by C. J. Anaya
Chapter Seventeen
Ms. Mori’s second floor was like an elegant looking hotel. I couldn’t believe how many rooms there were. It wasn’t like anybody lived with her. We each could have had a room to ourselves, but Angie and I weren’t about to be separated, although I was dreading the inevitable talk we’d be having concerning my healing powers.
My father took the room right next to ours. I think if Angie hadn’t been with us he would have demanded to stay in the same room with me. He may have been tired, but his parental rights were being threatened by my mythology teacher, and my life had already been endangered twice tonight.
He was very tightly wound.
I made my way up the stairs and walked down the hall toward the first door to my right. I wanted to say goodnight to my father before I faced the inevitable with Angie. I was almost to the door when I heard Tie’s familiar voice floating softly from within.
What was Tie doing in my dad’s room? I stood to the side of the entryway and listened.
“You have to help me get Hope away from here tonight,” I heard my father hiss.
“I can’t do that this time, James. I got you out of Kagami, but I can’t get you out of this. Hope needs our protection now,” Tie responded unhappily.
“I thought you were our friend. Why bother helping Julia and I escape if you were just going to lead Ms. Mori and Victor right to us seventeen years later?”
I held my breath, anxious for the answer.
“I knew the demon god had finally found you.”
“How? How could you know that?”
“Let’s just say I have several unsavory connections. You and Hope wouldn’t have survived the attack. We barely got to you in time as it was.”
There was a pause in the conversation, and I wondered if I needed to leave before I got caught.
“What do you get out of this, Tie? Don’t get me wrong. I appreciate the help. Having you on our side makes me feel like the playing field has been leveled somewhat, but why are you doing this?”
A heavy silence followed my father’s question. I waited, impatient to hear more.
“Let’s just say Hope and I share a rather complicated history, and leave it at that.”
“What does that even mean?”
I was wondering the same thing.
“Look, when it comes to Hope, I will always do what’s best for her. Okay?”
“That still doesn’t answer my question.”
More silence followed, and I couldn’t help but feel frustrated. I was never going to get straight answers from anyone it seemed.
“I’m sorry about Julia,” Tie said changing the subject.
I was surprised to hear Tie mention my mother’s name.
“I had no idea the nekomata suspected Hope so many years ago, and I should have known. I could have prevented that disaster if I had known.”
“Don’t,” my father interjected. His voice was laced with pain. “You say the nekomata took the form of Hachiman?
“Yeah, it left you alone when your daughter couldn’t heal your wife. The way Hope described it, I’d swear Julia knew what was going on and left her body on purpose.”
“To save Hope.”
“To save Hope,” Tie agreed. “That’s what we all want to do, isn’t it? We just want to save Hope.”
He sounded like he meant it.
I had to walk away after that. Hearing Tie talk about my mother was, in a word, devastating. It had been awful, believing that I’d failed to save my mother when I’d had the power necessary to do so, but to think she’d consciously died for me made it worse. The guilt was worse. I tore into the room Angie and I were sharing and tried to forget about the conversation I’d just overheard.
There were two twin beds on opposite sides of the room. I promptly crawled into one of them and listened to Angie while she okayed our slumber party with her mom. She finished her conversation quickly, sat down on the other bed, and stared at me. I could tell she was waiting for me to crack under her intense gaze.
“Go ahead, Angie. Let’s start this already,” I finally said.
“You can heal people.”
She got right to the heart of the matter. I wanted to look down, but I knew I owed her. I matched her gaze and nodded in the affirmative.
“For some reason, I’m not at all surprised. It explains a lot, actually.” She rubbed the back of her neck and stayed silent for a few seconds. I waited for her to yell at me. Get good and angry. I almost wanted her to. Anything was better than this weird, almost quiet acceptance of a secret that should have been shared with her long ago.
“How long have you been able to do this?” she asked.
“Ten years.” I had to choke back a few tears when I said it. I wasn’t sure why I felt the need to cry, but I did. I felt like crying for a good, solid week.
“Ten years. That’s a long time to keep such a huge secret from your best friend. However did you manage it?” Venom was seeping into her voice.
“It was hard to keep it from you. I’ve always wanted you to know, but my father told me to keep it secret. He…we were afraid if anyone found out, something bad might happen to me.”
Angie’s eyes burned bright with anger.
“I must have seemed like quite the threat,” she spat out.
“Angie, it wasn’t like that.”
“You don’t get to talk right now. You don’t get to call the shots, okay? I’m your best friend, and for ten years you kept this from me when I could have been there to help you. I could have supported you. Who else knows besides your father?”
“Kirby.”
“Kirby gets to know, and I don’t,” she yelled.
I got to my feet as Angie shot to hers.
“I had to let Kirby know so I could continue healing him…er, trying anyway. His leukemia is strong, and it’s not going away. I’ve been doing this for months now, and there was no way to keep him from knowing.”
Angie looked at the floor and started chewing the inside of her cheek. She tended to do that when she had something really nasty to say but was doing her best to hold back. It didn’t happen very often…holding back, that is.
“So you were seven when it first happened?” she asked.
“Yeah.”
“What did happen? How did all of this craziness get started?”
I felt strangely uncomfortable. It was so hard to come to terms with the fact that Angie was no longer a part of that safe haven I’d turned to for so long. She’d been wholly untouched by this part of my life I’d kept secret and hidden. In a world where fiction seemed to play a huge role in my reality it had been nice to have Angie on the outside of all that, representing the kind of crazy-normal I so desperately wished was mine. With Angie involved in all of this there really was no safe haven anymore. No person I could turn to who could help me forget, for just a little while, that I was not your average teenage girl.
“You fell out of our tree house,” I said reluctantly. “Your head hit a rock. My Dad called the paramedics, but I connected with you while we were waiting. I don’t know how it happened or how I knew what to do, but I healed you immediately.”
Angie looked up. She was so surprised her eyebrows were shooting into her hairline.
I held out my hands.
“You were gonna die, Ang. So I fixed you. I should have told you sooner, and I’m sorry.”
She startled me by running over and wrapping her arms around me. Then she cried softly into my shoulder. My battered emotions, together with my lack of sleep, and Angie’s unexpected water works began taking their toll, and before I knew it, I was sobbing right along with her. I could feel the tears rolling down my face and nearly laughed when I considered what it had taken to unearth my biggest secret and get a serious moment with Angie.
“I can’t believe you saved my life and didn’t have the decency to tell me about it.” She straightened up and wiped the dripping mascara from under her eyes. “Do you have any idea the kind of mileage you could have had
with that ‘I saved your life’ card? Do you have any idea how pissed I am that you made me miss my junior prom last year instead of healing me from that awful flu bug I caught?”
Then I did laugh. I felt a little bit lighter knowing I could talk to her about these things.
“For the record, you didn’t have the flu. You had a very serious case of pneumonia which I partly healed so you wouldn’t end up in the hospital.”
“I had pneumonia? That’s awful. Was it so serious that healing me completely would have weakened you?”
“Not really. I just didn’t want you to go to the prom with Jathan Cox. That guy was an idiot and wholly undeserving of you.” My grin was naughty.
She gave me an appraising look.
“You know, Hope. You are much more devious than you’ve ever let on. I think I like this side of you.”
“Even if it comes with human sized cats, demon gods, and your best friend having lived one thousand years before you were born?”
“We get to hang out with two hot deities. The glass is half full in my opinion,” she replied. “Speaking of which, how soon are you and Victor tying the knot?”
Her excitement sounded forced.
“Angie…”
“As your best friend and soon to be maid of honor, I need to know these things. Finding the perfect dress, while evading an army of killer felines is going to be quite stressful. I’ll be needing details ASAP.”
“I’m not having this conversation with you.” I rolled onto my comfy twin bed and pulled the covers over myself.
I felt the bed sink down to my right as Angie snuggled up next to me.
“He did kiss you, you know. It may not have been the most private first kiss ever, but it looked to me like you were enjoying it.”
“I didn’t enjoy it,” I said defensively.
“You didn’t put up much of a fight,” she accused.
“That’s because he caught me off guard. I wasn’t expecting him to kiss me. We don’t even know each other.” My confusion had returned. I decided not to mention my second kiss with Victor. With Angie, more really was more.
“Well, according to Ms. Mori, you guys know each other. Or your spirits do, anyway.” She pulled the covers off me. “Do you realize you were born a thousand years ago? Maybe that’s why you’ve always been so responsible. You’re like an old person trapped inside a teenager’s body. I bet it felt good to lecture me every time I did something crazy and stupid.”
“You mean potentially suicidal?”
“Whatever.” Angie waved her hand in the air like she was swatting an obnoxious fly. “I’m just saying, Victor knew you and clearly loved you in your first life, and based on what I was seeing tonight, I don’t think time has changed that, even if you aren’t some gorgeous looking Japanese princess.”
“Gee thanks, Ang.”
“You know what I mean. That kiss he gave you was heavy.” She sounded wistful, and studied my features carefully. “I noticed it, and so did someone else.”
“What are you talking about?”
Angie studied her cuticles like she didn’t have a care in the world.
“It was just interesting to watch Tie’s reaction, that’s all. One minute you save his life and you’re staring into each other’s eyes like no one else is in the room, and the next minute Victor’s got you wrapped up in a passionate exchange. For a second there, I thought Tie was going to take that rather nasty looking sword of his and plunge it through Victor’s heart.”
“You did? I mean…he looked bothered watching Victor kiss me?”
I wanted to pretend that her answer wasn’t particularly important to me. I wasn’t interested in Tie, and I certainly wasn’t going to marry Victor, but Angie was reading me like the open book that I was. She knew exactly how much her response would mean to me.
“He looked like his whole world had bottomed out. Not the reaction I was expecting from a guy so wholly indifferent to everyone and everything around him. I tell you what, though, he’s got a mean poker face, and he managed to slide it back into place before you finished lip locking with Victor.” She rose from the bed and ran across the room, diving under her own covers and then letting out an obnoxious snoring sound.
“Angie! Is that it? Is that all you noticed? Is that all you’re going to tell me?” I was desperate to know more.
“Ah ha!” she cried out happily. “I knew you wanted Tie. I’ve known it from the moment you two argued in mythology class.”
I felt transparent and vulnerable. I was so used to this conversation being reversed. I was always the one talking about Angie’s latest love interest. Okay, so I was always talking her out of her latest love interest, but I had never been the boy crazy one. I didn’t feel strongly one way or the other about most of the guys I met. Discussing this with Angie made me feel like I had this large open wound where my heart should have been, and it was exposed for anyone and everyone to see. It was horrendous. I couldn’t believe people wanted to feel this way.
“Okay, so maybe I like Tie,” I said carefully. Angie let out a loud, disbelieving snort which I chose to ignore. “He’s slightly attractive, his brooding bad guy persona has managed to pique my interest, and he can be witty when he’s not pissing me off.”
“Yeah, and he threw himself in between you and a sword forged from the land of the dead,” she added. “I guess we can add selfless and self-sacrificing to his rather short list of endearing qualities.”
“He just did that because of the veil. If I die, there’s nobody else around to heal the stupid thing.” I spoke more forcefully than I intended.
“Do I detect a hint of bitterness in regards to Tie’s true motives?” Angie appeared more pleased with herself with every passing minute.
“I’m not bitter. I’m simply stating a fact here. Tie needs me in the same way every other kami needs me. I may be slightly interested in him, but his interest in me goes as far as my involvement with the veil, and how often he can use me to get to Victor.”
“What are you talking about?” she asked.
I decided to share with Angie the story Victor had told me. I didn’t see why I should hide it from her. It really wasn’t a secret, and she needed to be aware of the conflict between Tie and Victor as much as I did. When I finished, she looked more disturbed than I thought she would.
“Angie, are you okay?’
She shrugged her shoulders and gave me a crumbly smile.
“Sorry, I just feel a bit weird. Sounds familiar in an odd sort of way,” she said.
“You’ve heard the story before?”
Angie didn’t answer, but continued to stare straight ahead looking troubled and confused. She shook her head and made eye contact with me again.
“So you think Tie is using you to hurt your boyfriend,” she asked.
I narrowed my eyes at her, wondering if I should press her further about what was bothering her. Her closed expression gave me pause.
“Tie is not my boyfriend, and yes, he is using me. Wouldn’t you? He lost the only woman he’s ever loved. Victor’s intentions may have been honorable, but his methods were the exact opposite. A lot of time has passed, though. Tie needs to forgive him already.”
“Edana, isn’t the only woman Tie has ever loved,” Angie said.
“Stop. I know what you’re going to say, and it simply isn’t true.”
“You know what I think? I think you’re extremely uncomfortable with the idea of Tie having feelings for you.”
“Why would you think that?”
“Well, if you have feelings for Tie, and he has feelings for you, something could actually happen here. It’s the perfect recipe for a potential relationship.”
“There’s about as much potential for that relationship to come about as there is for an actual marriage to take place with Victor,” I argued.
“Ooooh! And wouldn’t that be an interesting group dynamic. You and Tie fighting this mounting attraction for one another, knowing you’re meant for Victo
r, while Victor continues on, completely intent on having you for himself.”
I couldn’t stop the eye rolling. I’d been doing it so often during our talk I was actually getting dizzy.
“And to top it all off, our heroine is faced with a heart wrenching dilemma. Fulfill her destiny and save the world by taking her place at Victor’s side or turn her back on it all by choosing love, one of the most powerful forces in this known universe,” she ended dramatically. “Merciful heavens, this is good stuff! I’m wasting my time attending high school, I tell ya. I should be a highly paid novelist.”
“Angie, I’m going to go to bed now. I’m going to pretend this conversation never took place and do my very best to become unconscious as quickly as humanly possible.”
“According to Ms. Mori you’re only half human. Hope, the demi-goddess.” She shook her head like she was trying to wrap her brain around the idea. “Life is stranger than fiction. There’s no way I could have made this stuff up.”
I rolled over in my bed, turning my back to Angie and praying that sleep would carry me away before she was able to bring up any other subjects I wasn’t ready or willing to face just yet. Fortunately for me, it did.