Disclaimer: I don't own DCMK.
The Show Goes On
36: Castle of Thorns
The toll of the bell was like a stone cast into a lake. Its deep, sonorous voice rippled through the world, wiping away light and form until all was darkness. The world was gone. All sensation was gone. All that was left was the cry of the bell.
Indigo eyes flew open, and Kaito sat up with a start, all senses on full alert. For a moment, his mind was a blank—which in itself was a peculiar feeling for him. Then the memories came rushing back, and they didn't make any sense.
He remembered the race, the freak thunderstorm with the lightning beasts, and the maze of dazzling reflections. He remembered being ambushed by the fairies just before reaching the belfry. He remembered chasing after Kazuha and the fairy girl's bird. He had caught a glimpse of the bird making its way towards the bell as Kazuha tried to block it.
And he had seen the ghost girl vanish just before the bell began to toll.
None of that explained why he was now looking down a grassy path between towering walls of shrubbery.
If they had won the race, shouldn't they be back in the courtyard? Or at least back on the ground where Akiyama had been waiting with the chicken hamper? And what about the bell tower? Its silhouette was no longer in the sky ahead.
Frowning, the magician climbed slowly back onto his feet and turned in a slow circle. The path behind him mirrored the one ahead except for one important difference: Hattori, Kazuha, and Akiyama were lying in the grass. Even the ghost girl appeared to be unconscious, though she was floating three inches off the ground. The chicken hamper sat next to the skeleton's right foot. Judging from the clucking coming from inside it, both birds were back inside.
Still, no tower blotted out the stars anywhere over the tops of the bushes, though they were clearly back in the garden maze.
A groan broke the silence, and two finger bones moved. Then Akiyama levered himself up onto all fours before flopping over to sit in the grass.
"What happened?" he asked in a groggy tone that suggested he would have been blinking if he had had eyes to do so with. "Kuroba-san?"
"We should have won the race," Kaito replied. "Although I must admit I'm not sure how."
"You mean that wasn't a dream?"
"Since you know what I'm talking about, I doubt it," Kaito replied with a wry smile. "Although, if you want proof, you can check if Sir Scarecrow is still damp. He got soaked in that race, and I doubt all the straw stuffing had time to dry out completely."
The skeleton magician crawled over to Hattori's side and hesitantly poked him with one long, bony finger.
Heiji shot bolt upright with a yell, and Akiyama sprang back, screaming. Their joint cries had Kazuha springing up as well.
"What's going on?!"
"Where're those fairies?"
"Where are we?"
"Did we win?"
The two stopped talking abruptly, stared at each other then at Kaito and Akiyama in turn before scanning their surroundings. It was Hattori who finally broke the silence.
"Does this mean we lost?"
"No, we won," Kaito said. He described what he had seen upon entering the belfry before turning his gaze to Kazuha. "You did ring the bell, didn't you?"
The ghost girl opened her mouth then shut it again, frowning. "I…I'm not really sure. I wanted to. But there at the end, I sort of…blacked out a bit, except I didn't."
"That made no sense," Hattori informed her.
She rolled her eyes and huffed. "I know that. It's hard to explain. One moment, I was trying to stop the bird from getting any closer, the next I couldn't see anything. Everything was just dark and cold and heavy. And when I tried to move, I heard the bell toll."
"You said you felt heavy?" Kaito asked.
"Yeah. It was weird. I haven't felt anything but light since we got here. I mean, it's not like I have any mass, so I can't have a weight."
"And you heard the bell when you tried to move?"
"That's right."
"Maybe you possessed it," Akiyama suggested. "That would explain why it looked to Kuroba-san like you'd disappeared."
Kazuha looked dubious. "I don't know. I haven't done anything like that before."
"But it is something ghosts can do in stories," Hattori said, looking thoughtful. "And this place does seem ta like to operate according to the norms you get in fiction—to a degree anyway. Except it's all a bit warped, but I guess anyone would get warped living in this kind of place for too long."
Akiyama grinned nervously. "Please don't say things like that. It's not really important anyway. I'm just glad we won."
"I guess, except they cheated us," Hattori grumbled, getting to his feet and dusting bits of grass off his clothes. Glancing around, he bent and plucked his light saber hilt from the grass. "They were supposed to show us where Kudo was taken if we won. But now they're nowhere ta be seen."
Kaito snorted. "Big surprise there. Although it is slightly possible that they did help us."
"How?" Akiyama asked.
"Well. We're not in the same part of the maze anymore. If they kept their word, they might have set us on the right path. If not, we're at least no worse off than we were before."
"I'm not sure I trust them to have been that honest," Hattori grunted. "But we won't find anything out by standing here."
Akiyama picked up the chicken hamper. "I guess we're moving on?"
This time it was Kazuha who sighed. "It's all we can do."
X
It was, Shinichi found with some surprise, a book about superheroes. When he'd heard it was the latest mystery novel, he'd expected something rather different.
The tale told of a young man who had lost his father at a very young age when a terrible earthquake had caused a building to collapse, trapping the man and several others inside. Years later, upon turning eighteen, the protagonist of the story discovered that he had supernatural powers when he acted to save a young journalist from thugs. The journalist noted the similarity between the teen's abilities and a vigilante who had vanished years ago. Curious, the teen began to research the man in question. The clues eventually led him to the realization that the man might very well have been his father—a theory he later confirmed when he, with the help of the journalist, discover his father's journal and then his secret base. The discovery, however, raised more questions because the powers he had inherited from his father were akin to those of a ghost: the ability to pass through things, create ghost fire, levitate objects, fly, and even possess others. Therefore, it no longer seemed possible for his father to have perished merely because of a collapsing building.
"What are you reading?"
Looking up from his book, Shinichi smiled at the magician who had just walked into the library. "It's just the new release they had down at the bookstore."
"Any good? You had a funny look on your face while you were reading."
"It's nothing," Shinichi said before he saw Kaito's disbelieving stare and changed his mind. "It's not important. I just thought this story reminded me of…well, you, actually."
Kaito blinked. "Me? How so?"
"It reminds me of what happened with you and your father," Shinichi explained before briefly describing what he had read so far. "And he also goes on to take up the mantle of his father's alternate identity as he tries to find the people responsible for his death. And there was the mention of a cursed artifact that both his father and his murderers might have been searching for, though the story hasn't gotten that far yet, so I'm not too sure about the details."
"I see what you mean about the similarities," Kaito mused. "But I wouldn't say that warrants a frown. If you stop and think about it, there's really no such thing as a truly original story because there's no such thing as a truly unique conflict. And considering all stories are born from human experiences, well, you get the picture." He shrugged. "I'd like to think each of my shows is a unique masterpiece, but even I'll admit that I have to draw inspiration from somewhere. Creativity runs on reality and our attempts to change or get away from it."
Shinichi nodded slowly, fingers tapping gently on the pages of the book open on his lap. "You're right. I guess it just made me feel strange because the book I got last week sounded so much like Ran."
"You mean that book on the girl whose parents are separated and on the verge of divorce where she's trying everything she can to get them back together except that it always goes wrong?"
Shinichi nodded. "I noticed that a lot of the ways the character tried to ameliorate the situation between her parents were similar to ideas Ran's tried in the past."
"And turned out just as well, eh?"
Shinichi grimaced. "Pretty much. And then there was that other fantasy crime novel on the police officer who heard about a genius newbie on the force in a neighboring city and stormed over there to challenge him only to find that the supposed genius was actually just a child. Except then he discovers it's a curse, and the child isn't really a child."
"Which sounds a lot like when Tantei-han came to challenge you about being a better detective only to run into Conan instead."
"That was what it reminded me of, yes," Shinichi agreed. "I'm not saying people can't have written stories that are similar to our lives and experiences without meaning to, but it does feel strange when all those books are the ones that are coming in as new releases right now at my favorite bookstore."
"What, are you saying someone's writing these books to try and get under your skin?"
Shinichi sighed, hand rising to his chin as he thought. "I…guess it doesn't really make any sense, does it? It has to be a coincidence. I mean, what else could it be?"
"Well, it's either by coincidence or design. Since the latter is rather unlikely—unless you want to argue that God is playing a practical joke on you, the only option left is coincidence."
Shinichi nodded slowly. It was as Kaito had said. So he decided to put the matter out of his mind for now. Slipping a bookmark in between the pages of the book that had started the discussion, Shinichi leaned forward to set it on the coffee table before turning his attention to Kaito. "I thought you would be home earlier. Did something happen after the show?"
"I took a bit of a detour," Kaito admitted. "This lady approached me after the show to ask if I could pay her mother a visit. Apparently, both her parents are huge fans of magic, but her mother's been bedridden for the last six months. She was hoping that a short, private show might cheer her mother up. Her parents' home wasn't too far from the performance hall, so I figured I'd go ahead and swing by before coming home. Problem was, when we got there, her parents wouldn't give me permission to go in. Since the lady didn't live there anymore, she couldn't do it herself. It took ages for her to convince them I wasn't there for an early dinner."
"An early—oh, I see." Shinichi laughed. "I would've liked to see that."
"Wasn't much to see," Kaito assured him before hopping to his feet. "It was something like this." Pivoting sharply, he held out a hand and cried out in the voice of an old man. "Back, you fiend!" Then Kaito's voice returned to normal. "And variations thereof for about, oh, an hour or so."
Shinichi snorted, lips twitching as he suppressed an amused smile. Not much to see indeed.
X
Despite the general agreement between all four of them that the fairies had been less than friendly and not at all well-intentioned, it turned out they had at least honored their part of the game. The section of the maze they had sent Kaito and the others to had only one path to follow, even though it twisted and turned like a tangle of yarn. And it took only three hours of walking for them to find an exit—or at least what they assumed was an exit.
It was a huge archway that opened upon a small, well-kept rose garden and the entrance of a castle covered so completely by a dense coat of climbing roses that they couldn't even see the stone of its walls.
"What is this place?" Hattori wondered, stopping in the middle of the beautifully manicured lawn at the heart of the rose garden to look up at the castle. It was pretty in a prickly way, and it nagged at something in his head.
"Welcome to the Castle of Thorns," a new voice said.
With a yelp, the scarecrow whirled around, light saber already in hand, but all he found was an elf who could easily have passed for Tobi's twin brother.
The elf was smiling at them as though he had expected to see them all along and was glad that they had finally arrived.
"This is where guests who need to lay their heads down for a while may do so undisturbed."
"Does that mean we can't talk to them?" Kazuha asked.
"They are resting. There is little point talking to those who are asleep, yes?"
"Do you know if someone called Kudo Shinichi is here?" Kaito asked.
"If he wanted to sleep then he is most likely here. All those who wish to sleep here at the Court of Stars does so in this castle."
"Okay then. Where's Shinichi's room? We'd like to see him."
The elf smiled. "I'm sorry, but only those who are here to sleep may enter the castle. We do not wish for anyone to be disturbed."
"Can't we just promise to be quiet?" Akiyama asked.
"No."
"What if I go in alone?" Kazuha asked. "I don't have a physical body, so I won't make any noise at all when moving around if I don't talk. We just want to find our friend."
"But you are not tired," the elf replied patiently, his smile never once faltering. "The castle doors will open only for those who are searching for est."
"You saying you can't open it them?" asked Hattori.
"Indeed."
The scarecrow threw up his hands. "Man, seriously? You couldn't have just said that to begin with?" Turning back to the door in question, he stalked over to it. There was no doorknob or handle of any kind, he noted. Nor was there any form of lock. He pushed on it with his hands then threw his entire weight behind his shoulder and rammed it, but the door didn't even rattle upon impact.
"Let me try." Kazuha floated past him. However, like with the walls of the garden maze, she found herself repelled.
Hattori grimaced. "Hey Kuroba, you want to give it a shot?"
"I have a better idea."
"What, like wait around until one of us gets tired?"
Kaito scoffed. "No. But you can feel free to sit here and get started on that backup plan if you'd like. I, for one, am going to look for a window. Unless you plan to stop me?" he asked, turning to the elf.
The man only continued to smile. "I am only here to watch the door and explain the rules of the castle."
"So are there any rules about the windows I should know?"
"No."
"Right. That's all I needed to hear."
Kaito cast a critical eye over the thorny face of the vine-enshrouded castle. It was a truly massive building, and its dense coat of greenery looked more formidable than any mere wall of stone. But there were places where the prickly draperies thinned or dipped to imply a difference in the shape of the underlying surface. There, in the upper reaches, there was a particularly dark shadow behind the vines in which he thought he could detect the faintest gleam of glass.
"Tantei-han, I would like to borrow your sword."
"Uh, all right." Hattori hesitated only a moment before handing the light saber over to Kaito. "You press this bit to turn it on."
"Thank you." Weapon in hand, Kaito summoned his wings and launched himself skyward. Three flaps of his wings brought him level with the spot he'd had his eye on. He activated the light saber as he neared it. The green blade hummed to life, and he swung it, slicing cleanly through the vines. A tangled hank of the plants fell away to reveal a large panel of glass beyond which only darkness lay. Kaito leaned forward for a better look only to be forced to draw back again as, with a wet slithering and a rustle, the vines he had just hacked off grew back right before his eyes.
"Of course it would," he muttered to himself. Four quick sweeps of the humming, green blade later, the window reappeared, and Kaito began to count. Twelve seconds later, the vines were back. He repeated the experiment and counted twelve seconds again. Satisfied, he dropped back to the ground below.
"I'm going to try breaking the window," he announced, watching the elf out of the corner of his eye for a reaction. None came. The man's expression didn't even flicker. "I can carry one of you two corporeal types with me if one of you wants to tag along. If you both want to go then we'll need to make two trips—provided, of course, that we can get through the window."
"I'm going in," Hattori said immediately. "We don't know what's lurking in there. Ya might need help."
"Maybe I should stay here and see if I can make myself tired," Akiyama offered. "In case the window doesn't work. This garden seems nice and safe. And, to be honest, I'm not sure how many more dreadful surprises I can take."
"And you, Miss Kazuha?"
"I'm going, of course. I might not be much help if there are monsters or something, but I can still move around a lot more easily than you guys."
"That's settled then. I apologize in advance for the turbulence," he added to Hattori. Then he grabbed the back of the scarecrow's collar with the hand not holding the light saber and jumped back into the air. He ignored the Osakan's yelp and the subsequent flailing. It didn't hinder his flight much because, as it turned out, wood and straw stuffing ere pretty light even by non-vampire standards.
Drawing level once more with his chosen window, he hacked away the same sheet of vines for the fourth time that day. He was winging backward before the severed vegetation had even finished falling. Then he reversed directions in midair and, with a few powerful strokes of his large bat wings, he hurtled straight towards the window.
Trailing behind him like an ungainly flag, Hattori's yell sounded suspiciously like the hooting and hollering of someone on the downhill of a rollercoaster. Just before reaching the window, Kaito twisted about so that he hit the glass with both feet and all the momentum he had built up in his midair dash.
Glass shattered, and he was through. Feeling a tug against the grip he had on Hattori, he let go. If the scarecrow had caught a seam on a re-grown thorn, Kaito wasn't going to be the one to rip it open. Who knew what would happen if all the scarecrow's stuffing flew out. If they were lucky, all they'd have to do would be to re-stuff him. If they weren't… He was pretty sure none of them wanted to have to find the answer to that.
But it seemed Hattori had freed himself as he went tumbling past Kaito a second later to fall, still screaming, into the darkness below.
A streak of pearl and silver swept past Kaito as Kazuha dove after her boyfriend, shouting his name.
Kaito watched them go before glancing back at the window. He was not surprised to find the glass no longer broken, and the vines outside were back in full, leaving no room at all for light to pierce this dark haven they had punched their way into.
He remained hovering for a moment longer, just soaking in the atmosphere. Despite the distant cries of his companions (which were diminishing by the second), the air here was still. The darkness felt dense. It was as though silence had substance here. On the other hand, he sensed no danger.
Well, this was where Shinichi was most likely to be. So, in the end, it didn't matter what kind of place it was. All that mattered was that Kaito was going to get Shinichi back even if he had to use this accursed vampire power.
Feeling like he was about to execute a heist in an unknown location with next to no preparation, Kaito descended into the darkness below until he spotted Kazuha's pearly glow.
Hattori was just clambering to his feet, wincing. "Nah, the straw's good padding," he was saying to the ghost girl. "I didn't break anything."
"Here." Kaito tossed the light saber back to its owner.
Caught by surprise, Hattori nearly dropped it. "Dude, be more careful. Anyway, can anyone tell where we are?"
"It looks like a great hall," the magician said slowly, looking around. The darkness was thick but not thick enough to hide the arching stone architecture and mosaic floors. The window they had broken through had only been one in a set of five stained glass murals. One, Kaito observed with interest, looked an awful lot like the man with the box of black and white pearls that they had passed in the maze.
Kaito gave each of the other murals a long look, committing them to memory, before turning away. "Well, no way to go but forward. Let's go."
TBC
