Quickly scarfing down the food, I ran through memories of the dream from the night before, then looked around for any sign of Suiko.

  “She’s resting,” Ahlaksiz said, noticing my searching eyes. “As she should be, because we’ll need all the power she can muster, shortly. First, what do you say we go see if we can find my dear friends?”

  “Just… let me…” I put the food aside, adjusted myself to not be showing off the bulge to the monkey women as I made my way to the bathroom, and muttered, “One sec.”

  There, I splashed water on my face, used the toilet, and stumbled out to ask about coffee.

  “None here, but we can find some on the way,” Ahlaksiz said.

  Milrae had a change of clothes for me. The pants were a bit tight in the crotch, but I supposed my bulge would’ve made some cowboys envious, and the shirt was a tad tight. The funny part was that I had glanced at the size of the shirt before putting it on, and it said XL. Japanese sizes were a bit off by American standards.

  I stretched out, gave my torso a quick left and right spin to loosen up, and found Basty sleeping by the door. He blinked at me, then went back to sleep as he curled around my neck like a scarf; lastly, I put on a military-green jacket Jalee handed me.

  She gave me the up and down, then nodded. “It’s a good look on you.”

  Even the monkey ladies were smiling, eyeing me—and none of the ladies were shy about noticing the bulge. It was a bit embarrassing, but I ignored the stares, opened the door, and said, “Let’s get to it. I need that coffee.”

  “Americans always do,” Mizuki said, chuckling as she followed first, moving ahead to ensure there was no trouble waiting for us outside. Luckily, we found none.

  Soon we had piled into the car and were leaving Nikko behind, much to my sorrow. I loved the way the morning fog clung to the tops of the hills, and aside from the scary incidents from the day before, would have been glad to spend a few more days enjoying the nature and temples of this place.

  When we found a café and I had a black coffee in my grip, feeling the warmth through the mug and watching the steam rise in the chilly morning air, I found excitement for the day rising through me. As much as lingering to enjoy the temples would have been great, this adventure was what I lived for now. Finding out what Amabie and Yuki were up to, then going in search of Vaper, intrigued me. So many possibilities for the day, so many ways it could go.

  At the moment, though, I simply enjoyed my coffee and the peaceful chatter of the café around me, the ladies getting the rundown from Ahlaksiz, Basty still sleeping, and Suiko storing her energy as she rested within me. Through the window, we had a view of a valley, with several hotels along one side, and a train station not far off. I felt drawn to that station, as if the next train would be one of utmost importance.

  “Interesting,” Ahlaksiz said, and I turned to see her eyeing me, the rest having gone silent, looking between her and me.

  “What is?” I asked.

  “You sense her imminent arrival, don’t you?”

  I frowned, then looked back at the train station. She was right—I did. “Somehow, yes.”

  “Your connection to Suiko, I imagine. The bond that existed between her and me and the others was once unbreakable. Everything breaks, eventually, but it would seem it’s still quite strong.”

  “I’m sorry, but am I the only one who finds this creepy?” Milrae asked.

  Jalee raised a hand, waving it. “Over here. Yes.”

  Kinara pursed her lips in thought but shook her head. “I’ve always had a fascination with the dead. My man being connected or even sort of being possessed by a ghost? Kind of sexy.”

  “You’re so weird,” Jalee said with a laugh.

  A new thought hit me, and I looked at them, not bothering to hide as monsters. The barista eyed us more than once but seemed to be checking me out more than anything else. In fact, of the other few people in the café, when they looked our way it mostly seemed to be at me.

  “They can’t see your true forms?” I asked.

  “You think we can hide an entire temple and ryokan with wards, but not make ourselves fit in?” Mizuki asked with a grin. “It’s one of our specialties, you know, the ability to affect sight.”

  “As well as hearing and speech,” Koharu added, then did the three motions, with hands over her eyes first, then ears, then mouth.

  My eyes went wide with the realization that there was actually some sort of ability or magic associated with that.

  “It’s not only ‘evil,’ that our power applies to,” Mizuki explained.

  I nodded, awed. As long as one of them were with us, we could all share the sort of illusion power that Ahlaksiz often used to conceal her ears and tail.

  “Here I was thinking these people were very accepting,” Milrae said with a laugh.

  “Japanese?” I wondered about that, but decided not to say anything, since I didn’t know one way or the other firsthand. Also, an old man eating a chocolate croissant was giving me an annoyed look.

  Turning back to the train station, about half of which was visible due to trees blocking the other half, I leaned back, sipping my coffee. Something didn’t feel right. It wasn’t the coffee—that was perfection. A gut feeling, my bat sense maybe? I sat up straight, alert, and the others seemed to sense it, too.

  “What?” Kinara asked.

  “I don’t know,” I replied in a whisper. “But I feel… maybe that we’re being watched?”

  “Not surprising.” Ahlaksiz broke off a piece of my biscotti and eyed it before nibbling off some of the chocolate. “When the message mentioned Yuki was coming, I had to wonder if she might be followed.”

  “You think those mercs are here?” I asked, glancing around the café. There had to be at least ten other patrons there enjoying their coffee or breakfasts, and any of them could in theory have been with the mercs out to capture Amabie.

  “Somewhere nearby, yes.”

  “And so what?” Kinara asked. “It’s not like being hunted is outside of my norm, nor yours anymore.”

  I frowned but had to admit she was right. “Okay, but we don’t know their full capabilities yet.” I lowered my voice. “We don’t know exactly what they would do to Amabie if they caught her.”

  “Kill her, undoubtedly,” Ahlaksiz said with a sigh. Eyeing the monkey women, then me again, she said, “Better to speak of it outside. Where there aren’t ears listening to what we say.”

  We all agreed, finishing up our drinks and bringing what leftovers of the food there was. Starting for the train station, we waited until we were at about the halfway point, walking along a sidewalk with trees along the side, a stream running below. The sun had risen above the trees and was warming my back.

  “So?” Jalee asked.

  “I’ve been digging around, made a couple of calls while you all were sleeping,” Ahlaksiz replied. “These mercs, and I suppose Yuki’s husband, Greg, are part of an organization called the Scholars of Togetherness and Progression, or STP.”

  I suddenly had an old Stone Temple Pilots song playing in my head and remembered this crazy girl I’d been in class with back in high school, who’d had an obsession with the band. Different STP, I had to remind myself.

  “Basically, there’s a group of international researchers at its core,” she continued, “finding creatures like us to test, dissect, and repurpose into tech. They would destroy Amabie in hopes of creating a vaccine that could fight most viruses. If you look at it strictly from a human’s point of view, seeing us as animals, it’s not exactly a horrible idea.”

  “It’s fucking vile,” I growled, then looked up, realizing I had stopped in my path. Rage was boiling up in me, the nearest trees starting to writhe with my emotions. My mind was filled with images of each of these monster ladies cut open on lab tables, scientists in lab coats conducting tests on them, and the like. No fucking way. “We have to stop them.”

  “Stop STP?” Kinara asked.

  The monkey women shifted uneasily.

  “We’ve heard of this organization,” Koharu said. “They aren’t… easily stopped.”

  “Don’t we have enough on our plates?” Jalee asked.

  “Of course, you’d say that,” Kinara spat back.

  “What’s that mean?”

  “You wouldn’t understand.” Kinara took my arm, leaning her head on my shoulder. “Ferris is right. Add it to the list, I don’t know. But… STP has to be stopped. Fuck STP.”

  How many times had I heard boys say that when teasing that girl who had loved the band? If I wasn’t so disgusted at the thought of this organization, I might have laughed.

  “Imagine they got ahold of Amabie or, God forbid, any of you,” I said, holding Kinara close, hating to let my imagination go wild in that way. “I couldn’t handle it. Not if there’s a chance we could do something about them.”

  Ahlaksiz looked completely unsure of what to do. “It’s above our—”

  “No,” I stood my ground. “This isn’t something I’m backing down from. We do everything else. We get to the monsterverse and take care of business as planned. It doesn’t have to be today or tomorrow, but what’re we talking about building an army for, if not to stop bullshit like this?”

  Milrae and Jalee were both looking at me with respect and a bit of lust; the monkey ladies looked uncertain; but Ahlaksiz was staring into my eyes, seemingly trying to read how serious I was.

  Finally, she nodded. “It’s on the list. When we’re ready, but not before.”

  “But—”

  “We try to take them down before it’s time, every one of us becomes a fancy spy watch.”

  She had tried to make a joke, but it wasn’t fucking funny. Nostrils flaring, I nodded. “Then let’s get ready faster.”

  “That’s what we’re here for.” She perked up, one of her cougar ears twitching. “And speaking of… It seems our friends are here.”

  The train was incoming.

  “Is there any chance Yuki was playing you?” Mizuki asked.

  “As in, she was in on it too? Part of STP?” I considered it but shook my head. “No way.”

  “Agreed,” Ahlaksiz said, “though I’m glad to hear you say it. I trust her with my life.”

  That was certainly enough for me, and the others seemed content with the answer. As the train was pulling to a stop, we did as well. My senses were going off the charts, and I paused, looking around. Nothing yet, but trouble was without a doubt coming. The doors to the train were open, several Japanese men and women exiting, but nothing like the waves of people that poured out from trains in the anime and movies I watched. This wasn’t Tokyo, after all.

  Among the small crowd was one child. A little boy playing with a super-soldier toy from the Ascension Gate television series—smart boy, good choice… but his presence had me worried. The last thing I wanted was trouble when a child was around. I’d never be able to forgive myself if that kid got hurt, so my alarm-bells were ringing twice as loudly in my head.

  “I’ve got eyes on her,” Ahlaksiz said, and motioned us toward the trees.

  We moved, and I saw her, too, moving briskly through the crowd and toward the back of the station. She was smart—she’d chosen an out-of-the-way spot for us to meet, but still knew to get out of easy viewing. Notably, she didn’t have her child with her. Something brushed against my shoulder and I jumped, only then turning to remember the trees were moving because of me. Focusing my energy on calming them, I did one better, though unintentionally. As the branches stopped moving, they parted to give me a view of another face I recognized. Moving toward us, sprinting all out with a look of desperate determination on his face, was Greg.

  24

  Greg was running right for us, ducking low, head swiveling as if looking for others.

  “We have company,” I said.

  Jalee stepped up next to me. “I can fry him from here.”

  I put a hand on her forearm. “Others might see.”

  “Don’t attack,” Kinara said, clicking her tongue as if in confirmation. “I’m sensing others, but he’s moving on his own.”

  “Intercept him,” Ahlaksiz said, already moving to meet Yuki. “If there’s trouble, we’re going to want to get to her before they do.”

  As she was gone, the two monkey guards with her. My summoned monsters stuck with me, and we moved farther into the trees. I crouched, summoned the hunter sword, and braced myself with a hand up as I hissed, “That’s far enough!”

  Greg came to a skidding stop, met my gaze, and said, “We have to get out of here!”

  He was a mess, black hair disheveled, glasses held together at the corner with what looked like duct tape, and he had several bruises and scrapes.

  “Excuse me?” I was amazed he could even think I would trust him after what had happened last time.

  He wasn’t dissuaded. “I can explain on the way, but they know about the meeting—they’re coming.”

  “You are ‘they,’ and—”

  “No!” He took a step toward us, hands out, but paused when electricity sparked from Jalee’s hands, and Milrae growled. “Listen, the quick version is I never wanted Yuki to get hurt. We have a baby together. I love her—both of them. And… I’m sorry, okay? Shit! I’m sorry, and now they’re coming and don’t care if they hurt her in the process, as long as they get what they want.”

  “He’s not ‘they,’ then?” Kinara asked me, fingers moving nervously, although I couldn’t tell if it was nervousness because of wanting to get out of there or excitement because she wanted to rip him to shreds.

  “I fucked up,” Greg said, adjusting his glasses as sweat made them fall down his nose. “Let me make this right.”

  Warning signs were still going off, my bat sense alerting me to the danger, and a shiver went through Basty. It was decision time, and this was on me. Dammit, Hollywood had made me a believer in love stories long ago, and I couldn’t ignore that ingrained belief in the concept. I nodded, motioning Greg forward, but kept the sword ready.

  “What do we do?”

  He blinked as if totally not expecting me to go along with his plan, then said, “Thank you,” before pointing to his right, then the hill opposite the train station. “As soon as your team has made contact, they’ll move in. Our best hope for escape is—”

  “We have our car,” Jalee pointed out.

  He nodded. “They know and will be covering it. “As I was saying, we need to take out this rear group, then double back around the cabin down this hill. Then maybe we can make it to the car.”

  “There’s a child,” I said, shaking my head. “We can’t go into fight mode until he’s clear.”

  “Awww, that’s sweet,” Kinara said but shrugged. “Kind of stupid to jeopardize all of this on a child, but sweet.”

  “Leave the kid to me,” Jalee said.

  “You’re sure?” I asked.

  She nodded, and was already turning to head that way as she said, “When the area’s clear, I’ll send a signal.”

  “Let me guess, we’ll know it when we see it,” I said with a chuckle.

  Kinara frowned, not getting the cliché, but Greg simply nodded. We didn’t have time to wait, and a glance back toward the station showed no sign of Ahlaksiz, so I imagined she was either with Yuki or about to be. As soon as the two were together, I figured the STP mercs would make their move.

  “That way?” I asked.

  Greg nodded. “We cut them off, give your friends a chance to get out of the way, then press the attack on the other group when the child is clear.”

  “Jalee will come back, hitting them from the other side. I like it.”

  With no more time for discussion, the remaining four of us—plus Basty—broke off in a sprint, prepared for action. But as we approached, I could see the mercs, already in position about to attack, and it looked like neither Yuki nor Ahlaksiz had already seen the ones I had noticed.

  “Distraction,” I told Kinara and knelt, hoping she would catch on. Hands to the ground, I saw her do the same, and grinned. Together, we sent vibrations into the earth. This had its intended consequence in that it caused the random people nearby to run, getting out of the nearby area where trees could fall on them, and caused the mercs to stall, bracing themselves.

  At the same time, I reached into my connection with nature and did my best to call on trees to attack. My power had been strong enough to cause trees to throw me through the air back near the temple, but this was a new level of testing my abilities. I had to focus on creating a connection, like an invisible path, between me and those trees, so that the effect was at first only mildly helpful. Some moved to block the enemy’s path, and one managed to clothesline a guy who tried running in Yuki’s direction. Not perfect, but not bad.

  I couldn’t rely on it, though. With a shout for the others to follow, I charged at the enemy, noting that Greg was with us, following as best he could. Even if I was going along with his plan, I needed to be sure to keep an eye on him. We came in slicing and attacking while they were shooting at us—actually shooting guns.

  That freaked me out, but a combination of Basty and Suiko mentally pulled me through it; we came out near Ahlaksiz as she was telling Yuki to follow her. We joined, all of us retreating into the trees for cover.

  “What’s he doing here?” Yuki shouted, then three mercs were upon us. Instead of getting her answer, we had to fight these bastards off. Milrae and Jalee quickly dealt with the first two, while the third collapsed at a strike from Koharu’s staff.

  A shot sounded from behind and I saw Kinara stumble. I thought she’d been hit, but her eyes were wide my way. I looked down, expecting to see blood. Instead, there was a silvery glow, then Suiko merging with me.

  Don’t worry, her voice said in my mind, I made an illusion of you, slightly off, when I saw the gun being aimed.

  Keep it up, please, I thought in response.