A Mortal Song by Megan Crewe Read Free Book Online

as if it were your job to defend me.”
    “That didn’t do us much good either,” I said as my cheeks flushed. “It only made her angrier. I should have thought to turn ethereal.” I hadn’t been able to stand the thought of my stalwart playmate being hurt himself, and that had knocked all the sense out of my head.
    “You protected us both,” I went on. “You did think of it, and you shifted me too, so the bear couldn’t touch me. That’s what matters.”
    “And I’ll continue protecting you as long as I’m with you,” Takeo said. He didn’t look at me, but toward the mountain. “That is the duty your parents gave me, and I carry it out gladly. But that story is who you are, Sora. Even as a child, you were brave and strong and willing to give of yourself for others. You’ve never seemed like anything less than the best of any kami I’ve known. Until today, no one gave me the slightest reason to think otherwise. And no sage’s words could alter my admiration of you.”
    Until today . In spite of his kindness, the memory of Rin’s words pricked at me as if he’d scraped open a cut that had just scabbed over. He wasn’t saying it couldn’t be true. He was saying that even if it were, it wouldn’t matter to him.
    I supposed that had to be good enough.
    “Whatever happens, I won’t let any harm come to you,” Takeo added. He turned his head toward me then, his dark eyes so sure that the doubts within me stilled for just a moment.
    “I know,” I said. “I’m glad you’re here.” As long as he was, I wasn’t completely without my home.
    “It is still an honor,” he said quietly. Then he glanced ahead of us. “We should keep moving. We have a long way to go.”
    Who knew how much longer the mountain would hold—or what the ghosts might be doing to my parents and the others even now?
    With ki streaming through us, we resumed our dash across the field and on into the forestland on the other side. We’d only been traveling a few minutes more when three figures floated out from between the trees far ahead of us, crossing our path. Two men, one young and one middle-aged, and a young woman. Below their waists, their bodies faded away into nothingness.
    Ghosts.
    “...all the things I’ll do,” the young woman was saying.
    “I wish Obon were tomorrow, and we could start already!” the young man replied. Then the three of them spotted us and went still.
    Takeo tugged at my hand, urging me to run on, but my body had stiffened.
    Everything that was happening to me, it was because of them. If not for the ghosts, I would still be on the mountain. I would know my family and friends were safe. I would know who I was.
    And we had no idea what they or their demon leader wanted or intended to do next. Maybe I couldn’t blame these three for all of my misery, but they had to know at least that much. Surely Takeo and I, with our training and ofuda, could defeat this trio and force the answers from them. Rin had admitted that her vision of victory wasn’t guaranteed. We needed every advantage we could get.
    As the ghosts stalked toward us, I gripped the charms in my sleeve. “We need this,” I whispered to Takeo. “We’ll banish two and question the last one. It’ll be easier to defeat the rest if we know what they’re planning.”
    “Hmm, look at this,” the woman ghost said, coming to a halt several feet away. “Not much of a rescue force, if they’re hoping to take back their mountain.”
    “Check out their get-up,” the young man said. “They look like they figure they’re royalty. Where are you headed, Miss Fancy?”
    Takeo gave me a terse nod. “Stay close,” he murmured.
    “I don’t see that it’s any of your business,” I said to the ghost, sliding one foot back into a ready stance. My heart started to thump. I’d fought innumerable battles in the palace’s training rooms, but never against an enemy who truly wanted to hurt me.
    A tingle raced over my scalp where Midori perched.