by Carrie Asai
“You’re a machine,” I whispered, looking at the fighters writhing on the ground.
“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” she said quickly. “Look.”
Seven more attackers ran in, fists and weapons flying.
I managed to stave off some of them, whirling and kicking. One snapped my bo in half, and I struggled to find a replacement.
“Use this!” Sara said, pulling something down from the wall. It was a sword.
I caught the sword with one hand. A flash went through me—it was like holding the Whisper of Death. I looked at it closer.
The engraving. It was the Whisper of Death.
“How…?” I started.
“I’ll explain later,” Sara said, out of breath, knocking down man after man with blows to the stomach, to the side of the head. She knocked a knife out of one’s hand; it flew haphazardly and landed sideways right in someone’s stomach. The attacker shrieked, grabbed his midsection, and dropped like a stone. Blood oozed onto Sara’s carpet.
I looked at the Whisper. It felt right in my hands. It’s been returned, I thought, to its rightful owner. I swung it over my head. It felt light. I had control.
The little attacker rose up again. From across the room someone threw him not one sword, but two. Strategically he whirled them over his head. The metal shone and danced quickly, coming inches from my body. I wasn’t very skilled in sword fighting. Hiro and I hadn’t gotten that far with it yet. I’d have to wing it.
I brandished the Whisper and held it away from my body, blocking the two swords’ mighty blows. But the little attacker was relentless. My feet moved endlessly and my ankles ached. The little attacker began to laugh. My blocks became sluggish; he’d nicked the sides of my arms. I could see blood oozing through my shirt.
Come on, Whisper. Please help me now.
“Need a hand?” Sara asked.
I nodded, and Sara moved behind the attacker. I nodded again, and before the attacker could move, Sara grabbed him, wrapping her arms around his stomach. Then she moved her arms up around his neck and put him in a hold, choking him. His grip on the swords slackened. Still, he waved his arms around frantically, slicing the air. I darted to the other side of him and grabbed the swords out of his hands.
I stepped back. I threw one sword to the ground, stepping on it. I raised the other two swords above me, glaring at the two remaining attackers, daring them to come close.
Behind me I heard an oof and a thudding noise. Sara had flipped the little attacker for a second time. I thrust the swords at the standing ninjas, and they froze, not coming any closer.
“Nice,” I murmured.
“There will be others,” she answered.
I looked down. Wait. Sara hadn’t said that. The little attacker had.
But…
It was a woman’s voice.
I used the tip of the Whisper to lift the mask off the little attacker. And when it came off, I gasped.
Mieko.
She stared up at us, her mouth cracked, her eyes crazy. She saw Sara and her eyebrows curled together angrily.
“We finally meet,” she said to Sara in Japanese.
I couldn’t move. I turned my gaze very slowly over to the ninjas. But they weren’t moving, either. The whole moment hung between Mieko and Sara, glaring at each other, years of hate welling up inside.
“I’ve always known about you,” Mieko said. “So don’t think you were doing anything too secretive. You can’t even understand Japanese, I bet.”
“Yes, I can,” Sara answered back in Japanese.
Mieko narrowed her eyes. “You can, can you? Then you know the proper name for you. The name for you in my country. Gaishou.”
I clenched my fists. Whore.
“Kill her,” I said. “She and her brother are killing my father. She and her brother killed Ohiko, too. You don’t think I know, Mieko? You don’t think I know what’s going on?” Extreme anger welled up inside me. I did know my enemy. I’d known her all along. Mieko and Masato, trying to control the world.
“Kill her now,” I said.
“That’s right, go ahead, kill me,” Mieko spat. She looked at me. “So, what’s it like to have the love of your life betray you?” She smiled cruelly.
“Shut up!” I said.
“You should have seen him when he shook our hands,” Mieko went on. “So proud. So dutiful to his father. He was a stupid boy not to follow through, but we got him in the end, didn’t we!”
“You’re not hurting me,” I said. “Nothing you say can hurt me now.”
Sara nodded for one of the swords. I handed her the Whisper. She held it inches from Mieko’s throat.
“Kill her,” I said again. “You are nothing,” I told Mieko. “You and Masato. You are both absolutely nothing.”
Sara stood there, the sword quivering. If she doesn’t kill her, I will, I thought. But Sara continued to stand there, immobile.
“Your father never loved you,” Mieko said to me. “And your brother never loved you. No one loved you!”
“No one loved you, either,” I said in a calm voice.
For some reason, that got to her. Her expression changed from one of cold, heartless bitchiness to one of pathetic loneliness. It was incredible—it was as if Mieko’s mask had been peeled away, and we were getting a glimpse of what a miserable person she was underneath.
She whimpered softly, her mouth mashing together.
“Come on, Sara,” I whispered. “Come on, Mom.”
But Sara shook her head. “You’re a sad little woman,” she said. “You’re right, Heaven. No one loves her.”
Mieko’s mouth moved frantically up and down. Sara turned the sword around. Now the blunt end faced Mieko’s head. Sara raised it up and clubbed her with it, knocking her unconscious. Mieko fell awkwardly to the side.
Sara looked at me, shaken. We turned to the other attackers. No one moved. It was like they were in a suspended game of freeze tag.
“Come on,” she said, grabbing my arm. “And take that.” She gestured to the Whisper.
I ran behind her, dragging the sword with me. “How did you get the Whisper?” I asked.
“The car, the car. I’ll tell you there.”
“What about her?” I asked, looking at Mieko.
“We gotta split,” she said, grabbing her keys and flinging open the door.
“We can’t just leave her,” I said. But I knew. We couldn’t kill her, either. If we killed her, they’d find us. Fast. Masato had sent his sister out to get slaughtered. He was still waiting for us. Somewhere.
We ran into the cool night air. Several attackers jumped up, caught off guard. I raised the Whisper over my head; Sara raised the sword that she’d pinched from Mieko. They all took a step back. A few tried to rush us, but Sara nicked them in the sides of their legs. They ran back, yelping in pain. The others stayed put, immobile.
I threw the Whisper in the back of Sara’s Audi and noticed that Sam was lying in the backseat, curled up in a ball, as if he’d known we would be going somewhere.
“Some attackers,” Sara said. “Pretty lame, if you ask me. You know, on the one-to-ten scale of attackers.”
She pushed her key into the ignition and the Audi came to life. “This thing goes pretty fast,” she said. “So hold on.”
“But where are we going?” I croaked. Were we just going to leave Mieko in the house back there?
“I have it all planned out. I thought this might happen.”
“You did?”
“We’ll talk on the way. I know someone who can help us. There’s this guy in Washington State who runs a dojo. It’s actually on a little island off Seattle. Seriously, nothing happens there. Ever see The Ring?”
“Yeah…,” I said unsteadily.
“It’s that island. It’s completely remote. You have to get there by boat.”
Oh God, another boat.
“We’ll be totally safe,” Sara said, noting my expression. “Don’t worry.”
&nb
sp; “Okay,” I said weakly.
At least, I thought, I’m going with my mom. I’m not alone anymore.
We backed out of the driveway to the yelling sounds of the attackers. “What will happen to your house?” I asked.
“It doesn’t matter. Everything will be fine. Don’t worry.”
We had to run. I really would be running for the rest of my life.
“God,” I said, putting my head in my hands. “What if they follow us?”
Suddenly Sara jerked on the brakes. I flew forward. The cat screeched.
“What the hell?” I said. Someone’s on the car, I thought. Hanging on to the back bumper with a gun in his hand. We’re dead.
I turned around slowly. No one. Empty road.
Then I whirled around to face the front. Someone was coming straight for us. Running at top speed. Right for the car. I thought I could see a gun.
“Go the other way!” I screamed. “It’s Masato!”
But I couldn’t really tell who it was. The only thing I could see was that this person who was coming was a guy. He looked angry.
“Back up, back up!” I said. It had to be Masato. A freakish thought occurred to me for a split second. Was Sara against me, too?
“It’s not Masato,” Sara said calmly. The person ran closer, out of the night shadows. He was big, tall, burly, with spiky hair.
“Oh my God,” I whispered.
It was Teddy.
I think I screamed.
Teddy ran up to the car. “Hey,” he said, out of breath. He looked at Sara, then looked at me. Then he smiled that crooked, lazy, Teddy Yukemura smile.
“What’s up, Heaven?” He reached in and touched my hand.
“Teddy,” I croaked. This was just a little bit too much for me to handle.
And then I noticed something else. On his wrist was the same thick leather band that Yoshitomo had been wearing. With the three dragons and everything. The same crazy detail.
“Where did you get that?” I said hysterically, pointing.
“Oh, a friend of mine,” he said, winking. “Gave it to me right before he died.”
My mouth hung open in disbelief. Wait. What? How did…?
“Called me up, asking if I wanted to go in on a certain hit on a certain person,” Teddy said quickly. “Obviously he doesn’t know me very well,” he scoffed. “Idiot. You won’t have to worry about him anymore.”
Sara gunned the engine.
“I…,” I started, stunned.
“Girl, you look seriously freaked out,” Teddy said, leaning over the window.
“Of course I’m seriously freaked out,” I sputtered.
“And damn!” he interrupted. “You’ve been moving around so much! You’re seriously hard to keep track of!”
“I…,” I mustered again. I glanced back at Sara’s house. No one was coming after us. But would they soon?
“You’re not hard to keep track of, Sara,” he continued.
Sara?
I stared at both of them, and my mouth hung open. “You…know each other?” I said.
“Well, soon enough I’m going to be majorly hard to keep track of,” Sara said. She looked at Teddy. He looked a little thin maybe and had a big cut running down his cheek, but otherwise he looked pretty good. He made me feel…I couldn’t believe it…turned on. Nervous. Fluttery. He looked back at me and my heart flipped over. It felt almost…thrilling.
“Something went down?” Teddy asked.
“Yeah. The big one,” Sara said. My head flicked back and forth between them as if I were watching a tennis match.
“So. You with us?” Sara asked Teddy.
He nodded.
“Well, then,” she said, pointing to the backseat. “Get in.”