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“Energy is energy and sometimes it’ll
dissipate if the connection isn’t renewed on a regular basis. For
example, if you were dating someone and were in physical contact
with them every day through hugging or even just holding hands,
that would refresh the connection. Other times it’ll hang around
for years if the emotions behind what caused the link are strong
enough. An example would be a haunted murder site where people
report seeing the ghosts of the murdered people reenacting their
death. The more terrifying and horrific their death is, the better
chance that there’s going to be a strong energetic link with the
location. When their body is dead, the residual energy remains as a
‘ghost’. As far as people go, I’d probably be able to locate your
mother easily, as that is a strong blood bond and creates it’s own
energy marker, but more casual relationships, such as between you
and a random customer in Mr. Baker’s, is a much weaker bond, and
that will fade within a matter of hours.”

I rubbed my forehead and tried to massage
away the growing ache between my brows. “So you were trying to
follow this energy tendril to your brother?”

“I wanted to establish if Maria had been in
contact with my brother first, and once I was able to confirm that
then I began to follow the energy signature back to its source. I
was almost there when you interrupted.”

“So it WAS your brother who attacked her,” I
said and he nodded. My stomach gave a slow churn when I thought
about how I had prevented him from locating the man he had been
looking for for so long, but I shoved the sentiment into the corner
of my mind. I had every right to be distrustful of him. It had
looked and sounded like he had caused Maria a great deal of pain,
and there was no way I’d just stand around while my friend was
hurting if I could do something about it.

“Is doing that supposed to hurt the person
you’re using to track someone?”

“No.”

“Then why did it look like you were hurting
her?” I demanded, unable to keep the accusation from my voice.

“I can only figure that it’s because my
brother was throwing up a block in her mind when he sensed that I
was trying to track him. He’s very talented in creating and
destroying energy blocks, more so than I am, and as I pushed
further along the line, the block would become larger and started
to cause Maria physical pain, which I guess my brother thought
would get me to stop pushing.”

“But it didn’t,” I said flatly. “And you
wouldn’t have if I hadn’t interfered.”

“No, it didn’t, and no, I wouldn’t have
stopped because I knew that I could heal whatever damage the block
was doing. My brother isn’t as well versed in the healing arts as I
am, though his ability with tracking has increased incredibly.”

“I don’t care,” I said. “You’re an ass.”

“Maybe, but I will stop at nothing to find
him and put a stop to what he’s doing.”

Akira’s voice was low and his face darkened
with suppressed anger. Two angry people in one small car made for
an uncomfortable few minutes, but my curiosity could never stay
down for long and I soon found myself asking more questions and
hoping to diffuse some of his own temper. I really didn’t want to
make friends with a large tree because we started fighting.

“If you were able to confirm your brother had
been in contact with Maria and had even found a link you could
follow, does that mean that they were in contact for a long while?”
I asked. I had been thinking about the length of time Maria had
been gone. My voice was tight in my throat, but at least I was
trying.

“No,” he said curtly, but then seemed to
physically unbend a little as his face softened and his shoulders
relaxed. “No, it’s something a little more than that. In the past
he’s held onto his victims for a few hours, the only reason that
they’re gone for so long is because he takes them to remote places
and then leaves them with just enough of themselves left to find
their way back to whatever place it is that they’ve spent the most
time.”

“Ok, so if that’s the case, then why is the
link to Maria still so strong that he was able to throw up blocks
in your way that would physically cause her pain?”

He was silent for so long that I didn’t think
he was going to answer, but he sighed and leaned his head against
the passenger side window. He suddenly looked much older than his
almost twenty-one years.

“Because he has a part of Maria’s soul inside
of him and he’s using that to manipulate and weaken her.”

Whatever I had expected, it certainly hadn’t
been THAT. I yanked my eyes off the road and gaped at him, unaware
that my car had started to drift into the other lane.

“ROAD, ROAD!” Akira yelled, and I jerked my
attention back in time to steer my car back into the proper lane. I
breathed a sigh of relief and thanked whoever was listening for the
fact that there hadn’t been any other cars around us.

“The HELL?!” I asked and my voice screeched
on the last word. “What do you mean, he has a part of her
soul?”

Akira shifted in his seat, and started to
chew on his thumbnail, something I had never seen him do before. He
then muttered a few words that I didn’t quite catch.

“Excuse me? Care to repeat that loud enough
for the hearing impaired over here?”

He shot me a dark look for my sarcasm, but
repeated, “You wouldn’t believe me.”

“Try me,” I challenged. “After all, I
believed your bit about working for some agency and being on a hunt
for your missing brother, even if I do feel like there’s more to it
than what you told me.”

“Are you an open minded human?” he asked, and
I frowned.
What a weird way to put that . . .

“I like to think I am,” I replied. I decided
that, for the moment, I didn’t need to delve into his strange
choice of words.

“In my country, there’s a type of spirit that
is known as a
Gaki
,” he began. I opened my mouth to ask what
this had to do with Maria and his brother, but a quick glare made
me shut it again. “They’re known as hungry ghosts and are believed
to be the dead spirits of greedy people, though it’s hard to really
know for certain just what they are. Their legend states that they
desire to consume many different things, though typically it’s just
food and water. Still, there are those that begin to desire more
than that, and will start consuming things that are a little more
vital to living humans, such as blood or, in even more extreme
cases, souls.”

“Souls . . . . Ok, so, you’re trying to tell
me that your brother is some sort of ghost that eats souls? No way,
the person who hurt Maria when she vanished had to be flesh and
blood. No ghost would have been able to drag her off,” I
argued.

“That’s because the Gaki possessed my
brother’s body after it consumed
his
soul.”

Akira’s voice was so flat and matter of fact
that the hairs on the back of my neck lifted up when I realized
that I had a certifiable crazy person in my car and now I didn’t
know what to do about it. I figured I should just keep him talking
until we got to Mr. Baker’s, but I never could hide my emotions and
my disbelief was clear as a bell on my face. Akira grimaced and ran
a hand through his hair. His fingers caught on a knot and with a
slight wince he pulled his fingers through. A few hairs clung
stubbornly to his skin.

“Two years ago, my brother and I visited a
temple near Mt. Fuji. We were there to visit a few of the priests
that we knew and give them a hand since they had been having
trouble with a few
Gaki
, nothing really out of the ordinary.
They left food and drink out for them to try and satisfy their
appetites. Most of the time that works, and lesser
Gaki
will
vanish once their hunger has been appeased, but the priests
mentioned that one in particular kept showing up and demanding
more. Two nights after we arrived I was awakened by odd noises. I
followed the sound until I saw my brother struggling against one of
the priests, who had wrapped his arms around him. Before I could
help, the priest clamped his mouth over my brother’s and I saw both
of their auras light up around them. My brother’s was a warm,
vibrant green while the priest’s was a sickly grey. I couldn’t move
as I watched the priest’s aura move up his body and over onto my
brother’s, engulfing the green and devouring it, corrupting his
body. When there was no green left, the priest’s body suddenly
withered and collapsed away, leaving my brother standing in the
middle of the room and staring at nothing. I made some noise and
his head turned in my direction, but his eyes were all wrong. They
were flat and grey, almost milky. Then he smiled, and I knew then
that my brother was gone. I went to grab him, to contain him,
something because I knew that he had been possessed and I hoped
that if I could hold him the priests could help get my brother
back, but the
Gaki
jumped away, laughed, and vanished. About
two weeks later we had our first ‘disappearance’, and witnesses
described a person who strongly resembled my brother being the last
person seen with the victim. I have followed those leads for nearly
three years hunting for the monster that stole my brother’s soul,
and I won’t stop until I have destroyed it.”

“Aside from the attack,” I said cautiously,
not wanting to set him off because I still thought he was a little
cracked, “what does that have to do with Maria?”

“It’s my theory that the
Gaki
is
finished with my brother’s body. A physical body can only last so
long without the original soul before it starts to break down. It
probably thought that Maria would be a good host for it to switch
to since she’s young and would have access to other young people.
This particular
Gaki
seems to prefer younger souls, but for
some reason the possession wasn’t finished. The changes that you
told me about make me believe that her soul is incomplete. You’ve
told me about her mood swings, which are usually a sign that the
other person is being controlled from the outside. You also
mentioned a change in her eyes, and I believe that it’s during
those times the
Gaki
has managed to displace her and
actually take full control of her body. It’s very similar to what I
saw with my brother. Which means that your friend is still very
much in danger.”

We had exited the Parkway and since we were
about ten minutes away from Mr. Baker’s I decided to get Akira back
do his car ASAP so I could kick him out of mine. His story was so
fantastical, so unbelievable, that the only thing I could do was
laugh. It was low, it was ugly, and it was borderline hysterical,
but I couldn’t keep it in any longer.

“Y-you seriously expect me to believe that?!”
I giggled harshly and my hands tightened on the steering wheel
again. “It’s so farfetched, I can’t even begin to take you
seriously! Hungry ghosts eating souls and possessing people, are
you sure you haven’t watched too many horror movies?”

Akira stiffened beside me, but I wasn’t about
to let him get a word out. Not just yet. Things were too raw, and I
finally admitted that I was hurt that he would make fun of my
friend and the troubles that I was dealing with. He wasn’t crazy
anymore; he was just downright cruel. What kind of heartless person
was he to do that? It was so cold and hard and calculated, and
while it went against what I knew of him from the brief time I had
spent as his project partner, I had to remind myself that it
had
been a brief time and that it was impossible to really
know a person after only a few short weeks. That being his project
partner didn’t warrant any type of knowledge of his true self any
more than it meant we had any type of relationship.

“
Gaki
, jeez, next thing you’re going
to tell me the fairies and elves exist! Or, oh, I know! The guy
working at the gas station where I tried my hand at shoplifting! He
must really be an
Oni
in disguise!”

“It has been my experience that where one
myth shows up, another is not that far behind, though
Oni
tend to be more physically present than others. Now tell me about
this gas station clerk that you tried to rob, because I find it
interesting that you avoid the subject whenever I try to discuss it
with you,” he said, his voice very flat and formal, but his eyes
focused on my face. I was so tired of everything, so tired of
secrets and lies and the like, that before I knew it, I started to
spill the whole entire sordid story out. I wanted to stop, I
ordered myself to stop, but I couldn’t contain the barrage of harsh
filth as it welled up from deep in my gut and cascaded out over my
lips. The taste was harsh and bitter, I wanted to gag on it, but
something kept pushing me forward through the whole, pain filled
story.

“You wanna know about that? Fine. I was dared
to take a candy bar the night that Maria vanished. Stupid Ryan was
going on and on about this huge, ugly guy that was working there
and how people who tried to take stuff without paying either got
beaten up or just vanished. I thought he was a total moron, there
hadn’t been any disappearances reported in the news outside of the
occasional missing hiker, and they were always found saying that
they’d wandered off the trail and gotten lost. Damn lucky they
didn’t get eaten by a bear, as far as I’m concerned. Anyway, I took
Ryan up on a dare that I wouldn’t try to lift a candy bar from that
store after hearing the stories. I got caught and tossed around a
little for my trouble, and then the guy threatened to call the cops
on me. Man, was he ugly, this huge guy, blunt features, baseball
cap, squashed nose, the works. I knew if I got arrested I could
have kissed my dreams of college good-bye, and Mom would have
totally killed me. So I begged. I’m not proud of it, but I offered
him almost anything if he wouldn’t call the cops. Turns out there
was only one thing he wanted.”