Heirs of Avalon

by Alica Mckenna Johnson

  Miu tilted her head forward her two high ponytails falling over her shoulders in a shiny black cascade she’s recently streaked with pink. “I’m staying at my house with my family.”

  “Oh, of course. I’ll miss you.”

  Slipping her arm through mine, she squeezed. “Please you’ll love the time alone. Anyway we’ll hang out every day. I can’t wait to introduce you to my friends and show you Tokyo.”

  Muto pulled open a shoji screen and stepped back.

  I stepped forward but Miu held my arm and pointed to the sandals I was wearing. Yes, no sandals on the tatami mats. I slipped off the sandals and walked into the room, the mats were smooth and a little soft under my feet. In the center of the room was a small table low to the ground. Against one wall was a twin futon on the floor, covered with a thick white comforter and in the middle a circle of an embroidered crane flying into the sunset.

  On the wall opposite the futon was a small television and shoji which opened to a closet. To the left of the bed was a shelf set into the wall that held an ikebana arrangement. A pale green vase which held a twisting branch with small tight buds. I opened the shoji on the outside wall. Miu said I had to carefully look over the room before thanking my hostess for it. I stepped out onto a small balcony screened on both side for privacy and looked down onto the garden. Right below was a bare tree, small buds just starting to form on its pale gray branches. Gold, white, and red koi fish swam in the gardens pond. Dark green moss covered rocks, lanterns, and grew between the flat black stones which paved a path that wondered between the sculpted trees.

  I turned and bowed. “It is beautiful, Arigato Gozaimasu Muto-san. I will be so happy here I won’t want to leave.”

  “I hope so, Rayner-san. My daughter shall be up with tea shortly.”

  “The room is cute,” Miu said. “And I told you it would be all right, you don’t feel anything do you?”

  I closed my eyes and dropped my shield a bit. Peace, tranquility, strict repression, and protection all hummed about me as faint as a bee. No strong emotions. No love, anger, death, sex, nothing that I would normally feel, and sometimes see the emotional imprints that had been left behind. “Is it because of the wood and paper?” Stone held emotions and impressions for centuries, but wood being lighter and more porous didn’t hold emotions the same way.

  “Partly I’m sure, but my family is Shinto. When they clean the rooms they also cleanse the room of energy and emotions.” Miu smiled and moved to stand next to me.

  “This is amazing. I never thought I’d be able to stay in a building this old.” I sighed, not wanting to spoil the mood but she needed to know. “The guardian might not let us stay, well me and the other Children of Fire.”

  “What are you talking about?” Miu asked.

  “Your family has a spirit or being of some kind that guards the Ryokan and all who stay here. It’s very powerful. For now we have been given permission to stay, but the guardian is watching us and if it doesn’t want us here we will be kicked out.”

  “It’s that powerful?” Miu asked.

  “Oh yes.”

  “When I was a child I was told stories about the guardians, and my brother and I would leave offerings, not only at the family shrine but also for the stone lions, but I didn’t think they were real or that powerful.”

  I raised an eyebrow. After all we had seen why would she doubt anything at this point? Personally, I kept waiting to run into Count Dracula any day now.

  “All right yes, I should be more open minded at this point.” Miu leaned against the balcony. “In a few weeks the cherry tree will bloom and you’ll have such an amazing view, and the scent is very soft but beautiful.”

  “I can’t wait to see the cherry blossoms.” I watched several of the performers bowing to a male staff as they passed. They didn’t seem to know when to stop and the poor man’s arms were full but he kept bowing. “I hope I did okay. There are so many rules and rituals in Japan. Thanks for trying to teach me.”

  “You did just fine, and being a foreigner no one actually expects you to do the right thing,” Miu said. “It’s funny we study English and American culture looking for the same structure and rules. Most of you know very little of the grammar we are forced to learn, and most of the time there are so many exceptions to the rules, it makes us afraid of English. There is no order. Did you know I took classes on how to eat like an American? The proper degree with which to hold your soup bowl when getting the last of the soup out, and the precise angle with which to place your knife and fork on the plate.”

  “Really? That’s crazy. Were you disappointed to realize that none of us do it exactly the same way?”

  “No, relieved. Once I realized American’s and especially our circus troupe didn’t really care about the angle of my ponytail, or if I cut my noodles or not, it was freeing. I tried a bit of everything until I found what I liked and made me happy.” Miu sighed and wrinkled her nose. “Of course now that I’m back home I’ll have to be all proper and polite all the time.”

  “Sit next to me. I’m likely to forget all the rules so you’ll look perfect next to me.” I pointed at a cluster of buds on the cherry tree. “Look, it’s a faerie. Even they are proper in Japan.”

  A tiny delicate fairy with porcelain skin, wide brown almond eyes, pointed ears, and green hair swept up in the chignon with a small silver comb in it was singing to the buds. She held an odd looking harp and wore a pretty kimono made from iris petals. Her clear iridescent wings fluttered behind her as she sang. I looked around the garden and saw several more faeries in traditional dress working with the plants, their movements precise and purposeful. Their different shades of green hair and clothes made of leaves and petals were the only things that seemed to hint at a wild earthy magic.

  “I hope all the magical creatures here are this kind and calm. Opening the portal to Akasha will be easy.”

  “You wish,” Miu said. “Do you not remember all the Japanese horror movies we watched? We’ll need Taliesin and his Unicorn powers to get those that want to go home to Akasha through the portal safety.”

  I shivered. “True, I’ve never seen so many scary movies where the evil wins.”

  “I bring tea,” said a young woman in a simple brown kimono with white flowers.

  “Arigato Gozaimasu,” I said.

  She set it on the table, backed out of the room then knelt and kowtowed before exiting the room.

  “Will they do that all the time?” That just felt wrong. I am so not that special or important or conceited to need someone to kowtow to me.

  “Yep, it’s a sign of respect just go with it. If they think you’re upset or uncomfortable it’ll just get worse. I’ll come by and get you guys tonight for dinner. My mom and I are making a big feast.”

  “Oh wait, I’m almost out of the spray you made me. It really helps protect me from other people’s emotions.”

  Miu smiled. “I’m so glad it’s helping. I’m also glad to be using my Phoenix gift of healing to prevent problems instead of patching you guys up. I’m going to tweak the recipe a bit, the books you gave me on aromatherapy for Christmas are so interesting.”

  “Anali said you helped ease her morning sickness, and Kayin loves the body oil you made for him.”

  Blushing, Miu slipped on her sandals. “I’m glad. See you tonight.”

  “Bye Miu.” I smiled as her sandals echoed down the hall and stairs. I poured myself some tea and looked out the window. Beyond the garden were shingled roof tops then tall shining skyscrapers.

  A faerie fluttered in front of me. Her white hair was streaked with pale green and her nails were long and sharp. “You feel like a Child of Fire, a powerful one. The guardian asked me to speak with you.”

  You mean come check me out. “Yes, I am.”

  “There are other’s here, who also feel of Phoenix energy, but we see no fire,” she said. Her voice sounded like the wind whistling through the trees.

  I took out the protective contacts, show
ing her the Phoenix fire which danced in my eyes.

  “Why do you hide?”

  “Because the Sons of Belial can’t track us if they can’t see the fire in our eyes.” No point in making things easy for the bad guys.

  “Are you the child of the prophecy? The Jewel who will open the doorway to Akasha so we can go home?”

  “I am.”

  She nodded. “Good. I have waited more than two thousand years for someone to come and open the portals again. I should like to see Akasha again.”

  “The portal is in the north in Hokkaido, I can’t remember the specific place.”

  She held up a tiny hand. “Hush, child. I remember crossing the portal four thousand years ago to bless the Phoenix King and his human bride’s first child. They also had onyx black hair streaked ruby red, eyes of peridot flecked with gold, and skin that looked kissed by pearl and copper. Their Jewels, they called them, just like you are their Jewel now.”

  “Yes,” I nodded.

  She looked me over and sniffed. I guess gray yoga pants and a cable knit sweater didn’t impress her.

  “I shall tell the others so those who wish to leave will be ready and by the portal waiting for you.” She flew out over the balcony. “And I will tell the guardian you are who you claim to be, but you will still be watched. We do not allow strangers with such powers in our home lightly.”

  “Of course, I understand, and thank you for giving us a chance.” Yay, I passed the first level of inspection. I sipped my jasmine tea. I loved the slightly bitter flora taste. Watching the sky, faeries fluttered up to see the prophesied Jewel of the Phoenix King and Queen. None of them seem impressed.

  * * *

  Bodies lay around me. I couldn’t open the portal to Akasha. No help was coming. I couldn’t save anyone. Laughter echoed along the cave walls. Icy fear filled me. The vision swirled, the screams and cries for help faded.

  The sky was the wrong color. I wasn’t dreaming in Akasha, but this wasn’t a normal dream either. It looked fake, like a badly colorized black and white movie. Sitting on the grass I opened up my empathy. A desire to connect, and a wrongness was all I felt. A snake slithered over my leg. It didn’t do anything so I ignored it. Then another came winding around my wrist. I’d been seeing snakes in my dreams lately, but this is the first time they touched me. Was some snake being trying to reach out to me for help?

  “Is anyone here?” I called out my voice echoing as if I was in a bare room and not outside in the grass. “I’ll try and help you if I can.”

  Another snake came up. It coiled, began to rattle, and lunged.

  Knocking pulled me out of my dream.

  “Come in,” I said reaching down to rub my leg where the snake almost bit me.

  “We are headed out to lunch, want to come?” My aunt Anali asked. Her shoulder length dark brown hair framed her round face. Her aqua blue sari shone in the neutral colored room.

  It sounded like a request, but it wasn’t. I looked at my laptop, I had a lot I needed to work on, but it would have to wait until I had soothed my aunt and uncle’s worries. “Just let me freshen up and I’ll meet you guys in the front.”

  “Okay, but hurry your uncle is sure he can remember exactly where he and your mother ate the very best soba noodles when they visited here twenty years ago.” Her hand rested on her belly, which was beginning to round with the baby. Her first three months had been really difficult but now in her fourth month she was feeling much better.

  “I’ll be quick.” Uncle Gavin made sure to take me to all the places he and my mom had gone whenever we were close enough to them. My mom had died, well she was murdered, when I was five. She hid me in the foster care system in San Francisco and my uncle found me last year when I turned fifteen and my Phoenix powers emerged. He felt guilty for the time we were apart. Some days he gets this sad look in his peridot green eyes, and I’m sure I could get him to buy me diamonds he is so consumed with guilt.

  I washed my hands and dried them on a soft white towel. I didn’t blame Gavin. After all my mom had changed my name and given me a fake birth certificate in order to protect me from the Sons of Belial. And we were finally figuring out how to be a family. I was even excited about the baby and becoming a sister-slash-cousin. Walking down the stairs, I wondered how many feet had helped wear down the center of each step into a soft curve. I ran my hand along the railing and didn’t feel much of anything, whispers of serenity and happiness. This was the best hotel ever. What if all of Japan was this emotionally clean?

  “Are you ready?” Gavin asked putting on a beanie, his bright red hair sticking out and falling over his shoulders. “I know exactly where I’m going, it’ll be so much fun.”

  “Yeah right,” I said. “That’s what you said in Munich. If it hadn’t been for the Askafroa we ran into we would have never found our way.”

  “Oh ye of little faith. I have an address.” Gavin waved a piece of paper.

  “Well get in the taxi,” said Anali wrapping her gray shall around her shoulders. “I’m hungry.”

  “Here please,” Gavin said handing the driver the piece of paper.

  “Hai,” the man said then placed his white gloved hands on the wheel and drove, calmly into traffic using his turn signals and stopping at yellow lights.

  “We’re in the twilight zone.” I’ve been all over North and South America and a lot of Europe, but never had I been in such a clean polite taxi. There were white lace doilies on the backs of the seats and a vase of flowers on the dashboard.

  “The Japanese are very polite people,” Gavin said. “I’m hoping you kids soak some of it up while you’re here.”

  “Gavin,” said Anali. “It isn’t the kids’ fault you got into and lost a prank war with them.”

  “Yeah, and I wasn’t even part of it.” ‘Cause I’m not stupid enough to get involved in a prank war. “Is that why the boys aren’t coming with us? Are you still upset that you and Michael lost?”

  “First we didn’t lose, we decided to stop the war,” Gavin said. “Michael is very busy as the manager of our troupe, he has too many responsibilities to have his time occupied by pranks.”

  “Oh yes, of course,” I said.

  “And I thought it would nice to have lunch with just the three of us. The boys can take of themselves. And we could have won, if we had been willing to crush their delicate egos.”

  The boys—Taliesin, Kayin, Sasha, and Shin—were all circus performers with fans who gave them their numbers after shows and even followed them on Facebook. They were stared at as they walked down the street. Their beauty and muscular form attracting every eye. It would take a lot to damage their egos.

  “So tell me about when you came here with my mom,” I said, changing the subject. The memories I had of my mom and dad were faint, only the journal of quotes and life lessons my mom left for me connected me to her. Gavin had given me my dad’s family home in London for my sixteenth birthday. We had spent several days going through family photos and listening to the butler and cook tell stories about my dad when he was little and my grandparents. Gavin was the only blood family I had left, well until their baby was born. Thankfully, Anali had welcomed me into her heart as well as her life, and with the boys and the circus I was creating my own unique family. Of course, being raised in the foster care system, I wasn’t sure what a real family was supposed to be, so that made things extra fun sometimes.

  “We came the summer before she went to college. All I wanted to do was go to the arcades and the manga stores. Gabrielle and my parents made me go to museums and temples and other cultural stuff.” Gavin smiled. “I think the only thing we both agreed on was sumo wrestling was oddly fascinating and this soba noodle place was amazing, our parents hated both.”

  “So other than the noodle place what was your favorite part?” Anali asked.

  “I got Gabrielle to go with me to an arcade after she made me spend the morning at the Hello Kitty store. Anyway we spent hours on one of those dancing games. We hadn
’t seen one before. Our legs ached the next day we’d payed so long, and our face hurt from all the smiling and laughing we did.”

  “Here,” said the driver with a bow of his head.

  “Arigato,” Anali and I said as we slid out of the taxi.

  “It looks just the same.” Gavin took Anali’s hand and led us to a small door. We all had to duck to enter.

  “Konnichiwa.” A small women waved us to a table.

  We sat on the floor and looked at the menu, all in Japanese, Anali and I both turned to Gavin.

  “When I was here last time we relied on your mom’s Phoenix gift of languages. This time I had Miu write it down for me.” Gavin handed the paper to the waitress who bowed and went to the kitchen, returning a moment later with hot tea for each of us.

  “Sometimes I wish I could understand all languages.” One of my Phoenix gifts is being able to understand other languages, but only if a being from Akasha is speaking, or wrote it down. My powers all revolve around connection, and the magic connects us enough so I can understand them, but it always gives me a headache if I translate for too long.

  Gavin leaned over the table. “Your mom used to pretend she couldn’t understand what was being said because she thought it funny to listen to people talk about us. Well most of the time, some people got rude and she would turn bright red.”

  “Eavesdroppers never hear any good of themselves,” I said. “It is important to respect people’s privacy. That even if they are speaking about you, that doesn’t mean it’s mean or intended to be cruel, but maybe they are confused or venting, or trying to sort out how they feel. So even if you can listen into a conversation or read a private journal, it is best to respect other people’s privacy.”

  “I haven’t heard you quote your mom’s journal in a while,” Gavin said.

  I shrugged. “You told me that my mom wrote the journal while she was pregnant.”

  “Yeah, she was scared she’d be a horrible parent and forget to teach you important things.” Gavin shook his head and laughed. “She was frantic to get all the quotes and her thoughts on them written down before you were born.”