Game Over

Chapter 21





“WHO IS IT?” I asked as innocently as I could.

“It’s the Murkamis, Daniel-san,” said a voice that sure sounded like Eigi’s.

Willy peeked through the keyhole and nodded. I also did a little radar sweep through the door to confirm that there were just four people and that their sizes and shapes matched the Murkamis.

I opened the door and they stepped in, all wearing gleaming Gathering Day robes (made of woven vanadium) and traditional Alpar Nokian headdresses.

“Eigi,” I yelled with alarm. “You guys were supposed to have left from Narita Airport by now! It’s in the complete opposite direction from here!”

“We’re sorry, Daniel-san,” he said, bowing contritely. “But we couldn’t leave a fellow Alpar Nokian all alone against those two monsters.”

“Besides,” said the daughter, Miyu, “you can’t exactly show up at the airport in clothes like these and expect to get right on the airplane.”

“Yeah,” agreed the boy, Kenshin. “Or really go anyplace and expect anybody to think you’re not a freak.”

“But how did you know we were here?” I asked.

“Dana invited us last night,” said Miyu.

“It was kind of obvious they didn’t want to leave Tokyo, Daniel,” said Dana. “And it seemed wrong not to include them if they were going to be in town. Here, come outside with me.”

I waved the Gathering Day parade back into existence for the others and followed Dana outside onto the terrace.

I turned to her in the late-afternoon sunlight. “So how did you know I was going to have a Gathering Day party?”

“Well, sometimes, umm, I can kind of read your thoughts.”

I looked at her in horror. Could it be true? Because if she could read my thoughts, then she might know when I thought embarrassing things about her, like how I thought she looked really beautiful right then and—

“I mean, not most of the time. Just sometimes, when you bring me in and out of existence. Maybe it’s because I kind of come out of your mind. It makes sense that sometimes I bump into your thoughts then, you know?” I chuckled self-consciously, and then she continued to torture me by probing my innermost emotions.

“Yesterday when you brought us here to check out the GC Headquarters, you were filled with thoughts about Gathering Day. About how you last celebrated it with your parents in Kansas when you were a little boy and how incredible it was. It was really very touching,” she said, taking my hand. I turned as red as a lobster in a pot of boiling water.

“I mean,” she went on, “you’re always thoughtful, Daniel, but thinking of this, remembering this—the loss of your civilization, your family, and the care you give to the others around you, even strangers—”

“Can Willy and the others also see my thoughts sometimes?”

“I don’t think so,” she guessed.

“That’s so weird…” I started to wonder.

“Not as weird as what’s about to happen,” said a sinister voice just above us.

A massive head peered out over the curving eave of the hotel. The head of a very large insect. A praying mantis, to be precise. A praying mantis with dreadlocks.

“Number 1!!!!” screamed Dana.

Too late. Way too late.