The Gatekeeper's Son (43 page)

He shrugged. “It is a rare opportunity, not to be taken lightly. And the gods favored you.”

“And now?” My voice grew louder. “What do they think now?”

He glared at me. “The will of the gods is now unclear. With this event, it is my belief that the gods will not want this to continue.” He moved up onto the bottom step. “Let me pass!”

“I’ll save you the climb. You’re not the only one they speak to.” I turned to look up at the shrine, far above us. “Do I still find favor with you?”

The Kannushi’s face burst with fury. “Blasphemy! Insolent devil!” He thumped the ground with his staff. “I sentence you to death!”

Tomi drew her katana and came at me, but Shoko pushed herself between us.

“He is a Gatekeeper’s son,” Shoko said. “He saved my life and brought me back when no one else could.”

Tomi faltered, but five other Gatekeepers came at me as one, an organized chaos of swords and bodies converging on a single point. I shoved Shoko away, and without willing it, my hand came up.

Like a ball meeting the bat, they stopped for a split-second and then flew backward in a jumble of arms and legs. The Kannushi’s hat flew off and his robes billowed as he staggered backward, trying to stay upright. I lowered my hand, amazed and reassured.

It wasn’t Bartholomew’s power that had done that.

The Kannushi stared up at me. When he made it to his feet, he pointed his staff at me. “You are in their favor … for now,” he said, his voice hoarse. “When they decide otherwise—and they will—we will hunt you wherever you go, in this world or in yours.”

I stared at him. “If I see or feel
anyone
on my side … I’ll deal with them and then I’ll come for you.”

Shoko stood up. “Junya,” she whispered, her face pained, her eyes wide, “thank you for saving my life. I … I have always believed in you.”

Something caught in my throat and I had to look away. Beyond the small group at the bottom of the stairs, a multitude of Gatekeepers had gathered among the trees behind, barely visible in the fading light—far too many for me to fight.

I tried to keep my face expressionless as I knelt on the steps and looked at Shoko again.

“I won’t let the evil win,” I said. “I promise.”

CHAPTER

43

I staggered through the front door of my house and came face to face with my dad. He was in work clothes, walking through the living room carrying a glass of water. I hadn’t expected him. I’d come straight from Izumo and the pain was growing. I needed Okaasan, but I was relieved to see a familiar face.

“Hey, Dad.”

He came toward me, frowning. “What happened to you? You’re covered in black stuff.”

I glanced down at my ripped, dirty jeans, glad he couldn’t see the wide white bandages that circled my calf and shoulder.

“It’s a long story,” I said through gritted teeth. “Where’s Mom?”

“She’s downtown with Lin.” He was still frowning, but now he looked more angry than worried. “I can’t believe you took off to Japan for six weeks!” Yep, definitely angry. “Your mom was in the hospital when I got home from Brussels, and you were gone—not to mention the damn fire!” He pointed to the garden.

“I’ve been gone six weeks?”

Our eyes met and the fury in his made me take a step back.

“Damn it, Junya, I don’t know what the hell you’ve been up to—”

I looked him in the eye. “Do you
really
want to know, Dad?”

He stared at me. His energy changed. He looked away.

I felt Okaasan. Her energy was loud, her fear palpable, but she was still far away. My body was slowly becoming numb—from the poison, I guessed. It was a wonderful feeling, and it became a bit easier to stay upright.

Through the new glass windows, a building was taking shape beyond the Zen garden. A small crane lowered a beam while half a dozen Japanese workers waited, ready to secure it. This building looked different from the original dojo, smaller and older. I felt the wood call to me and I longed to touch it, to hear its story.

I nodded toward the backyard. “What’s with that?”

He followed my gaze. “We shipped an old teahouse over from Japan a few years ago. Had it stored in crates in your grandfather’s warehouse … where those men died.” He paused. When he spoke again, his anger had faded. “It’s over two hundred years old, a victim of a new rail line.”

“It’s small.” I slurred the words.

“That’s what your mom wanted—just a teahouse.”

The pain flooded back and I couldn’t say any more—if I opened my mouth I’d be screaming. I tried to raise some of my energy, but I had nothing left. The venom had me. I started to slouch. From the corner of my eye, I saw Okaasan standing in the kitchen doorway, her hand over her mouth. I sent my scream to the inside of her head.

“Go back outside, Robert,” she said. “Now.”

He took off like a nervous child, and the second he was out the door, Okaasan limped toward me. “Is that …?” She pointed to the black stuff.

When I nodded, she let out a small cry, and with a grunt she picked me up as if I weighed nothing and carried me into the shower, clothes and all. Her clothes and hair got drenched as she washed me from head to toe three or four times. Besides a few whispered curses, she didn’t show much reaction, even when she began to remove the bandage from my leg.

I nearly passed out. The gash was over six inches long and straight, as if cut with a knife. She sat me on a stool while my head spun.

“Is it bad?” I croaked.

“I’d take you to the hospital if I could,” she said after a moment’s hesitation. “It needs stitches.” But she didn’t pull out a needle and thread, much to my relief. Instead, she applied a dozen little Band-aid like strips that pulled the edges of the cut together. Okaasan had an impressive first-aid kit—a necessity because of our training.

“That doesn’t look like a sword wound.”

“Lizard’s claw.”

She sucked in a breath and held her hands out toward me, a calming gesture that seemed to be more for her than for me.

“That’s OK … People survive claws.”

“You haven’t seen my shoulder yet.”

She started to undo the bandage on my shoulder. When she got the last piece off, her face went white. “Oh, gods!” she whispered, her hands frozen above the wound. “It bit you?!”

I looked at the tiles, my eyes unfocused. “I’m going to die, aren’t I?” I whispered.

She grabbed my chin. “Junya,” she said, her voice shaking as much as her hands, “you’re different from the rest of us. You shouldn’t be alive right now, so I’m going to assume—I’m going to pray to every god in Izumo—you’ll stay that way.”

After taking a deep breath, she leaned closer and inspected the wound.

“There are eight teeth marks on the front, as far down as your pectoral.” She paused as she looked at my back. “And nine on the back.” She hesitated. “There’s venom in there, … in you.”

I bent my head to look and she had to push me back onto the stool before I fell over. The teeth marks were deep ugly holes and the skin around them was swollen and blotched red and black like decaying meat.

Her hands were shaking as she worked, dabbing at the wound with a cloth soaked in antiseptic. It hurt like hell and my body jerked every time she touched me. “Use your energy, Junya. Don’t worry about hurting me. Let it build slowly. I’ll be OK. I’ll use my energy, too.”

Even though I saw her cringe when I started, I concentrated on my breathing, and within a minute warmth began to build in my abdomen. This energy felt different—it wasn’t built from anger. I let it flow and the pain began to recede.

When she’d cleaned the wound as best as she could, she wrapped my arm and shoulder as if she were preparing a mummy. Then she sat back and looked at me.

“I’ve never seen a lizard bite. There’s never anything left of the body to see.”

Okaasan made me a huge bowl of udon noodles and sat across the table from me. As I slowly ate, I told her everything.

“Junya …”

I felt the thought she was trying so hard to suppress. “I know it was Bartholomew’s power that let me travel Shoko from Zion to Izumo,” I said. “It was the only way I could save Shoko, and myself. But that’s not what I used on the Kannushi and the Gatekeepers—I swear.”

She took her time replying. “I just worry … I’m scared to death actually, that you’ll be tempted to use Bartholomew’s power again. It’s far beyond the power of any Gatekeeper, and many of the gods.”

I looked at my empty bowl. “I don’t want to. I can’t let Bartholomew get control of me.”

She reached across the table and put her hand on mine. “I believe in you, Junya. You aren’t alone in this.”

The two of us were quiet for a while, content just to sit there together. Then she gave me a little smile. “How are we going to hide
this
from your father?”

I smiled, but I felt sad. “He’ll never ask.”

She nodded. She knew that, too.

“How’s your leg?” I said.

She straightened it and put her foot back on the floor. “It’s good, only muscle injuries. I’m almost back to normal.”

“And Mack?”

“There was no permanent damage, just a lot of bruises. I’ve only talked to him once since that night.”

Her mind was elsewhere, and I picked up on a stray thought. “Where’s Lin going?”

Okaasan shrugged. “The South Pacific, maybe Fiji.”

I guessed she had lots of time for a vacation now.

Okaasan put her cup down with a thud. “Aren’t you going to ask about your grandfather?”

“I already talked to him, over … somewhere.” I met her gaze. “I know he’s dead.”

She smacked my hand. “He’s not dead! And it’s bad luck to say such things.” She tried to look mad but couldn’t. “He woke up a few days after you disappeared.”

My mouth must have dropped open, because Okaasan began to laugh.

“The doctors can’t believe it, but he’s up and about and getting stronger. He’s like a new man. And he’s decided to start using his yacht for something other than a floating office.”

“He’s taking a vacation?” I asked, unable to hide my surprise.

She smiled. “He’s taking it out for a South Pacific cruise.”

“He should change the name. Tomi’s a bitch.” Then I sighed. “So Lin’s going with him?”

“Of course. Why?”

“She’s my friend and she deserves a better life—someone who will love her back.”

“For your information, Lin’s wearing a very large diamond ring, and it’s obvious it means a lot to both of them. They’re acting like newlyweds already.”

I blinked a few times and I had to ask. “Did she ask him?”

Okaasan smiled. “As I recall, they pretty much said it at the same time.”

I looked around, trying to see as much of the house as I could from my chair. The kitchen was familiar, the smells the same, but I couldn’t find comfort there. My worlds were so far apart. I saw no way for the chasm to close.

“I’m starting to feel like you did when we came back from Japan,” Okaasan said. She put her hands together on the table and forced a smile. “I wonder if
my
life will ever go back to normal.”

“I don’t even know what normal is anymore.”

She let out a deep sigh. “We must keep moving forward. I recall you saying something like that to me not so long ago.”

She helped me to the living room, where I stood and watched the workers assembling the old teahouse. How long had it sat in that box, wondering if it would ever get to be itself again? Did it ever imagine it would end up halfway around the world, in our backyard? I started to feel sorry for it, but I stopped because I had a lot in common with that teahouse.

I felt myself starting to glaze over, and a moment later Okaasan was beside me, steering me to the sofa. I was so weak, so tired I couldn’t stand anymore.

“Watch from here,” she said. “This will take a while.”