by ZV Hunter
Something brushed over my hand, and I bit back a scream. A long sinuous body and way too many legs scurried over my fingers and up my arms.
More of them.
But these were small. They probably got sucked in from the human world at some point. My teeth dug into my lip until I tasted blood. I struggled to my feet, shook the centipedes off my hands and felt for the wall. The rock was rough and uneven, the same kind of volcanic stuff that lined the surface.
I moved faster. Strained for a sign of light, and after a few hundred yards I found it.
Click-clack.
Click-clack.
Click-clack.
"Hurry. Hurry. If we don't find her first. She'll get to him. Him. Him. He'll get all the fun. No. Can't have that."
Him?
The gray lumbering giant with the axe? Shit. I really didn't like the sound of that. Or maybe a Mukade that took up the whole damn tunnel.
When there was enough light that the darkness turned into a twilight gray, I climbed to my feet and ran.
The cavern was vast. The walls black, shiny and uneven, and they didn't look like anything that had been carved from a human. It was more like a large tube. It curved like the body of a snake, and met other caves that broke off at several intervals, all of them uneven and twisting, but I ignored them and followed the light.
Click-clack.
Click-clack.
Antenna brushed the back of my legs, and the weight of armor surged around me. The stench of decay stung my nose. My muscles burned with every step. My feet felt like they'd been cut to shreds, but I didn't stop.
Couldn't stop.
I turned a corner.
A Kitsune stood there—a fox Calamity—and it blocked half the cave. It stood almost as tall as the ceiling itself, which towered above my head by several meters. And it had at least seven tales, though I didn't stop to count.
It's eyes glowed faintly.
As I charged past, I realized it wasn't a real fox.
It was stone.
Click-clack.
"No. No. No. She went there. We can't. If we pass—"
A shiver charged up my spine.
If the Calamity here was worse than them, I'd deal with it. I'd suck in all the Makai power that I could to get out of here. Get to Mimi.
I stumbled around a corner and into a cavern filled with warm light. It pulsed with it, radiating off the walls back into me. The cold that came from my bones faded in the warmth. I blinked to adjust to the brightness, though it seemed more like the light of the moon than that of the sun. A full moon on a summer night—yes—that's what it reminded me of, and I had no idea why.
I took several deep breaths and glanced down the dark tunnel. The distant tapping of those Mukade's legs sounded far away, as if it happened in another lifetime or a dream.
I sucked in several breaths of warm air and wrapped my arms around my elbows and squeezed.
The light that filled the room came from a single stone that rested on a black pedestal. A thin silver chain attached to the stone to form a necklace.
They said 'he' was here, yet there was no one in the room. Nothing but me, and the stone, and the pedestal. Unless some new Calamity popped into existence. Emerged from the walls and sucked the marrow from my bones or whatever that gray giant might do.
Nothing happened.
The stone glowed, and I stared at it.
That Kitsune statue held the other Calamities at bay.
Not a surprise, really. Kitsune with that many tails are ancient and nearly gods themselves. If I had to choose a Calamity, it would be a Kitsune. While mischievous they're not as evil as other Calamities—not usually.
Bile rose in my throat.
No. Calamities were all evil.
Like the one who killed Mimi.
"You? Hmm. You're not my usual keeper. Well, are you going to stand there all day and look pathetic, or are you going to do something?"
I started.
Looked around.
No one was there.
Only me, and the stone, and the pedestal.
The stone.
"You're a Spirit Stone," I managed.
They're similar to a Spirit Vessel but harder to break. Though I'd never heard of a Calamity powerful enough to speak while trapped in one.
My blood chilled, but I stood up straight and brushed the braid over my shoulder.
A voice chuckled. I wasn't sure if it radiated around the room or not, but it bounced inside my head, distant and near all at once. The voice sounded distinctly male, though it wasn't particularly old or young. There was a tinge of lightness to it—like a silver bell. Or like watching the full moon rise under a blooming cherry tree.
"Oh she's a quick one. I am in this stone, regrettably. But now you're here, so things are looking up. For me."
I scoffed. "You think I'd help a Calamity? No. I'll wait here until the others leave."
"And I guess she's not as smart as I thought. Those Mukade will wait a long time. Longer than you. Though . . . ." His voice trailed off.
"I can wait. I'm not in a rush," I said and thought of Mimi. Yeah, that was a big fat lie, but this was a Calamity. No need to tell those tricky bastards the truth.
"Oh, you look like you were hurrying somewhere. And you're absolutely filthy. Did you crawl through every tunnel in the forest to find me? Is this some kind of quest? Fun. I like being part of a quest. Though I can't imagine my keepers want to give me up. They worked so hard to catch me. And yet here you are, a child like you ready to snatch me right out from under their noses. All right. I accept. You may take me. Just make sure to finish them off on your way out. Decapitation is my preferred method, but I'm open to suggestions."
I stared at the Stone.
Blinked.
Shook my head. "I just said I'm not going to help."
"Look. You only have a semblance of a choice. Either you pick me up and put me on and we get out of here together, or you starve to death. The third one is you get devoured by the Mukade out there. Which will it be?"
My mother was a Shinto Priestess. I'd lived more than half my life in the company of Calamities and ghosts, one way or the other, but I never talked to one like this—not since I was a child, and I'd gotten in trouble then.
"And what happens when I put you on? You possess me? You take over my body and then I'm left to die?" I put my hands on my hips. Tried to look defiant. I wasn't about to let a Calamity trapped in a stone treat me like that.
"Nothing of the sort. I can't possess you, and why would I want to? My body is far superior, for one. For another, you have centipedes in your hair. Gross. If you put me on, I'll help you get out of here alive. It's your choice."
I shook my hair and sure enough, a centipede fell out. I shook it again for good measure and glared around the room. This Calamity could see me. And if what he said was true, and who knows with Calamities, he was my only ticket out of here since I didn't have a weapon to fight them with. Besides sucking in all their power, which would destroy me as well.
I didn't have a choice. Not one that didn't end up with me dead or twisted into a creature like them.
I wiped my filthy palms on my ruined tank top and stepped toward the pedestal. "Fine. I'll do it. But you have to show me the entrance to Yomi-no-kuni."
The Calamity inside the stone was quiet for a moment. "You need me to show you the way? It looks like you're more than familiar with it."
I frowned. "Is it a deal or not?"
"Deal. Though I can't promise you'll like what you find."
I ignored that and yanked the stone from the pedestal. It throbbed gently against my palm, and I slipped the chain over my head and around my neck. It warmed me instantly, and a charge jolted through me. Like a static shock that scribbled something on my soul.
In that moment, I saw a flash of a youth carrying a huge greatsword. A seven tailed Kitsune stood by his side. Then it was gone, and the stone glowed more faintly. At least I didn't feel as weary.
&
nbsp; "Okay. Now what?"
"Walk back out to the Kitsune guard and get my sword. We'll go from there."
I turned and made my way back to the Kitsune statue. In the darkness of the tunnel beyond, thousands of eyes reflected—black and fathomless. Their armored bodies twisted and writhed together. Their legs clicked against the stone, and my heart lodged in my throat.
"Where's the sword?"
"Around. It should be here. I assumed it was. It's not like they asked me where they should put it when they trapped me here." A bitter note tinged his voice.
Click-clack.
Click-clack.
Click-clack.
"She has him. Him. Him. We can eat them both. Can we? Can we eat him?"
I studied the Kitsune carefully. Perhaps the sword could've been put somewhere under it or beside it. I ran my fingers over the smooth stone surface and sighed. "It's not here."
"What have they done to you, old friend?" the Calamity in the stone said. "You're right. No sword. That was my only plan to get out of here. Now what?"
I growled in frustration. "You said if I put your stone on we could get out."
"That's when I thought I still had a sword. Why did you come to the Spirit World with no weapons, girly? Not a great idea no matter how interesting you might be."
Interesting? I could use the same sort of power they could. That's what interested Calamities, in most cases.
"We're stuck unless we can rouse your old friend."
"Maybe someday, but now isn't that day. I need my sword first, which I obviously don't have. So we'll have to improvise. I suggest you run."
"What?" I hissed. "Run? That's your idea?"
"Do you have a better one?"
I didn't. Not at first. If I charged my way through, I'd die the same as Mimi. A lump lodged in my throat, and I swallowed it and paced. Either I used what I could—the only power I could call on to get past them—or I might as well give up.
My mother taught me not to give up.
"Fine. I'll run. But first I need to clear a path."
"I said you were interesting. I know the way out of here, so I can show you. But it's dangerous and you might not make it."
I bit back a slurry of curses and sucked in a breath of that sick decaying scent. I didn't want to be a Calamity, but I didn't want to die here either. And the longer I stayed, the harder it would be to save Mimi. A little more Makai power shouldn't hurt me. I'd only drain one.
Closing my eyes, I searched for the power of that place. It surrounded me, but I wanted the energy from the Mukade.
It crawled in the darkness and they pulsed with it. The power swirled and danced in the air. It tasted thick and sweet yet insubstantial on my tongue. I let it soak into every pore of my body, and the mark on my back itched and ached like an old scab. Burned a new symbol on my flesh.
I cut the flow, stamped it down, but it engulfed me. The power wanted to pour inside me. Take over. Fill me until I morphed into something else.
Something evil.
I couldn't let it.
"That's enough for now," the trapped Calamity said.
Like turning off a faucet, it stopped.
The power surged within me, and I sucked in a great breath.
"I just had to be found by someone like you. Well, I guess things could be worse. Not much, but they could be a little worse."
I ignored him and focused on the sounds of the countless legs. How they writhed and crawled in the shadows. Beyond it, the Calamity who kept this place roused. The presence pressed on me, curious and alarmed, all at once.
That was my cue to get the hell out.
I stood.
Pulled all that Makai energy into a ball of gray shadows, similar to Aki and Rika's orbs of pure light, and loosed it on the Mukade swarm. A whirlwind of power burst out of my hands like gray mist. The Calamities scattered sideways. They fell back and climbed the walls.
Their cries pierced the air, and I charged between them.
Legs clawed at me, and the thick armored bodies wiggled at my sides, trying to right themselves. I surged forward. My feet pounded on the slick uneven ground. One misstep and they'd catch me. Either the Mukade swarm or the gray Calamity. I wasn't sure who'd be worse.
"Left."
I turned.
Click-clack.
"Right."
Click-clack.
Click-clack.
"Right."
My body drained of energy with every step. I let out too much in that blast.
Click-clack.
Click-clack.
Click-clack.
"Left."
A light shone in the distance. Light from the surface. I sprinted toward it.
Then another tunnel caught my eye. A pale purple light shone from it. I stopped before I realized it and stared between them. One to the surface and another to a mysterious purple light, but I knew in my veins where it led. I felt it calling to me, like I always did. Like I had since the first time it tried to claim me.
"Why didn't you tell me to turn here? This is Yomi-no-kuni."
"It's one of the entrances, though it's not always here. It changes. Someone such as yourself should know that. The entrance to the land of the dead isn't a place so much as a state of mind. But you have to make another choice. You can't go there and return home. It's one or the other, child."
Child.
That word bristled my nerves. I'd come of age. Old enough to take over the Shrine, and yet what had I done? I made everything worse. Caused the death of one of my friends. One of my future Shrine Maidens.
Then, without thinking, I charged into the Spirit World to find her.
Click-clack.
Click-clack.
"Hurry up. If you don't make up your mind soon, they will eat you. Or my keepers will find us, and I'm sure they wouldn't mind adding something like you to their little collection."
I shook my head. "How do you know I won't come back from Yomi-no-kuni? I did it before."
"Oh, I'm sure you could come back. Eventually. But that little friend of yours won't. She crossed over a long time ago."
My bones turned to ice. How did he know about Mimi? "How long?"
"You have to go home to find out."
He could be lying. He was a Calamity. It's what they did.
My gut felt like a rat chewed holes in it. I had to make a choice, and this one couldn't be as stupid and rash as the others. With one last glance down the tunnel toward death, I turned and ran to the light instead.
I'm so sorry Mimi. I failed you again.
Click-clack.
The tunnel turned and I stumbled up a set of stairs carved into the black stone. Then I fell into a forest of twisted trees and bright green moss.
§
I didn't get eaten by those Calamities because the one stuck in the stone hadn't lied. Not really. That was an exit from the Spirit World, only it put me in a completely different part of Japan in a forest that mirrored that of the one I'd fallen into. A few hikers found me outside a place known as the Ice Cave and the police contacted Aki about my well-being.
When I woke a week later, she sat by my side in the hospital.
The first thing I remembered was the buzz of the machines. I pinched my eyes open, ready for a world of pain, and yet the only ache was in my chest.
Mimi.
I left her behind to save myself.
What kind of a friend was I?
"Yuki? You're awake?" Aki said and gripped my hand.
I flinched and blinked. "Yeah. Where am I?"
She looked much the same as she had the night I'd left, though her cheeks streaked with tears. They were as freckled and round as I remembered. Her hair hung loose over her shoulders, and she wore normal clothes in place of her Shrine Maiden garb: a Hello Kitty blouse, a denim skirt, and a pair of pale pink leggings.
"A hospital near the Shrine. They found you in the Sea of Trees and think you went there to commit suicide. You've been missing for months."
&n
bsp; Months? But I'd only been on the other side for a few hours. It couldn't have been months. Only—yeah. It could. Time flowed differently there. "I—I was only gone for half a day."
Fresh tears streamed down her cheeks, and she shook her head. "For us it was months. We thought you died. We thought you ran off and got hit by a car or were kidnapped or . . . . Don't ever do that again."
I sucked in a shallow breath and swallowed the lump in my throat. "Yeah, promise." The words felt thick and useless on my tongue.
We sat in silence for a long while. I didn't have the courage to ask her about Mimi or Rika. Not yet.
Finally, she sighed and told me everything that happened while I'd been gone. They had Mimi's funeral. The police deemed it an accident after Aki and Rika explained what happened. A Spirit Vessel broke and freed a dangerous Calamity during an important ritual. We all fought it, but Mimi hadn't survived.
Similar to Priests and Monks, the police understood magic, unlike normal people in the city. Besides solving crimes, they also dealt with cleaning up the messes Calamities and humans created.
"And Rika?" I finally asked. My throat felt rough and dry no matter how many cups of water I drank.
Aki chewed her bottom lip. "She didn't go through with the initiation to become a full-fledged Shrine Maiden. After what happened, she took off. Said she was better somewhere else. She even bleached her hair."
I let out a huff of laughter. "Only you would be worried about something like that."
Aki smiled slightly and shrugged. "She probably left because I wouldn't let her bleach it. I mean, now I don't care so much, but it does look unprofessional."
It was good to hear her say something like that. Something petty and unimportant after everything else. "And what about Meiji?"
Aki looked at me for a long moment. "I took over as an interim Priestess. I was the only one who'd been fully initiated anyway. Since you haven't yet, and Mimi—But after you're initiated, I will obviously relinquish my position to you. And everything can go back to normal, right?"
I looked at my hands wrapped in bandages. My worst injuries were cuts and scrapes. No broken bones. No sign of starvation. I jumped forward in time several months, and I wasn't able to fix anything I'd broken.
Not a great feeling. And yet, something about it seemed inevitable. I watched Aki sit up straight in the chair. She looked older than her eighteen years belied. Older than I felt. She wouldn't have to use her Shrine Maidens to help people; she could do it all on her own.
