Senshi (A Katana Novel) (13 page)

26

T
he wheels of my skateboard coasted along the city sidewalk creating a gentle vibration that thrummed through my body. I tipped my head back and let the wind glide through my hair, which hung loose under my pink helmet. This was exactly what I needed.

I coasted along, tipping my weight back and forth so my board serpentined past cracks in the concrete, people leaving work, and street musicians until I lost momentum and had to kick off the ground with my foot.

I’d spent the entire day skating along the sidewalks of downtown St. Louis. And it was well worth the detention I was sure to receive for skipping class. I’d forgotten how much pleasure I could get from my board and how much skating had been a part of my life before my awakening—before Kim.

My heart clenched inside of my chest and I wobbled dangerously on my board. I slid to a grinding halt, kicked my board into my hand, and took a moment to gather myself.

I leaned against a building until, after a couple of minutes of sucking in breaths that ripped through my lungs, I felt confident enough to stand. I used the metal bars covering a broken shop window to hoist myself up. That’s when I realized that during my skate-induced bliss, I’d accidentally rolled into a bad neighborhood. To further prove this, a breeze kicked up the smell of rotting garbage and—uh, gross—urine from the nearby alley. As long as I left before it got any darker, I should be fine. I dusted my hands on my jeans and dropped my board to the ground. But before I sped away, a reflection on the broken glass of a guy walking up the stairs of the building across the street caught my attention.

I turned away from the window with a gasp. My eyes had to be playing tricks on me.

But no. The guy was really there. In fact, as if sensing my presence, he paused with his hand stretched for the door handle, and glanced at me over his shoulder. Even though his chin-length blond hair covered half his face, there was no mistaking who it was—Whitley. He winked at me and disappeared inside the building.

The world slipped out from under my feet and I fell back against the bars. No. It was impossible. I had to be seeing things. Whitley was dead. I’d left him pinned to the wall in my burning house. There was no way he could have escaped. I curled my fingers around the flaking bars for support. The first stirring of a cold breeze rustled beneath my skin and turned my blood to ice.

If Whitley wasn’t real, why was I having a danger premonition? It didn’t make sense.

A shadow spilled across my feet as someone stepped out of the alley next to me. “My, don’t you look pale. Almost like you’ve seen a ghost.” The figure shrouded in black stopped a couple of feet away from me and crossed his arms. I’d recognized his voice as one of the ninja who’d attacked me in the alley more than a month ago. I was willing to bet it was the same ninja who’d also hijacked my elevator and bombed the dojo.

Awesome.

Despite my heart doing backflips off my spine, I pressed a fist into my palm, cracking my knuckles. Rule number one with ninja: Never let them see fear. “Wow. All this attention? I gotta tell you, though, despite current pop culture references, girls do not like being stalked. A simple spa gift card would suffice.”

He laughed and shook his head. “Don’t flatter yourself. Even though the boss is pretty pissed you’re not dead yet, we actually have another mission for tonight. Finding you her
e is an added bonus.”

Wrong place, wrong time was fast becoming the theme of my life. And what did he mean by another mission? This was a run-down, nearly deserted neighborhood. What could they possibly want … But then it hit me. Whitley. This was the third time I’d thought I’d seen him only moments before a ninja attack. He was the link. They must be following his orders. And, after I’d ruined his plans to steal my ki and left him to die, it only made sense he’d want me dead.

Son of hibachi.

I rocked back on my feet and sank my weight into my heels to prepare for the fight that was sure to come. “Why don’t go you go tell Whitley to come out here and fight me himself?”

The ninja laughed. “He’s got more
important
things to worry about.”

Just then, another shadow spilled out of the alley, bleeding onto the concrete until it rose up and became solid. This ninja was shorter and curvier. It had to be the girl. She took a step forward and I noticed she moved with a slight limp—most likely the result of her thigh getting pierced in our first battle.

I lifted my hands and assumed a fighting stance. I wondered if the third ninja was waiting for a surprise attack or if he’d join them. “Where’s your buddy?”

The girl snorted. “He can’t fight. His arm is practically useless thanks to you.”

There was my silver lining. “Two against one? I like my odds.”

The girl darted forward. “Let’s see if you like this.” She reached into her pocket, withdrew two pointed shuriken, and hurled them at me.

I didn’t have enough time to get out of the way, so I kicked my board into my hand and held it in front of my face. The stars sank into the wood with a soft thwack. I turned the board over and examined the damage. The shuriken had created a crack wide enough that my board was no longer usable.

I dropped it on the ground. “Oh, come on! Can’t you destroy something I don’t care about? Like my history paper?” I unclipped my helmet and threw it to the side. It was
so
on.

The clanging sound of a chain unraveling caught my attention and I twisted in time to see the guy ninja had unraveled a manrikigusari. It looked to be about twenty feet of chain capped off with two lead spikes. The point of this weapon was to bludgeon someone to death. And I was that someone.

A typical manrikigusari was only a couple of feet long. I had no idea how the guy planned on handling such a long weapon. Or, at least I hadn’t until he tossed one end of the chain to the girl.

Awesome. It was apparent I was about to become an unwilling participant in the world’s deadliest game of Double Dutch. The girl hurled her end of the chain at my head at the same time the guy threw his at my chest. I ducked down, managing to miss both spiked ends as they sailed above me, but the ninja recovered each other’s end of the weapon and yanked forward, sweeping the chain behind my feet.

My head smacked against the concrete with enough force that fireworks exploded in the dark pockets behind my clenched eyes. I rolled over with an “Oof,” just as a metal spike kissed the sidewalk next to my neck, leaving a divot.

As the girl reined in her discarded chain, the other ninja threw his end at my chest. Still on the ground, I reached above my head until my fingers found my board. I quickly grabbed it and smacked the metal spike, sending it spiraling backward. The guy had just enough time to dive to the ground to avoid getting hit.

I jumped to my feet with my board held in front of me. Who knew skateboards made such good weapons?

The girl swung her end of the chain and ran at me. To avoid the whirlwind of lead, I ducked to the left and then again to the right to avoid her blows. Before she could strike again, I thrust my board into her chain. The momentum of the swinging chain ripped the board from my hands, hurtling it onto the street where it broke into two pieces. It gave me enough time to dart beside her and deliver a hook kick to her back.

She cried out as she stumbled onto her knees.

But I didn’t have time to celebrate. The guy had recovered his end of the chain. As he launched it at me, the first pinpricks of ki needled beneath my skin. I ducked just as the girl threw her end at my knees. I jumped over the hurtled spike and barely recovered my breath before the ninja exchanged ends and struck again.

The buzzing intensified. My throat constricted and I swallowed. I had to fight it—the last thing I needed was to lose control right now—especially when I’d almost killed myself last time.

I dodged another strike. My lungs burned and my legs began to tremble. I couldn’t fight them forever. How long had I been fighting them, anyway? Ten minutes? Twenty? It felt like forever. Something had to give.

I evaded another spike and ran down the length of the chain. Before he’d had the chance to recover his end of the chain, I landed a blow to his gut. He doubled over with a grunt.

“Enough.” The girl dropped her end of the chain, reached into her belt, and withdrew two kunai, a diamond-shaped tool with a sharpened point that could be used as a blade. She flipped the kunai in her hands so the blade end pointed down, and crossed her arms over her chest. With a scream of rage, she attacked.

She swiped high and I ducked. Her second swipe was aimed at my gut and I had enough time to pop back on my toes with my stomach sucked in before the world got to see what I’d eaten for lunch. If I didn’t know better, I would say her attacks had become even more intense. How was that even possible? Wasn’t fatigue rippling through her muscles like it ripped through mine?

She stabbed again, only this time I didn’t pull back in time. Fire burned across the newly made gash in my arm. A warm line of blood ran its way down my arm and dripped from my fingertips. I cursed under my breath and shook my arm, sprinkling the sidewalk with crimson rain.

The buzzing beneath my skin intensified and moved into my arm where it welled under the cut. I bit my lip and shuffled backward until my back hit the concrete wall of the building behind me.

The ninja smiled, as if she had me where she wanted me. She had no idea what she’d done.

The other ninja righted himself and moved beside her. “Any last words?” he asked.

I rolled my eyes. Why did people always ask you that before they killed you? It wasn’t like you were going to say something that would make them change their minds.

“Yes,” I answered. The first tendril of power pushed through my wound and wisped the hair around my head. If I was going down, at least I would take them down with me. “Why did the chicken cross the road?”

She hesitated and glanced at the guy. Her eyes were scrunched in a way that I knew she was frowning under her mask. The other ninja looked at her and shrugged.

I licked my dry lips. “To escape the onslaught of exploding ki headed his way.” Before they could move, I closed my eyes, focused on the energy raging inside of me, and let go.

27

T
he ki ripped from my body so viciously, it felt as if it were pulling bits of flesh along with it. It didn’t make sense. After I’d transcended and regained my past-life memories, I had been in complete control of my power. So why now was everything falling apart?

I fell to my knees, my hands pressed to my chest as I gasped in pain. God.
The pain.
My vision burned white hot from the agony of it. Was I dying? Why else would it hurt so bad?

Another burst of energy pushed through me hard enough to slam my back against the wall. I cried out and crumpled into a heap in the shadow cast by the building.

The same burst hit the two ninja and sent them flying into the middle of the street. I slowly pulled myself into a sitting position and tried to blink away the spots in my vision. My muscles ached and refused to respond as fast as I wanted them to. I knew the ninja wouldn’t stay down long and I had to get to my feet before their next attack. But after having the wind knocked out of me, my stiff body screamed to stay down.

The girl rolled onto her side and let out a low groan as the guy slowly climbed to his feet. I had the satisfaction of seeing him brace a hand against the small of his back as he glanced in my direction. Hopefully, whatever injury I’d inflicted would slow him down enough for me to get away. As banged up as I was, retreat was my only option.

He held out his hand to the other ninja who waved it away before staggering to her feet.

I pressed my palms against the building and used them to guide myself up.

The girl took a step toward me and stopped. “I don’t understand it.” Her eyes darted up and down the sidewalk. “Where did she go?”

I frowned. Pretending not to see me was a ninja tactic I was not familiar with. What did they want me to do? Wave my arms and call them over?

The other ninja scanned the edges of the building, his gaze falling over my body with each pass. “I don’t know. She was right there.”

Seriously? Were we in junior high? What was the point of this game? Even though the sun was moments from disappearing into the horizon and I was draped in the shadow of the building I leaned against, there was no way they couldn’t see me.

The guy cursed under his breath. “The boss is going to be pissed she got away again.”

The girl cried out with frustration. “We
had
her!” She punched the air before pointing to the side of the building. “She couldn’t have gotten very far. I’ll check this side and you check the other.”

The guy nodded and they both trotted around their assigned corners.

“What the what?” I whispered. Why were they messing with me? I glanced around, waiting for them to jump out at me with a “Aha! Tricked you!” But they never did.

Something warm trickled down my neck followed by the sharp metallic smell of copper. Blood. I must have hit the wall harder than I thought. I used my hand to feel for the wound at the back of my head. When I found it, hot and burning beneath my fingertips, I brought my hand in front of my face to see how much blood stained my fingers. The only problem was, I didn’t see any blood.

I didn’t see anything at all.

A strangled sound escaped from my mouth as I choked on my own breath. It didn’t make sense. I was holding my hand in front of my face, therefore, I should see my hand in front of my face, but all I really saw was the empty street in front of me. I spun a circle, trying to catch a glimpse of my arms, my legs, my feet, my
anything
. But all I saw was the building next to me, the street in front of me, and the sidewalk beneath me.

I, on the other hand, wasn’t there.