Owl and the Japanese Circus

by Kristi Charish

  “I am asking you.”

  “So, what’s good?” I said, changing the subject.

  Lady Siyu’s frown deepened. “I’ve already gone to the trouble of ordering. Your human palate would taint the art of selection.” She narrowed her eyes and extended her arm across the table, hand up. “The scroll,” she said.

  I laughed. “If you think I’m just going to hand over the scroll to you, you’ve got another think coming.”

  Her eyes narrowed. “I will not ask again.”

  “Good, because I’ll only hand it over to Oricho.”

  Lady Siyu’s eyes shifted to a pair of black slits set in gold as she lost some of her control. “I am Mr. Kurosawa’s right-hand servant,” she snarled. “Refusing to give me the scroll is refusing to give it to Mr. Kurosawa.”

  “I’m not giving you the scroll because I don’t trust you as far as I can throw you.”

  “How dare you—”

  “Sabine knew exactly where I was in Bali and Japan, and yesterday her goons were waiting for me to head into the museum—they almost got my friends killed. Someone in here told them exactly where I’d be and what I was doing. I’m betting it was you.”

  Lady Siyu stood up and leaned across the table. Her tongue forked, and two long fangs extended down from her mouth. “You ungrateful insect—I am Mr. Kurosawa’s most loyal servant, not Oricho. He should have handed you over to the vampires.”

  “You know, for all your bitching about how evolved you all are, to this lowly human you look exactly like one of us trying to climb a social ladder. My guess? You figure you’re better off with the scroll—maybe Sabine’s a better bet, or maybe you figure you can take her out and keep the scroll for yourself. Me? I couldn’t care less about your sadistic games, but if you think I’m going to hand over the scroll to you and forfeit my life for some stupid, inane etiquette misstep, you got another think coming. You want the scroll so bad? Take it from your boss or Oricho. Oh no wait, that would be hard. It’s so much easier to beat it out of a no-good, lousy human—stop me when I’ve covered all the bases.”

  Lady Siyu grabbed the front of my collar and pulled me close. “I will rip out your throat for that insult.”

  I was so pissed, so angry I’d had to work while this bitch had been trying to kill me, that I laughed in her face. “Have fun finding the scroll without me—”

  Oricho cleared his throat. Lady Siyu turned her rage-filled eyes on him.

  “Lady Siyu, thank you for entertaining the human Owl. I will take it from here.”

  For a second I thought Lady Siyu was going to ignore him and rip my throat out anyway, but then she got her face back under control, put me down, and gave Oricho a forced smile. “She’s all yours,” she said and strode out, her heels clicking against the bamboo tiles.

  Oricho waited until she was out of the building before turning to me. “Angering Lady Siyu was unwise. Her kind is known for their pride.”

  I rubbed my throat. “She’s trying to kill me.”

  His eyebrow arched. “Can you prove it? Beyond the shadow of a doubt? Because I cannot, regardless of what I believe.”

  I sat back in the chair. “So what? I’m supposed to roll over and die?”

  “I expect you to use your wits and intelligence.”

  I snorted. “Keep showing up late and you’ll see just how far my wits and intelligence take me—”

  “For example,” Oricho continued, “you say Lady Siyu wants to kill you, yet you are not dead. In fact you sat here this evening and angered her to the point of attack.” He shook his head. “Jeopardizing Mr. Kurosawa’s interests in such a way is unacceptable. She knows the . . . provocative nature of humans. I will have to ask her to excuse herself from the rest of this project, since she is unable to control herself in your presence.”

  What Oricho had done seeped in. “You tricked her into this—I didn’t know you had it in you.”

  Ever so slightly he inclined his head in agreement. “I will admit that is an unfortunate side effect of Lady Siyu’s loss of control this evening.” He gave me a slight smile. “You see, we are not always so different in our behavior as you humans. Now, I believe you have something that belongs to Mr. Kurosawa?” he said, and held out his hand.

  I passed him the scroll.

  “And the translation?”

  “Ahh, yeah. That I can’t do. We have no idea how to translate it. It’s ancient magic, so it has to be supernatural. Even if it was safe for me to read it, the codex is gone from history.” I shrugged. “If Mr. Kurosawa doesn’t recognize it, I don’t know whether any human will be able to help. Sorry.”

  Oricho frowned. “Then we have a ‘kink,’ as you would say. Mr. Kurosawa is very insistent that the scroll be accompanied by a translation.”

  “Well, I can’t. You’ll have to find someone else to do it,” I said, and shrugged.

  He shook his head and glanced warily towards the restaurant’s entrance. “It is not so simple. As part of your agreement, you need to translate the scroll. Anything else would be considered in breach.”

  “Why you—I agreed to get it for you. If your dragon boss doesn’t know what it says, how the hell do you expect me to do it?”

  Oricho glanced again at the entrance. “We suspect it is encrypted, and ancient encryption is your specialty, not my master’s.” He struggled with whether to part with more information. “We suspect it is mixed with mortal writing in order to better hide the spell, and we have almost as much difficulty with mortal writings as your kind has with ours.” He held up his hand as I started to protest. “We have had hundreds, in some cases thousands, of years to learn the current mortal forms of communication, but it is not an easy task. Mastery of mortal concepts and ways are a sign of great accomplishment.”

  I sat back in my chair. Alexander’s obsession with human phrases, Lady Siyu’s with fashion, Oricho’s with global communication, hell, even the casino. I nodded.

  Oricho frowned. “What I tell you is not common knowledge, and I trust you will keep it in confidence. I would not have parted with that information if I had not thought it necessary. Will you attempt to translate it?”

  I thought about it. I still didn’t think there was a snowball’s chance in hell I’d be able to do it. Humans can’t read supernatural text. But, then again, this was a supernatural and, if Oricho was to be believed, human code . . . Oricho had gone out on a limb for me, I could go out on a limb for him. I nodded. “OK. Now that I know the scroll is human made, I’ll give it one last shot, but no promises.” I got up and noticed that the restaurant was empty. “One of these days you are going to have to tell me how that trick works—the emptying rooms thing.”

  He smiled, or the expression I associated with Oricho smiling. “Translate the scroll, and it will be my honor.”

  We were on a roll, so I kept going. “And we have got to keep the lines of communication open. You need to tell me what’s going on, otherwise I jump to the wrong conclusion.”

  “I will take that into consideration. Anything else?”

  I swear he was developing a sense of humor. “Yeah. Humans, like my friend Nadya? Just try smiling every now and again, OK?” He raised an eyebrow and I added, “Just chalk it up to crazy human tendencies, but try it out, OK?”

  The confusion was still there, but he nodded and we made our way outside, where Rynn was still waiting for me. He glared when he saw me, and I realized Lady Siyu must have stormed past half changed.

  “Look, I can explain—Lady Siyu, that really wasn’t my fault this time.”

  “She performed as planned,” Oricho said. “Lady Siyu will no longer be working with us on the scroll.”

  Rynn scrutinized Oricho, then me. Then he said something to Oricho in that damned language the two of them spoke—Eastern European something. One of these days I needed to remember my recorder. I could check it on Google.

  Oricho shrugged and replied. Rynn shook his head and headed to the elevator.

  “What did he say?�
� I asked Oricho.

  He thought about it for a moment. “The closest translation is ‘She couldn’t plan her way out of a lit and unlocked closet,’ or something to that effect.” He gave me a small bow. “Let me know as soon as you have a translation.”

  Oricho left, and I ran after Rynn, who was standing by the elevator.

  “I can’t plan my way out of a lit closet?”

  “You forgot unlocked. And you can’t,” he said. In the elevator, he did his best not to look at me, and an awkward silence passed between us. It wasn’t until the elevator chimed that he turned to me and said, “Next time tell me when you plan to bait a naga. I almost shot her when she came out, and if Oricho hadn’t just gone in, I would have.”

  I stared at my shoes, feeling Rynn’s eyes on my back, scrutinizing me . . .

  “Despite that, I have to admit I’m impressed. I didn’t realize you could be that subtle; manipulating a naga is no small feat—”

  Damn it, I’m a lousy liar. “Fine, Oricho planned it and I played the witless wonder, happy?”

  Rynn smiled, satisfied, as the elevator door slid open. “Train wreck.”

  “Whore.”

  We stepped outside and signaled Nadya. She pulled around in my Winnebago. “Are we ready to blow this Popsicle stand yet?” she said.

  I shook my head. “They’re insisting on the translation.”

  She groaned but slid out of my van with Captain and handed the keys to the valet. “Somehow I knew this would happen,” she said. She pulled out our bags, tossed me mine, and headed back into the hotel. Yeah, I wasn’t happy we weren’t leaving either. I was less happy about being handed over to the vampires.

  The four of us made a beeline for the elevator. Nadya was awfully quiet on the ride up.

  “What?” I said.

  She bit her lip. “First they say if you found the scroll you’d be free. Then when they realize they can’t read it, they tell you they need the translation. Forgive me for suspending disbelief, but all it looks like to me is they tell you to do whatever the hell they want. I’ll believe they’re letting you go when I see it. That’s all.”

  “Yeah, that thought crossed my mind too.”

  “Well?” she said.

  “Well what? Do you have any brilliant ideas?”

  Nadya shook her head.

  We stepped out onto the twenty-third floor, where our rooms were. “Regroup in my room in ten and come up with a plan for tackling the translation?” I asked.

  Nadya took one look at me, glanced over at Rynn, and let out a big yawn. “Not me, I need sleep. You want to come with me, Captain?” she said.

  Captain mrowled and followed her.

  “Traitor,” I said as my cat disappeared into Nadya’s room. I turned to Rynn. “So, where are you staying?”

  He shook his head and opened the door to my suite. “I don’t trust you out of my sight,” he said. He headed through the living space into the bedroom and tossed his bag on the bed.

  Considering this afternoon, it wasn’t exactly what I was expecting. I knew he was still pissed at me for heading into the museum . . .

  “Are we going to talk about this afternoon?” Rynn said, stepping out of the bedroom. With his jacket off now he looked more like the Rynn I knew from Tokyo and less like mercenary Rynn. “Where should we start?” I asked.

  He held up his hand and started to count down. “In the last twenty-four hours, you’ve mouthed off to a dragon, a naga, a couple vampires,” he said, getting angrier as he went.

  I started to correct him. “One vampire, one thrall—”

  “Two vampires, one thrall. You forgot about Alexander. Though you’ve told so many people off today I can see how you’d lose track.” Rynn threw up his hands and looked at me with disbelief. “You have a death wish,” he said finally.

  OK, well, at least we were talking about it now. That was better than Rynn being pissed at me. I think. “I had to think on my feet, and I think we can both agree thinking on my feet is not my strongest skill set—”

  Rynn snorted. “And then you ran into the museum. What if Marie had been waiting for you? Or Alexander?”

  “I couldn’t let them get the scroll. I didn’t know they were waiting for me to lead them to it. If I had, I would have waited.”

  “That’s just it, you make decisions without any information, you stumble blind into every situation. Half the time I wonder if you’re even capable of learning from your mistakes.” His anger dissipated, but he didn’t bother to hide his disappointment as he sat in the chair by my desk. “You realize the dragon would have killed you if Oricho hadn’t stepped in?”

  I took a deep breath. “Nadya says the scroll is the equivalent of a magic bomb. Do you know what Marie could do with it?”

  He tilted his chin down and glared at me. “And a dragon holding your life over your head has nothing to do with it?”

  “Of course it does, hell, I don’t even know if I made the right choice. I don’t know if I can trust Mr. Kurosawa to not use it, but I know people will get killed if Marie gets ahold of it.”

  Rynn leaned back in the chair, closed his eyes, and ran his fingers through his cropped blond hair.

  “Rynn—”

  “What? Are you going to tell me to fuck off too? Because if you are, I don’t think I can take this anymore.”

  “I’m sorry,” I said.

  He stared up at the ceiling for a minute then looked straight at me.

  “You’re right,” I said. “I should have waited, I shouldn’t have run in. I shouldn’t be telling every supernatural creature I run into to fuck off. I’m listening. But,” I added, “do you think I want people’s deaths on my hand? I made a judgment call. Maybe it was the wrong one, but I wasn’t about to risk Marie getting ahold of the scroll. And I did OK this time. I got the scroll, I took Bindi and Red out of the game—”

  Rynn shook his head. “You’re going to be the death of me,” he said, and stood up.

  My heart sank. He’d had enough and was leaving. “Rynn, I mean it, I’m sorry—”

  I didn’t have a chance to finish my sentence as he wrapped his arm around me. He picked me up and pushed me up onto the desk. Sitting on the desk made up for the height difference, and we were eye level. It had to be the angle or trick of the room’s lighting, because I don’t think I’d ever seen Rynn’s eyes that blue before.

  “I’m not on board with what you’re doing, but I’m not angry anymore either,” he said, and kissed me.

  I drew in a breath as he tightened his grip around my waist and leaned in to nuzzle me just below my ear. Having Rynn so close was intoxicating, and a shiver ran through me as he kissed my neck. My computer chimed with a message from Carpe. I reached back and gently slammed the lid shut.

  “Besides, I’ve got a particular apology in mind,” he said, coming back to lean his forehead against mine. I looped my fingers around his neck and pulled him in to kiss me. Kissing Rynn had always been good, but this time a wave of euphoria hit me.

  Then his phone rang. He broke off to glance at it.

  I wrapped my boot around the back of his leg to get his attention. Rynn growled and slid his cell onto the desk. He bit my neck and slid a hand under my T-shirt against the small of my back. I shivered at the touch and leaned back against the wall.

  His phone rang again. This time he swore and opened it.

  “What?” he said, but it sounded more like a growl. He barked something I didn’t catch before closing it.

  My body protested as Rynn took a step back.

  “That was Lady Siyu,” he said, the crisp accent seeping in that meant he was frustrated or annoyed. “Oricho needs to speak with me. Now.”

  I touched the back of my head against the expensive, textured wallpaper and closed my eyes. Of all the lousy, stupid times for Lady Siyu to call. “She did that on purpose,” I said.

  “Probably wants to talk strategy. Sabine knows by now we have the scroll. She’ll be desperate to get it.”

&nb
sp; “Fine, then Oricho has lousy timing,” I said.

  That got me a laugh. Rynn kissed me, bringing my sex drive right back to the forefront of my brain.

  “That’s not helping,” I said.

  He slid his jacket on and winked. “I’ll be back soon. Don’t go anywhere. And we still need to talk.”

  “Yeah right. Talk. Whatever you want to call it.”

  “Train wreck,” he said.

  “Whore.”

  I heard the door click shut behind him. I got up and slid the dead bolt in. I’d blown it off, but Rynn was right. Marie was going to want the scroll back, and she was crazy enough to try to grab it. I needed a cold shower. Very, very cold.

  My stomach growled, and I realized I’d only had coffee since before Nadya and I had touched down in San Francisco. I called room service and ordered a bottle of red, more Corona, and one of those fancy hamburgers hotels love. As long as it came with fries, I could care less what they called it. Then I stepped into the washroom and took that cold shower I needed.

  Still drying off my hair, I grabbed my last Corona and opened my laptop to see what Carpe wanted.

  Where have you been? popped up in our chat box.

  I snorted and wrote back, Busy not being eaten by a dragon. Now go away. But I slid into the chair and put my headset on. It had been almost twenty-four hours since my Byzantine Thief had fallen down the temple trap and blacked out. It was time to see how bad the damage was. I’d had a resurrection charm on me, so regardless, it wasn’t game over. Yet. Still, dying by trap chute was humiliating . . . and a waste of a resurrection charm. Think of it this way: imagine you were a highly trained assassin who had to use a rare antidote because you accidently poisoned yourself with your own tools. That’s how this felt.

  I took a deep breath and a big sip of beer as the screen loaded. I couldn’t take it. I closed my eyes and counted to ten.

  My play screen came alive with the familiar blue I preferred, my stats displayed along the bottom. My life bar was down to half, but it was there.

  “Holy shit, I’m not dead,” I said into my headset. My elation disappeared a moment later when I didn’t teleport out. “Oh no.”