The Gatekeeper's Son (42 page)

A second later, Shoko screamed, a sound of rage and fear. I looked up again—the lizards were gone. I whispered a prayer, gritted my teeth against the pain, and started to climb.

Two were closing in on Shoko when I pulled myself over the edge and started toward her. I was weak and wavering on my feet, as frail as a blade of grass as I moved in-between the beasts and Shoko. I clenched my fists and tried to find my energy, but nothing happened.

I glanced over my shoulder at Shoko, terrified. When our eyes met, I watched the faint light of hope go out—I was in no shape to help her and she knew it.

“Save yourself,” she whispered.

I collapsed to my knees, touched Mother Earth, and asked her for help.

She answered with a burst of energy that flung me onto my feet. I yanked the bokuto from my belt.

I stole a look at Bartholomew. He wasn’t laughing now.

And then they were on me, charging like bulls. I swung the bokuto as if I were the last batter up with the bases loaded. I connected with the first one—a solid hit. It hurtled past me, its head cracked and gushing black tar. My mind was empty as I moved through the kata I’d practiced a thousand times, my body dancing among the dragons. The whistle of wood through still air, the thump of impact on flesh, the groans and screeches of the dying—these were the drumbeat, the cadence of my dance, and one after another the beasts died until only two were left.

One came at me while the other circled and raced toward Shoko. I dived and smashed its head, but momentum sent the dying lizard skidding across the rock toward her. She yelled, kicked, and deflected it toward the cliff, but her balance was off—she toppled over the cliff after it.

The chain played out until it jerked to a stop.

I watched that in slow motion as I slid across the slime-covered rock after her, propelled by my own dive. My fingers grabbed at the second chain as I slid over the edge, and I jerked to a stop beside her.

She clawed at the chain around her neck, but her face was already blue. I swung my legs around her, clamped her body, and tried to lift her and give her enough slack to breathe. The chain tore into my hands—I couldn’t hold us both. Desperate, I grabbed inside her noose and hauled up on the chain. She gasped and sucked a breath in.

“Shoko, I can’t hold on!”

I looked down but shouldn’t have, because we were swinging over nothing.

A hiss came from above and the chain ripped against my hand as I was yanked upward, bringing Shoko with me. Pain exploded in my shoulder and arm as the lizard’s teeth sank in and dragged me onto the flat rock. Shoko gasped and thrashed, rattling her chain as she struggled with the noose. The lizard hovered over me, its putrid breath in my face, its teeth inches away.

My arm was already going numb. Shoko’s legs, entwined in mine, weren’t moving anymore, and I struggled out from under her. I dug my fingers under the chain and worked it away from her neck, trying to untangle it. Finally, the chain fell off.

Relief surged through me when she sucked in a breath of air.

Then I turned. The big lizard, the one that had bit me, hissed once more before transforming into a man in a Hawaiian shirt. Bartholomew staggered to his feet, panting but smiling. “That was great!”

I sank back to the ground, staring at him, bewildered.

He pointed at me. “It looks like a shark bite! That’ll impress the hell out of the babes.” He scowled. “I wish I had one.” He glanced at the other lizard pacing nearby.

I gasped when I saw the semicircle of teeth marks on my left biceps and shoulder, my red blood mixing with black, both dripping off my elbow onto the dirt. “You’re insane.” No better words came to mind.

“And you’re not dead yet.” His tone betrayed a touch of pride. “And that’s interesting.”

“What … what’ve you done to me?”

He laughed. “You’ve got a little Bartholomew flowing in your veins now.”

“This … this will kill me.”

He waved a hand, dismissing me. “If it doesn’t, consider it a permanent reminder of how stupid you’re acting right now.” Then he looked at Shoko and rolled his eyes. “All right, be her hero and take her back.”

I swallowed, trying to force my tongue to cooperate against the growing numbness. “How can I?”

“Travel her out. You’ve got my power inside you now.”

No!
My eyes locked on his. “I don’t want it!”

“Would you rather be dead?”

I fell back onto the rock. “I burned the map.”

He kicked the bokuto toward me. “I don’t need the map anymore.”

“Then why …”

“I’ve got you to bring me across.”

It took a moment for the weight of his statement to reach my brain. “I’ll never do that … ever.”

“Forever is a long time, kid.” He turned to the last lizard. “Let’s go.”

Shoko and I were alone under the noonday sun, whose intensity had doubled. I tried to move but couldn’t. After three agonizing attempts, I persuaded my left hand to move and it touched bare rock. I felt the Mother Earth, the rush of the stream of life surging into my body—but it wasn’t enough to let us travel, not from here.

I’d use Bartholomew’s power. Just this once.

CHAPTER

42

I took her to Izumo. We needed to cleanse ourselves of evil—both the blood and their energy. We slammed down hard on arrival, but my body had become so numb I barely felt the impact. When I managed to open my eyes, we were on the fourth step of the grand staircase. Shoko was lying on top of me. As I stirred, she rolled off and sat on the step below me, her back against me, head in her hands. She tried to call out, but her voice was hoarse. The shrine grounds were dark and empty. Everyone was home with their families, eating dinner or having their evening bath in deep wooden tubs.

The black poison spread through my body like lava, far worse than the snakebite. I groaned. Shoko turned and put her hands on my chest. We stared at each other and she began to cry.

“I felt the energy from the other side, … so much evil. I traveled to your house, but then I saw you, … saw you with that girl.”

I felt her disappointment and hurt and had to look away. I was embarrassed, but more than that I felt ashamed.

She sniffed. “You … you really thought it was me?”

I took a breath. “I knew something was wrong, but …” I couldn’t meet her eyes. “I thought maybe you changed your mind and … came back to me. That maybe you felt …” I gritted my teeth against the pain as my shoulder flared again, a good excuse not to answer her.

“They used our emotions against us,” she whispered. “There were only three Evil Ones, yet they seized me outside the burning dojo. I was upset. I hesitated.”

I didn’t answer, couldn’t answer. After a while, she laid her head on my chest.

“I screwed everything up.” I didn’t know if she’d heard me whisper it in the dark. And I didn’t know if it was the darkness in my heart or the darkness of the night closing in.

Shoko was asleep or unconscious, her head on my chest, when the first girl arrived. She was young, still a child, but wore the green robes of an apprentice Gatekeeper. When she saw us her face went white and she screamed. A moment later, another Gatekeeper—a few years older than Shoko—appeared out of the darkness beside her.

“Summon the Kannushi!”

I felt familiar energy as more Gatekeepers appeared, their green garments glowing in the twilight. I stared, transfixed by their raw physical power, their radiance and beauty.

Not long after, a man dressed in a long black robe and a tall hat hurried over. He stopped dead when he saw us and his face went white. He leaned on his long staff to steady himself.

“What is this?”

Shoko stirred and tried to bow, but all she managed was a slight nod of her head. “Kannushi.”

“Shoko!” Tomi burst through the line of stoic Gatekeepers, dressed in a simple kimono—obviously evening wear—but holding a katana. And she looked scared.

“Is that … the blood of an Evil One?”

“Be still, Gatekeeper.” The Kannushi moved to stand beside Tomi. “The blood itself is not poison. If she was bitten, she would already be dead.”

Shoko turned toward me. “Junya was bitten!”

Tomi and the Kannushi seemed to notice me for the first time, although I was still flat on my back behind Shoko, not hard to miss. Tomi leaned closer to get a better look. She looked astonished. “She is right,” she whispered. “Oh, gods.”

I looked past them at the young Gatekeepers gathering.

“They look like angels,” I said.

The Kannushi didn’t turn. “A snake would look like an angel to you.”

“Kannushi,” Tomi said, “how is he is still alive?”

He silenced Tomi with a wave of his hand and stared down at Shoko. “Open your mind, young one,” he said in a severe tone. “Tell me what happened.” A moment later, he looked at her in astonishment. “The Evil Ones seized you and took you
there
?” He glanced at me. “And you came back … alive?”

She pointed at me. “He killed a dozen lizards.” Her voice grew in volume. “He saved my life!”

His eyes met mine. “No human can travel from there.”

At that moment, two miko hurried across the grounds toward us, carrying black lacquer boxes. They wore long silk jackets with wide drooping sleeves, their long hair tied back with red and white ribbons. They bowed to the Kannushi and then knelt and began to wash Shoko, carefully removing the black blood first and then her own blood. They worked on her one section at a time, keeping her body covered, but from what I could see, there were large, ugly bruises, already purple and black, all over her body. The older one clicked her tongue when she saw the red welt that circled Shoko’s neck.

“Is she infected?” the Kannushi asked.

“She was not bitten,” the older miko said.

Before they bandaged Shoko, they poured a clear liquid onto her open wounds. To my amazement, the cuts closed and shriveled, like morning glory in the evening, leaving behind scabs that looked a day old. When the miko moved toward me, the Kannushi shook his head.

“He was bitten and will die,” the Kannushi said. “It is only his dark energy that is slowing it.”

The older miko looked angry, but her voice was calm. “It is our duty to treat all.”

The Kannushi hesitated. “Bandage it to contain his rancid blood, but do not waste medicine on him.”

They pulled my jeans up and took my T-shirt off, exposing the wounds. I kept my eyes squeezed shut and tried to make the pain stop. My energy rose until only a dull throbbing remained in my left shoulder and leg. They worked quickly, in silence, and their touch was gentle.

When they were done, I whispered a word of thanks and stood up. Everyone gasped, but my eyes were on the Kannushi. “Was I really an experiment?”

“What kind of an experiment?” he barked.

“Why did you really ask Misako to marry my father?”

He made a face. “Your mother is not the first to cross over and mate with a man from the other side.” He hesitated and looked over his shoulder at the gathered Gatekeepers. “Of course, her assignment was important to us … But it was only when the young one told us about your awakening that we became interested.”

“Because I might be … useful?”