can you be the same person?” he asked in a faltering voice.
Aiko smiled at him. “It is a long story, one that I wish I could have shared with your Baba—and one I will share with your father in greater detail if he allows it. I want to share my story with you if you would like to hear it,” he said.
Asahi eagerly nodded. “Yes. I love stories. Baba shared lots of stories with me,” he shyly answered.
Aiko chuckled. “Your grandmother was a gifted storyteller. She would have loved this one. My story begins on a foggy morning forty years ago…,” he began, leaning back in his chair.
Asahi listened with wonder as his grandfather spoke of his unbelievable journey to another world, a world filled with magic, dragons, giants, witches, pirates—and monsters. The marvels of the Seven Kingdoms sparked Asahi’s imagination.
Darkness fell while they were finishing dinner. His grandfather paused and stared at him in silence, then twisted in his chair, opened a bag hanging from it, and pulled out an ornate dagger. At the top of the hilt was a small winged lion made of gold. Aiko held it lovingly in his hands.
Asahi stared in fascination at the strange symbols embossed on the thick leather sheath. His grandfather placed the dagger on the table in front of him and nodded toward it. Asahi’s attention remained fixed on the richly detailed lion at the top.
“This dagger was a gift from a dear friend. For years, I dreamed of giving it to your father, but I was unsure if I would ever return to Yachats,” Aiko softly explained.
Asahi tilted his head. “Baba said that father does not always appreciate the things he receives the way he should. She missed you. I liked when she told me stories about you,” he confessed.
Aiko smiled and pushed the dagger toward him. “Then I will give this magic dagger to you,” he said.
A knock at the front door forestalled what Asahi was going to say. He waited until Aiko was in the living room before he ran his fingers over the hilt of the dagger. Surprise washed through him when he saw the red-jeweled handle glow. He yanked his hand away.
The sound of his grandfather’s hoarse cry of denial drew him to his feet. Asahi walked over to the opening between the kitchen and the living room. He peered around the corner to see who was at the door. His heart hammered in his chest when he saw that a police officer was talking to Aiko.
“Where did it happen?” his grandfather asked in an unsteady voice.
“Along Highway 101. It appears he lost control coming around the curve and hit the guardrail. His car flipped over the edge of the embankment and went off the cliff. Someone reported that they saw it below. He died on impact. I’m sorry,” the police officer explained.
“No,” Asahi whispered. The tears dripping down his face mirrored his grandfather’s. Anger flooded his body.
“Asahi—” his grandfather began.
“It’s all their fault,” Asahi whispered.
The police officer looked at him and frowned. “Whose fault, son?” he asked.
Asahi looked back at his grandfather. “The monsters. If they had not taken you, then you would have been here for Baba and Father. They should not have taken you. They are the reason Baba and Father are dead,” he replied in a low, fierce tone.
He didn’t wait for the police officer or his grandfather to respond. There was nothing they could say that would bring back his grandmother or his father. He hurried back into the kitchen, grabbed the dagger off the table and a dish towel from the counter, and exited through the back door.
The tears on his face mixed with the damp mist as he hurried along the uneven path into the forest behind their house. When he was about a hundred yards away, he stopped and took several shuddering breaths of the chilled air. He wiped his face with the back of his shirt sleeve.
There was an outcropping of rocks next to the path where he had often enjoyed playing. He walked over to it, dropped to the ground, and placed his grandfather’s dagger and the dish towel on the ground beside him.
It took him a few minutes to clear the dirt he had piled up near one side of the boulders. He felt along the ground until he found the large, loose rock that covered his secret hiding space. He wiggled the rock free, put it aside, and reached into the small crevice. Inside