“Cody, can you remove them?” Titus asked. “Or at least diffuse the signal?”
“It’s all over her aura, which is a mess by the way,” Cody said. “She has a Black Heart on, so I would need a few hours.”
“Time we do not have,” Titus said. “The best answer is in Nezu. The energy of the place should scramble the tracers.”
How does he know about the crystal?
“Nezu might react to her aura,” Cody answered. “Could be dangerous.”
“She is like a beacon to them right now,” Titus said. “We need to get her off the street before they converge on us.”
Cody nodded. “She is bright enough to see even in the dark.”
He sniffed the air around me again and pulled back sharply.
“What is it?” Titus asked. “Something else?”
“And she needs a bath,” Cody said, holding his nose and shaking his head. “ASAP.”
“Hey,” I said. “I’ve been going non-stop since this all started. Sorry if I haven’t had a moment to freshen up for you.”
“Cody, take point,” Titus said as he took up the rear. “We will go back the way you came, Ava. Going underground may offer us some advantage.””
We arrived at the station and headed down. Cody stopped at the platform and signaled Titus with an elaborate hand gesture I didn’t understand.
“We have company on the tracks,” Titus whispered. “Shoot to kill. They will be doing the same.”
“I’m not going to kill Enforcers,” I said with an edge.
“Those are not Enforcers on the tracks,” he replied and unstrapped the case from his back. It held a weapon that was longer than a pistol but shorter than a rifle. It was unlike anything I had ever seen. A sniper scope rested on top and the magazine sat behind the trigger.
“What the hell is that?”
“My own creation,” he said. “Based on the FAMAS bullpup. Get ready.”
I unholstered my guns and followed Cody down. He stopped just short of the platform’s edge and signaled again.
“Who’s down here?” I asked Titus. “Why do they want me dead?””
“I do not have that information,” he replied. “Only that Cody says their intention is deadly.”
“He can read intentions from here?”
“He is kumade, so of course he can,” Titus answered. “Cody, I will distract, you clear them out. Leave one alive.”
Cody nodded and slipped into the darkness without making a sound. I tried to listen for him and heard nothing. Not even his breathing registered.
I did hear the breathing and footsteps of whoever it was getting closer. Titus fired down the tunnel and a barrage of bullets returned and shattered tiles behind us. That is when the screaming started. It lasted for a few minutes and then I only heard one heartbeat.
Cody appeared on the platform with someone in his massive hands. He returned the same way he had left: soundlessly. It looked like the darkness parted and he stepped into the light. The sight was unnerving to behold, mostly because of his size.
He dropped the body on the platform in front of us. Titus stepped over and prodded the figure. Dressed in black, the clothing looked like a variant of the Enforcer armor. I noticed the metallic sheen and remembered where I had seen it before— on Ikumi.
“Who sent you?” Titus asked as he crouched down near the figure.
“I’ve seen that armor before, in Fukuoka,” I said. “He’’s with Kaze.”
The man glared at me, twisted his body, and produced a blade. He lunged forward and froze mid-leap. Codyac had grabbed him by the neck. He looked at Titus, who nodded. Codyac squeezed his hand closed and crushed his neck with a snap.
“He was not going to be forthcoming and we do not have the time,” Titus said. “Let’s go to Nezu.”
TWENTY-FIVE
AN HOUR LATER, we approached the rear of Nezu Shrine. I could hear the Enforcers around the property. Inside the shrine, everything was silent.
“How many?” Titus asked.
“Too many to get past without blood,” answered Cody. “We don’t have the numbers.”
“They have my uncle in there,” I whispered. “I’m going to get him out.”
“This is suicide,” Titus said. “We are outnumbered and out-gunned. No real chance of success here. In addition, you want to run headlong into a place of power that can get us all killed.”
Codyac smiled at Titus. “My kind of mission,” he said and scaled the wall, followed by Titus. I joined them seconds later. Cody had landed on one of the Enforcers and was about to drive a fist into his chest when Titus stopped him.
“No, not the Enforcers, only Kaze’s people,” he said. “These are just doing their jobs. Incapacitate them but leave them alive.”
“The real threat is inside,” I said. “It feels like a null flow-state in there.”
“That would be Kaze’s doing,” Titus whispered. “Are you certain about this?”
Cody neutralized several more of the Enforcers. I made sure the Black Heart was fully charged before we went inside. The null-flow state would shut down my ability. I doubted guns would be enough for Kaze or his people.
I looked at the door of the shrine and saw the wards. Ghost’s words came back to me.
“Kaze is a warder,” I said. “I have no idea what half of these wards do.”
“Cody, can you disable the door?” Titus asked. “Quietly?”
Cody looked at the door and shook his head.
“Not quietly,” he said. “Once I start, the energy of this place will be unleashed. Somehow these wards tap into the power of the shrine.””
“In English?” I asked.
“Once I try to undo the wards, all hell breaks loose,” Cody said. “And the shrine tries to erase us.”
“We expected it to be challenging,” Titus said. “Do it.”
“Right, challenging,” Cody said and approached the door.
He placed a hand on the door and I heard the chain reaction begin. A rumble began inside the shrine and then a high-pitched whine. The calibrators the Enforcers carried were reacting to the surge in power. The whine kept increasing in pitch until the calibrators began shorting out and cracking. The wood of the door cracked and fissures opened in the ground around us. I could feel the energy of the shrine coming at us in waves.
We ran inside the shrine and the null flow-state slammed us. I felt my power leave me except for the reserve in the crystal. In the center of the main room, I could see a bare-chested body strapped to what appeared to be an operating table. It was my uncle, Sebastian. He looked at me with a mixture of surprise and anger.
“I told you not to come,” he said hoarsely. “Leave while you still can.”
His raspy voice could barely be heard over the noise coming from outside. Enforcers were screaming and running around the property. I saw the bruises over his body. His face was a disfigured mess. I ran over to the table and began undoing the straps.
“How touching.”
I recognized the voice from the call. It was Kaze. I turned and saw an older man walk in from the opposite side of the main room. He was dressed in formal black robes with red designs. I could see the symbols of the five disciplines interlocked and repeating throughout the fabric.
His shaven head glistened in the night and his eyes gleamed with power. He had iridescent tattoos covering one side of his face. When I focused, I realized they were wards. They traveled down his neck and continued downward, hidden by the collar of the robe. Waves of energy flowed from him and crashed into us. Around his neck rested a pendant—the Eye of Reversal. It was a small sphere of energy about an inch in diameter that shifted in color every few seconds.
I shot at him and emptied both of my magazines. None of the bullets reached him. I could feel the super-heated air from where I stood. The bullets fell to the ground in a pile of deformed metal. Cody crossed the floor in an instant. Kaze waited for him as he approached.
Cody brought both fists
down in a hammer strike. Kaze raised one hand and held both of Cody’s fists. Titus raced up to next to me and started undoing Sebastian’s straps.
“What are you doing?”
“Getting what we came for,” he said quickly. “Get those sticks out, now.”
Sebastian was free and Titus helped him off the bed.
“What about Cody?”
“Do you see what is going on around here?” Titus said and grabbed my shoulders. “He is using power in the midst of a flow-state that he is not causing. This shrine is tearing itself apart. Cody knew the risks. We leave now or we do not leave at all. This place of power is out of balance.”
The front entrance of the shrine splintered and disintegrated. The shards of wood impaled Enforcers as the waves of energy propelled the pieces away from the center of the building. Cody kicked, and Kaze let the blow land. The impact didn’t register on his face. He caught Cody’s kick and brought a hand down. He gently touched the leg and it exploded away from Cody’s body. Cody didn’t scream. He brought a massive fist across and smashed Kaze’s face instead.
Kaze’s head rocked to the side and he smiled. He formed a fist and drove it into Cody’s chest and through his body. When he removed his bloody hand, Cody’s crushed heart was in it. He pushed Cody’s lifeless body away and turned to us.
“Ava, the sticks—now!” yelled Titus.
Kaze took a step toward us and I felt the power, his power, wash over me. I wanted to crawl into the fetal position and hide. I didn’t know how I managed to unsheathe my sticks, but I noticed them in my hands when Kaze’s face became a visage of hatred.
“No, you will not rob me,” he said. “There is nowhere you can go. There is nowhere to hide from me.”
He raised a hand and the floor rushed at us. I raised the sticks in a cross block and a sphere of blue-green energy appeared around us. Below my feet, I could see a mystic circle forming. Kaze stepped close to the sphere and the fear filled my stomach. All I wanted, desired, with every cell in my body, was to run away. The sense of overwhelming fear filled me until I could think of nothing else.
“Sebastian, you can’t hide from me. I will find you—all of you,” he said. “I will have your power and your life. I will take what is rightfully mine and you will pay your debt.”
He slammed a fist against the sphere and the shrine exploded around us. All around us, I could see the bodies of Enforcers and Kaze’s followers strewn throughout the property. The shrine was obliterated, but the power continued to flow. Kaze remained unscathed. He stood unfazed in the center of the carnage and destruction.
“A sphere of amplification with a mystic circle?” he said. “You neither possess the power or knowledge to create this. Who made this?””
He narrowed his eyes and looked at and through me. I still held the sticks in a cross block. They felt fused together along with my arms. I tried to look away but couldn’t.
“Stay back,” I whispered, barely holding it together.
“Ghost,” he said after a moment. “The error of leaving him alive will be corrected soon enough.”
“Kaze, relinquish this path,” Sebastian said. “It will only lead to destruction.”
“Your destruction, yes,” he said. “I sense the fear in you, even you, Sebu. You were always inferior—weaker than me.”
“You will not complete the ritual,” Sebastian said. “I will not allow you to do this.”
“You think you have a choice?” he said. “Have you told her yet, Sebu? Do you know the secrets of your family, little Musha?””
Kaze caressed the sphere next to where I stood.
“Leave her alone,” my uncle said. “You can do nothing against her now.”
“You think you have stopped me?” he said. “All you have done is prolonged the inevitable. Go lick your wounds. When I see you next I will erase your existence.””
He turned and walked away as the sphere grew opaque and shifted us away from Nezu.
We are going to die.
TWENTY-SIX
WE TRAVELED IN the sphere until I lost track of time. Even though it was opaque, I could feel the sense of movement as it propelled us away from Nezu.
Where is Ghost sending us?
The sphere became transparent and I saw the hardwood floor of the dojo. Arashi came running and crashed against my legs. His exuberance made me smile even though our current situation felt like a crushing weight. I crouched down to greet him as he ran circles around me.
“Good dog,” I said, rubbing his ears. “Did you miss me?”
He crouched down flat and then leaped up when I moved. Titus escorted Sebastian to a nearby chair. I heard the soft steps of my Sensei as she entered the floor.
“Hello, Hana,” Sebastian said. “You are looking well.”
“I wish I could say the same,” she said. “Let’s get you fixed up and you can tell me how you managed to get away from Kaze.”
“There’s not much to tell,” he said. “Ava pulled this off——with help, I’m guessing.”
Hana bowed in my direction. “I am proud of you, Ava, but this is not over.”
“It is for me,” Titus said. “I have no intention of facing that thing again. You need to hide somewhere he will not find you.””
“Such a place does not exist,” Sensei said. “You have kept your word and brought her back. Thank you.”
She gave him a deep bow that he returned. He was adjusting the case on his back when I approached.
“You’re just going to leave?” I asked. “I could use your help.””
“I am and you should too,” he said. “You cannot defeat or stop Kaze. None of you can.”
“We can if we work together,” I said. “Running isn’t the answer.””
He shook his head slowly. “I am not in the habit of taking on fights I cannot win,” he said. “After what he did to Cody, I had better sit this one out far away from you and your family.”
“That won’t make you safe,” I said. “It would be better to face him together.”
“It would be better not to face him at all,” he said. “I do not need to be safe, just alive. Facing Kaze would be the opposite of staying alive.””
“I’m sorry about Cody,” I said. “No one deserves to go out like that.””
“He went out fighting, which is the only thing he ever wanted,” he said. “You take care of yourself. Don’t think we will cross paths again. Good luck with Kaze.”
He headed down the stairs and left the dojo.
“We’re just going to let him leave?” I asked Sensei. “He could assist us in facing Kaze.”
“You cannot force him to do something he has no wish to do,” Sensei said. “Besides, I don’t think we have seen the last of him….yet.”
“When did you give her a guardian?” Sebastian asked. “It’s too dangerous.””
“I did not give it to her,” Sensei answered. “It chose her and she looked like she was in need of one. Her current guardian was missing.”
Sebastian gave her an abrupt nod.
“Did they bond?” he asked.
Sensei returned the nod. “Did you tell her?”
“We’ve been a little busy trying not to die,” he replied.
Sensei got up and headed to the stairs.
“Let me go get those bandages,” she said. “This is as good a time as any to tell her.”
“Hana, this won’t help her,” he said.
“I disagree,” she replied. “She needs to know where she comes from and what she is capable of. She is old enough now.”
“Tell me what?” I asked.
Sensei gave Sebastian a look and then padded downstairs, leaving me alone with my uncle.
“What does she want you to tell me?”
“About our family—your family, specifically,” he said. “She is right about your age. You’ve grown so fast, yet you are still so young.”
Kaze said that same thing about family.
“I’m twenty-five
, Uncle,” I said, “not really that young.””
“Only someone your age would say that,” he said and smiled. “For a mystic you still have not reached maturity.”
My uncle sighed and rubbed his face before running his hand through his hair. It was a familiar gesture and I saw it for the tic it was. Whenever he needed to discuss something uncomfortable, he would do the same thing—face rub followed by hair search.
“Start with why Kaze wants you dead,” I said. “Help me understand that.”
“To understand that you have to understand that your father may still be alive,” he said, and my world tilted and turned black.
The world came back into focus an image at a time. The first thing I saw was a hairy snout in my face. A pink tongue slathered my face with saliva.
“What did you do?” I heard Sensei chastise my uncle. “You started with her father first?”
“What would you have me do?” he said. “She asked why Kaze wants me dead.”
I felt hands on the side of my head while my face was tilted to the right. I looked up into Sensei’s face as she put a wet towel on my forehead.
“When was the last time you ate?” she asked.
“Not long,” I said. “A few days?”
“Days?” she said, raising her voice. “And you thought you could face Kaze? You were lucky to escape.”
“I had to get Uncle away from Kaze,” I said. “Too much happening—couldn’t stop.”
“Well, now you don’t have a choice,” she answered. “Your body just shut down. Drink this.”
She gave me a large mug of liquid and waited. I sipped some of the tea and felt my energy returning. I tasted Pu-erh mixed with something else I couldn’t pinpoint. In her other hand she had a plate, and the aroma of food suddenly made my stomach rumble. Arashi hunkered down next to me and waited expectantly. I broke off a small piece of the thin bread and gave it to him. He bounded off with his prize as I finished the rest.
“That should make you feel better soon,” she said and gave me a look. “Never neglect your body. You must maintain the balance, inside and out.””
“Thank you, Sensei,” I said. “I will.”
A Dream of Ashes: An Ava James Mystery (Chronicles of the Modern Mystics Book 1) Page 13