A delinquent’s death becomes the doorway to her destiny.
On her 16th birthday, hot-tempered high schooler Alice Kamiya gets one “present” she never expected…
Her death at the hands of armies of mythological monsters.
She comes face-to-face with an ancient goddess and is given a second chance at life. But when Alice finds herself alive again, things start getting weird around her hometown in northern Japan. Like, “I just ran into an Oni demon and killed it with a magical yo-yo” kind of weird.
And then there are these strange dreams she’s started having since coming back. Dreams where she can shift into a kitsune, and a mysterious yet familiar voice calls to her.
But who cares about dreams when the people you love start turning up dead, one by one?
If she doesn’t find a way to harness her newfound magical powers, the monsters will keep tearing her hometown and loved ones apart. But if she does find a way to harness her newfound magical powers, she comes one step closer to learning the horrible truth about herself.
Will it be worth it to destroy everything she thought she knew about herself in order to save everyone? Only one way to find out…
From the Book:
Gods and monsters.
I didn’t know they were real until the day I died.
Adrenaline kicked in. I gave in to the fight-or-flight response in my brain.
Flight, definitely flight.
My heart threatened to burst out of my chest. I turned on my heels and made a frantic dash for the stairs. Icy rain made my clothes cling tight to my skin. The Beast’s hot, smoky breaths followed me. Every step it took caused the mountain to tremble.
Like an idiot, I didn’t pay enough attention to my footing, which, along with the trembling ground, caused me to slip on the now-slick soil and fall flat on my face. The bell on my belt loop broke off and jingled one last time before sinking into the mud.
Speaking of mud, my little spill covered me in it. So much for my new clothes.
I’d thrown out my hands to brace myself. I checked my palms.
Blood trickled down them. I also tasted blood in my mouth from biting my tongue when I landed.
After forcing myself up like I was doing a push-up, I rolled over on my back. I wanted to spring onto my feet and keep running.
I wanted to escape from this nightmare.
But it was too late. The titanic creature had caught up with me.
Swirling galaxies huddled together, centering into massive, menacing pupils. What was so beautiful a second ago was now completely unsettling. Steam wafted from cave-sized nostrils.
The Beast—that’s the name I’ve given it—lifted its gargantuan head and let out a roar, a roar so loud and powerful that it sent vibrations through my whole body and made my teeth chatter. It sounded like nothing I’d ever heard before, as if every predator on earth cried out in unison. The thunderous clamor echoed through the entire mountain range and shook the ground beneath me.
Fear paralyzed me, and a cold sweat ran down my forehead. The rain intensified, washing away the sweat and obscuring my view of the Beast. The smoke, burnt-leather, sea-salt combo reeked even stronger now. It lowered its head to face me and lightning flashed, giving me a full and terrifying view of the creature.
“Wh-what the hell?” I stammered. No thunder followed the flash of lightning, almost as if the thunder itself was too frightened to approach the Beast.
It looked just like a dragon. But this was no Puff or some fairy-tale-book monster. This creature looked twice as old as time, something that lurks on the dark ocean floor of your nightmares. Droplets vanished between cracks and wrinkles in its ancient, muscular, ashy-gray body. It was supported by huge, reptilian legs larger than tree trunks. At the end of each of its six legs, there were long, gnarled talons that could probably split somebody open like a rag doll. Large, chipped, ram-like horns spiraled out of two bony lumps on its head. Cloudy, starry eyes focused on me.
It looked pissed off.
When the colossal creature caught up to me, I faced those gorgeous-yet-horrifying galaxy-filled eyes again. A voice reverberated in the back of my head, increasing and decreasing in volume as it ran through one ear to the other.
“AT LAST…I FOUND YOU…AEON…”
The Beast’s expression no longer seemed enraged. More like it was elated, which terrified me twice as much.
“What?” I shouted into the stormy air. “What was that? Who said that? Was that you? What do you want with me?”
The ghostly voice rang through my head once more.
“DIE…”
The Beast opened its massive jaws, revealing rows of sharp teeth that dwarfed me. I could see all the way down its throat, and nearly gagged when I noticed all the scabs, sores, and pus oozing out of the roof of its mouth. My disgust grew stronger when I saw bones in the gaps between its teeth.
Its former victims.
The Beast lunged. The abyss threatened to engulf me.
I glanced around, trying to find something I could use.
Then I remembered: oh, yeah, my plastic bag.
I snatched it up, tore it open, and flung an empty beer can at the creature. It made a hollow “plinking” sound as it bounced harmlessly off of the Beast’s solid jawline.
Frantic, I threw all the bag’s contents at the Beast. Some f it managed to strike the monster in its glassy eyes. The Beast let out another bizarre, alien roar.
I raced down the steps, returning to the graveyard. I glanced over my shoulder as I sprinted around the gravestones.
The Beast leapt from the ledge and landed in the corner of the graveyard. The impact created an earthquake that nearly knocked me off my feet again. It took plodding and powerful steps, looking like a dinosaur escaping from Jurassic Park.
One of its feet tore through the barbed wire fence and shattered the weird stone. The Beast pulverized everything it stepped on as it chased after me, including a couple Kamiya family headstones.
I probably would’ve said something like, “Mother’s gonna kill you for that!” if I hadn’t been so totally scared out of my mind.
I’d gotten far enough ahead of the Beast that I thought I could make it out unscathed.
A strange gargling noise resounded.
I turned.
Before I could react, it unleashed a fierce torrent of water out of its throat. The raging flood swept through the gravesite and aimed right for me.
There was nothing I could do. It was like trying to swim against a giant tidal wave.
The deluge caught me. I would have drowned if I hadn’t been such a good swimmer. I performed desperate strokes, trying to fight against the flow of the current. It tasted salty, like ocean water. The salt burned my eyes and lungs.
The current grew stronger. My body was launched into a gravestone. Cracks rang out. Broken bones.
“Get up, Alice!” my survival instincts shouted at me. “Get up, get up, get up!”
My head throbbed, my back ached, and my hands still bled. My eyes and the cuts in my body still stung from the salt in them. So much pain all over.
The flood subsided, and now the Beast stood over me.
“Do something!” my mind yelled. “You’re gonna die!”
Die. Death. Dying.
Those words repeated in my head.
Was this it? Is this all the life I get? I know little kids die of starvation in poor countries every day, but I thought maybe I could get past my teen years, at least.
No. Not giving up yet.
Fighting the pain, I stood and faced the creature. I felt like a flea compared to it.
But hey, even fleas can bite.
I took off a soggy, drenched shoe and hurled it right at the Beast’s eye.
Yes! Got it!
The Beast grunted, obviously annoyed. I went to take off my other shoe when something blazing-hot cut into me. My body went flying to the side and slammed into the ground. Burning and chilling sensations surged through me.
I lifted my head. Blood was spurting out of my chest and spilling everywhere, mixing with the cold rain.
The shock was so severe that I couldn’t quite comprehend yet what had just happened to me. Like I was staring at something happening to someone else. I cried out as the pain sharpened, like thousands of searing knives were tearing into me.
The Beast loomed over me in a triumphant stance. Blood dripped from its claws.
My blood.
My survival instincts gave out.
It’s over now. Just rest.
Rest sounded nice. Some sleep. Anything to take me away from this pain. Pain so severe that I could go insane.
The Beast raised another humongous tree-trunk leg and prepared to finish me off with one last slice.
I closed my eyes and braced myself.
A familiar voice called out.
“Alice? Madre de Dios! Alice!”
I snapped awake. Papi had finally caught up. He stood between the Beast and me. He knelt and held me in his arms. Rain dripped from his drooping beard.
“Sorry, Papi,” I uttered, the weakness apparent in my voice. “Looks…like…this is…my last…win.”
“No!” he shouted. “Hang on! Hang on!”
He turned to confront the Beast. “Listen here, you Aelithian bastardo…no one hurts my little joya! No one!”
I turned my head and watched helplessly as he jumped and latched onto the Beast’s leg. Lightning flickered again. With a sudden surge of power and agility that I’d never seen before, Papi scrambled up the Beast’s colossal frame and threw himself onto one of its horns. The towering creature thrashed about, trying to shake him off. Papi stayed on, using a free hand to grab a cooking knife out of his backpack.
“Papi!” I screamed through the pouring rain with my last bit of strength. “Wait! Its skin is too—”
“¡No hay problema!” Papi called back.
He crawled down the Beast’s bony skull, like a worm trying to fight off a T-rex. He readied the knife and plunged it into the Beast’s right eye.
The Beast howled, a howl so powerful that it almost blew Papi off. The cry had caught Papi by surprise. He dropped the blade. It fell and stuck into the ground, hilt-side-up.
I wanted to take it and toss it back to him, but it was too far away from me. That and the immense amount of pain and fatigue that prevented me from moving.
The otherworldly voice echoed in my mind one more time.
“ANNOYING, INSOLENT HUMANS! SO BE IT. MY TASK IS FINISHED.”
At that moment, enormous, bat-like wings the size of boat sails sprouted from its shoulder blades. The wings flapped, and gusts of wind rustled the bushes. Papi tightened his grip on the creature’s head. The Beast beat its wings at a frantic pace, generating enough force to launch itself and Papi off the ground.
I tried to scream for Papi, but no sound came out.
“Alice!” Papi yelled. “I’m gonna kill this thing! Hang in there and keep fighting! Take care of your mother!”
I nodded slowly. Blood and spit flowed out of the corner of my mouth.
“That’s my joya!” Papi smiled.
That would be the last time I’d ever see his smile.
He remained latched on to the Beast, punching and kicking at its rough hide. Mother arrived just in time to find me in a bloody mess, and to watch as Papi and the Beast flew farther and farther away.
Lightning flashed. The two looked like a blotted dot in the sky.
It flashed again, and they were gone.
Mother shouted a bunch of things at me, but I could no longer make out her words. Everything slowed down to a crawl as she brought out some towels and cloths to stop the bleeding.
After tying those around me, she started fumbling with her cell phone, calling 1191. I so badly wanted her to hold me, to feel the warmth of life. I felt so cold and chilly, right down to the bone.
She mouthed some more words that I couldn’t hear. I stopped paying attention to her and instead focused on what was right behind her: a mysterious cloaked figure inching towards us. It carried a giant bladed weapon. I tried to cry out, but remained mute and helpless as the figure swung the blade down into my chest.
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