Furious, I grabbed the fox charm on my bracelet.“Kyuubi!”I cried, willing the nine-tailed fox to appear with all my might. She did, but instead of materializing in front of me, fully formed, she appeared as a swirling ball of fire with a fox head. Ahitodama.Without thinking, I snatched her up and slammed her into my chest, just like Raiden haddone.
Power flooded me, so fast and furious it stole my breath. I swayed on my feet for a moment as I was overcome by the heady rush ofki. It scorched my veins, turning my breath to fire, and when I looked down, my entire body was covered inflames.
“No time,”thekyuubigrowled in my head, and I realized that the fiery presence scorching my insides washer.“Attack!”
The fire in my veins leapt at her command, and it took everything in me to rein it in. “Watch out!” I yelled, the only warning I gave to the crabs before I unleashed the fox fire burning beneath myskin.
A burst of blue fire exploded from my outstretched hands and slammed into the two closest monkeys. Horrific screams tore from their lips as their flaming bodies were flung backward across thesand.
The rotten-egg stench of burning hair filled the beach, and for a moment the only sounds were the screams of the two dying monkeys. As their cries faded away and their bodies turned to ashen smudges on the beach, the rest of the monkeys pointed and screeched at us, hastily backing toward theforest.
The crabs saw their chance and scuttled quickly in the opposite direction. Unfortunately, the flames had taken hold of me, feeding on my rage, and before I knew what was happening, I was sprinting after the retreating monkeys. Each step I took turned the sand beneath my feet to molten glass, but I didn’t care. I wouldn’t stop until I burned them all toashes.
“AIKA,STOP!”
Raiden’s voice, weakened but full of desperation, stopped me in my tracks. I glanced back to see him struggling to lift his head from the impromptu crab stretcher he was lying on. “Don’t…lose control…still…have to get the liver…” he croaked, and then his eyes rolled back in hishead.
“No!” Fear gripped me by the throat, and I ran toward Raiden, the murderous monkeys completely forgotten. As I approached, the fire wreathing my body died away, leaving me feeling a lot more likemyself.
“Raiden, please wake up!” I smacked his cheek lightly, trying to get him to open his eyes. But it was no good—he was outagain.
“Weak human,”thekyuubisaid, her voice full of derision. “Not strong enough foryou.”
“Shut up,” I snarled at her. To my surprise, she fell silent, her blazing fire reducing to a simmer inside me. The anger coursing through me faded almost completely, and I realized it was connected to thekyuubi’sfire.
Acting on instinct, I pressed my hand against my chest, then curled my fingers into a fist andpulled.The fox’shitodamapopped free of my chest with a loud sizzle, and I flung heraway.
As soon as thehitodamahit the sand, it exploded into thekyuubi’sfull, over-sized form. “Cover us,” I ordered her. She stared at me for a long moment, her glowing eyes full of annoyance. Then, without a word, she dutifully took up position between us and the forest. Several of the monkeys were still watching from the safety of the trees, but they scrambled away when thekyuubibarked, exposing her wicked-lookingfangs.
“You’re learning,”thefuriobserved from behind me. I turned to see him watching me, something like approval glinting in his eyes. The crabs were already scurrying away, heading up the beach. “Come, let’s not lose ourhosts.”
Thefuriand I hurried after the crabs, who had organized themselves in three single file rows. Pushing myself between them, I found the two carrying Raiden. He was pale as death, and my lungs constricted with anxiety. I didn’t know if his lack of color was from the bleeding or the pain, but it was a really badsign.
“Where are we going?” I asked the crabs. “Is there a healerthere?”
“No healer,” the lead crab said. “Safehaven.”
I swallowed back the tears clogging my throat and focused on keeping pace with them.One problem at a time, Aika,I told myself.Get out of danger. Then figure out what to do aboutRaiden.
The crabs led us for a mile down the beach, then up a treacherous path that wound up a rocky cliffside. My heart was in my throat the entire time as I worried that Raiden was going to fall off, but strangely, he didn’t budge from the crabs’ backs. Maybe they secreted some kind of sticky substance that kept him stuck there? Or perhaps they had the same kind of magic theUmigamedid that kept us from flying off his back while we were hurtling through the water at ridiculousspeeds.
As we climbed further up the cliff, I noticed the stones lining the edge of the path gradually turned into walls made of huge chunks of stacked stone, not dissimilar to how Japanese castle battlements were constructed. As the path grew narrower, the crabs reduced themselves to a long, single fileline.
We switchbacked several more times along the path before we finally got to our destination—a cave entrance in the face of a rock wall flanked by a hugesanmongate. Two enormous statues ofFujinandRaijin, the gods of thunder and lightning, had been installed inside the gate, and as we passed through it, I could have sworn their stony eyes were watching me, crackling with hiddenpower.
Under different circumstances, I would have paused outside the gate to get a better look at the statues. Instead, I hurried on into the dark, cool cavern, following the crabs into a tunnel system. To my surprise, peat torches burned from wall sconces set into the rocky walls, filling the cool air with a scent that could only be described as smoky dirt. The initial cavern entrance split off into several tunnel systems, and many of the crabs dispersed throughout these. But ten or so of them stayed with Raiden, and they led us into a small cave with a single mat lying on the ground and a clay jug filled withwater.
“This place is too small for the likes of me,” thekyuubisaid, looking around. She’d shrunk herself to the size of a Great Dane, though she still retained her usual shape. “But it is a good place to hide from themonkeys.”
“I’m glad you approve,” I said dryly as thefuriand I slowly lowered Raiden to the mat. His skin was clammy, his forehead covered with beads of sweat, and he let out a moan of pain as his head touched down on the mat. My heart twisted at the sight of his suffering, and I remembered the charms I’d taken from hispocket.
“Okay, so what do I do with these?” I asked, pulling them from my own pocket. There were three—a rat, a weasel, and a bird. “I don’t see how any of these are going to helpRaiden.”
Thefurisat back on his haunches. “Summon thekamaitachi,” he said. “He will be able to heal yourfriend.”
I frowned, glancing back down at my palm. “Which one isthat?”
“The weasel,” thefurisaid as if that were obvious. “You are not familiar with thekamaitachi’slegend?”
