“Fair enough,” I conceded. “But to the weak-minded or unwary, hallucinations can be enough to cause harm. If you're already suicidal and you're bombarded by evil emotions, you're as good as dead.”
“Also true,” Ted agreed. “But there is no reason for us to be afraid of a forest.”
My phone chimed again. Amy was getting worried by my lack of response.
“What do I tell her?” I asked them.
“Tell her that we'll see her soon,” Azrael said.
“All of us?” I looked around the table.
“All of us,” Ted agreed. “I can hardly sit it out after arguing over the harmlessness of the place.”
“Plus; we can use it as an opportunity to wave around our bait,” Ira said. “Kill two birds with one stone.”
“Perhaps ve should refrain from using ze vord 'kill' for now,” Kirill suggested.
Chapter Thirty
I asked Amy to send us a picture of the place where she wanted to meet. Visual in mind, we all traced to the forest of Aokigahara. It was a thickly wooded area of creaking trees, chilly breezes, and crisp scents. Every forest I'd been in had a smell of life and death to it; living plants and rich soil tempered by the decomposition of fallen leaves, branches, and dead animals. I had expected Aokigahara to shift a little more towards the decomp end of the spectrum than the living. But it didn't, nor did it have the unsettling feeling that I'd been expecting. It was actually a very peaceful place.
“Welcome,” Amy greeted us.
The Japanese Goddess was dressed in jeans, a sweater, and a windbreaker. She looked completely normal and still outrageously beautiful. Her thick, black hair was pulled back sleekly from her pale forehead, and her rounded cheeks were flushed from the cool air. She looked like a twenty-year old out for a hike in the woods.
“Hey, Amy,” I went to shake her hand.
“Thank you for coming,” she said with a nod. “This is my granddaughter by marriage; Konohanasakuya-hime. She's Ninigi's wife.”
The other woman had a little more rose to her cheeks than Amy, and her hair fell in a braid past her knees. She wore a simple cotton dress; something way too light for the weather, but she didn't seem bothered by the chill.
“Please call me, Sakuya,” she said. “I am the Goddess of Mount Fuji, and this is my forest.”
We exchanged greetings and introductions, and both women were surprised to meet the Horsemen.
“You have brought serious warriors to assist us,” Amaterasu said with approval. “I appreciate that, but if I needed soldiers, I wouldn't have called you. I need wits and a new perspective.”
“We're not just pretty faces.” Ted smirked. “We'll help figure out how best to deal with your problem.”
“What exactly is your problem?” I asked as I glanced at a sign nailed to a tree on my left; it was written in Kanji.
“The sign reads; 'Your life is a precious gift from your parents,'” Sakuya said; answering my look instead of my question. “The human police have posted numerous signs, such as this one, to discourage people from killing themselves. They don't understand that sometimes death is a blessing.”
“Blessed death,” I whispered with a frown; there was that feeling again—the feeling that something was off.
“Yes.” She nodded. “And I am here to give my people the peace that life cannot bring them. I look after the lost ones, Godhunter. My forest is meant to be a sanctuary or a way out, not a curse.”
“I can feel that,” Azrael said. “Compassion rules here, though there is a darkness as well.”
“That darkness is new,” Sakuya said. “And we shall discuss it in a moment.”
“Darkness or not, don't you think that life should be encouraged?” Azrael asked.
“We know that there is more than one single existence,” Sakuya said. “Death can be a relief; entry into a heaven where the soul can be free, or a chance to start again. Either way, it is not an ending.”
“I don't know how I feel about that,” I murmured. “But if you approve of the suicides happening here, why have you called us in?”
“My people have been led here,” Amy said. “Yakuza males with no reason to take their own lives. Someone is tricking them; compelling them to journey here and commit suicide.”
“And it is hurting my forest,” Sakuya murmured as she looked around sadly. “The taint is sinking into the earth. I can even feel evil lurking in the air.”
“The darkness I noted,” Azrael murmured.
“Yes,” Sakuya agreed. “Will you help us discover who is behind this?”
“What evidence have you collected; beyond the deaths of Yakuza members?” Sam asked. “Couldn't it simply be murder?”
“I know every murder committed by my people; they are sacrifices to me,” Amy declared. “And when one of my people die, I go to claim their soul. I went to claim the souls of the men who supposedly committed suicide here, but they had already been taken.”
“What?” Azrael asked in shock. “Someone took a soul bound to you?”
“Yes, Death Angel,” Amy said grimly. “Now, you understand why I asked you here. I am at a loss. I have no idea how another god could claim one of my souls.”
“There are a few ways around the bond between god and human,” Odin murmured as he went pensive. “If another god were to get a human to renounce their deity—even on their death bed—the bond would be severed.”
“I felt no severance,” Amy said. “And after the first death, I was especially focused on my connections.”
“A spell could be cast to dampen the pull of an afterlife, but the human would have to participate,” Odin went on. “And it would be far easier for them to simply renounce their
