Kami Cursed (Dragon and Phoenix)

by Julianne Price

  When we got home, we hauled all of my stuff inside. When I walked in the front door, I barely recognized the place. Our little house had always been cluttered, but in sort of an organized way- controlled chaos, my dad called it. Now it was just plain messy. Thankfully, my room was exactly like I remembered it, if a bit dusty and unused. Ryuu dropped the last of my bags onto the floor by my closet and I flopped onto my bed in relief.

  “I think if I close my eyes, maybe I’ll wake up and realize this is all just a bad dream.”

  He came and sank down to sit cross-legged on the floor beside my head. “I’m sorry Kit. I can’t tell you how sorry. This is all my fault.”

  I sat up and looked at him. “How in the world is any of this your fault?”

  He hunched his shoulders. He still had that lanky look to him, like he wasn’t eating enough. I used to nag him all the time to keep eating, especially when he first moved here, still all skinny and shocky after his parents’ deaths.

  “I should have been more careful. I told you that bad things follow me around. Bad things happen around me-and look what happened to you.” He ran a hand through his hair and the little bell on his bracelet tinkled faintly.

  I nudged him with my knee. “You’re talking about curses again, aren’t you? Do you really believe that’s what happened to me?” The psychologist said it was stress. That dealing with the abandonment issues caused by my own Mom had finally pushed me over the edge, even though she had left years before.

  His black eyes met mine. “It was that book. I knew it was a cursed object the minute I saw it. It was just crawling with bad energy.” He turned to me, putting a hand on my knee. “I didn’t know what to tell you- how to make you believe me,” he whispered. “Everyone else I’ve ever told said I was crazy. You were my only friend, and I didn’t want to scare you away. But I should have made you listen. It’s true, I swear. I can see things other people can’t.” His voice cracked. “I tried Kit. I tried every day since you went under to get you back. But I just wasn’t strong enough- not at first.”

  “What do you mean?” My mind was whirling as I tried to keep up with him.

  The sharp angles of his face were intent. “I researched, I tried everything I could find, but I couldn’t break the curse. My spiritual powers just weren’t strong enough. I was…I’m still just a kid. But my powers are growing. I’ve got some help now, and I finally got strong enough to break the curse.”

  “Ryuu…” I firmly interrupted his rambling. “There’s no such thing as curses.” I heaved a sigh. “Look, I played along when you were little, but don’t you think you’re taking this a bit too far? You sound crazy.” I stared into his eyes, pleading. I didn’t need this. Couldn’t handle it. I needed normal. “You didn’t cause this.”

  He looked like he wanted to argue. But then his expression softened and he sat back, looking more like the little boy I had known. “Sorry. This isn’t the right time to talk about this. You need some time.”

  After he left, I sat on my bed, staring at my bedroom door for a long time. It was too much to hope that he had gone off to play video games or something a normal boy his age would do. Ryuu had always been a little odd, sometimes eerily so. Had he finally lost it?

  Chapter 3

  My first day back at school after three years in the nut house was everything I expected and more- embarrassing, awkward, and longer than any day should be. I’d missed out on the last three years of my life, so while I should have been in my junior year, I was placed into tenth grade. It was a compromise, meant to place me in a class with people closer to my own age, while still respecting the fact that there was no way I would be able to keep up if I was placed into eleventh grade. Most of my classes were filled with tenth and eleventh graders. Thankfully, I hadn’t missed much of the school year, so I was able to start at the beginning.

  I didn’t see what difference that one measly year had made- they might as well have stuck me in eleventh grade after all. I still felt like a moron, and I stuck out like a sore thumb among the younger kids. To make matters worse, there were the rumors. Everyone knew I’d spent the last few years in a mental hospital. I could hear the whispers and feel the curious eyes on me. I almost missed my quiet bed back at Birch Hill. Almost.

  The bell rang for lunch and I stuffed my biology book into my bag and left the room as fast as I could. I’d packed my lunch, thinking that the lunch line would be one less thing I’d have to deal with. My friends from before were now, of course, one grade and three years ahead of me. I saw them here and there in the hallways. Andrea- who had been my closest friend besides Ryuu- actually waved. I thought she might come talk to me but she turned away, obviously too embarrassed to associate with me.

  My cell phone vibrated and I paused to dig through the highlighters and loose junk in the bottom of my book bag to find it. Other people passed by, giving me odd looks. I had a text from Ryuu. Where are you? Come eat outside.

  The tension in my chest eased just a little bit. At least Ryuu was familiar. He acted as if absolutely nothing had changed.

  Pine Rapids was a very small town, and when the recession began, they’d done some down-sizing at the school. Our school was already integrated, with grades seven through twelve sharing the same building, but on slightly different schedules. With the financial changes, or so Dad had told me, it only made sense to integrate further. Because of this, the junior high kids had started eating lunch with the high schoolers. From what Dad said, some of the parents of the younger kids hadn’t liked this. But I had absolutely no objection.

  I found Ryuu sitting at one of the picnic tables in the courtyard. He was near the edge of the yard, in the shade of a big maple tree. No one was sitting with him, and I noticed that there was a careful space around his table. A group of girls at the next table over glanced at him and giggled now and then. He was oblivious; his dark head bent over an old book with a faded cover while his lunch sat at his elbow, completely ignored.

  I plopped down across from him and rested my chin on my folded arms, exhaling loudly. “That bad?” he said, not looking up from his book.

  I wanted to put my face in the crook of my elbow and hide. Instead, I sat up straight, smiled, and pulled out my lunch. I picked at my peanut butter sandwich while I watched Ryuu. “What are you reading?”

  When he didn’t answer, I pulled his book bag closer and peered at the spine of another old book. The plain black title had almost worn away. “What’s Shinto?”

  He slipped a tattered bookmark between the pages of the book he was reading and finally looked at me. “It’s a kind of religious belief,” he said slowly. “Really old. Ancient.”

  I pulled the other book out of his book bag and flipped it open. Speaking of ancient, the book looked like it was about to fall apart. “Where in the world did you get this thing?”

  He took it back and gently slipped the books into his bag. I think maybe he didn’t want me touching any mysterious books anytime soon, just on principal. “A friend of mine loaned them to me.” He grinned. “I think he stole them from the temple.”

  I started to roll my eyes, but I remembered that there were curious eyes on me all the time now. The girls at the table across from us glared at me, and I blinked at them in surprise. What the heck?

  Ryuu noticed my discomfort, and glanced around us with a dark, brooding look. “It’ll pass,” he said quietly. “Teenagers have memories like goldfish. There’ll be something else for them to gossip about a month from now.”

  I laughed. “You’re a teenager too, you know.”

  He echoed my laugh, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “Sure.”

  When I was done with my sandwich, I pulled out my biology book and reviewed what we had just gone over in class. Ryuu tilted the book toward him so he could see what I was reading. “So what do you think of tenth grade?”

  I snorted. “I think I’m going to end up failing.” Everything was so much harder, and I felt lost. “I have to re-read everything we cover in class
because the stuff that’s review for the other kids is completely new to me. Mr. Anderson said he’s going to get me a tutor for Biology and Algebra.”

  Ryuu pushed the book away and lay down on his seat to soak up the warm sun, while I tried to make sense of my reading assignment. It wasn’t long before the bell rang. I closed my book with a thump and gathered up my backpack. Then I went around to Ryuu’s side with dragging steps.

  “Aren’t you going to class?” I asked, when he showed no sign of movement.

  He sat up and stretched. “I have to go to the office for a few minutes first. I’ll see you after school.”

  I waved and left him sitting in the shade. It must be nice to never have to worry about school. If he missed the first part of class, it wouldn’t effect Ryuu in the least bit. He’d always been a straight A student.

  When I got to my locker, I was surprised to find Andrea waiting for me. She gave me a nervous smile. “Hey Kit. How are things going?”

  I grimaced. “About like you’d expect.”

  She nodded sadly, glancing around like she was looking for someone. “I’m sorry about what happened to you. It was so weird, you know- one day you’re fine, the next you’re crazy. And now you’re fine again…” Her blue eyes widened as she realized what she’d just said. “Oh, sorry!”

  I shrugged and stuffed my biology book into my locker. “It’s okay. That’s pretty much what happened.” Andrea was Andrea. She’d always been more prone to silly, feminine things like gossip, boys, and make-up than I had ever been. It seemed like she hadn’t changed all that much in the last few years.

  Her attention went over my head and I turned with my algebra book in my hand. A good-looking blond guy was making his way over. He didn’t look too happy.

  “Hey Andrea.” He glanced at me has though he expected me to start clucking like a chicken. I was tempted to do it, just to see what he’d do.

  Andrea turned to me again and a pretty pink color came into her round cheeks. “Kit, Mr. Anderson asked Wyatt to tutor you in Biology and Algebra.” She shrugged. “I’d volunteer to help, but I’m horrible at both.”

  I nodded at the jock who was standing awkwardly in front of my locker trying not to look like he was associating with the freak. “Thanks. But you don’t have to help me if you don’t want to.”

  He put his hands in his pockets and shrugged. “I need to do service hours for Honor’s Club. It’s not a big deal.”

  I sighed. At least there was something in it for him. Honor’s Club looked good on a college application. “Thanks. I could really use the help.” Cluck.

  The final bell rang and I made my way to class, wondering if Andrea had only talked to me because Mr. Anderson asked her to.

  *****

  By the end of the day, I was over it. I wished the earth would just open up and swallow me. I felt the curious eyes on Ryuu and me as we walked home together, and their weight was suffocating. Ryuu was quiet and withdrawn, clearly thinking about something else. I’d noticed that he was different at school than when we were alone. He did dark and broody very well, which probably explained why although I caught lots of people staring at him throughout the day, not one of them ever really talked to him. But then, maybe I was wrong. Maybe he was actually really popular and people were only avoiding him because of me.

  “I can walk home alone,” I said as we were leaving.

  “Hmm?” He looked at me in surprise, coming back from wherever he had been.

  I sighed. “I said I can walk home alone. Isn’t everyone going to give you crap for hanging out with the crazy girl?”

  He shrugged. “Did people ever give you crap for hanging out with the crazy little Japanese boy?” He raised his dark eyebrows expectantly.

  “Well, yeah. But I didn’t care what they thought,” I said quickly.

  He handed me one of his old books and took my enormous backpack. “So you know how I feel.”

  He groaned and staggered under the weight of my bag. I shook my head and kept walking. He was exaggerating. It wasn’t that heavy. Quite.

  He took the book back and started reading while he walked. I obligingly took his hand and steered him around obstacles, wondering if whatever he was reading could really be that interesting.

  I was surprised when Ryuu followed me right to my door. “You’re not going home?”

  He looked down and scuffed his foot against the bottom porch step. “Well, I’m sort of used to the routine now.” He glanced up at me, then away.

  “When you were…gone… and Dawn was out all the time, I came here and ate with your dad every night.” He gave me a sad smile. “He wasn’t eating, and since you always nagged me to eat, I knew you’d be really cranky if you woke up and we’d both starved to death or something.”

  I rolled my eyes. Sure, I knew my dad was helpless when it came to stuff like that, but Ryuu had been so young then. When he reached the door, he paused with his hand on the doorknob.

  “Uh, hey Kit? Take it easy on your dad, okay? When you left, he had a really hard time. First your mom, then you. I think he’ll be okay now, but it was kinda… rough.”

  I stared at him, wide eyed. What did that mean- kinda rough? “Sure,” I said cautiously.

  Maybe he’d been trying to warn me. If so, it was a complete fail. Nothing could have prepared me enough to just calmly accept the sight that greeted me as I walked into that messy living room. Dad was sprawled across the couch snoring. The end table was covered with empty beer cans, a few of which had tumbled to the floor. I dropped my book bag with a thump and he snorted and rolled over.

  “Dad. Dad!” I raised my voice and he jerked awake, pushing himself up into a slumped sitting position.

  He peered up at me from reddened eyes, blinking like an owl. “Oh, hey Pumpkin,” he grinned. “I forgot to make dinner…” he looked around the living room in a confused sort of way.

  Ryuu cleared his throat. “Don’t worry about it Mr. Callahan,” he said quickly. “I’ll help Kit make dinner. Why don’t you… go take a shower?”

  My face flamed at the reminder that I wasn’t the only one seeing this. “How could you?” My voice wavered. “You’re disgusting, Dad. You should be ashamed of yourself!” He was drinking again? He’d been sober since mom left.

  He leaned forward and braced his elbows on his knees, putting his face in his hands. “I’m sorry, Princess. Sorry.” His voice was muffled, but it sounded weepy. “How was your first day? Were the other kids mean to you?”

  I opened my mouth to tell him that it was awful, and that I didn’t need to deal with this crap on top of everything else- but Ryuu grabbed my arm and steered me into the kitchen. He shoved me into a chair and gave me a frosty black look.

  I stared at the circular watermarks on the tabletop, thinking how mad Mom would have been that someone hadn’t used a coaster. It was stupid to think of her now, after so many years. But one of the reasons mom had left was the drinking.

  I heard Dad shuffle off to the bathroom, shortly followed by the sound of the shower running. Ryuu moved around the kitchen as if he lived there, pulling out pots and pans and gathering food. It looked ridiculous. He was only a fourteen-year-old boy. Of course, I’d done all the cooking when I was his age.

  “How long has he been like this?” My voice was flat.

  Ryuu stood on his tiptoes to reach into the cabinet above the stove- the one I could only barely reach the last time I tried- and pulled out the cooking oil. I was struck with the memory of the day he and I had made cookies with my Dad and Ryuu had to stand on a chair to get the vanilla out of that cabinet. It felt like it was only yesterday, and it made my head spin.

  “I told you,” he said patiently, his voice a little sad. “He didn’t deal well when you went away.”

  He turned to me, his bottom lip between his teeth as he considered what to say. “I’m sure it’ll get better now that you’re back. Just give him some time.”

  I shook my head. “Is this why you drive him everywhere?” />
  He turned to fiddle with the stove, but I didn’t miss his guilty look.

  “Ryuu! If he doesn’t have a license, it’s not legal for you to be driving with him.”

  He shrugged. “I don’t do it often.”

  I put my head in my hands and moaned. “This has got to be a bad dream.”

  Ryuu didn’t say anything. He put some pasta on to boil and started chopping vegetables. I watched him curiously. Sometimes he seemed so adult. It was wrong that he made me feel like a stupid kid. “Thanks,” I said awkwardly. “I mean, for taking care of him.”

  He shrugged again. The house was quiet as Ryuu went about making dinner. I got out plates for something to do.

  “Hey Kit,” Ryuu said lightly. “Do you think you could come over to my house after dinner?” He kept his eyes on the salad he was making. “I have something I want you to look at.”

  I watched him curiously. He was trying to sound casual, but I could tell he was excited about something. “Sure,” I said slowly. “But only if you help me with my homework.”

  He rolled his eyes. “You got a tutor, right?”

  I nodded. “Yeah, but I don’t meet with him until this weekend. Can you help me try to figure it out?”

  He turned to wink at me. “I’d love to. I’m gonna need to study hard if I want to go from failing to skipping two whole grades.”

  I just stared at him. Failing? Skipping grades?

  “Hey kids.” Dad shuffled into the kitchen, looking more like himself. His long hair was pulled back neatly, his glasses in place over his blue eyes, and clean, un-rumpled clothes on his tall, skinny frame. But he wouldn’t quite meet my eyes. “What’s for dinner? It smells great.”

  *****

  I stood in the middle of Ryuu’s bedroom, shaking like a leaf. He hadn’t warned me, hadn’t told me what he wanted me to see. Instead, he calmly walked into the room and tossed the book onto the bed. It was like throwing a bomb into the room. The blood pounded in my head and my hands shook. I was suddenly, inexplicably mad- madder than I had ever been in my life. I couldn’t say what it was that made me want to destroy Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Maybe it was the sound it was making- a kind of faint, scritchy ring that demanded I silence it.