“It has to be beneath this tree. Under the Mayfutt mark.” Lottie walked ahead to join Sayuri, the beat of the forest pumping harder with every step closer to its heart. She turned to Ellie and Jamie, both standing at the edge of the clearing, the looks on their faces a mix of shock and awe at seeing a symbol from home blossoming all the way on the other side of the world.
“How did I miss this?” Jamie asked, running his fingers curiously along the indented bark.
“I think we were a little preoccupied,” Ellie replied, and the two of them shared another look, making Lottie wonder once again what exactly they’d discussed.
“Well?” Sayuri said, cutting their moment short. “Aren’t you going to help dig?”
A smirk crept over Ellie’s mouth as she rolled up the sleeves of her uniform, while Jamie nodded, stepping forward to strike the ground with his spade.
A soft hand reached out for Lottie’s as they started to dig, a warm pulse against her skin. It was Sayuri’s, but she wasn’t nervous or scared of what they’d find. Her hand wasn’t shaking—this was solidarity. The mingling heartbeats fell in time with the beat of the Kiri Shinrin.
Kou and Liliana had hidden something here, something for their descendants to find, and after hundreds of years today it would be revealed.
A hard thud sang from the end of the spade, sending a thrill through Lottie. They’d found it. It was real.
What emerged was a dirt-covered chest, though it was much larger than Lottie had imagined. The skin of the wood was etched with circles and crescents in varying sizes, like the cycle of the moon.
Flashlights shone over the mystery box, a click sounded out, and it was open. They eased back the lid, revealing the centuries-old secret. The object shone so bright it nearly blinded them.
“Oh my.” Even Ellie was frozen with shock.
In all Lottie’s imaginings she’d never in a million years thought they’d find something so . . . lethal.
Sayuri delicately lifted their sacred gift from its hiding place, where it glowed blue in the starlight. It was no longer lost to history, but real and alive.
It was Kou’s sword, just as the myth had said. The blade was so sharp it sang, the air quivering around it. It was dangerous and deadly, with a handle of heroic detail, suns and moons engraved in dramatic lines on either side. Instinctively Lottie reached for her tiara.
Perfect, strong, unstoppable, and glowing from within with that same strange magic as her tiara. This was the sword from the statue of Kou, the sword from all the drawings, alive once again.
But why would Leviathan be looking for it? It didn’t feel right. It didn’t feel like the truth she’d been looking for.
“Careful,” Jamie warned. “Even a small amount of pressure could cut you.”
Instead of heeding his words, Ellie reached over and gently stroked the edge. “Ow!”
“Ellie,” Lottie chided, grabbing her hand to see the damage.
A thin red line grew on Ellie’s pale skin, not too deep, and yet the blood spilled in an elegant trickle. There was something strangely pretty about it, a lethal beauty.
They were enraptured by it, none of them moving, until suddenly Jamie started to take his shirt off.
“Jamie!” Lottie spluttered. “What are you doing?”
Ignoring their confused expressions, he carefully took the blade from Sayuri’s hands and bundled it up in the shirt. “That thing is incredibly sharp. I’m wrapping it so it’s safe to carry back,” he replied, ever practical.
Ellie rolled her eyes, the magic of the blade vanishing into Jamie’s shirt, yet Lottie and Sayuri couldn’t drag their gaze away.
It was such an odd sight. Jamie, towering and bare-skinned with glowing golden eyes in the moonlit forest. There was something fairy-tale about it, like he might be a great muscular centaur. Or possibly a demon.
“There’s something else in here,” Ellie called, snapping both girls out of their hypnosis. “Actually, there’s a bunch of stuff.”
Lottie and Sayuri leaned in, the beams from their flashlights dancing over the carefully placed piles of history.
“What’s this?” Lottie asked, reaching to pull a coiled snake of matte gold out of its resting place, while Sayuri grabbed a bunch of papers and a book, scrutinizing them in the milky light.
Lottie stared down at the coil in her hand, before carefully holding it up to her own matted curls, realization dawning.
This was Liliana’s hair. It hung like a long pendulum, drifting back and forth in the misty air, planting a story in her mind. She saw, as clear and warm as the lock of hair in her hand, how important Kou and Liliana’s friendship had been, that it had allowed them to shed their skin and be true to themselves. While it swung in front of her, she could see Ellie and Sayuri behind the golden curl, and felt in that moment that for the very first time, she understood her ancestor completely. She quickly placed the lock back in the chest, catching Jamie’s eye just in time to see that he’d noticed. That he also knew what it was.
“It’s a time capsule . . .” Sayuri trailed off, looking at the paper. “It’s centuries’ worth of my family’s history and secrets. Everyone in my family who’s ever found it has left something behind.”
Even in the dark Lottie could see the ice melting from Sayuri’s eyes. It was a feeling Lottie knew well, to feel so disconnected from your family—and then to have it all open up in front of you like a book.
Lottie went to look at the letters, placing a comforting hand over Sayuri’s shoulder. “What’s this?” she asked, pointing at the cursive script.
“I’m not sure.” Sayuri peered at the papers. “It looks like letters to my auntie. Love letters from before she passed away.”
Ellie rushed over, trying to take a look. “Who’s it from?”
“It doesn’t say, but this letter . . . it’s awful.” Sayuri’s voice was shaky in a way Lottie had never heard before, and Lottie couldn’t help leaning over to read.
To my beloved Kana,
It pains
