can turn invisible now.”

  “You what?” He jerked the wheel to the side, squealing the tires and sending the cars behind us into a chorus of horn beeps and shouted curses.

  I smiled and settled back into my seat. Sometimes, I just couldn’t help myself.

  31

  I sank into the movie theater seat and tried to avoid touching the sticky armrests. It had been a week since my last run-in with the ninja and, given that I was no closer to stopping their attacks, a movie felt like the last place I should be. “I don’t know why we’re here,” I told Quentin, who happily slurped a cherry ICEE. “I hate this theater. I hate this actress. I hate this movie.” I folded my arms across my chest. “I hate my life.”

  Quentin spit out his straw and looked at me. “I gotta say, this new emo thing you’re doing? Not working for you.” He grabbed a bag of licorice and held it out to me. “Twizzler?”

  I wrinkled my nose. “I hate Twizzlers.”

  He dropped the bag into my lap. “No you don’t.”

  I sighed, pulled out a Twizzler, and bit into it. “No, I don’t.” I knew I should appreciate what Q was trying to do. But between breaking up with my boyfriend and the ninja assassination attempts, going to the movies just seemed stupid. And, because I was a glutton for punishment, I called Michelle to invite her to go with us. But she never picked up and never returned my calls. Apparently, the freeze-out of Rileigh Martin was in full force. I could only guess Michelle and the other samurai didn’t want to get caught in the middle of the breakup. I understood that reasoning, but it didn’t make it sting any less.

  At least Q had let me pick the seats—a dark corner in the very back row. I’d received several dirty looks from couples coming in late—they’d wanted their make-out corner and I’d wanted a vantage point where I didn’t have to worry about any sneak attacks. My life sucked.

  I twirled a piece of licorice in my hand. At the very least, I should be happy that Q was acting like himself. The only weird part of his behavior was how insistent he was to see this particular romantic comedy—which was so not our thing. Especially not with the latest bloody action flick playing one theater over. “Are you sure you don’t want to sneak into The Face Punch of Death?”

  Q shook his head and put a finger to his lips. “Shh. I think the movie is about to start.”

  I faked a gag and settled back into my seat. If the onscreen kiss-fest made me barf, I was so aiming for Q’s lap.

  He stirred his ICEE with his straw. “Being here is good for you. You’ve been surrounded by enough pain and violence, you don’t need to watch a movie about it. I’m putting an end to your pity party.”

  I narrowed my eyes at him. “Please. I’m not having a pity party.”

  “Oh really?” He held out his hand. “Hand over your phone. I want to see if you’ve added any new music stations to Pandora.”

  “Um.” I fidgeted in my seat, hoping he couldn’t read the guilt on my face. He totally had me there. But wasn’t crying along to angsty music one of the steps for recovering from a bad breakup? Surely Q couldn’t fault me for that. Although, maybe I shouldn’t have named my newly created emo station—

  “Kim,” Q said.

  The licorice I’d been chewing on dangled from my mouth. “How did you—” But I stopped when I realized Q hadn’t been reading my mind. He wasn’t even looking at me, but instead staring at something at the front of the theater. I followed his line of sight and realized it wasn’t a something but a someone.

  Kim.

  Son of hibachi. My stomach dropped from my body and landed somewhere between the center of the Earth and China.

  He stood at the bas
e of the stairs holding a bottle of water in one hand and a soda in the other. He hadn’t looked in our direction yet, so as far as I knew, he didn’t know I was here.

  Quentin reached for my hand and squeezed my fingers a little too tightly to be comforting.

  The licorice fell from my mouth onto my lap. “Oh God,” I whispered. This was the last thing I needed. I could pretend as much as I wanted that I was doing better, that Kim pushing me out of his life hadn’t ripped my heart into ribbons of flesh. But not when he was in the same room as me, breathing in my air until I felt suffocated. I stood on wobbly knees. “I think I should go. I need to go.”

  “Are you crazy?” Q put a hand on my shoulder and pushed me down. “If you get up now, he’ll see you.”

  “So?”

  “If you leave then he’ll know you’re leaving because of him … and so will she.” He inclined his head and that’s when I saw her. Sumi. She bound up the stairs to where Kim stood waiting to usher her to their seats. She sat and, if I didn’t know better, glanced over her shoulder directly at me before planting a kiss on his cheek. But that was impossible, right? It was too dark in the theater for her to see into our corner.

  Kim didn’t react to the kiss. He kept his eyes trained on the previews flashing onscreen and handed her the soda.

  “Wow,” Q whispered into my ear. “He’s about as passionate with her as I am with my sister.”

  I had to agree. Even so, the contents of my stomach raged, a sea of bile and licorice. My fingers curled around the armrests, a flimsy anchor, to keep my body, tense with the desire to run, in place. But I wouldn’t run—despite how badly I wanted to. Being with Kim had been easy, natural, thanks to a lifetime of loving him. Now it was up to me to figure out how to be without him. Despite Q’s good intentions, it wasn’t something someone else could help me figure out. I had to do it on my own.

  Easier said than done considering I hadn’t done such a great job existing in the same world as Kim, much less in the same movie theater.

  I took several deep breaths. You can do this, Rileigh. Kim was made of flesh, blood, and bone just like every other guy in the theater. There was absolutely nothing special about him—nothing I couldn’t live without.

  Yeah … and since I was living in a fantasy world, I may as well add that I’d love a pony.

  Q shook his head. “I just don’t understand why he’s doing this.”

  “You and me both,” I said through clenched teeth.

  “I mean, just look at them.” He thrust his hand in their direction.

  “I’d rather not.” But even as I said the words, my eye refused to look anywhere else. Kim sat rigid in his chair, perfectly still while Sumi leaned her head against his shoulder. She might as well have been cuddling a brick wall for all the affection she received.

  “It’s so obvious he doesn’t like her,” Q continued.

  “He says he’s obligated by honor.” The word tasted bitter on my tongue.

  “Yeah … ” Q shook his head and took a long draw on his Icee. “I’m just not buying it.”

  Me either. But that was the sucky thing about breakups—they didn’t come with answers, or sometimes even a warning. One minute, you’re together, kissing in the middle of a field as he tells you how much he loves you and the next minute, you’re alone, picking up the pieces of your heart that he scraped off the bottom of his shoe.

  My eyes burned with unshed tears. No. I closed my eyes before they had the chance to fall. But that didn’t stop the prickling sensation just beneath the surface from growing until it pushed against my skin. I tightened my fingers on the chair hard enough to make my fingers ache. A wind—either from me or the overhead air conditioning vent—

  tickled the hair framing my face.

  Q turned to me with wide eyes. “Ri-Ri, are you okay?”

  I shook my head. “I’ll be fine. I’m fine.” Lies. I clenched my teeth together so hard my jaw ached. I couldn’t lose control now, not in a theater full of people … and them. My muscles tightened as my entire body braced for the power about to rip through me.

  Q put his hand on top of mine.

  And just like someone had flipped a switch, the buzzing sensation died, my muscles relaxed, and my ki fell silent, retreating inside of me. For the first time in more than a month, I felt like I wasn’t a bomb moments away from exploding. I felt … normal.

  We exchanged sidelong glances.

  “What the hell was that?” I whispered.

  “Beats me.” He slowly withdrew his hand.

  It didn’t make sense. I was on the verge of losing control, Q touched me, and then I wasn’t. “Did you—did you do something?”

  He laughed out loud, which made several people turn to us with scowls. “Uh, no. I am neither a samurai nor am I able to manipulate ki. That was all you, babe. Maybe you’re just getting some control back?”

  I frowned. Was I? And if I was gaining control over my ki manipulation, how was I doing it?

  Q’s smile disappeared behind a grimace of pain. He hissed and pressed his palm against his head.

  “Q!” More dirty looks from the people in front of us. “Seriously?” I asked them. “It’s just the previews!” Before any of them had a chance to say something back, I turned to Q. “What’s wrong?”

  He shook his head and winced. “Nothing. Just another one of my damned migraines. I’ve had quite a few of them lately.”

  I bit my lip. That wasn’t good news. “Have you been to a doctor?”

  “Yeah.” His hand slid from his face and he blinked several times. “I had blood drawn, a CT scan, an MRI, the works, and they still couldn’t find anything wrong with me. At the very least, they gave me something for the pain.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small metal box. He flicked it open and dumped two pills onto his palm. He tossed them into his mouth and chased them with his Icee. “They don’t work that great, though.”

  “Then why don’t we go?” I stood.

  “No.” He waved me back down. “It’s cool.” He gave me a weak attempt at a smile. “Besides, the movie is about to start.”

  The last preview ended, leaving the theater in darkness. The people around us became faceless shadows. It occurred to me what a potentially dangerous place the theater really was. The dim lighting made it hard to make out the things around you and the exits were a good distance away. At least, from our vantage point in the back, I had a clear view of anyone entering and leaving.

  Unfortunately, I also had a clear view of Kim’s unmistakable outline. Sumi leaned over and whispered something to him, her lips practically brushing his ear. My stomach convulsed and I tasted something sour on my tongue.

  Just watch the movie, Rileigh. I pried my eyes off the real-life drama a couple rows ahead of me and focused on the screen, though I hardly took in anything I watched. It wasn’t that long ago Kim told me even though a person’s soul remained the same, rebirth made everyone a new person capable of making new choices. Kim wasn’t Yoshido anymore, so I guessed it was possible we weren’t the soul mates I thought we were. Since I couldn’t go back in time and have Yoshido back, I had to accept the fact he was gone forever.

  And who knew? Maybe in time I could learn to live my life without Kim just as easily as he lived his without me. Maybe I’d even find someone to care about again … but first, I’d have to get rid of the ache inside of me Kim left behind. The hurt wasn’t so much that he’d left me for Sumi. No, the real pain, the tearing, crushing feeling that kept me awake at night was from the doubt he ever loved me in the first place.

  I must have made a sound because instantly Q’s hand was around mine. The throbbing ache in my chest faded. I took a deep breath and leaned my head on his shoulder. I was a trained warrior. I’d survived countless battles and defeated thousands of enemies. I would survive this. I might hurt every second of every day for the rest of my life.
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  But I would survive.

  32

  It wasn’t until the lights in the theater turned on that I realized the movie was over. And I hadn’t watched a moment of it. I couldn’t stop thinking about not thinking about Kim. I kept waiting for him to stand up and tell me that he’d made a horrible mistake, beg for my forgiveness, and promise me he’d never leave me again.

  Of course, that remained the fantasy it was.

  Instead, I watched Kim and Sumi stand, gather their trash, and walk down the aisle together, hand in hand.

  “I’m really proud of you,” Q whispered in my ear.

  “Yeah?” I kept my eyes locked on Kim until he’d disappeared around the corner. “You might not say that if you knew all the things I’m thinking about doing to Sumi as we speak.”

  He laughed. “Yes, but you didn’t do those things even though we all know how capable you are of doing them. I’d call that progress.”

  “The night is young.”

  He grinned and offered me his hand when I stood. I took it and we exited the theater together. I’d made sure to take my time so we wouldn’t have any accidental run-ins with the lovebirds. But when we stepped into the lobby, I heard someone call my name.

  “Rileigh! Hold up!”

  I recognized the voice and knew it wasn’t Kim’s. A wave of both disappointment and relief washed over me. I turned and forced a smile to my face. “Hey Carson.”

  He smiled back and shoved his hands in his jeans pockets. His nose was only a little red and nearly all the black was gone from his eyes.

  Q leaned into me and whispered, “Try to have a civil conversation with the boy without bruises, blood, or blisters, okay?” Before I could shoot him the appropriate dirty look in response, he took a giant step backward and pretended to study something on the ceiling.

  Carson cleared his throat and rocked back on his heels. “So … I guess you’re not grounded anymore?”

  “Grounded?” It took me a moment to realize that was the excuse I’d given him when he’d asked me out. “Oh, you mean when I was grounded for my grades.”