by Jasmine Walt
“Aika!” Raiden cried as I burst into the hallway. He grinned at the sight of the flames wreathing my fingertips, and without missing a beat, he drew the swords at his belt. The katanas glinted in his hands, flashing through the air to disarm the closest guards, and Katsu’s aura blazed all about him.
“Can you do something about that door?” Raiden shouted, pointing toward the sealed door with one of his katanas. He used the other to lob off a monkey’s head, and I grimaced as it went flying across the room, spraying the floor with blood.
“Got it!” I summoned more of the kyuubi’s flames and blasted the door with both hands. The sapphire flames hit it with an explosion of light and sound, blowing it outward across the courtyard and startling the guards outside. Raiden and I began to run toward it, but I stopped short as the osuzumebachi buzzed in my head.
“What is it?” Raiden grabbed my arm. “We have to go!”
“The hornets knocked the king from the balcony,” I said quickly, my heart hammering. “He’s coming around the side of the palace!”
“Shit,” Raiden swore. More guards converged on us, and he slashed at them with his swords. I lobbed more fireballs to drive them back, but after a little while, I began to feel faint. Borrowing the kyuubi’s flames was starting to tax me in a way I’d never expected. My vision darkened around the edges and I began to sweat.
“If you drop the illusion, it will be easier,” my kyuubi said, her voice strained as it rippled across my mind.
“Okay,” I said, allowing it to shatter. Our forms reverted to normal, and as they did, the king came running toward us, the hornets still chasing him. He was swollen to kingdom come, but that didn’t bother me nearly as much as the look of rage on his face. His eyes bulged as he saw me.
“You!” he snarled. “You tricked me!”
Panicked, I lobbed one more fireball at him. The effort practically made stars shoot past my eyes, and worse, the monkey king dodged. My blast sailed by him and slammed into the lacquered gate beyond. The wood blew outward in a spray of debris that scattered bits of wood across the entryway.
“I missed,” I mumbled, stumbling back into Raiden, who was busy fending off the monkeys. His chest was heaving and he was drenched in sweat. It was obvious he couldn’t keep this up much longer either, even with the help of an ancient samurai master.
“No, you don’t!” one of the crabs cried as it burst through the doorway and snapped at a monkey guard who’d been sneaking up on us. It put one claw to its mouth and let out a large whistle.
The bushes beyond the gate came alive with crabs, and they flooded into the courtyard, running roughshod over the monkey army.
“Help them,” I gasped, touching the osuzumebachi charm. As I spoke, some of the hornets broke off, attacking the guards and keeping them at bay. Pushing past the tiredness trying to settle into my limbs, I grabbed Raiden by the collar and pulled him out into the courtyard. Monkeys and crabs were fighting all around us, but I ignored them.
“We need to get to the gate!” Raiden yelled.
“I know!” I snapped, pushing him in front of us. “Break through with your fists of fury. I’ll keep them from stabbing our backs.”
He shot me a look I couldn’t decipher, then charged, slashing and parrying the monkeys in our path. Their swords clanged while I directed the hornets. Thankfully, the king was too busy being attacked by an avalanche of crabs to pay us much mind, and even though it was only seconds, I was grateful when we broke through the last defenses and escaped the courtyard.
More crabs and monkeys were battling out here, but that was okay. We were almost clear.
“We need to get to the beach and summon the Umigame, so make sure you save some strength,” Raiden shouted, slashing at another monkey and splitting his armor open. The monkey’s blood splashed across us, hot and sticky, but I was too busy running for my life to be grossed out by it. I could feel my power fading fast, and part of me hoped I wouldn’t need much to summon the giant turtle. If I did, we were screwed.
“This way!” Raiden cried, pushing me to the left. I followed along, trying to avoid the monkeys, and only throwing fireballs sparingly to conserve magic.
“Might I suggest becoming invisible?” the kyuubi asked, and I could have sworn I heard worry in her voice.
“You can do that?” I asked aloud.
“Do what?” Raiden asked, but I ignored him, focusing on the kyuubi.
“In a manner of speaking.” The light around us bent like we were in those Predator movies. Raiden ran his sword through the closest monkey guard, and as it toppled forward, I expected the rest to come running. But they completely ignored us, as if we weren’t even there.
“Wow.” Raiden looked stunned. “This is fantastic, Aika.” He smiled at me, and everything but his perfect white teeth faded away.
“Aika!” Raiden caught me as I fell forward, his strong arms wrapping around me. I was so weak…so very weak…
“Conserve your strength,” he said, and I felt him sweep me up against his chest. “I’ll get us to shore.”
I managed to nod as he tucked me against his body, barely able to keep my eyes open. The sound of trees rustling around us, and pounding footsteps, told me that we were running through the jungle. I wanted to open my eyes, to keep a lookout for any enemies, but my lids were too heavy, and they wouldn’t budge.
The next thing I knew, the tang of salty air hit my nostrils. Sea spray splashed against my exposed legs as Raiden waded into the water, and I felt him press something hard into my hand. “Call him,” he gasped, and I realized it was the Umigame charm. “Just call him.”
“Okay,” I whispered, letting go of the kyuubi’s power and the osuzumebachi. As I did, a wave of strength rushed into me, and I grabbed hold of it, funneling it into the turtle charm.
“Please come…” I whispered, and with that, everything faded away.
16
Thankfully, the turtle did come to take us back to Ryujin’s palace, though I was completely out of it by the time he arrived. I slept during most of the ride back, but even so, I was exhausted by the time we made it back. Dealing with Raiden’s near-death experience, performing in a kabuki play, seducing a monkey king, and escaping his enraged subjects really took it out of a girl. The last thing I wanted to do was go and fight a centuries-old shaman possessed by an evil god.
“Come on, Aika,” Raiden said gently, coaxing me off the Umigame’s back. “We’ve gotten this far. Don’t give up on me now.”
“Yeah, yeah,” I muttered. But I let Raiden put his arm around me and guide me to the gate. The jellyfish guards seemed surprised we’d returned so soon, and they opened the gates for us immediately.
As we were about halfway to the entrance, the palace doors burst open. “Raiden! Aika!” Amabie shouted, swimming toward us. Tama, the sea dragon from earlier, was on her heels, and Shota was riding on her back. Relief swept through me at the sight of him, unharmed. “Did you procure the liver?”
“Sure did,” Raiden said, hefting the pouch I’d put the liver in. “The monkey king’s liver, just as promised.”
Tama’s eyes brightened. “Really?” she said as Amabie took the pouch. “That’s excellent news! This will cure Mother for certain.”
“We’ll see,” Amabie said shortly. She turned, her three tails flipping restlessly behind her. “Let’s bring her the liver. Father is already waiting in her chambers.” She sped off to the castle faster than we could follow.
“Come on,” Shota said, waving us onto Tama’s back. “This is way faster.”
We climbed onto the dragon’s back, and she shot off after Amabie. “I can’t believe you got back so fast,” Shota said. “Ryujin thought you’d be gone for at least two days.”
“Well, we had a crab army to help us,” I said.
Shota’s eyes widened as we passed through the front entrance. “A crab army? You’ve got to tell me all about it!”
“Later,” Raiden said as we sailed up the huge double staircase
that curved around the entryway. We flew through a maze of halls, the dragon swimming so fast I didn’t even attempt to keep track of where we were going. She stopped outside a huge white door trimmed with pink sea shells, and Amabie tugged it open.
“Mother,” she called as we hopped off Tama’s back. “The shamans have returned!”
“Do they have the liver?” a weak female voice answered. We followed Tama into a humongous parlor room with dragon-sized furniture, then into a similarly gigantic bedroom just beyond. Lying on a bed the size of a small island was a female dragon that had clearly once been beautiful. She was lithe and sinuous, with deep green scales, but many of them were blackened with rot, and the water around her was clouded with something icky. Raiden threw out an arm before I could get closer, pushing us both back against the bed.
“We shouldn’t get any closer,” he muttered. “The gods only know what might happen if we catch the same sickness.”
Ryujin was sitting next to his wife, clutching her clawed hand with his own. His eyes brightened with relief when Amabie pulled out the liver and handed it to him.
“They brought it,” he said, holding it up for inspection. “The monkey king’s liver, no less. Eat it and be well, my love.”
Amabie and Tama helped prop the dragon queen up onto the pillows so she could eat. Her deep silver gaze was lackluster, but she opened her maw anyway and ate the liver. The moment she swallowed it, a change came over her. Her scales began to ripple, the rot melting away. Light poured out from the skin beneath, bathing her in a soft glow.
“It’s working!” Ryujin cried. Amabie and Tama both squealed, hugging each other in excitement as their mother’s entire body radiated with power. She raised her head to look at us, and a thrill went through me at the sight of her eyes—they were blazing brightly, alert and full of life.
“I am healed,” she said, a note of amazement in her gravelly voice. “For the first time in months, I feel as though I can get out of bed!” She stretched her long neck out toward us. “Do I have you to thank for my recovery?”
“Indeed we do,” Ryujin said, his entire face shining with happiness. He inclined his head toward us—the equivalent of a dragon bow. “You have done extremely well, shamans. We shall have a feast in your honor tonight, and to celebrate my wife’s recovery!”
“Yes, a feast!” Amabie and Tama cried. The two of them enveloped their mother in hugs. “We shall dance and sing again, like we used to do every evening before you fell sick!”
As I watched Ryujin’s family celebrate the return of their queen’s health, the persistent, dull ache in my heart, which I’d barely been aware of, lifted a bit. I’ve done this, I thought dazedly. Maybe I’d used shamanism instead of medicine, but I’d cured someone of a fatal disease. And all it had taken was a monkey liver.
If I was capable of this much, what else could I do? Was there a different path that could lead me to a cure for my mother, one that didn’t involve chemotherapy? The idea was certainly a good motivation for continuing to learn more about shamanism.
“Ryujin-sama,” Raiden said, breaking my train of thought. “We are overjoyed to see that your wife is recovered, and of course we should celebrate. But Aika and I really must be going. May we have the jewels and weapon we were promised?”
“Of course,” Ryujin said, waving a hand at us. “But we can handle all that tomorrow. You two will be staying as honored guests tonight and will attend the ball this evening.”
“We will?” I blurted without thinking. Ryujin narrowed his eyes, and I hastily added, “Of course we would love to, but the urgency—”
“I understand the urgency,” Ryujin said. “Perhaps better than even you do. But you have tired out the Umigame from all your travels today, and he needs to rest. As do you,” he said pointedly. “A warrior is no good in battle if his mind is clouded from lack of sleep.”
“Agreed,” the dragon queen said. “You shall all stay the night, and I will sing in your honor!”
Seeing no way out of this, the three of us bowed. “We are honored to be your guests for the evening,” Shota said. “But we have nothing to wear.”
“Oh, that won’t be a problem,” Amabie said. She and Tama disengaged themselves from their mother and swam toward us, their mouths curving into crafty smiles. “Tama and I will dress you,” she said, hooking her arm through mine.
“Uhh…” Raiden looked a little panicked. “I’m not sure that’s necessary,” he said as Tama curled her body around him and Shota.
“Don’t be silly,” Shota said, grinning. He clapped Raiden on the shoulder. “I’ve been hanging out with these two all day—they’re great fun. We’re going to have a blast tonight. I guarantee it.”
“It has been a very long day for you both,” Ryujin said. I glanced up at him, surprised at the compassion in his voice. “Amabie, why don’t you show our guests to their rooms so they can get some rest before the ball tonight?”
“Why are we having a ball again?” Raiden asked in a pained voice. It was obvious that he wanted to get going, and I had to agree with him. We had more important things to do than attend a ball.
Ryujin laughed, a booming sound that echoed in the chamber. “To honor your great victory, of course,” he said, his eyes gleaming. “You didn’t think you would be able to return with the monkey king’s liver, a feat no one here has been able to manage, and leave without fanfare, did you? We are going to have the grandest of celebrations!”
“Our balls are renowned throughout the sea,” Amabie said, swimming toward me. She hooked an arm through mine, her eyes shining. “Come on, Aika. Let’s get you to your room. We have just enough time that I might be able to turn you into a princess yet.”
17
In the end, there was no way to leave, even if the dragon king hadn’t invited us to his ball. As he’d said, the Umigame had made one too many trips today and was exhausted. We wouldn’t be able to ride him again until tomorrow, so we might as well stick around and enjoy the festivities.
“It’s still creeping me out that this even works,” I said as Amabie’s maid arranged a fish scale clip in my hair. She’d dragged me back to her suite, and I was sitting in her boudoir while her maids fixed me up. At first I’d been reluctant—after all, Amabie’s flirty behavior with Shota wasn’t winning her any favors with me. But she was the princess, and I couldn’t refuse such a generous gesture without coming off as a total jerk.
Amabie gave me a strange look. “What do you mean?” she asked as a second maid laced her up into yet another ball gown. This one was a brilliant orange that matched her scales—the eighth one she’d tried on tonight. And there were several more candidates I had a feeling she would try on before she made a decision.
I gestured to myself. “All of this. I’m wearing a dress, jewelry, and makeup, and I look almost exactly the same as if I were standing on land.” Yes, the skirt was waving a tiny bit in the water, and my hair wasn’t staying completely still. But it was still a lot better than I’d anticipated.
“Well, you certainly couldn’t get away with this outside the palace, but so long as you are in my father’s domain, there is no reason why you can’t enjoy nearly all the creature comforts you experience on land.” Amabie sniffed as the maid bent to check my makeup. “In many ways, we sea-dwellers have it better than you.”
I didn’t know about that, but I decided it wasn’t worth arguing over. Instead, I studied my reflection in the vanity mirror across from me.
Somehow, Amabie and her maid had turned me into a princess, just as she’d promised. They’d found a backless dress in her closet with—big surprise—a mermaid-style skirt that hugged my body and made me look like I actually had real curves.
It was made of a satiny fabric that looked like mother of pearl shot through with some kind of shimmery robin’s egg blue thread, and the skirt was embroidered with fish scales of the same shade. The maid had swiped pastel pink across my lips and given me a smoky eye look with shimmering teal eye shadow that,
at first, I’d worried would be too much with my pale skin. But strangely, it wasn’t. It just tied everything together and made my dark eyes look sexy instead of boring.
“All I need are heels, and I’d be red-carpet worthy,” I joked when the maid stepped back to study me.
“You look wonderful,” the maid said, her fish lips widening into what was probably a smile. “Princess?” she asked, looking toward Amabie for approval.
Amabie paused what she was doing and came around to look at me. A slow smile curved her lips as she looked me up and down. “Raiden won’t be able to keep his hands off you.”
My cheeks flamed. “I’m not doing this for Raiden,” I said, smoothing my dress self-consciously. Oh god, what was he going to think when he saw me? Was I too overdressed? I couldn’t remember the last time I’d dressed up for anything, and even though Amabie had made me look like a princess, deep down I knew I wasn’t one. I was just a struggling student.
And my mother was dying of cancer.
What was I doing?
“I can’t do this.” I bolted out of the chair, heart hammering in my chest. This was all way too much. Panicking, I yanked the pearl clip out of my hair and tossed it on the vanity.
“Hey!” Amabie’s eyes flashed with outrage. “What do you think you’re doing?” she demanded as I tried to unzip the dress. “I spent a lot of time getting you into that!”
Tears burned my eyes as I struggled, and failed, to unzip the dress. The angle was too awkward to reach. “I’m sorry, but I can’t go to your party,” I said, refusing to meet Amabie’s angry gaze. “Give the dragon queen my best.”
“Aika!” Amabie called as I burst out the door. I shut the door behind me, then hurried down the hall before she could come after me—
And ran straight into a rock-hard chest.
“Aika?” A familiar set of strong arms wrapped around me, and to my utter mortification, I looked up into Shota’s concerned face. “What’s going on? Are you okay?”
