Collide by Alyson Kent Read Free Book Online

American Tribe, maybe the Cherokee since they’re local to
the mountains here.”
    “Sounds like a good place to start,” Akira
nodded and made a note in his notebook while I did the same.
    “What else?” I asked. “Think we can get away
with comparing the different gods?”
    “Nah, I think it’ll be more interesting if we
stick with the folktales and such. I have a feeling a few of the
other pairs will be comparing the different gods and goddesses
since they’re a little easier to find information on.”
    “True. What else do you suggest?”
    “There’s the Tengu ,” he said, and a
strange gleam appeared in his eyes that, for some reason, sent an
icy shiver down my back.
    “ Tengu ?”
    “They’re mountain forest spirits that used to
have a really bad reputation for stealing children, only the
perception has changed in modern times and they’re more benevolent
in the current stories. People tend to call on them if they’re
moving through the mountains or if they’re hunting for a lost
child. The Tengu have become rather helpful and popular in
the child hunting business over the last several hundred
years.”
    I thought for a moment and sighed. “I think
we need to make a trip to the library ourselves pretty soon, I
can’t think of anything off the top of my head that would be a good
comparison, though what about tricksters?”
    “We have several, the kitsune and the tanuki are probably the most well known.”
    “I do know that rabbit is a well known
trickster in Cherokee lore, maybe we can compare him with someone
else. And I think I remember reading a story about a being that
sounded like some kind of dragon . . . “
    “I think,” Akira smiled, “that we have a good
start. I’m looking forward to working with you on this, it’s going
to be rather enlightening.”
    “Enlightening how?”
    “I feel that I am going to learn a lot about
a people that I know very little about, and I’m hoping to learn
more about you.”
    I hated the fact that I flushed at his words,
but I couldn’t prevent the sudden increase of heat on my cheeks
that told me they were most likely a deep shade of crimson. I would
be lying if I didn’t acknowledge the small flush of pleasure at the
thought of him wanting to get to know me a little, and he was
rather good looking and charming if I over looked the weird little
icy patch in the middle of my forehead that whispered something
still wasn’t right about him. I guess I wasn’t as immune to
hormones as I liked to think I was. Great.
    “Do you want to continue working on this
after school today? I have a little time before basketball practice
and we can do a little more information hunting.”
    “Sorry, I can’t,” I said, not feeling sorry
at all but manners dictating that I should at least apologize for .
. . something, though I have no idea what for or why. Just
something Mom always harped on a little more often than I thought
was healthy. “I have to go straight to my job tonight, I’m working
the closing shift.”
    “Where do you work?” he asked.
    “Baker’s Bookstore,” I replied and stuffed my
books and things into my bag after I glanced at the wall clock and
noticed that we only had a few minutes left before the final bell
rang.
    “Do you have a mythology section or anything
on the Cherokee?”
    I looked at him and my stomach gave a strange
little lurch, like a hundred butterflies had all decided to pass
gas at the same time in that small, confined space at the thought
that maybe he had read my mind. I had planned to check out what we
had in the store tonight, but I quickly squashed that little quiver
with harsh logic. It made sense that he would ask, as we would most
likely be pulling a lot of our information from books instead of
online resources for now. “Yeah, though it’s kind of small.”
    “I’ll swing by after practice and take a
look. I can also recommend a few books on Japanese mythology that
you can get in that will help give us some