by ID Johnson
“Trick of the eye.” Rider’s response was the same as his last, though his words were different.
There were dozens more questions on the tip of her tongue, but Ru held off for now. The elevator dinged, and the doors opened to the seventeenth floor. Stepping out into the hallway, Ru could see a sizeable conference room taking up one end of the floor. The glass windows revealed several individuals, both angels and Keepers, it seemed, already assembled there. Sky stood in front of a large white screen suspended from the ceiling. Her expression was very matter-of-fact as she spoke to another Keeper, one Ru didn’t think she’d ever seen before.
Her feet moved forward, but the nerves in her stomach began to get the better of her. She wanted to reach out and take Cutter’s hand for support, but she realized it wouldn’t be appropriate to do so under the circumstances. She was at work after all. And she needed to stand on her own two feet.
Once again, Rider held the door for them. Sky’s face morphed as she recognized who had arrived, and eventually a small smile broke out. She stepped over to greet them, extending her hand to each of them, including her sister. “Welcome,” Sky said. When Ru gripped her hand, she was surprised at how solid it felt in her not-really-a-hand. “We’re so glad the five of you could join us.” When she was done with her greeting, she gestured to empty seats at a large conference table, and they all stepped over to find a place to sit down.
The room had gone eerily silent, and once Ru was settled into the large, black rolly chair, she realized everyone was looking at her. Everyone. Nervously, she looked back at Sky, who was still smiling at her, but she had no idea what to say. Cutter’s hand on her knee helped a little bit, but she still felt incredibly awkward and wondered if she had something in her teeth or if the leap had caused her to lose a garment.
“We’re just waiting on a few other people,” Sky finally said, breaking the tension. “And then we’ll get started.”
Chatter began to break out between pairs and small groups of people around the table, and Ru tried not to stare at any of them, though looking at the wings displayed by some of the others sitting nearby was fascinating to her. Curiosity caused her to contemplate reaching out to feel one particularly soft looking pair, which would’ve been a stretch even if she didn’t assume it was horribly rude to pet her colleague’s appendages.
Despite the fact that there were conversations going on now, it still seemed as if everyone was looking at her. Even the older gentleman angels, the ones Ru assumed were the equivalent of generals or something of that nature would look away briefly before their eyes wandered back to her. Finally, unable to take it anymore, Ru leaned over to Cutter and asked, “Am I just imagining it, or is everyone looking at me?”
“Oh, no. Everyone is looking at you,” he assured her.
With her eyebrows raised, Ru asked, “Why?”
“Because you’re you. The girl who closed the portals. They are fascinated by you.”
Ru was about to open her mouth to ask another question when the door opened again and three angels walked in. All three of them were middle-aged gentlemen who looked stern. Dressed in black suits, they occupied the three chairs closest to the door as soon as Sky had welcomed them and gestured for them to be seated. Like everyone else, their eyes fell on Ru, but they didn’t linger there. Something about their fleeting gazes made Ru think they were unimpressed. That was fine with her. She’d just as soon be underestimated.
“Okay, everyone. Let’s go ahead and get started,” Sky said, moving back to the center of the room where the screen Ru had noticed from outside of the door was situated. A noise from the ceiling had her turning her head to see an identical one behind her which would allow the people across the table to be able to see what Sky was talking about, even if they couldn’t see her.
“As you all know, we are here to discuss an attack on what we are referring to as the Japanese Portal. Our mission sounds simple on paper: we will make our way through the forest of Aokigahara, fight off any demons and Reapers we may encounter there, and close the portal. However, we know nothing is as easy as it sounds. And we are sure to encounter several problems along the way.”
Sky continued to explain the situation to the team, and Ru tried to stay focused, but she was having a hard time keeping her eyes on the map of Aokigahara that Sky was showing them. She was pointing out different locations, calling leaders out by name and talking about where they would be positioned, troop strength, etc. All Ru could think about was what it might be like to stand across from Nat on that battlefield and destroy him.
Cutter squeezed her leg, and Ru realized it must be apparent she wasn’t paying attention. She tuned back in to hear Sky say, “Now, the team we are meant to protect so that they can get in and close the portal will be given the code name Alfred. This will allow us to be briefer in our communications about the team.”
Sky continued to talk, and she knew it was important that she listen, since Ru would be involved in whatever the blue-haired Keeper was discussing presently, but curiosity got the better of her. “Why Alfred?” she whispered to Cutter.
Without turning his head, he replied, “Alfred Nobel.”
“Huh?” Ru was still confused.
“The inventor of dynamite.”
“Oh.” Shaking her head, she turned her attention back to Sky, who was giving her the same look Ru might give a student who wasn’t paying attention. Ru swallowed hard and made herself concentrate.
“Alfred will be dispatched from here, a break in the forest away from the typical entrance. Since the battle will have already begun, we should have a decent handle on the enemy at that time. Alfred will make its way through the forest to this site where the portal is located. If Yellow and Orange teams have done their jobs, by then, the path to the portal, which is indicated by this circle on the map, should be clear. Alfred’s task should be fairly simple if the rest of us do our jobs.”
A tall, broad shouldered Keeper a few seats away from Ru raised his pen, and Sky nodded in his direction. “Is there an exit strategy?” His voice was so deep, Ru felt the table vibrate.
“There is,” Sky nodded. “From what we learned in Turkey, anyone within a two-mile radius of the portal will be knocked unconscious when the blast goes off. That will be most of us. Therefore, we will have Blue and Purple teams located a safe distance away so that, once the portal is destroyed, they can come in and begin the process of waking or moving those who are affected by the blast out of harm’s way before the enemy awakens.”
“Might this be a good opportunity to destroy the enemy as well?” another angel asked without bothering to gesture for permission.
“That is certainly an option,” Sky nodded. “But these two teams will have the primary responsibility of removing the casualties.”
Ru didn’t like to think of herself as a casualty, but she knew she would fall into that category one way or another. Hopefully, she would be one of the people knocked out by the blast of the portal and not a different kind of victim. A thought occurred to her, and before she had time to stop herself, her hand shot up.
Sky’s eyebrows knit together. “Yes, Ru?”
“Sorry,” Ru said, though she wasn’t sure why she was apologizing or why Sky was surprised she’d raised her hand. She was a teacher after all. “Uh, I was just thinking… we will have troops waiting to come in and clean up afterward. What about them? Will they have a secondary wave of Reamons, I mean, Reapers and demons, poised to come in as well?” She knew the eyes boring into her had a lot to do with her tongue-tie, and Ru felt the color starting to rise up her neck.
“That is a good question,” Sky said, though her tone sounded slightly patronizing. “We don’t think that will be the case, however. Chances are, they will throw everything they’ve got toward defending that portal.”
Ru nodded, but she knew the portal wasn’t nearly as important to the demons as it was the Reapers. Would they really be willing to defend it when another opportunity, one to kill them all as they slept, was als
o a possibility? She hoped Sky would reconsider the potential threat, but she didn’t press it just now.
A few more questions were asked, and Ru did her best to pay attention, but focusing was becoming increasingly difficult. She was ready to get out of there by the time she heard Sky say, “Okay, well if that’s all, I’ll leave it to all of you to move into position. We have 24 hours. I trust that will be enough time.” It wasn’t a question, and no one objected. The noise of chairs being scooted back away from the table and chatter filled the room, and Ru tried once more to pull herself out of her own head and focus on the people around her.
“Are you okay, Ru?” Ivy asked, placing her hand on her back. She’d been sitting next to Ru the whole time, but she hadn’t really been aware of her friend.
“I’m okay,” Ru assured her, trying to smile, but she knew it was forced—and so did Ivy. This was all very overwhelming for her, and she just wanted to go back to Los Angeles and pet her cat.
Ru was content to let the others file out as Lyric spoke to her sister in hushed tones at the front of the room. Both of them had their arms folded under their chests, but they didn’t look hostile toward each other as they had on Holy Island. It seemed like forever ago when Sky had shown up and taken Ru’s mom away, even though it had only been a few weeks.
Cutter and Rider were talking about something, and Ru decided to try to focus on their discussion instead of staring at the forest in front of her—the battlefield. She’d hoped it would be something important but they were talking about two different airlines and which one had the best first-class options. Shaking her head, Ru pushed her chair back and stood, not knowing where she was going but feeling that she needed to get out of the room, out of this realm, and back to something that at least seemed normal.
She was around the end of the table approaching Lyric when Cutter noticed and followed her. Rider and Ivy trailed behind. As she drew even with her friend’s shoulder, Sky paused mid-sentence and smiled at her. “Ru, that was a good question. Lyric and I were just discussing some options, and I think we’ll be in good shape, even if there is a secondary attack.”
“Oh, good,” Ru said, managing a smile. “I’m glad. Thank you for… your time.” She had no idea what to say to someone who was planning an attack so that she could sneak in and blow up a portal, but she knew she wanted desperately not to be there anymore, not to think about it. The closer they got to the attack, the more her stomach ached, and she knew she was going to have to go explode something with her black smoke power soon or else wind up in the hospital asking for treatment for a pain no doctor could cure.
Ru headed out the door, not caring too much if her friends followed or not. There was a group of people in front of the elevators, people who had been in the meeting, and some of them stopped their conversations to stare at her. Ru froze in her tracks just a few steps out of the conference room.
“Ru?” Cutter said, placing his hand on her shoulder. “What’s the matter?”
With a deep sigh, she admitted. “I just want to go home.”
“Okay. We can do that.”
“There’s a million people over by the elevator, though.”
“That’s okay.” He stepped around so he was facing her. “You don’t actually need to take the elevator, remember?”
She was confused at first, but then she realized what he was saying. With a deep sigh of relief, she closed her eyes.
The scent of garlic wafted through the air, and Ru opened her eyes to find herself sitting in Rider’s dining room. Ivy had made them all lasagna before they went on their trip to The Depot, and even though they’d cleaned up, the aroma still lingered. She glanced around at the faces of the others, so eerily still, their eyes closed, sitting in their chairs, but none of them there.
As her eyes fell on Cutter’s face, his eyes opened, and he smiled. “You win.”
A giggle slipped through her lips, and it felt good to laugh for a moment. “I didn’t know we were racing.”
“Neither did I, or else maybe you wouldn’t have won.”
She loved the teasing gleam in his eyes. He reached over and brushed her bangs back and she caught his hand with both of hers. “Cutter, I think I need to go start a fire or something. I feel like I’m going to explode.”
“Okay,” he said, no question in his voice. “We can drive out of town, and you can blow up some rocks or something.”
Even the thought of letting out the blackness welling up inside of her made Ru feel marginally better. “Why do you think this keeps happening? Why is it every time I get overwhelmed, my Reaper powers want to surface?”
“I’m not sure. But I don’t think it’s a bad thing. You can control it.”
“To a point.” She remembered the fire she’d started at Angel Grove. “Maybe we should wait for Lyric.”
“Yeah, maybe.” Cutter chuckled softly. “Listen, Ru, no one can blame you for being overwhelmed. You’re new to all of this, and we’re asking you to do things that none of us can do, not singlehandedly anyway. Don’t beat yourself up for feeling a little anxious.”
While Ru wanted to explain there was nothing little about her anxiety, she didn’t bother because she knew it didn’t matter. What he was saying held true. She was under a lot of pressure, and everyone understood that, even if most of them couldn’t grasp the true reason why. Her nervousness had nothing to do with closing the portal.
Thinking about her mission made her mind wander to her parents. It had been nearly impossible to pry them away from each other the night before when they’d all agreed they’d better part ways before Raphael showed up. Saying they understood they needed to go and actually doing it had been two different things, and by the time Ru got her mom back into her nana’s car, she felt like she was the parent scolding her teenager for staying out too late with her boyfriend.
But they’d been so happy. It was as if nothing had changed over the years. They picked up right where they left off. The love they shared was something Ru wouldn’t have been able to fathom just a few months ago. Now, holding the hand of the man she knew would do anything for her, it wasn’t too hard to comprehend at all.
“Hey, why don’t you two lovebirds stop staring into each other’s eyes so the rest of us can eat more lasagna without feeling sick to our stomachs.”
“Oh, good. Rider’s back,” Cutter said, his voice completely dry.
“You eat as much as you did before, and you’ll feel sick to your stomach anyway.” Lyric threw a verbal punch at him as she got up from her seat and headed toward the kitchen.
“Okay, but after lasagna, we have to go for a little ride, Lyric,” Ru called to her friend over her shoulder.
Her pink-haired friend paused in the doorway. “For what?”
“I gotta blow something up,” Ru said with a shrug.
“Oh. I’ll get my coat.”
Chapter 17
Navigating airports was hard enough for Ru when she was in countries where most everyone spoke English. Flying to Japan would’ve been completely overwhelming if Ivy wasn’t fluent in Japanese and Mandarin, especially when they had to switch planes in Shanghai. Luckily, the gentle-natured Keeper had managed to keep all of them in line and they’d made their way to Shizuoka Airport with little incident, though Rider complained about the lack of legroom on the commuter jet nearly the whole flight. Thank goodness for headphones, Ru had thought to herself.
The entire van ride from the airport to their hotel, a place Ru hadn’t even attempted to try to pronounce for fear she’d embarrass herself, her eyes were glued out the window. From the buildings, to the natural surroundings off in the distance, to the smiling faces of those they passed along the streets, Ru was fascinated. By the looks she was getting, so were the people staring back at her. Five tall blondes with blue eyes traveling together might’ve made some people think they were some sort of rock band or that they were filming a movie. This time, however, Ru didn’t mind the eyes focused on her. She smiled and waved at several peop
le as they made their way to the hotel.
Their accommodations were out of the city a bit, closer to Mt. Fuji, and subsequently, the forest. Ru began to grow uneasy again, even though using her black power to explode several boulders and start a brush fire that challenged Lyric’s extinguishing abilities had definitely helped control it. Still, that had been the day before yesterday—by her calculations—and now she was on the brink of facing her demons, literally. She doubted she would get any sleep while they were in Japan, not until she knocked herself out on the battlefield, anyway.
Climbing out of the van, Ru breathed in the fresh air and stepped away from the noise of other disembarking passengers to peer out at the landscape. From here, she could see the top of Mt. Fuji kissing the clouds in the distance. Someday, she might return to visit the natural wonder, but for now, her focus was on the forest that lay between them. And even from several miles away, Ru could feel a massive amount of darkness breathing among the trees, using their canopy, their leaves and branches, to hide in waiting. A tightness filled her stomach and gravitated up toward her chest, blocking the fresh air from fully entering her lungs. Out of the blackness, a solitary heartbeat called to her. He was here. There was no way she could possibly escape her fate now.
“Ru!”
She turned to see four concerned pairs of eyes staring at her from the sidewalk. Ru looked down to see she’d gotten halfway across the parking lot without even realizing it. Luckily, there’d been no traffic, and as far as she could tell, her feet had never left the ground.
“Coming,” she said, turning around and heading back to her friends. Though their eyes asked a dozen questions, none of them voiced a single one, and Ru took her bag from Cutter, as he protested, and headed into the hotel, hoping she could stay awake all night. Falling asleep under the circumstances seemed extremely dangerous.
Aokigahara sprawled in front of her like the untamed wild it was, trees encroaching into the neighboring farmlands and open spaces as if the forest insisted on reclaiming what used to be hers. From this direction, it was difficult to tell where the forest began and civilization ended, though Ru thought for certain she’d know when she crossed the line.