Raiden immediately backed away, dipping into a bow.“My name is Takaoka Raiden,”he said in Japanese, his voice low and respectful.“I apologize for the intrusion, but you seemed to be indanger.”
My mother’s smile widened.“Handsomeandwell-mannered.”She turned to me. “You should marry this one,” she said, inEnglish.
“Mom!” Heat exploded across my cheeks. My mother was always telling me to date—it was her fondest hope that I settle down with a nice Japanese boy. “We only just met. Besides, don’t you think we have more important things to talk about? You were justattacked!”
My mother’s face pinched. “Ah, yes. Theogama.” She gripped my forearm, hard, right over the bracelet from my father. “He was looking for you,Aika.”
My mouth dropped open as shock hit me like a freight train. “Forme?Why?”
My mom shook her head. “I don’t know. He said something about a prophecy, and that a man named Kai is looking for you. He was sent here to findyou.”
“Kai?” Raiden frowned. “That doesn’t make anysense.”
“Do you know this Kai?” my mother demanded. She shot Raiden a look that would have made me wither on the spot. “Who is he, and why is he after mydaughter?”
“He’s a shaman who lived and died nearly two thousand years ago,” Raiden said, a puzzled frown on his handsome face. “A famous one to anybody who knows shaman lore. But Kai was a spirit shaman—he couldn’t controlyokai. So even if he was somehow alive, that wouldn’t makeany—”
A puff of purple smoke exploded behind Raiden before he could finish. “Raiden, watch out!” I cried as theogamaburst out of the smoke. Atantoblade flashed in its webbed hand, and he flung it just as Raiden spun around, instinctively dodging the attack as he brought his hands up to face the toad. The blade sliced through the spot where Raiden had been, and a bolt of fear hit me as I realized it was headed straight for my chest. I tried to move out of the way, but I didn’t have Raiden’s ninja-like reflexes, and thetantosank into my chest, right above myheart.
I screamed as burning pain sliced intome.
“Aika!” Raiden shouted as my knees buckled, and I hit the floor. Blood gushed from the wound, fast and furious, ruining my outfit. My mom cried out as I slapped my hand against the bed to hold myself upright, her hand outstretched toward me. I reached for the knife in my chest, but before my fingers could connect with the hilt, the charm bracelet on my wrist flared, blindingme.
Suddenly, I was no longer in the room. I was kneeling in a bamboo forest that smelled of rain and fresh dirt. The sounds of a stream burbling nearby and birds twittering in the air were a refreshing change from the croaking frogyokaiand the swamp stench it had brought along with it. The knife was gone from my chest, and I didn’t hurtanymore.
“What is this?” I asked aloud, my voice trembling. “Am Idead?”
“You would be, if not for me.” The bamboo rustled, and a creature stepped from the shoots into the clearing. My mouth dropped open—it was some kind of strange monkey, with red eyes and a black leopard pattern on its fuzzy fur. Kind of like the love child of a baboon and ajaguar.
“I am a furi,”the monkey answered in response to my unspoken question.“A kind of monkey yokai. Your father bound my spirit to the charm youwear.”
“Oh,”I said dumbly, having absolutely no clue what I was supposed to say to that. After a second, I added,“Umm, sorry. I didn’tknow.”
The monkey smiled, showing a set of wicked-looking fangs I was certain I didn’t want to get up close and personal with.“No apology necessary. I have been able to live a life of relative freedom, as your father rarely called upon me.”The smile faded.“I hope you are not planning on jumping in front of blades often, or that willchange.”
I frowned.“I don’t understand. What did you do for myfather?”
“I have the power to absorb a fatal blow in your stead,”thefurisaid, as if it were no big deal.“That is what I am about to do now, before your life blood is gone. But I can only do this once per sunrise,” the monkey warned.“If you are stabbed again before the next, I will not be able to keep your soul from crossing over to theReikai.”
“Is that where we are now?”I asked as the monkey padded toward me on all fours.Reikaiwas the Japanese word for the afterlife. Normally, I would have backed away if an animal with glowing red eyes began to approach, but the sense of calmness in this clearing flowed over me. Somehow, I was at peace here, and I instinctively knew I was safe.“Are we in theReikai?”
The monkey made a hacking sound, and I realized it was laughing.“In a way,”he said, placing a black, leathery palm against my chest.“You could say we are at the border between the human world and the spirit world. My duty is to push you back to the side where youbelong.”
Light exploded from his palm, and I cried out as pain knifed through me. The monkey shoved me, and I landed flat on my back…on the carpet. Raiden was kneeling next to me, his face hovering overmine.
“Aika!” he exclaimed, his dark eyes widening with surprise and relief. “You… where did the knifego?”
I glanced down at my chest, frowning. The knife was gone, and though there was a hole in my shirt, the skin beneath it was smooth and pink, as if it had never been touched. “I…I don’t know,” I said faintly, still in shock. “I guess thefurimust have made itdisappear.”
“Furi?” Raiden’s eyes narrowed. “Whatfuri?”
I shoved myself upright, ignoring him as reality came rushing back. “Where’s theogama?” I demanded, my heart rate spiking as I saw my mom’s bed was empty. “Where’s mymother?”
“I’m sorry, Aika,” Raiden said. My heart plummeted at the tone of his voice, and I turned to see his face had twisted into an expression of guilt and sympathy. “I couldn’t stop theogamain time. She’sgone.”
5
“No!”I shot to my feet, blood pumping wildly in my veins. “No, this can’t be happening!” I ripped apart the bed as though my mom might be hiding somewhere in the sheets. Nothing. Shoving past Raiden, I ran out into the hall, callingher.
