A Dragon's Clutch Read online

  Nodding, Anali placed her hand on her belly. “You want what is best for your daughter, for both your children. And a life that is different holds unique concerns and problems, but it also holds great opportunity. Who knows what amazing things lay ahead for Miu? And while it isn’t the same thing, we do make sure she is studying, and she gets very good grades. We are looking into online colleges, so the kids can continue their studies.”

  Mr. Endo frowned. “But that won’t help Miu create the connections to classmates that will help her find a husband.”

  “Chichi, we can figure it out when I am done,” Miu said. “This is my destiny, one I am honored to follow.”

  He bowed his head and began to eat again.

  I relaxed as the conversation turned to sightseeing and our schedule. Taliesin whispered something to Emiko who covered her mouth as she giggled. Sasha raised an eyebrow. I shrugged. Emiko was lovely and seemed nice. Why shouldn’t Taliesin be interested in her?

  * * *

  “So Hiroshi, you draw manga about our adventures?” I asked as we stood up from the table. Gavin and Anali stayed, talking to Miu’s parents about our plans and the others began planning tomorrows adventures. I wasn’t interested in either discussion.

  “Do you want to see?” he asked.

  “I would love to.”

  I followed Hiroshi to his room, he opened the door and left it open. Like Miu, his room was orderly and uncluttered. I wondered if this is his natural way or was he messy like Miu? Pulling out a thick sketchbook, Hiroshi sat it on his desk and opened it up.

  On the first page I saw the manga versions of me and my friends. My red streaked black hair fanned out around me as if it was alive. My character had the huge manga eyes of pale green with gold flecks, and my body drawn thin and curvy with tiny little feet. “I think this is the most delicate and feminine I’ve ever looked.”

  He laughed. “Is it okay?”

  “It’s great. Everyone looks wonderful.” I turned the page and saw us in wintry London. As I turned the pages my breath caught. Ramsey, it had to be Ramsey. Dark curls, dark eyes, bright smile, and a kilt. He was my first boyfriend, and I had failed him. He was almost killed and need to go to Akasha to heal. The first time I saw him there while dreaming, I had to tell him his brother and other band members had been killed by Cartazonon, the monster I had failed to stop. Ever since then he turns away whenever he sees me. Hiroshi shifted next to me, bringing me back to the present. “These are amazing. You’re very talented.”

  “Thank you very much,” he said bowing his head and shoulders. “I can’t wait to watch you perform so I can draw the acts better.”

  “Oh, are those in here too?” I flipped a few more pages and found a drawing of Taliesin and Sasha wrapped in silks and hanging midair. “These look great to me.” On the next page Kayin held me above his head, his arms extended, our hands clasped while I was in handstand.

  “I watched videos on YouTube to understand what you do better.”

  Smiling, I turned the pages. “Do you have some of our newer adventures?” I flipped to the back of the book, not wanting to see Ramsey again, and came to a different drawing.

  “Wait—I don’t think ...” Hiroshi began, stopping at my gasp.

  A young man in a school uniform lay on a bathroom floor. Blood pooled around his wrists and flowed over the tiles and under the stall doors. The boys’ soul floated midair several feet away. In front of him a bright glowing garden, and behind him the school. Snarling demons loomed over students chained to desks, tears dripping down their faces.

  “Hiroshi?”

  “A boy at school killed himself. He was a senior. I didn’t know him, but apparently he was failing several classes.”

  “And this is how you feel?”

  “No, yes.” He sighed and took the sketch pad from me. “I’m not suicidal, but I imagine this is how he felt.”

  “Oh.” Good, helpful, very supportive. “I’m sorry about your classmate.”

  Hiroshi shrugged. “It happens.”

  “Sapphire, are you ready to go?” Anali called.

  “Coming. I’ll see you tomorrow, right?”

  “Yes, I am looking forward to it.” Hiroshi smiled brightly, his emotions tucked away behind a wall.

  Chapter Three

  Focusing on my form during diamond push-ups, I tried to banish the faint remnants of my dream from my body. I don’t remember much of the dream. It started with the fight in Avalon, Ramsey being stabbed, then the dream switched to the weird Technicolor sky and snakes from the other night. I woke shivering, still remembering the feeling of dry skin sliding over me, and a man saying he could find a way in.

  “Okay, now that we’re warm, let’s do some squats. Grab your weights,” Michael said. His receding brown hair stuck up from his hands running through it, and sweat beaded on his stocky muscular frame. Michael, the ringmaster and manager of Cirque du Feu Magique, traded off with Gavin leading conditioning workouts.

  “An hour of working out is a warm-up?” Taliesin muttered as he grabbed his barbell.

  Sasha shrugged. “It’s not so bad.”

  He had grown up being trained to be a professional ballet dancer in Russia, and I wondered what he had endured. He had yet to complain about any of the work-outs. “I think Michael and Gavin have a bet going to see who can get someone to either pass out or throw-up.”

  “I wouldn’t be surprised,” Kayin said adjusting the barbell over his shoulders. “I think I’ll do Anali’s yoga class until someone wins the bet.”

  We all murmured our agreement. Normally we traded off between weight/cardio conditioning and yoga conditioning. Anali was now the full time yoga teacher, since she was pregnant and couldn’t perform or teach the intense classes right now. Not that her yoga class was easy, but making someone hurl wouldn’t be her goal.

  My thighs began to burn.

  “Only eight more,” Michael called out.

  A collective groan was heard as we finished the set.

  “Let’s take a two-minute break and do plank.”

  I glared at Michael as I lay on my stomach, my forearms on the floor, and my hands clasped.

  “Okay and up.”

  Pushing so my toes and forearms held me up, I stayed as straight as possible.

  “Back up, we have two more sets to do.” Michael placed his own barbell across his shoulders.

  “Do you think Nyota would miss her dad if he vanished?” I whispered.

  “I am willing to help comfort her,” Taliesin said.

  * * *

  The shiny plastic display of crepes seemed to reach out and grab me. I stared at the thin plastic pancakes covered in different combinations of fruits, whipped cream, ice cream, slices of cheesecake, and chocolate or caramel sauce.

  “I need one of these.” I scanned through our group of loud circus performers in sweaty gym clothes. I searched through Mohawks, dreadlocks, tattoos and piercings until I found Miu’s pink streaked black hair. “Miu, can you help me? I want one of these.”

  “Oh,” Sasha said, leaning over my shoulder smelling of clean sweat and his cedar cologne. “Those look yummy.”

  “Miu, will you help me order one too?” asked Taliesin.

  “Is that cheese cake surrounded by whipped cream and fruit? I need that,” said Nyota.

  Soon half our group filled the small crepe shop, the rest had gone ahead to the ryokan.

  Miu stood next to the cash register translating orders and telling us how much yen we owed. The three girls behind the counter had wide eyes, overwhelmed but smiled and worked quickly. Soon our group was back on the streets drawing stares as we walked down with our crepes wrapped into a cone shape. I hummed as I took a bite filled with bananas, whipped cream, vanilla ice cream, and chocolate sauce. We were quiet for several blocks as we ate. Men and women on their way to work stopped and stared at us.

  “Oh, a basketball court,” said Nyota, throwing her wrapper into a trash can. “I wish we had a ball.”

>   “Maybe we can play tomorrow,” Shin said. “We can try and find a ball today.”

  “We could ask those guys if we can join their game.” Sasha pointed to two young men who looked about college age. “Miu, will you ask them if we can join?”

  Sighing, she walked over and started talking, gesturing at us. They talked for a few minutes then Miu waved us over. “Katsu and Sora said yes. Who wants to play?”

  Nyota, Sasha, Taliesin, and Shin, dragging Kayin, rushed over. Several of the other performers followed and soon two teams of five were ready to play, one of the Japanese men on each team.

  “They want to know how we’ll tell the teams apart?” Miu asked.

  “Shirts vs skins,” Shin suggested grinning at Kayin who was on the other team.

  “What about the women?” Miu asked the men’s questions.

  Nyota pulled off her shirt exposing her brown six pack and purple sports bra, and twisted her dark brown dreadlocks into a ponytail, the beads and bells chiming. “I’m good.”

  Katsu blushed but pulled his shirt off, he was lean but muscular. Sasha, Taliesin, and Kayin followed.

  Miu threw the basketball into the air and backed away from the rush of bodies and sat next to me on the bleachers, texting furiously.

  I wanted to go back to the ryokan, shower and do some work before I had to join the others for our day in Tokyo, but I wasn’t supposed to go off on my own. “Everything okay?”

  “Yes, I was supposed to meet Emiko at my house in a bit, but I’ll have her come here. She might enjoy the view.” Miu winked at me.

  I looked over the two teams. Oh yeah, the view was very nice. Of course I was immune to beautiful, buff bodies, being around them all the time and pressed against them for performances, but I still admired their beauty. A group of girls covered their mouths as they giggled and sat at the end of the bleachers.

  Nyota ran down the court and stole the ball from one of the acrobats heading to her hoop. Sora slipped in behind her and stole the ball back. He was shorter than she was and fast. He passed the ball to Sasha, who was taller and open. Sasha made a basket.

  Miu and I clapped, as did the girls watching.

  “I rushed right over,” said Emiko. “What is so exciting? Oh, oh my, well.” Her hands fluttered between hiding her smile and covering her red cheeks.

  Taliesin jogged over to get a drink, his snow white skin covering well defined hard muscle. “Hey Emiko, how are you?”

  Her thin dark eyes widened and focused on his abs. “Oh …um …hi?”

  “Taliesin, get back here,” Shin yelled.

  Emiko groaned. “I’m so embarrassed.”

  “Don’t worry,” I said. “You’ll get used to them.”

  “I don’t think so. They are so big and their muscles, and Taliesin’s coloring. The white hair and skin and blue eyes he looks like an anime character.” Emiko sighed and clapped when Taliesin caught a pass from Shin and headed to the hoop.

  I took some pictures of the game and posted them on Facebook. Taliesin’s mom Cordelia had posted new pictures from Shante’s ballet recital. I commented dutifully on each one. The next photo was one of Cordelia, Taliesin and Shante sitting between them, taken at Christmas. Taliesin looked like an ice prince next to Cordelia’s light tan and honey blond hair and Shante rich brown corkscrew curls, eyes, and skin. When I left the group home in San Francisco, the only person I regretted leaving was Shante. Gavin arranged for Cordelia to become her mentor, and then she adopted her. It was the group home fairy tale dream come true.

  The crowd around me cheered. Crowd? Where had they come from? And how had they sneaked up on me. The girls giggled and cheered. They spoke in soft high pitched tones, and would blush and look away every few minutes after watching the game. The girls were slender, smooth, and acted dainty. Turning my arm, I watched the muscles shift. I felt bulky next to them.

  I started playing with my bracelet, the crystal bead glowing a lusty dark red and flecked with mustard yellow for envy, and gray-green for jealousy. Despite the bracelet picking up on these emotions, not much was hitting my empathic shields. Every once in a while, a wave of lust would swirl around me or a sharp needle of envy would hit my shield but I couldn’t even feel the jealousy. I lowered my empathic shields slightly. The emotions the crowd felt were in tightly contained pockets. Each person felt like they had their own bubble around them keeping the emotions to themselves. Inside the bubbles emotions swirled, intense but contained. Until they talked or something happened on the court to increase their feelings, then some emotion would leak out for a moment.

  I focused back on the game when someone pulled my braid. I pulled it in front of me as I turned.

  The man muttered something in Japanese, bowing his head. Pride emanated from him. I shivered, he didn’t feel safe. It wasn’t the oily sickening feeling of a walk-in or Son of Belial, but something wasn’t right. My bracelet glowed, gray-brown streaked through the crystal bead, making it look like smoky quartz. What did that mean? I watched him as he walked away. He didn’t turn around. Maybe it was an accident.

  The girls around me squealed. Turning back to the game I saw Sora falling, the ball in his hands. Two of the acrobats caught him and set him on the ground.

  “Oh, is that how it’s going to be,” Shin shouted, an evil grin spreading across his face. His arms wrapped around Kayin’s torso. He kissed his bare shoulder, in what was clearly a foul.

  The simple basketball game turned into a mix of Harlem Globetrotters, acrobats, and daredevil stunts.

  “Michael will be pissed if someone gets hurt,” Miu said, watching the game through her fingers.

  “Pretty much. Think we should leave so we can’t get in trouble for not stopping it?” I asked.

  Emiko squealed and grabbed Miu’s arm as Taliesin was tossed into the air.

  “I would but I’m thinking I should stay.”

  “Good luck,” I said. Gavin waved at me from the end of the bleachers. Why was he here? “I’ll see you later.”

  “I’ll text you when we’re on our way,” Miu said.

  “’Bye Sapphire, see you later.” Emiko smiled at me.

  I waved and wound my way through the crowed.

  “What are you doing here?” I asked Gavin and Anali.

  “We’re on our way to the gym to teach classes,” Anali said. “How was your workout?”

  I nodded. “Good, although we’re all pretty sure Gavin and Michael have a bet seeing who can make one of us throw-up.”

  Gavin blushed. “Of course not, that would be wrong.”

  “Really, Gavin,” Anali huffed.

  “Can I head back to the ryokan? The first group should be done in the bath and this group will be a while yet.”

  “Are you sure you should go by yourself?” Gavin asked.

  “It’s only a few blocks away.” I waved my hand towards everyone enjoying the game. “They’re having fun. I’ll be fine, and I’ll text you when I get there.”

  “Okay, and have fun this afternoon,” Gavin said.

  “What are you two up to?” I asked.

  Anali rubbed her baby bump. “We have a doctor's appointment. We’ll see you for dinner before the show?”

  “See you then.” I watched them walk for a bit before heading back to the hotel. Anali had been very sick at the beginning of her pregnancy, and due to a miscarriage of their first baby they weren’t taking any chances. Within a few days of settling into a new city they went to a midwife or doctor for a checkup and to have someone to call in case of an emergency. At this point I think they’ve been told that Anali and the baby are fine in five different countries.

  Opening my empathy, I walked along the clean streets of Tokyo. I didn’t feel any evil presence, nor did I feel the emotions of anyone over the age of nine. They walked around in their own little protective bubbles. The young children were bright joyous explosions of happiness. The older kids were a mix of happiness, since school was out, and attempts at creating a controlled barrier fuel
ed by duty, honor, and resentment.

  No shadows from the past lingered here. Only a faint hum of emotions hovered. The wood and shoji didn’t hold emotions the way stone did, plus the cleansing rituals of the Shinto religion released anything strong that would have been trapped. A monk in a black robe with a saffron wrap and rice straw hat came towards me, his steps slow and intentional. He held a gray metal bell in one hand and shiny black bowl in the palm of his other. Nothing emanated from him. No, not nothing, not like Mr. Monroe from London who had been completely blocked from me. No, the monk felt more clear, non-emotional. Maybe this was what being in “the now” felt like? He rang a bell every step, not hurried but slow as if each gesture and movement held purpose. The clear ring of the metal bell broke the thin hum of emotions sending them away.

  Was it the bell or the monk that cleansed the emotions away? Digging in my bag, I pulled out my wallet and grabbed several bills, placing them into his bowl. A soft wave of gratitude came from the monk as he bowed his head slightly and kept walking. When we went to visit the temples I’d have to look for a bell and see if I could make it work for me.

  * * *

  “I can’t believe you hurt yourself,” Taliesin said, glaring at Sasha’s wrapped wrist. The train door hissed open and we got on.

  Sasha rolled his eyes. “You’ll only have to perform without me once. If I hadn’t hurt myself in-front of the others, it wouldn’t have mattered at all.”

  “You almost broke it,” Miu said, leaving the conversation with Emiko and two other girls for a moment. “Even with my help you need to let it rest for a day or two.”

  “Michael said three days,” Kayin said.

  Shin clapped him on the shoulder. “Man that sucks, you’ll miss the first performance, but that shot was sweet.”

  Grinning Sasha puffed up a little. “Our team did win because of me.”

  I tuned out the guys as they relived the glorious basketball game. Miu and her friends spoke in Japanese and as Miu and Emiko were Children of Fire they were the only two I understood. I watched Tokyo go by as we rode to Mandarake so the boys could get their manga fix. We passed by old neighborhoods with gardens and tiled roofs next to modern glass and steel buildings with bright billboards. It was a dynamic mix of history and the future.