Chapter 3
July 2, 3:47pm. . .
It was a hot, sunny day with nothing else going for it, other than no school. It was one of those days that was so hot and so sticky, that all you wanted to do was crawl in a cool, dark corner and sleep the day away. One of those days where clothing seems to vanish as the day progresses until ladies are in nothing but swimsuits, and guys in their underwear. It was one of those days that little kids got into the pool, or stood in a sprinkler; and never got back out until their mothers decided they looked enough like miniature elderly people and told them to get out.
Through the process of today, they'd been in and out of the lake, in and out of the sprinkler, and in and out of trouble concerning Super-Soakers, buckets, hoses, and any other implement that shot, squirted, dripped, held any amount of water. Mia had been less than pleased.
Now, unbelievably somehow, in the process of filling the child's pool for Yuli, things had gone AWOL yet again. Kento -fully clothed- was sitting in Yuli's small pool, drinking a Slurpie while Cye tosses a generous handful of marbles into the open water beside Kento to pick up with his toes. Toes that, just a few minutes ago had been quite sweaty -and of course- smelly.
Yuli was less than pleased.
Sage bends over, resting his hands on his knees, gasping for breath in between hysterical bouts of laughing. Ryo, laughing just a little bit less than he was, takes off his tank top and rings it out yet again. Giggling beside him, on the top of the picnic table, was Rahne; who was taking time to brush the snarls out of her long, black hair before it dried.
"Congratulations, Ryo! Your backpocket is pregnant!" Rowen grins, slapping his butt -or rather, the backpocket of his loose, cotton shorts that's still filled to overflowing.
Almost on cue, Kento suddenly leans to one side and announces in a loud, calm tone, "Stop please, everybody freeze! Tada-dada-dada:" Suddenly his pants flutter a bit, and a massive amount of bubbles rise rapidly to the surface.
This only sets them off into yet another bout of hysterical laughter.
"OH MY GOD!!!!"
"Gross!!"
Yuli stomps his foot in anger, and stalks off, "That's it!! I'm tellin' Mia!!"
Sage laughs, and grabs Kento's hand to help him up, so they could be long gone by the time Yuli mustered reinforcements in the form of a very ticked Mia.
"Hey, Guys, I'm going in to get an Ice Cream Sandwich, anyone want me to bring back one?" Rahne calls, hopping down from the table. "Might also try to delay Mia, since I'm the only dry one here."
"Awww, you mean we can't get you wet?" Sage mock whines.
"Why? You're a big enough drip for all of us." Cye retorts for her with a cheeky grin.
Sage grins at the blushing Rahne as she turns and retreats into the house.
"So now that the rugrat's chases us away, what now?" Rowen asks.
"Paintball!!! C'mon!!! We haven't played in SOOOOOOOO long!!" Kento yells, taking a moment to shove Sage face first into the kiddie pool before bolting away.
"Kento. . ." Sage growls, his expensive, name brand polo-shirt dripping with water and mud from Kento's shoes. "You bet!! I'm gonna kick your butt all the way to the Netherworld!!"
Ryo shakes his head and slips into the house. He found Rahne slipping a pair of athletic shoes on, a pair of ice cream sandwiches beside her. He taps her shoulder to get her attention.
~We're playing paintball, ummm. . . I know you don't like that, so ummm. . .~
Rahne beams a smile and hands him the second ice cream sandwich; which he gratefully takes a large bite out of. ~That's okay, you guys probably are sick of me tagging along all the time. Go ahead!~
~You sure, Sis? I mean, I don't want you to feel left out. I'm leaving in a couple days to go on a trip, so - ~
~Ryo, it's okay. You guy's've graciously let me in on everything . . .even made me hang with you a few times. . . and believe me, Bro. . . I do appreciate it. But -c'mon- you need some estrogen-free fun.~ She interrupts insistently, her hands moving faster to enforce her words.
~Okay, Okay! See you!~ Ryo grins, kisses her temple brotherly, and bolts out the door.
July 5, 8:00am......
"You three behave. And I mean that." Mia orders Kento, Rahne, and Cye. Ryo, Sage, and Rowen stand behind her, leaning against the jeep, ready to go. The orders were of the typical variety Mia left when she was going on a trip.
They’re headed off to investigate a temple that had been unearthed in the north. Mia had only been given four security clearances, which meant three couldn’t go. They were spending a week up there, so whoever went with her had better be interested in what they were doing up there. Ryo, Sage, and Rowen had been it.
Orders finished, Rahne hugs her twin briefly in good-bye. The others simply toss "later" or "bye" back and forth.
Good-byes finished, Kento and Cye go back inside without looking back. Rahne; however, looks back at the Jeep and her brother, feeling her confidence falter for the first time. No Ryo meant the nightmares were back.
Ryo turns around in the back seat to face her, a warm and supportive smile on his face. ~ Trust yourself , Sis’ ; I’m not your confidence. Never have been. Try making your own. I love you! ~ He signs to her across the increasing space between her and himself.
Rahne smiles back. But she still didn’t feel very confident. Setting her mouth in a straight line while blinking away tears of exhaustion and fright, as the Jeep drives away, she follows her friends inside.
She jogs up the steps, wanting to get back inside and with her friends, intending on getting at least a short nap before night fell. Part of her was still hoping she would be safe with Kento and Cye. Already, she was growing to love them. Not like romantic love -she couldn't imagine anyone wanting to love her. . . not with her. . . differences- but like sister would love a brother.
Rahne is almost to the top when the world spins crazily, and for an instant, a leering mouth appears before her. With a cry of fright, Rahne leaps back. The stairs, walls, and ceiling flash before her eyes as she falls, only to land hard on the hard tile floor of the entry; her foot and ankle half-pinned underneath her. She lays still only for a moment, then sits up, moving her foot quickly out from under her.
Clutching her foot and ankle, her hands slowly being stained red from her toenail that had been broken well into the quick, she looks up. The mouth was gone, but she could hear her friend's running footsteps growing closer. Rahne wants desperately to tell them, but she couldn't! They'd only think she imagined it, or worse.
"So much for being safe..." She whispers, tears of despair falling down her cheeks. All she could hope for now, was that her friends thought the tears were of pain.
____
The next day a hot, hazy sun beats down on the Koji estate; even though it’s only noon.
Dry grass cracks and snaps under his feet and he chases after his friend as fast as he can. Cye laughs and turns sharply, sending Kento scrambling to follow suit.
Kento blasts Cye with the last of his water balloons, and stumbles to a stop. "Heh! GOTCHA!!"
Cye slows down and walks back toward him, smiling and picking multicolored fragments of water balloon from his wet hair. Beads of water glisten on his bare torso and drips from his faded, navy swimtrunks.
"Well, that was fun." He says, running a hand through his saturated hair, checking for pieces he might have missed.
"Aw, yep. Hey, you seen Babes lately?" Kento asks, using his new nickname for Ryo’s sister. It had originally been "Babs", like the character from Tiny Toons; but one accidental slip of the tongue on his part, and it had become ‘Babes’.
"Um, yeah. She went inside a half hour ago."
Kento frowns; she definitely had an authority complex. The minute, the second; it had occurred to her that he was Ryo’s proxy, she defied him at every turn. He had laid down the rule, ‘Tell me where you’re going before you go.’ Simple. Logical.
And thrown out the ----- window.
"For what?" Kento asks, forcing a playful tone into his voice.
"I think she said her foot hurt. The one she stepped on wrong yesterday."
Kento nods, already walking in the direction of the house. If it was her foot, he could forgive that; anything else and man, was she going to get it.
He finds her asleep on the couch, a light blue colored icepack resting on her foot and ankle. There's also an empty granola bar wrapper and a bottle of aspirin on the table: she had remembered that type of painkiller needed to go with food. Sage had made himself sick before they had realized what type they had bought.
"Guess that's our answer." Cye says behind him, before turning to head for the bathroom to change into some dry clothes.
‘Can’t get mad if she’s hurting.’ Kento thinks, taking the aspirin and empty wrapper back to the kitchen. Mia kept the aspirin in a large, well-stocked First Aid Kit in the kitchen; which in this house was a frequent thing to get opened. He tosses the wrapper in the trash can, absently watching the green and blue foil wrapper gleam as it flutters down.
‘Why is she making all these dumb clumsy mistakes?’ He thinks once more, leaning against the counter as he messes with the First Aid Kit. The white painted metal feels pleasantly cool to the touch as he rearranges the contents to allow the bottle to fit in correctly.
Rahne is the second most graceful and lithe person he’s ever met, next to Lady Kayura. Why she was suddenly stepping wrong just walking upstairs was beyond him. She could walk down a balance beam as if it was as wide as a sidewalk and she raised gooseflesh for anyone just watching her do her flexibility drills. Her tumble down the stairs had just been the first of many mistakes that day. Cye had jokingly told her that he would have to get out the duct tape, since she was falling apart.
Kento reaches out with the power of his armor on a sheer whim and checks the house. His special power gave him a sort of second sight, one that followed the natural energy that flowed through the earth. He didn’t normally use it without actually wearing his armor, since it tired him quickly otherwise. However, before Rahne came, he'd normally do this at least once a day. Better safe than sorry, in his opinion. His sense flows out of the room, he found Rahne and Cye easily.
Cye feels his presence and asks him what he’s doing through his own armor power.
(Nothing, Cye.)
Torrent ignores his comment; yanking his swimtrunks back on and throwing on a worn and faded, sleeveless T-shirt anyway. He had learned from experience that Kento usually didn’t do this without a reason.
Kento chuckles inwardly at his best friend. There couldn't be anything. . . here?
'Whoa. . . what the. . .?'
Kento feels something, a presence that to his sense is like a dark shroud, flowing into the room where Rahne sleeps.. The dark thing drifts towards her, reaching toward her with wispy tendrils that easily could be fingers, cautiously and discreetly. It’s surrounding Rahne slowly, like a predator stalking it’s prey. Kento can feel Rahne’s increasing fear like a drop in pressure before a storm . . .
(GET AWAY FROM HER, YOUJA!!!!!)
Rahne awakens with a shriek. Cye dashes into the living room, grabbing her up protectively. He held her tight, her body shaking with terror. She starts to sob into his shirt.
"You’re all right. You’re all right. Shhhhh." Cye repeats over and over, rocking Rahne back and forth. She can’t hear him, but it’s all he could think of to do. A moment later, Kento ran into the room in his full armor, looking around the room for whatever had been there. Torrent looks up at him, and pressed Rahne’s face into his shoulder so she couldn’t see. "It’s okay, Rahney. You’re safe. You're all right. Shhhhhhh. . ."
Cye looks back up at Kento, a questioning look on his face. (What was it?) His forehead kanji glows faintly in the sunlight streaming through the window as his sending reaches his best friend.
(Not now. I’ll tell you later.) Kento sheds his armor, and sits on the edge of the couch. He reaches out and rubs her upper back and shoulders. She's still sobbing, but she was slowly calming down.
When Rahne’s calm enough, they carry her into the kitchen. Cye makes her some tea to calm her nerves.
Kento watches her drink the tea, trying to figure out why something had wanted to attack her. Rahne’s just as Ryo had said: gentle and quiet. The attitude was simply an act, to cover up what she considered cowardice. She was so hard on herself, it pained him to see it. He had seen her spar with Sage, so he also knows she could fight. She’s excellent, as a matter of fact. All her kicks are crisp and clean, her punches are nearly a blur to watch. She looks up at him, her eyes dark ringed and tired looking.
"How long have you been having these nightmares?" Kento asks suddenly, while she was watching him.
Rahne sighs before saying, "This round started up three days before I came here. But they stopped right after I arrived." She sighs and takes another sip of tea.
Kento raises an eyebrow, and taps her shoulder to get her attention. " ‘- This round -’ ?"
Rahne sighs, shaking her head.
Kento grips her chin between his fingers, and turns her head to face him. "Tell me."
"It's.. it's stupid. Nothing. It's okay."
"Tell. Me." Kento growls in a voice that leaves no room for argument.
Rahne sighs and pulls away from him. "Don't say I never said it was dumb. The first round started about a year ago, about two months after Ryo left."
(KENTO!?) Cye startles as he realizes the time frame.
(I know, Cye. Right after we beat Talpa the first time.)
"No Rahne, it's not dumb." Kento says softly, laying a hand on her shoulder. "It's gotta be hard on you."
"Rahne, you can talk to us. We'll never say what you think is dumb." Cye adds, putting the tea pot back on the stove.
"Cye's right," Hardrock nods, and after a long pause, continues. "What do they show?"
Rahne sighs, looking down at the table. Her hands, clutching the teacup, shake visibly before she put it down. Her lip trembles softly, as if she was still debating whether or not she could confide in them.
"Tell us." Kento whispers, rubbing her shoulder gently.
"They’re horrible!" Rahne cries out suddenly. Her shoulders shake almost convulsively as she sobs, her voice breaking with strain. "In one . . . Ryo and White Blaze were coming towards me. . ."
Cye reaches across the table to put his hand over hers in support.
"Then they changed!! Into demons! They....They tried to kill me..." She says with difficulty. Kento awkwardly pulls her against his chest to comfort her. "And I killed them!!!"
Rahne starts to sob again, her pale blue eyes haunted and in pain.
"S’Okay, Babes." Kento holds Rahne tight to his chest, feeling angry and disgusted. He was certain he knows who had sent these: Dais, Dark Warlord of Illusion. He wouldn’t put it past that creep to hurt someone who couldn’t fight back. That dark thing had been intelligent! It had to one of Dais’s tricks, it had to be! Kento couldn’t think of any other explanation. "Are you sure you’re okay?"
Rahne nods, looking down at the table. Kento knows what she must be thinking: that she wanted to tell them that she’d never be able to hurt her brother. No matter what. "I will be." She whispers.
"Stay with her, Cye. I’ll be right back."
Kento got up and walked upstairs to his and Cye’s bedroom. He shut the door, and went out onto the balcony. He could feel his temper start to boil over, he grips the hand smoothed wood, and fights himself calm again.
He had been slowly learning to keep a lid on his temper, and Sage had been working with him so he could calm himself down. It worked so long as he got himself away from other people till he was calm. There was nothing else he could do, except wait for the guys to come back. His temper back under control, he heads back downstairs; vowing that if he ever ran into Dais again . . . the warlord was going to die a slow and painful death.
____
Four days later . . .
Kento had never realized how easy it was to get bored when it got this hot and muggy. The last two nights Rahne had slept as peacefully as hot, muggy nights allowed anyone to. He watches the weather report hopefully. There’s a thunderstorm to the west, still over the Sea of Japan. He frowns at the word "severe", but it’s better than baking.
Cye and Rahne are swimming in the lake right now. Kento actually didn’t think any of them had worn actual clothes and not swimsuits since Mia and the guys had left.
He switches Rowen’s PlayStation on and plays some Tekken.
He’d had Rahne laughing hysterically last night while they were playing. He’d used the little orange lizard-dude, the one that must have eaten about a hundred kilos of something that didn’t agree with him, and used his gas to waste people. She was laughing so hard, she didn’t even try to trash the little stinker.
A smile pulls up the corners of Kento’s mouth: She had an infectious laugh. It was the type that made you feel giddy even remembering it. That crystal butterfly pendant she wore fit her personality perfectly: bright, cheerful, delicate yet remarkably resilient.
Kento shuts down the game down, and heads on out to the Lake to join his two friends.
____
The storm hits Toyama just shortly after midnight. High winds and torrential rain pounded the city and surrounding countryside with unrelenting force.
Cye - sprawled on top of his sleeping bag in the middle of the living room - watches the shadows play across the ceiling uneasily. Lightning briefly illuminates the room, and a gust rattles the windows. He didn’t mind storms, but the ferocity of this one bothered him.
It obviously doesn’t bother Kento or Rahne: They're sound asleep.
Then again, Kento - who's draped across the dark blue easy chair and snoring - could sleep through most anything; and Rahne - asleep on a couple floor cushions - was too deaf to hear much of anything.
Cye listens to the storm and to Kento’s snoring, wondering which one had higher decibel levels. ‘Jeez, Rahney, are you lucky. You probably don’t even know Kento snores.’ He rolled over to look at her, still concerned over those dreams she had been getting. Her features are relaxed in sleep, her dreams peaceful.
He doesn’t even realize he’s staring at her, until she stirs and grumbles, "Go to sleep, Cye."
"Sorry. Am I keeping you awake?"
Rahne grumbles something unintelligible and goes back to sleep. ‘Maybe she has the right idea . . .’
As soon as he's asleep, Cye awakens by five or six nearly simultaneous crashes of thunder and lightning in quick succession.
"There goes the power." Kento states matter-of-factly as the greenish-blue light from the VCR clock blinks out.
Cye rolls over to see Kento scoop the still sleeping Rahne up, and motion in the direction of the basement.
Cye gets to his feet and slings his sleeping bag and pillow over his shoulder. They’re halfway down the stairs, when Rahne wakes up.
"What’s goin’ on?" She asks in that too soft voice of hers.
"Nothing. Better safe than sorry." Kento says loud and carefully so she can understand.
The moment they’re down on the floor, Kento gently sets Rahne on her feet.
"I’ll go find a torch . . ." Cye mumbles in his British accent, looking around on some of the shelves.
Rahne glances around and then turns in a kind of aimless circle. Finally she leans on one the support columns. "The winds’ve picked up." She breathes quietly to Kento.
Kento frowns and listens. Sure enough the roar had impossibly increased volume. He gives her an exaggerated nod before joining Cye in his search for a flashlight.
"Find it, Cye?" Kento asks as his best friend lays on his stomach and started groping around under the bottom shelf.
"Yeah, but it fell back . . .under here . . .somewhere . . . Yes!" Cye pulls the flashlight out, his grin visible even in the near darkness. "Um, What’s she doing?"
Kento turns around to see that Rahne had climbed up a storage shelf to look out the high window. "Hey, Babes, get away from the window!" He bellows as loud as he can, hoping to get past even a little of her deafness.
"She still can’t hear you." Cye says dryly as he rises from the floor, his hands rubbing his ringing ears.
Kento strides over to Rahne’s perch, taps her ankle, and then when she looks at him, he points downward.
Rahne pushed off the shelf, landing lightly on her feet. "I don’t like this . . . The winds’re too strong."
Kento lead Rahne back to the storm shelter and Cye. It's a little steel-reinforced bunker meant for weathering out the worst storms in. He was pretty sure this qualifies as ‘worst’.
They settled down inside, and Cye turns on the emergency radio. There are evacuations in several towns, including the one where Yuli’s summer camp was.
"White Blaze and Yuli’re probably having a good adventure." Kento jokes, leaning back against the wall.
"Oh yeah, The National Guard and big army vehicles. He’s probably enjoying himself." Cye agrees.
Rahne reclined back against the wall, looking half comatose. She yawns, and gives them a sleepy smile.
The entire house seems to jump almost clear off it’s foundation and a sound like shattering glass comes from above. Rahne sits bolt upright, her pale eyes suddenly afraid. Kento and Cye leapt to their feet. It takes a force of sheer willpower not to pull their power crystals.
"Stay put, Rahne." Kento commanded her, already half out the door.
"We’ll check this out." Cye told her, pulling his sleeping bag over for her to sleep on.
They leave Rahne in the storm shelter, and head upstairs. Their power crystals flashes briefly as they summon their sub-armors. One of the big trees outside had been simply uprooted by the wind. One of the branches had broken off and was now on the floor in Mia’s room. Which just happens to be locked, just like she keeps her study.
"I hope the neighbors are okay." Cye shouts over to Kento as they force the door open and barricade the window shut with a few planks of plywood, several two-by-fours, and brute strength.
"Think we should check on them?" Kento asks, shouting to be heard over the wind. The new neighbors are an elderly couple who are raising their grandchildren by themselves. They had just moved in, and they had a lot of mature trees in their yard. Those were the type that had begun to rot from the inside out. The other neighbors are a family who live about a half mile down the road the opposite direction. The wind stops howling as Kento lodges the last two-by-four brace into position.
"I think we’d better." Cye quickly looks out into the now quiet hallway, making certain Rahne wasn’t coming. "ARMOR OF TORRENT! DAO SHIN!" The armor of Torrent bursts into existence. Cye goes downstairs, and out into the storm.
Kento goes back to the basement, taking the steps two and three at a time to check on Rahne. She's trying hard to sleep, but instead only succeeds in huddling on the sleeping bag.
"Cye and I are going to check on the neighbors, I want you to stay put. Get some sleep." Kento tells her, smoothing her hair with his hand, before going back upstairs.
Outside looks like a war zone. Trees are down, debris is scattered everywhere while arcing powerlines writhe and dance like metallic snakes. The smell of ozone is strong on the air. The wind is still howling like a vengeful demon, making walking - even with the Armor of Hardrock - difficult.
Kento snaps one gauntleted fist in front of his face to block a piece of wind blown debris, wincing as splinters and shards of metal and wood skittle over his helmet and shoulder guards.
He sees Cye make it over the hill, using his yari as a walking stick. He looks like he was climbing the tallest mountain instead of just going up a hill, but the wind must be much worse up there without any cover.
He finally makes it to the forest. The very trees moan and rattle with the wind, swaying as if they were small weeds instead of the majestic, old trees they are.
The wind are less ferocious in the forest; Kento looks back to survey the house. It looks okay other than for the broken window. He turns around and heads into the forest.
____
Meanwhile almost all the way to the other side of Honshu, Ryo sits in their hotel suite, watching the storm’s approach to Sendai. Last time he was here he had lost to Dais terribly. Now he was here just to look at some ruins with the guys. Sage is on the phone with his parents, telling them how cool the ancient temple was. Rowen was reading again. Something by Michael Criton, from what Ryo could see of the cover. Most likely Sphere.
He had gotten off the phone with Kento several hours ago. They had found the reason for his sister’s nightmares. Something had been sending them to her, or someone. Kento was certain it was Dais, but Ryo wasn’t so sure. Why would Dais send nightmares to Rahne now? Yeah, while they were enemies, sure. He had been shocked something hadn’t happened, now it seemed more logical. But now. . .?
From Mia’s room in the suite, he could hear her toss and turn in bed. Something makes Ryo get up and check on her. Maybe it was just the knowledge that someone had sent nightmares to his sister.
A gust of chilly wind blows from under the door. Then Mia’s muffled voice then a muffled impact. Like something blew off her nightstand, maybe. ‘Why did she leave her window open? We’ve got A/C.’
Ryo opens the door. A black booted foot whips out of nowhere, catching Ryo in the face. He topples backward, rolling with the fall. Rowen leaps up from his chair, his sub-armor appearing as he throws his hardcover book at Ryo’s assailant. It strikes the person hard in the chest, but he only grunts from the impact and hurls another kick in Ryo’s direction.
Sage cuts himself off in the middle of a sentence; hanging up on himself, like his phone had cut out. So far the assailant hasn’t seen him. Good. That works to his advantage. It only takes him a second to get into his sub-armor. The bathroom is connected to the master bedroom and to another room that Ryo uses. Sage slips into Ryo’s room and around to the bathroom and then into Mia’s.
She was laying dazed on the floor, her naginata on the floor by her side. Sage grabs it up, sneaking up behind the person; a male by the look of him. He swings it, brutally connecting with the man’s legs, sweeping them out from under him. Sage pins him roughly to the ground, Ryo rushes over to help him as Rowen hits the lights.
It was a young man; about fourteen, with long black hair and chilly ice blue eyes. His features seem to be shadowy, like his skin didn’t reflect all the light evenly. And he had that insulted look of someone used to being at the center of the universe.
"Who are you? What do you want!?" Ryo snaps, pressing down on the naginata just to prove he was serious.
Rowen helps Mia up, and guides her over to the bed. She would have a doozy of a goose-egg, but otherwise she was fine.
"I don’t have to answer you, Ronin. You’re lucky your harlots have too strong a will, otherwise they’d be dead."
Sage swings the naginata up and around, and pointing the blade at his throat. He rumbles in a dangerously calm voice, "And I don’t like how you talk to ladies. Apologize."
The boy actually had the guts to spit at Sage. The only reason why Sage didn't finish the fight, was because Ryo held him back.
"You’re in no position. Now you are you?!" Ryo barks, grabbing the kid by his collar and hauling him to his feet.
"I am Lord Zanaton, of the ShadowLands."
Rowen raises an eyebrow from where he was guarding Mia. Another Netherworld idiot. This one just happens to fit the old saying: "Old enough to know better, young enough not to care."
Ryo glowers down at the Netherworld lord. So he sent the nightmares. "Why did you attack my sister and my friend?"
Zanaton snickers at Ryo, as if it should be obvious. "Because I can, Ronin."
Then the Netherworld Lord suddenly stares at Ryo with his icy eyes. Ryo feels pain skitter up his spine and dig into his brain. A telepath. Ryo closes off his mind completely with his armor power and throws the boy bodily against the wall as hard as he could. The boy slides down the wall in shock, then disappears. Probably back to his Netherworld.
"Well, I think that was the strangest one we’ve seen." Rowen says, sitting down on the bed with Mia.
"You okay, Mia?" Sage asks, pacing back and forth like a caged panther to get rid of excess adrenaline.
"Yeah, he blindsided me." Mia says, watching the shadows suspiciously. "I tried to call for help, but I couldn’t open my mouth."
Ryo kneels in front of Mia, placing his hands on hers. "He’s psychic. Kind of like Talpa and Kayura could do if they wanted. If you recognize what’s happening, you can block his type pretty easily. Or at least put some guards up where he could do the most damage."
Mia nods. "What was weird is, before he attacked I could have sworn all there was in my room was this big shadow. . ."
Ryo curses and gets to his feet. He stalks to the window, feeling cheated. Their quiet period was over. The battle had begun all over again.