Chapter 3

I am child, standing along the river near the summer home my family stayed at during the summer breaks of my childhood. Kento is supposed to be watching me. And he is doing a great job. I run off to be on my own while his back his turned for one second. I like to chase the fish in the river.

I see another little girl by the river. She has long, black hair tied into pig tails and large, blue eyes.

I ask her if she is lost. She tells me she was lost but has found her way to the place she was looking for. She doesn't speak like a little girl. Her voice sounds much older and darker.

Her name is Oura. My name is Rinfi Rei Fuan, I tell her. Momma says to say my whole name when introducing myself so people know I am part of the Rei Fuan clan. Family honor or something.

We sit by the river and talk in conversations only children would understand. Oura is strange. She speaks but her lips do not move right or something. They don't match. Her words are in my head. But I am a child and think nothing of it.

I ask her how she can do that. She tells me magic. I ask her to show me how she does that magic trick. She laughs.

"It's not a magic trick," she says. "It's just magic. That's who I am."

"Why are you here, Oura?" I ask her. I am starting to feel uncomfortable and scared. I want to go back to Kento.

"Because you're down here and I want to be your friend." She stands up and dusts off her little red kimono dress.

"I have something I want to share with you," she says.

"Rinfi! Rinfi, where are you?" I can hear Kento calling for me. I feel bad about leaving him. I start to walk back up the hill.

"Coming! I'm coming, Kento!" I turn back around to tell Oura that I have to go and if she wants, she can come too. Momma would not like it that another little girl is out alone. But Oura is gone. I turn left and then right. She is gone.

I continue walking back up the hill. Oura is at the top of the hill. Her eyes are even larger. I am uncomfortable looking into them.

I stumble back and fall on the ground. Oura continues to stare at me. Her body fades away, but her eyes linger for a second or two before fading away.

I call for Kento. I am scared. Then a sharp pain overcomes my body. My head swells with pressure and a sharp pain snakes it way through my fingers and toes. I kick and scream in pain on the ground. Blood is now on my new dress. My nose and ears are bleeding.

"Kento! Help me!"

The doctors say I had some sort of seizure. I stay in the hospital for a few days for observation. I don't tell anyone about the little girl, not even Kento. Who would believe me? I didn't even believe it.

Kento reads to me since the TV in my room is not working, and I have no homework to do. He is not the best reader, but I am happy he is staying with me. I feel safe with him. He leaves at night though, when visiting hours are over.

The hospital is creepy at night. I can see the hallway lights from the space under my room's door. I have only one nightlight by my bed. I can hear the nurses laughing and chatting outside the room.

I am too scared to sleep and staring into the darkness in my room scares me more. I can see nothing except my bed from the nightlight's light. I hear something move.

In the corner of the room, I see her large blue eyes. The outline of her body slowly emerges from the darkness. She comes closer and closer.

I wake up panting and wanting to scream, but I don't know. I frantically turn on the lamp on the nightstand and take a quick visual inspection of the room. Damn, that little girl was creepy then and still is creepy.

I collapse back onto the bed. Whiteblaze's head sits on the side of my bed, licking my hand. I see blood on my hand. Dried blood. Dried blood on my tank top and on my pillow.

I wash my face with a warm washcloth in the bathroom. I make sure all the dried blood is removed from my nose and ears. I haven't had this happened in some time. And the nightmares too, those are now starting up again.

The house is still asleep. A family a heavy sleepers. I don't hear any noises coming form the guest rooms so I assume the guys are still asleep too.

I quietly haul my ass downstairs and grab a bag of baked Lays and a Coke Zero. I go out through the backdoor and climb up onto the roof. Whiteblaze follows me and lies under the tree in the backyard. The big cat is surprisingly quiet. I am avoiding my room till sunlight is here.

I sit on the roof, chomping potato chips, and sipping my soda. In between gulps and chomps, I am texting with Clara. My cell phone is my child: precious, blinged out, and spoiled.

"R u awake?"

"Its 4:30am. What do u think?"

"Ur chattin it up with lonely guy in chat rooms?"

"U know me 2 well. What up?"

"Nothin. Bored."

"Bored? What 'bout blue? Cant b bored with dat in the house."

"Shut up. Hows grandma?"

"Old. It sucks here. Nothin 2 do."

"Shit. I did wake u up."

"Whatever. Idk what up with u but u should prob get some zzz. U worry me sometimes. Goodnight."

Yeah, sleep. That's what I need. I suck down my fears of another nightmare and jump off the roof. I curl up into Whiteblaze's thick, soft fur and doze up into an early morning potato chip nap under the back tree.

No nightmares. No dreams that I can remember. I wake up to the birds chirping at the loud cat sleeping under their tree. Cye is standing at the backdoor with a worried expression only Cye could have.

"So this is what happens when you are on your own, then? You rough it out in the wild? What if it had rained?"

"And what if Ninjas attacked? I didn't want to sleep on the roof. That would be dangerous, Cye."

"And what's wrong with your room?"

"Nothing's wrong with my room. I guess I sleep walk sometimes."

"What happened to your shirt? Is that blood?"

"Nothing happened to my shirt."

"What happened to you?"

"Nothing, Cye. Just a nose bleed." And this is our conversation from the backyard to my bedroom door.

"Since when do you get nosebleeds?"

"Since now, Cye. Geez." I close my bedroom door before Cye could say anymore and I would crack and spill all my secrets to him. I hope Cye doesn't tell anyone.

I grab some clothes and slowly open the door. Fortunately, Cye is gone and the bathroom is free. I see Yun on the other end of the hallway, spying like I am on the bathroom situation. We both run for the bathroom. I slide past him and slam the door. He manages to utter two words before the door slams in front of him.

"You suck!"

I grab a piece of toast for breakfast, kiss Whiteblaze goodbye, and step out the front door. My left foot touches the porch. My right foot hasn't caught up yet. Chun Fa has a tight grip.

"I want to go to the park today, Rinfi," she says.

"Why can't Kento take you?" We both glance into the kitchen.

Kento is consuming his weight in bacon. Cye is sipping morning tea and commenting on Kento's eating habits. Sage is staring at his plate of food, trying to devour it with his mind. Rowen is reading the newspaper. And Ryo is staring out the kitchen window, dreaming of being elsewhere most likely.

Mom and Dad are still asleep. Yun is now arm-wrestling Kento for the last piece of bacon. Mei Ryu is playing with Whiteblaze's tail.

"Help me," says the cat's eyes.

"Get your hat," I tell Chun Fa.

So now, instead of sitting in a cool, air-conditioned library or store, I am sitting on a park bench, drinking an iced coffee, and telling my body not to sweat in the heat. It is hot. It is muggy. It is sticky. It smells like little kids.

I could be reading, researching, or hell, even shopping. My outfit today screams "let's go shopping!" not "let's go to the park!" Big floppy hat. Chic purple sun dress. Metallic gladiator sandals. Oversized zebra sunglasses. I actually look like I give a damn today. Rowen staying at my home has me bringing nothing but my A game outfits.

My phone vibrates and chirps.

"Where u ?"

"Park playground hell. U?"

"Late morning bingo, bitch. Where else?"

Before I can finish texting Clara back, my phone chirps again.

"What r u doing outside?"

"House a madhouse. Lil sis wants park."

"What a sweet big sis!"

"F*** u, hoe."

"Luv u. xoxo."

Chun Fa is now sitting next to me on the bench. "I love the park," she says. "But I'm all parked out."

"Want to get some lunch?"

"Yes. Yes, I do."

We go to some noodle stand downtown near a couple of little boutiques. I order Chun Fa a large bowl of chicken noodles. If she so happens to carb out and want to go home and nap, so be it. She slurps happily on the noodles while I sip on another iced coffee at a small iron table in the shade.

I know, we should have gone to the family's restaurant, right? Wrong. I ain't waiting tables or running the hostess stand. I know my responsibilities to the family business. My responsibilities are away from the customers, crunching numbers and such. I track the restaurant's finances and spy on the competition. I'm the one who created the purchasing system the restaurant uses. I'm the one who makes sure receipts aren't lost. I am even working right now. Chun Fa is slurping on competition's noodles. I have told me Mom repeatedly that we needed to get some food carts.

"How are they, good?" I ask Chun Fa.

"Not enough noodles," she says. I thumb that into my phone.

I feel something chill the air around us. It's brief, so I think nothing of it. But then someone calls me name. I look around but see no one I know or anyone trying to get my attention. I can still feel someone watching us though, like when you know someone is staring into the back of your head.

Clouds move in fast, dark ones. Masses of birds fly off of the buildings.

"You done, Chun Fa?"

"Yep."

"Okay, let's get going." I take Chun Fa's hand, and we start briskly walking home. In my other hand, I am texting Kento that something isn't right. My phone loses signal before I can send the text.

I now hear screams. People are running. The ground is shaking. I pick up Chun Fa and start to run. Cars are slamming on their breaks, most not in time. Windows in the buildings are shattering. Car alarms are ringing.

In the crowd of running people, someone runs into me. I hit the ground hard, Chun Fa still in my arms. I get up and run to the side of the sidewalk in front of an alley. I lean against the brick wall. My legs give out, and I slide down the wall.

My head is throbbing. I am dizzy. I can hear Whiteblaze roaring in the distance. The guys are here. It's happening again.

A window shatters above us. Glass comes pouring down. Chun Fa screams. I wave my arm and the glass is thrown into the brick wall across from us. I can hear Chun Fa talking to me, but her words are fading away fast.

I watch the Ronin Warriors fight a creature in the street. Shadows pull themselves from the walls of the buildings and attack them. The creature is controlling them. The creature wields a long, thick silver whip.

The creature is powerful, defeating each Ronin Warrior who challenges it in combat. The guys stop and summon an armor I have never seen before. Ryo's armor turns white and Whiteblaze's fur darkens and the tiger now wears armor housing two swords.

Through the flames of the fire emitting from Ryo's armor, I can now see the creature. It is woman in black armor. Her face is hidden under a silver facemask. Her black hair tied tightly into a bun on the back of her head.

Ryo unleashes a firestorm from his swords. The woman dodges this and strikes Ryo with her whip. Ryo's helmet shatters. The woman laughs. Her laugh echoes through the street.

Her whip then wraps around the waist of her armor. Two long swords form out of her chest armor. She pulls them out of her, screaming as she does so. She then raises the blades and charges Ryo, who is still stunned from the previous damage to the white armor.

I scream for the woman to stop. She runs through Ryo and disappears. I feel my body being rocked back and fourth. Chun Fa's voice is becoming clearer and louder.

"Rinfi. Rinfi, please wake up." I wake up. Everything is normal. Nothing happened.

"I am up, Chun Fa." Chun Fa hugs me hard. We're still in the alley. I suck in a deep breath of pain. My body is sore. I touch my sore head. A throbbing headache spreads itself across my forehead.

I push myself up off the ground, using the wall to prop me back up. I am too tired and sore to carry Chun Fa so I grab her hand tightly, and we walk.

"What happened, Chun Fa?"

"Nothing. You said your head hurt and you needed to sit down for awhile. You sounded like you were having a nightmare so I woke you up," Chun Fa explains, swinging her arm and my arm. It was a nightmare. Just a nightmare but something in my body tells me it was not a nightmare. My body is telling me something happened to me and it kicked my ass.

We return home and I unlease Chun Fa on my parents who are finally home. The little brothers are out with friends or whatever. I really don't care right now. I walk up to my room. Kento and the guys are not home. I collapse on my bed. I'm too tired to think about the nightmare and how it was not just nightmare, even though the guys aren't home.

SO I GOT MY BOOTS ON. GOT THE RIGHT AMOUNT OF LEATHER AND I'M DOING ME UP WITH A BLACK COLOR LINER. AND I'M WORKIN' MY STRUT, BUT I KNOW—I answer my phone. It's Clara.

"OMG Rinfi. Why aren't you answering my texts?" I check my phone. 13 texts from Clara. Important ones too. She doesn't know which outfit looks cuter on her.

"You woke me up. The blue dress looks cuter. You woke me up."

"You said that twice."

"Talk later." Click. I am too tired for anymore conversation. It's past 6pm.

I can hear the nuclear family downstairs but still no older brother or friends. I open my bedroom window for some fresh air to wake me. I can hear people talking in the backyard. Sounds like a meeting. Sounds like the guys.

I slowly climb up onto the roof. The guys are in the backyard, standing in a circle. Cye, Kento, and Ryo face the house. Sage and Rowen's back are to me. Cye notices me on the roof but does not alert the others. I wink. A small smile cracks at the corners of his lips.

"Whoever she is, she has an armor that's comparable to the Inferno armor."

"We don't know who she is or where she came from."

"Maybe Mia would be able to find something about her?"

"Maybe, but we would have to go to her." So much for it just being a nightmare. But why would Chun Fa lie to me?

"Man, it's a bummer that we have to leave."

"She knew our names. If any of us stay here or go home, our families are at risk. Your family is at risk right now, Kento."
"Wasn't Mia having computer problems?"

"You're right. She's worried about losing all of her and her Grandfather's research."

"Maybe we should bring someone along who knows computers. Doesn't your sister know computers? It couldn't hurt." Thanks, Cye. Real subtle. He wasn't going to let me out of his sight now since I avoided him this morning.

"Then we'll have to explain to Rinfi why we are hiding out at Mia's place."

"She already knows about the armors," explains Rowen who may be handsome but can't keep a secret to save his life.

"How do you know that?"

"Roar." Back to reality.

"Sounds like Whiteblaze wants Rinfi to come too."

My phone chirps. Clara's twitter feed reads: "Grandma, that is my blue dress, not yours." Even has a photo with it. Clara's grandma doesn't look half bad in it.

It is suddenly very quiet. I look down to find six sets of eyes staring up at me. 1 surprised. 1 angry. 1 wondering how I got up there. 2 amused. And 1 wanting to lick my face.