Total pages in book: 93
Estimated words: 92392 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 462(@200wpm)___ 370(@250wpm)___ 308(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92392 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 462(@200wpm)___ 370(@250wpm)___ 308(@300wpm)
Done with the lollipop, I pulled the bare stick out of my mouth and held it in the air.
A man in a black uniform rushed over with a small tray, took the stick from my fingers, bowed once, and disappeared toward the back of the war room.
Hmmm.
I scanned the other masks.
Daisuke's sat at the far left.
Yamauba.
The mountain witch who devoured travelers but who, in some versions of the legend, had once been a midwife—a protector who turned predator only after losing too much. White hair. Sunken eyes. A mouth that could nurse or kill, depending on which side of the mountain she met you. The mouth had been carved open just wide enough to slip a blade through, so when Daisuke leaned in close, the man on the other end would never know whether the witch was about to whisper or bite.
Kaede's mask sat next to Daisuke's.
Tengu.
A long-nosed mountain demon with a beak that came forward like a bird's. Red lacquer. Black accents. Gold leaf had been pressed along the edge of the beak in a thin line, so when Kaede turned his head in battle, the strike of the gold would flash like a warning.
Toma's mask was a Namahage. A red-skinned ogre, the eyes bulging, the snarl hooked. The eyes had been carved deep and angled downward, so anyone Toma stood over would feel the ogre staring straight into them long before Toma himself ever looked down.
Then I settled my gaze on the twins’ masks.
I chuckled to myself.
Much to Reo’s annoyance, they had refused to wear demons on their faces and had chosen kitsune instead. Kitsune were yōkai—spirit foxes. Shapeshifters who could take human form for years before slipping back into the trees.
Tricksters.
Sometimes lovers.
Other times guardians.
They grew more tails as they aged. Nine tails meant the oldest, wisest, and most dangerous.
And a kitsune that bonded with a human heart stayed bound to it forever.
Through distance.
Through time.
Through death.
Perhaps that was what the twins loved about kitsune most of all—the everlasting love and loyalty.
Their masks rested side by side. Gleaming black. Golden teeth bared in matching grins. Silver whiskers swept back along the cheeks. Pointed ears tipped in gold. Eyes carved long and narrow. The artisan had matched them so precisely that even the brush strokes on the whiskers ran in identical directions, so no enemy on the field would ever know which twin he was about to die from.
Indistinguishable.
This will be the first time I won’t be able to tell them apart in battle.
I dug into my pocket, pulled out a blue lollipop, and unwrapped it slowly.
Across the table, Daisuke's eyes tracked the wrapper down to my fingers and back up to my mouth. “Another one?”
Here we go.
Daisuke held the expression of a bartender watching an alcoholic order his seventh drink. “You’ve already had two since we walked in here.”
“Only you would be more worried about my getting a cavity than our possible deaths tonight.” I slid the candy into my mouth.
“There’s the sugar rush too.”
I sucked on the new lollipop. “Let’s get back to strategy.”
The Claws stood in front of me with their weapons racked behind them. Magazines stacked on the side table. Ammunition crates open.
Rin's poison vials were laid out on a black silk cloth that the Fang had left before disappearing—probably to say goodbye to his new lover on the other side of the island.
I cleared my throat. "Kenji and I believe that our brother, Akiro, will go for the mansion first. He thinks Kenji and I will be inside, waiting like cowards in a fortress. So that's the first thing we change.”
Toma looked up. “How will we do that?”
“We won’t be in the mansion. We'll be in the trees."
Daisuke nodded once.
"The mansion stays lit. Looks occupied. Some of Reo's Scales will move through it to give the impression that we are home. Akiro's first wave will hit it expecting to find us. They won't."
I sucked harder on the lollipop. "Antiaircraft on the outer ridge will take down what it can. We are not stopping every helicopter and plane. We are not built for that. Some of them will land. When they do, the Scales engage on the ground—they have the numbers, and they have the terrain. Our job is not to clean up after the landings."
Toma loaded another round in his gun and looked up. "Then what is our job?"
"Our job is the Fox, Akiro, and the men protecting them. Let the Scales get the lower soldiers to win the battle. We focus on winning the war."
Toma tilted his head to the side. "How do we know where Akiro will be? And even more, how do we know if the Fox is even coming?"
I glanced back at my brother.
Now Kenji stood at the strategy table with Reo at his shoulder. His phone rested in his hand. His head was bent low taking in the map in front of him.