hope not.” Reika dusted off her hands. “The real question is, where is Master Jiro? This is a huge castle. How are we going to find him?”
With a glow of light, the hitodama floated through one of the walls, swirled around us and drifted away down a narrow corridor. I nodded.
“Follow the light,” I said, but at that moment, an amanjaku carrying a large bone appeared at the other end of the chamber. Spotting us, he pointed the bone in our direction and let out a high-pitched yowl that reverberated through the halls of the castle.
I pinned back my ears, as answering shrieks and hisses began echoing out of the darkness. “I suppose that answers one question.”
“Go!” the miko cried, as Chu darted after the hitodama and the sound of scrabbling claws rang out around us. We fled, following the bobbing light down long corridors, through empty rooms with shredded wall panels and overturned furniture, hearing the snarls of the demons as they closed in.
As we rounded a corner and burst through yet another door, we found ourselves in a large, spacious chamber of polished wood and high ceilings. Torn, filthy tatami mats covered the wooden floors, and the walls were lined with weapon racks. Empty now, but I could guess this might have been a sparring or training area once.
Unfortunately, we could run no farther. Across the room, a large amanjaku wearing a samurai helmet grinned at us triumphantly, as demons poured into the chamber through a hole in the wall, hissing and cackling as they spread across the floor. Turning around, we saw that the way we’d come was blocked, too. Demons surrounded us, grinning madly as they crept forward, pointing blades, spears and claws in our direction.
Heart pounding, I drew my tanto, as Reika pressed close and Chu backed up, growling and showing his teeth at the approaching demons. They laughed and snickered, crimson eyes bright with bloodlust, knowing we were trapped.
“What now?” I whispered, suddenly remembering the first time I’d run into a horde of demons. Tatsumi wouldn’t be coming this time; we were on our own.
Reika pulled out an ofuda and gave me an impatient look. “What do you mean ‘what now’?” she snapped. “The demonslayer isn’t here, kitsune!”
Oh.
I felt the grin cross my face before I could help myself. No Tatsumi. No demonslayer, or unwitting humans who thought I was something I wasn’t.
“Chu!” Reika called, drawing back the ofuda, which started to glow. “Guardian form now!”
She hurled the slip of paper into the air, where it flew toward the dog and burst into a ray of light. The small orange dog threw back his head and howled, and as he did, swelled to ten times his previous size. His fur changed color, turning a brilliant red, and a golden mane fell around his neck. Now he was the size of an ox, with massive shoulders, a curly flowing tail and a thick, blocky head that was a cross between a dog and a lion. A komainu, I realized in awe, the living incarnation of the statues that sat next to the shrine’s torii gate. Chu, or the guardian spirit he had become, let out a booming roar that shook the timbers and sent several demons flying with one swat of his enormous paw.
Shrieking, the amanjaku swarmed the room, their attention riveted on the majestic beast in the center of the floor. Taking one step back, I felt the familiar rush of fox magic rise to my fingers, and this time, did nothing to stifle it. As the horde closest to me rushed forward, I raised my arms, blue fire dancing at my fingertips, and sent a wave of kitsune-bi into their faces.
The amanjaku screamed, cringing back from the supernatural flames, covering their eyes as the column of foxfire roared through the chamber, casting everything in a blue-white glow. The fire wouldn’t burn, nothing was in danger of incineration, but in the seconds of pandemonium that followed I grabbed a handful of reeds from the floor and hurled it into the air, sending fox magic after it.
As the reeds fluttered down, a few dozen Yumekos and Reikas filled the room with small pops of smoke, eliciting yelps of alarm from the shocked amanjaku. As the replicas scattered, and the amanjaku began stabbing at them in a panic, I snatched up a pebble and threw it at the helmeted demon, where a second Chu materialized in front of him with a roar. As the demon howled