It was heaven... and it lasted all of fifteen minutes.
“Tima!” A male voice called from the shore.
“No,” I muttered. “Make him go away.”
“It's Fallon,” Kirill said as he headed toward the steering wheel.
The boat shifted slowly as the red and white striped sails caught the breeze, and we headed toward shore.
“Damn it all; does no one ever listen to me?” I grumbled.
In just a few minutes, we had docked. The sound of Fallon's heavy footsteps echoed across the gangplank and then the deck. Zariel cried out in delight to see her father, but I only sighed deeply as I heard his ominous approach. A shadow fell across my body, and the men around me stirred.
“Tima, there's a Japanese goddess at Moonshine who is desperate to speak with you,” Fallon said. “I just received a text from Ty; evidently you all left your phones at home.”
“Because we didn't want to be disturbed,” I said as I sat up.
“I wasn't thrilled to have my alone time with Samantha interrupted either.” Fallon grimaced at me.
“Then tell Ty to get rid of her,” I whined. “I've done my fair share of helping the Japanese this year.”
“Her name is”—he glanced down at the cell phone in his hand—“Sakuya.”
“Sakuya?” I stood up and took the phone from Fallon. “Dancing sugarplums!”
I rapidly sent a text to Ty, asking what Sakuya needed. Within minutes, he texted back.
“Amy's in trouble,” I said to the men around me.
“I thought Amaterasu said that she could handle things?” Ted asked.
“I guess she was wrong,” I huffed. “Who's coming with me?”
Azrael started to smile.
“Not you, Death.” I pointed at Azrael, and his grin faded. “You're on baby lioness duty.” I maneuvered my finger toward the girls. “There's no reason for Fallon to lose his alone time too.”
“Yes!” Fallon did a fist pump. “See ya later, suckers!” He ran off the boat.
“Later, sucker!” Zariel and Lesya called after him.
“I'll stay with Az,” Ira said. “Text us if you need us.”
“Enjoy the sunshine,” I said to Az before I kissed him goodbye.
“Fine.” Azrael sighed. “Have fun saving Amy.”
The rest of us hurried after Fallon; up to the palace. Except while Fallon ran upstairs to his wife, we piled into the tracing room and traced to Moonshine—our club in Hawaii. There was a private tracing room in basement of the club for friends and family, and that's where we emerged. We took the concrete steps up to the balcony of the VIP floor; where Ty—Trevor's younger brother—had brought Sakuya to wait for us.
The goddess was perched on a “grass” covered “hill” that was one of the seats that had been made to blend in with the nature theme of the club. Fake trees and plants gave the illusion of privacy while real plants and flowers lent freshness and fragrance to the air. A moon hung above the forested dance floor below; shedding its soft light over the club-goers. It was more than illumination though; it was an Atlantean piece of security that monitored the emotions of everyone beneath it. I was betting that Sakuya's emotions were currently setting off warning bells in the moon.
“What happened?” I asked as I walked up to Sakuya.
“Amaterasu went after Enma,” Sakuya said as she stood. “She was going to confront him and take her souls back. But that was days ago. I don't know what to do; Amy made me swear to tell no one else about the suicides. I can't go to the other Japanese gods for help. Will you help me, Vervain?”
“Do you know where she is?” I countered.
“I assume that Enma has her in Meido,” Sakuya said.
“Meido?” I asked.
“It is where the souls of the dead go to be judged,” Sakuya explained. “They are put through trials to determine what afterlife they deserve. Some are reborn here and some move on to other places.”
“Heaven and Hell?” Odin asked.
“And territories in between,” Sakuya said evasively. “It is the Buddhist Underworld, and I'm not as familiar with it as I am the Shinto. But I've brought scrolls with me, in the hopes that you would agree to help.” She gestured to a canvas bag overflowing with rolled papers. “They hold all the information I could gather on Meido and Jigoku.”
“What's Jigoku?” Ted asked.
“Hell,” Sakuya said. “I don't think we'll need to venture through the twenty-four hells to find Amaterasu, but I thought we should be prepared.”
“Hold on,” I said. “We have to walk through these territories? Can't we just trace in?”
“There is only one way into Meido and one way out, unless you are a god of that region,” Sakuya said. “Meido is a god territory connected directly to Earth; there are no tracing points within it. Only the gods who rule there know the secret passages in and out; beyond those that the souls use.”
“This is sounding a lot like Duat and Aaru,” I said to Re.
“Most definitely,” Re agreed. “Does there happen to be a river in Meido?”
“Yes.” Sakuya blinked in surprise. “The souls must cross it after undergoing their first trial.”
“Now, this sounds like Aaru and Hades,” Trevor said.
“Are their snakes?” I asked. “In Aaru, fire-breathing snakes guard the river gates.”
“Um.” Sakuya frowned at our tangents, but dutifully bent to pull a scroll from her bag. She unwound it and skimmed. “The Sanzu River has three crossings; a bridge for good souls, a shallow area for those who are both good and bad, and the rest must cross the wild and deep rapids which are full of poisonous snakes.” She looked up in surprise. “How do humans from all over the Earth come up with such similar myths?”
“Who knows.” Re
