Chapter 159

The strain was still there, even after a few days had passed. Though her mother and grandmother did their best to get along, Ru could feel the tension anytime the two of them were in the same room together. But then, the residual energy had been there already, before Ru mentioned that she’d changed Larkin into a human so that her parents could be together. It just seemed more prominent once there was something specific for them to disagree on again. Ru realized neither of them would ever be happy living under the same roof, so she was relieved when they were sent word that Sky’s forces were just about ready and they would likely be headed off to Japan within a few days. The sooner Ru could get the portal closed the better. As to the other part of her mission, she’d have to figure that out when the time came.

Lyric had information from her sister she needed to pass on to the rest of the team, so they decided to meet at Rider’s house since he was the only one who didn’t live with his family. Even though Windy was retired, she tended to get very involved whenever they tried to meet at her house. Cutter decided it would probably be better for all of them if his mom wasn’t so hands-on, particularly since she had been forced into retirement after Leaf’s death because it had been determined continuing to pursue Reapers wasn’t good for her health. Letting Windy help Ru with the demons had been one thing, but Cutter wanted to protect his mom from getting too involved in the actual planning of their attack, and the only way to do that was to meet somewhere else.

Rider’s house was just as small as everyone else’s Ru had seen in town, and she wasn’t surprised to hear it was a two-bedroom, one-bathroom home with a living room, dining room, and kitchen. It was one-story but it didn’t feel as cramped inside as Ru thought it might from looking at it from the street. Of course, everything was completely redone. Nice wooden floors, fresh paint, new fixtures in the bathroom and kitchen, and crown molding made it look like a showroom. The tour only took a few minutes and then the five of them gathered around Rider’s dining room table to hear what Lyric had to say and see what else needed to be done in preparation for what would likely be the most important battle any of them ever participated in.

Ru sat next to Ivy with Lyric across from her and Cutter at the end of the table to her right. Rider took the chair at the other end of the table, his hands folded in contemplation. Ru couldn’t remember having ever seen him so serious before, and she wondered if this meeting would turn into one of his comedy routines or if he would keep his present demeanor.

“Sky says she has assembled Keepers from all over the globe and is coordinating their arrivals in Japan. Some of them will be in their human form while others will be there in spirit only. She said that she thinks having too many physical bodies in the area at one time might get a lot of attention, so she’s trying to keep that number around a hundred, though there will be many more joining us spiritually—as well as the thousands of angels she’s called upon. That’s what’s taking so long. Gathering Keepers is one thing; angels are a whole other story.” Lyric rolled her eyes and everyone nodded in agreement except Ru.

“Why is that?” Ru asked. “Why is it so hard to get angels?”

“Most of them are assigned other tasks, like protecting individuals. Some of them never leave Heaven because they have duties there. It’s just complicated. These are creatures who have been around since the dawn of time, so they already have assignments they tend to. We’re asking them to do something different,” Ivy shrugged.

“They don’t like different.” Rider put it bluntly.

“So, she’s been working with a lot of the angels in the realm where she spends most of her time, coordinating everything, trying to get troops aligned and figure out where they will be stationed.” Lyric pointed to the map that was laid out on the table in front of them. “Aokigahara is pretty big, twelve square miles, which may not sound too expansive, but when you think about how dense the trees are there, it’s really a lot of area to cover.”

“But we know where the portal is already, right?” Ru asked, glancing at the map which had the portal clearly marked.

“Yes,” Lyric nodded. “But getting there is going to be a challenge, especially since we can assume the Reapers will be ready, and their demon friends will be there, too. They won’t care if humans detect warfare. In fact, they won’t mind if humans get hurt. So, we will have to be very careful about how we approach this. We want to do this without any people ever even knowing we’re around. We have ways of doing that, but it takes time and planning.”

That did sound difficult to Ru. She observed the map, but it only looked like a sea of trees to her with little or no paths to take to reach the portal. “So, does Sky have a plan then?”

“She does,” Lyric nodded. “But she wants us all to meet with her in her realm in a few days, once she’s gathered all of the key leaders there.”

“In her realm?” Ru repeated. Thoughts of white puffy clouds and blinding white lights filled Ru’s head.

“Yes, it’s not that much different from Earth,” Lyric explained. “You get there the same way you get to any other realm, and you already know how to do that.”

Ru nodded, but she wasn’t quite sure she liked the idea of going off to meet with Sky. They hadn’t exactly gotten along swimmingly the first time they’d met up in another location.

“What do we know about the forest itself, besides the fact that it’s creepy?” Ivy asked.

“Well, it’s built on volcanic rock at the foot of Mt. Fuji,” Cutter began. “The ground absorbs a lot of sound, so it’s eerily silent most of the time, even though there are plenty of animals and birds that live there.”

“And bugs,” Rider added. “I hate bugs.”

“And bugs,” Cutter agreed. “Legend says that during times of famine, families would often take an elderly member to the forest and leave them behind to die so that they would no longer have to feed them.”

“That’s terrible!” Ivy interrupted.

“It is,” Cutter nodded. “We don’t know for sure if that actually happened—or how frequently—but that’s how the forest got the reputation for being haunted. The yurei, or ghosts, were said to linger in the trees, and whenever living people came nearby, they would poison their thoughts, causing them to commit suicide.”

“So that’s why it’s also called the suicide forest?” Ru asked.

“Yes. The Japanese government no longer publishes the numbers of how many bodies they find there annually, but at one point it was as high as one hundred.”

“Wow.” Ivy looked astonished. “That’s a lot of people to take their own lives in one year in the same location.”

“Right. Which adds to the lore.” Cutter shook his head, and Ru imagined it was in sympathy for the souls that lost their lives in the forest.

“This may sound like a stupid question,” Ru said, still pondering whether or not to ask it, “but are these yurei real, or is what the forest visitors have been experiencing something else—like Reapers? Or demons?”

Cutter and Rider looked at each other for a moment, and Ru swiveled her head from one to the other. “All three,” Rider finally answered with a shrug. “We probably don’t want to get into disembodied human spirits just now since you’ve already got a lotta new stuff on your plate. But, yeah, some of the problem could definitely be the dearly departed.”

“And since the portal is there, we can rest assured there has been as much demon and Reaper activity there as in Reaper’s Hollow if not more,” Lyric added.