Warnings: cult material, kidnapping, domestic violence, homophobia


Chapter 29

—8—

Tessa had found his note.

And the first thing she had done was show Sage.

He had been hoping for the timing to be a little more fortuitous. He'd certainly taken a gamble, opting for a note rather than what could be considered the more straightforward American method. But he hadn't exactly thought she would find it out in public. Or counted on catching the attention of another woman on their trip to the pool.

Before he could devolve too far into rationally unnecessary panic over the predicament, however, Sage sought to soothe him. "You are the most compassionate, considerate man I have ever met."

Rowen smiled briefly at Iris, nodding and pretending to be interested in whatever it was she was talking about. Something about a bonfire? "Maybe I should have just written a poem, like yours."

Sage laughed. "You're a wonderful man, Rowen, but you are not a poet. Your note was beautiful as it was."

His stomach coiled into knots of steel. Guilt pinched him by the scruff. "How'd she react? I…wasn't watching."

Kourin softened. "She was surprised, and seems to be overwhelmed. I think she's worried about anything changing."

Doubt joined the growing arsenal of emotions gnawing at him. Had he done the right thing after all? He had been so certain when he wrote the damn thing…

Mentally muttering some choice words directed at himself, he said, "I should have waited until all this cult stuff settled down."

Rowen hadn't felt Sage reach out like he did now almost since they were teenagers. "You couldn't have, Touma-kun. Not with your nature, when someone is hurting so deeply—you try to give them something to hold onto. And you let her know she is loved, cared for. That somebody wants to be with her. Right when she doubts herself, after an abusive relationship. It… seems like she's more overwhelmed with being cared for than… anything else, and that you could not have mitigated. You couldn't mitigate it with me, after all."

He sighed. "I just…don't want to pressure her. Like you said, she's coming off an abusive relationship. And here I am…confessing. Of course she's probably a wreck about it."

He glanced over to the trio and immediately zoned out of whatever Iris had been telling him. Tessa had her hands over her face, but he couldn't tell from where he sat whether she was simply uncertain, embarrassed, or crying.

Iris jumped a little when he abruptly planted his hands on the ledge behind him and hauled himself backward out of the water. "Rowen?"

But he had already continued his momentum—the motion was no different than one he'd used in parkour a thousand times—and started walking toward Sage, Alexa, and Tessa.

Iris could think he was the rudest human being on Earth for all he cared, right now.

He got close enough to hear Sage assuring her she didn't have to give Rowen an answer before the warrior paused midstride. What was he going to do? She would know Sage had told him if he addressed it now. What could he even say to her right now, anyway? Should he take it back? But no, that would only make things worse—and it wasn't true, either.

All he knew was he saw her distress and both wanted to soothe it away, and turn right back around because he had brought it about in the first place.

Iris caught up to him before he could make a decision. "Is everything a'right, Rowen?"

It took a significant portion of his willpower not to shrug off the hand she laid on his elbow. Thankfully, he was too caught up in the gears of his mind turning to act on it. "Y…Yeah. Sorry to startle you." He glanced quickly around for an excuse. "I—I, uh just. Suddenly remembered something I'd forgotten to handle." The genius wasn't used to stumbling for words quite this much. "For, uh, work. Before we got here."

She smiled sweetly up at him, and his stomach flipped. "Mind if I watch?"

Rowen did have to give her credit; she was certainly persistent. "It'd probably bore you. Besides, it shouldn't take long, and I wouldn't want to bother—"

"What you do sounds pretty interesting! I'm sure it'd be cool to watch. Beside, I can always ask you if I don't understand."

Damn. Now he actually had to come up with something, or he'd blow his cover.

He glanced desperately back at his friends, managing to catch Sage's eyes. He didn't have to even use the yoroi connection for the blond to get the message.

Help.

A subtle nod reassured him help was on the way.

He overheard Sage suggesting to the girls that they commandeer a table to eat their food. So by the time Rowen fished his phone out of the Ronin's shared bag, the encrypted chat had an incoming call complete with blocked number ID.

With a quick apology and explanation to Iris—he would have to take this call "from a client" in Japanese—he answered. "Moshi moshi?"

"So how long do you need me to talk?" Sage asked in kind. His tone was at the same time simple yet suave; looking in his direction proved Rowen's hunch that Kourin said his words with a devilish grin.

"However long it takes for her to lose interest."

"Well you currently have somebody looking to find a date and looking to set Cye up waiting, if you ask…"

Rowen nodded slowly, as if considering and listening to whoever spoke on the other line. "Kento's welcome to knock himself out. Only…I'm honestly not sure if she'll notice him, sad to say."

Kento appeared at Iris' side almost as if he'd been waiting for the opportunity. Rowen rolled his eyes as his roommate subtly leaned in toward the brunette. "Hey, Iris, the others want to pick up another game of water polo, but we need a fourth. Cye insists on refereeing, since he says it'd be unfair of him to take a side."

"In a few minutes?"

He offered her his trademark, absolutely heartbreaking smile that always made Rowen wonder how he hadn't found a long-term relationship yet. "Rowen's on these calls for at least an hour at a time. He'll be back in the water once he's done."

"Sorry, bro."

Rowen didn't quite care. He could feel guilty over giving her the cold shoulder later. "As long as it gets her off my tail for a little."

Maybe if it worked, he could get a chance to talk to Tessa…

Unfortunately, he didn't manage to find an opening the rest of the day. Her mood had mellowed, too, and he couldn't quite bring himself to take her aside and force the issue when she was clearly so overwhelmed.

His one relief was that at least Iris had noticeably backed off by the time he rejoined the group.

Thankfully, everyone seemed to tire of the pool not long after the game of water polo had ended. So the group collectively gathered up their things and moved for the cars; Iris and Luna accepted their invitation to come along, to especially Ryo's delight.

From the way the other Ronin shared knowing glances, he figured maybe they had another matchmaking scheme on their hands.

He did have to admit—aside from (or perhaps even with) all the romantic drama, this outing was a lungful of fresh air. The past few weeks, his exams and TA responsibilities had eaten up all his extra time. He couldn't even remember the last opportunity he'd had to visit Ryuusei just to spoil him, let alone actually ride.

Rowen winced, not relishing the workout he'd have to put the ornery gelding through to get back in shape.

Maybe he should ask Tessa if they could go riding, tomorrow…or at least before returning to Japan. Or maybe once they were back in Japan? 'Sage said she liked hearing about Ryuusei. I'm sure she'd love to meet him.'

It was somewhere around the third frame of their second game of bowling when a chill from the yoroi trailed down his spine and derailed his thoughts. The others must have felt it to some extent, too; Kento, who was up to bowl, spun his throw off into a gutter.

Sage calmly reached out to the Ronin. "Everyone continue to act normally. But something felt off about the mashou's circle just now."

"You can say that again," Ryo said grimly.

Suiko's surface rippled. "It feels… tense. Like it's trying to resist something."

"Sure that's not them trying to be good guys?"

Rowen shot Kento a subtle glare, but let the jab at their former enemies slide for now. "Think we need to check it out?" he said, directing the question to Ryo.

Rekka paused at the head of the bowling lane, poised for a throw and only the yoroi giving away his hesitation. "I say yes, but I don't know if that's my PTSD talking or not…"

Sage concurred. "I don't know if it's mine, either."

"Maybe we should try contacting them," Cye suggested. "If we can't, then…"

They all silently agreed. No sense worrying the twins and cutting the afternoon short if they didn't have to.

After Sage and Cye had alternately and together tried for a collective fifteen minutes to reach the mashou, however, they still had made no progress. A text to Derick only produced silence.

None of them wanted to think of the implications of that.

Rowen pursed his lips, gears in his head switching into theorizing mode. "It…could just be that we're not familiar enough with their yoroi, especially at distance. But…"

"Better safe than sorry," Ryo finished darkly.

The bowling ball he had just released crashed loudly through the ten pins. Only one remained standing.

It should not have reminded Rowen of the heavy burden Ryo had carried through the War.

Feeling the air heat up a couple degrees as Rekka walked past, Rowen quipped, "Might want to cool it before you end up burning Luna."

Even in the bowling alley's blacklights, Tenku could see Ryo's face flush—but the area's temperature did normalize.

Tessa and Alexa caught up on the plan, and their excuses made to Iris and Luna, the group expeditiously made their way back to the van. The ride to Tessa's house passed in tense silence, everyone lost in thought. Rowen desperately hoped they were wrong. But his instincts and the evidence up to this point both indicated otherwise.

Alexa's vehement "fuck" as they swung onto the gravel road before the driveway turned his blood to ice.

Sage immediately slammed on the brakes. Rocks went flying and the rear end subtly fishtailed before the vehicle came to a stop. Every yoroi jumped to alert; it took considerable restraint for them not to pounce on Kure for an answer.

"They're here, aren't they?" Tessa said with low-key dread and panic behind the words.

Alexa rubbed her temples. "Unmistakably."

More curses swept through the van, Rowen's voice among them. His jaw hurt from gritting his teeth against the rage, horror, and fear roiling in his heart. Tessa dragged both hands down her face.

"What do we do?" Cye asked Kure worriedly.

Rowen shoved a hand through his hair. "It's bound to be a trap."

"Even if it is, we have no choice." Ryo glanced in Tessa's direction, briefly. "Derick's still home."

At least…he had been, when they left. He hadn't answered his phone, either, and a glance up at the house showed his vehicle still in the driveway. So Ryo was right—even if they could simply try to outwait whatever was there, they couldn't yet prove the twins' father was okay in the meantime without entering the circle.

"Can we park on the street?" Alexa requested.

Sage hadn't even let his foot off the brake yet. "Gladly."

Once he'd moved the vehicle nose to nose with the outer edge of what had been the mashou's circle, everyone disembarked. Alexa ignored Ryo gesturing for everyone to fall in formation and marched right up to the perimeter. She paused at the edge while they slowly joined her.

Rowen shivered a little as an aura similar to the Warlords' during the War oozed from Kure. Youja energy made his skin crawl as it spread out and looped between them, then coated them head to toe similarly to the subarmor they had just summoned.

Tenku rumbled restlessly in his soul, like a growling dog just waiting for him to turn his back on it.

He closed his eyes and breathed deeply. He refused to lose himself to it this time.

"So…we should be able to go in now?" Ryo asked uncertainly.

"Won't trip an immediate trap, at least."

They glanced between each other as she unhesitatingly started off down the driveway in the direction of the house. When Tessa pushed past them to follow her sister, they snapped out of their hesitation and did the same.

Rowen flinched as they crossed the line—but the youja weren't nearly as strong here as they had been at the compound. Instead of a feeling like trying to run underwater, this more resembled a thick fog blanketing everything. It reminded him of walking in the youjakai, all those years ago.

'Is it weaker because of what Alexa just did?' he wondered, scanning the property warily. '…This must be the same thing she did for the mashou.'

They hadn't gone far before Alexa's voice cut through the too-still air again. "Don't reach into it."

He glanced quizzically at his teammates; Kento had a sheepish look on his face. Rowen made a guess that he and the others must have been about to stretch their powers out into the area, straining to feel anything other than the eerie energy.

He couldn't say he blamed them for wanting to try.

"I feel like a sitting duck out here in the open," Kongo muttered, crossing his arms.

"Can you sense anything?" Ryo asked Alexa quietly.

She shook her head. "Not yet…"

That didn't help any of their nerves in the slightest.

Tenku continued to pace restlessly.

They stopped when Alexa did, under the wide-spreading branches of a mature oak directly across from the house's proper front door. Almost immediately, she dropped to sit cross-legged beneath it, back against the trunk and closing her eyes. The five men instinctively fell into a protective circle around her and Tessa.

Rowen found himself standing closest to Akatsuki. Her eyes darted across the silent scene almost frantically, fists clenched and her breathing a little shallower than was regular. The glow of her yoroi's protective sublayer alternately flashed brightly before dimming to almost nothing, then back again.

She cast the image of a wild horse braced and ready for flight.

His hand reached for her shoulder without thinking about it. Perhaps he subconsciously hoped to comfort her, even if he couldn't find anything to say to ease her anxiety?

Alexa bolting from her seat on the ground caused him to turn away for two long seconds.

"This is my mom's spell. I can't—"

Tessa gasped.

Rowen turned back to see Michael standing directly behind her, a hand over her mouth and other arm looped around her stomach.

They vanished at the same time Tenku settled over his shoulders.

White-hot rage like a supernova flashed behind his eyes. Next thing he knew, he stared up the shaft of an arrow nocked to his golden bow, pointed at the house's roof.

He didn't know how, but he knew that was where Michael had gone. With Tessa. Despite all logic to the contrary—that if it were him he would be long gone—something told him they'd be there.

His control over Tenku nearly faltered again upon finding that hunch was right.

For whatever sick and twisted reason, he held a blade across her chest to keep her in place. A blade that hovered mere centimeters from her unprotected throat. Even Akatsuki's full armor wasn't anywhere near as substantial as her twin's could be at its thinnest.

"You thought you could deny a prophet?" Michael shouted down to them.

Rowen pulled the bowstring a hairsbreadth more taut. "You're no prophet, you—"

Alexa's voice cut off the vile epithets he'd been prepared to hurl at the cultist. "Mom. It's mom."

"She's here?" Kento voiced the alarm all five of them felt.

Rowen kept an ear on the conversation, but his eyes trained on Tessa. All he needed was one second of an opening… But the voice in the back of his head reminded him what had happened last time he trained an arrow in her direction. And right now, the arrowtip trembled so much that Rowen wasn't sure he could trust his aim.

Tessa was completely at Michael's mercy right now. In that moment, if he decided to leave with her, there was absolutely nothing Rowen could do about it. Again.

Kure had difficulty finding the words to convey what she wanted to. "No, that's— she's—"

"You don't recognize the power of the Mother when she engages with you?" Michael sneered.

The sky overhead darkened. Rowen staggered as the air erupted into a violent tornado, all of them barely keeping their feet. His hands shook so much he couldn't keep his aim straight, Tenku's voice loud in his ears and vision going blurry.

Surrender…

Rowen coughed, shaking his head to clear it as the energies stabilized. A hand on his shoulder—he didn't have to look to know it was Sage—steadied him, his ragged breathing evening out just a little.

Alexa managed to reach them telepathically, as they regained their faculties and tightened up the circle in the youja-nado's center. "The cult has a new leader…"

Another ripple of alarm passed across the yoroi. Kento spoke, again. "What? Who?"

"Your mom?" Cye questioned, shocked and disbelieving.

She nodded. "I can undo it. Just keep him talking."

Rowen sounded more confident than he felt. "I don't care if he's talking or not, the minute I get a clear opening I am taking the shot."

"We recognize a demon when we engage with it," Sage shouted at Michael, stepping forward to challenge the cultist.

Kento nonchalantly hooked his bo across his shoulders, letting it support his arms lazily. "Yeah, we've had quite a few dealings with those."

Michael's face contorted into a blend of haughty arrogance and disgusted rage. "You are so corrupted you cannot recognize the Light!"

Sage continued the argument. "We have light we have followed. It looks nothing like yours."

"It's her light, isn't it?" Michael roared. The youja closed in on Alexa, their howls crescendoing angrily. "I knew she had corrupted Tessa! I should have known she could cast her witchcraft on you, as well. For how you two men were touching."

Rowen almost let the arrow go by accident. Red flashed behind his eyes, Tenku snarling to be released and wreak havoc on the forces around him.

Blood! Give me blood!

Tessa's bright, dry laugh grounded him. "You got the wrong person there, Michael. And you're probably going to regret it."

"You can't corrupt somebody when they were born that way," Kento snarled, swinging the bo off his shoulders and into the ground so hard it left a divot.

Sage's breath hitched in his chest; Rowen knew how much that call-out meant to him from someone who had initially struggled with the concept.

"Born this way because of past sins!" Michael's free arm snaked closer around Tessa, squeezing her against his body. The cult sword gestured in Alexa's direction, where the youja still swirled…but, oddly, all the Ronin were still able to keep ahold of their full armor. "She has been showing signs since birth, even interested in her own sister. Her perversions reflect her past life's sins, and she must suffer for it!"

"Fuck you!" Tessa snapped at him. She had finally broken out of whatever paralysis the sudden turn of events had caused and now tried to squirm out of Michael's hold. It at least forced him to bring the blade back to her skin.

The guys all picked up on Alexa's otherwise internal retort of "I didn't know she was my sister."

Rowen's fingers were starting to go numb on the drawn arrow, shoulders protesting the long period of strain. He finally dared a single, quick glance away from Tessa and Michael on the roof and to Alexa, whose fists were clenched tightly at her sides. He and the others had seen just how close their bond was—but he had had no idea about just what Michael was implying now.

"Why do you believe this?" Sage demanded of Michael.

The cultist's toothy grin resembled a sneer and a grimace combined. "The prophets have told us this is the truth! God has given us the direction he wants for us to live our lives if we want to see his kingdom."

"What does your god have anything to do with your own hatred? This is about you! Not some mythic being."

The yoroi connection fell into muted silence, all of the Ronin in awe of what they were hearing. Each of them had caught glimpses of what Sage was capable of when moved to anger. But with his upbringing and the strength with which he held onto his personal control, it was a rare occasion. The last time Rowen could think of anything like this was sometime around the final leg of the War.

Kourin's armor dimly glowed emerald in the late afternoon light, pressing against the tide of youja.

Michael waved his sword at them again—and the youja's numbers and strength jumped exponentially. The force hit Sage squarely head on, the whiplash causing the others to plant their feet again as well. Rowen's breath left like he'd been punched, but he still kept his weapon drawn even with Tenku's near-constant mantra in the back of his head.

How was he doing this? Back in the compound, he would've been done for by now.

Meanwhile, Kourin continued to push back, refusing to bow under the pressure. The yoroi burned, his light slowly growing until it was nearly as bright as a star. Cye and Kento stepped up to flank him, each laying a hand on his shoulders in solidarity.

"You will kneel before God," Michael yelled, words swept up on the unnatural winds. "He is everyone's, whether you like it or not. Even hers!"

Before any of them could leap to intercept, or protect, or do anything, he flicked his sword at Alexa. A bolt of energy lanced toward her—

And every youja in the area charged her like a frenzy of sharks.

Ryo was the closest. "Alexa!"

He pulled up short of reaching for her—because Kure was gloating.

Everything Michael had thrown at her burst back outward like shattering glass. The weight they'd felt since stepping onto the property vanished, allowing Rowen's lungs to properly expand. Tenku's voice dissipated to uneasy silence.

A deep, booming roar overwhelmed it and sent nearby birds scattering from the trees.

Too many other things happened right then for his brain to properly register until after the world stopped spinning.

Michael gave a high-pitched scream and promptly vanished from the roof. Surprised by the abrupt lack of pressure, Tessa tumbled forward off the edge. Rowen panicked, retracting the arrow from his bow—only to pause in disbelief when her fall stopped in midair. She looked just as surprised as he felt.

Then he remembered Kaos' book had said these yoroi would be able to fly.

Another roar ripped through his thoughts and the quiet countryside, drawing his attention upward.

His jaw dropped.