Etherno Page 7

  The door cracked open and Kasai poked her head in.

  “Hey, Onin, can we talk?” Her voice trailed off. She stepped into the room and looked around. “Wow, this is your room?”

  Onin and Tannin nodded.

  “Wow.” She took another step and peered at the fireplace. “Cerina and I are crammed in a room about a quarter of this size. We’ve got a twin-sized bunk bed, and have to share a dresser.”

  “Wow, that sucks,” Tannin said.

  “I wonder if it’s part of the plan to make us get along?” Onin said.

  Kasai looked around for a place to sit.

  “Here, have my chair,” Tannin got up and headed for the bathroom. “I was just getting up anyway. I need to see if our bathroom has an exhaust fan.”

  “I hope it does,” Onin said.

  “Eww.” Kasai shuddered and sat down.

  “So, what’d you want to talk about?” Onin said.

  Onin leaned closer to Kasai. She could be here just to talk with him, or she might want to further discuss her vision and the thugs and stuff. Her hair was down again and hung over the left side of her face. She was so pretty…

  “Stuff.” Kasai brushed her hair back and twirled it around her finger. “Do you think this will work?”

  “What?”

  “Us. Tannin, Cerina, you, and I as a team. Tannin can’t seem to take anything seriously, and Cerina…”

  “Yeah… That’s just Tannin’s way of coping. I think he’ll get used to working with us. Cerina…” Onin sighed. “I’m not sure what her problem is.”

  “I think it’s me.”

  “What? That’s crazy. You’re nice to everyone. Why would she hate you more than the rest of us?”

  “She’s from the Northlands. Have I told you that I grew up there before the monks found me?”

  Onin shook his head. That would explain a lot. Any rural area was a bad place to be a giftling, but the Northlands was the worst. He’d heard some stories…

  “That Onryo girl seems to follow me around.” Kasai pulled her legs up to her chest. “From what I gather, she doesn’t exactly mean any harm, but she seems to have a temper and she destroys a bunch of stuff, then all the giftlings in the area get blamed, and the fear and hatred just gets worse. So, I think Cerina blames me for some of the stuff she’s had to go through.”

  “That’s not fair. You’d think that’d make her more sympathetic towards you,” Onin said.

  Kasai snorted. “She doesn’t seem like the empathic type.”

  Onin laughed. “That’s true. She’ll either come around, or she won’t, I guess.”

  “Yeah.” She smiled. “Thanks.”

  The bathroom door opened and Tannin stepped out. He quickly shut the door behind him.

  “Wooo! Don’t go in there!”

  “No exhaust fan?” Onin asked.

  “Yeah, there’s an exhaust fan. Might want to let it run for a bit.”

  “I’ll just be going now.” Kasai stood and took a step toward the door.

  “No, stay for a bit. We were going to play Usagi Kyorinrin. Want to join us?” Tannin said.

  Kasai rolled her eyes but sat back down. “Sure, why not. Just don’t tell the monks. Got a deck I can borrow?”

  “The monks don’t like Usagi Kyorinrin?” Onin asked.

  “Eh.” Kasai shrugged. “They know it’s just a game, but it also has demons and spells and such, and they think that for someone with less spiritual knowledge and defense, it can open them up to stuff that could hurt them. But for all that, it was one of the monks that taught me to play. He had a dragon deck, and when we played he’d tell me stories about the real dragons. How they came from Alandra, how they were created to help people, then got selfish and were banished.”

  “You believe all that?” Tannin said.

  Kasai shrugged. “Raised by monks, remember? You have some um, odd, beliefs of your own.”

  “Just for that, you get to play with my dragon and rabbit deck,” Tannin said.

  “You made a dragon and rabbit deck? That works?”

  “He did.” Onin rolled his eyes. “Well, it kinda works, for cards that aren’t meant to go together.”

  “This should be interesting.” Kasai shook her head and shuffled her cards.

  Karen was waiting for them on the lawn early the next morning. Onin gave a half-hearted wave. Tannin and Cerina looked like they were asleep on their feet. Kasai actually managed a smile.

  “Good morning everyone!” Karen’s smile was, if possible, even bigger than it was last night. “Isn’t it a wonderful day today! We’re going to have so much fun and learn a lot, too!”

  “It’s peppy and a morning person. Kill me now,” Cerina said.

  “Team-building—” Tannin yawned. “—must be working, ‘cause I agree with her for once.”

  “Today’s task—” Karen went on talking as though she hadn’t heard them. “—is to work on our communication skills. After that, we’re going to do some trust exercises, and then we’re going to have sharing time around the fire while we have dinner!”

  “Is it just me, or are we in kindergarten?” Cerina asked no one in particular.

  “She didn’t mention lunch,” Tannin said.

  “Knock it off, you two, we’re here to learn,” Onin said.

  Cerina rolled her eyes, but followed them over to where Karen sat.

  “In today’s communication exercise, you’re going to split into pairs. I’ll give one of you a shape, and the other a pen and a blank pad of paper. Without naming the shape, you’ll try to get your partner to duplicate the shape. Onin and Kasai, you’ll start off together, and Tannin and Cerina.”

  Onin turned over the card he was given. It had an outline of a square. That shouldn’t be too hard.

  Drawing shapes wasn’t difficult. Trying to make himself heard over Tannin and Cerina’s squabbing was. After they’d completed the shapes, they switched partners and shape assignments. Kasai was easy to work with. Cerina complained the whole time, but eventually he’d been able to communicate instructions for his shape. Tannin would have been easy to work with except for two things. One, Tannin was lazy, two, they kept having to break up fights between Cerina and Kasai.

  First, Cerina wouldn’t sit back to back with her. Then Kasai was deliberately sabotaging her. And it got worse from there.

  “That was… not your best,” Karen was actually frowning. “Some of you did really good, and some of you could not complete the assignment. But when one fails, the whole team fails. So, you earned a five mile hike before the next activity. And before you ask—” She glared at Cerina. “—if EVERY team member doesn’t complete the hike, none of you get food.”

  She pointed to a trail marker at the edge of the lawn. Onin turned and trudged toward it. He didn’t mind a hike, he just didn’t like losing. Something was going to have to be done about Cerina’s attitude. What, he didn’t know.

  Kasai, Tannin, and even Cerina were quiet for the first few miles. Hopefully they were thinking things over.

  “What’s that?” Kasai stopped and put a hand to her ear.

  “I don’t hear anything,” Tannin said.

  “No, she’s right.” Cerina pointed off to the right. “Sounds like a person, possibly in pain.”

  They pushed through the bush for a few yards. Now Onin could hear it too. Something was thrashing around in the brush and crying out in pain.

  Onin shoved a fern aside and jerked to a stop. Saija, the portal-using Natas girl, was on the ground in front of them.

  Chapter 6

  Unwanted Help

  Onin looked down. Saija, the girl that had almost killed them about a month ago, was on her side in the dirt in a small clearing. She still wore the skimpy two-piece outfit that they had last seen her in. Her hair was a mess and full of twigs, she was covered in dirt, and her right leg was missing below the knee. The stump was fragmented. Black lines ran all over it, and something yellow oozed out of what was left of her leg.

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nbsp; “If it isn’t the half-breed and friends.” Saija sneered at them. Her voice was strained. “Didn’t think I’d run into you here. Oh well. If you could make it quick, that’d be convenient.”

  “Make what quick?” Onin asked.

  He and the others entered the clearing and surrounded Saija.

  “Ugh, I hate asking all nice-like.” Saija rolled her eyes and ground her teeth. “If you really are the goody-two-shoes you act like, kill me quickly.”

  “We’re not going to kill you.” Kasai bent down and examined Saija’s leg. “Onin, that leg doesn’t look good. Can your servitors do anything about it?”

  Onin bent down to get a closer look at Saija’s leg. The flesh looked charred and rotten at the bottom.

  “Yeah, killing people isn’t how we operate.” Onin looked over at Kasai and generated a fist-sized servitor. “I don’t know if a servitor can heal that or not, but it’s worth a try.”

  It floated over and ran a healing beam over Saija’s leg. The color improved a little, and the pus was gone, but it still looked bad. The servitor bobbed up and down for a few moments, then lowered itself down and attached to the stump.

  “Don’t make me beg you not to toy with me, I—” Saija blinked and the tension eased out of her face. “Wait, it doesn’t hurt anymore. Trying to keep me alive long enough to interrogate?”

  Onin sighed. “We have different views on life.”

  “Ya think?” Saija said.

  “Why are we helping her, anyway? She did try to kill us. This is probably a trap,” Cerina said.

  “Cerina, she’s hurt.” Kasai stood and turned to face her. “We can’t just leave her here. Ard says that if we have the power to help someone, and don’t, that’s wrong.”

  “Oh great, Ard followers.” Saija made a face. “Do you have any idea what I am? If you follow Ard, you really do want to kill me.”

  “That’s not what the monks taught me,” Kasai said.

  “Listen, we can argue about this later. Right now, we need to get her to a doctor,” Onin said.

  “But—” Cerina started to say something.

  “Later. They’re right. If we don’t help her, we’re no better than the bad guys,” Tannin said.

  Onin generated another servitor. It hovered over Saija and reached out to grab her with four tendrils of light.

  “Tannin, cover our rear. Kasai, lead the way back, please,” Onin said.

  Tannin saluted and fell back a few yards. Kasai started pushing through the foliage in the direction of the bootcamp building.

  It took them about an hour to get back. Everyone was silent for the duration of the trip. They were probably all thinking the same thing Onin was: this would make a really good trap. Well, everyone but Saija. Who knew what she was thinking.

  Karen met them at the edge of the woods. “You’re just a little late, Is everything… Oh. Who’s this? I don’t think she’s with any of the other groups…”

  “This is Saija,” Onin stepped to the side to let the servitor bring Saija forward. “She’s, uh, an acquaintance of ours. Is there a doctor here? Her leg is hurt.”

  Karen gasped and put a hand to her mouth. “Bring her inside, there’s a nurse’s station on the first floor.”

  Onin and the others followed Karen inside, past the reception area, and around the corner into a white room with two beds. The servitor lowered her onto the bed on the right, then popped. The servitor on her leg stayed in place.

  A man only a few years older than Onin entered the room.

  “Hi, I’m Emmett, the EMT. What have we got here?” he said.

  “I hurt my leg,” Saija glared at Tannin while she was talking.

  “What happened?”

  “Long story. I got stabbed with a stick, my mas—uh, boss, threw me out into the woods for failing my mission, and now that I’m cut off, spiritual rot has set in. I doubt there’s much you can do.”

  “Really.” The EMT raised an eyebrow and turned to Onin. “She’s been out there a while, probably delirious. I’ll stabilize her and call the hospital. You can go back to your exercises now.”

  “Exercises?” Saija said.

  “Yes,” Karen clapped her hands together. “Your friends are here at team building bootcamp. And I must say they worked together really well helping you!”

  “Seriously?” Saija burst into laughter. “Team building bootcamp? That’s great. You got sent back to preschool. I can’t believe you defeated me. When my former master finds you, he’ll tear right through you.”

  She doubled over with laughter and rolled toward the edge of the bed, and managed to catch the handrail before she fell off.

  “You’d better go,” the EMT said.

  “We’re staying. She’s very dangerous,” Onin said.

  “I’ll go call Professor Jekao,” Kasai said.

  “Speaking of which,” Saija shuffled on the bed. “I’ll hop off and try to die with some dignity.”

  “You can’t go—”

  Before the EMT finished speaking, Saija swung off the bed, slammed his head into the wall, slipped his pen from his front pocket, and had it pressed into his throat.

  “Saija, sit down,” Onin said.

  “Huh, right,” Saija held out her hand. Nothing happened. “Um, there’s supposed to be a portal there.”

  Onin reached out with his thoughts to the servitor. It was still in healing mode. Onin pointed to the servitor that was still attached to her right leg.

  “Between that, whatever the rot is that you mentioned, blood loss, and everything else, you’re in no condition to fight. Now, sit down, or I’ll make another servitor and force you to sit.”

  Saija hopped over to the bed, slammed her butt down onto it, and crossed her arms.

  Professor Jekao arrived four hours later. He must have ran to the monorail station as soon as Kasai had called him to have arrived that quickly. Four policemen were with him. While they secured the room, Professor Jekao motioned for Onin to join him in the hallway.

  “This is the girl that attacked you earlier?” the professor asked.

  “Saija, yes, sir.” Onin nodded. “She needs to have that leg looked at. May we be present for her debriefing, sir?”

  “Ordinarily, I’d say you could observe, but you’re not finished here yet.”

  “Oh.” Onin looked into the room, then back at the professor. “We’re already involved in this. She’s really strong, and she’s got some kind of master, and we wanted to see it through.”

  “I admire your dedication, but she needs to be checked out at the hospital first. After that, you have to go through proper channels. The only reason you’re involved in this at all is because you and the others have strong gifts and are, well, good bait. That said, you’ll likely be needed to flush out the rest of the people involved. Finish learning how to work as a team here, then come back to Dabrath. I’m sure we’ll know more by then.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Onin sighed. He and the others did need to be able to work as a team. That much was evident from the disasters they seemed to make of every mission so far. On the other hand, he wasn’t at all confident in the ability of the police to keep Saija contained.

  Onin yawned. It wasn’t even light out yet, and Karen had already dragged them back out to the lawn in front of the cabin. Tannin, Kasai, and Cerina stood next to him, forming a loose semi-circle. Had the others gotten any sleep, or were they also up all night wondering about Saija, her master, and everything? Tannin looked half-asleep, but he always did when someone made him get out of bed before noon. Kasai looked introspective, but again, she always did. Cerina, now there was a mystery. Her face was blank, and she picked at imaginary dirt under her nails. Why was she so angry all the time?

  “Okay, everyone,” Karen said. “Today we’re doing a maze. Only it’s more like a minefield.”

  She even sounded perky at oh-dark-hundred. Perhaps Tannin was onto something, about her not being gesaran.

  “Today is all about communica
tion, and working together as a team.” Karen lead them around the corner of the building. “One person is going to be blindfolded, and the rest will guide him or her through the maze. One person will give one direction, the next person will give the second direction, and so on. But watch out! There are traps you’ll want to avoid.”

  A maze was laid out on the lawn with tape. The pattern wasn’t terribly complicated, but the challenge would be following the other persons directions. Hopefully Cerina wouldn’t ruin this for all of them.

  “Let’s see, who’s first…” Karen looked around and pointed to Tannin.

  He groaned and stepped forward to be blindfolded.

  “Go straight forward for about two paces,” Onin turned to face Kasai. “Do you think Saija’s going to co-operate with the police?”

  “Turn left ninety degrees, and take one step,” Kasai said. Then, in a softer tone, “I don’t know. She doesn’t seem like the type to be helpful, but she was really subdued and quiet yesterday.”

  “Too quiet. I don’t trust her,” Cerina said.

  “This is weird, Cerina and I have been agreeing a lot lately. Is there a rift in space-time or something?” Tannin snorted. “Also, where do I go next?”

  “Oops, my turn, sorry.” Cerina grinned and rubbed her palms together. “Uh, let’s see, straight for….about, oh, four paces.”

  Tannin ran straight into a plastic square—which squirted him in the face.

  “Hey! You did that on purpose!”

  Cerina doubled over laughing and didn’t notice a black plastic nozzle pop out of the ground in front of her. It completely soaked her with water. She stopped laughing and glared at everyone.

  “Hey! What was that? That’s not funny.”

  “Oh,” Karen tilted her head and looked off to the side. “Did I forget to mention that both of you get hit by the traps?” She looked Cerina right in the eyes. “You win as a team, or you lose as a team. Not just here. This is just a game. What about in the real world? You think about that, missy!”

  Cerina lowered her head. “Sorry,” she whispered.