SMACK!
Makoto’s wooden Kendo sword hit it’s mark and sent a large crow flying across the lawn. Leaving a trail of blood and feathers in it’s wake.
“Quickly,” she shouted, “let’s go in the back through the kitchen!”
“Right,” agreed the others. They ran as fast as their legs would carry them, hitting as many birds as they could along the way. The Kendo gear protected them pretty well and only the most determined bird could do them any real damage, but not before someone else could hit it off. With much effort the children were finally able to reach the kitchen. The door was locked but it was an old sliding door made out of paper, so the children were able to rip a small hole in it. Nana stuck her hand inside and quickly unlocked it while the others fought off the birds. As soon as the door was opened they stepped inside and slid the door shut behind them. The three of them sat on the floor panting and out of breath. Makoto removed her helmet and took in some deep breaths.
“Shouldn’t we keep these on?” asked Nana, “What if Yamada attacks us?”
“All these pads aren’t going to help with that. They are heavy and we can’t see anything,” explained Makoto as she took off the rest of the Kendo gear.
“She’s right, and they make a lot of noise too. We’ll need to move through the house quietly,” added Misha.
The children took off the pads and placed them neatly by the door. They were getting ready to go to Grandfather Hayashi’s office when suddenly a small crow flew through the hole they ripped in the door. Nana screamed and the children waved their swords at it but the crow nimbly flew past them and landed on top of a cabinet. The children stared at it with their wooden swords raised, but the crow didn’t attack.
“What do you want? Go away!” shouted Misha and flung spoon at the bird. The bird easily dodged it and settled back into its old position.
“Hey no need to be so mean!” It protested. The three children gasped in fear.
“It talks! Kill it!” shouted Nana and started flinging whatever she could get her hands on at the crow.
“CAWlm down I mean you no harm!” protested the bird.
Nana calmed a bit and stopped throwing things, but she remained suspicious of the bird.
“What do you want Crow? We don’t have time for any games!” said Makoto.
“First of all why don’t you fix the hole in the door so my brothers and sisters can’t get in. Most of them here want to feast on your souls,” said the bird in a far too casual tone.
Misha and Nana went to work on fixing the door while Makoto continued to keep an eye on the bird.
“You said most of the birds want to eat us, are there some who don’t?” asked Makoto.
“Not you, your soul,” corrected the bird, “and yes there are some of us who think this whole thing is wrong. It has been tasked to us to carry human souls to the Land of the Dead and if we neglect our task surely there will be consequences.”
“What do you mean consequences? Is there an authority that Yamada Sensei has to answer to?” asked Misha.
“My dear boy there is always an authority to answer to when it comes to human souls. Yamada thought she could circumvent it by making deals, but we think she has gone too far this time.” answered the crow.
Misha and Nana finished the patch on the door and they left the kitchen followed by the crow.
“Don’t follow us you nasty thing!” screeched Nana.
“SHHHHH we can’t make that much noise!” whispered Makoto.
“Sorry but I don’t want it near me!” said Nana.
“Such ungrateful children!” protested the Crow, “and here I was going to help you.” With that the crow flew back into the kitchen.
“No wait!” shouted Misha.
“SSHHHHH,” said the girls.
“Come back!” Misha whispered as loud as he could.
The crow came flapping back in with rather smug look on it’s face, if that were at all possible, and landed on Misha’s shoulder.
“Honestly we could use all the help we can get at this point,” whispered Misha, “Do you have a name little crow?”
“I guess my name best translates to Shun,” said the bird.
The girls reluctantly agreed and they quietly continued on to Grandfather’s office. Their steps were light and they didn’t make a sound walking through the dark smoke filled halls. Although it was hard for them to navigate and sometimes they would trip on a piece of furniture or another unidentifiable object they made good time to the office, and best of all they didn’t run into Yamada. In fact they didn’t run into another person at all. The house seemed to be abandoned like an eire shell of it’s former self. The life had been sucked out of the house and replaced with a sickly sweet smoke. The children finally arrived in the office and locked the door behind them.
“That was terrifying! I kept thinking Yamada would come out from behind every corner.” said Nana as she breathed a sigh of relief.
“Come on let’s get the diary,” said Makoto, “Nana which case is the diary in?”
The office had two rows of glass cases in which Grandfather displayed his most precious artifacts.
“I don’t remember exactly,” she said.
Makoto rolled her eyes and signed as they walked over to the first case. Misha had found a light switch in the corner of the room that just lit up the cases with artifacts in them. In the first case there was a shrunken head. It was very disgusting and shriveled both of the girls were disgusted by it but Misha thought it looked cool. The next few artifacts were a pot, a gold coin and a scroll. Finally at the end of the row they saw a book. It was tattered and very old but it bore a very strong resemblance to the diary they saw in the scroll.
“This is it!” exclaimed Nana, “That’s the one Grandpa Hayashi showed me!”
“Let’s get it out and read it,” said Misha.
“Yeah, but we need the keys, they are in the safe in the desk,” said Nana.
The children ran over to the desk but when they opened the drawer with the false bottom they saw the safe was opened and emptied of its contents.
“No! What’ll we do now?!” exclaimed Nana.
“Leave it to me,” said Shun and flew onto Nana’s head. She screeched and flailed her arms but the crow managed to extract a bobby pin from her hair. Shun took the pin and flew over to the case. The children followed closely behind. It stretched out the pin and removed the rubber on one side with its beak. The crow stuck the pin in the lock hole and began to pick the lock. The children looked on with amazement as Shun quickly and skillfully unlocked the case.
“What a clever crow you are,” said Misha as he reached into the case and extracted the book. “The pages are very brittle, so be careful,” he said as he handed the book over to Makoto to read. Makoto tried to make out a few of the kanji but the writing was so old she was having trouble reading it.
“Do you mind if I take a look?” asked Shun.
“You read ancient Japanese and you pick locks? How did a crow ever manage to pull that off?” snarked Nana.
“I have been caring souls to the land of the dead for centuries I was bound to pick up a few things along the way,” replied the crow. “Now hold it under the light little girl so I can see it.”
Makoto held the book under the cage and the crow rested on her shoulder in order to get a closer look.
“This is the diary of Hayashi,” read Shun,
“Entry one:
I have done a horrible thing and have made a deal with a Crow spirit. In exchange for riches and safety during my lifetime the Crow demon will be able to take the souls of mine and my friend Sato’s descendants at any time of her choosing. I have decided to do research into the Crow Spirit and see if there is a means by which our deal can be broken. I will chronicle any significant advances I make as an entry. If I am not able to find a solution in my lifetime I shall pass my work on to my heir and he will continue on where I left off. It is important to note that the Spirit could collect her prize at any time after my death.
Entry two:
I am getting no help from Sato. I fear he loves the money and power more than his future descendants. I am going to keep my work a secret from him from now on. In case his greed gets the better of him.
Entry three:
The crows are named Tengu. According to some of the scrolls the Queen of the Tengu is a Shinigami called Yama. The master of Yama is Izanami the ruler of the Land of the Dead.
Entry four:
My father has passed this book on to me in his death and I hope to honor him by saving the family from this curse. I pray that Yama doesn’t come during my lifetime. In my travels around Japan, I have come across some information that might be helpful. I have spoken to a man who was rumored to be able to Tengu. He told me that Izanami and Yama don’t get along. Yama is resentful of Izanami’s rule over her. I asked him to ask the Tengu about our family curse, but he said the Tengu refused to talk about it.
Entry five:
My father has passed this book on to me in his death and I hope to honor him by saving the family from this curse. My father was obsessed with finding out all he could about Yama, Izanami, and all the gods for that matter. He was convinced that summoning another god was the key to breaking our family curse.
Entry six:
I have gone to see a priest who says he can talk to the gods. We are going to have a seance at the end of the week.
Entry seven:
The seance was successful! We were able to talk to a low level fox goddess about the curse. The goddess told us that Yama had made a lot of deals that were unauthorized by Izanami. When Izanami found out she destroyed the contracts. The goddess said that our contract was most likely destroyed.
Entry eight:
My father has passed this book on to me in his death and I hope to honor him by saving the family from this curse.
Entry ninet:
My father has passed this book on to me in his death and I hope to honor him by saving the family from this curse.
Entry ten:
My father has passed this book on to me in his death and I hope to honor him by saving the family from this curse.
Entry eleven:
My father has passed this book on to me in his death and I hope to honor him by saving the family from this curse. Something very strange happened to me today. A crow came up to me and told me not to believe the Fox goddess. I remembered reading about the goddess in this journal so I thought I would write it down.
Entry twelve:
I found some more journals written by my ancestors and made a scroll out of our family history. I hope is that it will not be forgotten and that the curse will be broken someday.
Entry thirteen
My father has passed this book on to me in his death and I hope to honor him by saving the family from this curse. When I was building a new addition to the house I came upon an old, iron box buried in the garden. I opened it and it contained a smaller decorative box. There seems to be something in the box, but I cannot open it.
Entry fourteen:
My father has passed this book on to me in his death and I hope to honor him by saving the family from this curse.
It goes on like this for several more entries dear girl, please slip ahead.”
Makoto flipped pages until the crow told her to stop, then it continued to read,
“Entry sixty eight:
I have made it my life’s work to discover how to break our family’s curse. Most people think I’m insane, but I know it is true. We are cursed and I will be damned if I let some stinking crow carry off my soul. I have decided to become a priest so I can find out more ways to Protect my family. If they want to take out the Hayashi family they are in for the fight of their life.
Entry sixty nine:
I built a shed out of sacred wood and put protective charms on it. No evil spirit should be able to enter it. I plan on hiding there if the crow spirit comes for me. I built a secret tunnel to the shed that is also protected by charms. I was also kicked out of the priesthood. They said I was too single minded.
Entry seventy:
I found a way to get out of the contract. It is very simple really, all you have to do is find the contract or the sacrifice, take it to the land of the dead and have Izanami rip it up. Oh one problem though is I would need the sacrifice and I will have to have a Tengu take me there. I think I have a pretty good idea of where the sacrifice is, but I am not sure. I have made a poison for my trip to the underworld and an antidote for my way back.
Entry seventy one:
My father has passed this book on to me in his death and I hope to honor him by saving the family from this curse. My father has poisoned himself and I did not know why until I read this diary.”
There were several unreadable and boring entries after that. They kept flipping through pages until they neared the end of the book. The children began to despair because the diary was nearly over and they didn’t know how to find the contract. Finally on the very last page there was an entry. it was written in Grandfather Hayashi’s handwriting. This time Makoto read the passage.
“Entry One hundred and three:
My father has passed this book on to me in his death and I hope to honor him by saving the family from this curse. It has become tradition for our family to write these words. So much so that we have forgotten what they mean. After learning how to read ancient Japanese I was finally able to reconnect with my ancestors, and with the proud Hayashi family history. I will do my part to aid in the writing and maintaining of this journal.
Entry One hundred and four:
I found the secret passageway talked about earlier in this diary. It is in the Foyer. there is a narrow door that looks like a painting of a cat, but if you pull on the frame it opens into a staircase. I have acquired a sleeping potion and an antidote to see if I can pick up where my ancestor left off, but I don’t think I will be able to. My health has been failing me lately.
Entry One hundred and five:
I have discovered the location of the sacrifice. It was that little box that has been in the old shed this whole time. The old family scroll shows our ancestors burying something and this journal says they uncovered an iron box. The sacrifice must be inside that small box, although no one has been able to open it all these years. I have everything I need for the journey in my desk safe perhaps one day I will be brave enough to try it.”
“That’s it!” exclaimed Misha, “we have all the pieces of the puzzle. All we have to do is get everyone back to the shed with the box. I will take the sleeping potion once we are inside and the crow will guide me to The Land of the Dead.”
“There are a few problems with that, first we aren’t sure where anything from the safe is, we don’t know if the sacrifice is in the box, and oh yeah the last guy who tried this ended up dead!” said Makoto.
“I will be able to tell him is the sacrifice is in the box,” said Shun, “If it has Yama’s magic on in it I can tell.”
“Alright,” said Misha, “I’m counting on you.”
“Are you really going to trust this bird?” asked Nana.
“We don’t have any other choice,” said Misha, “Nana who else has access to the safe in Grandfather’s desk?”
“I know how to find out who opened it last!” said Nana. She ran over to the safe and punched in the admin code. She then brought up the last person to open the safe.
“It was Papa, and it was only a few hours ago,” said Nana.
“Now all we have to do is find our family and get them to the shed,” said Makoto.
“Yeah let’s go,” agreed the other children.
They ran toward the door but the bird flew in front of them and stopped them from leaving.
“CAW,” it said, “don’t go out there yet. Here you are safe, but we don’t know if your family is. I will go and look for them and come back to tell you where they are.”
“I still don’t know if we can trust one of Yamada Sensei’s birds.” said Nana, “It could lead Yamada right to us.”
“Right now we have to trust someone, besides Shun could have told Yamada Sensei we were here and hasn’t yet,” said Misha.
“Fine,” agreed Nana, “but you had better be back soon. We can’t wait around in this office forever.”
“Don’t worry I will be back within a quarter of an hour,” said the crow as it flew off into the smoky darkness.
Dominique picked Yuuki up and followed Yoshiro out the door with Ichiro closely behind her.
“Yuuki, I want you to close your eyes and keep them shut until I say you can open them o.k.” she said as she stepped into the hallway.
Yuuki covered his eyes with both hands and squeezed his eyes shut as tightly as he could. The four of them walked quietly through the halls until they heard the sound of many flapping wings. Yoshiro stopped and pointed to a door. He went inside and motioned for the others to come. They made it in just in time because a group of about twenty crows flew past them. They all breathed a sigh of relief and stepped out into the hallway again. As they came out of the room however they saw another crow fly quickly past them.
“We’ve been spotted,” said Ichiro, “It’ll tell it’s friends and we’re done for!”
“We just have to get to the foyer as quickly as possible, come on,” said Yoshiro and quickened his pace. The others followed closely behind. Dominique shivered. It felt like someone had blasted the air conditioning on high for the past few hours. The air got even colder as they neared the foyer. The smoke that once filled the entire hallway dissipated and all that was left if it was floating eerily in thick wisps above the floor.
“They might have guns pointed at the entrances,” said Yoshiro, “I’ll go in first and announce myself, so they know we mean them no harm.”
Dominique looked around and saw the hallway didn’t have any blood or bodies around so she let Yuuki know it was okay for him to open his eyes. Yuuki was glad to hear it because his face was turning quite red and his head was starting to ache because he shut his eyes so hard. Dominique set him on the ground and Yoshiro slowly stepped into the foyer.
“Kusumo, It’s me, Sato Yoshiro!” he announced as he stepped further into the room. There was no response. “Hello! Are you in here?” he yelled. He walked in a little further and that’s when he noticed the blood, dripping all around him, the bodies hung like puppets from the rafters, and his daughter's English tutor Yamada Sensei walking right toward him. Suddenly it all clicked the children had been warning them this whole time about Yamada and they didn’t listen. He turned around and yelled, “RUN!!” But, it was too late. There was no where for any of them to run, because a massive crow was blocking each exit, and another one was pushing the others out of the hall and into the foyer. Upon entering the room with the bodies Dominique screamed and Yuuki began to cry uncontrollably, while Ichiro tried in vain to push past the giant bird. Each of the giant crows were so big they could barely fit in the hall and did an effective job of blocking all the exits.
“More lost souls wandering into my nest, how delicious,” said Yamada with an evil smile. “I hope you like what i’ve done with the place Sato. It seems a fitting shrine for the new queen of the Underworld don’t you think?”
“What are you talking about? Where’s my daughter? Where’s my wife?” demanded Yoshiro.
“Ha ha ha ha, now you ask about your wife and daughter? Now you can be bothered with them?!? Sato cares about them now at the end of his life when while he was living all he could think about was himself. Ha ha ha and oh the strong and beautiful Dominique. Your best friend’s wife. Ha ha! Did you think you ever had a chance with her?”
“Shut up! You don’t know anything!” yelled Yoshiro.
“You can have her now if you want. That sobbing mess of a woman. Once so proud but so easily brought down by the sight of her best friend dead and hanging from the rafters. Ha ha ha. How the mighty have fallen!” laughed Yamada.
Yoshiro looked over to Dominique and saw her sobbing on the floor. Normally she wouldn’t be caught dead with a single strand of her golden hair out of place, but now she looked like a wild thing. covered in blood and writhing on the floor. Above her was Momo her neck was clearly broken. Her eyes were gone and her mouth hung open in an eternal scream.
“MOMO!” yelled Yoshiro, “No! What have you done to her? Bring her down! Momo!”
“Now,” said Yamada her proud smirk vanished from her face, “I’ve had my fun. I think it’s about time you tell me what I want to know.”
Yamada walked over to Dominique and grabbed her by the neck.
“Where is the little half breed? Where is your son?” she asked.
Dominique coughed hard. She was in hysterics. She could hardly breathed due to grief and shock and now there was an icy hand around her throat. She fought all of her natural instincts to calm down. She needed to breath normally to think her way out of this, but she couldn’t. Every second felt like panicked drowning.
“Let her go!” shouted Yoshiro. He slammed into Yamada’s arm as hard as he could. The force caused her grip to loosen and Dominique quickly used the opportunity to break free. Dominique fell to the floor and gasped for air.
“Tie them up!” shouted Yamada, and hundreds of crows flapped all round Dominique and the others. Before they knew it they were tightly bound in stiff ropes. Dominique struggled to get free, but the more she moved the more the ropes cut into her wrists.
“Did you know you and your horrible children are the only ones left alive in this house?” asked Yamada. “I can sense them, the three wicked little bastards are somewhere in this house I know it. It will only be a matter of time before I find them, and when I do my plan will be complete.”
“What plan?” asked Dominique.
“I see you’ve gotten your tongue back Dominique. I was hoping you wouldn’t fall apart like the others. Strong spirits are the tastiest ones,” said Yamada.
“What do you mean tasty? Are you eating our souls?” asked Ichiro.
“Oh, another lively one!” said Yamada. She went over and examined Ichiro. “Hum,” she said as she moved Ichiro’s head from side to side looking directly into his eyes. “Fiery yet uninteresting. You abandon your family for ambition, but it is ambition for ambition’s sake. Not very tasty at all, but I think there may be some substance in the way you think about your children. The fear of losing them has changed you, but probably not for long. This is about as good as your soul will get.” Yamada licked her lips and began to strangle Ichiro. Dominique and Yoshiro struggled against their bindings while Yuuki cried uncontrollably. It was no use, Yamada’s strong hand crushed Ichiro’s windpipe. His face turned pale and he let out one last breath. Dominique and Yuuki wailed in anguish while Yoshiro rubbed his hands raw trying to escape the ropes.
“I will kill you!” Yoshiro shouted.
Yamada laughed loudly and then did something entirely disgusting. She opened her mouth and bit into Ichiro’s eye socket. Blood gushed out as she bit down and ripped the lids from Ichiro’s face.
“Shut your eyes Yuuki!,” shouted Dominique, “Please don’t look! Please Yamada, his child is right here!”
Yamada laughed, “How many times have you killed a pig in front of it’s children? You even feed them the leftovers! It’s the same thing to me. You are nothing but food.”
Yamada finished the eye and then ordered her birds to take the body away and string it up with the others. It took a great number of crows to complete the task and afterward they all fought over who would get the second eye. Yamada went into a trance like state and her skin started to glow pale blue. She smiled and turned toward Dominique.
“His soul was good but you need to ripen, perhaps the child will do the trick,” she said and picked up the small boy.
“NOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!” screamed the voice of a young child from the the balcony on the second floor.
Yamada smiled and unceremoniously dropped Yuuki on the floor.
It was nearly fifteen minutes had passed since the crow had left Grandfather’s office. The children grew more and more anxious with every passing minute. They had nearly decided to leave the office three times, but something kept them there.
“We’ll wait one more minute then leave,” said Misha as he kept a close eye on his wrist watch. the seconds ticked away and there was still no sign of the little crow. The minute passed and they all agreed they should leave. Mish opened the door and a flood of crows came in!
“We’ve been betrayed!” exclaimed Nana.
“No you haven’t,” said Shun strolling in nonchalantly. “These are some of my brothers and sisters. CAW. We believe the same. If Izanami knew what Yama was trying to do she could easily destroy her, but if she succeeds in her plan she could become Queen of The Land of the Dead as well as ruler of the Tengu.”
“Let me guess you guys are not exactly her favorites are you?” said Makoto.
“No we are not caw,” replied the little bird.
“Oh and I bet you are hoping to get rewarded for your loyalty to Izanami,” said Makoto
“I would be lying if the thought hadn’t crossed my mind,” said Shun.
“You birds are evil to the core,” said Nana.
“More like opportunistic. Your parents are also headed towards the foyer,” said Shun and it flew up and landed on Misha’s shoulder.
“Let’s go,” said Misha and he led the birds and children through the smoky halls. Misha was about to turn the corner into the hall that would lead them to the foyer when Shun told him to wait flew off his shoulder. A minute later the crow cam back.
“As I have feared,” Shun said, “I flew around inside the foyer and saw Yama has your family tied up and has put guards at the doors. She has brought out the Giant Black Beak Clan of the Northern mountains. They can be as big as elephants and just as strong. CAW!”
“Here,” said Makoto and pulled a shiny piece of onyx off the wall, “I heard birds are mesmerized by their own reflections. Maybe we can use this to distract the bird and sneak by to defeat Yamada Sensei and rescue our family.”
“That won’t work. Caw. Yama is too powerful for us to attack right now. She also has plenty of Tengu to protect her as well as a Giant Black Beak at every exit.” replied the Crow.
“We don’t need to defeat her,” said Misha, “We just need to get to the secret door. She can’t break through the protective charms and we will be safe. Shun can you get your brothers and sisters to distract the giant crows with their reflections? Then you will mimic one of our voices and lure Yamada away from our family. We will grab them and run to the door. Once we are there we will wait for you and shut the door once you are in. The closing of the door will signal to the other crows to drop the mirrors and get out of there before they are caught.”
“I think that will work. The Black Beaks are stupid enough to be fooled by reflections. Caw,” said the Shun, “Oh and one last thing when you go into the foyer… don’t look up.“
“NOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!” screamed Shun mimicking the sound of Misha’s voice.
Yamada raced up the stairs to catch Misha. The little bird flew back into another room before Yamada could see who it was, then it cried out again saying, “Don’t hurt my family!” Yamada knew the voice belonged to Misha. The boy she had been seeking out ever since the deal was struck all those years ago.
“Come back here my precious boy. No one is going to hurt you,” said Yamada in such a sweet voice Shun nearly believed her.
“Help!” said Shun, “I’m in here, and I’m scared!”
Yamada followed the voice into a small room on the second floor. The room was dark and it only had one exit. Yamada smiled knowing she had finally captured her pray.
“Come out dear boy and I’ll let the others go,” said Yamada.
“I don’t believe you!”
“It’s true, the power of your soul was all I really needed. Just give yourself up and the others can go free.”
“NO! CAW!”
“CAW!?!?”
Shun quickly flew past Yamada and locked the door behind it.
Meanwhile Misha and the others ran past the distracted Giant Black Beak and into the foyer. They saw their family tied up and wiggling on the floor. They looked more like giant worms than human beings. Misha quickly picked up a fragment of a broken bamboo pot and used the sharp end to cut the ropes that bound his mother’s legs. Makoto did the same with her father and Nana freed Yuuki. All this action didn’t go unnoticed however and all the crows in the foyer sounded the alarm. They were so loud that even a few of the Black Beaks took head. The children helped their family to their feet.
“Run toward the cat painting!” ordered Misha, “we’ll hold them off!”
“But we’ll be trapped!” said Dominique.
“No we won’t it, just trust us!”
Misha, Makoto, and Nana swatted off dive bombing crows with expert skill as the party ran toward the secret door. They were almost there when a Giant Black Beak blocked their path. The massive bird tried to impale them with it’s powerful beak, but they somehow managed to dodge it. Nana and Misha tried to attack the Black Beak with their swords but the giant bird knocked the swords out of their hands.
“Get them to the door!” shouted Makoto, “I’ve got this!”
“No! I would die before leaving you alone!” said Yoshiro.
“Yeah we go together or not at all,” said Misha as he picked up his wooden sword.
“Fine, but I have an idea, so do as I say!” said Makoto.
They all agreed.
“Misha and Nana keep swatting those birds away. Papa when I say so ram into the bird as hard as you can!”
Makoto ran at the giant bird, and as predicted the bird thrust its giant beak at her. She took her small wooden sword and redirected the force and momentum of the beak so it hit the floor and stuck fast in the polished wood.
“Now!” she shouted and her father rammed the bird with all his might. The bird was knocked off balance and tumbled over onto it’s back. Makoto and the others passed it while it struggled to get up and continued unobstructed to the door. Misha pulled on the frame of the painting and it moved a little, but he was not strong enough to open it alone, so Nana put down her sword and helped him. They were making progress, but not quick enough because the Giant Black Beak was already up and running toward them. The massive crow was now in striking distance. It opened up It’s powerful wings and fluffed it’s feathers. It would not be fooled again. The bird then let out a loud “CAW!” Makoto and the others drew back in fear. The bird, proud of itself, bent it’s head down let out the loudest, longest “CCCCAAAAAAAAWWWWWW!!!!!” that it could. This was ultimately its downfall, because Makoto, ready to strike, took her wooden sword and rammed it straight into the crow’s mouth. The sword went through it’s scull into it’s brain. A red fountain of blood gushed out of the crow’s mouth. Blood covered Makoto’s arms and the front side of her school uniform. She tried to pull her sword back but it was stuck forever lodged into the giant crow’s brain.
“Makoto, come on we got it open!” cried Misha.
Makoto let go of the sword and followed the others into the secret door.
“Hurry up and close it!” shouted Nana.
“We have to wait for Shun,” replied Misha.
“Why?” asked Nana, “can’t we just wait in here until morning? Yamada can’t break through the charms.”
“We don’t know that for sure Nana! Without a crow I will never be able to get to the Land of the Dead!” said Misha.
“Wait what!” exclaimed Dominique.
Shun flew as fast as it’s wings could carry it back into the foyer. The locked door had slowed Yamada down but only slightly. Yamada quickly crashed through it and began her pursuit of the small crow.
“CAPTURE IT!” Yamada yelled at her loyal followers and soon Shun was being chased by every crow in the Foyer. It flew flew up to the top of the ceiling and perched on a beam. Then it cawed with all it’s might.
CAW! CAW! CAW!
This told the other crows to let the Black Beaks go. The Giant Black Beaks quickly flew up to join the other smaller crows, but in doing so created so much wind with their giant wings it sent the smaller crows flying in all directions. It also knocked a few of the dead bodies from their strings as well.
“Stop it you fools!” shouted Yamada. “I will get that wretched beast myself!”
The Giants returned to the ground and Yamada turned into a cloud of black smoke. Now was the Crow’s opportunity! It jumped off the beam and flew toward the ground as quick as a flash. Yamada’s smoke cloud followed right behind. The bird turned up as the ground approached and barely missed crashing into it. It then ducked between and around the legs of the giant crows with the smoke trailing after. The Giants hopped into the air with pain as the smoke cloud passed them and burned their flesh and feathers. The black cloud was getting ever closer, but the little crow kept his eyes focused on the open passageway. Shun felt a burning on the tips of it’s feet. Yamada was right behind ready to devour the small creature in black smoke. Shun strained it’s wings and flapped with all It’s might. The bird shot forward like a bullet into the open door and skidded across the floor leaving a trail of smoke in it’s wake. Misha quickly closed the secret passage and yamada slammed into the shut door burning the cat picture off the wall but nothing more.
“Hurry and free your family, caw!” said Shun as it struggled to regain it’s breath, “The seals will not hold for long. We need to get to the safety of the shed. My brothers and sisters can keep it safe for for a few hours, but I’m afraid no longer than that. Caw. Did you get the sacrifice?”
“Oh no!” exclaimed Nana.
“We completely forgot,” despaired Makoto.
“What’s the sacrifice?” asked Dominique as she massaged her wrists where the ropes had bruised them. Misha had cut her free and was now working on Yoshiro.
“It was in the safe in Grandfather’s office,” said Makoto.
“Pappa was the last one to open the safe, and now he’s, he’s.. d-d-d waah” cried Nana and buried her head in her hands.
“I saw him put something in his computer bag,” said Yoshiro, “We can go out and get it!”
“Not with Yamada out there!” said Dominique, “We’d die as soon as we set foot out there! Besides we still don’t know what’s going on. All this talk of sacrifice and going to the Land of the Dead is troubling! And why is Yamada after my Misha?”
“Misha is a special boy, caw,” explained Shun, “He has a very strong soul. Yama saw him during the deal and she waited until he came here to start the harvest. Yama has been waiting hundreds of years for him.”
“I was really there!?” exclaimed Misha, “I thought it was a dream or something.”
“I don’t understand, why must he go?” asked Dominique, “Take me to the Land of the Dead instead!” Dominique held Misha tight and kissed his head. She couldn’t bear even the thought of sending him off on such a dangerous journey.
“No,” answered the crow, “you are too weak. The only one who has a chance is to save you is the boy, but even he can do nothing without the sacrifice.”
“I’ll go out and get the bag, and I know where it is. I saw it on the ground by Ichiro's feet,” said Yoshiro.
“No Papa you can’t go!” cried Makoto and she wrapped her small arms around him and sobbed. “What about one of your crow friends Shun?”
“Um,” said a shy, small voice, “could this be the bag?”
They all turned and looked at Yuuki who was holding the computer bag. In all the commotion they had forgotten about him. With his small arm raised he held out his father’s bag.
“I took it, because it was papa’s,” he said as the tears rolled down his cheeks, “but you can have it if you want.”
Dominique grabbed him and gave him a hug and a kiss.
“Oh Yuuki,” she said, “you may have saved us all!””
Dominique took the bag and handed it to Yoshiro. Yoshiro emptied the bag of all it’s contents. There was a laptop, a small old looking book, two vials of liquid, some pictures, money, and a small box.
“That’s it,” said the little crow, “The box contains the sacrifice! Caw!”
Yoshiro scooped up the contents of the bag shoved it back in and the entire party ran down the secret passageway to the shed.
Makoto grabbed the vials of liquid that were in the safe. One was blue and the other was red. The blue one had sleep written on it and the red one had wake on it. Tears rolled down Makoto’s face. She wasn’t sure about what was going to happen next but she knew what she had to do. “I’ll drink half, and you drink the other half,” Makoto said to Misha and drank half of the Blue vial and passed it to Misha. “If I don’t come back Papa, I want you to know that I love you,” she said. Then she lay down and fell asleep. Misha held on tight to the box with the sacrifice and the vial. He drank the remaining blue liquid. Dominique began to cry and she held his head in her hands. “I love you Mama,” he said, and drifted off into slumber.
