The Gatekeeper's Son (14 page)

“Do you think I am ordinary?”

“You’re definitely not normal.”

“So, what do you think I am?”

I let out a soft laugh. “Well … I know you’re no exchange student, but then again, I do play too many video games.”

“I will not ask what a video game is.”

“You see, that’s just it. You don’t know about stuff you should know about. And you’ve got some spiritual or magic power that can affect others… and you fight like crazy.” I looked up at the sky and grinned. “I’d say you’re a warrior monk from the Shaolin Temple.”

She made a face.

“Or
maybe
you’re a ninja,” I said. “Your masters keep you hidden away, train you all day, and send you out at night to kill people.” I smiled at her. “How was that?”

She smiled and shook her head and then reached out and touched my knee. Her energy flowed into me again.

My eyes met hers. “Your energy is so familiar,” I said. “I feel peaceful when I’m with you.”

“Even when I am a bitch?”

I looked down. “I shouldn’t have said that. I’m sorry.”

She nodded. “I also feel different when I am around you. Sitting next to you like this, my feelings get all tangled up. I feel happy and yet …” she shook her head. “Such feelings will make this assignment difficult.”

My eyes narrowed. “Assignment?”

Her eyes met mine. “Will you trust me?”

I swallowed the lump in my throat. “I don’t think I have any choice.”

“All right.” She let out a nervous laugh. “I do not think I am supposed to tell you any of this.” She looked down. “But my … teachers have decided I must complete an assignment here.”

“OK …”

She took a deep breath and put her hands together in front of her chest in a prayer position. “Please do not get angry at me,” she whispered. “I did not mean for this to happen, and we have no idea how it
did
happen. You must understand that.”

I leaned back, my hands against the cool grass, waiting, holding my breath.

She took a breath in. “
You
are my assignment.”

I did my best to remain calm.

“Last night I told my … my teachers everything, what happened from the first time I saw you. I got in big trouble and they sent me back.”

“You flew to Japan and back in one day?”

“They sent me back because of what happened—your awakening.” Her face was tight with apprehension. “You must realize that what you are experiencing—these feelings, this energy—are not normal. My Elders are very interested. They want to know why you have these abilities and want you to use them wisely.” She managed a weak smile. “I am here to help you, to teach you what I can, and to protect you.”

I forced a laugh. “You know, that ninja-monk theory doesn’t sound so crazy anymore.” I took a deep breath. “Protect me from who?”

“Mostly from yourself,” she said. “You do not want to be setting off tsunamis all the time, do you?”

“So tell me what’s happening to me.”

“Well,” she said, sounding far less confident than I’d have liked. “That is what we are going to find out.” She grinned at me. “This will be fun!”

I frowned at her. “You’re not much of a teacher.”

Her smile faded. “I cannot teach until I know what you need to know.” She sat up and took a ceremonial poise. “We must make a pact. Then I will become your master.”

“Whoa, hold on! I’ve had it with people telling me what to do.” And technically, I think Okaasan already considered herself my master.

“Tradition must be followed!” she snapped.

“And why is that?”

“Because that is the way it is!”

“Well, I’m not doing it that way.”

She glared at me. “Rules are rules.”

I leaned toward her. “If it was a rule to kill yourself when you turn sixteen, would you?”

“Of course.”

I blinked. “Well, that’s stupid.”

Now she blinked.

“Didn’t you break a rule when you sneaked to San Francisco?”

She was silent. I stared at her, growing frustrated, and I guess I must have let some of my energy escape me. My body jerked as she hit me—not with her hands but with energy. I’m sure she would have been glowing if it had been dark enough. I fell backward, but I managed to listen, too. Amid her energy wave came a barrage of emotions, mainly anxiety and indecision.

My eyes widened. “I felt you.” She’d told me something, whether she meant to or not. “You can’t be my master if you don’t have a clue what you’re doing.” I reached out and tapped her foot. “Think up a different way for us to work together, something on your own.”

She stared at the water. After a few minutes, she sighed. “How about a vow of trust … between us?”

I smiled. “Agreed.” I held out my hand to shake hers, but she ignored it.

“We need some sake.” When she saw my expression, she said, “When two people form a bond, the sharing of sake is like a solemn oath.”

I reached for my backpack. “I have a bottle of apple juice. No preservatives added.”

She frowned, but a moment later a small grin appeared on her face. “Well, it
is
from the Mother Earth.”

She moved so we were face-to-face, sitting cross-legged an arm’s length apart. We both took a sip of the juice, first her then me, and for some reason the act felt momentous, almost intimate. I found myself blushing again, but for the first time in days, I felt good, like the world was full of new, exciting possibilities.

“So, where do we start?”

She stood up. “We should return the journal.”

CHAPTER

12

It was after four when Shoko and I crossed the boulevard of the Crescent. Grandpa’s house was quiet, no cars on the driveway. I punched the intercom button.

“Good afternoon, James.” It sounded like the same guy from Sunday.

“Hello there,” I said, “just me and my friend again.”

There was a long pause.

“I’m sorry for the wait,” the voice said. “You’re not scheduled for a visit and the Chairman isn’t home.” Another pause. “I’ll have to check with Mr. Barrymore.”

I looked sideways at Shoko. “I don’t need Barrymore’s permission to be here.”

“There’s … been a change to your status.”

I glared at the camera. “Tell me.”

“Yes, sir!” I could almost hear him sit taller in his chair. “You can’t be at the house without a protection team.” I looked at Shoko. She was staring at me with an odd expression.

“I want to go in.”

“I’m afraid I can’t—”

I tried to imitate Grandpa. “Open the gate now!”

“Yes, sir!” A moment later, the gate clicked and began to open. “But I’ll still need to inform Mr. Barrymore.”

“No you don’t.” I looked up at the cameras. “Are these recording?”

“Yes, 24/7,” he said.

“Can the recording be deleted?”

“Yes, … but I’m not authorized to—”

“You are now. Do it, then forget you saw us here today.”

“Yes, sir!”

I sneaked another glance at Shoko. I couldn’t believe this was working—but now I was worried. Had Grandpa somehow figured out the journal was missing? Probably not, but why else wouldn’t they let me in the house?

The house was dark and quiet. The flowers on the foyer table, the bouquet from my birthday, drooped toward the dusty tabletop.

“William?”

There was no reply, which was odd but also a relief.

I turned to Shoko. “Let’s go.” I climbed the stairs, two at a time, with her following close behind. I felt like a burglar, but the journal was back in the drawer within minutes.

Shoko pointed to a large portrait on the wall. “Who is the woman with Edward?”

“That’s my grandmother. She died before I was born.”

“She looks unhappy—they both do.”

I didn’t see what she saw, but their pose was stiff and formal, no fun about them at all. I glanced at the other painting—the one covering the safe.

“Shoko, … do you sense anything?”

“You know I cannot.” Then her tone changed. “Why, do you?”

“Well …”

She followed my gaze. “Is it coming from that …
safe
thing?”

“The gold’s in there.” I started toward the fireplace but stopped and backed toward his desk. When I grabbed a roll of tape from the top drawer, I saw the yellow sticky note beside his keyboard again, unmoved from last time, the same digits and numbers staring up at me.

I rolled the ladder along the bookcase toward the fireplace and put a strip of tape over a small hole on the bookcase sidewall.

“There’s a security camera in there. It watches the safe.”

She moved back. “Something watches from the books?”

“It’s a camera, for God’s sake.” I climbed down, my gaze back on the picture. “It’s not alive.”

“Are there other … cameras watching us?” She sounded nervous.

“No … Grandpa doesn’t like them.” I thought for a moment and then turned the brass candleholder on the right side of the mantle. The painting slid open just like in a scene from an old movie.

The LCD display on the front of the safe came alive when I touched it, but I nearly fell off the chair when a female voice asked for a password. I stared at the screen and concentrated. I felt energy rise inside me.

“You don’t need to force it, just listen!”

“OK, OK, I’m sorry,” I whispered. A moment later, I punched a code into the keypad. Then the voice asked for a thumbprint. “This is insane,” I muttered. I took a deep breath and put my thumb against the screen.

“Good afternoon, James. Access granted.”

The safe door clicked opened. I glanced back at Shoko. She leaned forward, her eyes wide in astonishment, and climbed onto the chair beside me as I pulled the door open. We peered in together.

“Oh …” she whispered.

The gold bars lay there, rough and shaped like little surfboards with strange markings. They shone as if just polished—the same as when Grandpa showed them to me years ago. Beside the bars lay a rolled-up piece of leather—the map?

“So this is the treasure,” Shoko said in a low voice.

The sight had me transfixed. They should have been in a museum somewhere, not locked away. Grandpa didn’t need these anymore. And I was starting to think he should never have taken them in the first place.

“I wonder how old these are.” I reached out to take one, but Shoko slapped my hand away.

“Do not touch them! I told you it
changed
him—they are evil!”

I turned to look at her. “You don’t know that for sure.”

“And you know nothing!”

I shook my head and reached in again.

Shoko leaped off the chair, braids spinning out. Her hand flew back to her racket case. By the time she landed, a
wakizashi
, a short curved sword, was in her hand and pointed straight at me.

“Touch it and I will cut you down!” she screamed.

I jerked my hand away from the gold. She wasn’t hiding her feelings now—her fear and sorrow hit me like a slap in the face. She took a step forward and placed the tip of the wakizashi just a few inches away from my heart. She looked upset, but her sword never wavered.

“Please, Junya, do not make me do this.”

We stayed that way for a long moment, me on the chair, her below.

“OK, Shoko, I won’t touch them.”

She wiped a tear from her face with her left hand but held the sword steady.

I tried to smile. “Wouldn’t killing me break our bond of trust?”

“Death is the only way to break the bond,” she said. “And I will not hesitate if I must. I cannot let you become corrupted.”

I wasn’t about to remind her she was hesitating right now, luckily for me.

A car door slammed outside. I closed the safe, hopped off the chair, and ran to the window. Shoko crowded in close behind me.

“There are many men,” she whispered.

I heaved a sigh. “I guess my protection team is here.”

“Look … it is Edward!” She sounded shaken.

“We’ve got to get out of here!” I punched the lock button and turned the candlestick back. The picture took forever to slide closed.

Shoko was staring at me, confused. “You will get in trouble?”

Panic rose in me. “I opened his safe!” I hissed. “He’s gonna kill me!”

I heard the front door open as we moved into the hallway. There was the usual murmur of voices and then someone swore.