by Phil Gabriel
This emblem had two entwined uppercase “U” symbols in burgundy and dark blue. There was a small owl and some tiny Latin phrase stitched into the fabric. It was hard to concentrate on translating the Latin since I was distracted by her button-poppingly tight blouse.
“U and U,” I said. “‘Now you see it. Now you don’t,’” I translated the phrase. Then it hit me, the university from my favorite book series. “I thought that the Unseeable University only took male wizards as students?” I said.
Akiko covered her mouth and gave a schoolgirl giggle. “Times are changing in the multi-verse,” she said. “Time to drag this school into modern times.”
I continued staring at the emblem. Well, mostly at the emblem. Akiko gave me a few moments of eye candy, then made an “ahem” cough. Ghosts don’t cough and I caught the hint, turning to see Kitty-Sue watching.
I smiled at Kitty-Sue. She knew my nature and was usually accepting of it. She pursed her lips for a moment, then finally smiled and shook her head.
Bringing all the dishes to the table, Kitty-Sue said, “Akiko-san, should we arrange another date night?”
My ears instantly perked up. Date night was our code for Kitty-Sue allowing Akiko to possess her body. This allowed Akiko to experience hugs and cuddles, as well as outrageous sex. They said they got the idea from an old Patrick Swayze movie. For me, it was like having a threesome with only two people.
Akiko licked her lips in arousal, then composed her face and looked down. “I don’t think I can do that anymore,” she said.
“Why not?” asked Kitty-Sue as she loaded her plate with yakitori, grilled vegetables, and rice. She reached over and stroked Akiko’s ghostly hand. A comforting gesture, but unfelt by Akiko. “You know I’m not jealous. I enjoy our time together.”
She looked at me with an inscrutable gaze. “Not really jealous,” she said. Turning back to Akiko, “Not of you, anyway,” she said. “Why don’t you want to continue our arrangement?”
As a magician, Akiko was bound by the same vows as me. In this case, she couldn’t lie. “I have no idea what that magical dagger that pierces your heart will do if I try to possess you. It’s a potent item, easily powerful enough to destroy a ghost.”
Kitty-Sue peered at her. “But that’s not the only reason, is it?” she asked.
Akiko couldn’t meet her gaze. She said, “I’m finding it harder and harder to leave when our time is up.”
Akiko spent the next few minutes transferring her meal to her ghostly plane. That was the first spell I had taught her, the spell that proved she had the talent to become a magician.
The silence became uncomfortable and was finally broken by Kitty-Sue. “You’re like a sister to me,” she said. “But even if the dagger’s threat was neutralized, I couldn’t give you more time. I have obligations to my queen and family.”
Kitty-Sue looked down and continued in a reluctant tone. “If you don’t leave when our time is up, I’ll have to use kitsune magic to evict you.” Flashes of her foxfire magic shimmered in her outline, a type of magic that neither Akiko nor I understood or could defeat.
Now it was Akiko’s turn to stroke Kitty-Sue’s arm with her ghostly palm. “I’ll never put you in that position. I think it’s better that we don’t do that again.”
Was I a bad person for regretting that the threesomes were over? Hell, yes, said my conscience.
We ate in silence for several minutes. Then Kitty-Sue spoke up. “I have an idea,” she said. “We’ll go tour the hospitals and find a coma patient. You possess the coma patient, Scott heals any physical damage, and you wake up in a new body.”
Her bright smile faltered as Akiko and I both shook our heads. “We can’t do that,” I said. “There’s no way to make a Deal with a person in a coma. Without willing consent, our vows prevent us from acting.”
“I could no more possess a coma patient,” said Akiko, “than I could possess a child. There’s no way to get consent.”
“OK, OK,” said Kitty-Sue, her trickster mind looking for loopholes. “How about we find a terminal patient? Someone who can consent? Offer her release from pain, money for her family after she dies, something she can’t resist.”
Both Akiko and I shuddered at the thought and shook our heads again. Kitty-Sue was amazing, but she didn’t understand magicians. Akiko looked at me to indicate I should explain.
“Several reasons,” I said, taking another drink of my wine. “Remember, hospitals are null zones for magic. That would make your plan very hard to pull off. Next, most mundanes who are still sane enough to consent just don’t believe in magic. Despite the extraordinary evidence, mundanes ignore or forget magic. They would treat anyone babbling at them about this plan as insane.”
“Mere details,” said Kitty-Sue, waving away our objections. “We’ll just keep an eye out for the perfect candidate. I’m sure something will turn up.”
3
Meeting with Koji-san
The following Saturday, we rode the train to Hakone, arriving at the Hakone Hattori Hotel at 2:00 p.m. Koji-san was waiting for us at the reception counter. Koji was in his late forties and had been running the hotel for many years. He had thinning hair, crow’s-feet, and a tired look. Seems he’s having trouble with rejuvenation spells.
“Scott-san, I hope you are well,” he said, shaking my hand.
“I’m doing great,” I said. “How are you?”
A quick worried glance around and he said, “Not well, but we’ll discuss that later.”
Turning to Kitty-Sue, he bowed deeply, and said, “Greetings to the envoy of the kitsune queen. Be welcome here.”
“Please call me Kitty-Sue,” she said. “Not my real name, but I’ve grown fond of it.”
A puzzled frown crossed Akiko’s face. Koji-san was ignoring her. With her figure and skin-tight schoolgirl outfit, she was hard to ignore. She waved a hand in front of Koji-san’s face and got no reaction.
She looked at me and raised an eyebrow in query. I shook my head and mouthed “wait.”
Handing over two room keys, Koji-san said, “Please have refreshments in the hotel coffee shop. I will join you after checking you in.”
At the table, we ordered drinks. There was a moment’s confusion over ordering two coffees, plus Kitty-Sue’s tea. The waitress appeared confused by the extra order, but Kitty-Sue assured her in Japanese that we were waiting for someone to join us.
After being served, I tugged on my ear, the signal to ask Kitty-Sue to set up a kitsune privacy bubble around our table.
“So, Koji-san is supposed to be a powerful human magician?” asked Kitty-Sue.
I held my hand up and made a waggling gesture. “Relatively speaking, yes,” I said.
“He smells like a magician,” said Kitty-Sue, nodding to herself, “but not like a healer. Why can’t he see Akiko-san?”
I sipped my coffee while preparing a reply. Magicians have a lot of secrets. Secrets we hate sharing with others. Still, Kitty-Sue needed to know about Koji-san’s limitations.
“Koji-san is a Ritualist magician,” I said. “Magicians like Akiko and myself operate by weaving spells using the five elements. We can do it because we can see the magic.”
“You’re saying he can’t see magic?” asked Kitty-Sue. “Or see Akiko-san?”
“Yes,” I said. “He can’t see the energy we use for our workings.”
“So how does he accomplish anything?”
Looking at Akiko to see if she was following the conversation, I answered. “Ritualists have some talent, but lack the senses and spark to perform high-grade magic. Great at performing rituals and minor magics, they are the draftsmen of the magic world, as compared to the artists.” I indicated Akiko and myself.
At Kitty-Sue’s look of incomprehension, I tried a different analogy. “Koji’s like a musician that learned to hit the keys perfectly, but can’t tell if the piano is in tune.”
“So, he’s like you?”
Ignoring her jibe, I continued. “Their succ
ess rate depends heavily on performing in high magic areas like Hakone. Kind of like a poor fisherman whose success depends on fishing a stocked pool. Akiko and I can pull magic off almost anywhere. Ritualists can only perform in the right area. Even then, their spells must be repeated hundreds of times to capture that one moment when the magical flows are correct.”
“Hundreds of times. Sounds boring,” said Kitty-Sue.
“It takes a lot of discipline,” I said. “Koji-san is much more disciplined than me.”
A snort from Kitty-Sue indicated that everyone was much more disciplined than me.
“So that explains why Akiko-san has so much trouble with magic when she loses her glasses,” said Kitty-Sue.
Although we had never discussed it, Kitty-Sue was observant enough to notice Akiko’s loss of talent when she lost her glasses. On two previous occasions, Akiko had been deprived of her glasses, which had severely impeded her magic.
The funny thing was, the glasses weren’t needed. I had convinced her on our first meeting that using the glasses would allow her to see the magic. All bullshit. As a ghost, she didn’t need glasses. The ones she now wore acted as her “Dumbo’s feather.” Her belief in the glasses allowed her to believe she could see magic.
“Yes,” I said. “All magicians have weaknesses. We don’t like talking about them.”
Sipping her tea and then setting it down, Kitty-Sue mused, “So, if I steal Akiko’s glasses and blind you, you’d both be helpless?”
Akiko gasped, and I gave Kitty-Sue a level look. “Not quite,” I said. “Magicians always keep a few surprises in reserve.”
Looking back and forth between Akiko and me in surprise, Kitty-Sue said, “Oh! Gomenasai! I would never hurt you! You’re my family.”
She leaned forward with a puzzled frown. “Doesn’t everybody think that way? Trying to figure out the best way to attack?” She leaned back and crossed her arms. “Haven’t you ever wondered about the best way to kill a kitsune?”
“Not. Until. Now,” said Akiko in her cold from-beyond-the-grave voice. She wasn’t happy about Kitty-Sue cataloging our weak points.
I felt a shiver go down my spine, mouth suddenly dry. The power in Akiko’s voice, unrestrained by human limitations, could do things beyond my talents. I picked up my cup to take a sip. Instead of steaming hot coffee, it was now solid ice.
I rethought my plan to wean Akiko from using her glasses. Magicians who gain too much power without links to humanity invariably end up going insane.
“And how would you approach Koji-san?” I asked, to change the subject.
“Just break his fingers,” replied Kitty-Sue, matter-of-factly. “If he can’t make those weaves, he can’t do magic.”
Speaking of Koji-san, he was there at the door, looking around like he didn’t see us. Of course, he didn’t see us; we were hidden under Kitty-Sue’s don’t-see-me bubble. I gestured for Kitty-Sue to drop her bubble. With a quickly suppressed start of surprise, Koji-san joined us at the table.
After ordering more coffee, including a replacement for my frozen lump of coffee, we got down to business.
Koji-san started by praising my talents. “That privacy bubble, the quick freeze,” he said. “Scott-san, you are very talented.” I neglected to tell him that neither of those examples had been caused by me.
“For a magician of your caliber,” Koji-san said, “getting rid of this minor ghost should be easy. I daresay I could do the exorcism myself.” He leaned back in his chair and said, “As I told you on the phone, I am prepared to give you a permanent suite here at the hotel in exchange for this minor service.”
The bastard was trying to back out of his promise. Instead of giving me the land that contained the haunted onsen in exchange for the exorcism, he wanted to gift a permanent residence at the hotel. A permanent suite was a valuable item, but not enough to risk my life for.
I had learned long ago to never get into a Deal that I wasn’t prepared to walk away from.
“Yes, Koji-san,” I replied. “This ghost is a minor annoyance, at most. You should look for a magician of lesser talent. I’m sure there are dozens of practitioners who could take care of this problem.” I paused for a few moments. “There’s that guy in Chicago. He’s an expert in ghosts. I heard he even spent some time as a ghost.”
“Guy in Chicago?” asked Koji-san. “What guy in Chicago?”
“Oh, you’ve heard of him,” I said. “Barry, Larry, something like that. He calls himself a wizard instead of a magician.” I scribbled a number on a piece of paper. “He’s very talented. I even have his phone number, you can call him right now.” I dropped the paper on the table and took the last sip of coffee. I stood and gestured to Kitty-Sue that we were leaving.
Ignoring the sputtering from Koji-san, I said to Kitty-Sue, “Are you interested in riding the cable car up the mountain? We can get some of those eggs that they cook in the sulfuric ponds. I’ve heard they’re very tasty.”
Suddenly, Koji-san was in front of us, blocking the exit. At my look, he paled, then said, “However, there is the matter of a deadline. We only have until the next full moon in June to rectify this matter.”
I crossed my arms and waited. Koji-san waved to the waitress and asked that the dessert cart be brought out. At this, Kitty-Sue’s ears lifted and she nodded. It wasn’t much of a bribe, but it was enough to attract us back to the table.
The poor dessert cart was almost empty when we had finished our selections. Between a high-metabolism magician, a kitsune ninja, and a ghost, there weren’t enough pies and cakes to satisfy us all.
Fresh coffee to top off the sweets, and it was time to get the story. “Tell us more about this ghost,” I said.
Koji-san hesitated, then decided to tell the truth. As a magician, he had to tell the truth, but there were ways to avoid giving away everything.
“Over two hundred years ago,” Koji-san said, “there was a ruthless samurai in this area. He was famous for his cruelty and the strength of his arms. He defeated many other samurai in duels, many times by acting dishonorably. He was finally brought to justice. He was beheaded at the onsen, his armor auctioned off to pay reparations to the families of those he had wronged. All of his armor save the sword, which disappeared when he died.
“The next full moon after his execution, his ghost appeared, more powerful and insane than ever. He had become an onryō, a vengeance spirit, bent on destroying those who had wronged him.
“Each night for a full month, the ghost reappeared, killing his executioner, then the executioner’s family down to the smallest babe. It appeared that none could stop this monster.”
Koji-san paused to drink his coffee, then continued. “The village elders sent for a magician to battle the ghost. My ancestor answered the call. In exchange for this service, he was offered both this haunted onsen as well as the land the hotel now sits upon to stop the ghost.”
OK, insane, murderous ghost. Missing Samurai armor. Why was this suddenly an urgent problem? Time to get back to business. “So,” I said, “you have a deadline?”
“Yes,” said Koji-san. “My ancestor labored for a month to create a ward to trap the angry spirit. On the night of a full moon, two hundred and twenty-seven years ago, he executed his spell. The ward, which encircles the hot spring and mountain glade, will not allow the ghost to pass.
“Although he created a powerful ward, there was a time limit. The wards would last only two hundred twenty-seven years before failure. Once the wards are gone, nothing will prevent the samurai ghost from escaping and exacting his revenge on the descendants of his enemies.”
“Why two hundred and twenty-seven years?” asked Kitty-Sue. “Why not two fifty? Or five hundred?”
“The spell has to contain a prime number,” Akiko and I said at the same time. The mathematics of magic required prime numbers. Other factors would have further constrained the choices for the spell’s duration, preventing larger primes from working.
“Do you have a map of this are
a and the wards?” I asked.
“In my office,” said Koji-san. “Please follow me.”
A few minutes later we were examining a map on his wall. It was very old, obviously created by his ancestor. There were markings on it in Japanese that I couldn’t make out. Koji-san pointed out the section of the map that showed the warded area. It was a few miles from the hotel and required a trek up a small mountain to reach.
Akiko and I spent several minutes poring over the map. Kitty-Sue, who had little interest in human-style magic, chatted with Koji-san in Japanese.
“It’s crooked,” said Akiko. “The river doesn’t go that way.”
“Yeah,” I said. “Older maps don’t put north at the top as we do with modern maps. Plus, magicians tend to orient their maps so that the top points to the nearest major ley line.”
“Still,” she said, tilting her head to change her angle, then looking through the wall with a magician’s senses. “Even so, it doesn’t quite line up correctly.”
I opened my mouth to explain, but she beat me to it. “Volcanism!” she said. “Over the centuries, the magma flows deep inside the earth change the orientation of surface ley lines.”
“And what are all of these markings?” asked Akiko. On the side of the map, handwritten in a tiny font, was a series of symbols. I recognized the kanji symbols for Earth, Air, Fire, Water, and Spirit, as well as a compass rose. Below that compass was a listing of times in two columns. One column was headed by a rising sun symbol, the second column by a setting sun symbol.
It hit me in a flash. This was an almanac of energy flows in Hakone. “Very neat,” I said to Akiko in a voice too low for Koji-san to hear. “With this chart, a Ritualist can perform his spells with a higher probability of success.” Pointing to the first entry, I said, “If I were to stand here at forty-seven minutes past sunrise, facing three degrees clockwise from north, I would be able to catch a streamer of Spirit in my right hand and a streamer of Fire in my left.”
“Except it wouldn’t work, due to the changes,” said Akiko. After a few moments of puzzled thought, she exclaimed, “I know how to update this so it’s current!”