by C. J. Anaya
“You’re right. Amatsu wants her alive,” Tie said. “This thing definitely wanted her dead, but who knows how long it will be before he sends his own lackeys. I hope he’s still only able to send them one at a time.
“I thought you said it wouldn’t be able to track us for a while. It certainly found us a lot faster than you anticipated,” I said.
“I can’t account for that. With the amount of voltage it received, it shouldn’t have recovered so quickly, and it must have assumed we’d go here first. I didn’t think that far ahead.”
Tie made a snorting noise and said, “Coming here first would have been obvious to a fifth grader let alone a demon cat from the underworld.”
“I thought we would have more time!”
“Demon cats and gods, huh?” Angie asked, letting out a little giggle. “Since I can’t claim to know the difference between reality and fiction anymore, I’m gonna go with the flow here and pretend this conversation is the most normal thing that’s happened all day.”
I took in Angie’s mask of calm and knew it was only a matter of time before it cracked wide open.
“Let’s pretend for one second I believe you. Why does this demon god only send one assassin at a time?” I asked, watching Angie from the corner of my eye.
“One assassin is all it takes,” he said. “Nekomata are dangerous because they can take the form of any human they wish. This is how they gain your trust, and then they strike.”
“And the fireballs?”
“Nekomata breathe fire,” Tie said.
“Of course they do,” Angie replied. “Cats the size of my refrigerator, are always pretending to be human while coughing up deadly hair balls of fire.”
“Angie?” I asked.
“I’ll be over here having a psychotic episode if anybody needs me.” She stood and made her way to the couch on the opposite side of the room, picking up her phone in the process. She quickly curled herself into a ball and remained motionless.
I walked over to her. Besides needing some space from Tie and Victor, I was seriously worried about my best friend. I sat down next to her and began rubbing her back, hoping to comfort her and avoid another one of her dark periods. She’d been focusing in and out quite a bit lately. It was always the prelude to a melt down. For the millionth time I wished I knew why.
“Don’t think a back rub is getting you off the hook. My level of displeasure with you has skyrocketed to the point where I’m not sure I actually know who you are. Not only has this double date turned into a complete and total disaster, but I think my hair got singed when that first fireball hit my car. I’m not going to be happy until we get a chance to talk this out.”
“We’ve got to get out of here, first,” said Victor, getting serious again. “They know who Hope is now, and the demon god is not going to stop until she’s dead.”
“I’ve got about a million questions on that subject as well, but before we go anywhere we have to call my father. I’m not doing anything until he knows what I know.” I wasn’t about to budge on that one.
“Your father,” Victor said. He looked at Tie in alarm. “The nekomata was in the form of her father!”
“Victor,” Tie warned, “don’t say anything else. Let’s just get them out of here.”
“Don’t say what?” I asked.
“Hope, if the nekomata was in the form of your father that means your father is dead!”
Maybe Victor thought he was being gentle in his delivery of such an awful factoid, but what normal human being could receive that kind of news without feeling like their world had broken in two.
“Victor, stop!” Tie jumped up from the recliner and grabbed him by the collar. “I’m all for tough love, but news that devastating is going to take a while to process. We don’t have time for that.”
“You’re lying,” I squeaked out. I felt the walls closing in on me. My surroundings were shrinking, and I was tripling in size. The dead cat in my living room appeared to grow larger with every painful breath I took. Victor shrugged himself out of Tie’s grip and took a step toward me.
“Hope, I’m sorry, but I’m not lying. You need to know. Nekomata take on a human form by killing what they become. They don’t want to risk an encounter with the human they’re impersonating, and they need to absorb that human’s energy to sustain the illusion for longer periods of time.”
“Shut up,” Tie yelled. “Is this really helping? We’ll have to tranquilize both of these girls just to get them out the door!”
“I suppose improving the truth would be better?”
“It’d be a hell of a lot more kind!”
“Quiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiet!”
Angie’s voice broke me from my racing thoughts and effectively shut everyone up.
“I can’t hear a thing with you guys screeching at the top of your lungs.” She turned her focus back to the cell phone in her hand and spoke into it.
“Dr. Fairmont? Hey, it’s Angie. Just calling to make sure you’re not dead. I was thinking it would be real sweet of you to drop everything you’re doing and come on home because some psycho who looks exactly like you just tried to kill Hope, and Victor cut his head off, and...hello?”
Angie paused, listening to nothing but silence on the other end of the line while Tie, Victor and I gaped at her in disbelief.
She put her phone in her pocket.
“I guess that means he’s on his way.” She let out a great big yawn and curled back into the fetal position.
I started laughing so hard I began to cry. I was usually the logical one in a crisis, but emotional, high-strung Angie was the only one who’d actually had the presence of mind to call my dad. I continued to alternate between laughter and tears while rocking myself back and forth on the couch.
I felt Angie rub my back, and then two powerful arms surrounded me and held me tight.
“You see that, Hope?” Tie whispered into my ear. “Nothing to worry about.”
He cradled me in his arms while I bawled like a baby.
“I don’t understand,” Victor said dumbfounded. “He should be dead. Why isn’t he dead?”
“The nekomata wasn’t sure it was me,” I managed to get out. “He was here this morning before I went to school. He tried to get me to heal him.”
I heard Tie let out several expletives and almost started in on more hysterical giggles.
“I didn’t know that thing wasn’t really my father until I asked my dad about it when I went to the hospital. He thought whoever was impersonating him was working with you.”
“So your dad knows about us then?” Tie asked sounding amused.
“I told him how you guys staged that fight in the cafeteria, trying to trick me into healing you. It’s a shame you battered up your face for nothing, by the way.”
Tie let out a big belly laugh.
“She’s smart, Vicky. I think you’re gonna have your hands full with this one. You better hand her over to me.”
Tie was still holding me in a possessive manner, and even though he was joking, there was a serious edge to his words.
Victor glared at him, but didn’t say anything. I slowly slipped out of Tie’s embrace, feeling cold as I did so. I gave him a smile tinged with embarrassment. I really needed to get a grip on my emotions. In a matter of just a few minutes I’d found myself in both Tie’s and Victor’s arms, and I was feeling very confused by it all.
“Hope,” I heard my dad yell from the back. He burst into the room and came to an abrupt halt once he spotted the dead cat on the floor.
“What is that?”
“Dad,” I cried. I jumped up from the couch and raced over to him, launching myself at him and wrapping my arms around his waist. He held me tightly and kissed me on the forehead.
“Why are Tie and Victor here? What in the world are you wearing?” he pulled me away from him and studied me from head to toe. “Why are you covered in blood?” With each new question my father’s voice became frantic.
I looked d
own at Angie’s white blouse and mini skirt drenched in Tie’s blood. I hadn’t even noticed what a mess I was until now.
“Explanations are going to have to wait. Hope’s safety is the main concern right now,” said Tie.
My father released his grip on me and turned to Tie. His eyes widened and his jaw dropped in disbelief.
“It’s you,” my dad whispered.
Tie gave my father a wary look.
“What are you talking about, Dad?”
“I didn’t recognize you at the hospital because your face was so messed up. You were there when it happened.”
Tie nodded his head in acknowledgment, but said nothing. He didn’t look bored or indifferent or even smug. He just looked sad.
“How do you know Tie?” I asked. Seriously, the world had gone absolutely nuts in less than twenty-four hours.
“He was standing not ten feet from us when you were born, Hope. He was there.”
I looked at Tie and waited for him to deny it, but he didn’t. He simply folded his arms across his chest and gave my dad a warning look.
“Dad, that’s impossible. He’d be at least as old as you, and he’s clearly closer to my age.”
My father must have been suffering from shock or post-traumatic stress. It wasn’t easy seeing a human-sized cat lying dead in your front room.
“That isn’t entirely true, Hope.” Tie finally spoke up. “I’m actually thousands of years old.”
Thousands of years old? I couldn’t possibly have heard him right.
Angie uncurled herself from her position on the couch and rolled over, studying him.
“You look fabulous,” she finally said. “You’ll have to tell me what kind of moisturizer you’ve been using.”
“I don’t understand any of this,” I shouted. I think I was about ready to join Angie on the couch.
I looked at my father, waiting for an explanation. He glanced at Tie and some significant, non-verbal exchange passed between them. I couldn’t tell if Tie was giving my father permission to speak or if he was warning my father to watch what he said. Either way, it was bizarre he’d be taking his cues from a high school student.
Correction: a high school student several thousand years old.
“Your mother and I were living in Okinawa, Japan when you were born,” he started.
Okay, I hadn’t expected that.
“You told me I was born here.”
“I lied.”
Punching me in the face couldn’t have hurt more than listening to that kind of a confession. He didn’t even look like he felt guilty for feeding me such a bold-faced lie for so long.
“What were you and mom doing in Japan of all places?”
“I had an internship there, studying under Dr. Yong. He’s a very talented surgeon, and the experience, not to mention the extra foreign study, looked good on my college transcripts and resume.”
This was definitely news to me.
“There was a cherry blossom festival going on the day of your birth. You know how much your mom loved stuff like that.”
I nodded. I couldn’t believe we were talking about her so openly now.
“We went to the festival, but after a while the crowds became too much for your mom and we wandered over to an area where there weren’t so many people. We stumbled upon a Shinto temple and shrine, and met a man by the name of Hachiman.”
I nearly choked on my own spit when he mentioned that name.
“It wasn’t the same person, Hope,” Tie said, referring to my mother’s killer.
My father looked at both of us questioningly, but Tie merely shook his head. I refrained from commenting. I wanted to hear the rest of my father’s story first.
“We knew we were in Okinawa, but Hachiman stated we were in an entirely different province called Kagami. It didn’t make any sense. Then Julia went into early labor, and you were born. After that, things got worse. Hachiman informed us that it was no coincidence we’d somehow wandered into their sphere of existence and had our baby in Kagami. He said you were a special child of prophecy who possessed god-like powers of healing. He wanted us to leave you with him so he and others like him could train and prepare you for your destiny.”
“Why didn’t you leave her?” Victor sounded outraged.
“Are you kidding me?” My dad was incredulous. “At the time, I thought that guy was insane. Everything that came out of his mouth made absolutely no sense, and no parent in their right mind would have willingly left their newborn with a stranger.”
My thoughts were tripping ahead of themselves, and I couldn’t figure out which question I wanted to pose next. I finally chose the most obvious.
“So you knew I could heal?”
He shook his head. “All we knew when you were born was that we were surrounded by some kind of religious cult who believed—mistakenly, we thought—that you were some kind of miracle child, and we needed to keep you safe. Your powers didn’t surface until you were seven.”
“How do you know Tie?”
Tie’s shoulders tensed at the mention of his name. My father looked like he was ready to give an explanation, but he hesitated.
“Tie was one of the monks at the temple. He was present at your birth,” my father finally offered.
There was more to this story, but he wasn’t going to elaborate any further.
“How did you even get out of there?” Victor asked still fuming.
I couldn’t understand why he was so upset.
“The monks at the temple weren’t going to let us leave unless we left Hope behind. We pretended to accept their hospitality, and in the middle of the night we escaped. We packed our few belongings from our humble little home in Okinawa and left Japan as soon as we could.”
“You shouldn’t have been able to do that. I don’t understand—”
“That’s kind of the least of our problems right now, Vicky,” said Tie with a dismissive gesture. “We need to get to Chinatsu and figure out what our next step is going to be. Our main concern, now, is Hope’s safety.”
“I don’t know what’s been going on here,” my father said, looking at the floor to where the giant cat lay, “but I agree with Tie. Hope’s safety is all that matters.”
“Could we squeeze a light snack in on our way to visit Ms. Mori?” Angie voiced from the sofa. “I need chocolate.”
I couldn’t have agreed more.
***
The car ride to Ms. Mori’s house was dead quiet. There was so much thinking going on by every person seated within. I could hear their thoughts thundering through me as loudly as if everyone were yelling all at once.
We’d tried explaining recent events to my father while we packed some clothes and snacks for the night. I had to change my blood-soaked clothes anyway.
It surprised me at how well he handled each new detail. It wasn’t like him to bypass the overprotective knee-jerk reaction I was so used to. It was almost as if he’d been expecting something like this to happen, and maybe he had. He’d all but admitted he and my mother had been hiding me from Japanese zealots for seventeen years.
His behavior around Tie was a bit baffling. They clearly knew each other and even shared some secret understanding concerning me, but I had no idea what that understanding might be. It was difficult enough to come to terms with my father’s deceit. I didn’t know how to process anything else.
Ms. Mori’s house was located in a more forested area outside Eureka’s city limits between Arcata and Mckinleyville. Beautiful redwoods surrounded us on either side, but I was too preoccupied to appreciate it.
I’d wanted to send Angie home. I knew she’d be safer if her involvement ended here and now, but the fit she threatened to throw would have been epic. I’ll admit, a part of me was selfishly happy she’d insisted on coming with us.
My dad drove, while I sat in the passenger’s seat. Angie was sandwiched between Tie and Victor in the back. Under normal circumstances, she would have been ecstatic. As it was, I kept looking i
n the rear view mirror waiting for her to pass out.
“I’m fine, Hope,” she said, sounding a bit keyed up. “I’m no longer in danger of having a psychotic break.”
“Comforting,” Tie spoke up in a lazy voice. “I think we’ll reserve some kind of sedative for you, just in case.”
“You said Ms. Mori lives outside the city?” my father asked.
“Yeah. She likes her privacy,” Victor answered. “It’s this next turnoff here. You’ll follow it around this winding road to the only house at the end.”
“How is it that you know Ms. Mori?” I asked.
“She’s kind of like us,” Victor said.
“Immortal?” Angie said.
“Yes, but she also has a vested interest in Hope’s safety.” He sounded hesitant to elaborate any further, which meant Ms. Mori had her own part to play in my mysterious history; a history I still couldn’t remember.
I was tired of the cryptic remarks and the answers that weren’t really answers. Sharing riddles with each other would have been just as worthless.
The road wound its way down a steep incline and opened up into a long gravelly driveway. A two-story, red brick house rose up in the distance. It looked pretty ordinary from where I sat. I was kind of disappointed. I’m not really sure what I was expecting, but it certainly wasn’t something so nondescript.
A small feminine figure waited for us in the front yard. My father pulled in and parked, and we unloaded ourselves and our possessions from the car.
Ms. Mori instructed us to take our shoes off at the front door, and then herded us inside and down a hallway that opened up into a large, cozy den. The walls were lined with hundreds of ancient looking books, and there were large brown mats that covered the entire floor. They felt cool on my bare feet. Two rocking chairs sat in either corner of the room and two large brown sofas faced one another in the middle. I could smell incense burning in the corner. It had a nice lived in feeling, and I got the impression Ms. Mori spent a lot of her free time in this particular room.
She directed us to sit down. My father, Angie, and I sat on one sofa, while Tie, Victor, and Ms. Mori sat across from us. This felt very much like an “us vs. them” scenario.