Relax, I'm A Ninja Read online

  Her whole face relaxed. “I’m so glad you feel that way, because I was worried you’d think I was weak.”

  “No way! They’re not using our relationship like that. We can help in other ways.” I managed a smile, pushing her hair from her face. Her pink lips were still inviting, but I couldn’t bring myself to kiss them. It was like there was a wall of glass between us. I didn’t know why, but it wasn’t the same.

  Her face turned playful. “What?”

  “Oh, nothing, you’re just so beautiful.”

  “Duh.” Amy rolled her eyes and laughed.

  She grabbed the remote and turned on the TV while I got some snacks from the kitchen. Then we snuggled under a blanket. It felt so normal and nice—as long as I didn’t think about the fact that Courtney was outside guarding us.

  “We should probably think about homework,” Amy said as the show ended.

  “True. Let’s work on chemistry.” I had to keep my mind busy, distracted, otherwise I’d be sick over everything happening.

  Amy grabbed her book and we spent the next couple of hours catching up. Homework was supposed to be boring, but I enjoyed it. As we worked through the assignments, my mind pushed out all the crap. For a second, we were a normal high school couple working and flirting up a storm.

  If only it was that easy all the time.

  27

  Spying on Eddie was about as exhilarating as sleeping. Wait, no, most of my dreams were more entertaining. Amy and I had watched him for the past few days and had barely anything to show for it. Most of the time he guzzled Mountain Dew while playing computer games, but every night at nine he’d slip on a long black trench coat and head to a comic book store I’d never been to—entering the back room through the alley door. I hated to admit that could be something.

  As I stared at him across the cafeteria, he was still Eddie. I may have been biased, but it was hard to believe he was the Akuma spy. We’d snuck into his room to check his computer when I knew he was hanging out with Stu and Todd. Nothing. There were no hidden weapons, unless a replica of Frodo’s sword counted. Of course, that didn’t mean he didn’t have them.

  “Tosh, you want the rest of my fries?” Sarah asked. I’d been eating lunch with the girls since the Winter Ball, and I’d become their personal garbage disposal.

  “Oh, sure.”

  “Enjoy.” She slid her fries over. Eva didn’t even ask if I wanted her remaining carrot sticks; they came along with the fries. I was still starving, so I didn’t mind. Amy grabbed half of what I got. Hard-core training with my mom had that effect. She’d been putting us through what I’m sure bordered on torture.

  Life had gotten strangely normal since the attack on the dojo. The Akuma appeared to have dropped off the map. Dad had just gotten home from the hospital that day. He was a local hero now. The police decided the guy he killed was The Ninja. The state prosecutors claimed they wouldn’t pursue Dad’s case, but we were still waiting on official news. There hadn’t been a murder since.

  But we knew better. The Akuma were still around, spy included. They were waiting for the right opening like my dad said. The extra Saburau in the city just stopped them from taking kami, and they couldn’t attack the dojo head-on without eating some to make them stronger.

  “Oh my gosh, Maddie, look who’s coming over here!” Eva squealed.

  Maddie looked up from her book, her hazel eyes going wide. Then she sank into her chair and raised the book to cover her rosy cheeks. Stu was coming straight for the table in all his tall, lanky glory. I looked to where Todd and Eddie sat. Eddie didn’t look up from his food, but Todd had a goofy grin on his face as he watched.

  “Hi, Stu,” Amy said. “What brings you all the way over here? Isn’t this like a code breech?”

  “I just…um …” He started to hyperventilate. I covered the ketchup on my plate in case the sight of it sent him over the edge.

  “The girls are cool. Spit it out,” I said.

  “Right. I was wondering if Maddie wanted to go to the Sophomore Stomp with me.” The words spilled out of his mouth like running water, slurring together so I barely caught the meaning. Since prom was only juniors and up, the sophomore class rented out Great America for a night and called it Sophomore Stomp. Personally, I’d take roller coasters over a tux any day.

  “Oh, I…I …” Maddie stared up at him, her mouth trying to form words.

  Eva put her hand on Maddie’s shoulder. “Did you forget he’s already asked you out before? Say yes, honey. Yes.”

  “Yes.” She looked down shyly, but smiled.

  “Okay, awesome.” Stu’s face broke out in a huge smile. They were so painfully awkward together it was kind of cute.

  “You should double with us!” Amy grabbed my hand. We didn’t glow like we did before we tortured the Akuma. Sometimes I wondered if we really were Inyo. It didn’t feel like it anymore. We still hadn’t confronted my mom. How was I supposed to tell a ninja like her that we weren’t planning to be Saburau? But we had to do it soon. I ached for the way it used to be.

  “Oh, sure.” Stu looked over at Eddie. “Just, you know, keep it quiet?”

  Amy nodded. “Of course, don’t worry.”

  “Okay, see you later, Maddie.” He waved and then left.

  “Stu and Maddie sittin’ in a tree…,” Eva sang.

  Maddie hit her with her book. “Shut up!”

  “Aw, what’s so wrong with liking a guy, Maddie?” Sarah asked.

  “Nothing, I just don’t like being teased about it.” She read as she talked. I didn’t have a clue how she did that.

  “Eva’s jealous.” Sarah went back to her notes. The girls all had their own thing. I’d never noticed until I started hanging out with them, but Maddie had her books, Sarah had her notepads, and Eva sang like a rock star.

  Eva sighed. “I am jealous. I want a boy to like me.”

  “You need to be more specific. What if you don’t like them?” Sarah asked. “We’ve all seen how that plays out.”

  I grimaced. “No kidding.”

  Everyone laughed. They were such close friends, like I used to be close with the guys. I pushed back my regret. Now I was not only friendless, but I suspected my former best friend of being an evil kami-sucking demon.

  Someone bumped into Amy’s chair as she took a sip of her chocolate milk, sending it all over her uniform.

  “Oops.” Logan’s hulking figure towered over us, a cruel smile on his lips.

  “It’s okay, trolls usually have trouble walking in straight lines, right?” Amy dabbed her white shirt with a napkin. The girls held in their snickers.

  “You know you want this.” Logan leaned down, his face too close to my girlfriend. He glanced at her chest, fairly visible through the wet shirt. I swear he smelled her, and my whole body switched to fight mode.

  “Hey,” I said as evenly as possible. “Should you be talking to losers like us?”

  Amy nudged me, one side of her mouth curling up.

  “I can talk to whoever I want. You worried your girlfriend wants a real man?” He laughed like he was the funniest guy ever. Then he shoved my head and made sure to bump my chair as he left.

  “I can’t believe you have the guts to talk to him like that,” Eva said.

  I shrugged. I could beat Logan to a pulp if I had to, and right now I wished I had an opportunity. I hated the way he looked at Amy…at every girl. They were all meat to him. Logan walked back to his table, glancing over at us one more time before he sat down next to Courtney. She glared at him, saying something I couldn’t read. Logan whispered in her ear, and she suddenly melted. Then they were making out. I had to look away so I didn’t throw up.

  Amy gasped like she’d discovered the meaning of life. Her friends stared. “Sorry, I forgot I had a paper due tomorrow.” She squeezed my hand. It was no paper—she had an idea. She leaned in closer and whispered in Japanese. “Watch Logan.”

  I jerked my head up. Logan? Did she actually think that troll could be…? Okay,
it made decent sense. Just looking at all his muscle made it seem obvious. And he didn’t walk like the other jocks—he was smoother, more aware. The brutal way he treated people, the fact that he hadn’t let up on me since the fight…I’d chalked it up to the bully gig.

  Duh, perfect cover.

  There was only one problem: he was Courtney’s boyfriend. How could she of all people not see it? I gulped. Or did she see it? My mom had never killed my dad even though she was Saburau. Perhaps Courtney stayed her hand because she cared about Logan.

  “Maybe,” I whispered back.

  The bell rang and we jumped up, waving to her friends as we dashed out of the cafeteria.

  “What should we do?” Amy asked. “I really think it’s him. The way he looks at me, at everyone. It’s like he’s hungry.”

  “It’s hard to say. Courtney should have seen that. Maybe we should ask her?” I pulled her into a corner so it looked like we were making out instead of conspiring.

  Amy glared. She still hated when I mentioned Courtney, but I tried to understand. I got wild knots of protectiveness over Amy when Logan ogled her or Marty got too friendly. She let out a long sigh. “We should follow Logan after school either way. Courtney could be in on it.”

  “She’s a terrible liar. If I asked her, I’d know her loyalties by how she reacted.” If Logan was Akuma, maybe that was why he’d latched on to her in the first place. He probably recognized what she was.

  “Okay, but be careful.” She pulled me in for a kiss. It was only a peck.

  I hugged her tight and then headed to class. I hated the last three periods of school—I didn’t cross paths with Amy. It hurt to be away from her, like a weight tied to my heart. Nights were the worst, even if things had been off since the torture. But maybe that was just how it felt when you had a girlfriend. How would I know the difference between that and Inyo?

  The longer I thought about Logan, the more I convinced myself it made sense. It gave me hope that Eddie was his dopey self. The minutes ticked by like hours, and I didn’t hear a thing my teacher said. When the bell rang, I bolted from my seat.

  Courtney usually passed me in the halls after English, so I walked against the crowd and hoped I’d smack right into her. Her blonde hair was on the horizon, and I stretched my neck to get a better look. She was typing into her phone—perfect. She didn’t even see me coming, so I plowed her right over.

  “What the hell?” she yelled.

  “I’m so sorry!” I bent down and grabbed her hand, pulling her up before she could retract. I brought her close. “We think it’s Logan.”

  Her eyes filled with terror, but not the terror of being discovered. It was true surprise. She wasn’t a traitor. She shook her head back and forth. “No. Impossible. I …” Her face went hard again. She ripped her arm from my grasp, leaning on the wall and staring at the floor. “It can’t be. I would have seen that.”

  “We’re going to follow him after school. We can’t trust anyone, can we? I’ve even been tracking my best normal friend, just in case.” I honestly felt bad for her. I didn’t know for sure how she felt, but it had to be along the lines of the shame I felt when I almost got killed by a ninja cheerleader.

  She raised an eyebrow. “Eddie Dastrup? Why haven’t you told your mom?”

  “Because I don’t know for sure, and I don’t want her sinking her claws into him, okay?” If she ratted out Eddie, I would have to hurt her. “You can’t tell her until I know.”

  She put her hand on my arm, looking into my eyes with surprising sympathy. “Fine. But Eddie makes sense. He’s been shadowing you forever. He’s been to the dojo and could have found something there. You’re wasting your time with Logan.”

  “I don’t think he makes any more sense than Logan.”

  She rolled her eyes. “I think you’re biased.”

  “And you’re not?” I backed away when she glared at me. I wouldn’t get any help from her. “Better safe than sorry, right?”

  I walked off. We’d been talking too long as it was.

  28

  After school, Amy and I followed Logan, who ended up downtown. We were so far behind he couldn’t have spotted us. He never even looked back, just acted like everything was normal as he stepped into Starbucks and took a seat in the back corner.

  We split up, each taking a different side of the building. If he happened to see us together and he was the Akuma spy, I had no doubt he’d attack us. It’d be so easy with how disconnected Amy and I were lately.

  I leaned against the building, glad we’d switched to street clothes after school. I pulled my hoodie over my head, giving my eyes enough room to catch what Logan was doing.

  Nothing happened for a while. He’d pulled out his laptop, typing about as fast as a tortoise. But then a tall man came over with two cups. He had blond hair and pale skin. His face should have been pleasant, but there was something off. My stomach turned. This guy could be an Akuma. Why not? They didn’t always glow. Even Simon had flickered that night. They must use up the power they gain.

  He sat down, and Logan closed his laptop with a sinister smile. I couldn’t tell what they were saying, but the conversation patterns looked casual and familiar. They couldn’t have been related. They were about as opposite in coloring as two white guys could get. Logan was too young to be talking with basketball recruiters and too rich to be looking for a job. I couldn’t come up with any logical reason for why he would be there.

  Logan left first, and the other guy sat there for several minutes. I studied him as best as I could without directly staring. He was older, at least forty, with a hard face and hands that looked like they’d seen fighting. His veins were raised, thick. He seemed ultra-aware of his surroundings. I worried he might have known we were there.

  Once he was gone (or at least seemed to be gone), I met Amy in front and gave her a big hug like we were meeting there on a date. We went inside and sat in the same place Logan had.

  Just as we were about to talk, I froze, so shocked I almost swallowed my tongue. Courtney came in, scanning the area as she walked toward us. I hadn’t seen her at all on the way there—she was that good. She sat next to me, her face already pinched in anger.

  “I think it looks pretty suspicious,” Amy said.

  “That could have been anybody. They didn’t do anything,” Courtney said. “It proves nothing.”

  Amy rolled her eyes. “Uh, can’t anybody be one of them? You’re totally blind.”

  Courtney’s jaw clenched. She stood up and leaned over the table. “I know more about this shit than you could ever hope to know.”

  Amy got right in her face. “Then why’d you miss something so huge?”

  Courtney grabbed Amy’s wrist in a nerve strike, but Amy twisted out of it and tried to land a punch to Courtney’s stomach. Of course she blocked.

  “Stop!” I grabbed both their arms and pulled them back into their chairs. We’d already gathered a small audience. Great. The girls stared at me indignantly. This was getting beyond old. “Both of you chill, okay? You’ll blow our covers.”

  “I need some air,” Amy huffed. “Tosh, knock some sense into her and meet me outside.” She got up, stomping out of the café. I tried not to look happy that she left. It seemed easier to get stuff from Courtney when Amy wasn’t around. Not much, but enough.

  “Did you recognize the guy at all?” I asked.

  “No, but I’m not with Logan all day.” Courtney scowled, though her shoulders slumped. “I couldn’t have missed this for so long. He’s been in my room. There’s not a lot, but there’s information and supplies. Nothing’s gone, nothing’s been tampered with.”

  “You don’t think it could be a possibility?” I didn’t buy her claims. She was clinging to her pride. “We all miss stuff, Court. How long were you right in front of me?”

  Her eyes met mine, a little smile on her lips. “Of course it’s a possibility. Everyone’s a suspect. But the chances are so low. He doesn’t have any connection with you. So what
if he has connection with me?”

  “He’s sure been paying a lot of attention to me lately. He could have figured it out.”

  She shook her head, almost laughing. “Logan is not that smart, sorry. I’ve been thinking about Eddie. The guy’s a genius and his cover is seamlessly innocent. Perfect for a spy.”

  I sighed, trying to bottle up my anger. I shouldn’t have mentioned Eddie to her. She was bringing up even more evidence. “Sometimes the best covers are the obvious ones. You should know.” I ignored her glare, determined to make her consider Logan. “What do you see in that jerk anyway? He treats you like crap, even I know that.”

  She squeaked. “You don’t understand him. He can be really sweet—”

  “Yeah, sure, when he wants your clothes off?” I blocked her attempt to slap me, coming in close to her face. “He’s hit on Amy, you know. Several times. You really think he cares about you?”

  She didn’t say anything, just stared at me. A hint of tears pooled in her eyes, but she pushed them back. “You think I’m like that? We haven’t even gone there.”

  Honestly, it surprised me, but the news made me think. “So, you haven’t seen him without a shirt, which means you don’t know if he has an Akuma tattoo. I can’t believe Logan, perv extraordinaire, hasn’t gone for the kill yet. How long have you guys been dating?”

  Courtney seethed, but I could tell I’d made her think. My dad had a tattoo that marked him as an Akuma. I figured it was some sign of Clan membership. She didn’t know if Logan had one or not, though they’d been dating since we were freshman. I remembered because I was devastated by it at the time.

  It seemed like she needed some gentle coaxing. I almost put my hand on hers, but I didn’t. Amy would have killed me. “Look, I’m sorry for being rude, but you can’t throw out the possibility. I’m not saying it because I want to clear Eddie—you need to watch your own back. You’ll be his first target, you have to know that. Might sound weird, but I don’t want you to get hurt.”