Kami Cursed (Dragon and Phoenix)

by Julianne Price

  Marci took a deep breath, then slowly let it out. “You fell?” Crap, she didn’t believe me.

  “Look,” I said, exasperated. “Why in the world would my dad hurt me?”

  The woman met my gaze unflinchingly. “I don’t know sweetheart. Sometimes really good people do some really bad things. I’m just here to see if we can help you.” She paused. “You can tell me the truth. Do you have any other bruises?”

  Probably a million. Not that I could tell her about how I’d really gotten any of them. Oh, I can tell you the truth? Well, in that case, I got these blisters from a malignant spirit in a little box. These bruises are from trying to destroy another one of those spirits with a baseball bat. Suddenly, I was fed up. I couldn’t tell anyone the truth, and I had to constantly put up with people doubting me and badgering me. I got picked on at school, I had to make up stories for the principal, Dad, Dr. Laura, and now this random woman. Screw that.

  I stood and slammed my orange juice down on the table, sloshing the sticky stuff everywhere. “I’m done talking to you,” I said firmly. I turned and walked to the door, indicating she should follow.

  Marci let out another tired little sigh as she slipped her coat back on and tucked away her stupid little notepad. Why was it that people were always taking notes when they talked to me? If only they knew- they weren’t writing down the important stuff. Oh boy the crap I could tell them if I thought it wouldn’t get me tucked away at Birch Hill faster than you could say “kami.”

  Marci paused on the stoop. I was tempted to slam the door in her face, but managed to wait for her to say whatever it was that she just had to say.

  “Thank you for talking to me Katherine. I’m sorry I’ve upset you. We still need to talk to your dad. When would be a good time to catch him at home?”

  I glared at her and thought about telling her every time I could think of that he’d be out of the house. Instead, I muttered that he’d be busy this weekend, in and out, and that maybe they could catch him some afternoon next week. Maybe that would give me time to prepare him. This was going to crush him, having someone think he would hurt me.

  Marci turned away and I finally gave in and let myself slam the door. This was absolutely craptastic.

  *****

  I sat on the wooden bench, jiggling my leg impatiently while we waited for Fumio. There wasn’t any other adult we could go to. No one else would believe what I had to say or understand what kind of crap I dealt with every day. I had no idea what the young monk could do to help, but we had to talk to someone. Ryuu nudged my foot with his and I made a colossal effort to stop twitching. It didn’t last long though, and I was vibrating all over again.

  It wasn’t long before Fumio appeared, dusting his hands on a white apron he had tied over his rusty robe. In any other situation, I would have laughed. As it was, all I could muster was a little grimace. Fumio came to a halt in front of us, and his welcoming smile faded. “You look miserable,” he commented.

  I squeezed Ryuu’s hand, and he squeezed back. “I need your help,” I said, tears springing into my eyes.

  Fumio looked surprised at my sudden welling up, but he quickly recovered his usual cheery demeanor and gestured for us to follow him. I guess he was used to me emoting all over him. “Let’s go somewhere out of the way. We get a few visitors over the lunch hour.”

  In fact, a couple of people had just come in and were taking off their boots and hanging up their coats in the entryway. We followed Fumio to the back of the temple and into a tiny kitchen. He pulled out a couple of stools for us and went back to kneading a big lump of dough on the floury center island.

  “Now, what is it that’s happened Kit?” he asked calmly.

  I described Marci’s visit. “And… she said they were coming back to talk to Dad. God, what am I going to do? No one will believe the truth and I don’t want to end up getting tossed back in the loony bin. But if I don’t tell the truth, then they’ll go after Dad, I just know they will!”

  Ryuu’s hand twitched in mine and I let up when I realized that I was squeezing so hard his bones were probably grating together.

  Fumio continued to beat up the lump of dough, but he looked dismayed. “Well, now… let’s not put the cart before the horse, as the old men say.” He stared breaking off little pieces of dough and rolling them into balls for buns. “Come help me with these, will you?”

  I released Ryuu’s poor hand and we both washed up and set to work making wodgy dough balls.

  “Just because the social worker visited,” Fumio continued slowly, “that doesn’t mean they will take any action.” He shrugged. “I volunteer at a school for underprivileged kids. Poor things.” He sighed. “It has to be pretty bad before they’ll take the kids from the parents.”

  I rolled a dough ball between my hands, and took slow deep breaths. His bread therapy was working better for me than Dr. Laura’s brand of confrontation.

  “But still,” I said softly. “There’s no guarantee. I have this terrible looking medical history where I was insane for years, and look at my face!” My hands had all but healed and remained just a little red. But my face still looked freakish.

  Fumio nodded. “I see your point. If I didn’t know exactly how you’d gotten those bruises, I might be calling a social worker myself.”

  I snorted and plopped the ball onto the pan a little harder than strictly necessary. “It was the psychologist. I know it was!”

  Fumio sighed. “If it was, then she was right in doing it. She saw that you were maybe in danger and wanted to make sure you were safe. It’s her job. And her duty as a human being.”

  I frowned down at my floury hands. “Well, maybe. But it’s still a problem.” And what would Dad say? Having someone think he beat his daughter was likely to make him take up drinking again. Why did I always have to cause him so much trouble?

  Ryuu finally spoke. I glanced at his end of the table to see his rolls standing in neat little lines on the tray, all graced with little crisscross tops. “Can you help?”

  He turned his dark eyes on Fumio, and I swear I saw the older guy almost cringe from the force of that gaze. “I’ll see what I can do. I know someone who might have some ties at CPS.”

  I turned to him and clutched his arm, leaving floury fingerprints on his robe. “Please,” I said imploringly. “Please. I don’t…I don’t want to go back there. To the hospital.”

  I might not remember much of my stay, but there was a part of me that cowered in fear anytime I went near the place, and I thought maybe that part of me remembered.

  Fumio nodded, and smiled down at me with kindly, yet stressed, eyes brown eyes. “I’ll do what I can,” he said earnestly.

  *****

  The crowd in the hallway seemed worse today. I shuffled toward my locker, pushing people out of the way. “Sorry,” I muttered. But I don’t think anyone really noticed.

  For once, all eyes were not on me. There was something going on a few lockers down and everyone was gawking. I couldn’t care less. I put in my locker combination and rattled the door- the magic trick to get it to actually open. I was stuffing my math book into the dark, mysterious reaches of my messy locker when Ryuu appeared at my side.

  “I wonder what’s going on,” he muttered. I was surprised that he was interested.

  I glanced at him to see a strange, strained expression on his face. His brows were drawn together and his eyes looked lighter, which made me feel suddenly uncomfortable. I was beginning to think that beautiful amber color wasn’t just a trick of the light.

  I closed my locker and turned to gaze down the hall. I couldn’t really see, there were too many people. “Who cares. For once in my life, it has nothing to do with me. I’m going to eat lunch now before they realize they could be over here making my life miserable.”

  I started to shove off, away from the crowd, but Ryuu tugged at my arm. “C’mon. I wanna see who’s over there.”

  My shoulders slumped and I let out a sigh. He was set on it, so ther
e was no way I was talking him out of it. “I really don’t think we should go poking around. It’s probably that Vanessa girl and her minions.”

  Ryuu turned to me and I couldn’t help moving my feet in response to those pleading eyes. “Fine. But what’s the big deal?” I whined as he dragged me along.

  He hunched his shoulders and didn’t look back at me. “Something feels weird.”

  Uh-oh. “What kind of feels weird? Like evil curse weird or just normal everyday weird?”

  He shook his dark head. I nearly bumped into him when he stopped walking. We’d somehow made it through the crowd. A girl with short, dishwater blonde hair and mismatched clothes was sitting on the floor. A few people were there with her, one of them a teacher. She held a bloody tissue pinched over her nose and her thick glasses lay on the floor beside her, near her scattered book bag. One lens was shattered.

  “What the heck?” I looked around, trying to figure out what had happened.

  “Vanessa pushed her.” Andrea’s voice was really close to my ear and I jumped. I glanced back at her.

  “What? Why would she hurt Jenny?” Jenny should have been off limits- even for Vanessa. She was really shy, and she got the best grades in our class. She also had a mild form of autism.

  Ryuu was still in front of me. His shoulder twitched and he put one arm across his stomach like he was going to be sick. “It’s one of them.” Fan-freaking-tastic.

  I sidled up to him. “C’mon, I’ll take you to the office.” I slipped an arm around his waist and gave Andrea an apologetic smile. “Blood,” I lied, rolling my eyes. “He can’t stand the sight of it.”

  Ryuu shuddered and I steered him away from the crowd. We sat down on a bench outside the office and I peered at him, concerned. “Are you okay? What happened?”

  He took a deep breath and sat up. He didn’t look pale like he had after he ran into the man with the cane, but he didn’t exactly look well either.

  “I’m fine. It just surprised me is all.” He brushed his hair out of his eyes and sat up straighter. “There’s a cursed object around here somewhere. I can feel it.”

  I sighed. “Are you sure? I mean, Andrea said it was Vanessa. Bullying people is kind of what she does.”

  His dark eyes met mine and I knew I was in trouble. “But, Jenny?’

  I nodded. He was right. This went above and beyond. “So you think Vanessa is possessed or something?”

  Ryuu frowned. “I don’t know. I’ve never even talked to her. But I think we need to keep an eye on her and figure out what’s making her act this way.”

  I sighed. “You realize we have finals pretty soon?”

  He grinned at me. “Sure. I’m not worried.”

  I pushed him and stood. “I am. I need to study. I don’t have time for this crap.”

  Chapter 13

  I met Ryuu in the school library. He was engrossed in a book and didn’t look up as I slid into the chair next to him. I was surprised to see that he was actually studying for school, and not reading some moldy old book about tree spirits or something.

  I leaned close to read over his shoulder. “I thought you didn’t need to study,” I whispered.

  He turned his head to look at me, his nose inches from mine. “I need to study if I’m going to skip a grade.”

  His breath was warm on my cheek. I sat back and tucked my hair behind my ear. “You’re still stuck on that?” Ryuu had confessed to me that he planned to skip ahead. Unnecessary work, if you asked me. “You really think you can do it?”

  He had been a straight A student when we were little, but in the time since my curse his grades had slipped. His plan was to ace his finals and tell the teachers that he had just been bored all these years, hoping they would feel that he needed more challenge. He said that he just wanted to get out of school faster so that he could hunt down kami. I think the real reason was that he just wanted to be in the same grade as me.

  I took out my notes from Biology class and rummaged around in my bag until I found a purple highlighter. Ryuu stretched and flipped the page in his math book. “This will be a piece of cake,” he said confidently. “Kid’s stuff.”

  I raised my eyebrows and highlighted a note about mitosis. “Oh yeah, sure.”

  Ryuu laughed and I looked up to find him grinning at me. “You know, if you fail and I skip ahead we’ll be in the same grade.”

  I picked up my marker cap and threw it at him. He didn’t flinch when it bounced off his forehead and went rolling under the desk. “Don’t even joke about crap like that,” I hissed. “If I get anymore behind than I am now, I’m gonna drop out!”

  He chuckled and crawled under the desk to retrieve the plastic cap. When he re-emerged he had stopped laughing at me. “You’ll be fine,” he said handing me the cap. I refused to feel guilty about the small red mark that was appearing on his forehead.

  “You’ve been working hard. Just give it your best.” He settled back into his seat. “If you fail, it won’t be your fault at all,” he glanced up, but kept speaking. “That would be crap-for-brains’ fault.”

  I followed his gaze to find Wyatt heading our way. “Stop it,” I hissed, kicking him under the table. I hoped Wyatt hadn’t heard, but judging from the tight set of his mouth when he sat down next to me, I knew he had.

  Wyatt scooted his chair up to the table and smiled at me, completely ignoring Ryuu. “So, do you want to do your tutoring session here today or would you rather go somewhere without so many little kids around?”

  I put my head on my arms and resisted the urge to tear my hair out. Ryuu packed up his stuff and stood. He petted my head with a cool hand. “Don’t worry Kit, I’ll see you at home.”

  I picked up my head in time to see him giving Wyatt a superior look. The blonde glowered after my friend until he was out of sight. “I really hate that kid,” he grumbled.

  I shook my head. “He’s just trying to annoy you. You’re both idiots.”

  Wyatt glared at me, but one corner of his mouth twitched as he tried not to laugh. “If I’m such an idiot, I guess you don’t need me to help you study then.” He put a hand on his bag and started to stand up. I panicked and grabbed his arm.

  “No! Stay.” When he eased back down into his chair, I relaxed. “I am not repeating tenth grade.”

  In fact, the sooner I got out of here the better. I couldn’t take high school much longer.

  *****

  Ryuu and I exited the library in a depressed mood. We had decided to search the local library for any instances of weird stories involving cursed objects in the area, thinking it might give us some clue about what was making Vanessa act like such a peach. This past week had been a record-setting week for pranks and bullying. A freshman who’s locker was just down the hall from mine had all of her stuff stolen. We found it in the courtyard the next day. Her books were shredded, backpack destroyed, and hate messages were emblazoned across the picnic tables. Of course, Vanessa was never punished. Somehow one of her friends always ended up taking all the credit.

  Our search turned up zilch. Nothing even remotely exciting had ever happened in Pine Rapids. Ever.

  “Well, I didn’t think we’d really find anything,” Ryuu admitted. “It’s probably something she’s keeping on her- a piece of jewelry or clothing or something. Her little sister seems just fine. If it was something in her house, it seems like the whole household would be affected.”

  I nodded. “You know, Andrea said that Vanessa’s always boasting about stuff her dad buys her- jewelry. I wonder if it’s one of those things.”

  “Probably. But I did want to know if there was any kind of history around here.”

  I laughed. “In Pine Rapids? You know nothing exciting ever happens around he-”

  I rounded a corner and walked right into someone. He let out an oof and I fell on my butt. A thick hand reached down to pull me up, but when I went to take it the guy jerked away.

  “You!” Ryuu sounded shocked, and a little scared.

  I sta
red up at the burly man. He had dark hair that was going grey at the temples. It was thin and hung to the shoulders of his suit jacket. He wasn’t wearing a top hat today, but the old carved cane in his hand kind of gave him away.

  I scrambled to my feet and put myself between him and Ryuu, who looked like he was about to try something stupid again. The man laughed. “Little boy! We need to stop running into each other like this.” His voice was jovial, but it somehow sounded like a threat.

  I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t have my bat with me. And even if I did, what would I do? Dash up and smack the cane out of his hand?

  The man pushed by us and kept walking, but he spoke over his shoulder as he passed. “Not everyone wants saving, little boy.”

  Ryuu stood there, fists clenched, shaking. His dark eyes swirled with a glint of gold. Crap he was creepy right now. I shifted from foot to foot, not knowing what to do. Ryuu pressed the back of his hand to his mouth and looked like he was about to get sick.

  “Well, that was fun,” I said shakily. The whole situation was making me jittery.

  Ryuu dropped his hand. He was still staring down the street. “We’ve got to follow him.”

  He took off after the man, who had already turned a corner and disappeared. With a groan, I dashed after him. “What? Are you crazy? Even if we do find him, I don’t have my bat. Plus, I don’t even know how to make it work again. What are we going to do?”

  Ryuu just kept loping along, his eyes searching. I followed along, wondering how he knew where he was going. He turned a corner and kept pounding along like a bloodhound on the scent. “It doesn’t matter. If we can get the cane…”

  I rolled my eyes and pelted along with him, trying to get him to stop. “You heard what he said, he doesn’t want our help.”

  We ran several more blocks until we ended up right back where we’d started. I stumbled to a halt as Ryuu sank down on a wrought iron bench, gasping. “We’ve just been going in one big circle!”