Just when Alice thought she’d defeated the evil force behind the monster invasion, the real villain has appeared: her.
Forced to commit unspeakably cruel crimes against her will, Alice is now on the run from the cops. They think she’s the one behind it all.
But she alone knows the truth: the one responsible is Daji, a frighteningly powerful kitsune shifter sorceress who shares a connection with her that’s equally shocking and heart-breaking.
Alice would love nothing more than to find Daji and smack her smug face all the way to the deepest pits of Hades, but there’s more at stake here…
Before Daji escaped, Alice discovered what she’s after: nine enchanted stones that, if shattered, will restore her magic and make her unstoppable.
Alice must embark on a quest around Japan to track down the stones before the sorceress finds them first, all while fending off an onslaught of the usual supernatural creepy crawlies. She’ll have to put her life in the hands of bickering twin gods, a motorcycle-obsessed assassin, and that cute vampire boy she’s had her eye on…
Will they find the stones in time? The clock is ticking…
From the Book…
The bright, white electric lamp light pierced my eyes. I slumped, hands cuffed, in a metal folding chair. Across the table loomed the officer who’d brought me in, a tired middle-aged man with a bushy handlebar mustache whose breath reeked of cigarette smoke. Another officer with a bulging bald head and curly sideburns sat next to him, fiddling with the tape recorder. Windowless brick walls with chipped, decaying paint surrounded us.
“Kamiya-san, you need to cooperate with us,” the mustached officer demanded in a scratchy voice. “Tell us everything one more time, slowly, from the beginning. I want the truth this time.”
I took in a deep breath. “My name is Alice Pachari Kamiya. Age 16, with Japanese and Peruvian parents. I like swimming, practicing with my yo-yo, and destroying evil demons. I hate cucumbers, dishonest people, and dragons. My blood type is—”
I sat up with a jolt when he pounded the table. “Now you listen to me, young lady. I don’t think you’re fully aware of the gravity of the situation you’re in. Need I remind you you’re the prime suspect in at least two counts of murder? And that’s saying nothing of the other cases you’re involved in: arson, vandalism, the disappearance of several students from Aizawa High School…”
“I told you already,” I muttered. “I haven’t killed anyone. I’ve saved people. Just ask—”
“Why’re you denying it now? You already confessed over the phone.”
“Confessed?” I blinked. “What’re you talkin’ about? As if I did anything like that.”
“Takahashi,” he said to the other officer, “go grab the tapes.”
Silence and dust hung in the air. I choked and coughed. After what felt like an eternity later, the bald man returned with the recording and pressed “play.”
“Aizawa Police Department,” the operator said. “What seems to be the problem?”
“My…my mother…she’s dead!”
I gasped. It was definitely my voice, but how?
“Please calm down, ma’am, and tell me what happened.”
“I did it…it was me. I…I…killed her.”
“Ma’am?”
“She’s dead ‘cause of me. I have this yo-yo, right? I woke up, took it with me to her bedroom, and I…I strangled her with it.”
“What is this? Is this some kind of prank?”
“I’m completely serious. Send some people over and they’ll find me here with the body. I’m gonna go cut the power now, so please come soon. My home address is—”
The first officer clicked the recorder and shut it off. “If that’s not an admission of guilt, I don’t know what is.”
“No!” I yelled. “Something’s weird here. I don’t have any memory of—”
“Now you’re tellin’ me you’ve got selective amnesia? How convenient.” He leaned in closer. “Now, go over everything again, but without all that made-up nonsense. Tell me what really happened.”
“It’s not nonsense,” I protested. “Look, I know it sounds totally crazy and hard to believe, but it’s the truth. It’s what actually happened. I swear.”
He sighed and folded his hands. His nails were filthy. “So, let me get this straight: on April 16th, during school, you had a ‘disagreement’ with your friend Misaki Kobayashi1, after which you blacked out. While you were out, another student, Yukiko Yukishita2, murdered Kobayashi and stuffed the body into a supply closet. Then, the weekend following Kobayashi’s funeral, instead of staying out of the way and allowing the police to conduct a proper investigation, you fancied yourself some kind of teenage Sherlock Holmes, breaking and entering school grounds and disturbing the crime scene.”
“I didn’t break anything. I came in through an unlocked window.”
“Same difference. So then, during your little search, you happened to come across Seiya Watanabe3, your fellow classmate, and Ai Inomata4, a student from East Mori5 High and Watanabe’s girlfriend. Turns out, according to you, the two were some urban legend freaks in disguise who tried to stab you to death. You fought back and killed them both in self-defense, destroying school property in the process.”
“Why do you keep pinning stuff on me I didn’t actually do? I didn’t destroy any property, either. She’s the one who broke the window, not me. And they weren’t just—”
He slammed the desk with a fist. “You gonna shut up and let me finish or not?”
I shrugged. “Not if you keep saying stuff that’s flat-out wrong.”
“A-ny-way,” he said through gritted teeth, clearly annoyed, “Watanabe and Inomata were supposedly acting on orders from Yukishita, the ringleader of this little gang who planned to commit additional murders in town. You went through the personal text messages of the cell phone of Mariko Yoshida6, your history teacher, and caught wind of some death threats she’d allegedly been sent by Yukishita. Then, on the evening of April 25th, under the pretext of attending a study session, Yukishita attempted to murder Yoshida and you stopped her, but not before she turned into—to quote you—‘a serpentine dragon creature.’”
“A fugly serpentine dragon creature,” I corrected.
“The creature that you claim was Yukiko Yukishita then set Yoshida’s residence on fire. You defended Yoshida, killed Yukishita, and saved Yoshida from the fire. Finally, the next evening, leading up to this morning, you just ‘happened’ to wake up in the middle of the night and discover your step-mother’s body, with no evidence of intrusion or any third parties involved. And you have no memory of calling in and confessing your crime. Does that about sum it up?”
I nodded. “You skipped over some parts here and there, but you got the gist of it.”
The officer stared at me for a moment, then snatched me by the collar of my yukata7 and shook me. “You think this is funny, little foreign girl? Huh? What, did you think you’d get off the hook by spouting this ridiculous prattle and hope that’d be enough for a plea of insanity? Is that it?”
His enraged gaze fazed me. It felt like the walls were closing in, pressing me so tight I couldn’t breathe. The cold metal of the chair caused the pain of the burn on my leg to flare up. Bloody scabs on my neck itched. Bruises all over my body ached. Tears welled up in my eyes.
“No, that’s not it,” I said, shaking my head over and over. “Please…just let me see Mommy. I wanna see her so bad since I—”
“You’re not seein’ anyone as far as I’m concerned.”
After keeping cool for hours upon hours of interrogation, I snapped.
“Gimme back Mommy!” I stood and pulled on my cuffs so hard my wrists bled. “You took me away from her! Give her back! Give her baaaaaaaaack!”
The officer gave me a shove that knocked the chair over and sent me tumbling backwards, hitting the wall with the back of my head. I spilled onto the floor, and curled into a ball.
“Stop it” I begged. “Stop, stop, stop! Please, no more!”
“I’ve heard enough. Takahashi, get her outta here. I’m gonna go get her official confession ready.”
Takahashi’s hands pulled me onto my feet and dragged me out of the room and around the station. My vision was blurred by tears. Keys rattled and something heavy slid open, and then I was led inside another room.
A holding cell.
“Sorry, young lady,” he said. “Just doing my job.”
He shook his head and shut the cell door. The footsteps of his heavy boots grew farther and farther away.
I lay on the cot and stared at the ceiling. It was covered in dirt, mud, and all kinds of splotches of liquids I didn’t recognize, nor wanted to. The cell stank of piss. The room was even narrower than where I’d been questioned, to the point where I couldn’t lie down straight without my head and feet touching opposite walls. My yukata had opened up a bit too much, exposing the nasty scar that started at my collarbone and ran down to my belly button.
The scar from the Beast.
I wiped my tears and calmed my breathing.
C’mon, Alice, I told myself, it’s gonna be okay. They usually let you have phone calls, right? You could get Ms. Yoshida to vouch for you.
She’d been there and seen everything when the class president had transformed into a terrifying dragon. Well, I guess she didn’t see everything exactly, since she’d gotten knocked out, but she knows what happened. She knows I saved her life.
And Papi. He’ll come in and rescue you at the very last moment, right?
That’s how it works in the movies, at least. I imagined a dramatic scene, where the judge would be right about to slam the gavel and sentence me to life in prison or whatever, and then “bam!” The doors swing open, with Papi standing there, shouting, “She’s innocent and I can prove it!” He’d give some amazing speech, a speech so moving it’d make the jury applaud, and then we’d hug and cry and catch up on everything he missed since he’d left us.
I secretly hoped for something like that, but deep down, I knew he wasn’t coming. He was out there somewhere, probably still fighting off the Beast.
Everything started sucking more and more after that day. I’d been bullied, burned, stabbed, kicked around, and ordered around…then I lost my best friend and now my mother.
I found out that all those stories you’re told when you’re tucked into bed as a child, those crazy stories of gods, heroes, demons, and monsters that eat bad kids…they’re all real. And if that wasn’t enough, I met a cute undead grim reaper-vampire hybrid guy and an Egyptian goddess.
They told me I might have some sort of special “potential” or whatever, but it looks like that didn’t get me anywhere other than in a prison cell, with angry cops thinking I’m lying, or insane, or both.
I watched an ant scuttle along the floor, climb the wall, and disappear into a crack. So lucky. Wish I could shrink to that size and escape outta here.
I shouldn’t even be here. I should be with Mother to help her, to take care of her, to see if she really is…
Keys rattled again. I craned my neck. The angry, violent, bushy mustache man was opening the cell door.
“Wake up. Breakfast time.”
“Not hungry. Go away.”
“No, I insist…”
He strode inside, came right to the edge of the bed, and peered down at me. His wide, blood-shot eyes narrowed into thin, long slits, and his irises flashed a golden hue. A mischievous smile stretched from one ear to the other.
“…My baby girl needs proper nutrition, after all.”
Read More:
