Kami Cursed (Dragon and Phoenix)

by Julianne Price

  “It’s different than my other one.” His dark eyes were suspicious.

  I shrugged. “Fumio helped me get this one,” I said, shifting in my seat. “I told him I wanted a real prayer bracelet. Those beads are hand carved, and it’s been blessed by the monks at the temple. I don’t know what they did, Fumio wouldn’t let me watch, but he said it should be… better.” I felt dumb. I was giving him a blessed bracelet for his birthday. Lame.

  Ryuu handed me the bracelet and held out his wrist. “Put it on for me?”

  I set my cup beside his and wrapped the bracelet around his wrist, pulling the bell through the little loop at the end to secure it. He held up his wrist, twisting it to make the bell ring softly. “It’s perfect. I can feel the energy they put into it- like a charm.”

  I let out a sigh of relief. “It’s okay then? I wasn’t sure. I can’t see things the way you can, but it… I could sort of feel it.” It made my fingers buzz when I touched it. Ryuu seemed happy, but I hadn’t liked the sensation at all.

  “Thanks Kit,” he said looking out at the skaters on the little rink. “This is the best birthday I’ve had in a long time.”

  I shrugged. “I should have taken you to the bounce house,” I teased. “We could have gotten you a little pizza and some free tokens.” Just like my dad had done for Ryuu’s eleventh birthday.

  He shook his head. “I missed you so much. I’m glad you’re back.” His eyes glittered, and I thought for one panicked minute that he might actually cry. But then he grinned at me. “You know what? For a few months I’m closer to your age.”

  I snorted. “That doesn’t count. You’re still a kid.” I shifted my feet under me, getting ready to stand. I had the feeling it was time to get out of here before he did something stupid.

  Ryuu grabbed my arm and pulled me back down. I sat, bracing myself. “Please don’t do that,” he said quietly.

  I looked at him. “Don’t do what?”

  He stared at me with those black pools. “Don’t keep reminding me that I’m younger than you.”

  I sighed. “You know I was only teasing you. Geesh, don’t be so touchy.”

  His hand slipped down to hold mine, and I knew he was comparing the size to my own. They were the same now. “I know I’m not right for you right now,” he said solemnly. “But one day soon I will be. Can’t you just wait ‘til then?” He gave me a lop-sided smile. “I’ll be as tall as my dad was, I know I will. And I’ll be just as good looking as that moron that follows you around all the time.”

  I pulled my hand away, tired of having to repeat myself. “Ryuu,” I said slowly. “Listen to me. You are a kid. I’m a teenager.” I waved my hand, my irritation growing. “When I’m in college, you’ll still be in high school. When I’m working, you’ll be in college- you’ll always be a step behind me. Always.”

  He shook his head, determined. “It won’t matter then. Right now three years seems like a lot. But when we’re adults, it won’t matter at all.”

  I scowled at him. “Yes. It will. I don’t like you that way Ryuu. I never have and I never will.” I stood, knocking over our drinks in the process. “Please just stop saying stuff like this. I don’t want to keep hurting your feelings.”

  He stood too, reaching for my hand. I jerked it away. “Just stop.”

  I expected him to yell back, to get angry for once. But he just stood there, quiet. Something flashed in his eyes and was gone.

  “I’m sorry,” he said calmly. “We were having so much fun, and now you’re ticked off.”

  I heaved an exasperated sigh. “It’s fine. Just forget about it.”

  We walked back home in silence. It had been such a fun time- and now I just felt angry and sad. The air was frosty, and our breath made little clouds in the night air. When we got to the corner of our street, Ryuu spoke again.

  “Thank you for the present,” he said holding up his wrist. The streetlight glinted off the little bell and the soft chiming eased some of my cranky mood.

  I sighed. “Sure.”

  “Hey Kit?” He had stopped and I turned to look at him as he stood in a halo of lamplight. “My present…” he stepped closer and I couldn’t breathe. Ryuu reached out and put one finger on my lips. It felt like a current of electricity was arcing from him to me, and I was suddenly flushed and hot.

  Then he stepped away and the cold night air washed over me as if nothing had ever happened. “Never mind,” he said, his voice barely more than a whisper.

  I followed him in silence the rest of the way, stopping at my front door to wave as he continued on home. Ryuu lifted his hand and smiled like always as he disappeared up the walk.

  I stood on the front stoop sucking in big gulps of cold night air that made my throat ache. What the heck was that back there? Was that all because of Ryuu? Or… did he just do something to me?

  Anger overtook my fear and surprise. He was messing with me. He had just done something to me with his spiritual power. “Jerk,” I whispered to the dark. “You stinking jerk! What would you do if you made me spontaneously combust?”

  But he hadn’t seen me catch fire in my dream.

  Maybe I’d just imagined it all. I hurried inside and went to bed, where I dreamed of dragons and bright orange flames. And of burying Ryuu in a snowdrift somewhere. Annoying kid.

  *****

  I eyed Vanessa from the safety of my locker. The pretty sophomore tossed her shiny blond hair and fiddled with the necklace while she talked to one of her friends.

  “What in the world are we going to do about that necklace?” I pitched my voice low, hoping no one else in the crowded hallway would hear me. Ryuu said he was pretty much positive that her big gothic looking locket was cursed. Personally, I thought it was just a convenient excuse for her being a witch- and not in the magic sort of way.

  Ryuu glanced toward Vanessa and away. “Don’t worry,” he said with a grin. “I’ve got a plan.” He pulled his locker open and started rooting around. He seemed to be taking forever, so I leaned around the door to see what he was doing. He had taken off his hoodie to reveal a really cool shirt with a dragon ghosted up one side. On any other boy, it would have looked ridiculous. But Ryuu was just so darned… pretty. He was squinting into the tiny mirror on his locker door as he pulled the angled tips of his black hair forward into ordered disorder.

  Finally, he closed the door and stood back, smoothing his long hands over his shirt. “Okay. How do I look?”

  I stared at him. Beautiful. Stupid. Completely irritating. “Uh. What are you doing?”

  His dark eyes darted away and he looked at his feet. “Just… I want to try something.”

  He lifted his head and his eyes meet mine defiantly. “I need you to get her to take the necklace off. The cursed things hate me. Then I’ll distract her and you do the rest.”

  I narrowed my eyes at him. “Just how in the heck am I supposed to get the necklace?”

  He put both hands on my shoulders and turned me toward my target. “I don’t care, just do it.” Then he shoved.

  I stumbled across the hall. Squaring my shoulders, I walked up to Vanessa. She ignored me, continuing to talk to her friend like I wasn’t even there- something about a pool party at her indoor pool. I cleared my throat. Finally, she turned her blue eyes on me. “Did you want something?” Her friend smirked at me.

  I plastered a stupid smile on my face and gestured at the locket. “I noticed your necklace in Art class. It’s really pretty.”

  She preened. “Isn’t it? It’s an antique.”

  I sidled closer. “Can I see it?”

  She put a hand over the locket and gave me a look. “Uh,” I cleared my throat. “I noticed in class that it was looking kind of dull.” I pulled my backpack around and started to rummage through the contents. “I have some, um, jewelry polish. I’ll clean it for you.” The excuse wouldn’t seem too far-fetched, since we were working with metals in art.

  She arched an eyebrow. “You’re really weird.” Her friend had grown
bored by the conversation and turned to talk to the boy at the next locker. I pulled out a bottle of hand sanitizer spray, being careful to hide the label with my hand.

  “Here, take it off and I’ll fix it for you.” I smiled like I might not be that bright. Not much of a stretch right now. What the heck was Ryuu’s master plan? I couldn’t really take the thing and run- could I? We needed to take it somewhere less noticeable to destroy it. And besides, I didn’t even have my bat. Again.

  Vanessa sighed and slipped the necklace off over her head, probably hoping I would just hurry up and go away. I took it and spritzed it with some sanitizer, then used my t-shirt to rub it off, pretending to pay close attention to what I was doing. I saw Ryuu come up out of the corner of my eye, but I ignored him.

  “Hey Vanessa,” he said cheerily. “Can I talk to you for a minute?” I sent a covert glance his way. He was actually smiling. Beaming like the stinking sun. I tried not to stare.

  Apparently, it worked on Vanessa too. She didn’t say anything for a minute, but she finally found her voice. “Uh, sure…but just a minute.” She turned to me and held out her hand impatiently.

  I squinted down at the locket. “Don’t worry,” I said airily. “I’m almost done. I’ll wait right here.”

  She narrowed her eyes at me. “Don’t lose that or I’ll make your life miserable.” As if she wasn’t already doing that.

  I nodded solemnly and spritzed again. “Sure.” I dropped my bag on the floor by her locker, so she’d know I wasn’t planning on running off.

  Vanessa’s locker was at the end of the hall. She and Ryuu stood at the corner of the hallway a few feet away. I strained to hear what was going on, but I couldn’t catch their voices over the chatter and noise around me. A few people were shooting speculative looks their way as they walked by. I glanced over to see Vanessa leaning against the wall, twirling her golden hair around her finger. Ryuu leaned close to whisper something in her ear and she blushed a pretty pink.

  I gaped at them, wrenching my gaze away when I almost dropped the necklace. He was… flirting? I bent and shoved the spray bottle into my bag, then threw the strap over my shoulder, unsure what I was supposed to do next. Ryuu slipped a hand behind his back and made a shooing gesture. I didn’t need him to tell me to get lost. I spun and made a run for it. I clutched the necklace desperately. It seemed hot all of the sudden, almost scorching my palm while it whispered and babbled. I was sure everyone around me could hear all the noise it was making. Maybe it really did hate Ryuu. Just then, I knew how it felt.

  For a minute there, I thought it would actually work. I had the exit doors at the end of the hall in my sight. I could hear Vanessa yelling, but I ignored it. Our Lit teacher’s voice joined hers and I moved faster.

  “Kit Callahan! No running in the halls!”

  For some reason I looked back at her for half a second. It was stupid. Someone stuck out a foot and I hit the floor. Hard. I had to throw my hands out to keep from hitting my face. The necklace went flying across the floor and was lost under the milling feet of the students around me.

  “Ow!” My hands smarted and I knew my knees would be bruised. There was a pair of hands under my arms, urging me up.

  “C’mon. Just keep walking!” Ryuu was there, and he guided me around the corner and down a less crowded hallway. “We’ll go out the back so the teachers don’t see.”

  “What’s with her?” I heard someone whisper loudly. I caught the word “crazy” muttered in reply.

  Ryuu’s voice was calm. “Good job getting the necklace.” He slipped his hoodie back on and lost the smooth act.

  “Whatever. I botched it…” I held up my empty hands. “And what was that all about anyway? Were you… flirting with her?”

  He grinned at me. “Well,” his cheeks were a little pink, I noticed, and my eyes narrowed. “Those girls, the ones that always follow me around…” I knew what he meant- the airhead groupies. “I just thought maybe I could distract her. That’s all.” So he wasn’t completely unaware of how he looked after all.

  I rolled my eyes. “Well, now what? We still didn’t get the necklace. I dropped it when I fell.”

  He shrugged. “But I know for sure now- all that negative energy is definitely coming from that thing. And you could almost see her disposition improving the minute it left her. You know, she might not be a bad person under all that evil energy.”

  I shook my head. “I don’t know if I’d go that far.” I wasn’t willing to give Vanessa any credit.

  Ryuu took a breath to say something, but he never got the words out. We were so engrossed in our conversation that we walked right into the principal. He glowered down at us and I knew he’d heard about my little debacle. “It looks like you’ve gone far enough.” He said grimly, and I realized he’d overheard my words. Crap.

  “Ms. Larsen,” he said, just a touch too calmly. “Follow me to my office please.”

  He spun on a heel and marched off. I gave Ryuu a nervous grin and he shrugged. “See you after school. Maybe.”

  In the end, I got out of it pretty easy. The principal couldn’t prove that I’d done anything more serious than run in the halls. I told him I’d forgotten all about Vanessa’s silly necklace, too busy running away from the bullies in the halls to notice that I’d dropped it somewhere along the way.

  His face looked pained, and I knew he was wondering if I was in danger of going all ranting loony again, but he didn’t do anything more than warn me to “keep your nose clean.” I let his office in relief. The last thing I needed was for him to call my dad and get him all worried.

  *****

  The problem of how to get the necklace was still on my mind Monday morning when I got to school. Ryuu had gone on ahead of me so he could sit in on an early morning honors class, still trying to get ahead and to prove to Dawn that he could excel just as well here as in some fancy-schmancy arts school. I had chosen to sleep in rather than come and hang out at school and study. So I ended up walking to school alone.

  I stuffed my bag in my locker and got out the stuff for my first class, then stood looking around. I thought I saw Ryuu’s dark head once, but he turned a corner and disappeared. It was weird that he hadn’t even come to say hello.

  After first hour, I looked for him again, but nothing. By lunchtime, I got the idea that he was avoiding me. I hovered outside the lunchroom trying to catch sight of him. He wasn’t at our usual table, so I decided to stay outside the doors and catch him as he came in.

  I had been there for a few minutes, and I was getting ridiculously anxious when a hand clamped down on my shoulder and pulled me away from the door. I turned to Ryuu, exasperated. “Where the heck have you been all day?”

  He shrugged. “Around.” He tugged me farther down an empty hallway, out of sight of the cafeteria. “Look, I have an idea how I can get that necklace.” His dark eyes met mine and they looked pained. “But I’m going to have to pretend I don’t know you anymore.”

  I was confused. “What?”

  “One of Vanessa’s friends talked to me this morning in Advanced Algebra. It seems like… well, I think Vanessa likes me. If I can get close to her, then I can convince her to give up that locket.”

  I frowned at him, remembering the way she had looked at him the last time we’d tried to get the necklace away from her. “Can’t we just leave it alone? I mean, I’m pretty sure most of her nastiness is just her natural personality.”

  Ryuu shook his head. “This isn’t funny Kit. That thing will only get worse the more negative energy it absorbs. You saw what happened with Jenny. What if she really hurts someone?” He gave me a scolding look. “And besides, she’s just as much a victim here as you were when you opened that book!”

  I stuffed my hands in my pockets and stared at my feet. “Sure.”

  He patted me on the head. “It will only be for a little while, I promise.” Then he turned and headed to the lunchroom.

  I followed slowly, not happy about eating alone. I went to our
table and took out my lunch. I’d brought my biology book, since I hadn’t gotten up early enough to study this morning. As I was leafing through it, I watched Ryuu out of the corner of my eye.

  He had gotten a lunch and walked right by me as if I didn’t exist. He went to the fangirl table, where a couple of girls slid aside to make room for him, all smiles. I sighed. He was going to make friends with the airheads so he could be part of their crowd. He was right. He would have to pretend he didn’t know me if he wanted to be accepted. Other than that, I didn’t think he’s have much trouble.

  I put my head down on my arms and stared at my book. I’d always been an outcast, but at least I’d had one person that accepted me. Now I was totally alone. This was going to suck.

  Chapter 17

  The next couple of weeks were the most horrible weeks of my life. I hadn’t realized how much Ryuu’s presence sheltered me from the other kids. Apparently, they had been intimidated enough by the combination of his dark aura and my craziness to just leave us alone. Now that he wasn’t constantly with me there was a continuous stream of pranks. And knowing that Ryuu was the acid squad’s new pet didn’t help my temper any.

  I let out an exasperated sigh as I hurried to my locker. Some witty person had written he word crazy across a giant maxi pad in red sharpie and stuck it to my locker. I peeled it off, wadded it up and threw it at the nearest jock. It bounced off the back of his head and he looked around, confused.

  I turned back to my locker and began putting my stuff away. As I headed to class, I caught sight of the acid squad. There were a few guys walking with them but Ryuu, with his dark hair and almost feminine good looks, stood out immediately. I gritted my teeth as they passed. He didn’t so much as look my way. Vanessa was on one side of him and another cheerleader from my class was on the other. One of the girls behind him ruffled his silky hair adoringly and he smiled like an idiot.

  “Jerk,” I muttered under my breath. I turned away and hurried to class. I hadn’t had a chance to talk to Ryuu much since his transition to the dark side. We barely ever saw each other after school because he was always going somewhere to hang out with one of his new friends. When I’d asked him how it was going he just shrugged and mumbled something about football.