Kanruo internally begged for the goddess to give him strength. Alrik was so close, all he needed to do was lean forward a bit and their lips would touch.
And their friendship would be over. Ruined over a silly crush. Alrik could never be with him. It would put him in danger. He refused to give into the desire and leaned back with a huff.
“I’m fine, really. Let’s do this.”
What a pity . . . The voice faded from his mind as Alrik’s hands went to part his hair.
“The red suits you.” Notia looked up at him from where she was curled up on the couch when Kanruo returned home. His heart was still aflutter and his mind blissfully distracted from spending the day with Alrik.
“You don’t mind it?” Kanruo pulled at the section of dyed hair. True to his word, Alrik had skillfully colored a section of his hair close to his neck, hidden unless he put all his hair up or tilted his head just right. But of course, Notia detected it right away.
“Why would I?”
He had no answer for her, but everything felt different. Something had changed since the druid had turned up on their doorstep. A fracture had created a deep fissure between them. He didn’t know if they could ever repair it.
Some wounds never heal.
There it was, that strange whisper. Louder now, in the room with them.
“Did you eat in town?” Notia asked, closing the book she was reading. The cover featured a scantily clad couple in an impassioned embrace. Its spine was well worn. Kanruo felt his cheeks grow warm and looked away.
How could she not hear the susurration?
“Yeah, I ate at Alrik’s. Do you . . . do you mind if I borrow one of your books?” He glanced back at the novel in Notia’s hand. He’d not had much interest in the bodice-ripper styled romance novels before, but perhaps something fantastical like that would give him a distraction.
Can you still trust her? the voice postulated in his ear. Kanruo tensed, looking over his shoulder.
“Are you all right?” Notia set her book down with a frown.
Kanruo’s eyes scanned over the room, studying each shadow as he searched for the source of the sound. “Yeah. Yeah, I’m fine. Must have been the wind.”
“Kanruo.” She stood, approaching him.
He took a step back from her. “It’s nothing. So, can I borrow a book?”
She paused. “Yes, that’s fine. They’re organized by genre. Kanruo, you can talk to me, you know that, right?” Her fingers toyed with one of her bone charms.
“I know . . . I just . . . just not now. Okay?” He looked away, shuffling his feet.
It’s not like she’ll believe you, the coy voice snickered in his ear.
Notia nodded. “Okay then. I’m going to sleep. Try not to stay up too late.”
Once she was gone, he went to her library. The books were antiques, back before paper had been replaced by screens and augmented reality. He selected a book at random, studied the cover, and then put it back. He waffled about for a few minutes, going through her collection until he found a few that piqued his interest.
One had three muscular women on it, clothing strategically torn. Their expressions were heated as two of them crossed plasma blades while the third swooned.
The second of his selections featured two men against the background of a starship. One was slender and dressed in a general’s outfit, the other a complete opposite to him, dressed as a cocky ruffian who was intent on seducing the military man.
The third option was a bit closer to home than the starships and Amazonians. Its cover portrayed a male couple, but one was clearly a witch. He wore a cloak and was adorned with crystals, his skin painted with sacred symbols. The motifs were all wrong, an embarrassing mix of clashing cultures, but then again, accurate portrayals weren’t what people went to romance stories for.
Taking the books back to the living room, he settled down on the couch and began to read. Hopefully, some heated passions would distract him.
Love in the Time of Purge was the title of his third selection. As its cover had suggested, it portrayed the tragic romance of a witch and his nonmagical lover. It was embarrassingly easy to imagine himself and Alrik as the star-crossed protagonists.
He dozed off shortly after one AM, his head lolling to the side. The book slowly dropped from his hand as dreams spirited him away.
He was kissing Alrik in the middle of a summer storm. Their bodies were buffeted by the wind, but they felt no cold. Hand in hand, they flew up into the sky, dancing among the stars, watching as galaxies collided. Their worries were far away and forgotten as they tiptoed along the event horizon of a blackhole.
His reprieve didn’t last long. An abrasive whining cut into the whimsical fantasy. The high-pitched sound of a rusty hinge swaying in the wind, fragmenting the reverie and jostling him into wakefulness.
Kanruo scrubbed at his eyes, blearily trying to find the source of the sound. Something nudged at his mental wards, scraping its claws along the magical barrier.
A low, creaking voice echoed in the darkness. Don’t you want to know?
The question sparked in his mind like an emergency flare, and he sat bolt upright, looking for the asker.
The coals of the fire glowed red in the hearth, and he was the only one in the room.
Kanruo swallowed heavily.
He ran his fingers over his pendant. Contact with the cool, black stone was a balm for his jangled nerves. There was clearly nothing there. Just some sort of weird brain burp.
But there was something teasing at the corners of his consciousness that even the obsidian’s power couldn’t repel. Perhaps a walk would calm his mind.
On silent feet, Kanruo slipped out of the house and breathed in the tepid night air. The sky was dark tonight. The crone moon had gone to rest, waiting for her rebirth as a maiden. But the darkness was no obstacle. He knew the paths of the forest that surrounded their home well.
Crickets and night birds sang to the stars, and nearby, Odin’s wolves howled in the distance, their cries low and mournful. The ambiance wore against the frayed holes in his spirits, and he was once again taunted by the ripples of ennui.
Between the trees, he saw the small pack of wolves moving, light on their feet as they searched for prey. Two of the pack were smaller. The pups that had been born that year were growing into adulthood, just as he was.
Kanruo watched them leap and play about, pausing every so often to nuzzle at their mother before returning to their games.
Don’t you want to know who you are?
The words felt like a punch to the gut. Kanruo’s throat tightened.
Don’t you want to know? The strange voice tittered. Don’t you want to know about the man who abandoned you without so much as a name? If he even misses you?
Kanruo shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts. Of course he wanted to know! The voice was laughing softly, as if it pitied him.
He didn’t like this voice. It scratched at his mind, nipped at his thoughts.
You have the power, the ability. A visit, just for closure.
That was true. Kanruo had learned how to warp, how to pinch reality and space and teleport himself from place to place. He wasn’t nearly as graceful as Notia, however. She made it look so effortless. Besides, he didn’t even know for sure where his father was, his mother even less so.
His isolation had trapped him under a boulder, crushed under the agonizing weight of his emotions. The unanswered questions left his chest hollow, like someone had carved out part of his heart.
Kanruo dropped to his knees, hands clutching at his chest. The pack of wolves slipped into the darkness.
We can find him. Together. Find the answers you so desperately seek, the voice encouraged. We will be by your side.
“I don’t even know his name,” Kanruo lamented. All he had to go from was the dingy bar he’d seen his father in. That could be any number of places in the world.
But we do, the voice purred. Come, let us confront Jun Takamori.
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9
Kanruo toppled out of the ether, landing on the sticky floor of a dimly lit and heavily graffitied men’s room. He really needed to learn how to land on his feet when warping.
“Gross.” He cringed at the smell, a perfumed sanitizer that fruitlessly tried to cover up the reek of human waste. Just being in the room made him want to shower in disinfectant.
Loud music reverberated through the thin walls of the building as he picked himself up off the floor. He went to one of the sinks and turned the rusty knob. The faucet groaned, shaking the pipes behind the plaster, but nothing came out of the spout. He tried two more sinks before finally finding one that produced a trickle of ice-cold water.
The soap dispenser was empty too, and the air dryer started to smoke when he waved his hand under it.
“So, now what?” he asked the empty room. The voice had been oddly silent since he’d landed at his destination.
When it offered no response, Kanruo sighed and wiped his damp hands on his leggings. He would have to venture out into the bar.
The moment he stepped out of the bathroom, he was hit with a wall of heart stopping sound. It felt like his organs were being shaken by the force of the sound waves. A haze of smoke and vapors clouded the air, making his eyes water.
The lighting here was worse than the bathroom. Behind the rusted steel bar was a badly battered android in a tiny maid apron mixing cocktails. Her motions were stiff from numerous plasma holes in her, one of which was leaking a bright blue liquid. She fumbled the mixer as she shook the liquors together, spilling it all over as she tried to catch it.
Overhead from a booth, a man with an extra set of synthetic arms worked a turntable. A helmet with flashing LED lights hid his identity as he guided a rapidly flashing array of colors to focus on a woman performing aerobatics on a pole.
With no clothes on.
“LET’S GIVE IT UP FOR CHASTITY VON FLOWERCROTCH!” The DJ screamed over the racket.
Oh.
“You look a little lost, sugar.” A sultry voice spoke in English to him, startling him.
A woman with glowing fluorescent makeup grinned at him as she twirled a vape stick between her fingers. She too was naked, save for a thong and black light paint that was splattered all over her body.
“You look a bit young, too.” She cocked her head at him and slipped her arms around one of his. “Your boys abandon you on your first night out as a man, sweetie? What a pity, but that just means I get you all to myself. I could show you all the ropes.”
As a man? Ropes?
“I, um. You see—” Kanruo tripped over his words as all the English he knew evaporated from his brain. She was too close, and she smelled of cheap, alcohol-based perfume. Or perhaps it was actual alcohol, he couldn’t tell. The music was giving him a headache and jumbling his thoughts.
“Don’t worry hun, Taffeta will take good care of you.” She winked at him, pressing up against him. “What’s your name, hmm? Are you from the college up in Murfreesboro?”
Murfreesboro? Where the hell was he? And who was Taffeta? Was that her?
Hoping that she might go away if he just agreed with her, Kanruo nodded, trying to pull out of her grasp. She took a drag on the vape and exhaled the cloud of pineapple scented vapor in his face.
“Aw, darlin’, where you going in such a hurry? Don’tcha wanna dance?”
“So–Sorry!” Kanruo sputtered, wrenching his arm free. “I–I have to go.”
He retreated toward the pitch-black back of the bar. The glowing EXIT sign was a beacon of hope as he bumped into people and tripped over chairs. If he could just get outside, he could think more clearly. Get away from the pulsating noise and the smoke.
He bumped into the legs of a woman who was sprawled across one of the tables, spilling the lines of white powder she had across her rear.
“Hey! Watch it, punk ass!”
“What’s the big idea?” One of the men stood up, glowering down at him.
Kanruo stared up at the man. He was large. How was it possible for a person to be that big? He was a massive bearded mountain with a jerry-rigged cybernetic arm that sported bulging synthetic muscles welded to the metal plates embedded in his shoulder. He was even taller than Björn. And he looked very, very angry.
“I–I didn’t—” Kanruo froze. His heart was going too fast and his brain screamed at his legs to run, but all he could do was stammer at the furious titan before him.
“You’ve got some nerve.” The man reached for a gun holstered at his side. His cybernetic arm groaned and purple fluid leaked from the hydraulic pistons at the elbow.
You really should run, the voice chimed in as the man took a step forward. He grabbed Kanruo’s wrist and jammed the barrel under his chin.
“Think you’re a funny guy?” the man hissed, edging his face to Kanruo’s. His breath was sour with alcohol, his pupils blown wide as his face reddened. The gun hummed as it powered up.
You could end him with the blink of an eye. Why are you hesitating?
“Think you’re tough shit? I’m gonna blow a hole through that skull of yours—”
“Bill, that’s enough.” A hand rested on the man’s arm, but in the darkness, Kanruo couldn’t make out his savior’s face.
Well, well.
“Fuck off, Tak! This little bitch—”
“I said, that’s enough.”
Bill hmphed and shoved Kanruo back, holstering his gun. “You gonna cover what this fuck up cost me?”
“You buy crap, Bill. Even you should know that the kid’s organs would be worth more than your stack of blow.” Kanruo’s savior handed the man a chip of plastic credits. “Go buy a dance from Taffeta.”
“Goddammit, Tak—”
“Go.”
Bill shuffled off, throwing a last mean look back at Kanruo as he did.
Before he could thank whoever saved his life, the man grabbed him by the ear and dragged him out of the bar.
“Come on, kid.”
“Ow! Ow! Let me go!” he protested, struggling against the man’s grip.
Tak released him soon enough, sending Kanruo stumbling out onto the pothole filled gravel driveway outside the bar. He lost his footing on the uneven surface and fell to the ground.
Tak shook his head and pulled a cigarette out of his pocket, watching as Kanruo gasped for fresh air. It wasn’t much better than the inside of the bar, but at least he wasn’t at ground zero for hearing loss anymore.
“What’re you doin’ here anyway, kid? You seem a little young to be hanging around strip joints.”
Kanruo looked up at him, finally able to see the man’s face in the red light of the streetlamps and the blazing blue neon sign that read Boobie Bungalow.
Standing before him was the man from his vision. His father.
Kanruo scrambled to his feet, his legs shaking as they threatened to give out on him. “You’re Jun Takamori, aren’t you?”
The man raised an eyebrow. “Depends on who’s looking. I might know a Jun.” He gave Kanruo an appraising glance. “You look too young to be a Union agent.”
“I . . . I’m your son!” The words tumbled out of Kanruo’s mouth before he could stop them.
“I ain’t got no kid.” Tak snorted. “And even if I did, you ain’t got no proof. So, listen, if Diamond put you up to this to try and squeeze more plastic credits out of me, you’d best trot back to her and tell her—”
“You gave me to a moon witch named Notia fifteen years ago,” Kanruo pressed.
Tak’s expression darkened, and he cast a wary glance around the parking lot. He snubbed out his cigarette on the side of the building and grabbed Kanruo by the arm, dragging him away from the light and into the shadows of a ruined trucker gas station.
He slammed Kanruo against the crumbling wall, pressing a humming plasma blade against his throat.
“How the fuck do you know that?” His carefully cultivated drawl slipped.
“I–I—”
Use your word
s.
“Kid, if you’re fucking with me, I swear to the spirits and stars I will gut you!” The hot plasma prickled against Kanruo’s neck.
You’re really bad at this confrontation thing, aren’t you? the voice murmured snidely.
“Why would I lie?” Kanruo felt tears biting at his eyes.
You lied to Notia, the voice pointed out. He ignored the taunt.
“I can think of a few reasons. Who are you, really?” Tak snarled. “Who would give their kid away to a witch? You’d have to be batshit insane to do that.”
“I can prove it! Let me go!” Kanruo pleaded, struggling against his tight grip.
“Sure, so you can call your Union buddies.”
“If you were so certain I’m with the Union, you would’ve killed me already!” Kanruo spat back. “Please, just give me a chance.”
Tak studied him, eyes scanning Kanruo up and down. The piercing gaze raked over him. After several agonizing seconds, he unclenched his grip, stepping back. Kanruo rubbed at his throat where the knife had been pressed, the skin scorched and tender.
“Well, let’s see what you’ve got.” Tak gestured with his knife.
What are you waiting for?
Kanruo took a few deep breaths and slowly stretched his hand out. His fingers found the delicate threads of magic. It was weaker here, buried under radioactive decay and death. He shuddered as he closed his eyes, fingers contorting as he orchestrated the fine threads.
“Yuko! Raijū!” He clapped his hands twice. If this didn’t convince his father, nothing would. “To me!”
Tak looked around expectantly.
The air remained still and dead. The magical connection fizzled, struggling against the poison that hung in the air. Kanruo felt his heart sink. His link to the ether wasn’t strong enough to cut through the poisoned land.
“Well, that was underwhelming. Sorry, kid, can’t have you running back to the Union with where I am.” He put a hand on Kanruo’s shoulder. “But I’ll make it quick. You won’t feel a thing.”
He raised the plasma knife as Kanruo’s hand went to his sickle. The two blades clashed, sending a rain of sparkles through the dark. Kanruo grunted as he shoved Tak back, holding his sickle before him.
The Last Moon Witch Page 10