I looked at Chris, who was now wrestling with Ricky on the sofa.
“How long does it typically take for you guys to make up your minds on whether or not you wanna keep your swords or not?” I asked.
“For us?” Ricky asked. “Not long. A sword is a sword, and God do I love them.”
Pa cleared her throat and all of us laughed. “More than you love me?” she asked in a joking manner.
Ricky returned her smug look with one of his own. “Maybe,” he returned playfully. She scoffed and came to sit beside me, wrapping her arms around me in a sisterly embrace.
“Boys,” she said carelessly.
We both laughed as we watched them wrestle around the floor like a bunch of idiots until Ricky ended up on top of Chris with his legs on top of Chris’ head.
“You lose,” Ricky said grandly. “Better luck tomorrow.”
“Ha. I’ll hold you to that,” Chris said as he went to the bar in the kitchen to grab some drinks. I swapped seats with Ricky so he could be next to Pa, and Chris returned with the trays of drinks and snacks, coming to sit beside me.
“So, about this whole situation . . .” I said awkwardly, looking from one of them to the other, “I had another vision today, and I think you should hear about it.”
Pa and Ricky exchanged a sharp glance and both turned to look at me and nod sharply.
“Tell us, then,” Pa said courageously.
I did. I told Pa and Ricky everything. It took a while, but I managed.
“So, you’re telling me that Skylar found a ritual?” Ricky asked.
“Yeah, that’s exactly what I’m saying. Problem is: what ritual? What kind is it? Why? All the dots are scattered here. And we don’t have enough time to fill in the blanks.” I looked at Chris for help, but his eyes were just as clouded as mine.
“Well hang on a second,” Pa said slowly. We all turned to look at her. “You all said that Skylar was holding his sword, and that he burned the ritual to memory.”
“Yeah?” I said, still not understanding where she was taking this.
“And you also said that the same voice was instructing him. The same one in the restaurant . . . It sounded like him and everything . . .”
“Yeah . . .” I continued anxiously.
“What if this ritual is what the voice needs?” she asked. “If we find out what the voice needs, we can find out how Skylar would go about doing that.”
“Okay, but that still doesn’t solve anything,” Ricky argued uneasily.
“Do you remember the symbols?” Pa asked suddenly. Her voice was demanding, almost as though she knew the answer before I spoke. “It doesn’t matter,” she answered for herself. “I think I do . . .”
“How?” Ricky asked, but his question remained unanswered while Pa took out a tablet of paper and placed it in front of us. Upon the paper were pictures, symbols . . . completely identical to the ones upon that wall.
“What the hell?” I asked as I felt my head spinning. “Pa, how the hell did you know those?”
“I didn’t know them,” she answered. “This is Skylar’s. What I find weird is the fact that I can understand what the symbols say.”
My eyes widened. “What does it say? Pa, work with me here.”
She focused on the symbols, her eyes becoming clouded. “This is an awakening ritual of some kind; designed to break a seal and reawaken something that has long been dormant. My guess is that the voice wants to reawaken something, and it needs Skylar to be his hands.”
Chris was shaking his head. “This can’t be right. Why would the voice want to help Skylar? It offered to help Skylar, but there’s no way it can do anything if it’s just a voice.”
I felt the blood in my veins freeze over painfully. “Unless the voice is the one who seeks to be reawakened in the first place,” I said quietly.
I felt all their eyes come to gaze upon me with strange stares and I looked down, afraid that I was right.
“Who’s this voice?” Ricky asked.
“It’s Skylar,” I answered.
“But, if it’s Skylar, then who’s Pa’s ex-fiancé?” Ricky asked.
I shrugged in confusion. “My head hurts so badly from all of this.”
“It doesn’t matter who the voice is. What matters is we stop this ritual from taking place. And secondly, we need to have a little talk with Skylar and see what he thinks about all of this.” Chris finished grandly, but I felt myself shaking my head.
“No,” I argued emphatically. “Talking to Skylar will only make this worse. His resentment toward most of us is enough for him to want to stay the hell away. What I don’t understand is how he got in here and took Haikai.” Pa and Ricky exchanged a worried glance.
“How could he have gotten in?” Pa asked. “When were you gone?”
“I received a text from Dessa,” Chris said suddenly. “Telling me she was waiting for me at the coffee house. She had said I was supposed to . . . Oh God . . .”
I realized with a sudden chill of horror what he must be realizing.
“You didn’t send me those messages, did you, Chris?” I asked, suddenly feeling numb inside.
“No. Which is why I practically flew out of here to find you . . .” he trailed off in apparent anger, his sapphire eyes dangerously bright.
“Then who did?” Pa asked. “Who else could have used Chris’ phone number to text Dessa?”
“I think I know,” Ricky supplied ominously. “Skylar's pretty much one of the most experienced computer hackers out there. Don’t tell me you forgot about how he was able to track every phone call you ever made, every text you ever sent . . .” Ricky trailed off in anger, too.
“So Skylar hacked my phone?” Chris answered. “How's that possible? I never took it off my person.”
“You don’t have to,” Ricky answered. “He can hack it from anywhere, as long as he knows the number.”
Chris sighed in defeat.
“Okay, so Skylar hacked Chris’ phone. But that still doesn’t explain the . . .” I stopped.
“He lured you in,” Chris said, his voice coated with hatred.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa. Whoa,” Ricky said, holding out his hand like he was a crossing guard. “Are you trying to tell me that Skylar paid those creeps to mug my sister? That he hacked your phone, tricked her into meeting ‘you’ there, and then snuck off here to—”
“To take Haikai,” I finished sarcastically. “Well good for him. I didn’t think he had the balls.”
“That still doesn’t answer this question,” Chris said lethally. “How do we stop him from finishing this ritual? What the hell is he even awakening here?”
“I haven’t the slightest idea, but listen, guys.” I turned to each of them carefully. “Skylar knows how important we all are. He knows more than we do. So please, watch out for yourselves. We have a football game tomorrow night, and Chris and I are sitting ducks when it comes right down to it.
“Protect us, and we’ll protect you because I have a feeling that the real fun hasn’t even started yet.”
“Fun? You put it so delicately,” Chris retorted.
“I have to,” I said, clenching my hand into a fist. “Tomorrow we’ll get those weapons together, and hopefully, we’ll have a voice of our own to speak to. Someone who can help us.”
“We have our voice,” Ricky and Pa answered in harmony, looking at me.
“It’s you,” Chris answered, and I leaned into the circle of my friends, letting the shine of their eyes wash out all the pain.
Mysterious Visitor
Once again, Chris and I decided it would be safer to stay home. Chris made another call to the office, excusing us for another hunting day; but this time, there was no one injured. Most importantly, we were still on for our first playoff game against Blackhawk High School, Hopewell’s greatest rival since the 1960’s.
Chris and I wandered around the house all day, playing hide and seek until it was time for lunch, when Pa and Ricky were to meet us. A few times I retrea
ted to the bathroom and felt myself get violently sick, but I kept it from Chris. I was afraid to worry him with more than he needed to know.
We all wanted to have those weapons in our possession as soon as humanly possible. Today was the perfect day for that. Ricky and Pa arrived just as we were finished setting the table with our little platters of assorted lunch meats and cheeses.
“Sandwiches!” Ricky exclaimed.
“You like those?” Pa asked with a laugh as Ricky practically dove on top of the lunch meat tray.
“He likes food in general, Pa,” I told her with a chuckle of my own. “He loves a turkey, bologna, and provolone sandwich, though.”
Ricky smiled as he took his first bite and slumped back into the couch. “Bum,” I said under my breath with a chuckle.
“Bum, am I?” he retorted. “We’ll see about that.”
“Oh, will we?” I spat right back. “After you’re finished massacring that platter you won’t have the strength to even stand up.”
He laughed. “That’s what you think.”
“Sure, sure,” I agreed passively. About six and a half turkey sandwiches later, Ricky was unconscious on the couch, Pa rubbing his stomach rhythmically as he moaned. “Told you so,” I retorted to the sleepy Ricky. He grumbled something unintelligible and rolled onto his side, taking Pa’s hands and grasping them in his own.
“You guys ready to go get them?” Chris asked.
“Get what?” Ricky groaned from Pa’s lap.
“Kenchi and the others,” I answered for him.
“Oh.” Ricky and Pa were on their feet within seconds, and Ricky suddenly looked more energized when we entered the tunnels.
I called silently to the light and the tiny orb materialized again at the tips of my fingers. Ricky and Pa smiled when they saw this, and Chris grasped my other hand as I led them through the tunnels like I had known them my whole life. The twists and turns weren’t scary at all; I knew my way around. We reached the large double doors again, and this time Chris nudged me forward.
“It’ll open to my touch, too?” I asked stupidly.
“You’re the Keeper of Light. This door knows who you are,” he said. “Go on.”
I inched forward slowly and touched my palm to the cold surface of the door. It seemed to bend to the shape of my palm, and suddenly forced itself away from me, exposing the weapons inside.
The others processed in, automatically moving to their display cases. I watched Chris as he walked over to the glass-encased sword, my eyes intently watching how he reacted.
He put out his palms in front of him and closed his eyes.
“Come to me,” he said gloriously, his voice strong and unwavering. The sword quivered inside the case and vanished completely. Within seconds it appeared in Chris’ waiting hands, the blade still waving about like a calm lake’s surface.
He walked over to me with the sword in his right hand, his blue eyes glowing still brighter now that he clasped the sword. Pa and Ricky walked over mere moments later; in Pa’s hands she held her two-sided sword, Soyokaze, and in each of Ricky’s hands he grasped his curved samurai knives, collectively called Kenchi. Around his wrists there was a permeating cloud of brown powder.
“What’s that stuff around your . . . uh . . . wrists?” I asked awkwardly.
He chuckled before saying, “That’s a cloud of earth. It creates a kind of shield, so only I can remove the weapons from my hands. No amount of physical or mental force can take them from me.”
I widened my eyes in awe and turned to look at all three of them. I gazed at them all, and they looked back with courage and support in their eyes.
“Are you ready, D?” Pa asked happily, her beautiful voice carrying on the wind.
I smiled at her. “As ready as I’ll ever be.”
I squared my shoulders and started walking away from them toward the encased sword. Akarusa: my tool to saving everyone . . .
A chill of unease went shooting through me, but my step did not falter. I needed to do this. I had to be ready. For all of them; for Pa and Ricky and Chris and Skylar . . .
I approached the sword with slight anxiety, but I forced myself to the top of the pedestal. I took one look at the sword and I suddenly knew what I needed to do. An instinct from deep within me awakened and I suddenly wasn’t afraid anymore.
“Come to me, Akarusa,” I said in a quiet whisper. “Together you and I will stop this mayhem from happening. Come to your Keeper.”
The sword vibrated violently, almost like it was talking back to me, saying it would obey. But before I could blink twice, Akarusa was in my hands, lighter than I would have expected her to be.
Don’t get me wrong, the thing weighed at least five pounds. But it didn’t seem as intimidating now that I was holding it. I felt the sharp edges of the blade under my fleshy fingertips and relished the feeling of the coolness of the metal handle against my palm. Around my right hand, which was clasping the handle of the sword, was the little floating ribbon. It wound itself around me loosely, not even touching my skin.
“What does that do?” Ricky asked as the three of them joined me on the pedestal.
“I think the same thing your little earth clouds do,” I said. “Here, try to knock it off,” I added, taking a few steps back.
Ricky nodded and tapped his sword to mine. I loosened my grip on Akarusa and he hit it again, but the sword didn’t falter. My hand let go of the sword completely, but the ribbon connected to my wrist kept the sword in its proper position.
“Sweet,” I heard Chris and Ricky whisper simultaneously.
I smirked at them and looked around the room absently.
“Wait a second,” I suddenly said. There were only five cases here, and yet six points on the star . . .
“What’s up, Doc?” Pa asked.
“There are only five cases in this room,” I explained. “If what Chris told me is true—that Darkness is the other point on the hexagram—then where’s the weapon?”
Chris’ eyebrows furrowed. “I’m not sure . . .”
“Well let’s think about this,” Ricky said reasonably—I know, completely out of character there . . . “If the hexagram shows Light on the top of the star and Fire, Water, Earth, and Wind to the sides, then imagine it in three dimensions.”
I understood him immediately.
“It’s underneath mine,” I said. “Yamikage is just below Akarusa’s sleeping place.”
“Yeah, okay. So we know where it is,” Chris said.
“Problem is: how do we get to it?” Pa finished for him.
“We don’t,” I said suddenly, not knowing where the words were coming from.
“What do you mean, ‘We don’t’?” Chris retorted. “We have to.”
“No, we don’t,” I said. “If this person, whoever Darkness is, wants to get this weapon, all we have to do is wait for her to come and get it.”
“Spy camera!” Ricky shouted happily. “I’ll install it.”
“Rick I don’t think a spy camera is necessary,” Pa said. “If I hear anything, we’ll be down here fast enough to catch him.”
“Her,” I corrected. Chris exchanged a glance with Ricky and Pa. “You let that little detail slip, Christopher,” I said mockingly.
He mumbled something that sounded like, “I did?” under his breath.
“Okay. So now we need Pa to be on the lookout for whoever this girl is,” Ricky said. “Which means that one of us always has to be here . . .?”
“Isn’t that dangerous, though?” I said quietly. “I mean, we have a game tonight, and God knows what’ll happen if all of us aren’t together.”
We all stared at each other, unmoving for the longest time, until Chris cocked his head to the side.
A millisecond later, Pa said, “Someone’s coming.”
“What the hell do we do now?” Ricky asked. “We can’t just jump this person.”
“Certainly we can,” Chris ascertained. “As long as that person’s alone.”
&nb
sp; “And if she isn’t?” I asked nervously.
Chris didn’t answer. The three of them ran into the back corner of the room and Ricky pushed his fists into the wall. The walls began to change their shape, molding to fit Pa, Chris, and Ricky into their contours and keep them hidden. Meanwhile, I was still standing there like an idiot on the pedestal, my muscles frozen with indecision.
I grasped the light in my free hand and forced it to bend around me, hoping that I'd become invisible like they say you do in Hollywood.
I heard several gasps, one of them my own, as the light began to deform itself. My figure slowly disintegrated into the light, becoming invisible.
“Cool, it actually works,” I murmured. “You okay, guys?”
“Yep,” Chris returned in a clipped whisper. “Make sure you tell us who the person is.”
“Will do,” I said back. “Now shut up.”
I could almost feel his smirk as the doors creaked slowly opened. I stood stock still as the two cloaked figures entered the room. One was tall and muscular, the other more my size, feminine and lean.
“I’m so glad you could complete the ritual for me,” the smaller one said. Her voice had a strange tone; it sounded twisted and deep, a demented version of . . . me.
The ritual . . . So this was who it had awakened? This girl, whoever she was . . .?
So the other figure must be . . .
“Of course. It’s my honor to serve you.” I felt my blood freeze at the sound of Skylar’s voice, deadly and venomous, from beneath his hood. “It’s a pity they aren’t here now, though. You could have fulfilled your purpose, then.”
“Perhaps I still can,” the smaller figure said, her voice coated in knowledge. “It’s under there,” she said, pointing to the place where I was standing. I hastily backed away, careful to make no noise. My back touched the cool wall and I stopped moving, watching the two cloaked figures. Skylar pulled his hood back, revealing his perfect face. His blond hair was in its usual spiked disarray, but his eyes freaked me out.
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