“I would never—”

  “Maybe not, but many men would. Now, let me touch you.”

  That caught me by surprise and I blinked, then gulped.

  She laughed. “Not like that. For the purpose of our kiss, I… I’d better do it—easier than explaining, after all.”

  Reaching up with her right hand, she ran her fingers over my face, focusing on the area around the nose and mouth. As she did so, her left hand rose to her own face, and as she ran it along her beak, it pulled away like a mask. Underneath was a woman with full lips and an elegant nose.

  “It has been too long since I’ve done that,” she said, voice coming out smoother, almost melodic. “Though, in truth, I prefer my natural form. The lips do make my kiss more accessible.”

  The implication, I imagined, was that having a beak helped protect her from unwanted kisses, which perhaps had been an issue at some point considering how valuable a kiss from her seemed to be.

  Her eyebrow raised. “Do you like this form?”

  I nodded.

  “Well, then…”

  She didn’t have to spell it out for me. Without another second’s hesitation, I moved in, hands on her waist—slick, wet—and lips going to meet hers. It was a simple kiss, her lips parting slightly to pass on a bit of her protective saliva, but no passionate tongue dance.

  Then it was over; she returned her mask to her face, where it became one with her again, and she had her beak. She eyed me with satisfaction, then said, “Tell them I cannot join at the moment, but that I passed on more than my healing powers to you just now. When you need me, be in contact with any body of water and speak my name. Unless I am otherwise engaged, I will come.”

  I opened my mouth to respond but felt a warm, tingling sensation run through my body. As it passed, my muscles and every part of me felt alive, healthier than I had ever remembered feeling.

  “Wow…” I muttered, but as she turned to go, I blurted out, “What will you be doing?”

  She hesitated, then said, “As much as the STP group wants to take me and use my powers as they will, I still have a soft spot for humanity. There is an outbreak in eastern Brazil, and I am going to do my part to help it come to an end soon. As much good as I can do, I will try.”

  I nodded, overwhelmed with the thought of her going off to help those people. Her mission, it seemed to me, was much more important than my own. Then again, it was tied to it in a way, wasn’t it? We had work to do in the monsterverse, and that would help us take down STP. As they wanted to harm her, in a way our mission was tied to hers.

  “Thank you,” I said, and she blew me a kiss before disappearing back into the water.

  I watched her go until the last shimmer of light reflected from her, then I turned and made my way back to shore.

  “She’s not coming?” Kinara asked.

  “Not for now,” I replied, then conveyed what had happened.

  “That is well,” Ahlaksiz said, eyeing me with pride.

  Suiko appeared as a translucent apparition at my side and nodded. “As much as Amabie can ever be, she is on our side. This moment is one to celebrate. My recommendation is to celebrate by quickly moving on with the task at hand. Which would be, I assume… to check with the Eye of Ra, and further narrow down where we are going.”

  Ahlaksiz looked nervous, but said, “Agreed.”

  “I must say, though,” Yuki cut in, eyeing Greg with concern, “I think it best we returned to Chiba, for now. While we would so like to join you, this isn’t the time. We’re parents, and needed.”

  “Wait,” I said… why’d you come?”

  She chuckled. “I had the message and thought I’d be able to join in some kind of fight. That, and I needed to see where this was going. But now that Greg’s back…”

  “Much healing is needed, and I’ll do my part,” Greg said. Then, eyeing us, he handed over the spherical device that he’d used to protect himself, before. “Please, take it. It won’t help us.”

  “How will you get back?” I asked, accepting the item but uncertain this was the best move. They were right, though—the baby needed them.

  “There is a bus that can take us to a train station,” Yuki replied. “I’ve been here before, several times.”

  “We climbed Mt. Fuji together,” Greg beamed. “It was a real pain, but… worth it.”

  “My fiftieth time,” Yuki admitted with a shrug. “Though I didn’t tell him that.”

  He looked appalled, but then shrugged. “My secrets were worse.”

  She didn’t argue that, and we all bowed and hugged, then saw them on their way. As they started off, however, Yuki turned back to Ahlaksiz.

  “You know where to find me?” Yuki asked.

  “Same as in 1869?” Ahlaksiz asked.

  “The house was burned down, but we rebuilt. Same lot, yes.”

  “If my memory serves me, then yes.”

  They waved, and the reunited couple continued, soon walking out of sight. The rest of us turned to Ahlaksiz, waiting for her to be ready. Using the eye had taken its toll on her last time, so none of us wanted to rush it.

  “Ready?” Ahlaksiz said, and the two monkey guards stepped close to her, taking up positions for a second use of the Eye of Ra. I braced myself, really wishing we didn’t have to do it. But using the strange device Greg had brought, and with their powers, I knew nothing bad would come our way.

  Shadow engulfed Ahlaksiz as she called upon the power of the eye, but she fought it off. The eye gave her the answer.

  “Close… it’s… Aokigahara,” Ahlaksiz said. “We’ll find him in the Sea of Trees…”

  “Suicide Forest?” I shuddered.

  “Why do they call it that?” Milrae asked.

  “For the large number of suicides committed in those woods,” Ahlaksiz explained. “A fact that has always been the case.”

  “There are many yurei there,” Suiko explained. “Ghosts of the dead. We must enter with caution,” she glanced at me, but more specifically at my scarf that was Basty, and added, “though I dare say we have a bit of an advantage.”

  I put my hand on Basty, petting him as a surge of warmth passed through my body. It was a welcome sensation, fighting off the worry I felt at the idea of walking into a forest full of ghosts.

  If this was what had to be done, though, I wasn’t about to back down and refused to show my fear.

  “What are we waiting for?” I asked, standing tall, and led the way back to the car. It came as a relief when the monster ladies caught up; Jalee took one arm and Kinara the other, while Milrae lingered with Ahlaksiz to ask questions about Mt. Fuji and this Sea of Trees. Suiko returned to the ball of light that absorbed into my chest—as unnerving as that still was to me—while the monkey women continued their guard duty, even more alert now that the Eye of Ra had been used.

  To our relief, Suiko’s protective ability shielded us during its use, and no attack came. No shadow passed over Ahlaksiz from the use of the eye, though she did wince slightly. Apparently, she was becoming much more adept at its use. Was that a good thing? Before long, we were in the car on our way to the suicide forest.

  So far, we were safe. Once we entered the forest, however, all bets were off.

  26

  Have you ever dreamed of going somewhere, even staring at pictures of the place, and visiting it in virtual reality or 360 videos? That was me for a while with Mt. Fuji, and suddenly it had become real. Unlike the way your imagination of that first kiss or first lay rarely lives up to the expectation—my first lay far surpassed it, but as you know, in an odd way—this dream held no comparison to the reality. I stood there after exiting the car at the edge of the forest, staring up at the great Fuji-san, totally enraptured.

  Its spell had me.

  Up close, Mt. Fuji might have only seemed to be another mountain to many, but for me, it felt magical—as if it was watching me while I watched it. So much anime, imagery of Japan, and anything related to Japan had references to this mountain, and in a way, it didn’t truly hit me that I was in Japan until that moment. I’ve actually fucking made it, I thought. Under completely different circumstances than I had envisioned, but wasn’t that how it always went in life? This mountain had presided over so much, watching Japan transform over the years. Ahlaksiz and Suiko had seen much of it too, but if Mt. Fuji could speak… wow. The thought made me eye Ahlaksiz, and I made a note to ask her more about this.

  It was only after we started walking and the nearby trees blocked out my view of the mountaintop that I started to wonder if, perhaps, the mountain truly was magical. We’d been led to this spot, after all, by the Eye of Ra. Had the man known as Vaper come here for some magical connection?

  Ahlaksiz had me bring my satchel, complete with Iridant and the half of the sun disk, while my Alexandrite protected me from its spot on my wrist device. We entered the forest through one of the marked paths, following it past thin, scattered trees. Soon, however, following the direction the eye was supposedly taking us, the trees grew denser, their foliage blocking out the sky.

  “This isn’t normal,” Suiko said, and I startled at her voice, then again to see her floating alongside me. Her form was quite clear in this relative darkness.

  “What’s not?” I asked.

  “It’s not supposed to be night, yet, and from what I remember of this forest, the foliage rarely grows this dense.” She floated ahead, exchanging quick words with Ahlaksiz while I shared a confused look with Kinara.

  “Shadows are strong here,” Mizuki said.

  Koharu grunted, jaw clenched. She appeared to be deeply focused, and I realized she was in the process of keeping the wards in play, those that would help keep the use of the Eye of Ra hidden from STP. Suiko’s presence would help, too. I was glad for what they were doing—having to take on more of those mercs, especially while walking through this spooky forest Blair Witch style, would have been more than a pain.

  “Basty, you’re alert?” I asked, and gave him a gentle nudge. He radiated warmth in response, moving to nuzzle my hand.

  His warmth gave me comfort. Good timing, too. I froze in place at the sight of a spot to our left where the ground gave out to an open, pitch-black area. Maybe it had been a spot where a tree had once been and fallen over, or some sort of sinkhole? I had no clue, but what I was sure of was the sensation of being watched from within.

  A voice sounded from inside, like a loud whisper, one that carried on the wind and moved about me. It was tempting, luring me in, and I even took a step toward that opening before stopping myself.

  A hand found my upper arm, and I broke out of it, turning to see Koharu beside me. She offered a comforting smile, then gestured with her staff for me to keep walking away from that opening.

  “Thank you,” I told her, seeing the others looking at me with worry.

  “Are you doing okay?” Jalee asked.

  “I’ll be fine,” I assured them, walking past them and to Ahlaksiz, who glanced at me with her one normal eye and the Eye of Ra.

  “It calls me, too,” she said, voice deeper than normal. “Others, voices… power. So much… power.”

  “Then we’ll do this together,” I told her, wrapping her arm through mine so we could carry on together.

  Before long, the voices were coming even stronger, but with less of a temptation. Having Ahlaksiz at my side, and the others there with me, too, truly helped. It wasn’t until we came upon a silvery figure that stood in our path that I felt true fear, and stumbled back, losing my grip on Ahlaksiz.

  “Stand tall,” Suiko said, appearing at my side and gesturing for the spirit to move aside. “We have nothing to fear here.”

  “You think not?” the silvery spirit asked, tilting his head. “These are our woods.” A slur of Japanese words followed, then he reached out and brought his hand into a fist—an action that caused bursts of light around us, each forming into spirits until we were surrounded.

  While my knees trembled and threatened to give out, I was reminded of what Suiko had said regarding Basty. Knowing she wouldn’t do well against him either, I mentally called for her to return, and she obeyed as I reached up and lifted Basty from around my neck.

  “Your chance to shine,” I told him as he took form.

  He looked at me with wide eyes, fur starting to bristle out until he more resembled a creepy porcupine than Totoro. Tingling warmth ran up my arm and he muttered, “Good,” before turning to face the spirits. At that moment, they surged inward upon us, but Basty expanded out.

  Dark tendrils shot out from Basty, reminding me of inky arms, or the curse on the guy from that Mononoke Hime film. It surged in spirals, then shot out and caught the spirits by their throats and limbs, slamming them into the ground so they exploded in bursts of silver.

  The main one—the first to have spoken—was walking toward us, pushing through the dark tendrils as if they were water that only slowed his advance. His eyes were locked on me, but now that I had seen Basty in action, my fear was abating. In fact, I decided to think of this in an entirely different way—Fuck this guy for trying to mess up my day! With that thought in the front of my mind, I concentrated on the protection of my Alexandrite stone, on my powers as I had them so far, and channeled my energy into Basty. It was more than just me, however; I felt an added burst of power that I imagined had come from Suiko. As it shot out through Basty, lines of gold were added to the black tendrils; their combined energy started tearing away at his essence, leaving only empty night air behind.

  With a final burst from Basty’s and my energy, it was over. I stood with my little group, heart thudding, hands trembling.

  “Fucking hell,” Milrae said, then laughed. “You were hot!”

  “What?” I said, totally caught off guard by that comment.

  “She’s not wrong,” Kinara agreed, licking her lips as she eyed me.

  “The way he stood, bracing himself, then was all like, ‘Fuck off, ghost!’” Milrae ran a hand along her breasts, then up to her lips where she licked a finger. “I could take him right here, right now.”

  “Ladies,” Koharu said as if to scold them, though she was smiling.

  Ahlaksiz was already pushing on. “Don’t mind them. They can keep their panties on if he tells them to, and he will.”

  I frowned but knew she was right. Maybe other men would be fine with stripping and going at it any time, any place, but I wasn’t exactly in the mood. Not in a suicide forest, and especially not right after facing actual ghosts.

  “Keep it stored up,” I told the ladies, trying not to sound freaked. “When it’s time, I’ll make you erupt like a volcano.”

  They loved that, and I had no idea where it had come from.

  Pushing on, we must have walked for hours. What had started as a test of the will and supernatural was now a test of my everyday ability. So much of my life had been spent in front of screens and stuffing Doritos down my throat that walking for hours simply wasn’t my way.

  “Don’t attack,” Koharu said, pausing and standing in tree pose, staff at her side. I glanced back to see that Mizuki had done the same, and the rest were alert, though their eyes were darting about to show they were as confused as me as to what we were “not attacking.”

  I sensed the presence before seeing anything out of the ordinary. Bat senses went off, then a form came clearer with a click of my tongue. Whatever it was moved about as if carried on the wind, and I imagined another spirit, or maybe fairies—if those were real. I wouldn’t be surprised either way at this point.

  Shadows appeared, rising, charging us, but they didn’t make it within a close enough proximity to cause worry. As soon as they were within twenty feet, an invisible force pushed them back. It was then that I first saw the figure I’d been sensing—facing away from us, gone almost as quickly as I’d seen him, and too fast for me to understand what I’d witnessed.

  More shadows rose to look at us, but they retreated as another swoosh of the form moved around our number. I spun, wondering what would cause these shadows to flee like this.

  Out of nowhere, a distant song started. I couldn’t place which direction it came from—until I realized that it was coming from me. Or, more specifically, Suiko. I closed my eyes and could see her singing, though I didn’t understand why.

  “I hear you,” a man’s voice said, and the singing faded, though it didn’t stop.

  “Then you know who I am,” the song said, “and wouldn’t deny us an audience.”

  Energy flooded around us, but I felt it was protective. Opening my eyes, I saw that nothing had changed, but the sensation was as if everything had. A blanket of security had fallen over us, coming with whatever this was.

  “Why do you seek me out?” the voice asked, and we turned to see a clearing of the darkness. There, where it seemed the sunlight shone through on only one spot in the woods, stood a man with long, white hair tied back; his face was unclear in the shifting light, and he wore robes like an ancient samurai or noble.

  “Dallas…” Ahlaksiz said in awe and bowed.

  “Dallas?” I asked, confused.

  “Vaper is preferable, here,” the man said. “But I imagine Ahlaksiz fell into old habits. When we last met, I was under my guise as Dallas during a short stay in the States.” His eyes roamed over us. “What a group we have here. And is that…” Stopping to gaze at Suiko, he suddenly vanished only to reappear directly in front of her. He moved his hand up as if about to touch her cheek, but let it fall.

  “Hello, dear friend,” she said, causing a slight crease in the corners of his eyes of what I assumed to be pain. There was a history there, though clearly a complicated one.

  “I thought I’d never see you again,” he admitted. “I’m glad to be wrong, in this instance.”

  “And I.” She stood there, arms at her side, the two staring at each other as if each were studying a painting, trying to understand every stroke of the brush.

  After a few beats of this awkward silence, I bowed and said, “My name is Ferris. It’s an honor to meet you.”

  He blinked, seeming to have been pulled from the spell, and faced me. “It is an honor to meet you as well, considering the company you keep. You should know, I hadn’t meant to be found. And since you’re the only normal human among the group, I suppose you to have some other importance. Please, do tell.”