Clue and The Shrine of the Widowed Bride (Clue Taylor Book 1)

by Wendie Nordgren

  I threw it over my head, stuck my arms through it, and jumped from the boat. Icy cold water closed over my head, and my chin ached from where the flotation device had banged into it. I surged to the surface and adjusted my arms over its edges. I coughed out the cold salty water that had gone up my nose. I hung my pants around my neck and began kicking at the water to get away from the Sea Harpy. I started using my arms, too. I had to get to the shore and to Winks. Winks could kick a ghost infested Cosmo’s ass or at least teleport us away from the island.

  I was getting tired when my toes finally brushed against the rocky bottom. My momentary celebratory feelings were destroyed when I heard a loud splash from the boat. He had dived into the water and swam toward the shore with powerful strokes. I ran half tripping from the water pulling my wet pants on while hopping along. I threw off the float. Being forced to take wet pants off of me would slow him down, and give me another chance to fight. I ran to Winks while I fastened my pants. Hard rocks jabbed the soles of my feet.

  “Winks! Winks! Help!”

  I saw him struggling to move. Breathless, I fell to the sand beside him. He was tied up and appeared to have been hit in the head with something heavy. I fumbled and pulled at the fishing line unable to remove it.

  “There’s a knife in my pocket.” I found it and cut him free. “That piece of betraying shit. He’s a dead man.”

  “Daddy, it’s not him! Get up! Hurry!” Winks took in my fear and appearance. Dizzily, he stood up. “Hurry! We can hide on the other side of the shrine!”

  Possessed Cosmo was almost to the shore. I pulled Winks’ arm around my neck, and together we began running as fast as we could manage with his dizziness and my bare feet. The shrine was in sight when Cosmo caught up to us. With an otherworldly scream, Cosmo lurched for Winks, who freed himself from me and delivered a series of powerful punches.

  “Run through the gateway, Clue! Now!”

  I ran through and collapsed gasping for air and sobbing from fear and fright. Once I could breathe, I began searching for a weapon so I could help Winks. I settled on a heavy rock for each of my hands. I might break my knuckles in the process, but he’d feel my punches this time. Attempting to prepare myself for anything, I realized that Cosmo was being raped in a way. The ghost had invaded Cosmo’s body against his will.

  I forced myself through the gateway. Winks was staggering. Cosmo stood several feet away with an insane gleam in his eyes and blood dripping from his mouth. Cosmo’s eyes locked onto me with possessive fury. I hurled my rocks at him as a distraction, grabbed Winks, and stumbled back with him through the portal. We collapsed together in the dirt. I wrapped my arms around his chest hugging him as tightly to myself as I could.

  “Are you okay? Let me see, baby girl,” Winks said softly as he examined my face. I sobbed and hid my face against his shoulder and neck. “There, there. I’ve got you. I won’t let him get near you again. That took me by surprise. I didn’t realize any angry spirits were still trapped here.”

  “He kept calling me Sabina.”

  “Everything is gonna be okay, baby.” Winks held me in his arms. “You’re freezing and wet.” He released me and began gathering sticks and small dry branches that he arranged in a pile. Then, he pulled a small laser from a pocket and lighted them. He put some rocks around the fire and added more branches to it. “Take those wet clothes off and put on this,” he said as he took off his shirt.

  I struggled out of my wet clothes. Dark bruises on my arms and thighs were already visible. I wondered how bad my face looked. Winks traded me his shirt for my wet clothes. Luckily, his shirt reached my thighs and had long sleeves. It retained his warmth and scent. The fear seeped out of me to be replaced with a deep emotional comfort. I was being protected and cared for by my very own daddy.

  “Sit down by the fire.” I pulled the back of the shirt down as far as it would go. The ghost had taken my undergarments when he had taken my pants. Winks draped my wet clothes on some branches near the fire and then sat beside me. “Come sit here, baby girl.” He patted his lap and dry pants. I scooted over to him. He was much warmer than the cold ground. Winks enclosed me in his big strong arms. I felt little again like when Momma used to hold me.

  “What are we going to do? How do we get the ghost out of Cosmo? Can you jump us home?”

  Winks squeezed me a little tighter. “Don’t you worry. I’ll figure something out. Right now, all you need to worry about is getting warm. Your clothes won’t take long to dry since they’re made of exercise fabric. While you dry, I’ll think. I’m sorry. Even I can’t jump us to Scorpius from this distance.”

  I watched the fire from the safety of my daddy’s lap. It made no sound. The only sounds I could hear came from the two of us. I imagined the wind still made its sorrowful wail.

  “It’s weird watching a fire that has no color,” I said with my head resting on Winks’ shoulder.

  “That it is. Now, go see if your clothes are dry.”

  I got up and went to the bushes. “They are,” I said as I felt them. Hurriedly, I pulled on my pants. I draped Winks’ shirt over the bush while I put on mine. “Um, I have to pee. What should I do?” I asked as I handed him his shirt.

  Chuckling, he gestured with an outstretched arm. “Pick a bush, my darling.”

  Confused, I asked, “What do I do with the bush?”

  Winks laughed out loud. “Squat behind it and pretend you’re on a waste unit.”

  “Seriously?”

  He nodded. “I’ll go find a bush of my own.”

  While we sat beside the fire even in the black, white, and grey landscape, I could tell night had fallen. Humoring me, Winks had held my hand as I concentrated on feeling safe, happy, and protected, but he was right. We were too far away. Apparently, slipping while in the meshed realities out to a boat that had drifted far from the dock was also problematic when one person couldn’t swim.

  I stared at Tadashi’s ring on my finger. “I was supposed to have lunch with him.” I coughed in an attempt to clear my dry throat.

  “Don’t worry, Clue. Everything will be fine. Let’s try to get a little sleep. At first light, we’ll see if we can get to the Sea Harpy and get out of here. That spirit is going to take a toll on Cosmo. The Yokai who held me prisoner constantly took spirit energy from me and others to replenish himself. The spirit who has Cosmo has no other resources. We’ll need to tie Cosmo up and drag him back. Maybe we can get that priest of yours to drive the ghost out. Come here,” Winks said as he stretched out on his side and held his arms open. I scooted over to him and fell asleep in his protective arms on the cold ground near the warm fire.

  “Whatever you do, stay by me so I can protect you. I won’t let them hurt you. We’ve got a better chance together against Cosmo than against these little shits. We’re gonna sit up and run for the gate. It’s not that far. Nod your head if you understand me,” Winks whispered against my hair.

  I nodded. Panic replaced the warmth and safety of my sleep. “What is it?” I whispered.

  “Hungry mononoke surrounded us in our sleep. Our spirit energy attracted them.”

  “How do we fight them? Lord Tanaka bit them.”

  “That won’t work for us, baby girl. Take this. If Cosmo tries to hurt you, use it. He’ll forgive you when he’s free of that spirit. He’d never hurt you on purpose.” Winks pressed the laser fire-starter into my hand. “Ready?”

  “I guess,” I whispered.

  I felt Winks tense and rise. I jumped up with him, and fear slammed through me making my heart stutter. Hundreds of two-foot high little transparent white creatures surrounded us. All of them had sharp teeth, and several of them had tongues that darted out to lick them. Their eyes glittered in anticipation.

  “Run!” Winks yelled dragging me in his wake. “Stay close!” Winks swung his free arm at the mononoke in front of us in an attempt to keep them away from me. They began climbing atop one another in their attempt to get to us. Winks had mononoke hanging from his arms by
their teeth. “Run, Clue! Run!”

  In desperation, I kicked out at the hungry mouths and saw a few clinging to my back. Sadness and despair filled me. Winks continued to fight, but was becoming covered. Screaming, I tried to remove them from his arms and back. With each success, more replaced them. “I’ll never leave you!”

  Helplessly, I scanned for anything that I could use to get non-corporeal spirits off of Winks and myself. A glittering spot of color caught my eye. I ran for the gate and the pink dots of color amidst all of the black and white around me. Mononoke clung from every part of me, but my left arm where the green jade of Tadashi’s ring seemed to act like poison to the creatures, and my right hand where the blue sea glass had a faint glow. I seized Sabina’s broken necklace in my right fist. The mononoke attached to my right arm and hip dropped from me cringing away from the glowing gemstones.

  Winks was covered in a mound of mononoke. Each of them wanted a taste of spirit energy, and each taste made them stronger and debilitated us. I dove into the mass of apparitions landing on Winks’ back and swung my fists at them. “Get away from my daddy!”

  I could just make out the surprised look on Winks’ face in the fading light of our dying fire. I managed to clear them off of us with the rings and the necklace, but we sat huddled together with them all around us. They eyed us hungrily.

  “Clue, I told you to run,” Winks said brokenly. Neither of us had the energy to crawl through the gate.

  “I intend to with you at my side. We go together or not at all.”

  I kicked at the head of a mononoke who was either brave or stupid with hunger. It sank its jagged teeth into my foot and hopelessness rather than pain shocked me. I managed to fend it off with Sabina’s necklace. The ravenous mononoke vanished only to be replaced by three more.

  Then, fierce loud growls unlike anything I had ever heard filled our ears. I could feel the vibrations the growls created in my chest. Blurs tore through the mononoke ripping them from us. Then, rather than mononoke, the hind quarters of two large wolves filled our vision. The wolves circled us snapping out viciously at the horrible little creatures. The wolves destroyed the mononoke faster than the creatures could dematerialize. With each disappearance of a mononoke, I felt less depleted of my strength.

  I looked down at one of the large brown paws beside me. It was larger than my hand. A bushy wagging tail hit me playfully in the face a few times until I grabbed it and laughed. The wolf turned his large brown and white head to me. I stared into his big brown eyes. I reached out and hugged him around his neck. Then, I kissed his nose.

  “Oh, shit. Do I have to watch this? Haven’t I had a bad enough day?” Winks asked.

  The grey and white wolf whined as if in agreement and walked through the gate. Winks struggled up to his feet and followed. Holding onto a handful of fur, I managed to stand. The wolf’s head was even with my chest. Smiling into his eyes, I ran my fingers through his fur and felt his ears. He began herding me to the gate.

  When we left the black and white word behind, we found Winks seated by a tree. The Okami had taken the form of a black wolf slightly larger than the forms taken by Tadashi and Dorian. The huge black wolf had Cosmo trapped with his back to a cliff.

  “Oh, Cosmo!” Terrified, I turned my head to stare into the eyes of my wolf. He nudged me to sit with Winks. Since I could barely stand, I obliged his nonverbal request.

  The Okami pack converged on my possessed friend. I heard an odd cry. Through the spaces between the legs of the wolves, I saw Cosmo once he had hit the ground. My wolf darted in, grabbed Cosmo’s shirt, and dragged him over to us. The alpha Okami caught the fleeing evil spirit in his great jaws and gnashed and gnashed until nothing remained of its non-corporeal form. I was shocked that I had seen it in my own reality. The pink beads of Sabina’s broken necklace no longer glowed.

  The wolves had begun to do what I assumed to be a perimeter check. Once they were satisfied, the black wolf barked and trotted off toward the beach. Dorian transformed into his human form, picked up an unconscious Cosmo, and followed.

  “I wish I had a holo-image of that. I’d put a copy above his bed, in his shower….”

  “And on his motorcycle,” Winks finished for me. We shared a weak laugh.

  My wolf tilted his head at me. “So, is Sabina truly free now?”

  Tadashi barked and wagged his tail.

  “If you marry this fur ball, am I going to have grandbabies or a litter of puppies?”

  Tadashi howled. Under my breath, I said, “You’d have to leave us alone for a few minutes to find out.” Tadashi growled at me. “What?”

  I buried my fingers into the fur at the scruff of his neck. I watched as Lord Tanaka dove from the pier and swam for the Sea Harpy. Soon, he had climbed aboard and was steering the boat to the dock. Lord Tanaka secured Cosmo’s boat and lowered the ramp. Dorian carried an unconscious Cosmo onboard. Winks followed. My steps were slow due to my bruised and battered feet. I saw Lord Tanaka jump from the Sea Harpy and walk down the pier to a large speed boat that was docked there. Soon, he was clothed and hurried back to the Sea Harpy. He threw a bag to Dorian.

  When I began to turn to go to the Sea Harpy, my wolf softly growled and nudged me with his head toward the speed boat. Then, Tadashi shimmered into human form, picked me up, and carried me on board just as Lord Tanaka was untethering the boat.

  “I sense you draw comfort from my wolf spirit form. However, I cannot allow you to take another step. Furthermore, once I have the opportunity to make love to you, I will require more than a few minutes,” Tadashi said.

  “Oh, so that’s why you growled at me.”

  A small door set between the captain’s chair and passenger seat led into a tiny cabin with a single bunk, miniature restroom, and small cold storage unit.

  Tadashi put me on the bunk, laid down beside me, and covered us with blankets. His warmth along with the rise and fall of the boat put me into a deep dreamless sleep.

  Chapter Fifteen

  I awoke when a fully clothed Tadashi picked me up and carried me from the cabin. The sun had gone for the day. I yawned and realized that we were docked in Scorpius’ marina. Without a word, he carried me from the speedboat. Over his shoulder, I made out the name Fang painted on its side and gave a weak laugh. A transport door was open. Once we were inside, I rested my head on Tadashi’s lap.

  “I’m so tired.”

  “Yes, having your spirit energy feasted upon by mononoke will do that. When was the last time you ate or drank?”

  Thinking, I said, “I had a muffin and some tea before I jumped overboard.”

  Tadashi had me to sit up and then helped me to drink some water. As soon as the transport stopped inside of the parking garage, he whisked me up to his rooms. After I had soaked in a hot bath, Tadashi joined me for dinner in bed. Aside from a nasty bruise on my cheek, the others weren’t too bad.

  The next morning, I got up and began getting dressed. “What do you think you are doing, Clue?”

  “I’m going to check on Winks and Cosmo.”

  He pulled my shirt from my hands and tossed it aside. “They are fine. You need more rest. Your spirit energy is thin.”

  Knowing I intended to argue and that I would win, Tadashi cheated by removing his shirt and pressing his warm muscled chest to mine. He had my complete attention as he threaded his fingers through my hair and kissed me. Soon, we were cocooned together naked in his bed. I ached for him and wanted to touch him as he touched me, but I didn’t know if it was okay. I did it anyway. Tadashi shuddered as I touched him and attempted to grip him with my hand. That he was too large for my hand to circle frightened me, but his kisses against my neck and the deep growl emanating from his chest distracted me from my fear. I released him to rub myself against him and kiss his neck. I could feel the tip of him poised to enter me.

  “Baby girl! Open up! Daddy’s here, and I brought presents!” Winks yelled as he pounded on the door.

  “No, no, no, no, no!” I said wi
th my eyes squeezed shut.

  Tadashi slammed his hand down against a pillow. Then, he pulled away from me. “I may have to reconsider and eat your father,” Tadashi said in frustrated anger. He covered his perfect body with a white fluffy hotel robe, but not before I caught sight of what he was usually careful to keep me from seeing. It had been frightening to touch, but seeing it made me kind of glad Winks had interrupted us. I quickly covered myself with the robe Tadashi handed me, but not before he caught my fearful expression. I was tying the robe when Winks barged inside.

  “What’s with all of the pillows? Why don’t you get some furniture?” To me, he said, “Good. You aren’t dressed yet. Go put this on.”

  I took the bag from him. “Thank you, father, but I feel rather weak and drained. Tadashi says my spirit energy looks thin. I was just going to sleep some more.”

  Winks gave me a sympathetic frown. “My poor baby. We’ve imposed enough on Tadashi. I can take care of you now. Tadashi can come and visit you whenever you want him to. Now, be a good girl and go change.”

  Through the bathroom door, I heard Winks say, “It looks like I got here just in time.”

  “You are an insufferable nightmare. By our customs, I am your daughter’s husband. By your customs, she is my fiancé, yet you continue to intrude.”

  “Oh, no. You sound frustrated. Maybe exercise would help. You could do pushups with that thing you were about to stick in my little girl. I know. Come over for dinner tonight. I’ll show you her baby pictures.”

  Rolling my eyes at their conversation, I cleaned myself up in the bathroom and dressed in what Winks had brought. It was disgusting. “Seriously, Winks?” I complained as I stomped from the bathroom.

  Tadashi stared at me. In a soft husky voice, he said, “Clue, you are beautiful.”