After the storm, the weather had settled into an oppressive heat, humid and warm, with lone clouds rolling above the school like a sleepy shoreline.
On her way to the dojo she passed Kou Fujiwara’s museum, the glass-doored building a strange anomaly in the traditional setting. She hadn’t spoken to Sayuri since their run-in, the two of them barely even looking at each other, and whenever Lottie tried to catch her attention she was met only with cold indifference. Looking up at the statue of Kou, Lottie couldn’t help wondering how it felt to see your ancestor every day while feeling so disconnected from your family.
It wasn’t hard to find Ellie. She heard her before she saw her, a series of feral grunts echoing from the back of the dojo, from the exact place Lottie had found Jamie during the storm.
There was an animal mania blazing from the girl she saw practicing strikes, teeth bared like fangs, attacking the air with lightning precision. It didn’t feel like her princess. Ellie had vanished, in her place a twisted, bent-limbed creature.
Instead she saw Aoi Tōyō, the maiden, consumed and reborn into a powerful monster of rage and fire.
“Ellie?” Her voice dragged her princess out of whatever storm was raging in her head.
“Lottie? What are you doing here?” The speed at which she pulled the mask back over her face felt like whiplash.
“What am I doing?” Lottie spluttered. “You’re meant to be hanging out with Jamie. Is everything okay?”
Picking her stuff up, Ellie gave the grass a humorless smirk. “He doesn’t want me around, Lottie. He hates me.”
“Ellie, that’s not true, he’s—”
“The best thing I can do for him is get strong enough to prove he doesn’t need to look after me. That none of you need to put yourself in danger for me.”
“Ellie, that’s not how this works . . .”
“I don’t want to be weak anymore, Lottie. Jamie was so . . .” Her eyes misted over, the dark cloud coming low, wrapping her in the horrible memory of seeing Jamie so injured and helpless. It hadn’t occurred to Lottie how scary that must have been for Ellie, and she felt so stupid for not thinking of it sooner.
“I’ve been having these nightmares, Lottie.” Ellie’s voice had turned small. “I’m walking through the long corridor at home, the one with all the paintings of previous rulers. When I get to the framed portrait of Claude the light distorts it, and all of a sudden it’s me. I’m in the frame.” Shuddering, Ellie looked down, face obscured.
But before Lottie could reach out to her, Ellie shook herself. “I found your phone!”
“What?”
“Your phone. I found it smashed up. What happened?”
“Ollie sent me something,” Lottie confessed. “I was angry and . . . it was an accident.”
Shaking her head, Ellie looked down at her hands like she couldn’t recognize them, then, worst of all, she turned that same look of confusion on Lottie.
“I did this to you. The Lottie I know would never do something like that.” Her voice was shaking, and Lottie felt her eyes go right through her. “I’m a bad influence, just like they said.”
“Ellie, no, I told you already—”
“Didn’t you hear what Banshee said? What if it does all lead back to me? What if it is my fault?”
Banshee.
Simply hearing it took Lottie right back to Kou’s museum: Sayuri’s anger, Banshee’s determination not to join forces with them.
“We’ll solve this, Ellie. We’ll figure out who the Master of Leviathan is, and you can put this silly idea that it’s all your fault away. All we need is each other, remember?”
As soon as she said this, she knew that none of it was true. Whatever information Banshee had, they needed it. They needed Banshee’s help, and Lottie needed to start preparing for the worst. That it might all lead back to the princess of Maradova.
Ellie threw her bag over her shoulder, and Lottie could see the sweat on her brow. “It’s not good enough. I can’t keep relying on everyone like this,” she said.
“Ellie, what are you—”
“Our showcase is only two days away.” The dark cloud inched closer to Lottie when Ellie brushed past her, making her skin prickle. “If I can beat Jamie, maybe he won’t have to worry anymore.”
“Jamie doesn’t want that, Ellie, I’m sure of it. None of us do.”
But Ellie wasn’t listening; she was striding off toward the dorms with a brief wave. “I’m going to go and find someone to practice with me. I’ll see you at dinner.”
It wasn’t until Ellie disappeared out of view that Lottie realized she hadn’t had a chance to tell her about the diary, and it became very clear that there were much bigger issues to deal with before she could solve Takeshin’s secret.
27
JAMIE AND ELLIE HAD KNOWN each other their whole lives. From the moment Ellie was born a lifelong bond had been written out for them, a bond of protection, devotion, and—most of all—duty. It was the bond of a Partizan, and today Ellie was going to break it.
“You all ready for the showcase?” Anastacia asked.
Ellie found it impossible to answer. Sweat was building up under her kote gloves, but it wasn’t about the showcase; she’d felt like this for a while now. It was a feeling she’d nearly overcome, but it had surged inside her again since the festival, and she knew the only solution was to get stronger.
“Yeah,” she said at last, chancing a glance at the audience sitting neatly and cross-legged on the other side of the dojo like an array of lotus flowers.
Everything leads back to you.
Bad influence . . .
They’d already warmed up and meditated before the audience had arrived. It was only a small crowd; any Takeshin summer-school student could watch the morning showcase, but it was mostly friends of the kendo pupils. Ellie had never considered herself claustrophobic, and
