Kami Cursed (Dragon and Phoenix)

by Julianne Price

  Kami Cursed

  (Dragon and Phoenix Series, Book 1)

  Julianne Price

  Copyright © 2013 Julianne Price

  All Rights Reserved

  Prologue

  Kit lay in the bright green grass and gazed up at the purple sky. Cornflower blue paper flowers danced around her, their long stalks swaying in the warm, fragrant breeze that always existed here. She dragged a lazy hand through the paper blossoms and they gave a rustle under her fingers.

  This place was beautiful, but she needed to get back home. Dad must be worried about her, and Ryuu needed her. She mustered what will power she could and pushed herself to her feet. The soft breeze danced among the flowers, making rippling waves that flowed across the meadow. Near the edge of the clearing, the bright atmosphere grew dark, the purple sky fading from a bright amethyst to a smoky grey.

  Kit’s eyes searched the boundaries of her world, finally coming to rest on the dragon. It gamboled around and around the outer edges of the meadow, just at the edge of the darkness, as if keeping it at bay. The light glinted off flowing coils of silvery scales and long, silky white fur. Kit wasn’t afraid of the dragon. He and his master were her only companions in this world, and she had never felt anything but happy to see the creature. What made her afraid was not being able to go home.

  Something stirred within Kit, and she fought against that heavy peacefulness that was always with her. She waited until the dragon was on the far side of the meadow, then mustered up every ounce of willpower she had pushed herself to her feet. She drew a breath when the contentment tried to steal over her. She pushed the feeling away and darted toward the far side of the meadow at a dead run. The paper blossoms crushed under her feet, and tall grasses whispered against her legs as she ran. Glancing over her shoulder, she saw that the dragon was only now noticing her. She was going to make it this time!

  But as she neared the dark boundary of the meadow, something terrible rose up inside her. There was a sharp pain in her chest- a squeezing, crushing sensation- and she felt dizzy. A figure appeared from the darkness, and Kit took a few steps backward. Megafail!

  As she fell away from the border, the mantle of comfort and calm settled over her again. She stared up at the tall man whose face was always hidden by shadows. He was her jailor, keeping her trapped here in this perfect meadow, never letting her see what was in the darkness beyond. The dragon galloped up to them and slipped around the man in a liquid motion, coiling around his body like a living scarf. It perched its front paws on the man’s shoulder and stared at Kit with amused topaz eyes.

  The man with the shadowy face said nothing. He never did. He simply turned and began to pace the border of the meadow, his flowing white clothes and long, silky, black ponytail swaying gently in the warm breeze. Kit drifted back toward the center of the meadow, and her mind began to wander as she stroked the pretty flowers and watched puffy clouds drift over the unchanging purple sky, all thoughts of the intense fear, and her urgent need to return home forgotten.

  Chapter 1

  Fall gave one last burst of sweltering heat before it yielded to the inevitable long Michigan winter that would follow. I hummed a little tune while I walked, loving the feel of the sunshine on my face.

  A small, dark-haired boy was waiting for me near the back exit of the school. Other people avoided him- called him creepy- but I was used to his bizarre way of looking through you and that kind of tingling, cold fingers up your spine feeling that I got sometimes when he was in a bad mood. He’d come a long way from the skinny little orphan with the pale, blank doll’s face, and black, staring eyes who had come to live next door to us just last year. To me he was just Ryuu- my best friend in the world.

  At first, I was afraid the older boys had cornered him again, and maybe that was why I hadn’t seen him when school let out. I clutched my backpack straps, ready to swing the heavy bag like a weapon if I needed to. But no one was around, and Ryuu seemed perfectly fine.

  “Hey Kit.” He smiled, his dark brown eyes sparkling in his perfect little face, and I relaxed my stance.

  I looked down at his shiny black head, feeling like a giant. “Aren’t you coming home?”

  I rooted around in my bag, then held up my latest library find, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Sure, it was a bit more sissy than the stuff we usually read, stretched out under the spreading tree in my backyard. But something about this book just begged me to check it out.

  Ryuu shrugged his scrawny shoulders. “I have to stay after school and help set up the biology lab for tomorrow.” If he helped out, the teacher would let him sit in on the higher grades’ science lessons. He’d even been allowed into my class one day, and I was three years ahead of him. He was kind of a genius.

  I rolled my eyes. “You’re a nerd.”

  He eyed the book tucked under my arm and gave me a look from those dark eyes. Ryuu was a boy of few words. I’d read the phrase in a book one time- man of few words- and I thought it applied to him perfectly.

  “Just come to my house when you’re done.” I ruffled his silky black hair and he looked up at me with a long-suffering expression.

  I turned to leave, but Ryuu grabbed my arm. “Kit! Wait.”

  The book slipped out from under my arm and landed at my feet with a thump. I looked at Ryuu in surprise. His dark, almond shaped eyes were like a couple of Frisbees, and his mouth was compressed to a thin line.

  “That book- where did you get it?” He didn’t seem to be able to take his eyes off the battered old cover.

  “Uh, the library,” I said slowly. “What’s the matter?”

  I stooped to pick up the book and he held up his hands. “Don’t!” His face was white and his hands shook. “Don’t touch that thing, Kit!”

  I sighed in exasperation and scooped up the book. I held it up, waggling it in his face, and he took a step backward. “It’s only a book. What’s wrong with you?”

  He took a deep breath and looked a little bit less freaked out, though his eyes were still wide, and his expression serious. “That book is cursed,” he said gravely.

  I ignored the cold fingers on my spine thing and heaved another sigh. Ryuu was about to go all…Ryuu again, I just knew it. His belief in magic, and his constant talk about curses and spirits was one of the reasons that everyone picked on him. A masculine voice drifted to us. “Ryuu? If you’re out there, hurry up. I thought you were going to help?”

  Ryuu’s eyes were still locked on the book as he shouted a reply. “Okay Mr. Masterson. I’m coming.”

  “Throw that thing in the dumpster,” he pleaded. “I mean it, Kit. It’s tainted.”

  I raised my eyebrows at him. Tainted? Ryuu thought my book was possessed or something? “Look, don’t you think it’s time you stopped with all that junk about curses? Haven’t you outgrown that stuff yet?” I felt incredibly mature right then, with all my fourteen years of wisdom against his measly eleven. Then I realized that Ryuu’s aunt was always telling him the same thing- he was too old for make believe- and I hated that I’d agreed with the stupid woman.

  “Today, Ryuu!” Mr. Masterson was quickly losing patience.

  Ryuu turned and loped up the sidewalk. His lanky gait reminded me of a baby giraffe I’d seen once at the zoo. Grinning, I turned and started walking back the way I’d come. Cursed book. Yeah right. I smiled to myself as I turned the book over and flipped through the pages.

  I came to a stumbling halt as the sidewalk seemed to tilt and heave. The print was moving, crawling across the page, mingling with the weird drawings of rabbits and mad hatters. Then craziness reached out and grabbed me. I heard Ryuu’s voice calling to me, but it was faint, and then it was gone.

&n
bsp; *****

  Ryuu paced up the sidewalk toward the school. He would tell Mr. Masterson that he was sick and needed to go home. There was no way he could leave Kit alone when there was a cursed object this close to her. He should have taken the book away from her, made her understand that he wasn’t making this stuff up, that he wasn’t just some silly little kid. Actually, he should have refused to be her friend from the beginning. But he hadn’t, and the rest was all his fault.

  A piercing scream shattered the soft afternoon. His steps faltered, his shoes scuffing on the concrete. He spun and dashed back the way he’d come. Visions of twisted metal and broken glass swam up, and he had to fight to push the memories away. He hadn’t been able to protect his parents. Now he’d failed her as well.

  Kit was lying in the lush grass beside the sidewalk, not far from where he’d left her. At first glance, she could have merely been napping in the afternoon sun, but then her body began to twitch and jerk, and her eyelids fluttered. He kicked the tainted book away from her, but it was too late. The thing was already done. He’d known it was a nasty one, but he hadn’t realized it was this bad. Dark energy coated Kit like a thin second skin.

  Ryuu fell to his knees, wrapping his arms around his friend, ignoring the stinging cold of the kami’s energy. He pulled her across his lap, trying to hold her together with his small arms while she twitched and writhed. “Kit,” he moaned. “Oh God Kit, I’m sorry! I’m sorry!”

  She went slack in his arms, her head lolling back, her heart-shaped face pale, and her pretty, blue eyes unfocused. He brushed the long tangle of brown hair away from her face and pressed his forehead to hers.

  “I’ll save you, Kit,” he whispered urgently, his voice cracking. “Don’t leave me. Just hang on. I promise I’ll save you.” Feet pounded down the sidewalk and he could hear the ambulance siren. They would come and take her away. They’d never listen to him, wouldn’t believe that there was nothing in their modern medicine that could help her now. Besides, to them he was just the kid he appeared to be.

  They pried her out of his arms. There was noise- shouting, sirens, urgent questions- but Ryuu couldn’t focus on any of that. His eyes were on the book, lying forgotten in the grass, its worn cover bathed in the flashing red lights of the ambulance.

  The writhing black energy that had coated it was gone, leaving behind nothing more than an old book with deep shadows that went on forever.

  *****

  I woke up feeling disoriented, like I’d fallen asleep somewhere weird and slept for way too long. The last wisps of a really nice dream were still clinging to my brain, and I shook my head trying to clear it. I couldn’t remember what day it was, and the battered white wall in front of me was completely unfamiliar. There was a sort of continuous background noise, and I thought I must be somewhere with a lot of people. I rolled over and sat up, pushing myself back against the pile of pillows behind me.

  The room was small and white. I had been really sick once when I was little, so I knew the feel of a hospital. This place had that feel, but the worn carpet on the floor, and the battered wooden dresser and desk in the corner didn’t seem like something you would see in a hospital room. They weren’t clean enough.

  A boy was dozing in a plastic chair beside the bed. He was slumped forward with his head on his folded arms, half leaning on the mattress. My movements shook the bed a little, and he sat up, blinking sleepily. His almond shaped eyes were a shade of brown so dark they were almost black, and they were set at an angle over his high cheekbones- like a cat’s eyes. He was about my age, I thought, though he looked a bit older with his pretty, black hair cut at an angle in the front and falling forward over his eyes as he moved.

  “Who…” Flustered, I cleared my throat and tried again. “Where am I?”

  The boy scooted his chair closer to the bed, looking more alert. I stretched my legs beneath the nubbly white blanket. My body felt so weird- heavy.

  The boy pushed his hair back and his dark eyes twinkled down at me. “Kit?”

  He grabbed one of my hands, his long fingers wrapping around mine. There was a quiet jingle when he moved. The sound was familiar for some reason, and I looked down at the bracelet he was wearing- wooden beads with a little bell at the end. I frowned down at it, trying to remember why it seemed so familiar.

  “Hey, Kit,” his voice was soft, like the way you talk to someone who’s really sick. “Are you awake?”

  “Am I in a hospital? Who are you?” My voice sounded weird. It was too deep. I cleared my throat again, trying to fix it. I must have been really sick.

  He squeezed my hand and a huge smile split his face. “You’re back!” He leaned forward to press his lips to my forehead, and I froze in surprise.

  His dark eyes studied my face eagerly. Slowly, realization dawned on him, and a look of disappointment crossed his face. “You don’t know who I am?”

  He scooted his chair as close as it could get, vibrating with excitement. “Kit, it’s me. You know… we live next door to each other. We’re best friends!”

  I blinked at him in surprise, still feeling foggy. “Ryuu? He’s only eleven.” But his eyes were so familiar. Besides, it just wasn’t possible for anyone to be as pretty as the little boy I knew. Did he have an older brother that I’d never met? Maybe he’d been living with a relative in Japan or something…

  “Who are you? Where’s Ryuu?”

  The boy took a deep breath. “Look Kit, I know you’re confused, and this is probably going to be really scary for you, but just trust me, okay? I got rid of the curse, just like I promised. Everything’s going to be okay now. I’ll go get your Dad and he’ll bring you home.”

  He started to stand up, but I clutched at his hand, suddenly terrified. He was Ryuu. He had to be. But he couldn’t be. “Don’t leave! What’s going on? Where am I? Why can’t I remember?” My unfamiliar voice wobbled.

  Terror clawed its way through my chest and I felt like I couldn’t breathe. I closed my eyes and strained to remember. “I…I brought you a book. I was going to go read it to you. That was yesterday… wasn’t it?” Wasn’t it?!

  He sank back down on the edge of his chair and reached out to awkwardly pat my head. His eyes were Ryuu’s alright, both young and old all at the same time, just as they’d been when he was eleven. No, they were worse- that feeling of depth behind them went on forever now. “You’re… well, you’re in the mental hospital Kit. You’ve been here for three years.”

  A door creaked open and a woman in scrubs walked in. “Okay, Ryuu, you know the rules. Once she’s up you need to leave. It’s for your own safety.”

  “Don’t worry.” He beamed at her, and the expression made the woman stop in her tracks. “She won’t hurt me now.” He patted my head again, like I was a puppy or something.

  He turned to whisper to me. “I promise, I’ll explain everything to you later. Just… hang in there until I bring your Dad. They won’t let me stay in here when you’re awake. You usually get pretty agitated.”

  His hand slipped from mine and I felt completely lost. The nurse came to stand by my bed, her eyes crinkled with suspicion. “What’s going on?”

  Ryuu turned to her, his face alight with that blinding smile again. “She’s awake,” he said, clearly making an effort to rein in the emotions dancing across his face. “I mean, really awake. She’s not crazy anymore.”

  The nurse raised her eyebrows and gave him a look that said she thought he was the crazy one. The new Ryuu glared at her. “Don’t give her anymore of those meds. They don’t do a thing for her. I’m getting her dad and he’ll tell you the same thing.”

  She shook her head. “Visiting hours are over. You need to leave so she can have her dinner.” She turned to deposit a stack of white towels on the chair Ryuu had just vacated. “And I can’t hold her meds just because some kid told me to,” she muttered under her breath.

  Ryuu grabbed a long black jacket off the back of the plastic chair and hurried toward the door, leaving behind the sc
ent of leather and something else, something smoky and flowery at the same time. It was strange. My Ryuu didn’t smell like that. Pausing, he glanced back at me, looking dark and strange. “Don’t worry, Kit. I’ll be back. We’ll come and take you home.”

  Then that weirdness about him vanished and he was just a kid, pushing through the door and into the hallway with an excited bounce in his step.

  The nurse shook her graying blond head and closed the door firmly behind him. Then she turned to me. She wore her hair pulled back in a slick, severe bun, but the lines around her eyes were soft. I could see that she was being careful, like she expected me to freak out.

  “Don’t let that boy get you all riled up, honey. He’s a sweet thing, but he’s got a terrible habit of making up stories.” She sighed. “Besides, we all know how much he upsets you. I won’t let him back in here today.”

  “He doesn’t upset me.” In fact, Ryuu’s weirdness was the only familiar thing- it was kind of comforting that at least that was still the same. “Where am I?”

  My voice still sounded strange to me. I tucked my knees up under my chin, curling my toes into the mattress.

  She barely glanced at me as she went to the pressboard dresser in the corner and started taking out a change of clothes. “You’re at Birch Hill sweetheart, just like yesterday.”

  I didn’t know much about Birch Hill, just enough to know that it was a place for crazy people. Not fourteen-year-old girls.

  “No,” I said slowly. Why didn’t she understand? “Yesterday I checked out a book from the library and went to walk home from school with Ryuu. And today I’m here. How did I get here?” My breath caught and my chest started to ache.

  She stopped and looked at me with wide eyes. “Calm down honey, it’s okay.”

  I couldn’t breathe; my lungs weren’t working right. Everything felt wrong. “What’s wrong with me? My body doesn’t feel right!”

  The nurse crossed the room and pushed the little button attached to my bed. A crackling sound came over the speaker in the bedrail, followed by a bored male voice. “What can I do for you?”