Chapter 6

Later in the evening Hikaru was lying on the bed Charity had made for him in a little guest room, which from the looks of it normally served as her sewing room, alone except for Sai. The youngest of the Carpenter children had taken a strong liking to him, and such things as language barriers didn't really matter to them. Hikaru was a little exhausted after being subjected to hours of their constant incomprehensible babbling. (This is not bad, Hikaru! A few days more and you might actually start learning this language!) Overall, Sai did suspect that the boy enjoyed the children's company more than he admitted.

Nevertheless, Hikaru had been quite relieved when their mother had finally sent the smallest children to bed. He'd tried hanging around with Matthew and Daniel after that, but although they a) were boys, and b) closest to Hikaru's age, they were strangely enough the ones he had most trouble to connect with, and soon he had retreated to his room.

At least the children had quite efficiently kept him from thinking about any other things. Now, in the quiet of their room, all those thoughts surfaced again. A little while ago Hikaru's grandfather had again called from Japan, and that discussion had left the boy even more emotionally exhausted than he had been before.

"I wonder what he's doing," Hikaru muttered aloud, staring at the ceiling. Sai didn't need to ask who he meant.

His best, I'm sure, the ghost replied. I know waiting is difficult, but that's all we can do now.

Hikaru sighed. "I know. It's just driving me crazy." He sat up. A little earlier someone had brought him what he had asked for from the hotel: some clothes and his travel go board. It was sitting on the table in the room, next to the sewing machine, and now Hikaru's eyes paused on it. At the moment neither of them felt like playing. Sai did consider it, still, thinking about playing long into the night in the hopes that it might help Hikaru to catch some sleep.

Perhaps… he started to say, but a soft knock on the door cut him off.

"Yes?" Hikaru said.

The door opened. A young woman, just barely over the threshold of adulthood, peeked in. Her hair, cut to reach just below her chin, hang sky blue on one side of her face, bubblegum pink on the other side. She wore strong make-up, and Sai couldn't help noticing the tiny metallic dot on the side of her nose, realizing a little belatedly it was a piercing. And, he noted on closer scrutiny, also her lip and right eyebrow were pierced, though she wasn't currently wearing any rings. Her skirt was black and tight, ending at half-thigh, and under it she had torn fishnet tights. The worn orange cardigan she was wearing didn't really appear to fit the rest of her outfit.

She stepped into the room. "Hi! Or, uh… hajimemashite. Watashi wa Molly desu. Dresden no…er, Dresden-san no…" she paused, glanced down at the book in her hands. "Uchideshi…? …desu."

"Oh." Hikaru's mouth formed a perfect 'o'. Then he jumped up, all excited. "Hello! I'm Shindou Hikaru! Great to meet you! Have you heard anything from Dresden? Has he found something new?"

Molly stared at him a moment, blinked then. "Oh. Umm." She looked down at her book, then showed it to Hikaru smiling apologetically. English-Japanese-English dictionary. "Sumimasen. Watashi wa… nihongo…" She paused, licked her lips. "I don't really speak Japanese," she said then in English. "Just, very, very, very little. Chotto." She held her thumb and index finger very close to each other.

"Oh." Hikaru sat down on his bed, disappointed. "Well. Nice to meet you, anyway."

"Mind if I come in?" Without waiting for a reply she stepped in and closed the door behind herself. She sat down on the chair by the table, giving the go board a short look. "I heard of your parents," she said very slowly. "I want to help."

Hikaru nodded. "Thank you. You… you know…" The boy shot a frustrated glance at Sai. "Sai, help me!"

What are you trying to say?

Molly followed Hikaru's gaze. Sai blinked at the bright flash of light – he was getting tired of that, really. He looked at the girl who had frozen on her seat, staring at him with her mouth a little open. He bowed. Hello. I'm Fujiwara no Sai.

Molly blinked. Jumped to her feet and bowed too, repeating her introduction, stumbling a bit over hajimemashite.

Sai smiled. She looks weird, but at least she is polite, he said to Hikaru.

The boy made a noncommittal sound. "So, help me here, Sai. How do I ask if she knows what Dresden's up to?"

Sai frowned. Do you know… he started in English, and his frown deepened, what Dresden do? Does? …is doing? He glanced at Hikaru. Something like that, maybe?

Molly sank back to sit on her chair. "You speak English?" she sounded positively astonished. "Uh, no, I'm sorry. I've not heard from him. But can you tell me details of what happened? So I could try to figure something out, too."

Hikaru and Sai both gave her an uncomprehending look. She ran her fingers through her hair. "This isn't going to be easy," she muttered, and opened her dictionary.

It wasn't easy, but with more patience than Sai would have believed Hikaru possessed, they were in the end able to explain all that had happened to Molly. It took long into the night, long enough that Charity came to ask them if they shouldn't finally be going to sleep.

Molly shook her head, her attention on her dictionary. Her mother said something sharp, and her reply was even sharper. Sai winced. He could nearly feel the tension in the air between the mother and daughter, and he started to wonder about Molly's appearance from a completely new perspective.

Charity left, but not before saying something that sounded like a strict command. Molly stared at the book a little longer, closed it then, and sighed. "Maybe… sleep?" she said in Japanese.

Hikaru nodded, and Sai too. He could feel the boy's exhaustion. Thank you, he said, and Hikaru nodded too. "Thanks."

Molly was shaking her head. "I've not done anything yet. But… I'll try. I'll help." She stood up and smiled at the boy who was sitting at the edge of his bed, eyes tired and blank. She patted softly his shoulder. "I will help. Good night. Oyasumi."

She left. Sai turned to Hikaru and sat down next to him. We are lucky to have so many people willing to help us, he said. Surely all these people will be able to find your parents.

"Maybe," Hikaru said with a great sigh and fell down on the bed. It didn't take long before he was asleep.

Sai remained sitting by the window, watching the quiet night sky. He did not need sleep the way the living did, though he usually did rest during nighttime. Hikaru had not slept well since his parents disappeared, and consequently he had not got much rest during the past nights either, but now, now that Hikaru for once was sleeping tightly, he thought he too might be able to close his eyes for a moment.

Not yet, though. It was no wonder that Hikaru was sleeping. He had doubted when the onmyouji had brought them to this place, but now he understood well they couldn't find a safer place within this city. The peace of the sleeping house was almost tangible. Here, he could believe things would work out, that one way or another everything would turn out well in the end. He let that calming peace envelop himself, and, eyes fixed on the thin crescent moon on the dark sky, his hands found his flute in the folds of his clothes, and softly he began playing a tune from his living days at Heian-kyo, the Capital of Peace and Tranquility.

The long, wailing notes floating in the night, he could remember those days – and nights – so clearly. It was difficult to imagine that a thousand years truly had passed, that the world which was much more familiar to him than this era of technology and progress could ever be, existed now only in dusty history books and slightly ridiculous (not to mention inaccurate) periodical dramas – and in his memories. The moon shone brightly in the sky, and something burned in his eyes. That very same moon shone upon them, when he sat with his friends in his father's garden, playing this tune, and his friends had joined in with their koto and biwa… That time had passed, as all times of men would, but still, looking up at that lone star, he felt like he could return there now, if only for a short while.

He was so far away in time and space that it took him a long while to realize there was a new presence in the room. He paused from his playing and looked over his shoulder. Molly was standing there in the doorway, her dictionary under her arm, watching him with her mouth slightly open.

A moment they just stared at each other. "I… I'm sorry," she said then quietly. "Eh, sumimasen. That was, uh, beautiful. In a… very weird way. I didn't want to disturb you…"

Sai blinked, uncertain of what she had said, except for the apology. He nodded his head a bit. It's okay. I… wake you?

"No," Molly said with a laugh. "I wasn't sleeping. I've been thinking. There's something I need to talk with you about. Now. I know it's late, but… We need talk," she finished in Japanese.

Sai glanced at Hikaru. The boy was sleeping soundly. In morning? he asked Molly.

"No." The girl shook her head and closed the door behind her. "That might be too late. Now."

Hikaru twitched on his bed. "Sai?" he mumbled quietly. "What is it?"

Sai looked at him, displeased. The peace of the night was slipping away. You should sleep on, Hikaru, he said, but boy blinked his eyes open and saw Molly. He sat up on his bed.

"Molly? What's going on?"

"I've been thinking," the girl said, sitting down on the floor, now in ripped jeans and a tank top from under which circled intricate tattoos. She had washed her face and seemed much younger without her makeup. "I need to see that place in the Undertown. I… want see magic place. Undertown," she attempted to explain half in Japanese.

Hikaru and Sai shared a look. Good idea? Sai asked in English. He knew it was not. Danger.

"Yes, but… I have to. Harry said… the residual magic, right?"

Sai nodded. They had worked out that term in English.

"I want to see it. It's possible I might…" She paused, a little exasperated, looking for simple words. "Me and Harry, we are different. Maybe I see something he did not see, understand?" she said then.

Sai nodded, hesitantly. Hikaru was frowning. "She… wants to go there to see if she can spot something Dresden didn't?" he asked Sai who nodded.

I think so. But I don't think it's a good idea. Dresden didn't find anything useful there.

"But what if he was missed something? He did say Molly is better with the subtle, delicate things."

I don't know. Sai shifted, worried. He didn't like where this was going to. He looked at Molly. You… you not… find? Alone. Need we. …us.

"True." Molly nodded. "I'd need you to guide me there…"

Ask Dresden? Sai suggested. He take you there.

"I tried to call him. No answer."

"He's not home?" Hikaru was now wide awake, turning his sharp eyes to Sai. "If he's not home, how can we contact him? I mean, he doesn't even have a cell phone, we'd just have to wait for him to contact us. And he also said that the residual magic might be gone by next sunrise. Tomorrow might be too late."

Sai was shaking his head. It's too dangerous.

"You keep on saying that!" Hikaru cut him off in fervent whisper. "Everything's always too dangerous! But honestly, if we had just returned to the hotel and not followed Dresden yesterday, the ghouls would have gotten us when they came. And nothing bad happened when you went down to his cellar either, right? You're too much of a scaredy-cat, Sai!"

Sai was quite willing to be called that, as long as Hikaru stayed in this safe haven. Too much danger, he said in English, stubborn. Hikaru groaned.

"It is dangerous," Molly agreed, nodding. "But if we are careful, and if I veil us… it should be alright."

Veil? Sai asked, frowning. He didn't know that word.

"Veil is… this," Molly said with a smile, and disappeared.

Sai and Hikaru both let out surprised gasps. They heard the girl's laughter. "Pretty good, isn't it? This is what I really can do." She appeared again, sitting where she had been. "So, what do you think? I can do that. I can…hide us. No one can see us. Safe?"

Hikaru was nodding. "That was great! Sai, did you see? I mean, not see? That is, wow. If no one can see us, then how could they attack us?"

The monsters… not see? Sai asked hesitantly.

Molly nodded. "Only a really strong wizard can see through my veils."

"We have to do this!" Hikaru exclaimed, locking his eyes on Sai. It was the ghost's turn to groan.

I still don't think it's a good idea! If something goes wrong, if we are attacked… she can't save us! Dresden did say…

"…that she's not good with things that go boom, I know," Hikaru finished. "But Sai… what if there is some key to this in that hall? It's the only clue we've got!"

Sai was still shaking his head, but he had to admit the boy had a point. If we talk with Michael…

"No," Molly said, hearing her father's name. "He won't let us go there. I know. He's my father. He thinks I'm still just his little girl."

Sai didn't really understand what she said, but he did understand the strength of Molly's no. He bit his lip. Take Mouse? he suggested. Molly hesitated.

"I'm not sure… Mouse might not let us go either. He's very… protective. Besides, the fewer I've got to veil, the easier it's for me. Er, not many people, good. Easy to veil."

Hikaru nodded. "Let's go."

Now? Sai was startled. Hikaru, it's in the middle of the night!

"That's the point!" the boy exclaimed, and Molly made a quick hushing noise. "Just think, when the sun rises, whatever might be left there, will be gone."

Sai was still shaking his head, and the boy locked his pleading eyes on him. "I have to, Sai. I can't just wait here. If we don't go there now, I might wonder the rest of my life if it would have made a difference."

Sai gave the boy a long look and gave a deep sigh. I do understand, Hikaru. But I can't let you go there, alone. It's much too…

I'm not alone, Sai! Hikaru exclaimed in his mind. Molly will be there! You will be there! It's going to be fine. And even if it isn't… There was again that defiant raise of chin Sai knew all too well. That doesn't matter. I'm going there cause I have to, and you can't stop me!

Not quite true, Sai thought to himself, but in the end he closed his eyes and nodded. I really don't think we should be doing this. But fine. Let's go.

Molly nodded. "Okay. I'll veil us when we leave. Be really, really quiet. Mouse is our greatest danger on the way out. His got sharp ears, even if he's sleeping. I'll try to veil our sounds too, but just in case. Quiet. Shizuka-ni."

Hikaru nodded. Molly waited outside as he quickly dressed up, and after that they tiptoed downstairs. Sai thought of Dresden saying that the dog was smarter than most people, and smiled sadly at himself. Apparently that was true at least in the case of the three of them.

They slipped out and left the sleeping house behind. Looking up at the moon, Sai wondered briefly what time it was. He really had hoped Hikaru would have slept better tonight, but apparently that wasn't going to happen. He shot yet one look behind at the dark house. It wasn't yet too late to stop them, to call for Mouse, alert the dog and so the house. He knew he should have done that, but… looking at Hikaru, he wasn't sure if the boy would ever forgive him. Especially if everything did not turn out well in the end.

They took a bus, Molly dropping the veil for that time. We could have ridden free, Hikaru thought to Sai, who rolled his eyes. And jumped on the bus while it drove by, you mean? he replied. They arrived to that bus stop where Hikaru had once been supposed to take the bus to the hotel, and got off. As soon as they were out of sight of people, Molly veiled them again.

They found the entrance to the corridor, and saw that no one had yet fixed the lock. They entered the darkness.

Molly took a small flashlight out of her pocket. "This'll be tricky," she muttered. "Okay. Listen. I'll keep the light pointed downward, at our feet. Like this." She demonstrated, turning the light on and pointing it at her own feet. "That's how it's simpler for me to veil it too from outsiders."

Hikaru nodded, looking a little uncertain. Sai too peered into the dark corridor with growing apprehension. Maybe he should just say he didn't remember the way to the hall anymore…?

"Come. We need to stay together." Molly grasped the boy's hand and started walking.

Hikaru stumbled after her, grasping her hand tightly. After a short hesitation Sai guided them on, hoping he still did remember the right way. Straight, straight, left, straight, right… Finally, just as he was getting certain they had missed some turn, they arrived to the hall.

Molly paused, stood there in silence. "Well?" Hikaru asked after a while.

"Shh," she said. "Give me a moment. Wait. I need to concentrate. There is still something here, but it's very weak." She let go of the boy's hand. "Wait. I check the place, don't move from here. You won't see me or my light when I leave you, understand? …I go, you won't see light. But it's okay."

Hikaru didn't understand much more than 'wait' and 'okay' out of all that. He nodded. "Okay." Then he gave a flinch when Molly and her light suddenly disappeared, but Sai placed a calming hand on his shoulder.

Sai stayed very close to the boy as they waited. He was increasingly convinced that this had been a bad idea, but decided it was too late to get second thoughts now. They were here, just as well for Molly to check out the place. But he did wish the girl would hurry. He was twitchy, with overwhelming certainty that something bad was about to happen at any moment, and it took all he had to stand still and not to start dragging Hikaru out of this place.

After a while he couldn't take it anymore. Hikaru, we have to go, he said in a tight voice. He heard the boy shifting next to him.

Sai…

We have to go, Hikaru! We should never have come here to begin with! He couldn't keep the panic from creeping into his voice, and the boy swallowed, feeling his emotions.

"Molly?" Hikaru called out softly, but there was no reply. "Molly!" he shouted, a little louder. Still no reply, not even an echo. Where is she? he thought to Sai, now beginning to panic as well.

I don't know! I can't see… oh gods, why did I let you come here, why… Sai took a few steps forward, straining to see in the dark, but it seemed to him the place was even darker than in the first time. Then he had at least been able to see some outlines. Now, there was nothing, just vast emptiness, completely void of light and sound.

He stood there, despairing in the dark, when something wrenched inside of him. Feeling almost physical pain, Sai gasped, fell onto his knees. Hikaru…!

He looked over his shoulder, tears in his eyes. Nothing moved in the dark. Hikaru…?

The boy didn't reply. Sai stumbled up, panic swelling inside of him. He rushed to the place where he had left Hikaru, but there was no one there. Hikaru, answer me!

The silence was deafening. The hall was empty – as empty as Sai felt inside. Sai collapsed again on the ground, unable to do more than sob for the pain. His connection to the boy was severed.

.

It took a long while from the distraught ghost be able to gather himself up again. Once he did, he searched through the hall over and over again but couldn't find anything, any sign of either Molly or Hikaru. Finally he gave up and started making his way back to the ground, but he had lost his sense of direction in the dark, and wasn't even sure if he had started following the correct corridor. It was nothing short of a miracle he did not end up lost in the dark, but after having wandered about for what felt like an eternity, he finally felt something fresh in the air, and the heavy darkness seemed to lift a little. He started to run, and stumbled out of the door to the backstreet.

A moment he stood there, panting, trying to calm down. He would have to get help. Get Mouse. Michael. Dresden. Someone, anyone, who could help.

He didn't know where Dresden was, had no way to contact the onmyouji. Michael… couldn't see him. Mouse could, but how would the dog be able to tell others what had happened? He felt a strange tight feeling in his throat, as if not being able to breathe, and closed his eyes, trying to do those mental exercises he had used back when he was very young and nervous before an important game. Gradually it did help, and his panic lessened. He opened his eyes and looked up at the dark sky. The crescent moon had traveled farther on it than he would have thought. How long had he spent, trying to find his way out? There was no more time to be wasted.

Mouse was smart. The dog would surely be able to alert Michael to the fact that something was wrong. And he could lead them here, and surely they'd be able to do something.

He headed to the bus stop, hoping the bus would come soon, but no matter how long he waited, there was no sign of one, and no one else waiting for it. With a sinking feeling he realized it was too late, the busses didn't run anymore. How would he find his way to the Carpenter house on foot?

He stared at the bus timetable, despair intensifying again. He didn't even know what time it was. He looked at the sky. Should he wait for the first bus in the morning? Or just try to find his way on his own? Maybe…

He froze. Morning. Dawn. Sunrise. He heard the skull's voice ringing in his ears.

A spirit needs to have a sanctum to return to during daytime, or it will dissolve.

And he had just lost his.

Notes:

Cliffhangery? Sorry. (Or not.)

(1) Hajimemashite. Watashi wa Molly desu. Dresden-san no uchideshi desu. Hello, I'm Molly, Dresden's apprentice. Japanese has a bunch of words for apprentice and I've no clue which one of them would be the correct one in this context, so I just took the first one in the dictionary. It's not like Molly would know either.

Given that Molly uses (fake) Japanese for her spells (and not (fake) Latin like Harry), and as words like hentai are part of her vocabulary, I figured she might have some interest in the language.

(2) The music Sai is playing... Can't put direct links here, but I put on my profile a link to one example of Heian age flute music for anyone interested. It's… different. (Though I like it.)