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  Shipo sat down on a rock. “Maybe we should go back. I don’t want to get lost.”

  “This is my home. We won’t get lost.” When I looked back up the hill, the top looked so high. I’d never climbed this far down. “We can rest if you want. Are you from the Isepojin village? My mama said our hills are hard for some of the tribes.”

  She jumped to her feet. “I’m not tired. I’m Tatsujin. I’m strong.” She roared like a dragon, the animal the tribe had named themselves after and kept on walking.

  I laughed. “There’s chiramantep in my blood. I’m strong too.” I growled for her and she giggled.

  We walked so long my legs ached. My feet hurt and I wanted to sit down. I couldn’t see or hear my father and his friend anymore. The trees at the bottom of the valley were smaller than the ones closer to my home. The air was just as hot, but the trees grew less close together and the breeze that rustled through them felt nice.

  The trail changed from uneven dirt and knobby roots to stones that had been laid flat along the path. The smooth stones felt nice to walk on. A stream babbled somewhere nearby. Green moss grew alongside the path in between the shrub-like sakura trees bearing their red fruits. The spicy fragrance of the herb my people called “memory moss” wafted toward us.

  I stopped. I wasn’t supposed to be down here in the valley. The places where the memory moss grew were sacred. I didn’t see my father. If I kept going I would get in trouble. If I didn’t keep going, I would never tell him about the gaijin man and what I’d seen.

  “Are you tired?” I asked. “Maybe we should go back.”

  Shipo lifted her chin. “No. I’m Tatsujin. I can keep walking forever. Rarr!”

  She kept walking, so I did too. The moss grew taller, higher than our heads. I’d never seen moss like this before. The plants near my home were shorter. These smelled almost the same, spicy and fresh, only this perfume was stronger. Little white moths flew up out of the plants. I swatted them away from my face.

  A wide hole opened like a yawning mouth in the side of a little hill. Carvings of spirals and geometric patterns decorated the opening. They looked like the ones weavers used on our attush robes. Some of the stones of the cave were shiny like the surface of the gaijin ships. The shiny stones didn’t look like they belonged here in this temple.

  I didn’t feel like I belonged here.

  Shipo sat herself down in the moss. She tore out a handful of the herbs and rubbed it against her feet. I would have liked to do the same, but my parents would have disapproved. The memory moss was used for courtship and rituals for transferring memories from one person or another. Children were forbidden from using it.

  “Don’t do that,” I whispered. “We aren’t supposed to touch the moss here. This is a special place.”

  “My mama lets me use it when my feet hurt.” She jumped up again. “What is this place?”

  I shrugged.

  Shipo stepped toward the gaping mouth in the hill. “Are you afraid of the dark?”

  I stared at the impenetrable darkness that could hide just about anything, evil kamuy included. I swallowed the lump of fear lodged in my throat. “No, are you?”

  “No. I’m Tatsujin.” She pushed a handful of her dark hair out of her eyes. “If you aren’t afraid, why aren’t you going in?”

  “I don’t think we should. We might get in trouble. Ne?”

  “I think you’re afraid.”

  “I’m not afraid.” I didn’t want her to think I was a liar and a coward. I held out my hand. “At the same time.”

  Her hand tingled from the moss as she took mine. We stepped in together.

  It was only dark at first, but after that, a faint purple glow to the walls illuminated our path. There were places in the passage that were smooth and shining, that flashed with patterns and symbols made of light. They reminded me of the swirling designs on my mother’s belt and the tapestries the old grandmothers wove to decorate walls. The floor was gritty under my feet and slowly sloped downward. We squeezed around a section of crumbling wall and turned left, following the light.

  Wind whistled through the tunnel, sounding like a lullaby. Cold air breathed against me and I shivered. The song of wind sounded like a voice. My parents said all of Aynu-Mosir and the life on our planet had a kamuy. Some places had spirits that were so strong you could sense them. This place was like that. I could feel someone watching us. The purple light in the wall pulsed. When I touched my hand against the smooth surface, it felt like a heartbeat. I jerked my hand away.

  Shipo squeezed my fingers so tightly it hurt. The place where her hand touched mine prickled against my skin like thorn leaves. It was the medicinal moss she’d rubbed on her skin to help with her feet, but I didn’t think it was supposed to feel like this.

  The light ahead was as bright as sunlight. Voices echoed from a room to the right.

  My father said, “We are in the belly of one of the sacred beasts. It’s just as the stories say. This may be one of the last relics of how our people came to this world.”

  “I thought our people came to this world riding in the belly of a tatsu,” Shipo whispered. “This isn’t a tatsu. It’s a cave.”

  I shushed her. “Let’s go back. I don’t want to get in trouble.”

  My heart hammered in my chest. We shouldn’t have been in this strange place. Any moment I was about to get caught. Shipo tried to walk forward, but I grabbed onto her arm to hold her back.

  My father’s friend’s voice echoed from down the hall. “Do the Tatsujin know about this place?”

  That was the dragon clan they spoke about, Shipo’s people.

  “Why do you think they invaded our territory seventeen years ago?” Father asked. “Unayanke Nipa was possessed by a kamuy who told him where this one was. He wanted another forbidden temple to become more powerful.”

  Shipo whimpered. I thought it was because they were talking about her tribe and her people’s former leader. I tugged on her hand so we could go back outside. She ground her heels in the gritty floor. I couldn’t make her budge.

  “Then your nipa knows about it?” the other man asked.

  “She knows and has broken with tradition. She has told the leader of the gaijin.” Father spat out the word for “off-worlders” like it tasted bad in his mouth. “They’ll be just like the Tatsujin and desecrate this ground. It is our duty to protect the sacred places of our ancestors and keep their secrets. Ne?”

  I yanked on Shipo’s arm. My hands burned where I touched her, but I ignored the pain. She cried out and stumbled toward me.

  “Shush and hurry up!” I said.

  “Why involve my tribe in this?” the stranger’s voice asked.

  “You are the nipa of the Tanukijin.” They were the tribe of the green and purple raccoon dogs. “Shoko Nipa respects you. She listens to you.”

  The man snorted. “You expect her to listen to me when she refuses to hear the words of her own husband?”

  I tugged Shipo back toward the entrance. She sniffled and choked on a sob. I was going to get in trouble because of her. I shouldn’t have followed my father, and I shouldn’t have let her convince me to go into the temple.

  “My duty is to my village first and my family second,” Father said. “I must protect the interests of everyone when we are in danger. We have traditions for a reason, ne?”

  “Perhaps. Come along. I’m already late for the meeting of the elders.”

  I dragged Shipo far enough down the hallway that I could see the light from outside. We were almost out. I wasn’t going to get in trouble!

  That’s when Shipo let out a high-pitched wail. My hand throbbed, but I was too distraught at the idea of my parents’ wrath to care. I tried to quiet Shipo, but she threw herself on the ground and screamed hysterically.

  My father was at my side a moment later. His face looked purple in the light from the walls. He shook my arm. “What are you doing here?”

  I trembled
in fear, knowing I was going to get caned for following him somewhere I wasn’t allowed to go.

  “Who are these children?” the Tanukijin man demanded. “When I find out who these brats belong to, I’ll publicly punish—”

  My father’s face flushed purple in the strange lighting. “This is my daughter.” His glare stabbed me like daggers. I lowered my gaze to the ground.

  Shipo screamed again.

  “What did you do to her?” Father demanded.

  “Nothing.”

  “She’s of the dragon clan, a Tatsujin,” the stranger said. “She’s been spying on us.”

  “They’re children. Even if they had heard us, they wouldn’t understand.”

  Father lifted Shipo into his arms. She kicked out at him as he carried her toward the entrance. Outside the light was blindingly bright. The heat came crashing down on me all at once. My hand felt like it was on fire. Shipo’s face was bright red as she screamed. Father tried to hold her still to look at her hands. They were covered in red blisters. Her legs and feet were just as bad.

  “Did you touch the moss?” he demanded.

  “No,” I said quickly. I hid my hand. I hadn’t touched the moss. Only Shipo had, but for some reason my hand hurt too.

  Father shook his head. The red paint on his tan chest was smeared from carrying Shipo.

  The other man’s face was hidden under the purple and green furs of his tanuki hat, making his expression unreadable. He crouched over Shipo who lay on the ground screaming. “Memory moss wouldn’t do that,” he said.

  “No, it wouldn’t.” Father gestured to the meadow outside the cave. “But this isn’t memory moss. This is toxic. We need to wash it off of her before it drives her mad with pain.”

  He was careful not to touch the moss lining the path as he carried Shipo. I followed behind. The moss only grew outside the cave and soon we came to purple ferns and red-leafed foliage that crowded out the moss.

  A stream trickled past a cluster of trees, and my father waded through the purple ferns to bring Shipo to the water. I tried to follow, but my father shook his head at me. “Stay with Shiromainu Nipa.”

  My hand throbbed. I didn’t want to go mad from pain either. “What about me?” I asked.

  Father set Shipo on a rock in the shallowest section, splashing water over her legs. “You’re fine.”

  “No, I’m not.” I decided the pain in my hand was worse than whatever punishment I was about to be given for being bad. I raised my hand and showed Father’s friend the blisters.

  Shiromainu sighed and shook his head. He lifted me up under the armpits and carried me to my father. “This one has the same injury.”

  Father’s eyes crinkled up in concern as he came closer. “Oh, Sumiko-chan!” He hugged me to him as he carried me the rest of the way into the water.

  I was hot and sweaty, but I felt comfortable in his arms. It felt like forever since he’d hugged me that morning when I’d woke.

  He stroked my hair. “Memory moss isn’t for children. You know that, ne?”

  “You said it wasn’t memory moss,” I said.

  He sighed in exasperation. I had that effect on adults.

  “I didn’t touch it,” I said quickly. “Shipo-chan did, even though I told her not to. Then she touched me.”

  He set me in the water next to Shipo. The shock of the cold took my breath away. It eased the pain in my hand, but the blisters didn’t go away.

  “It hurts,” I complained.

  Father crouched down next to me. “Show me your chiramantep strength.”

  I growled as ferociously as I could.

  “That’s my girl.” He tweaked my nose. “Now, don’t touch your face and don’t rub your hands. You’ll only make it worse.”

  “Do you think Mama will spank me?” I asked.

  He stroked my hair again. “Not if we don’t tell her.” He winked and I giggled.

  Shipo whimpered. I hated for her to steal his attention from me at that moment, but I could see she was still hurting. My father shifted closer to her and spoke softly. Shiromainu shifted from foot to foot in irritation in the foliage, making no attempt to conceal his impatience.

  A loud crack echoed like thunder from the hill. The sky was sunny and blue, but smoke rose from the jungle in the direction of our village. A giant spaceship, like the ones the gaijin arrived in, flew overhead. Arrows made of blue lightning shot out of it and exploded in the trees. Flames danced across one side of the mountain, spreading as the wind blew.

  Shiromainu ran to the path and pointed to the clouds of smoke. “It’s just as you said. The gaijin have come for our treasures.”

  “Run!” Father pushed me south, in the direction the stream flowed. He jumped out of the water and onto the dry land. “Hide yourself and your friend.”

  “Wait! Daddy, don’t leave me,” I begged.

  An explosion boomed from the other side of the hill.

  “Do what you’re told, Sumiko-chan. Run!” Father looked to me one last time and pointed down the stream.

  Father and his friend hurried off toward the village. I never did tell him about the gaijin and what I’d seen. I told myself I would tell him when he came back for me.

  Chapter Two

  The Ainu of Hokkaido, Japan are indigenous people much like the Native Americans are of the American continents. The predecessors of both cultures share a common root in the Jomon people, who left earth millennia ago for reasons unknown.

  —The Guidebook of Colonization and Interplanetary Relationships, Fifth Edition, 1867

  My heart thumped in my chest with fear. Shipo continued to cry from her pain, senseless to anything else. I had never felt more alone.

  My father had told me to run. I was supposed to obey my elders. Sometimes I wasn’t very good at listening. I hadn’t heeded my parents and stayed away from the forbidden place. Now the spirits were punishing me for my disobedience. I had to be good. I had to be a dutiful and obedient daughter. I was certain that if I did, I would make everything all right again.

  I hooked my arms under Shipo’s armpits and dragged her over the rocks in the shallow stream and farther from the village. The flames on the hill danced higher in the sky and the air smelled like burning meat. Shipo mewled like a baby animal and fought me the entire way. The flames crackled closer. Sweat dripped down my face and my muscled ached. Part of me wanted to leave her, but then I would have been alone.

  “Stop fighting, Shipo. The water will only help you if you let it.”

  Eventually she went limp and that was even worse. Rocks bit into my feet. The water grew deeper where a second stream flowed into it. A current picked up and swept my feet out from under me. I was a good swimmer, but Shipo’s head dunked under the water. I screamed and reached for her. She came up sputtering.

  She flailed and reached toward the village. “No! We have to get back.”

  “Our parents will find us. My father pointed for us to go this way,” I said.

  “We have to get back to the woman in the cave. She’s in the belly of the tatsu. She’s trapped and the fire will get to her.”

  She had to be feverish. My father had said the pain of the moss would drive her mad.

  The current quickly swept us down the stream. If I let my feet touch the rocks at the bottom of the stream, I could anchor myself and fight the current. But I didn’t want to fight it. It was easier to float than to drag Shipo.

  The water was so cold after the heat of the day that it numbed my fingers. Or perhaps it was the moss. I couldn’t see the flames in the hills anymore or the starships. The trees along the banks passed in a vivid red and purple blur.

  Shipo’s eyes drooped and she slipped under the water again. I dove for her and pulled her up to the surface. I couldn’t swim and hold onto her at the same time. We crashed into a towering rock. I clutched at Shipo with one arm and the side of the rock with the other, gasping for air. My friend coughed, so I knew she was breat
hing. The rock was slick and I slipped as I tried to scramble up the side of it. I fell in the water twice before I succeeded in hoisting myself on top. I tried to pull Shipo up after me, but she cried and slid down again.

  “Show me your Tatsujin strength,” I said. It was the kind of thing my father would have said had he been there.

  Determination sparked in her eyes. She used her feet to push herself up from the rock as I pulled on her. We fell onto the flat slab above the water together. Her breathing was shallow and she closed her eyes.

  I shook her arm. “What should we do? Should we keep running or hide?”

  She didn’t answer. I wanted someone to tell me what my parents would want me to do.

  “Shipo?” I tugged at her arm. My hands flared with hot and cold tingles as I touched her rash.

  A flash of brightness flared behind my eyes. I saw a woman with long black hair and black eyes standing inside the tunnel of the cave. She was beautiful, though I couldn’t tell from her strange clothes what village she belonged to.

  She glowed and her voice had a strange echo when she spoke. She held out her hands to me. “Return to me.”

  I gasped and drew my hand away from Shipo. She’d just transferred a memory to me. I wasn’t supposed to share memories using memory moss because I wasn’t of age yet. That was the rule, and I wasn’t supposed to break rules.

  Then again, my father had said the moss outside the forbidden cave wasn’t memory moss—it was something else. That meant any residue on our hands shouldn’t have been able to make me see something inside Shipo’s head. My father had been wrong. I wondered what else he might have been wrong about.

  Exhausted, I closed my eyes and laid down on the flat stone next to Shipo. A starship glided overhead, catching the light of the sun as it passed. The air smelled sharp and tangy. I was too tired to hide, let alone move.

  I dreamed of a woman being burned alive. She was the beautiful woman from Shipo’s memory. “Help me. Don’t let them destroy me. Please,” she begged. “If they knew what I was, they’d want me. They’d free me.”