“Well met, Ella of Strayhaven. You may call me Haru.”
“Haru. Pleased to meet you.” When she returned his bow, he grinned, and Ella saw that he was only a teenager, almost the same age as Thomas had been, the last time she’d seen him.
The awkwardness between them melted away, and Ella grinned back at Haru.
“What are you doing out here, Haru?” she asked, but he pointed out into the water, and she turned her head to look at where he was pointing.
“Maboroshi fish,” he said, and Ella saw little flickers of light in the dark water, coming closer to them. She instinctively pulled her feet back, and saw in surprise as Haru leaned down to dip his hands into the water.
Even as she watched in wonder, she saw a glittering, silvery fish swim into his cupped hand, almost tickling his palm with its tail, its scales flashing a million colors at once.
“Can I try?” Ella asked, enchanted by the sight. “Is it safe?”
“Of course,” Haru smiled, looking up at her through the long black hair that fallen into his eyes. His green eyes sparkled with an inner light, and Ella was mesmerized by their depths.
Shaking herself out of it, she bent and placed her hand in the water, too. A tiny Maboroshi swam up to her, spinning within the circle of her palm, and Ella grinned in delight.
“This is amazing,” she gushed, looking up to meet Haru’s gaze. Maybe it was the blood rushing to her head from her crouched position, but it was hard to look at him. Her vision was getting blurry.
Ella straightened and shook her head slightly. Her vision continued to spin slowly, and she pinched the bridge of her nose.
“Maybe you should rest your head on my shoulder, Ella,” Haru said softly, tugging her closer with one arm around her waist. “You look like you’re not feeling very well.”
“Thank you, Haru,” she said, her head slipping onto his shoulder and closing her eyes. “Maybe just for a moment.”
“Yes, just close your eyes…”
Ella didn’t even have the strength to nod anymore, so she hummed in agreement. A slight pinprick against her neck made her flinch for a moment, but then the same stupor washed over her again, and the worry faded into the back of her mind.
“Let her go.”
Ella blinked. That sounded just like Ryu. But why would that pointy-eared bastard be here? He was in the grand hall, he wouldn’t be traipsing around a forest near anonsen…
The pressure on her beck intensified, and Ella cried out, trying to bat away the weight.
“Let her go if you want to live,ayakashi,” the voice snarled again, and now, Ella could hear the rage that lay under Ryu’s words. He sounded furious. She slit her eyes open, trying to stop the world from spinning.
All she could see was Ryu, standing there before her. Her squinting eyes reduced the glow that hung around him, obscuring his form, but the forbidding scowl on his face was clear.
“She ismyprey, Elfing,” a voice hissed at her side, and Ella turned her lolling head to see that in Haru’s place was now a stranger. His eyes had elongated, and slitted yellow pupils glowed in their depths. His teeth had lengthened as well, sticking out of his mouth like two fangs. A forked tongue slithered between them, scenting the air.
“Let her go, or you will end up asmyprey,” Ryu snarled.
Haru—or the creature that had been pretending to be Haru—tightened its claws around Ella, even as she tried ineffectually, to escape.
Now, alarm shot through her. Her hands felt like they were wrapped in cotton wool, and her thoughts were moving too slowly.
It was obvious she’d been trapped by a spirit, but why couldn’t she free herself? She slapped a fumbling hand to her neck, and her fingers came away bright red with blood. The creature must have injected her with a mind-numbing venom when it had bitten her.
“I won’t warn you again,” Ryu’s voice came to her through the numb haze that surrounded her. He extended a hand, and something glowed in his palm. “Let her go. Ordie.”
The creature that was Haru hissed and flung a hand out at Ryu. A cloud of miasma emerged from its fingertips, glowing a sickly green.
Ryu laughed. “Do you really think a cloud can affect me? I have—”
He broke off when the miasma made contact with his skin, flinching away. Ella saw, through the haze that threatened to drag her under, that Ryu’s skin had gone an angry, inflamed red where the miasma had touched him. Poison.
Ella’s heart pounded in her chest as the menacing spirit at her side cackled in glee. Its form twisted and contorted, radiating an aura of malevolence.
