25. Wake the Dead
25
Wake the Dead
R yu had taken Eira straight to the palace. There was a tingling of uneasiness that pricked at his mind … That flower had been meant for her, not Jun.
Kasumi Island and his people were peaceful. It was an unmarred place of violence, and it was why they had kept the island secret for an eternity. Rarely, its people left, and even rarer were they banished, like Kenshi had been. Yet Eira had barely escaped death today.
With her now safe, Ryu wasted no time slipping back out to where the old man had given her the flower earlier. The house that was closest to the spot, he was certain belonged to the man, so he didn’t bother to knock. It had been strange to know exactly what he would find before he even opened the door.
With the old man lying cold on the floor with a dried-up flower in his hand, Ryu only had one thought in his mind.
Good riddance.
Ryu found himself at Itako’s later in the night, just like she had said. Of course, he hadn’t known earlier why he would be here, and it wasn’t until Eira had fallen asleep, crying over how their day had gone, that he’d realized what must be done.
Eira felt all alone on a foreign land, but it wasn’t her home that she missed, as it had done nothing but betray her … it was her grandparents.
And as much as Ryu didn’t particularly want them to come over, he knew it needed to be done if Kasumi Island was going to begin to feel like home for her.
Itako sat in her rocking chair next to her empty fireplace, smoking her pipe. She didn’t even bother to wait to hear his voice, knowing exactly who had entered.
“Is he dead?”
“He is,” he confirmed. “But shouldn’t you know?” She was a seeress, after all.
She didn’t miss a beat, having no love lost at the islander’s death. “I speak to the dead, but I cannot speak to the ones where he went.”
Ryu’s skin turned icy at her words.
“Ask your question …” She could sense there was something on his mind, and it was true. He had been wondering something all day.
“How come nothing happened to me and Eira? We both touched the flower.”
“The flower isn’t deadly by touch but by smell ,” she answered all knowingly.
“So, Jun smelled the flower when she left,” he mumbled the obvious under his breath. Now it all made sense, and why he had found the man dead by the second flower. “But why would he want to kill Eira?”
“People only harm for two reasons”—her grave voice echoed her wisdom—“either to attain power or to feel powerful.”
Ryu knew she was right. He highly doubted the old man could possibly think he could attain power. Therefore, he must’ve wanted to feel powerful, like Kenshi, and so he hoped his problem was already solved.
“Now”—the old witch got to the point of why he had really come, using the sucking end of her pipe to point to the table where the little girl had lain on earlier—“what you seek is over there.”
Ryu went over to find two little bottles full of shiny, golden elixir. “Why didn’t you give these to me earlier?”
“Who’s to say you would have come to the same conclusion if I gave them to you earlier?”
All this made his brain hurt, so he decided to leave it. He’d never understand why Itako did the things she did in the order she did them.
“Will this work?”
She simply shrugged. “I suppose you’re going to find out.”
“So, you don’t know if it will?” The frustration over her riddles was evident in his voice.
“My ancestors have told me they have tried to bring lovers over before, but nothing worked.” It happened from time to time; an islander would leave to see the outside world only for them to fall in love. It always ended cruelly, as they could never bring their lover over to their homeland and were then forced to choose between the love of their life or love of their home.
Ryu lost a bit more of his composure. “And exactly why do you think it will now?”
“They were not me,” she sneered with pride.
Placing them in his pocket, he supposed that bit was true. If there was one thing he didn’t doubt with Itako, it was her knowledge and power.
“Also, they share blood with Eira, whereas others did not share it with anyone here. I’m hopeful that will be the difference.”
Now Ryu fully understood, and it was enough for him to turn to leave, knowing it might work.
“If I don’t see you anytime soon,” she drawled before he could disappear, “I know it worked.”
Stopping in his tracks, he smiled. “But you always know if I will see you again.”
“I do,” Itako confirmed.
“And do you see me returning?” he asked.
Putting the pipe to her lips with a smile, she didn’t utter a word.
Ryu had expected to feel happiness at her smile, but it made him oddly sad to think he wouldn’t be seeing the bitch anytime soon. And while his heart grew a bit fond of her, he was sure he’d regret his next words.
“Would you like me to start a fire?”
Itako blew out a puff of smoke. “I thought you’d never ask.”
It took him only a moment to figure out he had been had. “That’s why you didn’t give me the bottles earlier, isn’t it?”
The blind lady no longer left any pretenses. “Yep.”
“Get in the boat!” Ryu found himself screaming at the second old lady he’d encountered tonight.
“It’s too small for all three of us,” the old lady spat back, sticking her heels into the rocky terrain.
It was the boat he had taken before Eira had known he was a dragon, when he had left and come back from his island to help with Eira’s nightmares. He wasn’t quite sure, but he was a little sure everything on his island held a little magic, so it shouldn’t sink. Or so he hoped.
He regretted this mission and was thinking about turning into his dragon form and disappearing right this second, but it was too late when the supposed arthritis-eaten fisherman got in the boat with ease, as if he was back in his golden days. If he shifted now, he’d kill him. And while it felt like that wouldn’t be such a bad thought in this moment, his conscience won out.
Taking the white box from Eira’s grandmother’s hands that he knew the contents of all too well, he put it in the grandfather’s lap before he faced the stubborn grandmother.
Knowing he was left with one, and only one, option, he leaned down and swung her over his shoulder before placing her in the middle of the tiny boat.
“Shut up!” the grandfather shouted. “If I can hear you that loud, you’re going to wake the whole town up!”
She paused her shrilling at the drop of a hat to turn around and hit her husband. “Oh, please! I’m not that loud!”
“Could have fooled me, woman,” he ground out back at his wife. “You could wake the dead!”
Ryu wasted no time using their argument as his distraction to get the boat in the water, pushing them out as deep as he could before he climbed into the boat and started rowing.
It only took the grandmother a few moments to notice she was now stuck. “You know, if I had known you’d be taking my granddaughter across the ocean in some shitty boat, I wouldn’t have let her go.”
“Don’t worry,” Ryu assured her with a sly smile, “we didn’t go by boat.”
Even more concern grew on her wise face. “Then how did you …? Is Eira all right?”
He decided to take a page from Itako’s book. “You’ll find out soon enough and can ask her all your questions then.”
Ryu hoped that would be enough to suffice for a quiet boat ride and was worried it wouldn’t, until all concern left the grandmother’s face. It seemed she knew something when she grabbed the box from her husband’s lap.
“Did you know the prison system sends a letter to the victims when their attacker dies?”
Ryu sat silent, quietly rowing.
“I only brought this box so no one else could find it, since you said we couldn’t return. But …” Seeing they were far from the shore, she reached inside to take out the framed picture of her lost son, daughter-in-law, and young Eira before the grandmother tossed the box into the ocean while she watched all its horrid contents sink to its depths. “It’s time we all move on.”
Proudly, Ryu nodded his head, now knowing why that worry had left her face, as it was clear to her that Ryu wouldn’t do anything to ever hurt Eira.
Suddenly, there was a silent, blissful understanding between the two. However, it lasted only a moment …
“So, how did you and Eira get across?” she quipped.
Rowing faster, he spoke with clenched teeth, “Just hope this boat is big enough that you don’t have to find out.”
With that, the couple stayed silently, praying the rest of the way.