Kami Cursed (Dragon and Phoenix)

(Dragon and Phoenix
Series, Book 1)

Julianne
Price

Copyright © 2013 Julianne
Price

All Rights Reserved

K
it lay in the
bright green grass and gazed up at the purple sky.  Cornflower blue paper
flowers danced around her, their long stalks swaying in the warm, fragrant
breeze that always existed here.  She dragged a lazy hand through the paper blossoms
and they gave a rustle under her fingers.

This place was
beautiful, but she needed to get back home.  Dad must be worried about her, and
Ryuu needed her.  She mustered what will power she could and pushed herself to
her feet.  The soft breeze danced among the flowers, making rippling waves that
flowed across the meadow.  Near the edge of the clearing, the bright atmosphere
grew dark, the purple sky fading from a bright amethyst to a smoky grey. 

Kit’s eyes
searched the boundaries of her world, finally coming to rest on the dragon.  It
gamboled around and around the outer edges of the meadow, just at the edge of
the darkness, as if keeping it at bay.  The light glinted off flowing coils of
silvery scales and long, silky white fur.  Kit wasn’t afraid of the dragon.  He
and his master were her only companions in this world, and she had never felt
anything but happy to see the creature.  What made her afraid was not being
able to go home. 

Something
stirred within Kit, and she fought against that heavy peacefulness that was
always with her.  She waited until the dragon was on the far side of the
meadow, then mustered up every ounce of willpower she had pushed herself to her
feet.  She drew a breath when the contentment tried to steal over her.  She
pushed the feeling away and darted toward the far side of the meadow at a dead
run.  The paper blossoms crushed under her feet, and tall grasses whispered
against her legs as she ran.  Glancing over her shoulder, she saw that the
dragon was only now noticing her.  She was going to make it this time! 

But as she
neared the dark boundary of the meadow, something terrible rose up inside her. 
There was a sharp pain in her chest- a squeezing, crushing sensation- and she
felt dizzy.  A figure appeared from the darkness, and Kit took a few steps
backward. 
Megafail
! 

As she fell away
from the border, the mantle of comfort and calm settled over her again.  She
stared up at the tall man whose face was always hidden by shadows.  He was her
jailor, keeping her trapped here in this perfect meadow, never letting her see
what was in the darkness beyond.  The dragon galloped up to them and slipped
around the man in a liquid motion, coiling around his body like a living scarf. 
It perched its front paws on the man’s shoulder and stared at Kit with amused
topaz eyes. 

The man with the
shadowy face said nothing.  He never did.  He simply turned and began to pace
the border of the meadow, his flowing white clothes and long, silky, black
ponytail swaying gently in the warm breeze.  Kit drifted back toward the center
of the meadow, and her mind began to wander as she stroked the pretty flowers
and watched puffy clouds drift over the unchanging purple sky, all thoughts of the
intense fear, and her urgent need to return home forgotten.

F
all gave one
last burst of sweltering heat before it yielded to the inevitable long Michigan
winter that would follow.  I hummed a little tune while I walked, loving the
feel of the sunshine on my face. 

A small,
dark-haired boy was waiting for me near the back exit of the school.  Other
people avoided him- called him creepy- but I was used to his bizarre way of
looking through you and that kind of tingling, cold fingers up your spine
feeling that I got sometimes when he was in a bad mood.  He’d come a long way
from the skinny little orphan with the pale, blank doll’s face, and black,
staring eyes who had come to live next door to us just last year.  To me he was
just Ryuu- my best friend in the world.

At first, I was
afraid the older boys had cornered him again, and maybe that was why I hadn’t
seen him when school let out.  I clutched my backpack straps, ready to swing
the heavy bag like a weapon if I needed to.  But no one was around, and Ryuu
seemed perfectly fine.

“Hey Kit.”  He smiled,
his dark brown eyes sparkling in his perfect little face, and I relaxed my
stance.    

I looked down at
his shiny black head, feeling like a giant.  “Aren’t you coming home?”  

I rooted around
in my bag, then held up my latest library find,
Alice’s Adventures in
Wonderland
.  Sure, it was a bit more sissy than the stuff we usually read,
stretched out under the spreading tree in my backyard.  But something about this
book just begged me to check it out.

Ryuu shrugged
his scrawny shoulders.  “I have to stay after school and help set up the biology
lab for tomorrow.”  If he helped out, the teacher would let him sit in on the
higher grades’ science lessons.  He’d even been allowed into my class one day,
and I was three years ahead of him.  He was kind of a genius.

I rolled my
eyes.  “You’re a nerd.”

He eyed the book
tucked under my arm and gave me a look from those dark eyes.  Ryuu was a boy of
few words.  I’d read the phrase in a book one time-
man of few words-
and I thought it applied to him perfectly.

 “Just come to
my house when you’re done.”  I ruffled his silky black hair and he looked up at
me with a long-suffering expression.  

I turned to
leave, but Ryuu grabbed my arm.  “Kit!  Wait.”

The book slipped
out from under my arm and landed at my feet with a thump.  I looked at Ryuu in
surprise.  His dark, almond shaped eyes were like a couple of Frisbees, and his
mouth was compressed to a thin line.   

“That book-
where did you get it?”  He didn’t seem to be able to take his eyes off the
battered old cover.

“Uh, the
library,” I said slowly.  “What’s the matter?”

I stooped to
pick up the book and he held up his hands.  “Don’t!”  His face was white and
his hands shook.  “Don’t touch that thing, Kit!”

I sighed in exasperation
and scooped up the book.  I held it up, waggling it in his face, and he took a
step backward.  “It’s only a book.  What’s wrong with you?”

He took a deep
breath and looked a little bit less freaked out, though his eyes were still
wide, and his expression serious.  “That book is cursed,” he said gravely.

I ignored the
cold fingers on my spine thing and heaved another sigh.  Ryuu was about to go
all…Ryuu again, I just knew it.  His belief in magic, and his constant talk
about curses and spirits was one of the reasons that everyone picked on him.  A
masculine voice drifted to us.  “Ryuu?  If you’re out there, hurry up.  I
thought you were going to help?”

Ryuu’s eyes were
still locked on the book as he shouted a reply.  “Okay Mr. Masterson.  I’m
coming.” 

 “Throw that
thing in the dumpster,” he pleaded.  “I mean it, Kit.  It’s tainted.”

I raised my
eyebrows at him.  Tainted?  Ryuu thought my book was possessed or something?  “Look,
don’t you think it’s time you stopped with all that junk about curses?  Haven’t
you outgrown that stuff yet?”  I felt incredibly mature right then, with all my
fourteen years of wisdom against his measly eleven.  Then I realized that
Ryuu’s aunt was always telling him the same thing- he was too old for make
believe- and I hated that I’d agreed with the stupid woman.

  “Today,
Ryuu!”  Mr. Masterson was quickly losing patience.

Ryuu turned and
loped up the sidewalk.  His lanky gait reminded me of a baby giraffe I’d seen once
at the zoo.  Grinning, I turned and started walking back the way I’d come. 
Cursed book.  
Yeah right
.  I smiled to myself as I turned the book over
and flipped through the pages. 

I came to a
stumbling halt as the sidewalk seemed to tilt and heave.  The print was moving,
crawling across the page, mingling with the weird drawings of rabbits and mad
hatters.  Then craziness reached out and grabbed me.  I heard Ryuu’s voice
calling to me, but it was faint, and then it was gone.

*****

Ryuu paced up
the sidewalk toward the school.  He would tell Mr. Masterson that he was sick
and needed to go home.  There was no way he could leave Kit alone when there
was a cursed object this close to her.  He should have taken the book away from
her, made her understand that he wasn’t making this stuff up, that he wasn’t
just some silly little kid.  Actually, he should have refused to be her friend
from the beginning.  But he hadn’t, and the rest was all his fault.

A piercing
scream shattered the soft afternoon.  His steps faltered, his shoes scuffing on
the concrete.  He spun and dashed back the way he’d come.  Visions of twisted
metal and broken glass swam up, and he had to fight to push the memories away. 
He hadn’t been able to protect his parents.  Now he’d failed her as well. 

Kit was lying in
the lush grass beside the sidewalk, not far from where he’d left her.  At first
glance, she could have merely been napping in the afternoon sun, but then her
body began to twitch and jerk, and her eyelids fluttered.  He kicked the tainted
book away from her, but it was too late.  The thing was already done.  He’d
known it was a nasty one, but he hadn’t realized it was this bad.  Dark energy
coated Kit like a thin second skin.

Ryuu fell to his
knees, wrapping his arms around his friend, ignoring the stinging cold of the
kami’s energy.  He pulled her across his lap, trying to hold her together with
his small arms while she twitched and writhed.  “Kit,” he moaned.  “Oh God Kit,
I’m sorry!  I’m sorry!”

 She went slack
in his arms, her head lolling back, her heart-shaped face pale, and her pretty,
blue eyes unfocused.  He brushed the long tangle of brown hair away from her face
and pressed his forehead to hers. 

“I’ll save you,
Kit,” he whispered urgently, his voice cracking.  “Don’t leave me.  Just hang
on.  I promise I’ll save you.”  Feet pounded down the sidewalk and he could
hear the ambulance siren.  They would come and take her away.  They’d never
listen to him, wouldn’t believe that there was nothing in their modern medicine
that could help her now.  Besides, to them he was just the kid he appeared to
be. 

They pried her
out of his arms.  There was noise- shouting, sirens, urgent questions-  but
Ryuu couldn’t focus on any of that.  His eyes were on the book, lying forgotten
in the grass, its worn cover bathed in the flashing red lights of the
ambulance.  

The writhing
black energy that had coated it was gone, leaving behind nothing more than an
old book with deep shadows that went on forever.

*****

I woke up
feeling disoriented, like I’d fallen asleep somewhere weird and slept for way too
long.  The last wisps of a really nice dream were still clinging to my brain,
and I shook my head trying to clear it.  I couldn’t remember what day it was,
and the battered white wall in front of me was completely unfamiliar.  There
was a sort of continuous background noise, and I thought I must be somewhere
with a lot of people.  I rolled over and sat up, pushing myself back against
the pile of pillows behind me.

The room was
small and white.  I had been really sick once when I was little, so I knew the
feel of a hospital.  This place had that feel, but the worn carpet on the
floor, and the battered wooden dresser and desk in the corner didn’t seem like
something you would see in a hospital room.  They weren’t clean enough. 

A boy was dozing
in a plastic chair beside the bed.  He was slumped forward with his head on his
folded arms, half leaning on the mattress.  My movements shook the bed a
little, and he sat up, blinking sleepily.  His almond shaped eyes were a shade
of brown so dark they were almost black, and they were set at an angle over his
high cheekbones- like a cat’s eyes.  He was about my age, I thought, though he
looked a bit older with his pretty, black hair cut at an angle in the front and
falling forward over his eyes as he moved. 

“Who…”  Flustered,
I cleared my throat and tried again.  “Where am I?”

The boy scooted
his chair closer to the bed, looking more alert.  I stretched my legs beneath
the nubbly white blanket.  My body felt so weird- heavy. 

The boy pushed
his hair back and his dark eyes twinkled down at me.  “Kit?” 

He grabbed one
of my hands, his long fingers wrapping around mine.  There was a quiet jingle
when he moved.  The sound was familiar for some reason, and I looked down at
the bracelet he was wearing- wooden beads with a little bell at the end.  I
frowned down at it, trying to remember why it seemed so familiar.

“Hey, Kit,” his
voice was soft, like the way you talk to someone who’s really sick.  “Are you
awake?”

“Am I in a
hospital?  Who are you?”  My voice sounded weird.  It was too deep.  I cleared
my throat again, trying to fix it.  I must have been really sick.

He squeezed my
hand and a huge smile split his face.  “You’re back!”  He leaned forward to
press his lips to my forehead, and I froze in surprise. 

His dark eyes
studied my face eagerly.  Slowly, realization dawned on him, and a look of
disappointment crossed his face.  “You don’t know who I am?” 

He scooted his
chair as close as it could get, vibrating with excitement.  “Kit, it’s me.  You
know… we live next door to each other.  We’re best friends!”

I blinked at him
in surprise, still feeling foggy.  “Ryuu?  He’s only eleven.”  But his eyes
were so familiar.  Besides, it just wasn’t possible for anyone to be as pretty
as the little boy I knew.  Did he have an older brother that I’d never met? 
Maybe he’d been living with a relative in Japan or something…

“Who are you? 
Where’s Ryuu?”

The boy took a
deep breath.  “Look Kit, I know you’re confused, and this is probably going to
be really scary for you, but just trust me, okay?  I got rid of the curse, just
like I promised.  Everything’s going to be okay now.  I’ll go get your Dad and
he’ll bring you home.” 

He started to
stand up, but I clutched at his hand, suddenly terrified.  He was Ryuu.  He had
to be.  But he couldn’t be.  “Don’t leave!  What’s going on?  Where am I?  Why
can’t I remember?”  My unfamiliar voice wobbled. 

Terror clawed
its way through my chest and I felt like I couldn’t breathe.  I closed my eyes
and strained to remember.  “I…I brought you a book.  I was going to go read it
to you.  That was yesterday… wasn’t it?” 
Wasn’t it
?! 

He sank back
down on the edge of his chair and reached out to awkwardly pat my head.  His
eyes were Ryuu’s alright, both young and old all at the same time, just as
they’d been when he was eleven.  No, they were worse- that feeling of depth
behind them went on forever now.  “You’re… well, you’re in the mental hospital
Kit.  You’ve been here for three years.”

A door creaked
open and a woman in scrubs walked in.  “Okay, Ryuu, you know the rules.  Once
she’s up you need to leave.  It’s for your own safety.”

“Don’t worry.” 
He beamed at her, and the expression made the woman stop in her tracks.  “She
won’t hurt me now.”  He patted my head again, like I was a puppy or something. 

He turned to
whisper to me.  “I promise, I’ll explain everything to you later.  Just… hang
in there until I bring your Dad.  They won’t let me stay in here when you’re
awake.  You usually get pretty agitated.”

His hand slipped
from mine and I felt completely lost.  The nurse came to stand by my bed, her
eyes crinkled with suspicion.  “What’s going on?”

Ryuu turned to
her, his face alight with that blinding smile again.  “She’s awake,” he said, clearly
making an effort to rein in the emotions dancing across his face.  “I mean,
really awake.  She’s not crazy anymore.”

The nurse raised
her eyebrows and gave him a look that said she thought
he
was the crazy
one.  The new Ryuu glared at her.  “Don’t give her anymore of those meds.  They
don’t do a thing for her.  I’m getting her dad and he’ll tell you the same
thing.”

She shook her
head.  “Visiting hours are over.  You need to leave so she can have her dinner.” 
She turned to deposit a stack of white towels on the chair Ryuu had just
vacated.  “And I can’t hold her meds just because some kid told me to,” she
muttered under her breath.