Jalee moved fast, causing the guy to explode in a burst of lightning. Disgusting, really. More appeared, but when she blasted again, they lifted their arms with some sort of metal, and at once there was an energy shield protecting them. One stepped forward with a gun that sent out beams of light that twisted and broke off, coming at us. We only escaped by Suiko using her energy to knock us back and out of the way.

  While we’d had a plan of attack, plans can change. If we didn’t take drastic action, we were going to be in serious trouble. Ahlaksiz knelt, hands together, and said, “Monkey guards, get ready!”

  “Shit, here?” I asked, realizing what she was doing.

  “It’s not like STP doesn’t know where we are,” she countered, and the eye flashed. Koharu and Mizuki converged on her, taking standing tree poses while chanting, and I knew it was up to the rest of us to keep the three guarded. I pulled deep on my powers, alert to their locations, shadow movements, and with sword ready. The monster ladies prepared at my side, all of us ready to operate as a team.

  A glance over showed Ahlaksiz wavering, while what looked like her own shadow rose at her side, reaching for her.

  “Hurry!” I shouted. She bowed her head, tilting it slightly as if having heard me, and the glow flared as if she was in the sun itself before vanishing.

  “I’ve got a direction, though not a precise location,” Ahlaksiz said. “And there’s no reason to stick around here. We needed to clear the path of these STP jerks.

  There in the shade of those trees, I felt Suiko calling to me, telling me she was ready. I wasn’t sure why she needed my permission, then felt a pull on my energy. Daylight, I realized. She could probably operate, but to do whatever she planned during the day, she would need help.

  “Do what you gotta do,” I muttered, and gave myself over to her. The effect was more than I could have dreamed of. She suddenly burst out like a wave of blue, ghostly energy that flowed toward the STP mercs. They shouted, then their shouts became screams as she rose, forming a ghost straight out of the Japanese horror movies.

  Hands out and claws visible, dark hair shooting out in all directions, I couldn’t see the front of her from my position, but imagined the image was something like a large mouth and dark eyes, the light that burst out from behind her providing a large silhouette. Some of the STP mercs had taken off running, others shooting right through her, and at least one of them fainted.

  This was our opening, so I spun to ensure the others were nearby. Only Milrae was right there with us, but I spotted her a few paces back, sword slicing through what looked like a weapon of some sort that the enemy had dropped. Maybe a robotic enemy? Either way, I charged over, saying, “Let’s move,” then turned and mentally called for Suiko to return. To my relief, she did, zipping over to me and vanishing as a ball of light into my chest.

  We started down the hill, but Ahlaksiz caught up with me, pointing to a plateau. “Meet me there!”

  “What? Where are you going?”

  “Jalee and I will break for the car. We’re going to need it, after all. And call the damn drones, will you?”

  I hadn’t wanted to open that can of worms, but she had a point. The chaos going on here was already enough that some bullets weren’t going to change that. STP had definitely started it, so it was okay if we finished it.

  With a nod, they were off. My group kept descending the hill, but a glance back showed why it was important for Jalee to go. She flew up ahead just above tree level, shooting out lightning to keep the enemy back, while Ahlaksiz ran below.

  Shots came from our left, but I had the drone and sent it up the hill to return fire under cover of the trees, so it looked like we were attacking from there. I sent another drone aroundto confuse them.

  It was enough to give us a path to the plateau. Once we reached it, though, Yuki turned on Greg with fury in her eyes.

  “Dear, I’m so sorry,” he started, trying to get ahead of the attack he knew was coming. “Please, I need—”

  “Why should I trust you?” Yuki shouted, shoving him back. As she did, that mouth at the back of her head appeared, her long hair extending, rising as if to grab him.

  “I’m here,” he said. “I’ve abandoned them, given it all up to help you. Even if you can’t forgive me, at least let me do my part to get you and your friends out of here.”

  She hesitated, glanced at the sound of fighting up the hill, presumably where Ahlaksiz was, then nodded.

  “For now,” she said. “Get us out of here, and then we’ll talk.”

  “I don’t think you need me,” he replied.

  I turned to see the way he pointed, grinning at the sight of our car coming in fast. It skidded sideways, door opening, and Ahlaksiz waved us over as she shouted, “Get in!”

  We charged. I stopped at the door to turn and keep watch, bringing my drones back for cover fire, but as I reached out for them mentally, a stinging pain hit my side. One of the drones appeared, the other exploding amid the trees, catching fire. Shit, that had me worried. At least a glance down showed that the pain had only been related to a mental connection with the drone—nothing physical.

  The others were in, all but Kinara and me. Since there was no room, I had to take her on my lap—not that I had any complaints about that. There wouldn’t have been space otherwise, even though this was such a large vehicle.

  We escaped with my one remaining drone intact, connected back to the car and ready to shoot at any pursuers. Thanks to our cloaking, and the warding ability from the monkey women, though, the mercs weren’t able to follow.

  At least, I thought that was the reason. When I turned back to see Greg clinging to Yuki, a metallic sphere in his hand with crackling electricity moving along its center, I had an idea my thinking was wrong.

  “What’s that?” I asked.

  “Stolen tech,” he replied. “When I found out what was happening, or rather, when I realized what I had to do, I took this. It acts as a sort of EMP, but cuts out search signals. Useful for when the other side, or, I should say our side, now that I’m with you, is in pursuit of them.”

  “And now it ensures they can’t spot us, as long as we’re cloaked?”

  He nodded.

  “Genius.”

  “This still doesn’t let you off the hook,” Yuki told him. “You have years of lying, betrayal… all of that to make up for.”

  I noticed, though, even as she said the words, she was clinging to him like she would never again let go. He clearly had noticed as well, because he offered me a brief smile, then kissed her forehead.

  “I may not be able to make up for it, but I’ll do everything I can to try,” he whispered into her ear, though it was quiet enough in the car that we all heard.

  As much space as there was in this metal machine, we were damned cramped. Kinara curled up to me on my lap, nuzzled my neck, and said, “That was a close one.”

  “And Amabie?” I asked.

  “She planned on meeting us nearby,” Yuki said, worry heavy in her voice.

  “That wouldn’t be smart,” Ahlaksiz countered.

  “Agreed. Do we know where we’re going?”

  Ahlaksiz nodded but glanced back at Greg. “You might be with us again, and you helped, but… I’m keeping my eyes on you.”

  “Understood.”

  “I won’t say where we’re going, but I know a spot near there where we can try to call upon Amabie.”

  Yuki looked worried, nervous, and betrayed, but she nodded and said, “That will do.”

  25

  After explaining that she had gone to Chiba first to leave the baby with her parents, Yuki went on to tell us how she had gone to find Amabie, explaining her plan, then coming to meet us. I’d seen the glowing light at the bottom of the hot spring where I’d met Amabie, so understood when they mentioned her being able to meet us via portal, as long as it was via a body of water.

  “Bathtubs don’t work,” Ahlaksiz explained, at a curious look from me. “Neither would any man-made onsen that doesn’t connect to the ground and nature in some sort.”

  “And your connection allows you to summon her?”

  Ahlaksiz held up a hand to compose herself, then laughed as she said, “One doesn’t summon Amabie. You call out to her, see if she chooses to hear and respond. My connection allows that, but nothing more.”

  “And why do we need her?” Milrae asked, already cramped—especially with her skeletal wings.

  “I don’t suppose we one hundred percent do, but she’s powerful. It would be good to have her on our side.”

  “And an old friend,” Yuki interjected.

  “Wouldn’t you be worried about the STP coming after her?” Greg asked. “I mean, if she’s with you, that makes you a target.”

  “True…” Ahlaksiz admitted.

  This time it was my turn to say why we’d want her. “What better way to lure them into a trap than with some bait?”

  Silence followed.

  “Sorry, did you just refer to Amabie as bait?” Yuki asked. “You can’t begin to imagine how offensive that would be to her.”

  Dammit, right. The fish thing. I bit my lip, then tried to course-correct. “All I mean is if she’s their target and with us, we won’t have a hard time luring them our way. If we wanted to set a trap.”

  “I’m sorry,” Greg interjected, “a trap for the STP? You want to try and attack STP?!”

  “Of course.”

  Yuki guffawed. “Impossible. It’s a multi-governmental organization, one with reaches—”

  “I don’t care.” Turning to look out the window, I smiled at the sight of Tokyo Tower in the distance, over a sprawling city of almost all cement—very few trees to be seen.

  In the other direction was Mt. Fuji. It was glorious, though lacking the snow at the top that pictures often showed. This time of year, I supposed that made sense.

  “What does he mean?” Greg asked. “Can someone explain how he can not care? This is like saying ‘I want to destroy the U.S. Marines,’ only less… unethical. Depending on whose shoes you’re wearing.”

  “I’ll explain it myself,” I said, not taking my eyes off Mt. Fuji. “They want to hurt people—or I should say, monsters—I care about. Therefore, they need to be stopped. It’s inhuman. And while they might be similar to the Marines en force, I’d say that ‘unethical part’ about it is the big differentiating factor. Maybe I’m not ready yet, and I don’t mean we fight them tomorrow or the next day. But when we’re ready, and hopefully we’ll be ready sooner rather than later. The thought of them turning more of our potential friends and allies into the likes of that thing,” I turned back, nodding at the EMP-like device, which he still held onto in his left hand, “while we do nothing… makes me sick.”

  “Me two,” Kinara said.

  “Me three, Jalee chimed in.

  “Well then, we have our answer.” Milrae leaned forward, putting a hand on my shoulder. “We need her, to put a stop to the very people trying to hunt her down.”

  “And anything else that happens along the way,” Ahlaksiz said.

  “Sure.”

  I gave her hand a gentle squeeze, then leaned forward to see that we’d already left our view of Tokyo far behind, moving fast and coming up on a lake not so far from Mt. Fuji. This close, Mt. Fuji was even more beautiful, but so were the lakes surrounding it.

  “Kawaguchiko,” Yuki explained.

  “We could spend a week just relaxing here, if we had the time,” Ahlaksiz said. “I… had a wonderful time doing just that, long ago. Before the days of the Shinkansen. Things have changed.”

  “And we have a little one who wouldn’t appreciate us being gone so long,” Yuki reminded us.

  Greg stifled a sob, and I glanced back to see him wiping his eye.

  “You okay?” I asked, and Yuki was leaning back, staring at him with concern.

  “I will be,” he replied. “Just the thought of our little one ever thinking of me as someone who betrayed her mother… it makes me sick. Fuck, I’m so messed up.”

  “Please don’t tell me this was all a trick and really you’ve led the other STP jackasses after us,” I said. “While that would be a twist, I’d have to call cliché on you. And punch you in the throat.”

  He shook his head. “No, no. I was one hundred percent serious in my apology, and in my decision to abandon them for love.”

  “Gregory Soto,” Yuki said, and pulled him in for a quick kiss on the lips. “You tell our children whatever you need to, or don’t. I’m not going to be the one to say anything.”

  “Children?” he asked, confused.

  She put a hand on her belly, smiled, then burst out laughing. “You thought I was going to say I’m pregnant? No way! But after we work this out, have some long talks over wine, and maybe after you’ve bought me some nice jewelry for my birthday—even if it is a made-up date—I’d like to have at least one more. Maybe two.”

  He beamed, hugged her close, and said, “Perfect! But I’m exhausted. Honestly, I would have been fucking terrified if you’d said you were pregnant again so soon after having our first.”

  “Me, too.”

  The rest of us all shared looks of amusement as we lowered the car down to a spot behind a row of buildings that lined the lake. Once we had settled, all of us piled out and stretched. I looked back the way we’d come, shaking my head at the close call and at all the insane bullshit we’d gone through. In a way it had been terrifying, but now? Having survived it all, I felt liberated. More alive than ever.

  “I believe I can help here,” a voice said, and a ball of glowing light appeared near my chest.

  “Suiko?” I asked. I’d nearly forgotten she was there with us, and hearing her speak up again was a tad spooky.

  “Yes. I sense Amabie, actually. There should be no need to call and wait—I believe she anticipated your move. Follow me, and I can guide you to her.”

  “Well, there you go,” Ahlaksiz said, shrugging and gesturing for us to follow the ball of light that was Suiko. We walked along a path with the lake to our left, trees to our right. Yuki and Greg were speaking, at times heated, others not. I could hear a few words, including a couple of curses in Japanese, but overall, they seemed to be on the verge of making up.

  A sign indicated a temple was on the hill among the trees, and curiosity pulled me that way, but of course, we didn’t have time at the moment. Continuing our walk around a bend to the left, then past that, we came out to a spot where a red torii gate stood in the water. The light that was Suiko led out to it.

  “She wants me to swim?” I asked.

  “I wouldn’t want to either,” Jalee said, commiserating with me.

  “Actually, the water looks fairly shallow,” Kinara said, squatting next to the side and looking out over the lake.

  I frowned, about to protest again, when Suiko appeared next to me in her womanly form, gesturing out to the water.

  “Go to her. Alone.”

  “But—” Yuki protested.

  “It’s fine,” Suiko interrupted and gestured again. “For now. Afterward, you can speak with her.”

  I rolled up my pants and removed my shoes and socks, then stepped into the water. As expected, it was fucking cold. It took all I had not to yelp or run back out of there and abandon the mission. Instead, I pushed on, glad to find that indeed, the water out to the gate was shallow. The bottom of my pant legs got wet, but not too much.

  Once I was halfway there, I paused, looking around, and the scene caught my breath. It was like I was walking on water, there with the reflection of trees and mountains. Or rather, in a way, with the sky and scattered clouds reflected, it looked like I was walking on the sky. This was a part of the world, and an experience, that I never would have been exposed to had I stayed home. When Kinara had appeared in my closet, I could have run. I could have screamed and tried to—I don’t know—kick her out. That might have resulted in my death, knowing her. But I hadn’t. And because I’d gone along with it, I was there in Japan, loving life.

  A flash of color in the water caught my attention. She was there. Appearing first as a shimmer of white, then rising toward the surface so the sunlight shone on her and reflected orange and pink. When the form moved around me, her three tails confirmed this to be Amabie.

  Her face emerged from the water and she eyed me, then glanced back at the shore, where the others waited.

  “Why did they send you alone?” she asked.

  “It was Suiko’s idea.”

  “I see. Then it was the right one, though still curious.” Amabie circled me, a slight smile on her beak.

  “What?” I asked when it became awkward.

  “Clothes… so awkward, wouldn’t you say?”

  I blushed, remembering how I’d been nude at our last meeting. Considering that she was nude, but that came more naturally to her than clothes, I felt out of place. Still, I wasn’t about to strip right there.

  “Will you help?” I asked, looking to change the subject.

  She didn’t answer right away but pushed herself up, two of her tails transforming to legs, as before.

  “Do you find me attractive?” She stepped close to me, and it was all I could do to stare into her eyes instead of letting my own wander down.

  “You are beautiful.”

  “I didn’t ask that. I asked if you find me attractive. There’s only one reason I can think of that Suiko would send you here alone, and that is that she hopes you can earn a kiss from me.”

  “A… kiss?”

  “Of protection. One kiss from me, and you won’t have to worry about many ailments that afflict the human world. So, Ferris, what is it? Do you find me attractive? Do you want said kiss?”

  I gulped. She was fucking stunning. Some normal people might have been turned off by the fishtail or scales, but I was far from normal. The only thing that confused me was how one would kiss a beak. Still, I would try.

  “Yes, and yes.”

  “Well then…” She stepped closer still, eyes narrowing. “You shall have it. But don’t for a second think this entitles you to anything more. I give you this kiss, perhaps I check in on you all from time to time, but I am not yours.”