Schooled in Revenge (22 page)

The run-down Thai restaurant sporting the words LU’S PALACE on a faded yellow awning sits on a seedy street near downtown Sacramento. Above the eatery, a beleaguered gentleman who’s seen and done too much eats beans from a can as he sits on a springy Murphy bed inside a tight studio apartment.

Looking around, he realizes again that he picked the wrong time to grow a conscience.

He watches wavy television on an old set, waiting for the day to turn to night, the night to turn to day. It’s a terrible way to exist, but it’s all he can manage while looking over his shoulder every minute of every day, a habit he’d love to break if only he could afford to.

A knock at the door causes him to jump. It’s the kind of knock that has intent behind it, something he knows from personal experience.

Except that when he was the one knocking, it meant the person who answered the door wouldn’t live to open another.

The man stands, readying himself for what’s to come. He could hide, but that would only delay the inevitable. Maybe it’s time to let go.

He opens the door, unsurprised to see Jon, one of Cain’s hired guns. The man is surprised, however, to see that Jon is accompanied by an older Asian gentleman.

“Darren Marcus?” Jon asks.

The man nods. “I recognize you. Worked for Cain a couple years back, right?”

Jon was too low on the totem pole to remember the man. That’s one of the ways Cain kept his hold over you. Kept you awake.

Marcus, feeble and anxious, just needs to know. “Are you here to kill me?”

Jon looks at Takeda, who briefed him on the ride over. “No. We’re here to save you.”

“So then you already moved Marcus?” Ava shook her head. “That means you knew where he was all along. You didn’t need Reena to infiltrate that meeting at all.”

Another test. Like the thief on Rebun Island, but on a much grander scale.

“I don’t believe it,” Ava murmured.

“So Cruz died for a test?” Reena interrupted, cold fury written on her face.

“It wasn’t all a test,” Shay explained. “We needed to shake Reinhardt and Wells’s foundation by ruining Charlie, by severing their relationship. Now it’s each man for himself, and that makes them all much more vulnerable.”

Takeda moved into the seat next to Reena.

“It is true that I knew of your plans. And true as well that Shay was told you were coming.” He paused. “But in revenge, things can be messy. Chaotic. Lethal. You—all of you—must be prepared for that. It is possible to blame me for Cruz’s death, if blame is what you seek. But it is also possible that had you finished your training, Cruz would still be alive. As for me, I
choose to believe that regret is a waste of energy when one has done one’s best. This was the life Cruz chose. And he died the way he wanted to, protecting the woman he loved.”

Reena nodded, surprisingly humble. “How long have you known?” she asked. “Did you leave the door to the secret room open to see if we would take our files? Was that part of the test as well?”

Takeda gave her a small smile. “I’ll leave that up to you to decide.”

The trainees stand in the meditation room, poring over the information on their enemies. The bulky antique mirror hangs on the wall, large enough to see everything yet not imposing enough to be an eyesore.

On the other side of the mirror, Takeda stands, watching his disobedient apprentices intently, none of them the wiser.

Ava approaches her side of the mirror, staring at her reflection. After a moment of soulful silence, she speaks a single word.

No, not a word. A declaration.

“Fukushuu.”

Takeda smiles, noting the conviction in her stare, the desire for vengeance etched in her large, angry eyes.

He smiles slightly to himself. She may not be ready yet, but Takeda can see that when she is, nothing—and no one—will be able to get in Ava Winters’s way.

Jane stirred awake, grasping Shay’s hand as the plane bounced over a pocket of air.

For a moment, she didn’t know where she was or what was happening, still swimming up from the oblivion of sleep. But when her gaze came to rest on Shay, she somehow knew she was safe.

“It’s okay,” he whispered. “We’re heading back.”

Her eyes traveled to the welt on his head. “Oh God,” she says softly. “Does it hurt? I’m sorry, Shay, I just—”

He stopped her. “I get it, Jane. You needed to figure out who you were. Who you are.”

She nodded, looking into his eyes. “Did you really hold my hand while I was unconscious last year?”

He looked away, as if the weight of her stare was too much for him to bear. “Every day.”

Jane smiled.

He glanced back at her and grinned. “If I’d known you were going to knock me unconscious, I might have reconsidered.”

She laughed a little, gently touching the skin around his wound. “I am sorry for this.” She blushed. “But I’m also sorry for ruining… well, you know.”

She had a flash of her hands in his hair, pulling his lips onto hers in the darkened car, an untapped well of emotion and desire rising in the heat of their kiss.

“I thought it was just a distraction,” he said.

Jane gave him a knowing smile. “I
had
to go into the estate. But I didn’t
want
to.”

He held her gaze until she could hardly breathe, the promise of a new beginning in his eyes.

She gestured to the aisle of the plane. “I’m going to…?”

He nodded, standing to let her pass.

She stepped into the aisle and sat next to Takeda. “Sensei,” she said, feeling an unexpected rush of affection for the man who had become like a father to her. “I’ve learned so much. About my identity. My past.”

Takeda nodded, looking intently at her.

“It’s just…” She hesitated. Did she really want the answer to her question? Could she survive it?

“Yes?”

“Was my father involved in my accident?”

Takeda’s stare tells her all she needs to know.

She exhales, her heart wrapped in a vise. “So he was in the car that pummeled me. My own father…” She turned her eyes on Takeda. “Why would he do that to me?”

“You will learn more in the next phase of your training, Mira.”

“No,” she protested vehemently. “Mira Reinhardt is dead.”

She stood, walking to an empty row of seats to sit by herself. She knew the answer to her question now. She wanted answers. She could survive them.

More than that, she could embrace them. And she would.

Seventeen-year-old Mira Reinhardt lies in a hospital room, unconscious atop the white sheets. Her face and body are covered in massive bruises and layers of bandages. Where her scar will someday reside sits a particularly ghastly and grotesque set of staples, holding her face together while it heals. She’s in terrible shape, but the young doctor explains that there is always hope.

He stands next to Takeda, who looks over the young woman struggling to avoid stepping onto the welcome mat of death’s door.

“She’s certainly a fighter,” the doctor says.

“She will be,” Takeda says with certainty.

The doctor shakes his head. “Tragic. Especially since they still haven’t found out who did it.”

“There were no witnesses?” Takeda asks, already knowing the answer.

According to the police reports, the girl was walking home from an art class when the car slammed into her from behind.

Standard, random hit-and-run.

But Takeda knows that when it comes to the people surrounding William Reinhardt, nothing is random.

It’s calculated. Coordinated.

The doctor is surprised Takeda is asking these questions. From the way he’s dressed, the doctor assumes Takeda is one
of the detectives who have been in and out of the room since they brought the girl in.

“I’m a friend,” Takeda says, fixated on Mira’s still-beating heart, illustrated in green peaks and valleys on the EKG machine by her bed.

“What kind of friend?” the doctor asks.

Takeda reaches into his pocket and withdraws an envelope. He hands it to the doctor.

“What is this?” The doctor bends his head, opening it.

“Does it still matter who I am?” Takeda asks.

The doctor stares at the money inside the envelope before stuffing it into his pocket.

“What do you want?” he asks Takeda.

“Tell the girl’s father that she’s dead,” Takeda instructs. “That she never woke up.”

The doctor is clearly perplexed. “Why would you want me to do that?”

“Because in doing so, you’ll be saving her life,” Takeda says, knowing that Reinhardt won’t stop until his daughter is dead.

And Takeda won’t let that happen.

The girl still has so much to live for. And so much to avenge.

“How did it feel to finally face the one who wronged you?” Takeda asked Ava.

They were halfway home, halfway to Rebun Island. Ava was tired but grateful for the long flight. It was a comforting kind of limbo between Napa and Japan. Between what had happened and what was to come. Who they were and who they would be.

“It felt right,” Ava said after thinking about it. “Like I was restoring balance.”

Takeda nodded. “Exactly as it should.”

Ava sat back in her seat. “I just can’t believe that Reinhardt arranged to have my grandmother killed,” she said. “That someone close to me and to my grandmother herself, was behind it.” She looked to Takeda for answers. “Why would Marie want to hurt my grandmother? To steal Starling from me?”

Takeda shook his head. “Even I am surprised by this revelation,” he said. “Are you certain Charlie wasn’t lying? Attempting to alleviate his own guilt by blaming another?”

“I don’t think so. It makes a strange kind of sense. How else would someone know exactly how to play me? Exactly
what it would take to steal the vineyard? I just don’t understand why Marie would betray my grandmother. Why would she go to such lengths to ruin my family?”

Takeda considered. “In my experience, a lack of logic often points to something more… personal.”

Ava nodded. “You’re right. It does feel personal.”

“What will you do?” Takeda asked.

Ava looked into his eyes. “Find out why she did it. And then make her pay.”

She turned her head to the window. Charlie was just the beginning. Her revenge path was far from over.

A winged warrior glided gracefully through the sky as Ava stood on the edge of the cliff. She watched the bird soar.

A starling, perhaps?

She’d like to think so. It would be fitting.

Opening her hand, she looked at the cork souvenir in her palm. It was one of the few items she had brought with her, one of the mementos in the satchel hidden in the wall. Looking back, it was easy to see why she had chosen it for her journey. It had been the perfect reminder of the person she’d been, the past that had once grounded her like an anchor in a strong wind.

But like the piece of Acala’s flame, she didn’t need it anymore.

She knew who she was now. Knew where she was headed. Most of all she knew she was strong enough for whatever lay ahead. That she would adapt.

And prevail.

A cool breeze blew in off the channel, like a silent sign that it was time.

Time to let go. Time to move on.

She didn’t hesitate. She just lifted her arm and threw the souvenir out over the cliff. It spun end over end, glinting in the sunlight as it sailed toward the deep blue sea.

She felt lighter already.

Another bird flew overhead, then another. Soon a whole flock of them soared past. Like they were welcoming her home.

The sound of rocks crunching underfoot pulled her attention from the birds. She turned to find Jane approaching from the tera. She stood next to Ava and looked out over the water. When she finally spoke her voice was soft but sure.

“When I was training with Takeda, right after I came out of my coma, they flew by me, too. Now I wonder if they were starlings.”

Ava smiled at her. “I don’t know. They’re too far away to be sure, but I like to think they are.”

“Ava…,” Jane began, “I’m so sorry. For what my father did to you, for not knowing that everything I had came at your expense.” She shook her head. “I was so stupid.”

Ava squeezed her arm. “He was your father. And love is blind. I know that better than most people.”

“Still,” Jane said, shaking her head, “I can’t believe that all that time, I was in your house, your room…”

“I’d planned to raise my daughter in that room one day.” Ava turned to her. “Who knows, maybe she would have carved her initials next to mine.”

Jane could only stare.

A few minutes passed before Ava spoke again. “You’ll figure it all out. I promise.”

“How do you know?”

Ava looks at her resolutely. “Because I’ll help you.”

They looked back out at the sea, shielding their eyes against the sun. A few dark sleeper fish rose above the waters before falling back into the abyss.

A few minutes later, Jon ambled up behind them.

“Hey,” he said.

But his tone was too casual. Ava was starting to know him. She could tell he had something on his mind.

Jane seemed to hear it, too.

“Well, I’ll see you guys at training.” She jogged off, leaving them alone.

It was strange to be back on the cliff with Jon. They had met here so many times before, but this time, it felt different. They had both changed. Both adapted. Both evolved.

A long silence settled between them. Ava began to wonder if she was wrong. Maybe Jon had just come to look at the sea.

“Come on,” she said, turning to leave. “We should go, too.”

Jon stepped in front of her, their bodies close. “I owe you an explanation, Ava. About my time working for Cain.”