Chapter 2: Chapter 2
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Chapter 2
Mai stood waiting for the tea water to whistle. She had gained proficiency in filing and understood the basic alphabet of most languages they dealt with making what used to be an all day filing extravaganza a couple hour workout interspersed, of course, with tea requests.
Waiting she took a moment to center herself and focus. Above one of the kitchen tiles she focused her energy and traced a line down. Holding onto the thought she made a ninety degree angle and continued the line and pulled a square into formation. She imagined it solid as the tile and moved her hand away and the square stayed in place.
Mai barely contained a squeal of joy. Thankfully, she was quickly distracted by the pot whistling. She carefully finished the tea and was about to leave the kitchen when she realized the 'tile' she made was still in place, hovering about an inch off the counter. She wondered about leaving it but Lin had placed strict rules on her training. 'Never leave psychic objects out for other people to find.' Was that rule 7 or 8, she tried to remember. She moved to touch the tile and was able to pick it up in her hand. It was definitely considered a psychic object. It was only about 3X3 in size and had a tiny depth of maybe of half a centimeter, so she slipped it into her pocket and headed to take out the tea.
She heard the ever familiar phrase as she was crossing the lounge. "Mai, Tea." softly she knocked on the Naru's door and stepped in setting the tea onto the corner of his desk.
"Anything else?" she asked happily. Rocking back on her heels slightly.
"We have a client coming in about 15 minutes have something ready when they arrive." Naru took a sip of the tea and appraised his assistant. "Are the others here?" He asked wondering why she was so giddy and it was quiet.
"Hmm... Nope, I do not believe they plan to stop by today."
"I see," Naru turned back toward his paperwork and Mai slipped out the door. She headed over to Lin's office with a knock she opened the door. Lin was on a call speaking English, Mai recognized the language but he was too quick and quiet for her to grasp much more. Lin motioned her in and pointed to the desk for the tea before turning toward his computer to read something. Mai looked for a place to set the tea but the desk was covered by a few maps, other papers and case files. With Lin talking on the phone he couldn't take it from her.
Somehow that moment seemed the perfect time to remember her tile. She carefully took it out and set it about 4 inches off the surface of the desk. Surprisingly it stayed. Carefully she set the tea cup on top, once it held, she turned and left Lin to his phone call.
Once back into the lounge Mai regretted the decision while making tea and setting cookies up for their clients. What if Lin didn't notice it? Or hit it with his hand? What if...
Her thoughts were interrupted by the door opening. She stepped into the office to welcome them in. What she saw startled her. In her mind the tile cracked into a million pieces.
"John-kun," She called rushing over to the priest who wobbled in on a pair of crutches. "What happened?"
"Mai-san," he greeted warmly. "I…"
"Taniyama-san!" Angrily echoed through the walls into the lounge. Instantly Lin's door opened to reveal a perfectly calm assistant. "A word, now." Although his voice was calm his words were laced with so much ice that Mai took an unconscious step back. 'Rule #1 Don't run away.' Realizing what she'd done she turned back to John and the client beside him.
"Please have a seat we will be with you in a moment." She gave her warmest smile and motioned to the couch hoping to hide her fear.
When John nodded, she turned back towards Lin; he stood stock still in his doorway. With her head up she walked into his office and winced as the door closed behind her, the office was icy cold, her breath puffed out as white mist in front of her.
"Taniyama-san," his voice was a cool as the room, as Mai turned to face him he asked, "What were you doing?"
"Eh... heh," She gave a weak chuckle, "Well I was carefully practicing the technique you showed me when making tea. I made it!" She almost yipped her triumph but Lin's cool glare held her back. "Well, I made it, but it stayed there, floating in the kitchen. I knew it couldn't stay there. So I put it in my pocket while delivering tea but really that wasn't a good idea either. What if I sat on it? So I was going to ask you but you were on the phone." Mai's voice quickened as she explained, hurrying to get it over with. "I was going to wait but your call seemed important, probably international, and there was no place on the desk for the tea, so I just thought to put the tea on the tile thingie and you could figure it out once you were done." She looked down at his feet, hoping if he killed her it would be quick.
Silence filled the room as Mai continued staring at his feet, scared to meet his eyes, worried about which rules she'd broken. This moment could be her last, maybe just her last at SPR, that was the best she could hope for, being fired. Maybe she wouldn't leave this room alive. All she wanted was for it to be quick, but as the silence persisted she feared something worst.
After what seemed an eternity Mai slowly let her eyes wander up to meet Lin's. "Taniyama-san," His words were disconnected but lacked the hardness of a moment ago. "Since you made this mess, you can clean it up." His one hand motioned to his desk. "There is a client, when they leave it had better be clean."
Mai nodded, watching Lin afraid to see what had happened to the desk. He opened the door and left her in the office. Hesitantly Mai glanced towards the desk, covering the desk there was a fine sand like substance sticking to everything. In the middle of the desk laid the phone in the center of two voids the shape of hand prints. Mai wanted to cry.
When Lin stepped out of his office all eyes focused in on him. Much to his amusement, even Noll seemed worried about what was going on beyond the door behind him. When he moved away from the door and sat across from the client that Mai was not going to be joining them nor was Lin going to explain. Naru tried his best to focus on the client in front of him.
"Tanaka-san, please explain what brings you and the injured Brown-san to us."
"Well, as you know from our previous contact I run the Koya orphanage that is at the foot of the Koya mountain. Recently we have been having trouble with the little ones disappearing. We know they go to a certain cave and although we block it off and keep them away from it, they are drawn to it and once a month for the last year a child has disappeared into it. We would search the cave and find no trace of the child but 2-4 days later the child would be found in the front of the cave, tired and hungry, scared for sure but unharmed."
"The police have come and helped the search also sealing the cave in different ways but this has been ongoing. The cave is native to certain bats and insects that are protected so we cannot seal the cave completely."
"We had contacted Father Brown and other religious people and I suppose now," he hesitated before continuing. "Psychic researchers is because of the children's experience. Each claim that they had a dream of a cloud in their room. They walk into it and wake up in a very dark place. Eventually the walls or the ceilings start to glow, and although they recognize it as a cave they have no notion how to got there or how to get out. They hear voices, not Japanese, some say not human, singing interrupted by yips or growling, whining or whimpers, sometimes unearthly screams. Then an argument ensues eventually a white woman comes to them and leads them a little ways, when they get tired or stop she disappears. Then returns later. After many stops they reach the mouth of the cave. Yet they are always found alone." The man paused making sure everyone was following and then continued on. "Sometimes we have seen the child walk out of the cave, they swear a woman was with them but no one has seen it."
"Like I said this had happened about once a month. For the last year or so. Then last month it started happening more often. Every two weeks and then last week it happened one right after another." The man looked at both investigators seriously. "We are afraid that this may get worst and we start not getting the children back."
"Why not move the children?"
"Ah but they tried Shibuya-san." John spoke. "I suggested as much then came out last month, Since the orphanage had heard about my work with another one we helped, they recommended me. When the children were moved the pace increased and the children were then drawn from the small town by there. A lot further away, but we can't evacuate the whole village. They thought it was a kidnapping until one of the police decided to try to check the cave. The distances are getting further, and more dangerous. The last girl was in pretty rough shape, she also was 15 the oldest."
"You have been to the cave?"
"I have," John nodded gravely. "For the last girl who disappeared I came as part of the search team. The cave has great power in it, a step inside and I knew it, from there the search yielded nothing but when I tried to bless the cave, a cave-in started, I felt the power magnify and we all ran. I barely made it but as you can see not without harm. The others were OK, but there is something happening there."
"We will need to do some more research before we come,"
"Please you must come immediately," The man pleaded.
"For all of our safety we need more research before we begin." Naru politely but firmly stated.
"Shibuya-san you don't understand." John spoke gravely. "Another boy went missing this morning, after we got the girl back last night."
Naru glanced at Lin he took a quick glance at his laptop then nodded.
"Give us the address. How far away is it?"
"About 4 hours, we came for more searchers, I have a contact who will be bringing a scent hound. We are trying to keep the situation low key." The man glanced from Father Brown to Naru. "We don't want a lot of publicity, and this may cause a lot of trouble for the children. Father Brown said you would be..." He glanced back to Father Brown, "discreet."
"That would be best, although I hope the proper authorities know, we do not wish to be part of a cover-up for kidnapping." Naru's voice was laced with ice.
"Of course," the man looked ashamed. "Local police are well aware and coordinating some actions but we did not want Tokyo news reports to hear of it."
"We will need time to gather some equipment, we will leave shortly after six."
"Lin, have Mai call the others, Matsuzaki-san may be most helpful here."
"Taniyama-san will be busy for a while." Lin stated not contradicting the boss but stating a fact as he moved to his office where the equipment was kept. Naru raised an eyebrow but did not question.
"Lin-san? Why were you upset with Mai-san?" John hazarded the question.
Lin turned as he stopped to open the office door. "She spilled my tea." The quietly slipped inside before anyone could question further.
John turned to look at Naru. "I thought you were the tea addict?"
Naru just stared after his assistant. Since when did he drink tea?
Thank you for the reviews, they gave me confidence on my choice of story plot and everyone who didn't review but favorite or followed thank you also.
Ariana Taniyama-san thank you for your review, I always look forward to them.
Musical Teardrops. You make me laugh, it may be the earliest I have ever heard of someone asking for a sequel, well maybe. As far as cases, yes, very soon. I hope you enjoy and continue reviewing.
I have done some research, I am glad it shows. The multiple beliefs and abilities were threaded through the Ghost Hunt so well, that I felt I had to do my due diligence. (and I would hate to offend someone by writing it wrong either.) Although I must confess, I have taken some influence form many ideas in fiction (even fanfiction) and from actual sources on meditation, astral projection, Buddism, Shinto and taoism. Although I tried to understand the I-ching(the book of changes, only reference book I could find about Onmyoji) I have been unable to fathom its depths. A lot of the abilities are... not researchable and are woven through sheer imagination.
Galaxy had a valid question. Which I thought was implied well enough but possibly easily over looked. Lin told her not to run away at the end of Selfless ghost, and this was one of his requirements for teaching her.
The reason for this was supposed to be explained with his next question. "Why did it take you six days to wake up?" When Mai half heard the conversation from the family in the home and believed that the boys were afraid of her and the mother mad at her for putting the boys in danger. She escaped, or ran away, into the darkness and took 6 days to wake up.
Lin is agreeing to be her mentor if she is serious. If she doesn't get upset and run away when something goes wrong. When she avoids the question with an 'I don't know.' He tells her not to lie because they both know, everyone really, that she was physically able to wake up allot sooner. Lin is not forcing Mai into training, only offering the chance if she is serious. How Mai will do in keeping the rules... Well you will have to read to find out.
Thanks everyone for the reviews and if you have any questions or corrections please let me know in review or PM, I respond to both.