Momo Arashima Steals the Sword of the Wind by Misa Sugiura

Author:Misa Sugiura [Sugiura, Misa]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Random House Children's Books
Published: 2023-02-27T00:00:00+00:00

When we passed under the first of the eight massive torii, the ground started shaking, and a bolt of lightning burst above us like a giant flashbulb. I fully expected the torii to crash down and bury us as we sprinted through the other seven.

“Welp,” said Mukade. “That was the front-door alarm, that was. He knows we’ve arrived.”

“You couldn’t have disarmed it from the outside?” I asked.

“It’s magic, human girl, powerful enough to make the earth trimble-tremble. And you ask me to disarm it?” Mukade chittered.

My heart was racing, and the chaotic feeling that had started swirling inside my chest again rushed outward into the rest of me, like it was in my blood; my whole body felt like it was vibrating with this weird energy. I was becoming more and more convinced that this was Susano’o—our connection. It was both reassuring and terrifying. I wondered if he felt it, too, or if this was the way he felt all the time.

We were standing in front of a giant rock wall with no windows, no doors, no steps carved into it, nothing. “What now?” Danny asked. “Do we knock?”

“Bow down,” Mukade said, and his words were barely out of his mouth before we were hit by a gust of wind so strong it nearly knocked me backward. Dust devils whirled up around us and pulled at my hair, and sand stung my cheeks. I dropped to my knees and put my forehead on the ground as much for my own protection as out of respect.

“Your grandpa’s not the most subtle guy, is he?” Danny shouted at me over the roar of the wind.

“Yeah, you and him should get along great!” I shouted back.

“Heads down, mouths closed, you yammering yo-yos!” Niko barked.

“Follow your own advice, foxy fox!” Mukade said, and I started to laugh, but the wind picked up the sound and spun it into nothing, and when I took a breath, I choked on the dust. That’s when I decided to squeeze my eyes and mouth shut and hold my breath instead.

Before long I was barely aware of anything else: my eyes were still shut, and the roar of the dust storm filled my ears. It whipped right through my clothes and bit my skin. I couldn’t even feel the ground underneath me.

Ages later, the wind died down and Mukade told us to stand. Before I even came out of my little curled-up ball, I knew something was off. The ground wasn’t hard-packed dirt anymore, but knobby and cold, like stone. The air was cold, too, and still, and there was the distinct sound of water trickling somewhere in the distance. I opened my eyes and lifted my head and realized that we’d been transported inside somehow.

We were in the middle of an enormous stone chamber, lit by hundreds of tiny orange flames that flickered in the air above us. If there was a ceiling, it was so high that I couldn’t even see it—the room sort of disappeared into the darkness above the little fires.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.