Rana

Morning, by the clock if not sun. Kenta rose first and sent Rana his morning salutation. :Get some sleep, idiot. You look terrible.:

She slicked her hair down with slime-wet fingers, then lobbed back a halfhearted, :You’re the one with bed head.:

He’d slept with his hair as Cassie’s mattress last night.

The twelve bobbing sisters in their straw doll forms lay curled in whirls of his hair like nesting birds. He’d also spread his hair across the floor as a thick carpet to replace the tatami Tsukumogami, who wouldn’t come near their room anymore. Kenta didn’t answer as he switched his Raiment from pajamas to daywear. He came over to investigate Cassie’s condition, which hadn’t changed in the slightest over the past eight hours.

Kenta nudged Tarō the pillow awake with a strand of hair. :Futon,: he commanded, and Tarō obeyed. Tarō then stretched part of himself into a sheet to cover Cassie.

Once Cassie had a cushioning layer of support, Kenta snatched his hair off the floor—giving the others a rude awakening.

“Hey!” Lea startled awake in her sleeping bag, Momen shifting from half pillow, half sleeping mask to full-head blindfold.

Paul’s headlights blinked on as he stirred. Akachochin and the other kids’ guardians stood.

“Morning already?” Wendi stretched.

“It’s time for breakfast,” Kenta announced as the twelve bobbing sisters tied his hair into several enormous buns. He prepared their basic rations. “We’ll split up for the day and start our war council tonight.” He privately sent to Rana, :I expect you to be there with a clear head.: Then strode off.

:Get any sleep last night?: Lea sent. :Where is Daniel?:

:I’m fine,: Rana brushed the issue aside. :He went out early to train.:

:I do not know how he expects to improve in a matter of days, but I admire his determination.:

:I’ll stop by later to help.: That was assuming Cassie ever woke up.

:If Daniel were here, he would order you to take care of yourself. If I could do it without harming you, so would I.: Lea hugged Rana from behind, looking over her shoulder at Cassie. :She will wake.: Then Lea and the others left for the day.

Rana touched Cassie’s burning forehead as if that might reach her. Despite what Paul said about Cassie fighting back, Rana couldn’t muster any enthusiasm. The way Rana saw it, there’d been a war inside Cassie for many years, and this was the bat girl’s last stand. All the omens Rana saw were bad ones.

To Rana, the blood substitute for sleep had worked—until they changed the prescription, with this as the result. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

As the hours wore on, recovery seemed less and less likely. Rana felt she was losing her friend, and nothing terrified her more than that. She reached for the girl’s shoulder and squeezed hard as if that would keep Cassie from slipping away.

:Hey,: Tarō, half-asleep, sent. :You need a break. Squishies need fuel to work, right? What’ll you do if you’re not ready when you’re needed?:

No matter how much Rana hated the fact, her body would be unable to function if she didn’t tend to it. She rose on stiff, cramped, and tingling legs. She relieved a bursting bladder at the latrine. She placated a growling stomach with a few bites in the kitchen, taking raw foods from a cold box. She did these things but felt no better.

Movement caught her attention as the frog she’d left in the bedroom saw Cassie rise from the futon. Rana shot from the kitchen to reach her friend in moments, ditching Akachochin in passing.

Feverish heat radiated from Cassie’s skin, which had ceased to sweat. She was dehydrated and looked more exhausted than ever, with heavy bags under her eyes.

“Rana, I’m so glad to see you. I remembered!” the words spilled from her friend’s lips with delirious delight. “My parents were turned to stone by Medusa!”

Out of nowhere, the revelation blindsided Rana with the full weight of its significance and what it would mean for them. Rana had no previous knowledge of this fact, but her mind leaped to the conclusions Cassie would reach before the girl said anything.

“No, don’t you get it? That means they’re alive! I can’t believe I’d forgotten.”

Rana pondered Cassie’s confusion. She knew the bat girl’s sleep condition extended farther back than their friendship, but the blood dependency originated with the Eastwood Event. Was this the result of one or both? Had Cassie not wanted to revisit bad memories?

“But this is my chance! With a little luck and hard work, I can find them and cure them and get them back!” Possible, but difficult.

“All we need to do is buy the secret to curing them from the Tsukumogami. We have plenty of stuff to sell: we have the Cintamani, we have books and movies and radio shows, and hey—information about monsters is valuable; I bet they’d accept our memories of Red Tail. Wouldn’t it be great to use that horrible experience to save lives? I know I’m not so good with haggling, but with you at my side for support, I’m sure we can get the information we need!”

No. No. No. It was all gone, used up or worthless. They had nothing left.

As Cassie spoke, Rana searched herself to confirm the decision she’d made that first moment after the revelation. There was no doubt in her heart, only fear. She looked at her friend, faked a smile, and said, “Don’t worry, Cassie. I’ll take care of it.”

The bat girl hugged her, and the overwhelming gratitude broke Rana’s heart. Tarō led the bat girl away before her façade cracked, saying, “Come on, let’s get you to the kitchen for a drink and then straight to bed.”

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

“Yes,” Cassie agreed. “There’s one more thing I have to do.”

Rana watched her friend from the eyes of frogs hidden across the premises as they parted ways. She waited until Cassie fell asleep. Rana didn’t want her friend to Hear any part of this.

She didn’t let the straw mats carry her, refusing the slippers and scarf who tried to reconnect after leaving during the late hours of her bedside vigil.

She wanted to be alone. That was impossible in this house, let alone with a bodyguard trying to find her, but none of them cared about Rana. They didn’t matter. What mattered was ensuring the others didn’t see her—they couldn’t be allowed to know—a simple task for her frog spies.

She walked until she reached the paper screens that didn’t slide open.

While it appeared Rana paused outside the chambers to reconsider, in truth, she was paralyzed. An immense feeling of dread arose. Rana shivered, her legs wobbled, her head swam, and she felt nauseous. Nevertheless, she resisted the urge to Camouflage. Though hiding had become a reflex, it didn’t matter if the Tsukumogami saw her like this. What mattered was she had to do this.

She’d wanted a way to help Cassie, and this was it. This, unlike so much else, was wholly within her power to do. She simply had to be strong.

Strong like Daniel. Rana hadn’t imagined a person could be so strong until she met him. Not physical strength or magical power, but that he’d shown her his weakness. He’d trusted her despite his amnesia. He’d faced the haunted memories he’d forgotten everything to escape and conquered his fears. He’d cried and not sent her away.

To Rana, he’d shown inner strength far greater than any heroic deed. He’d risked his life and fought for total strangers who claimed to know him. He’d refused to despair when Red Tail attacked. He’d led them through the Wilderness and been a friend for Wendi when no one else could help her, and this after the devil girl made multiple attempts on his life.

She thought of Daniel and asked herself, I may never be that strong, but if I can’t do this, what am I?

She risked nothing here. Nothing could happen to her. It was only bad memories.

Rana waited until she knew her voice wouldn’t break, then spoke without the fear or anger she felt. “I have something you want, Shami-chōrō. Let me in.”

Luckily, though he didn’t invite her in, Shami didn’t feel like shouting at a closed door. She slipped into his office as the screen slid open for him to say, “Impossible! You sold everything you had yesterday. This isn’t a charity.

“Do you understand, little girl? You can’t afford what we know. It doesn’t matter if you’ve glimpsed another monster besides Red Tail and lived; that level of information isn’t valuable.

“We can guess the types of abilities to expect from a monster based on its name and reputation. What we don’t know, what’s valuable, is the monster’s personality—how it uses its magic, how it thinks and acts and goes about its business. Its patterns, its history, its goals. To know these things, you’d have to watch it closely.

“Those memories of Red Tail are something we can dissect and analyze for details, and we are experts at it. Koto will be able to face Red Tail as if he’d personally fought the monster before. That’s what it means for information to have quality.

“And it’s too late to change that deal, anyway. You kids need to practice your bargaining. Better luck next time.”

He tried to shoo her away, but she ignored his gestures and sat. They couldn’t lay a finger on each other as part of the Guest agreement. If she proceeded nonviolently, she could annoy him into hearing her out.

Shami didn’t frighten Rana. The past didn’t frighten Rana either. It had come and gone. What frightened her was what she’d seen in Lea yesterday. What frightened Rana was the knowledge that to call a memory with her Shew Stone, she’d have to relive the pain.

Paul had endured pain. She’d seen pain on his face before the flame eating the wick on his head melted it off. Paul had been prepared to die for them. In a way, he kind of had. Paul had forged a new identity along with his new body. He’d surrendered everything, his abilities, his heritage, the very things that defined him, to help them.

Rana asked herself, I may never be that loyal, but if I can’t do this, what am I?

She took a deep breath. “What I’m selling wasn’t on the table yesterday.”

Shami slammed his fist on the table. “Don’t say another word.” His eyes narrowed, anger swelling as he spoke. “You came alone. Pride, I suppose. Or shame? It doesn’t matter. You want something, and you’re selling someone else out to get it. Nothing profits quite like a racial secret, eh?

“That’s how most Colonies fall, you know. A thousand years of history and a million lives can’t stand against one person with no honor. That’s the reason the concept means so much to us.

“You see, I hate traitors above all else. Not enough to refuse your business, of course. Moral standards like that are very expensive. Still, I haven’t been on this side of the table before, and I’ve always wanted to ask, ‘Why?’ You owe your magic to your Lineage. How can you turn your back on that debt?”

“Debt?” Rana shrugged. “The magic I can take or leave. It only matters in that it allows me to protect my friends.”

Shami sneered. “And what of your life?”

“Yes, my ‘Lineage’ gave me life. But my friends gave me a life worth living. That is debt.”

The banjo-headed man let that sit between them. While unsatisfied, he remained professional, restraining his anger as he reclined in his seat. “The consequences don’t trouble you? If your people ever learn of your betrayal, Excommunication will be the least of your concerns.”

“Enough questions. I was already in hiding, so this changes nothing. Now, you’re going to tell me everything you know about Medusa and removing Flesh-to-Stone curses, no matter the cost.”

Rana had limits. Even if Rana’s brother had forgotten about her, she’d never betray him. She wouldn’t put an innocent in harm’s way either. Everything else was fair game.

Shami laughed with derision and strummed his strings in a jaunty tune. “A tadpole like you thinks she can buy everything we know? Whatever secret you heard in confidence, dated passcode, vague location, or the fighting style of some mediocre toady you recall would be lucky to equal a single method of remedy!”

As Shami babbled on about something or other, Rana thought about bravery. Rana thought about Cassie, the girl who liked secrets maybe a little too much. Though Cassie would shower affection on a stranger, she was neither ignorant nor a fool. Feverish or not, Cassie knew exactly what she was doing.

Cassie hadn’t asked for blood, though no one around would’ve objected or told Daniel, and purposefully returned to the nightmares which had tormented her from childhood. Why?

Why, with four willing donors available, did she subject herself to this futile battle she couldn’t hope to win on her own? What drove her to this level of desperation that she couldn’t try again later under better circumstances?

The girl who heard the future.

What did Cassie think of their chances when their time as Guests ended? Had an Audition confirmed what Rana’s gut and experience told her? That mages don’t sit quietly while waiting for their prey? That the situation outside was much, much grimmer than the others anticipated? That their capture and enslavement was inevitable this time unless someone performed a miracle?

The more she thought about it, the more Rana felt certain Cassie was doing this for them. Cassie was fighting alone and afraid in a place no one and nothing could reach against a foe none of them understood. Rana hadn’t dared believe a person could be so brave.

Rana didn’t fear what she’d see in those old memories. She feared who she’d been. The pain of not knowing the meaning of ‘friend.’ As if by revisiting her younger self, she’d be trapped there. That she’d have to go back. A silly fear.

She asked herself, If I can’t do this small favor for the one who gave me so much, what am I? She would be less than the slime she trampled underfoot. She would be scum.

Rana spoke, but there was no concealing the emotion in her voice this time. “Ever heard of Jin Chan?”

Shami-chōrō’s eyes flashed with recognition. “Zhaocai Chan Chu, the Peach Thief? The Three-Legged Merchant of Death? The Green Flood? One of that infamous Ten: The Plague of Frogs? What could a mere child know about an existence that makes Red Tail look like a sparrow? You can’t mean the same monster-goddess raising an army of—No…”

“Yeah.” Rana’s cold eyes met Shami’s frightened ones. “Or, as I like to call her, mom.”