The Armor of the Soul

By Dixxy

Chapter Two: The Second War?

(Rona)

My name is Rona Santana, but Ria already introduced me, so we don't need to go over that. Smart, flirty, good cook, blah, blah, blah. We all know that. So let's get onto the next thing.

Since Ria was still a bit out of it, I called Keisha, Sam, and Sara. We might as well have all the Senshi here for this to get a few extra inputs into the situation. Who knows, maybe Sara and Sam had some good ideas.

Sara Lewis is known to our enemies and allies as Sara, Torrent of the Senshi. Her specialty is water and to some extent ice and water vapor, and disposing of Nether Spirits. She's the smallest and youngest of our mutant Girl Scout troop, so we kind of worry about her, but she's just as aggressive as the rest of us, if not more. She's also the most foreign to Boston, having moved here from Hawaii just before we awaken to our powers.

Samantha Thomas, Sam for short, is our hot-headed jerk. She's also my best friend, but hey, no one's perfect. Sam is tall, strong, and from Australia. The reason for her being a jerk is because she went through a mortifying experience as a little girl, watching her father brutally murder her mother. I don't blame her for being cold. Her aunt Ella keeps hoping that someday she'll learn to trust again, but so far, little progress has been made.

"Creepy," said Sara, looking at the mirror. The five of us were gathered in Ria's room, Ria looking very nervous. I sat next to her on her bed while the other three tried to make out what they thought of the blood on the mirror.

Keisha sighed heavily. "Whatever did this is gone now," she said. "But there was definitely a dark presence here."

"What kind?" I asked.

"Probably a Nether Spirit," Keisha answered. "Yeah, it's nothing new and interesting, but at least we know what it is."

"Are you kidding me!? There are Nether Spirits in our homes!" said Sam. "Yeah, they're starting with blood on the mirror, but what next? Frying eggs on the kitchen counters? Possessing our loved ones? Using telekinesis to throw knives?"

Sara blinked. "Sam has a point there. We gotta figure out how to keep them out of our homes before one of us or our loved ones get hurt. We gotta go to Anubis for this one."

~

"Wards for your homes?" said Anubis. We'd gone to Mike's place to find Anubis, since Anubis was currently residing there. He was in his room, going processing more of his scrolls into his computer. Since Anubis had become familiar with the machinery, he'd decided that it would be easier to access the legends if he typed them into the processing unit and backed them up.

The Ancient might have been proud. Or angry. I don't know which.

"Yeah. Ria's house was invaded by a Nether Spirit that wrote her name in blood," said Keisha. "At least that's what I'm pretty sure it was."

"That's probably correct, Keisha," he said. "But the important thing to do is, as you guessed, ward your homes, although they probably only want to hurt you and not your loved ones."

"Still, Ella will have a heart attack if she sees death threats with my name on them," said Sam.

Anubis sighed heavily. "That's a given, Sam. Let me see, I've already gotten the wards file on the computer." He closed out of the document he was working with and went through his files searching for the document on wards. "Let's see. . . no, no, not that, ah! Here it is."

"What's it say?" I asked.

"It says that you need to have Sara scratch a block of woods with her dagger and place it somewhere important, like-"

"The kitchen?" asked Sam.

"No, a mantle or a trophy case," said Anubis. "Kitchen?"

"I'm hungry," said Halo of the Senshi.

I laughed. "Sam!"

Sam blinked. "What? I haven't eaten since breakfast," she said.

"Oh," I said. "C'mon, I'll take you to the Pru for a quick bite to eat."

"The rest of us will stay here and help Sara make her warding blocks," said Ria.

~

The next day, we all had the pieces of wood. Mine was on the mantle. Sure, my dad wasn't thrilled about it, but I told him it was the wood or a creepy, horror movie-like message written on the mirrors. Since my dad is big on cleanliness, he didn't argue.

Still, it would be a lie to say I wasn't at least a little spooked. What had happened to Ria was frightening and a definite sign the Dynasty was back. Or at least coming back. I wasn't exactly thrilled about it.

The last time we fought Trulpa, I went through a personal, terrifying experience. Trulpa's Warlady, Anubra, captured me and brought me to Trulpa. A short while later I was possessed with Nether Spirits. For what seemed like an eternity I was in a dark, nothingness, surrounded only by Nether Spirits. Sara freed me with her powers eventually, but I was still nerve wracked from it. Especially after I found out that my possessed form had kidnapped Keisha.

It didn't seem real to me, I guess, until I saw Keisha possessed. She looked so, different. Hardrock of the Senshi used to look brave and honorable, but the murkiness of the Nether Spirits made it look so much more. . . evil. Even after both of us were freed, our subarmors still bear the blackened legs. When I asked Anubis is we could be possessed a second time, he said he wasn't sure. It could be something like chicken pox that you get once and then you don't get it again, or, if it was something like the flu that you could get again fairly easy.

"Rona?" I looked up to see my father walking over to me. He sat down on the arm of the chair I'd plopped into and put his hand on my shoulder.

"I'm nervous," I said.

"Why?" he asked.

I still didn't look up at him. "Fighting the war, I guess, was like how Aunt Julia described giving birth. The first time you don't know what to expect and you're not that scared, but the second time you know what to expect. And sometimes it's worse."

"Aunt Julia had Cousin Henry and then the twins, of course she was nervous, Rona Maria," he said. "But you survived. Yes, you had a few bad experiences, and I may never know what you went through, but you've learned from your mistakes and you'll know how to avoid them next time around."

"But this time it's getting closer to home. Ria found her name written in blood on her dresser mirror," I said.

"I know, but that's not the point I'm trying to make. The point is you have to do this. I'm proud of you for all you've done and I'm sure you're mother is very proud of you from heaven," said my father.

"You think so?" I asked.

"Of course!" said my father. "Come now, I'll make us tacos, ground beef, just like you like them."

"Mmm," I said. "Can I help?"

"Of course!" said my father. The two of us went into the kitchen and started on dinner.