Going crazy wasn't on the list of things I wanted to happen before I died. In fact, it wasn't even on the list of things I wanted to happen to me at all. As we biked back to the apartment, my mind kept replaying the events from earlier, but no matter how many times I re-ran the scene in my mind, I still couldn't come up with a logical answer. Nothing made sense, no matter how I tried to explain it away.

I was still deep in thought when we entered the apartment complex and were promptly greeted by our mother, Sally Ramirez. She stood in the doorway, her hands planted firmly on her hips and a disapproving scowl set on her face.

"I got a call today from Principal Taylor," she said in her best "you're in trouble" voice.

"Oh, really?" Danny asked, his voice slightly cracking from nervousness and his posture tensing up.

"Yes. you know, funny thing, he told me that you two got involved in a fight."

"Okay, Mom, I can explain," Danny started, but she cut him off.

"Daniel Antonio Ramirez, how many times have we been over this? No fights at school! Principal Taylor told me that if you get into one more fight after this, the school will suspend you!" she lectured, a disapproving scowl set on her face.

"Mom! There was a bully beating up Lisa!" Danny protested, his facial features slightly annoyed. I knew that he and Mom didn't have the best relationship and fights worse than this would often unfold, but after what we had just witnessed I could relate to his annoyance.

"What?" she asked, her head turning toward me.

"It was the new kid Dominic," I mumbled, my eyes shifting toward the ground.

"Are you okay?" she asked, a slight worried edge in her voice.

"I'm fine, Mom," I replied, slightly annoyed as she fussed over me. My eyes flicked up to meet Danny's and I knew we were thinking the same thing. We couldn't tell, anyone about Dominic turning into a demon creature. No one would believe us anyway. It sounded ludicrous even to me.

"No more fights," Mom said, turning to Danny and pointing to him before spinning on her heels and storming out of the room. "Your father will be here soon to pick you two up," she called over her shoulder.

With all that had happened earlier, I had almost forgotten that our dad, Antonio Ramirez, was taking us to the grand opening of Massachusett's very own Japanese History Museum. I made my way into my room, throwing my backpack on the bed and changing into my favorite gray cardigan, skinny jeans, and brown leather combat boots. Being that I was a massive nerd when it came to mythology, I was quite excited to go to the museum.

At exactly four o'clock, I heard Dad's beaten Ford pickup truck pull into our driveway and shouldered my backpack, making my way outside to greet him with Danny following close behind me.

I hadn't seen him in a while, but he still looked the same with his tan skin and black hair that was peppered with gray. The skin around his eyes was covered with wrinkles from smiling as he often did, and as he was doing now as he saw us approaching. He had the kind of smile that made you feel good inside and you just couldn't help but to smile back in return.

"Mijitos!" Dad greeted us as we crowded into his pickup.

"Hey, Dad" I said, grinning. Danny mumbled out a greeting and soon we were rattling towards the museum.

From the outside, the museum looked like a place where rich people gathered and ate caviar, or whatever rich people do. Two red pillars rose up on either side of the entrance. They were carved so intricately that I couldn't make out the designs from so far away. Gold serpents snaked around two of the pillars, each with their own expressions and body shapes. Two marble tiger statues stood at the base of the two pillars, their mouths open in a silent roar. As we got closer, I realized that each pillar was carved with scenes from Japanese mythology- Izanagi and Izanami creating the earth, Amaterasu being born from Izanagi's eye, Susano creating storms, Tsukiyomi shining his moonlight down on the earth, and the like.

We entered the museum and waited while Dad paid the admission fee. There were several paintings dotted throughout the lobby area, each of them depicting some moment in Japanese history or literature. A certain painting caught my eye and I walked over to it, studying it. The fine lines and vivid colors of the painting depicted a man and a woman reaching down through the clouds with tall spears.

"What's this of?" Danny asked, gesturing at the painting I was looking at.

"That's the two Japanese gods, Izanami and Izanagi, creating the Japanese islands," I explained.

"They created them with spears?" he asked skeptically, an eyebrow raised. I rolled my eyes.

"The drops of ocean water on their spears fell back down to the earth and created the islands," I replied.

"Right, and that's realistic," he said sarcastically, letting out a snort.

"It's just a myth. It's not supposed to be realistic," I snapped.

Before he could reply again, Dad made his way over to us, holding up three tickets with a grin. With that, all three of us made our way further into the museum.

My annoyance at Danny was forgotten once we entered the exhibition part of the museum. Instead, I gazed around in wonder. The domed ceiling above us seemed to stretch overhead infinitely, streaks of sunlight from the lazy autumn sun shining through the glass and dotting the ground in patches of light. Red and black pillars stretched up as high as the ceiling, providing ample support to the gigantic building. The open room was peppered with exhibits that displayed a wide variety of things: pottery, scrolls, weapons, ancient paintings. Everything that had anything to do with Japanese mythology and history was hidden away in these halls.

Not long after we entered the exhibition area, Dad left to speak with the curator, an old friend of us, and gave us specific instructions not to leave the main room. We agreed and continued our search for interesting artifacts.

Danny didn't seem to be too interested in the exhibits. At least not as much as me. He followed me around like a lost puppy, his hands in his pockets and a bored expression plastered onto his face. 

But that changed the second we came to the weapons exhibits. His eyes widened and he grabbed my wrist, dragging me over to a certain display that a few people seemed to be crowded around. The crowd surrounding the glass case didn't deter Danny, however, because he ducked and pushed his way through the people without so much as an apology. I threw a sheepish look at an angry-looking woman and mumbled a quiet apology.

Finally, we reached the red rope that was used to cordon off the exhibit and stopped there in front of it, our eyes taking in the sight.

It was a large retangular glass case and inside were two swords held up on black display racks. They had black leather handles, inlaid with gold and silver. There was something etched into both the hilts that I oculd just barely see, so I stepped as close to the red rope as I could and squinted. My eyes came into focus after what felt like a lifetime and I realized that someone had etched the shape of a dragon into one of the swords and the shape of a wolf into the other.

I glanced down at the plaque before me, taking in the words.

Katana Swords

The Katana was a curved single-edged sword that was used primarily for the Samurai within feudal Japan.

Something else caught my eye and I made my way over to where it sat inside a glass case to our left, Danny behind me. It was a jar created entirely out of ivory and painted with the most colorful and minute of flowers and vines.

"What's this?" Danny asked, seeming slightly interested, to my surprise.

"It's a Satsuma jar. I think the Japanese used it to trap spirits and things like that," I explained. A grunt was the only thing I got in response.

Suddenly an urge to open the jar trickled through me. I fought against it and I could see Danny doing the same. He reached out his arm and I wanted to yell at him, but my voice wasn't working. In fact, I could hardly move at all.

His hand closed around the lid of the jar, lifting it, and all at once, alarms began to blare overhead. From somewhere ahead of us, several security guards rushed in our direction, their hands clasping their holstered guns.

And then suddenly they disappeared. The room began to become blurry, as if I were looking through a wrong pair of glasses, and a strange mist began to creep out of the jar, engulfing Danny and me. Soon the mist was so heavy that I couldn't see anyone except my brother, who was standing by my side. An entire room of people lost in a sea of mist.

"What the-" Danny mumbled, trailing off. I turned frantically, searching for a familiar face or object anywhere, but everywhere I looked was pure mist. Nothing.

"Dad?" I squeaked nervously.

No answer.

The mist started to thin out, but something was wrong. Very wrong.

I slipped my hand into Danny's, something I rarely did except for when I was scared. He squeezed my hand as if reassuring me that everything would be fine.

As the mist disappeared, I could see the outlinings of a lush forest with trimmed trees and shrubs surrounding us. It was impossible. Just a moment ago we had been in the museum. I pinched my arm to see if I was dreaming and almost cursed. Well, it wasn't a dream. I knew that for sure.

"Definitely not in Kansas anymore," muttered Danny.

"Good job, Danny. You got us lost," I said, turning on him.

"Me?" he asked innocently.

"Yes, you! You're the one who took the lid off of that jar that spewed that strange mist!" I yelled

"Oh. I guess that gives you a good reason to blame me," he muttered.

"Yeah," I snapped. "It does."

"Didn't you feel it too, though? Like you had the urge to open the jar?" he asked, running a hand through his brown hair like he always does when he's nervous or thinking.

"Yes, I did," I admitted. "It was weird, but I was able to resist it a little bit, or at least enough so I didn't."

The words slipped out of my mouth before I realized that they could be hurtful.

"What's done is done. Let's just find a way to get out of here," I offered, trying to comfort him. He agreed and so we set off, trekking through the trees and shrubs around us.

We walked for quite a while and I began to lose track of time, mesmerized by the beautiful flora around us. We passed a small pond with water lilies in it and it looked so calm and serene that I wanted to stop and sit by it, but I knew that we had to keep going if we wanted to find a way back home.

Cherry trees that were burting with beautiful pink blossoms were scattered here and there, along with several shrubs that were cut into unusual shapes. It was like the entire forest was one huge garden.

I was so captivated by the beauty around us that I hardly noticed the group of people that had emerged from the trees, their swords pointed directly at us.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

A/N: Thank you all so much for reading! I'm so excited for where this story is going. I'm revising it to be a little longer and filled with more subplots than the original one.

If you would like to learn more about the lore and characters behind this story, you can follow my patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/kmanderson

I give out rewards and stuff for those who donate to me, and even for those who choose not to donate!

Next chapter should be up by next Friday!

~K.M. Anderson