thing inside. But...a whole building? The amount of concentration that must require was unfathomable.
Also, how am I supposed to get through? The barrier covers the whole building. Unless...
My heart beat faster. Very powerful ki masters had such control over their ki that they could choose who could pass through the barrier and who could not. If Master Isao heard the demons coming and realized I wasn’t at the temple, surely he would make it so I could pass through the barrier. Right?
Setting my jaw, I took a step away from the bushes, when a tremor went through the ground under my feet. Gazing back at the hall, I saw a massive horned shadow appear. My heart nearly stopped. Silhouetted against the flames, the beast walked slowly around the corner of the building, resolving itself into something huge and terrible.
O...oni? I stumbled backward in terror, watching as the enormous red creature lumbered toward the entrance, scattering smaller demons before it. Cold sweat trickled down my back as it came into view, fangs, horns and huge spiked club shining in the torchlight. This was the monster from the storybooks. Jigoku’s most infamous denizens were the nightmares of legend, terrifying and near unstoppable. Why...why is there an oni here? Why?
But that was a stupid question. I already knew the answer: it was here for the scroll.
Oh, why didn’t I listen to Master Isao? When he told me about the scroll, and why it was so important, why didn’t I listen?
At the top of the steps, the oni paused, gazing toward the entrance of the hall, the heavy spiked tetsubo resting over one shoulder. Swinging the club in one hand, it prodded the barrier with the end of the weapon and watched the wall flicker and pulse with every poke. The smaller demons clustered around the oni’s legs, waiting eagerly, their eyes glowing as red as the firelight. The oni snorted, rolled its massive shoulders and hefted its club in both hands.
It brought the tetsubo smashing down on the ki barrier, and the shock wave that pulsed out tossed the branches of the surrounding trees and sent the demon horde stumbling back. For a moment, the invisible dome shivered into view, rippling like a mirage before fading from sight again. I winced, wondering if the barrier would shatter, knowing that each blow was also an assault on the monks’ concentration as they struggled to maintain their focus. The barrier held, but the oni raised the club to hit it again, and the horde cackled as they waited for it to fall.
I had to get inside, now.
Kami protect me! With a deep breath, I stepped from the bushes and walked as calmly as I could across the yard, praying my disguise would hold. Several demons glanced up, frowning, but most of their attention was diverted to the huge oni, who smashed its club into the barrier again. In the hellish light, the dome rippled, and I could see silver cracks creeping up the surface, making my blood run cold. It wouldn’t hold much longer.
Wanting to avoid the massive oni, I slipped around the side of the building, breathing a sigh of relief as I ducked around the corner...and immediately collided with a demon sprinting around the wall. Its blue bulbous head smacked into my stomach, driving the air from my lungs with the force of a ki punch. I reeled back and fell, gasping, and felt my hold on the illusion shatter in a puff of white smoke.
The demon, who had also been knocked back, rubbed its forehead with a claw, wincing, then glared at me. Its red eyes widened in shock as it saw, not a fellow demon, but a girl with furry ears and a tail, sitting there in the dirt. It leaped up with a howl and lunged, and I scrambled back, just managing to dodge the sword as it thunked into the spot where I had been.
Two more demons appeared from shadows: one holding a spear, the other brandishing a pair of kama sickles. They cackled as they spotted me and charged, while the blue demon continued to swipe at me with his blade. As the others closed in, I gave a snarl of frustration and hurled a ball of kitsune-bi into the blue demon’s face.
It flinched back with a hiss, claws going to its eyes, as if expecting to be burned. The blue-white flames flared bright for a moment, then faded harmlessly into nothing. But it gave me enough time to lunge past the demon, changing into a fox as I did, and dart beneath the veranda. There was a sharp tingle as I passed through the ki barrier, like a static shock along your whole body, and then the comforting darkness of the space beneath the hall closed around me. Safe.
My legs shook as I crawled beneath the floorboards, sliding over cold earth and pushing through webs, looking for the loose board that would lead behind the statue of the Prophet. Overhead, the booms of the oni’s club shook the building, showering me with dust and causing spiders to flee in terror.
A sliver of orange light glimmered in the darkness ahead, illuminating a thin rectangle of dirt, and I hurried toward it. Squeezing between the planks, I clawed myself onto the floor of the great hall, the statue of the Jade Prophet looming overhead. I staggered away from the statue and looked around for Master Isao.
My stomach twisted. He sat before the statue of the Prophet, hands cupped in his lap, eyes closed and face serene. The rest of the monks sat around him, also in meditation, though I could see sweat pouring from their faces, their brows furrowed in concentration. Each time the oni’s club hit the barrier outside, one of them would flinch, clenching his jaw or pressing his lips together. I saw Denga sitting behind Master Isao, a stream of red running from his nose as he fought to maintain the barrier. His eyebrows twitched with every blow, and his jaw was set, even as blood dripped from his chin to spatter his hands.
As I forced myself back to human form, Master Isao’s eyes opened to gaze right at me. Smiling, as if this meeting was over the dinner table and I had come in late, he raised a hand and beckoned me forward.
“Ah, there you are, Yumeko-chan. I’ve been waiting for you.”
“Master Isao!” I flung myself beside him. “What are we to do? The oni is almost through the barrier. How will we escape?”
“There is no escape,” Master Isao said calmly, making my heart plummet. “Not for us. We have done our duty. But you, Yumeko-chan. You must continue it.”
Horrified, I stared at him. “I don’t... I don’t understand, Master Isao,” I whispered. “What do you mean, I must continue it? How?”
I trailed off, as the wizened monk reached into the sleeve of his robe and drew something into the light. A simple case, made of dark lacquered wood, a red silk ribbon wrapped around the cylinder. I gasped as he held it up.
“Is that...?”
“Take it, Yumeko-chan,” Master Isao ordered, and held it out to me. “It must not fall into the hands of demons. You must keep it safe at all costs.” Another boom rattled the beams overhead, and one of the monks behind us drew in a sharp breath. Master Isao’s gaze never wavered from mine. “Take the scroll,” he said again, “and leave this place. Run, and don’t look back.”
Frantically, I shook my head. “I can’t,” I whispered, as my eyes grew hot, tears welling in the corners. “I can’t leave you. Where will I go? I don’t know anything about the outside world. How can I keep the scroll safe?”
“Fox girl.” Master Isao’s voice was firm, and I blinked at him in shock. Though the other monks often used that phrase, he never called me anything related to my true nature. “Listen to me. There is something I have not told you, a piece of your past I must reveal. When you first came to us, in the fish basket with the note pinned to your blanket...” He paused, a shadow of regret passing through his eyes, so quick I might have imagined it. “I have told you most of what the letter said,” Master Isao
