by C. J. Anaya
Our group launched into a sprint as the walls began to zip shut behind us.
It really was like the mazes in mythology class, only there was no guarantee we would be getting out before we became plant food. Each immortal grabbed a mortal and took off into a super human dead run, taking a sharp left and then sprinting to the right before we were moving so fast I couldn’t figure out my left from my right or the difference between up and down. Tie finally broke out into a clearing with a large fountain in the center. The rest of the group arrived right behind us and set their charges on the floor just as the walls behind us closed with sickening force.
My recovery wasn’t quite so bad since we hadn’t traveled nearly the same distance we had earlier that morning, but I was still a little shaky on my feet.
I took in the fountain, but didn’t remember it from my previous life. I did, however, remember the winding staircase leading up to Saigo’s rooms a little beyond the fountain. I nearly cried in relief and went to take a step forward when Tie grabbed me by the waist and jolted me back, preventing me from stepping into a patch of some inky, black substance.
“That’s not something any of us want to get stuck in,” he said.
“What is it?” Kirby asked.
“Black sand,” Ms. Mori said. “You find it mostly in front of the palace as a deterrent for breaching its gated walls. Apparently, Amatsu has placed it here for anyone suicidal enough to enter these gardens.”
Kirby grabbed her hand and took a step closer to her.
“But what does it do?”
She pulled him in for a side hug and squeezed him tightly to her. “It’s like quicksand, except there is no escaping it once you touch it. Even if you can be pulled out, the black sand remains glued to you and slowly swallows you whole, transporting you to the Underworld.”
“We are going to have to be extremely careful as we make our way around the fountain and this small clearing,” Daiki said. “I will go first. Everyone steps where I step. Agreed?”
We nodded and muttered our agreement. I couldn’t help but think we were all too eager to let Daiki lead the way. He stepped around the black pool of goo that I’d almost plunged into, and slowly circumvented the front of the fountain, pausing to turn and take one or two steps to the left, forward two, then right one as we all followed suit.
As far as booby traps go, this one didn’t seem so bad. I mean, all we had to do was walk around the patches of black sand and we were fine. The process was tedious, considering how slow everyone in the group had to move in order to completely avoid the various pockets scattered before us.
Daiki made it to the foot of what was once Saigo’s stairs with the rest of us close behind when out of the corner of my eye I thought I saw a flash of black right next to me.
“Hope, wait,” Angie yelled from behind me. She shoved me to my left where I stumbled into Tie’s arms, but whatever she’d saved me from hadn’t been something she could avoid. Horrified, I watched a black film of sand slowly curl its way up her right leg.
“Seriously?” she grumbled. “Nobody said these patches of sand were capable of moving from one location to the next. This thing totally cheated.”
Bishu grabbed her arm and tugged her toward him, the panic on his face matching that of Victor’s as they both carefully surrounded her and attempted to pull her out of the sand with one kami on either arm. It didn’t matter that they moved her. The black sand was now crossing over her knee and up her thigh.
“What can we do?” Victor said.
Panic gave way to desperation as he paced back and forth in front of her.
“Everybody stays exactly where they are,” I said. “If these things can travel, then I don’t want anyone else getting trapped in one of them.”
I took a careful step toward her, but Tie tugged on my arm.
“Hope, I know that look. What’s your plan?”
“It’s a sentient being, just like the Vampers,” I said. “I need to see if I can communicate with it.”
“You can’t touch it,” Victor said. “You’ll be in the same predicament as she’s in.”
Bishu was shaking his head, still holding tight to Angie’s arm.
“What if she connects with Angela? If this substance is used to transport people to the Underworld then it must use some form of communication with the veil and Angie’s ki.”
“That’s quite a stretch,” Hachiman said. His voice was grave and his eyes appeared defeated. He’d already given up on her. I could tell.
I pulled away from Tie and reached Angie in two strides. I heard him grunting something about the effects of modern thinking on a stubborn women, but I completely ignored it. There was no way I was losing Angie now.
No. Freaking. Way.
I placed both hands on her shoulders and looked her in the eye. I think I needed the grounding of that eye contact and reassurance more than she did. I checked her ki to see if there was any noticeable differences within its energy signature.
Darker energies snaked their way slowly through her system, shutting down various functions throughout the body. The black sand didn’t just transport the victim to the underworld, it killed its victim first and then sent its spirit through the veil, only to be trapped in purgatory regardless of the life that soul had led.
It was a vile piece of magic, and I had no idea how to push it from her system. I tried to attack the darkness in the same way I did whenever someone was injured with a weapon from the Underworld, but the blackness was composed of an entirely different substance, and I had no clue how to burn it out of her system. Creating internal light from her energy didn’t do anything to stop its progress. Angie’s shoulder’s shook underneath my grip, the only sign of her distress.
It was almost as if her ki couldn’t accept the help I offered in exactly the same way my ki had refused Victor’s aid so long ago.
I was running out of time and drawing a blank. Sweat beaded between my shoulder blades and dripped along my spine.
I couldn’t lose Angie. Not like this, but I had no idea how to help her.
I dropped my hands and stared at Angie in shock as a thought crossed my mind.
Could it be that simple?
I had two kami who might be able to accomplish what I couldn’t. If I didn’t get it right the first time, there wouldn’t be time for a second. Based on what I knew of Angie’s history and her own personal reactions to the war gods, I made a decision and hoped to hell it was the right one.
“Bishu, you need to kiss her.”
“What?” Victor shouted.
Angie’s eyes widened. Her fear popped up a notch as she looked down at the gooey substance that now covered her up to her waist.
“Her ki won’t take direction from mine, but I know she isn’t meant to die or I would have already tried to break through the veil.” I ignored the disapproval emanating from the rest of the group and went on. “She might recognize your ki, Bishu, but we can only find out if you connect with her and it has to be through a kiss.”
“This is insane,” Victor said. “She’s dying right before our eyes, and you’re suggesting a make-out session is in order? We don’t have time for this.”
“What do I do once I’ve connected to her?” Bishu asked.
Angie looked absolutely terrified, but I couldn’t tell if it was from the black sand or the thought of being kissed by Bishu. Knowing Angie it was probably a toss-up.
“Once you connect to her ki you need to prevent the darkness from stealing her energy and shutting down her internal functions. Create colors and light from your connection and use it to internally purify her.”
“But, for this to work I would have to be—”
“I know,” I said, before he could finish that sentence and freak her out even more. “I have no idea if you are, but I’m going with my gut here. Now, are you going to do something about this or just let her die?”
Bishu carefully cupped her face in his hands, making sure the rest of his body didn’t
touch the inky substance spreading over her abdomen.
“Just this once,” Angie whispered.
Bishu’s lips turned up in amusement before he lowered his lips to hers and gave her an achingly soft kiss.
Since I wasn’t the one doing the healing, I had no way of knowing if a soft kiss or a deeper kiss was in order, but the substance was now over her chest. I hovered between freaking out and going completely insane. Just as I was about to tell Bishu to quit being bashful and get his head in the game, a bright light shimmered from the contact of their lips. Bishu finally deepened the kiss into something chick flick worthy. The light washed over Angie’s face and slowly spread from the top of her head downward, traveling over her body in the same way the black sand had traveled up. The minute it made contact with the inky substance at her chest, the sand swiftly retreated. In fact, I could have sworn I heard it shrieking in dismay as it gave ground beneath the silvery light of Bishu’s healing power.
The light slid from her chest, down her waist, thighs, knees, and all the way to her toes, making her appear like some angel from heaven. The patch of sand disintegrated and disappeared from sight, leaving Bishu and Angie in a bubble of light as he pulled her flush to his chest, wrapped his arms around her and upped their kissing to a whole new level of sizzle.
Yummy. I wasn’t about to interrupt that action.
I couldn’t believe it had worked.
I couldn’t believe Bishu actually had a claim on her.
Angie was gonna be pissed.
Though at the moment, she seemed to be quite happy.
Tie startled me when he grabbed me around the waist and spun me to face him. His lips captured mine and my legs buckled. The darn kami didn’t play fair. Our colors soothed and calmed my nerves while simultaneously making me wish I could go take a very cold shower. I was certain once he finally let me go, I was going to need it.
When we both came up for air I said, “What in the world was that for?”
He gave me a lopsided grin and kissed my forehead.
“I felt left out.”
“This is ridiculous. Kissing is now a preemptive measure for avoiding death?” Victor asked.
He pointed to Bishu who still had a firm grasp on Angie—not to mention her lips— and didn’t appear too interested in letting go any time soon.
Smart man.
Bishu: 4
Victor: This was pointless, really.
“This is not something I thought possible,” Hachiman said as he watched Angie and Bishu’s exchange with raised brows. “Gods of fortune aren’t generally tied to humans…or anyone for that matter.”
“Angie shouldn’t be tied to anyone,” Victor said. “Didn’t you say she was the first woman you met who was untethered?” He looked at Tie, hoping my boyfriend could offer up an explanation that might give him a fighting chance with Angie I’ll bet.
“She was untethered as Edana. I never read her ki as Akane, and I’ve never bothered to read her ki as Angie.”
“Different lives wouldn’t signify a difference in ki. Her soul is still the same,” Daiki said. “I’m inclined to believe it is more likely she is tethered…to more than one person, which is why you couldn’t get a read on her, Tie. She has options.”
“Say what?” I asked. “What do you mean she has options.”
“It will be Angie’s decision to align herself with one of the gods she is tied to,” Hachiman said, staring at Angie and Bishu in fascination. He’d clearly never come across this kind of phenomenon.
“Who else is she tied to?” Tie asked.
Hachiman looked at Tie and then turned his attention to Victor, whose jaw dropped at Hachiman’s subtle hint.
“Who else indeed,” he replied. “The whys of this situation are far more interesting to me.”
She must have had an inkling of our conversation through the passionate fog Bishu had submerged her in because she broke from their kiss—yep, they’d really been kissing each other this whole time. Awkward for a few of us—and planted two firm hands on his chest, pushing him back a step.
“Uh, that was…um.” She cleared her throat. “I actually have no idea how that particular action managed to save me, but I appreciate you…taking one for the team.”
Bishu’s eyes glinted with mischief.
“Taking one for the team? It was a sacrifice I am anxious to make again and again. You’ll find that I’m quite the team player.”
Wowzah.
“What a line,” Victor grumbled.
Daiki choked back some laughter which caused my father, Hachiman, and even Ms. Mori to let out an indiscreet cough or two to cover up their own mirth.
Honestly, we were standing in the middle of an evil garden that was just aching to kill us while we discussed Angie’s love life. The veil was about to fail, we still hadn’t found the prophecy, and my bond with Amatsu threatened to take over at any moment. Yet here we were just shootin’ the breeze.
I found it hilarious that some tasty PDA had saved my best friend from the depths of the Underworld. It could have been an epically romantic moment, but the evil garden was kind of a mood killer.
Angie ran an unsteady hand through her frizzy curls and took a few equally shaky steps away from him.
As she passed me she muttered, “Next time, I’d appreciate it if you’d just let me die.”
“A handsome god literally kissed life back into you,” I hissed as I fell into step behind her and followed her and the others up the stairs. Bishu took up the rear closer to us so I lowered my voice even further. “Next time, I think you ought to put a little more effort into it.”
“Hope, you are so dead to me.”
I couldn’t help the satisfied smirk that made its way across my face.
Oh, how the tables had turned.
***
Saigo’s room looked exactly the same. I had to stop the minute I entered because a flood of memories came bubbling to the surface, threatening to drown me in their wake. This was the room we had spent hours in with Kenji, discussing history, philosophy, and anything else Kenji could scrounge up to give us both as well rounded an education as possible. It was where I’d escaped to again and again after surviving one more round of the emperor’s physical abuse.
It was where Saigo had nearly died, and where I had saved him before we joined the rebels.
It was where I’d been most happy of all the places in the palace.
“Nothing has changed,” Victor said as he made his way further into the room. “That seems a bit…”
“Creepy,” Angie said. “I know it used to be your home, Hope, but the eerie quiet of this place is making me a little nervous.”
I nodded. “The palace is alive and aware of us just like the Vampers and the garden. Do not, under any circumstances, take the vial of kami blood off of you,” I said, directing my comments to my father, Angie, and Kirby. “And no one can get lost in this place. I will take the lead and everyone must follow close behind me.”
“Shouldn’t we split up and cover more ground?” Victor asked.
“I don’t think it wise,” Daiki said. “We have no way of knowing if the emperor’s study is in the same place. The palace may have changed its blueprint since it is certainly capable of that, and it wouldn’t surprise me if Fukurokuju or Amatsu did this on a regular basis.”
“We need to stick together. If we get lost at least we are lost together and can aid one another should we run into any nekomata,” Hachiman said.
“Fine,” Victor said, “but you’re not taking the lead, Hope. I am. Just tell me where to go, and you and Tie follow close behind me with the others following close behind you.”
I thought for a moment and then relented, realizing that Victor wanted to place himself in between me and any possible weapons from the Underworld.
“Thank you,” Tie said to him.
Victor nodded. “I would feel more at ease if Angie were right next to you and Tie.”
“That can be arranged,” Angie quic
kly stated before Bishu had a chance to argue. The look of relief on her face as she reached my side was almost comical. I caught Victor’s small smirk of victory as he turned to face the sliding door.
Sneaky devil. Maybe I did need to continue keeping score. It appeared Victor was going to be a contender.
He slid the door open, barely making a sound, looked to the right and the left and then took a right turn at my direction.
The next several minutes were quite possibly the most anxious I’d ever experienced. The atmosphere seemed still and watchful. Far too quiet. It felt as if the palace was simply biding its time, waiting for us to slip up or possibly take a wrong turn, waiting to lead us to a pocket of nekomata that were already prepared for our party.
What if the palace was capable of steering us into an ambush no matter which direction we chose to travel in?
Victor reached the end of the first hallway and signaled us to keep quiet as he carefully peeked his head around the corner.
He turned back and spoke in a whisper, “Either way is clear, which doesn’t make much sense. I thought we’d encounter more guards by now. Fukurokuju never left the hallways unattended, and I can’t imagine Amatsu would either since he knows we are here in Kagami and that we need the prophecy.”
“What are you thinking?” I asked.
“I’m thinking the castle for the most part is abandoned. If the emperor is indeed a prisoner, then I doubt he is free to roam about the palace or give orders to Amatsu’s minions.”
“Then we keep going,” Tie whispered. “We don’t have any alternatives at this point.”
I chanced a glance down the hallway and saw the coast was clear.
“I agree. Let’s continue on to the emperor’s study and pray it is still where I remember it to be. Two more rights and then a left. Then we will come to a grand foyer. The study is behind the double sliding doors on the right.”
Victor didn’t waste any time after that. In fact, we weren’t even moving as stealthily as before. If anything, I would have called our search for the study one crazed group run. If we could at least reach it before becoming engaged in conflict of any kind, our chances of success were much higher.