A Dragon's Clutch

by Alica Mckenna Johnson

  Miu’s aunt brought over my soaps. “You do or I do?”

  I guess the water would not be enough. “I can.” I still shook but I picked up the bottle of shampoo.

  “Call if you need me.” She walked to the other side of the room.

  I winced every time I touched one of the wounds but I managed to get myself clean, and as I rinsed the soap away I saw the blisters looked smaller and more pink than red.

  The steaming tub was inviting, but I felt lightheaded enough. Drying myself off, I put on my purple fuzzy pajamas. Miu’s aunt walked over and gave me a bowl of miso broth and combed my hair for me. The hot and salty broth soothed my stomach. My body relaxed and the shaking eased by the time Mrs. Muto finished braiding my hair. Pointing a finger at me she said, “You sit and wait.”

  Taking away the empty bowl she then gathered my things and helped me back upstairs. My room had been cleaned. The fresh sheets, newly mopped floor, and doors letting in fresh air and light were lovely, but the best part, the Shinto cleansing. Someone had used incense and prayers and my whole room felt lighter.

  “Thank you.” I fell onto the bed. Ms. Muto shifted me around and got me tucked in. I fell asleep before she left the room.

  * * *

  “I only have a few minutes this time,” Cartazonon said. He wore a white shirt and lightweight tan slacks. A breeze blew in from the sea making his hair and clothes flutter. “I hope you appreciate the time and energy I expend to meet with you like this. The headache last time was awful and I was quite cross during my board meeting.”

  I looked around the bedroom suite, the walls white and furniture a pale wood and light blues and greens. How do I get out of here?

  “This is my villa in Greece. And this would be your room, if you choose to stay in this house. As I’ve said, I have many to choose from.”

  My room or my prison?

  “Or maybe you would prefer Paris?” The room faded away to nothing, then another appeared in its place. Dark wood, rich velvets, and gilded walls made this room look like something a princess from a fairy tale would sleep in. Cartazonon pulled back the curtain and the Eiffel tower glowed against the night skyline of Paris.

  “Of course we can always move around. I travel a lot, and you would be allowed to come with me from city to city as needed. Shopping, exploring, having fun.”

  Doing your bidding.

  I stiffened when he appeared in front of me. Reaching out he took hold of my braid and wound it around his arm until my head bent back and I looked up at him. “You realize that if you don’t come willingly, I’ll get you by force. I am attempting to be generous right now. But if you don’t start cooperating, I will have to be more persuasive.”

  A shrill beep cut through the dream. “Time to go. I’m rather busy for the next several days. So I’ll give you some time to think about my offer.”

  He faded. My hair fell over my shoulder as darkness surrounded me once again.

  This is a dream, and if he can control it so can you. I took a deep breath, feeling the air move into my body. Yes, ground yourself back in your body. I continued to breathe, focusing on the air moving in and out of my lungs. I curled my hand feeling my fingers tighten and the bites twinge. I sank into that feeling. I swallowed, my throat dry. Yes. My leg twitched and I settled more into my body.

  A few more breaths and my eyes fluttered open.

  “Crap,” I rubbed my hands over my face. Next to my bed sat a tray with a glass of water and a bottle of Recharge. Groaning, I sat and drank the water. On the bottle was a sticky note, Text if you need anything. Philip wants you to Skype him as soon as you wake. ~ Michael

  I drank some Recharge then opened my laptop. I saw a message from Gavin asking me to Skype him when I got a chance, and he hoped I felt better soon. Clicking Philip’s picture, I waited. On the far corner of the tray was a box. Opening it I found dumplings. They were cold but I didn’t care. I ate one, savoring the flavors of ginger and soy sauce.

  “Hey, Sapphire,” Philip said, wiping mustard from his chin. “Sorry, I’m eating lunch. How do you feel?”

  “Achy, but the bites are smaller and don’t hurt as much.” I held up my arm pointing to a pink bump.

  “Except your eye looks like someone punched you.”

  I covered my eye with my hand.

  “Tell me everything.” Philip took a bite of his sandwich and leaned back in his chair waiting.

  Taking a deep breath, I told Philip about the karaoke bar, the snakes, and my dreams.

  “Fuck,” he said.

  “Pretty much.”

  “So he used the snakes and some kind of magic to connect the two of you, and he can now invade your dreams whenever he wants instead of having to wait until you are close enough to one of the Sons of Belial to create a temporary connection.”

  I nodded, my mouth full of cold dumpling.

  “Okay, here’s the plan.” Philip scooted closer his face filling the screen. “I want you to try and get to Akasha the next time you dream. Before bed meditate and open your connection to Akasha, using your necklace and other jewelry. Tell Shamash and Aya what has happened, and see if they can help or protect you. Let me know as soon as possible what happens and we’ll go from there, okay?”

  “Sounds good.” At least he had a plan.

  “I’m getting things taken care of as quickly as I can. I’ll be there soon.”

  “I know, and don’t worry Michael and Nyota are taking good care of me.”

  Philip snorted.

  “He can’t be blamed for me being attacked in my dreams.”

  “We’ll see. Hey, I have to go, I have a class. Do you need anything else from me?”

  “Do you know what Gavin and Anali were told?”

  Philip frowned. “That you were sick.”

  “I’m thinking I won’t tell them everything. I don’t want to upset them.”

  He arched an eyebrow. “Because when they find out you lied to them and withheld information, that won’t be upsetting? Maybe try and get your eye looking a little better first, but other than that tell them the truth.”

  “Yeah, all right.”

  Philip rolled his eyes. “It’ll be fine. Call me after you connect to Akasha, okay?”

  “I will. ’Bye.”

  “See you soon, Sapphire.”

  I ate the rest of the dumplings while I calculated the time zone differences—middle of the night in India. I so wasn’t going to wake Gavin to tell him I was fine.

  * * *

  The birds began the morning songs, calling for mates and threatening others away. I finished with my last scenario for the Four Main Types of Leaders chapter. Why would I be in charge of a group of firefighters? Sighing, I thought about the differences in the four personality types of leaders: director, coach, puzzle master, and diplomat, and which one would fit best here, and what steps would that leader take to refocus their team.

  “Come in,” I called when I heard the soft knock at my door. I finished typing, then hit save.

  “Oh, good you’re awake,” Michael said. “How are you feeling? I wish we had been here when you woke the first time.”

  “Better, and don’t worry about it. So what’s up?”

  “Other than you finally?” Michael chuckled. “Well, let’s see. Three days of people taking shifts to sit by you and try and keep cold compresses on your forehead. Trying to get performers to focus on their acts while they’re worried is not an easy task. I almost canceled the shows yesterday but when your fever broke and you stopped screaming in your sleep everyone calmed down a bit.”

  “Oh.” Who sat with me? What was I screaming?

  “How about I go and bring you some food? Mrs. Muto must be happy you woke up, because breakfast is quite the feast.”

  My stomach growled.

  Michael laughed. “I’ll take that as a yes.”

  A few minutes later I shuffled back from the toilet when arms wrapped around me from behind and picked me up off the floor. I stayed relaxed and
let myself be manhandled, once I recognized the spicy citrus cologne Kayin wore.

  “I’m so sorry,” I said. The memory of Hiroshi’s birthday was clear in my mind and the look of hurt on Kayin’s face after Shin kissed me. “I had no idea singing would do that to Shin.”

  “Hush, Little Sister, hush. That doesn’t even matter.” Kayin’s arms tightened around me. “Are you okay? I was so scared.”

  “Yeah, I’m fine.”

  “Kayin, there you are. Oh, you’re awake.” Shin ran up the stairs and wrapped his arms around both of us. I grunted being squished in-between them.

  “Boys, let go of Sapphire so she can eat something,” Michael said.

  “But we missed her,” Shin whined, squeezing tighter.

  I squeaked.

  Michael chuckled. “Well she needs to eat something.”

  Shin moved first, but Kayin quickly caught on and they shuffled down the hallway with me pressed between them my feet inches off the ground.

  “I can walk,” I said but didn’t try to get away.

  When we got to my room they set me near the table. The rich scents of garlic, soy sauce, and ginger made my stomach growl.

  “Poor tummy.” Kayin’s smiled faded as he looked at me. “Sapphire, your eye.” His hands moved close to my face but didn’t touch me. “Did we hurt you? We shouldn’t have grabbed you like that.”

  I started to answer when Shin moved next to me.

  “Holy shit. What the hell happened? Did someone hit you? All we knew was that you were sick.”

  “I’m fine now, and I’ll tell everyone about it once I get things straight in my head. But I wasn’t hit. This happened in a dream.” I stepped back and knelt at the table. “So what has been going on?”

  “I don’t like Emiko,” Kayin said. He slid into the splits stretching as we talked. Shin followed Kayin’s lead but supported himself with his hands since he couldn’t go all the way to the floor, yet.

  “Why not?” I wasn’t fond of her myself. I picked up my bowl of brown rice and ginger tofu with broccoli and red bell peppers.

  “She makes things all confusing.” Kayin frowned, then shrugged.

  “After the karaoke incident, everyone was upset,” Shin explained. “But once we got away from Emiko, we saw that it was an accident.”

  “I had no idea my singing would do that, I swear, and obviously I should know the full extent of my powers and what I can do.” What kind of leader doesn’t know themselves? Maybe Philip can help me; he’s studied magical creatures. He can tell me all the things I don’t know about myself.

  “No, stop,” Kayin said. “I was wrong to blame you. We have been busy, with touring, finding portals, hiding from the Sons of Belial, training, and school work. You’re not goofing off, or neglecting your duties. No one else suggested your singing should be looked into.”

  “He’s right,” Michael said. “Gavin or I should have thought of it and worked with you.”

  Someone knocked then the door slid open. Nyota came in and set a white bottle on the table. “I brought the saline solution. Hey, Sapphire, glad to see you finally awake.”

  “Thanks, honey. Sapphire, I want you to rinse your eye several times a day with that,” Michael said.

  I nodded my mouth full.

  “It should help with your eye, which looks like crap.” Nyota shivered and turned away.

  “It feel like there is sand in it, but that’s better than before my shower.” I pulled my hair over my eye so it wouldn’t bother anyone else. “Maybe I should go wash it out so I don’t keep scaring people.”

  “I’ll text the others and have them come here so you can tell all of us what happened,” Michael said.

  “Sure.” I took the bottle of saline and went back down the hall. The cool salt water felt so good against my eye. I checked and the swelling and redness had reduced. I flushed it several more times until my eye was badly bloodshot but no longer looked like it might burst. When I got back to the room Miu, Sasha, and Taliesin waited inside.

  “Are you all right?” Taliesin walked towards me looking me over. His hand came up reaching out and then dropped.

  What was that about? He never hesitated to touch me before. A braided metal bracelet shone on his wrist. A gift from Emiko, I’d bet. Taliesin never wore or bought himself jewelry.

  “I’m much better, thanks.”

  Sasha walked past Taliesin and wrapped his arms around me. “You had us all worried.”

  “Will you tell us what happened?” Miu asked. “I tried to heal you but I couldn’t.”

  “I’m sure you did your best.” I knelt at the table. If I had to talk about my dream then I wanted to get it over with.

  “What are we going to do?” Kayin asked once I finished.

  “Let’s wait and see what happens when Sapphire dreams of Akasha,” Michael said. “That might solve all the problems.”

  “I hope so,” Sasha said. “It’s not good for Cartazonon to be able to invade your mind like that.”

  You think? “I don’t think he’s invading my mind; it feels more like I’m being pulled somewhere else.”

  “I’m sure Shamash and Aya will be able to help, Little Sister. And if not we’ll figure something out.”

  Taliesin cocked an eyebrow at Kayin. “What will we figure out? What could any of us possibly do? What do you think Sapphire can do? Cartazonon is too strong.”

  “Thanks for the vote of confidence,” I snapped. Taking a deep breath, I tried to focus on the problem and not the worry and fear I felt swirling around the room. “Shamash and Aya will help. Either they’ll be able to fix this or tell me what I need to do. Maybe it’s temporary and once the bites heal, Cartazonon will lose his ability to invade my dreams.”

  “Or maybe he’ll send more snakes to bite you,” Sasha said his brow wrinkled into a frown.

  “What if he is invading your mind?” Miu asked as she played with a silver chain around her neck. “What if he can read your thoughts? I think we should stop telling Sapphire our plans until we know what is going on.”

  “What?” Shin said.

  “That seems unreasonable,” said Kayin.

  “It might keep us safer,” said Taliesin.

  “Stop, we are not going to let this separate us.” Michael’s voice firm and he made eye contact with each of us until we nodded our agreement. “Now, we have three more days of shows before a four-day break. If Sapphire can connect to Akasha before then we will know better how to proceed.”

  “I’ve already made reservations to go to Hokkaido to find the portal.” Nyota pulled her dark brown dreadlocks into a ponytail. The sounds of the bells and beads chiming made me smile. “And right, now we all need to go work out.”

  Everyone groaned a little, except for Sasha.

  Michael grinned. “Oh, yes. Time for some fun.”

  “Have you made anyone vomit yet?” I asked standing.

  “Would I do a thing like that on purpose? Also what do you think you’re doing? You’re resting today.” Michael patted my shoulder and turned to leave. “I’ll check on you once we get back.”

  I got a chorus of “byes,” and Kayin, Shin, Sasha, and Nyota hugged me. Miu and Taliesin left without saying anything. His mouth turned into a frown as he left, his fingers rubbing along the bracelet as confusion swirled around him. Miu’s fingers twisted in the chain around her neck as she walked out the door.

  I sat at the table and began eating again. The bead on my bracelet began to glow silver.

  “I’m sorry I could not help you,” said the Muto family guardian telepathically. “I tried to block you from that dark slithering magic.”

  “Thank you for trying,” I said. “They attacked me through my dreams, there was nothing you could do.”

  “I do not like people being attacked within my walls,” the guardian grumbled.

  “I believe we will only be here for a few more weeks.”

  “No, child, you misunderstand me. You can stay as long as you like. I only wi
sh I could protect you better. I shall think on it.” His voice faded.

  My heart felt lighter knowing the guardian was going to try and help me.

  * * *

  Three sharp raps, a pause, then then two quick ones made me smile, an obvious attempt at a “secret knock.”

  “Come in.”

  Shin slid the shoji opened a crack and peeked in, his thin dark eyes scanning the room. He pushed the door open, shoved Kayin through then closed it.

  Kayin rolled his eyes, smiling at his boyfriend.

  “What’s up?” I asked.

  Shin grinned. “We’ve come to spring you.”

  “If you feel up to it. We’re headed to the park, for fun and class.” Kayin pointed to the camera bag slung across his chest. He’d decided to take up photography, mostly because he wasn’t sure what else to take.

  “I would love to come.” I closed my laptop and began to gather my stuff. “I’ve been practicing the photography techniques but only here.”

  “We have to hurry, before the man catches us.” Shin pressed his ear against the shoji door.

  “I think your boyfriend needs to get out more than I do.”

  Kayin chuckled. “Probably. We’ve been here or at the cirque for the past three days while you were sick.”

  “Hurry,” Shin hissed never losing his grin. The boy was crazy.

  “Ready,” I said.

  Shin peeked out the door then opened it rushing us through. We pressed ourselves against the walls as he climbed down the stairs.

  “Dun … dun, dun, duuunnn, Dun … dun, dun, da duuunn,” Shin sang softly.

  Theme music . . . exactly what this needed. I bit my lip to keep from laughing.

  On the porch our escape was slowed down by the need to put on shoes. Then we tiptoed, no seriously, Shin made us do this exaggerated tiptoe, down the street. Until it was decided we had “gotten away.”

  “Did you ask Michael?” I whispered to Kayin, not wanting to ruin Shin’s fun.

  “Of course. He said as long as you felt up to it, he thought a walk would be good for you. Your eye looks a lot better. More like when you had that allergic reaction to the griffin feathers in Munich.”

  “I have never sneezed so much in my entire life.” I took a deep breath of the cool spring air. “It’s lovely out today.”