“No,” I whispered. With all my strength, I launched myself at the Wolf and stabbed my dagger into his amulet, driving the blade deep.
For a moment, his red eyes widened. His claws curled around the amulet, and his hold on me faltered.
Then my dagger sizzled, melting clean away, and Takkan’s knotted blue emblem flailed against the wind. I tried to catch its cords, but my fingers grasped only smoke.
The Wolf laughed and laughed.
Fear iced my heart. I had nothing left. No weapon, no dragon pearl, not even the starstroke net.
Nothing but the clothes on my back.
“Bloom!” I shouted. My sleeves came alive like extra arms, one flaring to cover the Wolf’s eyes, another whipping the satchel out of his grasp.
As the net plummeted into the darkness below, I let out a small sigh of triumph. If I couldn’t save myself, then at least I would keep Raikama’s pearl safe from the Wolf.
I held in a scream as he dipped toward the mountains, making for the largest one in the center. We were hurtling so fast at its snowcapped peak that I barely caught sight of the seven paper birds flying up to Kiki and me. The same ones that Megari had folded and I had brought to life.
They carried a red thread, which they tied in a knot around my wrist.
Raikama summoned them to help us,Kiki translated for the birds. She cried,Miracles of Ashmiyu’en! She’s going to save us. She’s—
Kiki was wrong. No one could save me.
Smoke stung my nostrils, and I was thrown sideways. The Wolf flung aside the birds, his eyes bright and red. They burned into me as darkness consumed my world.
By my next breath, I was inside the Holy Mountains.
I landed with a thump against what felt like a bed of flowers. No, that couldn’t be.
But flowers they were. Lotuses and moon orchids, peonies and even the young buds of chrysanthemums.
Pushing myself to my feet, I blinked, certain this was an illusion. Larks chirped, and cicadas were trilling their summer symphony. I walked as if I were underwater, my movements so heavy I had to drag one foot in front of the other.
It didn’t take many steps before I recognized where I was.
Your stepmother’s garden,Kiki breathed, coming out of my sleeve.
I scooped her to my shoulder. “You’re here too? You should have stayed outside.”
I’ve already told you. Where you go, I go. If you die, I die. It’s in my best interest to help keep you alive. Now wits, Shiori.
Wits,I repeated, spinning to take in my surroundings. Yes, this was Raikama’s garden, but the trees looked taller than they should be. And me…I looked down at my small feet in sandals I had long since thrown away.
I was a little girl of seven again, with silk orchids pinned into my braids and jade and coral necklaces dangling over my collars.
No, not an illusion. This was a memory.
The snakes arrived. There were hundreds, and they came from every direction. Slinking down from the wisteria trees, draping along the thick branches, and swimming through the pond.
Some had horns, and others had claws. Every single one of them had blood-red eyes.
These were not snakes. They were demons.
“We’ve been waiting a long time, Shiori,” they whispered. “A taste is all we’ll need. Just a taste.”
I froze, as if petrified by their voices. The Wolf was the first demon I had seen in real life, but my brothers once delighted in terrifying me with tales of demons. The most powerful ones could steal your soul with a touch, and even the weakest demon could make you forget your name with as little as a glance.
Not to mention, they were monsters. Bloodthirsty, power-hungry monsters.
