I jerked, my hands balling into fists. Raikama was doing it again. She was trying to enchant me!
I shoved Hasho as hard as I could, waking him, then I tugged at Benkai’s and Andahai’s arms, shouting to my brothers, “Don’t look into her eyes! She’s trying to control us!She—”
“Enough.”
The word cut into the air like a knife. The slew of accusations died in my throat, as if someone had stoppered it with a cork.
Benkai grabbed the sword I’d dropped and pointed the blade at Raikama.
My stepmother barely flinched. Her eyes glowed yellow, the way they had when we’d been alone in the woods. “I would advise putting down your sword,” she said softly.
Benkai’s arms trembled, muscles straining, and his face drained of color. Something drove him to lower his weapon against his will.
“Demon!” Andahai cried, brandishing his sword at Raikama. “Yield!”
Andahai, too, did not make it even one step before he suddenly dropped his weapon. The rest of my brothers launched themselves at her, but they might as well have attacked the air. For all it took was a lift of her chin, and none of them could move.
“Run, Shiori!” Hasho managed to rasp. “Send for Father!”
I flew across the room, my hands groping at the doors, but they would not budge. “Guards!” I screamed, but the windows blew open, and a blast of wind rushed inside, swallowing my cry.
I staggered, the wind pushing me back until I slammed against Hasho’s dresser. As I crumpled, pain bursting inside me, a nightmare unfurled.
“Sons of my husband, I do not wish to harm you,” Raikama said quietly to my brothers, “but your sister has discovered the secret I hide most dearly, and I can see there is no way to cleanse the memories from your mind. You leave me no choice. It is for all our sakes that I must do this.”
The light in her chest hummed and shone even brighter than before, fanning out across the room until it enveloped my brothers.
They began to change. Their throats first—so they couldn’t scream. Black feathers coated their necks, stretching up to the long beaks sprouting from their noses and lips. I heard bones break and muscles rip as their arms lengthened into glossy white wings, and their legs thinned, becoming knobbed like stalks of bamboo. Their eyes rounded and deepened, and, last, six crimson crowns festooned the tops of their heads.
Cranes, my brothers had turned into cranes!
They flew wildly about me. Screaming, I picked up a fallen sword and charged at Raikama.
She whirled, dodging with a quick side step before she seized my wrist. With the same tremendous strength she’d wielded in the forest, she lifted me. My sword clattered to the ground.
“Bring them back!” I spat, struggling against her. “Bring them back, you monster!”
I might as well have pleaded with Sharima’en the Undertaker, but in my madness I thought I saw a glimmer of pity in her eyes, an ember of feeling.
I was wrong.
“Monster,”my stepmother repeated softly. Lethally. The scar on her face glimmered in the lantern light. “They called me that once. They called me many worse things.”
As I twisted and squirmed, her perfect lips curved into a grimace. “Of all the people I met in this new life, I thought you might be the one to understand. But I was wrong, Shiori.” She lifted me high. “Now you must go.”
Before she could cast her curse, my brothers swooped. In a fury of sharp beaks and powerful white wings, they attacked our stepmother. Furniture flew, and amidst the chaos, I kicked Raikama in the chest and knocked myself free.
I fled to my room, slamming the door behind me. I had to stop her. But how? Not with my zither or embroidery needles, and certainly not with my calligraphy brushes.
My mousy maid was there, cowering in the corner. I’d never been so happy to see anyone in my life. “Guiya,” I shouted, practically shoving her out the door. “Run, tell my father. Tell him Raikama is—”
Guiya’s hands were behind her back, as if she was hiding something. A dagger, I sorely hoped. When she saw me, she lurched forward. “Shiori’anma—”
That was as far as she got. Suddenly her throat constricted and her eyes turned white, rolling back until her body went slack. Guiya slumped to the ground, unconscious.
Demons of Tambu! I had but seconds until Raikama appeared at the door.
I tried to shake Guiya awake. No luck. No dagger on her either. Only a handful of what looked like black sand—probably charcoal for tinting my hair and lashes. Useless.
