Sword Kissed Read online

  “Did you inform the scientists you were able to do this?” Akari asked. Galen and Takeo shot her a look. “I’m not trying to accuse you of anything,” Akari tried to clarify. “But it could have been useful information. We should all be trying to work together.”

  “We did try,” Galen said. “Without giving too much away, we tried explaining that certain crystals can be used as a power source. But they brushed us off, claiming we didn’t know what we were talking about. So we took the dead radios and worked it out ourselves.”

  Akari nodded. She had no problem believing the humans would be too arrogant to try to use fae methods for powering the radios. And she knew the fae had reasons to be secretive and cautious when it came to working with humans. Still, the extent of what the fae had been hiding galled her, even though she knew it shouldn’t. She still felt human, after all, and it would take a long time for her to fully sympathize with the fae.

  “Malia,” Galen called. A young greenish woman who was wearing headphones turned around. She stood and gave Galen a bow.

  “Yes, Naeran-san?” she asked.

  “Have you been able to communicate with Katia Hollow?” he asked her.

  “Yes, Naeran-san,” she said. She sat back at her table before unplugging the headphones from the device in front of her. Akari had heard of the radios, but she had never seen one herself. It looked very complicated to use, but Malia was able to quickly turn the knobs and press the buttons to find what she was looking for.

  “Katia Hollow,” Malia said into a microphone. “This is Chiyoko Hollow, Kuji Village. Come in, Katia Hollow.”

  Akari knew Katia Hollow was to the northwest, what was formerly Russia.

  “This is Katia Hollow. We read you, Chiyoko Hollow,” a man’s voice replied out of a speaker on the front of the radio. Akari couldn’t help but gasp in excitement. She was hearing the voice of someone in a different Hollow. She never thought such a thing would be possible. He had a thick accent, which she found a little hard to understand, so she had to pay close attention to his words.

  “That is amazing,” Akari exclaimed. Takeo smiled and patted her on the back.

  “You have much to learn of our world,” he said.

  “What would you like to ask them, Naeran-san?” Malia asked.

  Galen motioned for Akari to speak into the microphone. Everything had happened so quickly, she hadn’t given much thought to what she would ask them.

  “Hello, Katia Hollow,” Akari said. “My name is Akari Tanaka. Our hollow has been under attack by an evil force. It has been poisoning our world, creating evil monsters, and killing our people. Have you also been under attack?”

  For a moment, Akari heard only static. She began to wonder if she had done something wrong. But the voice on the other end finally replied.

  “It’s been bad here,” he said. “Have you determined the source of the darkness?”

  Akari chuckled. “If you haven’t already discovered it for yourself, I’m not sure you’ll believe me. But it is a fae goddess, one buried at the fracturing of the world and creation of the hollows.”

  The man on the other end laughed. “I hear you, Akari Tanaka. Who would have thought?”

  “It has been a shocking couple of days,” Akari said. “How are you coping? Have you found a way to fight back?”

  “Not officially,” the man said. “But there have been rumors of a woman, one who has found a weapon strong enough to fight back. I don’t know if it’s true, but I sure hope so.”

  She swung shocked eyes to Takeo, and he gave her a knowing nod. Akari turned back to the microphone. “I found a weapon, too. I’m just not sure if it will be strong enough…if I’m strong enough. I was hoping you had already defeated your goddess and could give me some tips on what I could do.”

  “I wish I could, Akari Tanaka,” the man said. “But we are still fighting here. I don’t know if the weapon this woman found will work or not. Last I heard, she was following some map to try to track the goddess down.”

  Akari’s heart skipped, and she pulled out her own map. “Your woman has a map, too?” she asked. “I have one. It led me to the weapon.”

  “That’s amazing,” he said. “It must all be connected somehow. That’s how our girl found her weapon, but she’s still using it. Says it will lead her directly to the goddess.”

  Akari studied the map again. She turned it over and upside down. Flipping it over, she examined the back. She didn’t see any other indications of anything else to look for.

  “Mine just has a temple, where I found the weapon, and a cave that had healing powers,” Akari said into the microphone. “Do you know how she is using it to find the goddess?”

  “Wish I did,” he said. “I’m getting this information through the grapevine, if you know what I mean.” Akari didn’t, but she didn’t interrupt. “Katia Hollow is huge, thousands of miles across. I don’t know where the woman is or who she is or if any of this is true. Just rumors and hearsay. I wish I was more help.”

  Akari’s heart dropped a little, but she still felt a twinge of hope that hadn’t been there before. “No, you’ve told me a lot. At least there are enough similarities to know I’m on the right track. If that woman asks you for help, you do whatever she needs, okay?”

  “Will do, Akari Tanaka,” he said. “Good luck, Chiyoko Hollow.”

  Akari stood and backed away from the radio.

  “That was incredible,” Takeo said. “They have a map, a weapon, a woman putting it all together. Just like us! We are doing the right thing, Akari-chan.”

  Akari tried to absorb Takeo’s excitement. But Katia Hollow had not defeated their goddess yet either. She wondered if the women in the other hollows were at the same point in their journeys as she was.

  Were they all headed to victory at the same time, or death?

  19

  Akari went to the healer’s hut, where Sera was being kept. She bowed to the healers as she entered, and they motioned that she was welcome to approach Sera. They were burning incense and had rubbed Sera’s body with oils. They had placed some sort of poultice on her abdomen, where her original injury had been. The healers told Akari they had done all they could. That they had hopes she would recover, but it was all up to Sera now.

  Akari stood by her teacher’s side and took her hand. It felt cold and small. Not like the hand of the woman who had handed Akari her ass in the practice arena on countless occasions.

  “Sera-sensei?” Akari whispered. Sera did not respond. “I don’t know if you can hear me, but I hope you can.” She sighed and pulled up a chair, so she could sit and speak closer to Sera’s ear.

  “I know I’m on the right path,” Akari said. “We spoke to someone in another hollow. There was a woman there who also had a map and a weapon. And they knew about the buried goddesses. So far, I have been able to put the pieces together. I think Chiyoko knew this was going to happen, or she at least feared it would. But I am not sure what the next step is. I need to find Chiyoko before she grows too powerful. But I don’t know where she is.”

  “Did you check the map?” Sera asked in a weak voice that was barely audible.

  “Sensei?” Akari cried, lowering herself even closer to Sera’s face. “You are awake! You are going to be fine!”

  One of the healers rushed over and felt Sera’s wrist. Then she placed her hand on Sera’s chest. The healer nodded. “She is recovering, but she needs food and rest. I will be right back.”

  The woman rushed away, but Akari knew she wouldn’t be gone for long.

  “Sera-sensei,” Akari said. “I don’t have long. I know they will make me leave you so you can rest. If you need to tell me anything else, now is the time!”

  Sera shook her head, but only barely. “You have everything you need now. There is nothing more I can give you…teach you…”

  “I’m still your student,” Akari said, her eyes brimming with tears. “I need you to guide me.”

  Sera just shook her head again. The healer
came back, along with a few more, and a bowl of broth. They jostled Akari out of the way as they tried to lift Sera’s head and make her drink the liquid.

  “Please,” one of the healers said. She tugged on Akari’s arm. “We know what we are doing. Please let us work.”

  Akari nodded and slowly exited the room. She would have to let the healers do whatever they could to save Sera’s life.

  And Akari would have to do whatever she could to save the world.

  Akari went to the hut where Takeo was supposed to be relaxing. When she walked in, she saw a young healer woman sitting at his feet, tending to his ankle. She couldn’t suppress the flare of jealousy that coursed through her in that moment.

  “Akari,” he said with a smile when he saw her. “Vanya-san was just telling me that my ankle has completely healed.”

  Vanya collected her things and stood, giving Takeo and Akari a respectful bow on her way out. Nothing in her bearing or demeanor indicated she had any interest in Takeo beyond helping his foot. Akari knew her sudden spark of jealousy said more about her own feelings for Takeo than anything about Vanya. She did her best to shake the feeling away as she moved to sit by him.

  “That’s good,” she finally managed to say.

  “What’s wrong?” he asked, putting his arm around her.

  “Nothing,” Akari said, shaking her head. “Well, everything, obviously. The goddess ending the world. My sister missing. My lack of ideas of what to do next. But nothing you didn’t already know.”

  He chuckled and kissed her forehead. “Yeah, I know. I guess I meant anything new? How is Sera-san?”

  “She is good. Recovering,” Akari said. “She woke up for a moment. But then the healers ushered me out, so they could give her some broth and help her rest.”

  Takeo squeezed her shoulders. “That is good, Akari,” he said, squeezing her shoulders. “Take the win. You need it.”

  She nodded and stood up, pacing the room. “I asked her what I should do next. How to find Chiyoko before she grows too powerful. She said I had everything I need. But what could she mean by that? All I have is the sword and the map.”

  “You also have me,” he said, standing up and moving over to a table. “Come here. Let’s look at the map together.”

  Akari sighed, laying it out on the table. “I’ve already looked at the map a hundred times, from a hundred angles. We found the temple and the cave. There is nothing else on it.”

  Takeo sighed and leaned over it. “Just let me look.”

  Akari crossed her arms, waiting for him to admit she was right.

  “Did you notice this isn’t just a map of the mountain?” he said instead. “It is a map of the whole prefecture.”

  “Sure,” Akari said. “Here is Nasu, Sera’s dojo, Kuji village, the coast…”

  “Do you have a pen?” he asked. She searched the room and found a pen on another table. “Here is Yahakami village, where the chief’s wife went missing.” He placed a dot on the map. “And here is Kuji, where Lord Naeran went missing.” He placed another dot. “And up here…” He placed a dot on the table up to the north of where it would be if the map showed all of Chiyoko Hollow.

  “And here is where the rift was, where the demons poured out when they attacked the city,” Akari said, putting her own dot on the map. “And out here is where the ruins are where we found that group of enenra.” She placed another dot. “And out here is Hashikami village, where the girl with the birthmark went missing.”

  “If we look at them,” Takeo said. “A pattern emerges.”

  “My gods,” Akari said. “You’re right!” The dots all seemed to be spiraling out of a central location. “So if the demons are feeding off Chiyoko’s energy, she must be at the center of it all.”

  “What is this?” Takeo asked, placing his finger right in the center of the dots.

  Akari put her hand to her mouth, eyes wide.

  “That’s my house.”

  20

  Akari and Takeo rushed from the building and found Galen.

  “We know where Chiyoko was buried,” Akari said hurriedly. “We need to go back to Nasu and stop her before she grows too strong.”

  “How can we help?” Galen asked.

  “Just stay here,” she said. “Hide. I don’t believe I will succeed, but I have to try. Maybe I can at least injure her or distract her or something. Maybe you can strengthen your veil enough to even hide from her.”

  Galen pressed his lips and looked at Takeo. “There must be more we can do,” Galen said. “We cannot hide from a fae goddess. We must be able to help you in some way.”

  “Then…” Akari was anxious to get back home and didn’t have time to put his fears to rest. “Just take care of Sera-sensei. If her strength returns, maybe she can help.”

  Galen bowed. “We will do what we can,” he said.

  Akari thought she saw him send a knowing glance of some sort to Takeo, but she didn’t want to try to parse that out right now. She took Takeo’s hand.

  “You can run us back to Nasu faster than we can ride,” she said.

  Takeo nodded. Together, they were back in Nasu only minutes later.

  Akari went to the dojo first, where she thought the remaining Sword Kissed would probably be. They were there, doing what they could to help the injured. Akari did her best to catch them up on the situation.

  “You think Chiyoko is buried under your house?” Kaya asked.

  “I don’t know,” Akari said. “But it’s the only theory we have right now.”

  “I have a theory of my own,” Kaya said. She reached into her pocket, pulling out what looked like a page ripped from an old book. “I went to the archives. I searched and searched for anything that might help us. This is the only thing I found.”

  Akari looked at the paper, and her eyes went wide. On it, there was a drawing of Chiyoko in flowing robes surrounded by cherry blossoms. Of course, Chiyoko looked exactly like Akari, but the clothing and cherry blossoms told Akari she was looking at Chiyoko and not herself. But what was shocking about the image was the sword Akari had taken from the statue of Chiyoko was sticking out of the drawing at Chiyoko’s chest.

  Chiyoko was dead.

  “This…this is all you found?” Akari asked.

  Kaya nodded. “There were no words on the pages before or after it. It was in a book, more like an encyclopedia, about the demons and spirits in the world. They all had names and detailed descriptions. This one didn’t, though. It terrified me at first because I thought it was a drawing of you.”

  Akari stared at the image for a minute. She felt almost sick to her stomach, and she knew what Kaya meant. Seeing herself as Chiyoko had been confusing and terrifying. She didn’t want to consider what it could mean for her if she and Chiyoko shared more than a face.

  Takeo looked over Akari’s shoulder at the image. “So if you plunge the sword into the heart of Chiyoko,” he said, “you can destroy her.”

  She felt him squeeze her shoulder. She knew this would give him hope. Hope she could exact revenge on Chiyoko for killing his father. Hope she could destroy the evil that Chiyoko had become.

  Hope that she could save the world.

  Sakura…sakura…

  Akari shrugged his hand off and shook her head. She wasn’t sure why she kept hearing that song in the back of her head, or why she felt apprehensive about destroying Chiyoko, but she wasn’t going to make her decisions based on some random wordless picture from some old book. If it came down to it, she hoped she would have the strength to do what was necessary. But she also hoped she would have the wisdom to do what was right.

  “Come on,” Akari finally said, shoving the picture into her pocket along with the map. “Let’s get to the house. If we can at least find Yoshimi…”

  “We will find her,” Kaya said. She then turned to the rest of the Sword Kissed. “Come on, girls. Let’s put this bitch back to bed!”

  The women all cheered. Akari’s heart swelled to have her sisters-in-arms by her
side, but she feared for their safety as well. Her Sword Kissed abilities had been useless against Chiyoko until she found Chiyoko’s sword. She knew the Sword Kissed would not be able to help her fight, but she also knew that telling them to stay away would be a losing battle. And she didn’t need to lose another fight.

  Akari, Takeo, and the Sword Kissed all headed toward Akari’s house as the sun rose over the village. She had completely lost track of the passage of time over the last couple of days. When had she last slept, or ate? She had no idea. She was at every disadvantage. Was she crazy? She had no business trying to take down a goddess. But as she took in her friends, she realized they were all smiling!

  How could they smile at a time like this?

  Didn’t they know they were all going to die?

  Didn’t they…

  “Akari,” Yoshimi yelled.

  As they approached what was left of the house, Chiyoko was waiting for them in the garden, under her mother’s cherry blossom tree, with Yoshimi wrapped in smoke chains by her side.

  “Yoshimi,” Akari couldn’t help but yell back.

  “Get away from here,” Yoshimi demanded.

  Akari drew her katana. “I can’t,” she said. “I have to end this.”

  Chiyoko laughed. “Oh, it will end, Akari. Just not the way you hope.”

  “Probably not,” Akari said, taking a step forward. “But I am here anyway. So let’s do this.”

  Chiyoko laughed again and took a deep breath, sucking in smoke and ash and even some demons into her. She grew big. Her core appeared as if it were made of molten lava.

  Akari’s heart raced. Takeo and the other Sword Kissed prepared to fight.

  Sakura…sakura…

  Akari glanced over her shoulder, toward the voice that kept calling her, but as usual, she saw nothing.

  “Why are you calling me if you aren’t there?” she mumbled. She turned back to Chiyoko and raised her sword, glowing with the power of the Sword Kissed.