by CJ Anaya
“I’ve never seen you move like that. I’d never in a million years think you capable of the kind of stunts you pulled. It was like you were a…”
“…completely different person,” I finished.
Angie nodded. Her eyes teared up a little, and I pulled her to me before she lost it in a loud way.
“I know you need to cry, Angie, I really do, but you’ve got to keep it together for just a little longer. Okay?”
Her head moved against my shoulder and then she pulled back.
“Do you even know what you did tonight or how you did it?” she asked.
“No,” I replied. “It was like someone else took over. Like my other self.”
“You were a Japanese princess who healed people, not some trained samurai assassin, right?”
“I don’t know.”
“Well, here’s something you need to know. The minute you passed out, your father lost it. He’s been arguing with the others for the past thirty minutes about getting you out of the country as fast as possible. He wants to leave everyone but me and you behind.”
“I thought you said you were banned from the meeting.”
“I am banned. Your dad wanted someone to look after you. I wasn’t the obvious choice, but he trusts me more than our immortal friends downstairs.”
“Congratulations.”
“Epic, I know. I’ll celebrate later. I have; however, been eavesdropping, as is my right and duty, being your best friend and all, and the conversation is not panning out the way you’d want it to.”
“What are they suggesting?”
“Your father wants to leave with us tonight, but Ms. Mori has insisted she take us all to a place known only to the gods where she’s certain we’ll be safe.”
Kagami. They had mentioned it was enchanted hadn’t they? I didn’t like that idea at all. The place she described sounded more like a prison, a place where she could keep tabs on me and control me if necessary. There was no way I was going anywhere with her.
“Now they’re talking damage control,” Angie continued.
“Damage control?”
“Ms. Mori is concerned about that cat that got away. She wanted to know if you had any other family here that the nekomata might hurt in order to draw you out.”
“You know we don’t,” I said. “There’s no one here who could possibly be used to….” I stopped speaking as a thought occurred to me. I was wrong. Dead wrong. I couldn’t believe I’d forgotten, for even one second, about my sweet little ten-year-old confidant.
“Kirby,” I whispered.
Angie’s face looked grim. She was one step ahead of me.
“Your father mentioned Kirby. They’re talking about it right now, which is why I was begging you to come out of your coma,” she wailed.
Those same dulled voices were still coming from the other room. We needed to investigate. Angie helped me stand, and we made our way to the edge of the room. The bedroom door was open, and from this part of the house I could easily hear the argument my dad was currently embroiled in.
“I’m telling you, if there’s even a possibility Kirby is in danger then we need to get him out of that hospital,” I heard my father say.
“Dr. Fairmont, it is highly unlikely that the nekomata would even make a connection between Hope and this young patient. She’s never been seen with him in any public setting. All of their interactions have been within the confines of his hospital room. A nekomata will be looking for family members and possibly close friends, but a young boy who has less than a month to live will not be enough to tempt it, even if it is aware of Kirby’s existence.”
“So you’re saying we should simply leave him behind totally unprotected?” my father asked.
“I’m saying the boy is meant to die, but Hope is meant to live. We have to leave now,” she declared.
“Hope will never agree to this. She won’t leave Kirby behind, especially if there’s a chance he’s in danger,” my father argued.
“She’ll leave if she doesn’t know,” Victor cut in. I felt sickened that he suggested such a thing.
“I know my daughter, and there’s no way under any circumstances that she’ll leave Kirby behind whether his life is being threatened or not. He either comes with us or you can kiss any cooperation you’re expecting from her good-bye.”
I was grateful for my father’s support where Kirby was concerned. I knew he’d fight for me no matter what it took.
“This I cannot allow. The young boy cannot come with us, and if Hope won’t leave without him then she’ll need to remain incapacitated until we have moved her to a safer location. She may be in danger, but she’s also much more dangerous than I ever gave her credit for,” Ms. Mori stated firmly.
“What is that supposed to mean?” my father asked sharply.
“Ms. Mori is simply stating that Hope’s latest actions and obvious abilities were not something any of us were expecting,” Victor interceded. “Though it would have been nice if Tie had been a bit more forthcoming, considering what we’re dealing with.”
“If you’re going to continually refuse to help Hope regain her memories, then there is absolutely no reason for me to reveal the details of my time spent in her company. How was I supposed to know that she would magically remember everything I taught her.”
“Everything you taught…just how much time did you two actually spend together?”
That was definitely a question I wanted answers to. I heard Tie grunt in frustration and then address my father.
“What they’re really saying, Dr. Fairmont, is that Hope is not the stupid, ignorant, helpless little teenager they were hoping to find and manipulate into being the pawn she was raised to be a thousand years ago,”
I silently thanked him for his sarcastic support.
“Tie, shut your mouth,” Victor yelled. “This is Hope’s destiny. We’re not here to force her to do anything she wasn’t born to do in the first place.”
“Really? Then why don’t you inform her about the events leading up to her death? Why don’t you tell her who banned her spirit into that statue?”
An uncomfortable silence permeated the air.
I, for one, felt like I’d been punched in the stomach. Someone had purposely trapped me inside that statue all those years ago? Was I aware of what was happening? Had I been conscious of every painfully slow second that had passed before my rebirth?
“I don’t know what to believe anymore or even if you people can be trusted. I am Hope’s father. I may be the only one in this room with her best interests at heart. What makes you think I’d ever allow you to incapacitate my daughter and force her to go to a place she no longer remembers? What makes you think I’d allow you to take her without taking Kirby also?”
“Hope cannot enter our lands with someone destined to die, and I think your daughter’s safety is much more important to you than her emotional attachment to a boy who won’t even matter weeks from now.”
I was going to kill her. I was going to rip her hair out of her perfectly shaped Japanese head and continue ripping until there was no one left telling me what I could or could not do. I wasn’t leaving Kirby, and I was tired of listening to him being talked about as if he were unimportant and already dead.
“I’ve heard enough of this,” I said in disgust. “We’re getting out of here.”
“Oh, thank heavens. I knew you and your father wouldn’t let these crazies pack us up and take us to who knows where.”
I searched the room for the nearest window. Fortunately, there was one big enough to fit us both.
“Come on, Angie.” I reached toward the bottom of the window seal and pulled the glass up as high as it would go.
“Hold on there. What exactly are you planning on doing?” she asked.
“If I know my father, and I do, that argument downstairs isn’t going to get resolved anytime soon, and that’s the kind of distraction you and I need. We’re going to the hospital.”
“You don’t t
hink Ms. Mori is going to let this go?” she asked.
“No. There’s too much at stake for her. I think she’ll do everything she has to in order to get me safely out of here, and that includes subduing my father if she feels it’s necessary, and she will. We need to get to Kirby before things become worse. You in?”
“Do you really need to ask?”
Crawling out the window proved more difficult than I’d anticipated. The drop to the grassy floor beneath us was more than ten feet, and I wasn’t a big fan of heights. Angie solved this problem by reaching out and latching on to a sturdy looking branch extending out from a giant tree. I followed her. Once we hit the ground we headed for my father’s car. We ran into our first road block when I realized I didn’t have the keys. I had no idea if my father had them on him or in his room.
“Crap! I forgot the keys,” I hissed.
“Don’t worry about it,” she said.
She surprised me by running around to the driver’s side of the car, opening the door, and flipping the visor down. Something popped out from the visor and fell to the seat. She reached for it and produced a single key. I hopped into the passenger’s seat and took what she offered.
“How did you know about this? I didn’t even know about this.”
“Your father took me aside when you were out here smooching with Japanese god number one. He told me where the extra key was and to use it if it became absolutely necessary.”
I threw the car into neutral.
“Why did he tell you and not me?” I asked in confusion as Angie and I ran to the back of the car and pushed against the trunk.
“Hello! He was looking for you, but you were outside kissing Victor. I had to lie to him and say you were having girl issues in the bathroom,” she replied indignantly.
“Wow, how did that go?”
“An awkward moment I hope never to repeat,” she wheezed. “He’s quite the planner you know, always thinking about every possible twist and turn. It must be a nightmare trying to play chess with him.”
“I don’t play chess with him.”
“And now we know why.”
For once, I was grateful my dad was all about compact cars. If this had been a truck, we would’ve had one heck of a time pushing it down the road. The car was moving at a good pace, but I worried about our time frame. We needed to get away without being heard, but every second we spent pushing instead of driving took away an important lead against three powerful gods. After about five minutes of pushing, I finally felt we’d created enough distance between ourselves and Ms. Mori’s house to safely start the car.
“Okay, Angie. Let’s go.”
We ran to the front of the car, pulled our doors open in perfect unison, and got in. I punched the key into the ignition and cringed as the engine started. I didn’t wait to see if anyone heard. In moments, we were speeding down the highway, hearts pounding. It might have been exciting if I hadn’t been so worried about getting to Kirby’s side before Ms. Mori could stop me.
“You know something funny?” Angie asked.
I gave her a look. She couldn’t possibly be thinking of something funny in our current predicament.
“Okay, not funny, but something I noticed when Ms. Mori was arguing with your father.”
“What?” I asked.
“Tie never joined in. He never said a single thing about leaving without Kirby. Wonder if he’s on our side.” She glanced at me from the corner of her eye.
I decided to ignore her comment, hoping she wouldn’t bring up my kiss with Tie.
“Sooooooo, saw you kissing Tie. How was it?” There was a teasing lilt to her voice.
“I’m a hoochie mama.” I immediately felt grumpy and on edge.
“There’s nothing wrong with you kissing both boys….okay so maybe kissing them the same night was a bit callous, but your current situation is peculiar.”
“My current situation is impossible. I’ve been told who I’m meant to be, what I’m meant to do, and who I’m meant to do it with, and there’s apparently no time at all to prepare for it. I’m supposed to be avoiding both guys as much as possible, but I totally made out with them.”
“Hey, it wasn’t a waste of time. You found out Tie’s your soul mate, didn’t you?”
“Eavesdropping is going to bite you in the butt someday, Ang.”
“I look forward to it. In the meantime, if you’re really going to be married pretty soon, you need some answers. Where do you stand emotionally with the man you’re supposed to marry and the guy you want to marry? You need to know if they’re one and the same.”
“Geez. Sometimes your wisdom frightens me, and I am not getting married.”
Angie remained silent.
“What is it?”
“I just feel bad for Victor, that’s all.” She shrugged her shoulders. “I know it’s there for you and Tie. You two are clearly meant for each other, but Victor is just so sweet, and good, and…”
“Good for me?”
Angie nodded, looking a little sad. Her voice was quiet when she spoke next. “Yeah, he’d be good for you.”
I bit my lower lip and wondered at Angie’s somber mood.
“Or maybe, he’d be good for you,” I suggested.
Angie’s head pivoted sharply in my direction. She was silent for a few beats, and then I heard her sigh and sink back in her seat.
“Wouldn’t that be something new to consider.”
“It would definitely be a change from the usual breed of men you date,” I agreed.
“I never really dated those guys. They were just a distraction from all of the death surrounding me, and sometimes I showed interest so I could position myself in order to help them avoid a few fatal accidents.”
“That must have been a nightmare for you. I can’t believe we never relied on each other when it came to our gifts.”
“In a way we did. I kept you from closing everyone out and becoming this major introvert, and you kept me from the brink of suicide several times throughout my life. Granted, you accomplished much more for me than I did for you, but either way it worked.”
“No one’s keeping score, here. We’re best friends. We take care of each other.”
“That we do,” Angie said. “Is Tie going to be good for you?” She turned in her seat to stare at me. “Honestly, his devil-may-care-attitude is a little more my style, don’t you think?”
“We have managed to switch it up a bit, but there’s more to him than the front he puts on, and I think there’s more to this prophecy than what has been revealed. If Tie and I are soul mates, something about the prophecy is off. Things are most likely going to be very complicated from here on out.”
“You think up until now this day has been a piece of cake?”
“How long have you cared for him?” I redirected.
“Cared for who?” Angie gave me her best clueless look.
“Don’t play dumb with me. When did you know you were into Victor?”
“When I saw him walk into the school’s puke green cafeteria earlier today, but I kept my hands off as promised.”
“Well, we’re just going to have to get Victor to notice you. It shouldn’t be too hard. You are, after all, a goddess in your own right.”
“Amen, sister. There’s just one problem with your scenario.”
“What?”
“All he sees is you.”
I was silent for a few moments and then I asked, “How does that make you feel?”
“Jealous as hell. Every time Victor looks at you, I catch myself grinding my teeth together. My jaw is pretty sore, actually.”
I burst out laughing, and Angie soon joined me.
“Good. I need to know you’re dedicated. We’ve got to convince Victor that you two make more sense together than he and I do.”
“Love is blind, Hope. It’s gonna take some doing to get Victor to look past his future plans with you to notice me.”
I knit my eyebrows together and worried about the accuracy o
f that statement.
It was a weird conversation. Angie and I didn’t usually do serious. Even when I spent the night at her place during her darker periods we never did anything more than scratch the surface of whatever topic we discussed. We definitely should have, though. Tiptoeing around our issues hadn’t resolve anything. It just left us both emotionally isolated from one another.
I sensed that for her sake we needed to delve into this topic more, but we arrived at the hospital moments later, and in all honesty, I was greatly relieved to get there.
“I can’t believe we got here before Victor and Tie,” Angie said. “I seriously expected to see one of them suddenly appearing next to my window going eighty miles an hour.”
We pulled into the parking lot, and jumped out of the car, making a mad dash for the front doors. I felt sure that at any moment I’d feel Victor’s hand on my shoulder or hear Ms. Mori’s voice in my head warning me to stop. But I couldn’t stop. Not until I found Kirby.
I wasn’t interested in my ongoing war between myself and the elevator so we took the stairs and found ourselves huffing and puffing at the top of the third floor. I immediately rounded the corner and nearly slammed into Betty who was wheeling a young cancer patient down the hall. I looked to see who it was, but my view was blocked by an oversized teddy bear the child grasped.
“Betty, I am so sorry. I didn’t mean to run into you like that.” I grabbed her shoulders to make sure she was all right.
She looked startled, which was to be expected. What I didn’t expect was her look of unease.
“Just be more careful next time,” she said awkwardly as she pushed the wheelchair past us.
Strange, I thought as we continued our insane run to Kirby’s room.
I skidded to a halt just inside the door and nearly panicked. His bed was empty, and a nurse stood in the corner gathering up hospital equipment.
At first I nearly lost it, thinking he’d died, and no one had called to tell me. Then I realized that was impossible. He still had a few weeks left. I was never wrong about things like that.
“Where is he?” I croaked out.
“I’m sorry?” the nurse said, looking up from her work.
“Where is Kirby?” I nearly screamed. I felt Angie place a steadying hand on my shoulder.