That day, I had duty as evening watch captain starting right after the evening meal. After the morning’s incident, everyone was alert, almost jumpy. Of course, with everyone on their guard, the streets outside the saké house were quiet for a change. I spent the last part of the watch battling sleep but managed to stay awake by keeping on my feet doing continual rounds of the posts. It was after midnight when I finished. I wanted nothing more than to fall into bed and embrace oblivion.

I had barely closed my eyes for some blessed slumber when Surei barged in and grabbed me by the arm, dragging me to my feet. “Yoshi! You have to get up!”

I looked up at her with bleary eyes and said, “Wharzle snarpf?”

She continued to pull on my arm. “Get up!”

I jumped up, grabbed my naginata, and fumbled for my kodachi. “What’s wrong? I didn’t hear any gongs. Are we under attack?” I shouted.

Surei shook her head. “You can’t go to sleep.”

“WHAT? I’ve barely slept since yesterday morning. If I don’t get some—”

“You can’t, not now. I’ve been reading about ghosts and possession.”

“What about ghosts—” an uncontrollable yawn interrupted my words “—and possession?” I demanded.

“Akiko is limited to appearances between midnight and dawn, but can only manifest if you are asleep.” Surei pulled me out into the garden. “You have to stay up tonight, I have almost learned what I need to do, but it will take all day tomorrow for me to prepare.”

“What are we going to do? How are we supposed to stay awake when we’re so exhausted?”

“I am going to bed. I have to be fresh when I study the rest of the scrolls tomorrow. I am sure you can come up with some way to stay awake.”

I headed for the kitchen. Cook wasn’t there, but one of her helpers—what was her name?—was preparing meals for those pulling early morning duty and for the saké house’s few late customers. I watched her preparing the fish dishes, her knife making precise and careful cuts, as I tried to recall her name. She was one of our more talented fighters, wielding a tachi with the same calm competence she brought to her kitchen knife work. The warmth of the oven soothed me, and I leaned against the wall, fascinated by the precision of each stroke. It was mesmerizing. I was soooo tired. I leaned my head back against the wall, wanting to shut my eyes for just a moment … they slid closed, and it felt wonderful—

THUNK!

A loud noise next to me ear snapped me awake. Reflexively, I shifted the naginata to a guard position, but the haft struck a nearby table, knocking it over with a loud clatter. I looked to my left to see what had caused the sound and one of Cook’s kitchen knives was buried halfway to the hilt a fingers-breadth from my head. With a yelp of surprise, I jumped away from the wall. Everyone in the kitchen was staring at me. Many hid smiles behind their hands.

Cook stared at me suspiciously. “Mistress says you need to stay awake, so I will make sure you don’t sleep.”

Suddenly, I was energized and wide awake. “I’m not tired. Not going to sleep at all.”

A chorus of titters from the kitchen staff greeted my announcement.

Cook snorted her disbelief. She moved over to the counter and examined the prepared food, then nodded in approval. “Excellent work. I’m going to bed.” She gave me another hard look. “You stay awake.”

“I’m going out to see if Professor is around somewhere. He has the duty now. Maybe I can walk the posts with him.” With my newfound energy, I sprinted out of the kitchen.

My vigor lasted just long enough to get me into the garden. I stumbled around the grounds for a bit, so exhausted I couldn’t walk in a straight line. I almost walked into the wall of the building where we stored the practice weapons, so I picked up two bokken with some vague idea of sparring to keep awake.

I finally came upon Professor making the rounds.

“Would you like to practice a little?” I asked him. “I need to get my blood pumping.”

He looked at me. “Hyacinth-sama told me you needed to stay awake. Hoping a little weapons drill might do it?” We stepped off the walkway into a large open area between the buildings and squared off, each assuming the guard position. I was having a hard time maintaining a proper grip, and the tip of my bokken kept wavering back and forth. Professor made no move to attack but just watched me, his teeth glinting white in the moonlight as he grinned at my inability to center my weapon.

I studied him for a moment. With his advantage in size and strength, I was in the same position with him Surei faced when she sparred with me.

I’ll use the tactics we worked out for her so many years ago.

I feinted an attack to his head. He blocked it with his bokken then initiated an overhead attack. I expected that, and I angled my weapon to deflect his blow instead of meeting the strike head-on. That threw him out of position, and I snapped a cut at his chest. He quickly reversed his blade, knocking my weapon aside. Surprised by his move, I stepped back to get a moment’s respite. I felt like an idiot.

Of course, he knew what I was going to do. He’s been sparring with Surei for years. He probably knows these tricks even better than I do.

This was going to be much challenging than I originally anticipated.

I was quicker than he was, but his long reach completely negated that advantage. I had to keep moving in and out, or he would land a bruising hit. Even pulling our blows, he was stronger than I had feared. The one time I forgot to deflect and tried a straight block, the strength of his counter knocked the bokken completely out of my hand. I dived under his reach, grabbed it again and rolled to my feet just in time to deflect his next blow. I hoped I would never have to face him for real. I was pretty sure I could take him, but there was no telling what shape I would be in when he got finished with me.

We fought until both of us were gasping like runners at the end of a race. “Good fight,” I said, not wanting to waste my breath on long statements.

He grunted his agreement.

Once we caught our breath, he said, “Would you like to accompany me on a round of the guard posts?”

“Sounds like a good way to stay awake.” We set off together. “Has Dimples come to her senses yet?”

“She hasn’t spoken to me much since I told her the punishment for leaving her post.” He grinned. “Of course, she hasn’t had much time. Now she seems to have taken an interest in Ryouji. I have assigned them to separate posts to prevent problems.”

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“Good idea.”

He sighed. “The mistress has been so busy with battle plans we haven’t had time to do coming of age ceremonies for the children. I don’t know if Dimples is ready to be a woman yet, but no one has even given it any thought. I hope things get back to normal soon. We run a saké house, not a military unit.”

We spent some time checking out the sentries on the gates. I found myself drifting off again, this time almost falling asleep as we were passing the small lake in the middle of the garden. Professor shoved me off the path, and I landed in the water. The shock of the cold liquid drove all sleep from my mind. I sputtered and coughed as I got my head above water.

It was a warm summer night, but the wind was up, and before long, my wet clothes had me shaking with cold. The unpleasant chill did a good job of keeping me awake. I was shivering too hard to drop off. In a smug voice, Professor said, “I thought that would help you stay awake.” I couldn’t decide whether to thank him or hit him.

At long last, the sun rose, and I went back to my room to change into dry clothes and sleep.

When Surei came to get me, it was pitch dark outside. I had slept the entire day through. We proceeded to a small building where she had made preparations for the ritual.

Surei had inscribed a five-pointed star on the floor. The center pentagonal area was large enough for three or four people to comfortably stand. At each of the five points of the star was an unlit candle in a metal holder.

Surei stopped just outside the diagram. “This star is a seiman. It was invented by Abé no Seimei. He used it to confine and control spirits, particularly unwilling ones. Stand inside the center of the star. I will separate you from Akiko’s shade and confine her there. Once that is done, I can pacify her and send her to the spirit world.”

I stepped inside the central pentagon.

Surei took out a paper doll and held it in front of her. She began chanting something in a low voice. I couldn’t make out precisely what she was saying, but it didn’t sound like any words I recognized. As she chanted, she slowly circled the room, lighting the candles at each of the points of the seiman.

When we had entered the room, it was quite dark. As Surei lit the candles, the room brightened, but the increase in illumination was all out of proportion to the size of the candles. The air above each flame shimmered with heat. With each lit candle, she increased the tempo and volume of her chanting.

She returned to the front of the room. Her figure was surrounded by a nimbus of blue light that pulsed and glowed in time with her chanting. A line of energy ran from her to the nearest point of the star. The figure of the star glowed and crackled with the same blue energy, which also pulsed to the rhythm of her spell.

Suddenly a flickering bright red aura materialized around me. It appeared as though I was on fire. I raised my arm and stared at it in amazement, mesmerized by the sight. As the chant continued, the aura grew brighter. When it became so bright it was almost white, Surei changed the words of the chant.

The light around me seemed to thicken and take on a life of its own. It slowly slid apart from me, solidifying as we separated. Before long, Akiko’s shade was standing next to me, her form surrounded by ghostly flames. A connection bound the two of us—a solid red umbilical passing from the center of my body to hers.

Akiko looked around, bewildered and apparently unaware of her surroundings. “Where am I? What are you doing to me?” She started becoming agitated. “My children! I have to protect my children!”

I said, “Akiko, we are taking care of the children. They are going to be fine.”

She appeared not to hear me, casting her gaze around wildly, saying, “Where are my children?”

Surei stopped chanting for a moment. “Yoshi, I want you to step outside the seiman, but don’t disturb the markings on the floor.” She began a new chant, this time placing a heavy emphasis on the last syllable of each phrase.

Akiko’s behavior changed. Her tone of pleading became one of anger. “I trusted you, Ikeda! I thought you were a friend. Instead, you betrayed me!”

I stepped out of the star, careful not to disturb the pattern.

“You will not take that which rightfully belongs to my children!” Akiko’s voice grew louder.

Without interrupting her chant, Surei motioned me to stand beside her. She took out Abé no Seimei’s black tantou and held it directly over the connection binding me to Akiko.

“I will have justice!” Akiko shouted.

As Surei placed the heavy emphasis on the last syllable of her chant, her knife flashed downward, severing the connection.

A shock ran through me, and then a pool of anger I hadn’t realized was there drained out of my mind, leaving behind a sense of calm. At the same time, I felt like something had been torn from me, leaving an empty space in my soul.

Akiko went crazy.

“You will burn!” She threw herself at Surei, but was brought up short by the invisible barriers of the seiman that imprisoned her. Frantically, she worked to free herself.

Surei grunted as if she had been struck. With evident strain, she maintained the rhythm of the chant. Each passing moment required more effort from her and her voice rose in volume and pitch. Akiko continued struggling to escape her confinement.

“You will all burn!”

I thought I detected a note of desperation in Surei’s chanting. The effort was costing her dearly. Her face gleamed with sweat as she shouted the words of the incantation in her attempt to pacify Akiko’s wild spirit.

I watched in horror. I could do nothing except stand there. Akiko struck at the barriers confining her. The flames around her blazed high in time with the blows. The energy around Surei dimmed with each attack before brightening again. However, with each assault, Surei’s aura lessened in intensity.

Akiko paused. The light around her blazed so brightly I had to shield my eyes from the glow. She struck once more, shouting “No!”

The candles went out.

Akiko glowed like a white-hot piece of steel fresh from the smith’s forge. Surei’s light was almost extinguished.

The light around Akiko became more intense and grew to fill the room. Everything seemed to happen in slow motion. I yelled “Surei!” and threw myself at her. I floated along leisurely as she slowly turned to look at me. Akiko’s brilliance flowed out of her in a wave to encompass the room, particularly reaching out towards Surei. Just before it touched her, I struck Surei in the chest with my hands and knocked us both to the floor in a slow, lazy fall. The world exploded around us, and I lost consciousness.

When I came to, we were surrounded by the smell of smoke and the crackle of flames. As I pushed my way up from the floor, several cedar shingles fell from my back. The building was in flames, a hole blown in the roof. I pulled Surei to her feet. The two of us stumbled around, coughing in the smoky air as we attempted to get our bearings. I spotted the entrance, and we ran outside.

Cook and her volunteer fire brigade were already on the job, throwing buckets of water on the burning wood of the building. As I exited the building, I took a bucket of water to the face from a too-enthusiastic volunteer.

I am tired of getting wet.

After I had gotten all the water out of my throat, I turned to Surei. “Are you all right?”

“I’m … fine.” Her answer seemed uncertain.

Professor came running up. “What happened here?”

Surei said, “She tried to kill me.” She looked at me. “At the last, she tried to kill me.”

“We had a small accident,” I explained to Professor.

He looked at me, looked at the burning building then looked at me again. “Accident?”

Surei finally noticed Professor. “Never mind, it’s not important. Just try and keep it from spreading. I don’t want to lose any more buildings. Yoshi, would you take me to my quarters?”

I walked her back, neither of us saying anything. She stopped outside the building. “What went wrong?” I asked.

“I don’t know, Yoshi.” She sounded exhausted and dispirited. “I did everything exactly as the scroll instructed, but I couldn’t hold her. I wasn’t strong enough.”

“What’s our next step?”

Surei shrugged. “I don’t know. Get a real exorcist? Clearly, I’m not nearly the onmyouji I thought I was. I should stop fooling myself and just stick with being a dancer.”

She shook her head. “I can’t believe she tried to kill me.”

“Surei, you know that wasn’t Akiko. It was just an image of her pain and need, frozen at the time of her death. Akiko wouldn’t try to kill you.”

She wouldn’t meet my gaze. “I’ll talk to you in the morning.”

Surei went into her room.