Grimm Tales: Rise of the Yokai

Chapter 14 Fire & Ice

The next morning, I called my friends and asked them to meet me at Dragon's Roost. The restaurant was full of the sizzle of frying bacon, and the smell of fried eggs and fresh brewed coffee. We ordered some breakfast and took it out to one of the tables on the back lawn.

There wouldn't be any live music on the patio until the dinner rush. Instead, speakers mounted near the doors played the morning news broadcast. The local station was mixing in mundane news from around the state.

One of the leading stories was about an incident in Raleigh, where a cheerleader had evidently blown up some buses and then disappeared before the police arrived. They'd tried to get video of the incident from the phones of some of the witnesses, but it hadn't worked.

Apparently, some lightning in the area had disrupted the phones after striking a tree. And now it was looking like the police had hit a dead end in their investigation.

It was tragic, really, but somehow, I knew I'd find the strength to carry on.

I made sure to talk to Miroku before I told anyone else what had happened. The others were going to need all of the details, including what had happened to him. But as important as it was, that still wasn't my story to tell. I told him that if he wanted it to stay between us, it would. I could tell he didn't like having to talk about what happened, but in the end, he agreed that they had a right to know.

So, while we ate, I told them everything I could remember about the dream I'd had the night before. I was glad they didn't seem to be angry with Miroku for not telling them sooner, and they didn't press him for any more details than he was willing to share.

Once I'd finished my story, I went back to enjoying my pancakes, because, really, what situation isn't improved with pancakes?

"Well, at least now we know what to look for," said Sarah as she took another bite of her omelet.

"But we still don't know who that tooth belonged to," I said.

"Or what it belonged to," added Jason.

The Elixir of Life and a good night's rest had done the werewolf good, and he was back to his usual self. It had done wonders for me, too. By the time I woke up, the bruises on my chest had completely faded, and while I was still a little stiff, it was no worse than after a hard workout.

Kora, who had been entertaining herself by tearing up bits of sausage and tossing them to Dante, said, "I care more about knowing what it does, than where it came from. If it was locked up in there, it can't be good."

"Not everything in the Vault is dangerous," said Sarah.

"Really?" said Kora. "Name one."

I thought for a moment, then said, "The Silver Slippers. They're not any more dangerous than a regular pair of heels—"

"Sounds plenty dangerous to me," said Miroku.

"—and you can use them to teleport. Now, okay, yes, one of the owner's got crushed by a house, but that wasn't the shoes' fault."

"If anything, you'd have thought they'd have made something like that easier to avoid," said Tobias.

I pointed at the kitsune, "See. He gets it."

"So how are we going to figure it out?" asked Jason. He looked at me and Sarah. "Couldn't one of you just look it up in the inventory?"

"It'll be quicker if we let the salamanders finish searching first," I said.

I had called Nick as soon as I woke up. I was sure I'd seen teeth like that in the Vault before. But I needed his salamanders to find the one that was missing so we'd know what we were dealing with.