A Dragon's Clutch

by Alica Mckenna Johnson

  * * *

  Sasha plopped in the seat next to me. Taking out my earbuds, I shut my laptop and turned to him. “What’s up?”

  “Maybe I just wanted to chat,” Sasha said.

  I stared at him. What a crock of shit. For the past hour I’d been sitting by myself on the train from Tokyo to Mt. Fuji. I had hoped to spend some time with Taliesin, but Emiko joined us. Being Miu’s cousin and a Child of Fire, even if her power was extremely low, their grandparents had let her come along. Being her charming self, she asked Michael and Nyota questions about the circus and hung on every word of their answer while she leaned into Taliesin’s side. It was perfectly, adorably nauseating.

  Focusing back on Sasha I waited. I’d finished a section in science and was now working on some math. I wanted to know what he needed so I could get back to work.

  “You’re no fun.” Sasha sighed. “Okay, so I have been good for the past four days and nights and I’ve had a few dreams.”

  “Oh.” I shifted so I faced him and leaned against the seat.

  Running his fingers through his hair, Sasha let his gray eyes become unfocused. “A forest, lots of thin tall trees, the ground is moss covered, and bodies. Lots of bodies and skeletons, some of them with ropes around their necks, or medicine bottles and knives on the ground.”

  “So they all killed themselves.” Frowning I looked down the rows of seats. Hiroshi sat with his grandfather talking and smiling. “Why is this forest important?”

  He shrugged. “I don’t know. Something was there. I …” He rubbed his forehead. “I keep seeing magnets.”

  “Do you think something is drawing them to the forest? Making them kill themselves?”

  “Maybe that would explain the magnets. I doubt the village Miu’s grandparents live in will have much night life, so maybe I’ll dream some more.” Sasha grinned at me.

  “Are you doing okay?” I asked my voice soft. “I mean, I know you’re having fun, but I’m worried about you.”

  Rolling his eyes Sasha leaned in closer. “Shouldn’t I be worried about you? Never going out unless people force you to. Getting so far ahead in your school work. The bags under your eyes.” He ran his thumb under my eye gently smearing the concealer.

  “So we both have issues. Does that mean I can’t worry about you?”

  “I’m okay. I talk with my mom when we both have time, my dad is still ignoring my existence, and Gavin gave me an insane sex talk,” Sasha shook his head. “I had no idea about a lot of things before that talk. Yes, I am partying, but I am having safe sex, and drinking is …”

  “Numbing,” I supplied.

  “Numbing, that’s a good word.”

  “If you ever want to talk, or sit quietly with someone else in the room, or whatever let me know.”

  “Thank you.” Sasha looked sincere for a moment then his gray eyes began to sparkle. “So what does ‘whatever’ include?”

  I smacked his arm. “You are a brat.”

  He grabbed my hand. “Thank you, Sapphire.”

  “Of course.” I was surprised when Sasha lay back in his seat and closed his eyes without letting go of me. He normally wasn’t very touchy feely. He felt lonely and maybe a little scared. Our clasped hands acted as a touchstone and grounding presence for Sasha, nothing romantic or sexual, thank goodness. I adored Sasha, but not in that way and with how promiscuous he’d been lately, him hitting on me would have made things uncomfortable. In fact, he never hit on any of the cirque performers. He went with groupies and people from clubs. No one he could build a relationship with. No one who could let him down or leave him.

  Poor Sasha.

  Emiko giggled, again. I scowled. Nyota caught my gaze and rolled her eyes. “Are you okay?” she mouthed.

  Smiling, I nodded.

  She looked towards Sasha and quirked an eyebrow.

  “He’s okay,” I said silently.

  She nodded then turned to settle back into her seat.

  * * *

  Magic thrummed around Miu’s grandparents’ house. Closing my eyes, I opened my empathy and felt the presence of at least a dozen mythical creatures. A translucent stag was the guardian of their village. He bowed his head to us. Wow, an actual pleasant greeting from a magical being in Japan. The whole village, up into Mt. Fuji, and the surrounding forest was a haven. It had been this way for centuries, and now the soil, water, and buildings thrummed with magic. Something felt off. I turned towards the forest. Yes, it’s a haven for the creatures that lived there but it wasn’t safe. Something dark lived in that forest.

  “It is such an honor to have you at our home,” Miu’s grandmother said. She wore dark blue cotton pants and tunic. Her silver and black hair was cut into a short bob and her skin was wrinkled from working outdoors and smiling a lot.

  “The honor is mine. Your home is so beautiful.” Surrounded by farms and rice paddies, the two-story wooden house with white shoji screens looked much the same as it had been for hundreds of years.

  “I have spoken to all of the creatures that live around here and they are looking forward to meeting you.”

  “Really?”

  She nodded. “Oh, yes. I’m not sure all of them want to go to Akasha, as they are very tied to the land, but some need to leave.”

  “Yes,” said Miu’s grandfather, his bald head gleaming in the sun. He wore the same style of clothes as his wife, but his were dark brown. “The Gaki who lives in Aokigahara needs to leave, it is causing death and destruction.”

  “I have never forced any being to go through the portal to Akasha.” I twisted my mom’s ring, a ring Shamash had given to a child or grandchild four thousand years ago, and it had been passed down through the centuries. It looked like someone had taken a bit of midnight-blue starlit sky and set in it silver. A nervous habit, which was much less annoying than playing with the six bangles I had also inherited. Silhouettes of mythical beasts had been carved into the gold, silver, and copper bangles.

  Grandfather grunted. “You will see, it is not well, it cannot stay.”

  “Come,” said Grandmother. “Let’s have lunch and then we’ll go to Aokigahara.”

  “Lunch sounds wonderful.” I followed them inside hoping the creature that lived in the forest could be reasoned with, or if luck was on my side the Gaki wanted to go to Akasha.

  “Don’t worry,” Michael said. “We’ll get it sorted out.”

  * * *

  Lunch gurgled ominously in my stomach as we stepped out of the van at the edge of the Aokigahara forest. Dark brown wooden signs with white kanji greeted us.

  “What does it say?” I asked Hiroshi.

  He cleared his throat. “It says there is hope, and to call for help. To not kill yourself.”

  “Do a lot of people come here to kill themselves?”

  “Aokigahara is also called the suicide forest.”

  “Oh, then why are there trails and parking?” It didn’t make sense.

  Hiroshi shrugged. “There are also beautiful caves to explore deeper in the forest.”

  “Oh, okay.” All I felt was desperation, pain, and anger. “Sasha, is this the forest you dreamed about?”

  “Da, it is and I don’t like it.” He shivered, eyes focused on the woods. Tall thin trees loomed above us, their leaves not yet returned. Patches of snow were still tucked into crevices.

  “Come,” said Grandfather. “You need to understand the Gaki so you can figure out how to get it to the portal.”

  “Is it dangerous?” Michael asked, moving to stand next to me.

  “Only to those sick at heart,” said Grandmother. “It calls to those who feel hopeless, who shoulder a burden they feel they cannot carry, to the weak and the dishonored. And it encourages them to end their lives, to ignore their families who would help them.”

  “Oh, that’s so sad,” Nyota said. “Like being depressed isn’t bad enough.”

  That didn’t sound very promising, but I followed the wide path, my skin crawling with the pain and fear of thos
e that had died here.

  We walked for a while, none of us talking over a whisper, which seemed silly yet something watched. Something listened.

  “This way,” said Sasha. “We need to go this way.”

  He didn’t move into the forest, just pointed. Okay, then. I stepped off the path and into the trees. We hadn’t gotten far before we found our first body, or what was left of one. Curled against the base of a tree lay a withered girl, her arms clutched at her stomach, her mouth open as if she was screaming when she died. A breeze ruffled her black pleated skirt. Her head rested on her school bag, a small smiling pink cat dangling from the zipper.

  Nyota whimpered and grabbed her dad’s arm, the bells in the dreadlocks chiming as she moved.

  I cleared my throat. “Which way, Sasha?”

  “To the left.” Sasha whispered a prayer in Hebrew as we passed the body.

  We passed two more bodies, both had hung themselves. One man wore a business suit, and the other man jeans and a sweater.

  The forest opened up, the ground bare, except for bones bleached white by the sun and chewed on by animals. At the other side was a cave. A scream came from inside it.

  “That doesn’t sound good,” said Emiko clutching Taliesin’s arm.

  “You guys stay back,” I said, walking a bit closer. I needed to know what I was dealing with, but most of the others couldn’t defend themselves.

  Michael stood in-front of Nyota. Shin moved Kayin behind him. Miu and Hiroshi were grabbed by their grandparents, and Sasha stood behind me.

  Something moved in the darkness. Claws or horns scraped along the cave walls. A head appeared, and three glowing yellow eyes blinked from inside the darkness. Twisted horns sat upon an ox shaped head. Its stomach, sick and distended, gurgled as if starving. It wore a robe of swirling greens. I froze unable to look away from the ebb and flow of luminous greens. What? Wait? No, please no. A face looked out from the robe, and another and another. Their mouths open in silent screams. The poor souls of those who had died here trapped forever in agony.

  “See,” said Grandfather. “It must go.”

  “Taliesin, can you talk to it?” I asked.

  “No, it’s insane with hunger.” A silver star glowed on his forehead where his horn would be in unicorn form. “Whatever it was originally, this isn’t what it should be. This isn’t its natural state.”

  I took a shaky breath, trying to think and maintain my shields was difficult. The pain emanating from the beast and the souls it had captured almost unbearable. “Okay, I don’t know what to do. Let’s go, and we’ll figure something out. It can’t stay here, but I have no way of taking it with us.”

  “You heard, Sapphire,” Michael said, backing up, keeping Nyota behind him. “Let’s back away calmly.”

  The Gaki screamed and charged toward us. I heard others scream. Miu’s grandparents called to Emiko and Hiroshi to run.

  “Sapphire?” Michael called.

  The Gaki screamed again, clawed hands reaching and grasping towards Miu and Hiroshi.

  “Run, get them out of here.” I pulled down enough Akashic energy that I glowed. It stopped and turned towards me, the writhing green layer of souls reaching out.

  “We’ll get her, Michael, don’t worry,” Shin said.

  Flames danced on my hands. The Gaki reached out and touched me feeding from the energy of Akasha. I fell to my knees as the world around me faded. Each spirit flowed through my body telling me its name, story, and begging for freedom. Icy cold washed over me, and I heard faint voices in the background.

  “Help me. Help me. This isn’t who I am,” the Gaki’s soul spoke to me. Its body was mad with want and hunger, but the soul’s true self was trapped inside. Like a human soul would be trapped inside the body of a drug addict, trying to free itself but the needs of the addiction controlling what is happening. “I need to go back to Akasha. I need to heal. Please, come back for me. Don’t leave me here.”

  A burst of heat. The Gaki roared and moved away.

  “Breathe,” Miu yelled, slapping my face. “Sapphire, breathe.”

  Gasping, I turned and pressed my face to the damp moss. Opening my eyes, I saw Kayin throwing balls of fire at the Gaki, driving it back into its cave. Miu took my arm and helped me up. Sasha grabbed the other one to balance me.

  “Come on,” called Shin. “They’ve got her.”

  Taliesin was surrounded by beasts: a pink man with wild hair wrapped in seaweed, a huge crow with three legs, weird turtle-like creatures riding cucumbers, and several badgers, cats, and foxes with eyes far too intelligent to be only an animal. “Help us,” Taliesin asked. “We need to leave this place; we need protection from the Gaki.”

  The beasts headed to the cave, creating a barrier between us and the Gaki. Kayin ran over and took Shin’s hand, then they stood behind me. One of the foxes sniffed Taliesin’s leg then began to walk away, stopping to turn back and yip. “She wants us to follow her out of the forest.”

  “Can we trust it to lead us back to the car?” Miu asked. “Foxes aren’t known to be trustworthy.”

  Taliesin and the fox stared at each other.

  The fox yipped, “You’re protected. You belong to someone else.”

  Taliesin frowned. “She says we’re safe,” he translated for the others.

  “She said more than that,” I muttered but didn’t push the point. Now wasn’t the time.

  We followed the red fox out of the woods.

  “Are you going to throw-up?” Sasha asked.

  I shook my head. “I don’t do that anymore.” I’d seen and experienced too much. I was getting used to trauma. Taking a deep breath, I tried to rebuild my shield. It didn’t work. I was never going to be able to sleep with all of these voices and pieces of other people’s memories running around in my head.

  Miu moved opened her Hello Kitty messenger bag while we walked. The white and pink leather shone bright in the gloomy forest. Turning, she sprayed me. I flinched then relaxed when I recognized the smell of the mixture she made to help clean myself from negative energy. “Better?” she asked.

  “Yes, thank you.” I could still feel a lot, but some of the intensity had faded.

  Miu closed the bag, Hello Kitty dressed as a nurse smiling on the front. “There’s the path. I’m going to run ahead and check on my family. See you guys back at the car.”

  Kayin came up and took my other arm. Normally this would help, but he was scared and angry. It felt better than the souls trapped by the Gaki, so I didn’t fight him.

  “Thank you, fox.” Taliesin bowed, his white braid falling over his shoulder. The fox stood on its hind legs, pressed its front paws together, and bowed in return.

  A breeze blew down the open space of the path clearing away some of the emotional residue. I removed myself from Sasha and Kayin’s support. “I’m fine now.” Our walk turned into a run when a scream pierced the forest. We didn’t stop until we reached the parking lot.

  “Sapphire,” Nyota yelled running to me. She grabbed me in a fierce quick hug, then pushed me back holding onto my shoulders and looked me over. “Are you okay?”

  “How can we help?” Michael asked.

  “I’m fine. I need to wash off,” I said.

  Michael arched an eyebrow. “So you were attacked by a being covered in the trapped souls of those who died by suicide, and as long as you bathe you’ll be fine.”

  “Sounds like crap to me, dad,” Nyota said.

  I glared at her. So helpful thanks. “I will feel a lot better after a shower. And it will take time for their emotions to fade. If we can save the Gaki and the souls attached to it that should help.”

  “Everyone in the vans, and we’ll go back home,” said Grandmother.

  “Come on,” said Michael. “You can at least wash and rest back at their house.”

  I climbed in the back. Hiroshi sat next to me. “I’m sorry I couldn’t stay and help. They made me leave.”

  “It’s okay, there wouldn’t have been an
ything you could have done anyway.”

  “Miu has told me about what you guys do, but I didn’t realize it was this dangerous. Seeing it, actually being a part of it, is much scarier.” Hiroshi sighed. “My manga seems so stupid now.”

  “I like your manga. I like that someone is writing down what we’re doing. That maybe our adventures will become stories that children read along with faerie tales,” I said. “Don’t stop what you love. You have a gift, Hiroshi.”

  He nodded. “Okay, I’ll keep drawing them. Thank you.”

  “Of course.” The van pulled out of the parking lot and away from the Gaki. Ahead of us Mt. Fuji stood, the top half covered in snow. It seemed quiet and serene, but I wondered what secrets it held.

  Chapter Eight

  The rain was cold but cleansing. Facing the sky, I closed my eyes and let the drops wash away as much of the emotions as possible. My skin broke into goose bumps, and my teeth began to chatter. Emiko had been crying and shaking the whole way home. Apparently she has a touch of empathy, and the Gaki upset her. She rushed upstairs to a wash with the special soap Miu had made for me.

  They offered me the option of joining her in the bath, as that’s common for Japanese families. No way in hell would I join that little faker. And seriously what was going on? I had been surrounded by the Gaki, Miu had to slap me so I would start breathing again. But cute, sweet, pretty little Emiko is the one they are worried about. If I hadn’t already touched her and knew she wasn’t a magical creature, I would try to figure out what she was. Maybe this was a natural gift for her? Is this what they mean by feminine wiles?

  I’d waited inside the house as long as I could stand it. I helped chop vegetables for dinner and brought in more firewood. The sound of the rain hitting the clay tile roof had been soothing, add in the wood smoke from the fire, and the smells from dinner, and I could imagine nothing more perfect. Unfortunately, my skin still crawled from the encounter with the Gaki. The others had sat to play a card game, and I snuck outside.