The Iris Fan by Laura Joh Rowland Read Free Book Online Page B

how—?”
    “General Otani?” Tahara repeated, louder.
    Hirata experienced a strange, zinging sensation, like a current of extra life force speeding along his nerves. The blood in his veins and organs swelled. Heat flushed him. He felt a jolt in his brain. A part of him that he hadn’t known was still unconscious snapped alert. His lungs drew a deep, involuntary breath. His arms and legs stretched and flexed of their own accord. He couldn’t control his movements! He opened his mouth to yell, “What are you doing to me? Stop!” Instead he said, “I am here.”
    His voice was deeper than normal, with a strange yet familiar accent. Tahara said to Kitano, “It worked!” They hooted with laughter and slapped each other’s backs.
    “What worked?” Hirata was relieved that this time he’d said what he meant to say, yet terrified by what had just happened.
    “The spell for possession,” Kitano said. “We’ve been working it on you for six months.”
    “General Otani isn’t just a disembodied spirit anymore,” Tahara said. “He’s inside you!”
    An alien presence bloomed in Hirata’s mind, like a carnivorous flower that preyed on his mental faculties. General Otani spoke in his thoughts: You and I share your body.
    This was the terrible purpose for which General Otani had ultimately wanted Hirata—to give the ghost a human form. Hirata cried, “No! I don’t want you! Get out of me!”
    “The spell is permanent,” Kitano said.
    Tahara shrugged and smiled. “Sorry.”
    Their attitude compounded the rage Hirata felt toward them for luring him into treason. “Why does Otani have to possess me ? Why not one of you?”
    “He thought you would be the easiest to take over,” Tahara said.
    Hirata clawed at his chest, yelling, “Get out!” His nails raked bloody tracks on his skin.
    You can’t get rid of me , General Otani said inside his head. His arm muscles stiffened, jerking his hands away from his body.
    Hirata lunged toward the veranda railing. “Leave, or I’ll jump!”
    A fear that wasn’t entirely his own stabbed his gut. Hirata realized that General Otani shared his mortality as well as his body. He tried to climb over the railing, but his legs wouldn’t cooperate. He staggered toward the wall of the building and beat his head against it. Otani’s voice in his head howled at the pain. Hirata’s back arched, and he fell to the veranda. His arms and legs curled to his chest. He struggled with all his might, but he was as immobilized as if wrapped in chains.
    “No use fighting,” Kitano said.
    “He’s got you good,” Tahara said.
    “You should listen to your friends,” General Otani said aloud. His voice was breathless as it emerged from Hirata; the struggle had tired him. “Stand up, or must I force you?”
    The chains loosened. Hirata stood, conceding defeat, but he’d learned that the ghost had physical limitations now that it was in him. He would play along until he figured out how to expel it and be his normal self again.
    It won’t work.
    Hirata’s breath caught. General Otani said, I can hear your thoughts. You can’t hide anything from me. Hirata’s lips moved as General Otani spoke aloud: “We are going back to Edo.”
    “Good, I’m ready for some action,” Tahara said.
    “It’s too quiet here,” Kitano said.
    “You two are not coming with us,” General Otani said through Hirata.
    The other men looked surprised. “Why not?” Kitano asked.
    “I have no further use for you.”
    They apparently hadn’t realized that after they gave Otani a human body, he would be independent. “We’ve served you for years.” Tahara’s voice rose with indignation. “You can’t just ditch us.”
    “Watch me.”
    Propelled by the ghost, Hirata moved toward the door to the bedchamber. Tahara and Kitano stepped in front of it. “We gave up everything to help you destroy the Tokugawa regime,” Kitano said. “We’re fugitives because of you. We’re not letting you walk