And she wasn’t alone. Every single friend he’d thought about was with her. How could this be? Had his thoughts manifested them?

The only one missing was Masaru.

Completely flabbergasted, he turned to Keiko. “How can they be here?”

“I have no idea.”

“You did it.” Masaru came out of the shadows nearest him. “It’s your powers, kid. You summoned their shadows here.” He glanced to where Koichi was still fighting. “Not sure I’d tell that to Koichi though.”

Ryuichi scowled. “I don’t understand.”

Keiko covered her mouth with her hand. “What have we done?”

“We broke the seal on this realm.” Masaru handed her a medallion. “The big guy knows that he’s here, and he wants his son. I’ll distract Ryukage, but you have to reunite Ryuichi’s soul before Ryukage finds him and gets loose.”

“What if I can’t?”

Masaru smirked. “Ryukage wins. That would be bad.”

Looking around with a confused scowl, Mikito stepped forward. “How did we get here?”

Toshi shook his head. “The important question is how do we get home?”

Pointing past them, Kato widened his eyes. “You’re both wrong. The question is, what are those? And how do we fight them?”

Large, hairless dogs with four heads were running toward them. They had beaks like birds, six legs, and talons for feet. As large as horses, they looked absolutely terrifying. The last thing Ryuichi wanted was to find out how strong they were. Or how hard they bit. Or hit.

“Run!” Keiko shoved him toward Takara.

He had no idea which way to go, other than away from those weird things. Since the stones would test loyalty to his father, he knew that should be avoided at all costs too.

But which way into the darkness would lead him toward the light?

Think, Ryuichi, think!

Really, he couldn’t. His adrenaline was pumping too fast, and he was panicking like crazy. He couldn’t catch his breath.

Absolute terror set in with a vicious tenacity that drove out all reason.

Completely locked down by it all, he covered his head with his arms and sank to the ground, where he let out a shriek so loud that it reverberated and echoed. His throat stung from the ferocity. With that one cry, he released years of frustration and heartbreak. Every bit of his fear.

Of his anger.

“Yamero! Yamero! Yamero!”

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Keiko tried to reach Ryuichi, but there was some sort of force field around him. Nothing could penetrate it. Not her magic. Not even her wit.

Koichi pounded against the invisible wall. He glanced over to Keiko. “What is he doing?”