“Um . . . sure.” He loved how they all thought he knew what he was doing.

Granted, he’d opened it for his father, but Ryuichi still wasn’t quite sure how he’d managed to do that.

And yet . . . now he managed to do it again. The gate opened as if it knew he was its master.

Or so he thought.

As his friends went through, back to the school, he saw the faintest image of his mother smiling at him through the flames. Was that really her, or was Haruki playing a trick?

Unsure if it was really her helping him, he reached out for her.

Ryuichi!

She shimmered into the flames and was gone.

A tear slid down his cheek as he realized that somehow, some way, she really was the one who had controlled the gate.

“Domo, Mama.”

He felt something against his cheek. Some might have called it a breeze, but to him, it was a caress. Deep in his soul, he knew his mother had touched him. He didn’t know how.

Only that she’d managed to do it.

Wishing he could hold her and really feel her mother’s touch, he sighed. At least this way he knew she cared. That even though she couldn’t be with him physically, she was here in spirit.

It helped.

With a smile, he called out to the shadows of his friends so that they’d follow, and he stepped through the portal to return to the academy.

Yet the image he’d seen through the fire was nothing like the reality they now faced. The heat was searing. The sounds, thunderous.

Chaos and disorder surrounded them.

“Look out!” Keiko cried.

He turned to see that the dragon was trying to follow them from the shadow realm.

Half of it was already through the portal.

Worse, it lunged for Mikito-kage as he was trying to put out the fires. The dragon grabbed his foot and started pulling him back to the nether realm.

Mikito’s shadow cried out for help.

Rushing forward, Takara-kage and Kato-kage held him by the arms. Furious that the dragon would dare go after his friends, Ryuichi manifested his shadow sword, then used it to whack at the dragon’s thrashing claws.

Keiko touched Ryuichi on the arm. “That’s useless. Just imagine the dragon on the other side, and the gate closed.”

That would be better . . . He really liked the thought of the dragon being on the other side of the gate, far away from them.

But surely it couldn’t be that easy.

Could it?

Hoping her suggestion wasn’t as ridiculous as it sounded, Ryuichi took a deep breath and tried.

Nothing happened.

The screams of his friends and others tore through him. He had to do something.

I am worthless.

You are not. A gentle, feminine voice filled his head. He wasn’t sure, but he thought it might be his mother . . .

Remove the doubt and breathe. Try again!