Kami Cursed (Dragon and Phoenix) (17 page)

Apparently, it
worked on Vanessa too.  She didn’t say anything for a minute, but she finally
found her voice.  “Uh, sure…but just a minute.”  She turned to me and held out
her hand impatiently.  

I squinted down
at the locket.  “Don’t worry,” I said airily.  “I’m almost done.  I’ll wait
right here.”

She narrowed her
eyes at me.  “Don’t lose that or I’ll make your life miserable.”  As if she
wasn’t already doing that. 

I nodded
solemnly and spritzed again.  “Sure.”  I dropped my bag on the floor by her
locker, so she’d know I wasn’t planning on running off. 

Vanessa’s locker
was at the end of the hall.  She and Ryuu stood at the corner of the hallway a
few feet away.  I strained to hear what was going on, but I couldn’t catch
their voices over the chatter and noise around me.  A few people were shooting
speculative looks their way as they walked by.  I glanced over to see Vanessa
leaning against the wall, twirling her golden hair around her finger.  Ryuu
leaned close to whisper something in her ear and she blushed a pretty pink. 

I gaped at them,
wrenching my gaze away when I almost dropped the necklace.  He was…
flirting
? 
I bent and shoved the spray bottle into my bag, then threw the strap over my
shoulder, unsure what I was supposed to do next.  Ryuu slipped a hand behind his
back and made a shooing gesture.  I didn’t need him to tell me to get lost.  I
spun and made a run for it.  I clutched the necklace desperately.  It seemed
hot all of the sudden, almost scorching my palm while it whispered and
babbled.  I was sure everyone around me could hear all the noise it was making.
 Maybe it really did hate Ryuu.  Just then, I knew how it felt. 

For a minute
there, I thought it would actually work.  I had the exit doors at the end of
the hall in my sight.  I could hear Vanessa yelling, but I ignored it.  Our Lit
teacher’s voice joined hers and I moved faster.

“Kit Callahan!  No
running in the halls!”

For some reason
I looked back at her for half a second.  It was stupid.  Someone stuck out a
foot and I hit the floor.  Hard.  I had to throw my hands out to keep from hitting
my face.  The necklace went flying across the floor and was lost under the
milling feet of the students around me.

“Ow!”  My hands
smarted and I knew my knees would be bruised.  There was a pair of hands under
my arms, urging me up. 

“C’mon.  Just
keep walking!”  Ryuu was there, and he guided me around the corner and down a
less crowded hallway.  “We’ll go out the back so the teachers don’t see.”

“What’s with
her?”  I heard someone whisper loudly.  I caught the word “crazy” muttered in
reply.   

Ryuu’s voice was
calm.  “Good job getting the necklace.”  He slipped his hoodie back on and lost
the smooth act. 

“Whatever.  I botched
it…”  I held up my empty hands.  “And what was that all about anyway?  Were
you… flirting with her?”

He grinned at
me.  “Well,” his cheeks were a little pink, I noticed, and my eyes narrowed. 
“Those girls, the ones that always follow me around…”  I knew what he meant-
the airhead groupies.  “I just thought maybe I could distract her.  That’s
all.”  So he wasn’t completely unaware of how he looked after all.

I rolled my
eyes.  “Well, now what?  We still didn’t get the necklace.  I dropped it when I
fell.”

He shrugged. 
“But I know for sure now- all that negative energy is definitely coming from
that thing.  And you could almost see her disposition improving the minute it
left her.  You know, she might not be a bad person under all that evil energy.”

I shook my
head.  “I don’t know if I’d go
that
far.”  I wasn’t willing to give Vanessa
any credit. 

Ryuu took a
breath to say something, but he never got the words out.  We were so engrossed
in our conversation that we walked right into the principal.  He glowered down
at us and I knew he’d heard about my little debacle.  “It looks like you’ve
gone far enough.”  He said grimly, and I realized he’d overheard my words. 
Crap
.

“Ms. Larsen,” he
said, just a touch too calmly.  “Follow me to my office please.”

He spun on a
heel and marched off.  I gave Ryuu a nervous grin and he shrugged.  “See you
after school.  Maybe.” 

In the end, I
got out of it pretty easy.  The principal couldn’t prove that I’d done anything
more serious than run in the halls.  I told him I’d forgotten all about
Vanessa’s silly necklace, too busy running away from the bullies in the halls to
notice that I’d dropped it somewhere along the way.

His face looked
pained, and I knew he was wondering if I was in danger of going all ranting
loony again, but he didn’t do anything more than warn me to “keep your nose
clean.”  I let his office in relief.  The last thing I needed was for him to
call my dad and get
him
all worried. 

*****

The problem of
how to get the necklace was still on my mind Monday morning when I got to
school.  Ryuu had gone on ahead of me so he could sit in on an early morning
honors class, still trying to get ahead and to prove to Dawn that he could
excel just as well here as in some fancy-schmancy arts school.  I had chosen to
sleep in rather than come and hang out at school and study.  So I ended up
walking to school alone. 

I stuffed my bag
in my locker and got out the stuff for my first class, then stood looking
around.  I thought I saw Ryuu’s dark head once, but he turned a corner and
disappeared.  It was weird that he hadn’t even come to say hello.

After first
hour, I looked for him again, but nothing.  By lunchtime, I got the idea that
he was avoiding me.  I hovered outside the lunchroom trying to catch sight of
him.  He wasn’t at our usual table, so I decided to stay outside the doors and
catch him as he came in.

I had been there
for a few minutes, and I was getting ridiculously anxious when a hand clamped
down on my shoulder and pulled me away from the door.  I turned to Ryuu,
exasperated.  “Where the heck have you been all day?”

He shrugged. 
“Around.”  He tugged me farther down an empty hallway, out of sight of the
cafeteria.  “Look, I have an idea how I can get that necklace.”  His dark eyes
met mine and they looked pained.  “But I’m going to have to pretend I don’t
know you anymore.”

I was confused. 
“What?”

“One of
Vanessa’s friends talked to me this morning in Advanced Algebra.  It seems
like… well, I think Vanessa likes me.  If I can get close to her, then I can convince
her to give up that locket.”

I frowned at
him, remembering the way she had looked at him the last time we’d tried to get
the necklace away from her.  “Can’t we just leave it alone?  I mean, I’m pretty
sure most of her nastiness is just her natural personality.”

Ryuu shook his
head.  “This isn’t funny Kit.  That thing will only get worse the more negative
energy it absorbs.  You saw what happened with Jenny.  What if she really hurts
someone?”  He gave me a scolding look.  “And besides, she’s just as much a
victim here as you were when you opened that book!”

I stuffed my
hands in my pockets and stared at my feet.  “Sure.”

He patted me on
the head.  “It will only be for a little while, I promise.”  Then he turned and
headed to the lunchroom.

I followed
slowly, not happy about eating alone.  I went to our table and took out my
lunch.  I’d brought my biology book, since I hadn’t gotten up early enough to
study this morning.  As I was leafing through it, I watched Ryuu out of the
corner of my eye. 

He had gotten a
lunch and walked right by me as if I didn’t exist.  He went to the fangirl
table, where a couple of girls slid aside to make room for him, all smiles.  I
sighed.  He was going to make friends with the airheads so he could be part of
their crowd.  He was right.  He would have to pretend he didn’t know me if he
wanted to be accepted.  Other than that, I didn’t think he’s have much trouble.

I put my head
down on my arms and stared at my book.  I’d always been an outcast, but at
least I’d had one person that accepted me.  Now I was totally alone.  This was
going to suck.

T
he next couple
of weeks were the most horrible weeks of my life.  I hadn’t realized how much
Ryuu’s presence sheltered me from the other kids.  Apparently, they had been
intimidated enough by the combination of his dark aura and my craziness to just
leave us alone.  Now that he wasn’t constantly with me there was a continuous
stream of pranks.  And knowing that Ryuu was the acid squad’s new pet didn’t help
my temper any. 

I let out an
exasperated sigh as I hurried to my locker.  Some witty person had written he
word
crazy
across a giant maxi pad in red sharpie and stuck it to my
locker.  I peeled it off, wadded it up and threw it at the nearest jock.  It
bounced off the back of his head and he looked around, confused. 

I turned back to
my locker and began putting my stuff away.  As I headed to class, I caught
sight of the acid squad.  There were a few guys walking with them but Ryuu,
with his dark hair and almost feminine good looks, stood out immediately.  I
gritted my teeth as they passed.  He didn’t so much as look my way.  Vanessa
was on one side of him and another cheerleader from my class was on the other. 
One of the girls behind him ruffled his silky hair adoringly and he smiled like
an idiot.

“Jerk,” I
muttered under my breath.  I turned away and hurried to class.  I hadn’t had a
chance to talk to Ryuu much since his transition to the dark side.  We barely
ever saw each other after school because he was always going somewhere to hang
out with one of his new friends.  When I’d asked him how it was going he just
shrugged and mumbled something about football.

I was beginning
to have a nasty suspicion.  What if he wasn’t pretending?  What if Ryuu really
just didn’t want to be seen with me anymore?  I did my best to shake it off. 
There was no way that was true.  But I’d been pretty awful to him when he had
told me he liked me.  Maybe he was mad.

I ate lunch
alone, sat through the rest of my afternoon classes, then schlepped on home…
alone.  When I got home I gave my dad a “hey,” and went to my room and flopped
across my bed.  He poked his head into the room and gave me a worried look. 
“What’s wrong sweetheart?  Are you feeling okay?”

I took a deep
breath and sat up, forcing myself to grab my book bag and pull out a random
textbook.  I was sick of school and studying.  Sick curses and lousy, good for
nothing baseball bats.  Sick of my miserable existence.  I smiled at Dad.  “No,
I’m fine.  Just tired is all.”

“Oh.  That’s good
then.”  But he still looked a little worried.  He had been doing extremely well
for quite a while now- he was sober, and he was almost done with his new
novel.  I didn’t want to make him fall off track because he was worried about
me.  We made quite the pair, I thought dejectedly.

“Really,” I said
grinning.  “I’m fine.”

He nodded, but
didn’t look convinced.  “I haven’t seen Ryuu lately…”  He let the unvoiced
question hang in the air.

I shrugged and
concentrated on my book.  “Oh, yeah.  He’s pretty busy at school.  He’s getting
pretty popular.”

I got out a
highlighter and pretended to be absorbed in my work.  “I’m sure I’ll see him
this weekend.”

Dad left,
looking a little less concerned.  I flopped backward and put my arm over my
face the minute he left.  Maybe I should call Andrea.  Being alone all the time
was making me crazy.  But I didn’t pick up the phone.  Instead, I stared at my
little clock radio from under my arm, wondering if Ryuu was home yet.

I had spiraled
into a funk and I didn’t know what to do with myself.  My mind kept trying to
imagine Ryuu and Vanessa together.  I wished, bitterly, that I could just
forget all about my so-called friend.  I still dreamed of the dragon, and it
just served to remind me that I was missing a little part of myself. 

I don’t know how
long I had been lying there, contemplating the meaning of life, when I heard
soft footsteps coming down the hall.  Why couldn’t my dad just leave me alone? 
I sprung to attention, sitting up and scrambling to catch my textbook as it
threatened to slip off my lap.  I was staring down at the book, trying to look
absorbed when he got to my room.

There was
silence for a minute and I looked up innocently.  Ryuu was leaning against the
doorjamb, watching me with an odd expression.  “Hey.”

I narrowed my
eyes at him.  “Hey.  I’m studying.  Go away before someone sees you.”

He pushed away
from the door and came to sit next to me on the bed.  I stared at the book
furiously.  Ryuu braced an arm on the bed behind me and leaned over to look at
the textbook.  “It’s upside down, you know.”  He reached out and turned the
book around.

Jeez
.  I met his
eyes and saw nothing but twinkling laughter there.  I’d forgotten, in the last
couple of weeks, just how strange it was to look into his eyes.  I wondered if
Vanessa thought so.  My fingers clenched around the hard cover of my textbook,
and I wanted to slap him.

“Did you want
something?  Aren’t your new friends going to be looking for you?”

He sat back and
studied my face for a minute.  Then he burst out laughing, flopping backward,
and covering his face with his arm just as I had a minute before.  “Oh God,
Kit.”

I glared at
him.  “What’s so funny?”

He calmed down a
bit and tilted his head back, wiggling a bit to get comfortable.  Was he going
to take a nap?  “You have no idea how exhausted I am,” he said slowly.  “I
always sleep better when I’m with you.” 

He took a deep
breath.  “I just want to get this whole thing over with so I can go back to
being myself, but Vanessa won’t let that damned necklace out of her sight!”

I was shocked to
hear him swear.  I eased up on the glare.  I hadn’t thought about that.  That
maybe he wasn’t exactly enjoying himself.  “So, is it working at all?  Do you
think you can get the necklace away from her?”

 He pushed himself
up to sit cross-legged with his back against the wall.  “Yes.  Or, at least I
think so.”  He picked at a loose thread on my comforter.  “I asked Vanessa to
go to the hockey game with me.  You know, the fundraiser thing?”

I capped my
marker and shoved all of my school stuff off the bed.  I was sick of it all. 
“What does that have to do with anything?”

He rubbed the
back of his neck and his ears turned pink.  “Well…I was thinking if I can get
her alone… you know, behind the bleachers…then I could get the necklace and we
could destroy it.”

I gaped at him. 
“Behind the bleachers.”  Where people went to make out during football games? 
Gag.
 
It made twisted sense though.  Sure, there were bound to be a lot of people
there during the game- which was something the school board had come up with to
raise money- but back behind the crowd, in the dark, we should be able to get
the necklace without anyone seeing.  And if it happened to
explode
the
crowd noise would probably drown it out.

Ryuu looked like
he wanted to crawl under a rock and die.  I laughed out loud.  He slipped off
the bed and stuffed his hands in his sweatshirt pockets.  “Shut up.” 

Then he turned
and headed toward the door.  “I’ll see you right before halftime under the
farthest set of bleachers.”  He shot a dark glance my way.  “Don’t be late.  And
for the love of the
gods
don’t forget your bat!”  Then he was gone.

I sat on my bed
and laughed until I cried.  Ryuu was taking Vanessa on a date?  And the kid was
going take her behind the bleachers.  “Really risking life and limb, aren’t
you?”  But the fizz of laughter was already dying and somehow it wasn’t funny
anymore.  I just wanted this whole thing to be over so I could have my friend
back.

Now all I had to
do was figure out how to destroy the thing once we got it.

*****

When I went to
bed that night, I had trouble falling asleep.  When I finally did drift off, I
was plagued with visions of Ryuu and Vanessa- flirting, holding hands…kissing.  This
shifted to a dream of myself stuck inside a glass box.  I pounded on the walls
of my prison as I watched Ryuu try to destroy the locket by himself.  A choking
black cloud arose from the necklace and swallowed him up.  I sank to my knees,
my tearstained face pressed against the hazy glass, but the dream shifted
again.

I was standing
in my meadow, surrounded by paper flowers that swayed in the wind.  The breeze
was hot and dry, and I felt like I was baking as I stood there.  The heat rose
up through the hard packed ground into the soles of my feet, and beat down on
me from the bright purple sky.  The dragon was there, and he was laughing,
dancing around like a happy dog at the heels of his master, nipping playfully
at the flowing white clothes of faceless man. 

His long, shiny
black hair danced in the wind, as he came to stand right in front of me.  I
stared up at his silent, shadowed face.  “I can’t,” I told him, as if we were
in the middle of a conversation we’d been having for years. “I just can’t. 
I’ve tried and tried, and
tried.
”

He stared down
at me, not speaking, and I felt like the heat would swallow me up, bake me
until I crumbled to dust and disappeared.  Why was it so hot here?

“What would you
know about it?” I demanded.  “You’re no help at all.”  I threw my hands up,
tears making streaks down my cheeks, feeling cool in all this heat.  “If you
aren’t going to help me, then get out of here!”

The tall man
shifted closer.  His broad shoulders blocked the meadow from my view, and there
was a faint tinkling sound.  “It’s time for you to find your power.”  His voice
was the most beautiful thing I’d ever heard, deep and smooth as black silk.

I swallowed, my
throat dry in the scorching heat.  Couldn’t he feel it?  Didn’t he realize we
were about to be burned alive?  Then he reached out and touched my face.  His
big, cool hands were soothing on my hot, dry skin as they slipped across my
cheeks and cradled my face.

I should have
kept my eyes open.  I would have been able to see his face.  But I was too
absorbed in the feeling of his soft, perfect lips on mine- and of the flames
that sprang to life when our lips met, engulfing us but not burning.  He
stepped back and flames danced around us, casting deep shadows on his face. 

“I’m waiting for
you.”

I woke up before
my alarm went off, and lay staring at the ceiling. 

“Wow…”

Finally, I shook
myself and got out of bed.  My fingers itched to curl around the smooth wood of
my baseball bat.  Something moved inside me.  Time to lay the smack down on
some kami.

*****

I shifted
uncomfortably on my seat, rubbing my hands together for warmth as I gazed out
over the flooded football field.  If I turned my head, I could see Ryuu and
Vanessa a few rows down.  I’d been watching them on and off all night.  It was
enough to make a person sick.  I shifted my piccolo into the pocket of my nasty
band uniform and thanked God that I didn’t play something the size of a tuba. 

I glanced at the
big clock on the other side of the rink and then back at Ryuu.  Vanessa was
wearing a cute pink crochet hat and he was teasing her about it, tugging on it
when she wasn’t paying attention, making her giggle.  I supposed that was an
improvement.  They’d been holding hands since they got here, and the sight had
caused an unpleasant clenching sensation in my stomach. 

The clock ticked
over and I decided it was time to go.  It wouldn’t be long and it would be halftime. 
I stood and hopped bleachers, making my way through the ranks of the band.  I
turned to head for the bathrooms the minute my feet touched the ground.

“Kit!”  I froze,
hunching my shoulders at the sound of the band director’s voice.

“Yeah?”  I tried
not to sound guilty. 

The portly,
bearded man had made his way over to me, his blue eyes suspicious.  “Where are
you going?  It’s almost halftime.”

I gave him a
pained look.  “I’m sorry Mr. Roth.  But I don’t feel good.  I think I’m gonna
puke- too many nachos.”  I gripped my stomach and made a face like I was about
to spew. 

He didn’t look
happy, but he clearly didn’t want me puking right there where we all had to sit
for the rest of the game.  “Okay, okay, go on,” he bustled me away from the
band and I dashed toward the bathroom.

Once I was
inside, I pulled off the stupid uniform and rolled it up.  I had stowed my bat
and a duffle bag in the last stall before the game, and I was pleased to see
that it was still there.  I stuffed my uniform in the bag and took out a windbreaker
to wear over my t-shirt and yoga pants.  I was pretty sure this evening was
going to involve some running, and I didn’t want to be held up by the stiff,
dorky uniform. I would never have participated in marching band, if it wasn’t a
requirement for being in concert band. 

I straightened
and picked up my bat.  I glanced into the smudged, chipped metal “mirror” over
the sink and gave myself a determined look.  Then I rolled my eyes and dashed
out the door.  I was sure Mr. Roth would be waiting for me outside, but I
somehow managed to avoid him.  I was going to be in loads of hot water for
skipping out on my solo but hey, destroying evil is more important than playing
the piccolo.