by ID Johnson
“Oh, honey,” Maggie said, getting up and wrapping her arms around Ru as she began to sob. “It’ll be okay, honey. I promise.”
Nana stood as well, and Ru felt one arm around her and imagined the other was around her mom. “Ru, I’ve been missing my family for over twenty-five years. I’m sure the heck not gonna lose either of you now. We’ll figure it out, dear.”
Ru choked out a few more sobs before she finally got herself under control. Her mom pulled a few tissues out of a box on a nearby table and handed them over, and Ru swiped at her eyes, feeling a little embarrassed. “I’m sorry,” she mumbled.
“Don’t be sorry, dear. I can’t blame you for being upset.” Nana kissed her on the forehead and then headed back to her seat.
Taking a knee next to her chair, Maggie said, “Ru, once the last portal is closed, and your work is done, who knows where you might end up next or what you might be doing. We all have a lot to figure out. We’ll work it out together. As a family.”
Her mother’s arms still wrapped around her, Ru leaned her head on her mom’s shoulder. She knew what she wanted for herself after the portal was closed, though she had no idea how she’d ever manage it all. Her ideal future seemed like a dream, one she’d likely never experience. But she was certain that she wanted both of these women in her life from now on, which meant they had to get along. She hoped their promises to work it out would hold true.
“You look tired, honey. Why don’t you head to bed?” Maggie stood and offered her hand to Ru, which she took and pulled herself out of the chair.
Despite the nap, Ru did feel tired—and overwhelmed. Even though it wasn’t even quite 10:00, she decided the bed was calling her name. She hugged her Nana and gave her a kiss on the cheek and then hugged her mom and told them both goodnight. She headed off to the guest room hoping that she wouldn’t have any other unexpected visitors. Three was enough for one day.
Chapter 15
The strain was still there, even after a few days had passed. Though her mother and grandmother did their best to get along, Ru could feel the tension anytime the two of them were in the same room together. But then, the residual energy had been there already, before Ru mentioned that she’d changed Larkin into a human so that her parents could be together. It just seemed more prominent once there was something specific for them to disagree on again. Ru realized neither of them would ever be happy living under the same roof, so she was relieved when they were sent word that Sky’s forces were just about ready and they would likely be headed off to Japan within a few days. The sooner Ru could get the portal closed the better. As to the other part of her mission, she’d have to figure that out when the time came.
Lyric had information from her sister she needed to pass on to the rest of the team, so they decided to meet at Rider’s house since he was the only one who didn’t live with his family. Even though Windy was retired, she tended to get very involved whenever they tried to meet at her house. Cutter decided it would probably be better for all of them if his mom wasn’t so hands-on, particularly since she had been forced into retirement after Leaf’s death because it had been determined continuing to pursue Reapers wasn’t good for her health. Letting Windy help Ru with the demons had been one thing, but Cutter wanted to protect his mom from getting too involved in the actual planning of their attack, and the only way to do that was to meet somewhere else.
Rider’s house was just as small as everyone else’s Ru had seen in town, and she wasn’t surprised to hear it was a two-bedroom, one-bathroom home with a living room, dining room, and kitchen. It was one-story but it didn’t feel as cramped inside as Ru thought it might from looking at it from the street. Of course, everything was completely redone. Nice wooden floors, fresh paint, new fixtures in the bathroom and kitchen, and crown molding made it look like a showroom. The tour only took a few minutes and then the five of them gathered around Rider’s dining room table to hear what Lyric had to say and see what else needed to be done in preparation for what would likely be the most important battle any of them ever participated in.
Ru sat next to Ivy with Lyric across from her and Cutter at the end of the table to her right. Rider took the chair at the other end of the table, his hands folded in contemplation. Ru couldn’t remember having ever seen him so serious before, and she wondered if this meeting would turn into one of his comedy routines or if he would keep his present demeanor.
“Sky says she has assembled Keepers from all over the globe and is coordinating their arrivals in Japan. Some of them will be in their human form while others will be there in spirit only. She said that she thinks having too many physical bodies in the area at one time might get a lot of attention, so she’s trying to keep that number around a hundred, though there will be many more joining us spiritually—as well as the thousands of angels she’s called upon. That’s what’s taking so long. Gathering Keepers is one thing; angels are a whole other story.” Lyric rolled her eyes and everyone nodded in agreement except Ru.
“Why is that?” Ru asked. “Why is it so hard to get angels?”
“Most of them are assigned other tasks, like protecting individuals. Some of them never leave Heaven because they have duties there. It’s just complicated. These are creatures who have been around since the dawn of time, so they already have assignments they tend to. We’re asking them to do something different,” Ivy shrugged.
“They don’t like different.” Rider put it bluntly.
“So, she’s been working with a lot of the angels in the realm where she spends most of her time, coordinating everything, trying to get troops aligned and figure out where they will be stationed.” Lyric pointed to the map that was laid out on the table in front of them. “Aokigahara is pretty big, twelve square miles, which may not sound too expansive, but when you think about how dense the trees are there, it’s really a lot of area to cover.”
“But we know where the portal is already, right?” Ru asked, glancing at the map which had the portal clearly marked.
“Yes,” Lyric nodded. “But getting there is going to be a challenge, especially since we can assume the Reapers will be ready, and their demon friends will be there, too. They won’t care if humans detect warfare. In fact, they won’t mind if humans get hurt. So, we will have to be very careful about how we approach this. We want to do this without any people ever even knowing we’re around. We have ways of doing that, but it takes time and planning.”
That did sound difficult to Ru. She observed the map, but it only looked like a sea of trees to her with little or no paths to take to reach the portal. “So, does Sky have a plan then?”
“She does,” Lyric nodded. “But she wants us all to meet with her in her realm in a few days, once she’s gathered all of the key leaders there.”
“In her realm?” Ru repeated. Thoughts of white puffy clouds and blinding white lights filled Ru’s head.
“Yes, it’s not that much different from Earth,” Lyric explained. “You get there the same way you get to any other realm, and you already know how to do that.”
Ru nodded, but she wasn’t quite sure she liked the idea of going off to meet with Sky. They hadn’t exactly gotten along swimmingly the first time they’d met up in another location.
“What do we know about the forest itself, besides the fact that it’s creepy?” Ivy asked.
“Well, it’s built on volcanic rock at the foot of Mt. Fuji,” Cutter began. “The ground absorbs a lot of sound, so it’s eerily silent most of the time, even though there are plenty of animals and birds that live there.”
“And bugs,” Rider added. “I hate bugs.”
“And bugs,” Cutter agreed. “Legend says that during times of famine, families would often take an elderly member to the forest and leave them behind to die so that they would no longer have to feed them.”
“That’s terrible!” Ivy interrupted.
“It is,” Cutter nodded. “We don’t know for sure if that actually happened—or how frequently—but that’
s how the forest got the reputation for being haunted. The yurei, or ghosts, were said to linger in the trees, and whenever living people came nearby, they would poison their thoughts, causing them to commit suicide.”
“So that’s why it’s also called the suicide forest?” Ru asked.
“Yes. The Japanese government no longer publishes the numbers of how many bodies they find there annually, but at one point it was as high as one hundred.”
“Wow.” Ivy looked astonished. “That’s a lot of people to take their own lives in one year in the same location.”
“Right. Which adds to the lore.” Cutter shook his head, and Ru imagined it was in sympathy for the souls that lost their lives in the forest.
“This may sound like a stupid question,” Ru said, still pondering whether or not to ask it, “but are these yurei real, or is what the forest visitors have been experiencing something else—like Reapers? Or demons?”
Cutter and Rider looked at each other for a moment, and Ru swiveled her head from one to the other. “All three,” Rider finally answered with a shrug. “We probably don’t want to get into disembodied human spirits just now since you’ve already got a lotta new stuff on your plate. But, yeah, some of the problem could definitely be the dearly departed.”
“And since the portal is there, we can rest assured there has been as much demon and Reaper activity there as in Reaper’s Hollow if not more,” Lyric added.
Ru let out a deep breath. Rider was right. Ghosts could wait for another time. “Okay. So… what else do we need to know?”
“There are lots of caves in the area,” Lyric continued. “And a beautiful lake, Saiko. Parts of the forest are absolutely stunning, but the portion we’ll be visiting is mostly dense trees, tangled and twisted much like in Reaper’s Hollow, and it will be easy to get lost. Also, cell phones usually don’t work because of the lava. And… the ground can sometimes split open over a cave.”
“And down you go.” Rider made a little sound like something falling in a cartoon as his hand lowered to the table in slow motion, slamming into the wood with an explosion sound effect.
Ru wasn’t amused.
“We can levitate,” Lyric reminded her, “so that shouldn’t be too much of a problem, but you can imagine why that would add to the scariness of the place.”
“Yeah, I guess so.” Ru stared at the map for a moment. She could see the entrance, and it looked like it was a long way from there to the portal opening. “So how will we get from here to there?” she asked, pointing at the two locations on the map.
“As quickly and directly as possible,” Lyric replied. “That’s one of the things Sky wants to talk to us about. They will likely already be engaged when we arrive, so our job will be to sneak in and get to the portal. Hopefully, by the time we reach the location, her forces will have secured the area around the portal, and we can get you there without too much trouble.”
Ru’s eyebrows arched in an unspoken question. She looked at the other four faces around her, falling on Lyric’s last. With a sigh, the Keeper of Wind said, “No, I do not think it will be easy, but I am certain we can do it.”
“Well, then, that’s all I need to know.” Ru pushed herself back in her chair, setting her mind to the idea that she would conquer this portal, just like she had the other two.
“Actually, there is one more thing you need to know,” Ivy said, her voice sounding small compared to the others’.
Turning her head, Ru puzzled over Ivy’s expression. She was always a bit timider than the rest of them, a gentle creature, but she looked fragile all of a sudden, as if she was afraid that whatever else it was that Ru needed to know might be upsetting. “What is it?”
Ivy swallowed hard. “We know that Nat has already arrived in Japan and that he and his Reapers are posing as campers in the forest. We can only assume he’ll be leading the army defending the portal.”
“Okay…” Ru mumbled, letting that set in. She knew he’d be there and wasn’t quite sure why this news was so hard to swallow.
With a deep breath, Ivy pulled her phone out of her back pocket and did some swiping before handing it over to Ru. “These are photos of him taken at the airport and at the car rental location.”
Her forehead crinkled, Ru took the phone and looked into familiar hazel eyes. The pictures were a bit blurry, but she could clearly see now what Ivy was reluctant to tell her. The face she was staring into wasn’t Nat’s. It was Kyle’s. She handed the phone back and blew out a sigh. “I guess he just needed to look more human?” she asked, running her hands through her hair from root to tip, pushing it up over her head as she did so.
“Maybe,” Ivy offered, closing the photos app and setting her phone down on the table.
“We think he might be planning to manipulate you somehow,” Cutter said quietly. She could feel his knee against hers under the table, which was a comfort, though she wished his hands were on her now, too. “He will stop at nothing, Ru, to make sure you don’t close that portal.”
Ru folded her arms and rested them on the table. “Well, I will stop at nothing to make sure that it gets closed, and that he can’t hurt anyone else.” She wasn’t sure about the second part, but her voice didn’t waver.”
“This is such bullshit,” Lyric spat out. “He could just take his own face and wear that around. Why does he have to do this crap?”
“Actually, I don’t think he can,” Ru chimed in. Lyric looked at her questioningly, and Ru thought she might be assuming she was just jumping to Nat’s defense, so she continued. “His father damaged his face pretty badly after Turkey. I’m assuming it’s impossible to grow fresh patches of flesh quickly enough to cover half of one’s face. So… maybe he had to choose another face.”
Lyric looked a bit disgusted, but it didn’t stop her from suggesting, “Maybe he could find someone else’s face next time, then.”
Ru nodded, knowing that she had a point, and she wasn’t going to try to stand up for the man who was planning her execution a second time. But knowing there might be another reason Nat had decided to pass himself off as Kyle Dawson again comforted her in a way she couldn’t quite describe. Perhaps, deep down inside, Nat wished he could become the man he was when Ru was with him.
“Well, does that about wrap it up, y’all?” Rider asked, that unexplainable southern accent punctuating each word. “Because it’s just about time to watch me some CSI.”
“You’re such a weirdo,” Lyric mumbled, but she was laughing, and Ru thought her sentiment held for all of them. “I guess that’s it….”
Before she could finish her sentence, there was a knock at the door. They all turned to Rider expectantly, assuming he’d hop up and go get it since this was his house. He looked from one of them to the next, seeming to be counting silently. “Yep, everyone I know is right here. I have no idea who that might be.”
Ivy giggled and swatted at him. “You know everyone in this town.”
“True,” Rider sighed. “Whoever it is, I hope they brought pie.”
As he pulled himself up, Ru realized she had a funny feeling in her stomach. It wasn’t the burning, aching sensation she usually got when there was a Reaper present. It was more like butterflies. The sound of a crow calling in the distance made her realize who it was at the door, and she jumped up to follow Rider to the entryway.
It was difficult to see over his shoulder as he pulled the door open, but Ru could tell by the conversation that her instincts were right. “Uh, can I help you?” Rider asked.
“Hi, I’m so sorry to bother you, but a little birdy told me my daughter might be here.”
Rider didn’t get a chance to respond as Ru ducked under his arm. “Dad!” she exclaimed, opening her arms wide. He embraced her and Ru felt like a little girl whose dad had been away on business for a while but promised to bring her a gift when he got back. In her case, the gift was himself. She took a step back and looked at him. He was dressed in blue jeans, a blue button-down shirt, and a navy blue coat. Cl
ean shaven, with his hair trimmed, he looked much happier than the last time she’d seen him, much more composed. “Dad, you look amazing.”
“Thank you, sweetheart,” Larkin replied. “It is so great to see you.”
“Well, don’t stand outside in the cold, now,” Rider said, gesturing with his free arm as the other still latched on to the door. “Come on in.”
“You don’t mind?” Larkin asked, hesitating on the porch.
Rider only shook his head, and Ru thanked him, squeezing his arm, as he closed the door behind them. By now, the rest of her group had joined them in the living room. “Dad, these are my friends. You just met Rider. And this is Ivy and Lyric. And you remember Cutter.”
“It’s nice to meet all of you,” Larkin said, shaking each of their hands.
“Wow. We had no idea you were even here,” Ivy muttered. “I guess she took all the Reaper out.”
Larkin chuckled, and Ru stared at her friend, a little bit of shock in her eyes that Ivy would be so forward. “I guess she did,” Larkin replied.
“Dad,” Ru said turning to face him. “Look, you need to know that I talked to Raphael, and he said that it would be okay for you and Mom to be together again—after I complete my mission.” It came out in a rush because she wanted to make sure to get it all in before he had a chance to absorb only half of it.
“He did?” Larkin asked, clearly in disbelief. “Raphael said that? When?”
“He did,” Ru nodded, both of her hands on her father’s shoulders. “He was waiting for me at Cutter’s parents’ house the last time you and I met. He said after I close the portal, and take care of another matter, you are free to do whatever you’d like.”