Rise by Amanda Sun Read Free Book Online Page B

“I have tasted of the shadow here. I belong in Yomi.”
    “You belong with your family,” Izanagi said. “I will take you home. Yamato is waiting for you, and Ameji, and all our children. Let us search the earth for Awashima and Hiruko, and bring them home, too. I’ve heard news from Kunitoko that Hiruko landed in the north, that he is flourishing there with his sister. Forgive me for your son of flame, but I can give you back the two we lost.”
    Silence. Then, “A child cannot be replaced by another.”
    “We will build a monument to him,” Izanagi pleaded.
    “My heart longs to see Hiruko and Awashima again. But it isn’t possible. I must stay in Yomi.”
    “Izanami, no.” Izanagi scrambled toward the mouth of the cavern, desperate to see her again, to take her in his arms.
    He fell back as the lantern light flickered on her face. Her jaw had been eaten away, maggots swarming the empty pocket of bone, trickling down her neck where they gnawed on the singed skin of her shoulder. Every muscle in Izanagi’s neck contracted, urging him to retch at the sight. He tried to fight it, but couldn’t look away.
    “What’s happened?” he said. “Your face!”
    Izanami reached her hand to the wriggling mass of maggots in her cheek, her eyes wide and horrified. She turned away, but Izanagi could see the shiny shells of beetles as they scuttled through her black hair.
    “How dare you!” Izanami cried. “How dare you look at me?”
    “I don’t understand,” Izanagi said. “How can this be?”
    Izanami raised her hands. “This is death. This is the World of Darkness. You have no right to come and rob me of the only solitude I had left, the only dignity I could hold on to!”
    The lantern dropped from her hand, crashing against the rock floor. The sound echoed throughout the cavern, the blue light licking up the sides of the inky fog as the interior of the cavern lit with the azure glow.
    “You have seen death,” she said, and she reached for something against the cavern wall—a new
naginata
, one made entirely of black ink. She held its flowing handle, the strings of gemstones drowned in plum and gold flecks as the ink lifted into the sky. “Now you will know it well.”

Chapter Ten
    “Yuki,” Tanaka said, his eyes meeting the boy’s as his paintbrush rested on the brick. “Let’s get out of here.” He tugged on her hand and headed toward the gate.
    “
Chotto!
” the boy called, running in front of them. “As far as you’re concerned, you saw nothing, got it?”
    “No problem,” Tanaka said, trying to steady his voice. “We won’t say a thing.”
    The boy laughed nervously. “Here’s the thing. I don’t believe you.”
    “What do you want, then?” Tanaka said. His mind raced as he stepped in front of Yuki, his arms out to his sides. She tried to tug him back, but he pretended he didn’t feel the pressure of her arm against his. “Don’t worry,” he breathed, not even believing himself.
    “I’m just following orders,” the guy said, looking back nervously toward the wolf pen where the crowd was gathering around the fallen man. “And the orders are, don’t get caught.”
    Yuki’s grip tightened around Tanaka’s arm.
    “We didn’t see anything, okay?” Tanaka said. “Come on. You don’t want to do to this. I can see you don’t.”
    “Don’t tell me what I want,” the boy snapped, running his hands through his hair. “Oh god,” he whispered to himself. “He’s gonna kill me.”
    He looks as scared as I am
, Tanaka thought. “Are you in trouble? Maybe...maybe I can help.”
    “Stay out of this!” he yelled in response, and Tanaka jerked backward, Yuki burying her head in his arm.
    “Hey, I’m just trying to help, okay?”
    “I’m just painting the words. I don’t know what they mean,” the guy said.
    Right
, Tanaka thought.
Which is why you’re threatening us.
    “Hey! You three!” called a voice. Tanaka turned, a security guard walking toward them. Did he think