Part 10 (1/2)

'Have you ever had a ninja who couldn't throw a star?' I ask.

Sabo's heavy brows knit together, then spike upwards. 'Not in all my years.'

Elecktra tries again, and once more the star flops out of her hand and onto the floor. 'It's allergic to me,' she says.

'Seems that way,' Sabo agrees. He picks up my star to inspect it, shakes it, then holds it in his palm. 'Bizarre.'

'Maybe Roxy broke it,' Elecktra says. She s.n.a.t.c.hes the star out of Sabo's hand and holds it in her own. She goes cross-eyed at the star and it lifts out of her palm and floats into the air above her head. I try to grab the star, but it is levitating too high. We all hold our breath, our chins tilted up to the ceiling, watching the star hover between the rafters.

Sabo scratches his head. 'I haven't seen anything like this before. A floating star? I mean, never.'

Lecky smiles, then plucks the star out of the air and slaps it back into my hand.

Next we move on to kicks. I demonstrate a basic side kick, holding my leg in the air for a minute, before retracting my knee and gracefully returning to fighting form. Elecktra copies me, but her flexibility is terrible and she can only kick her leg to knee height before falling over. When she tries again, she ends up on the floor. Blonde hair spills out of her ninja hood. She wrestles with it, hot and frustrated. She hasn't yet learned how to control her breathing.

Most ninjas can at least kick straight off; it's in their blood. Something is really off here. I can sense how uncomfortable it's making Sabo.

'No balance,' he says.

'What? You didn't like my kick?' Elecktra says. She's not used to criticism.

'I liked it as much as waterlogged coleslaw.' Sabo turns to me. 'I don't understand,' he says, grating the grey stubble on his chin with his thumbnail. 'I haven't heard of any legends in which ninjas have telekinesis. There are no symptoms of ninja. I've never seen anything like this.'

'What's telekinesis?' Cinnamon asks.

'A telehead is someone who can move matter with their mind,' Sabo explains.

'But I don't want to be a telechick,' Elecktra says, ripping off her hood and walking to the end of the dojang. Then she pivots on her heel and turns back to us, cross-eyed again. Suddenly the kick pads fly through the air like missiles and the punching bags whip on their chains like barking bulldogs. My gut wrings out with nerves. We've always been different, but the difference in our powers is alienating.

'I'll talk to her,' I tell the others. I dodge the flying kick pads and run over to Lecky. When I step into her line of vision, she loses concentration. The bags settle on their chains and the kick pads rain down around us. One hits me in the head.

'I'm feeling weird,' she says.

'Lecky!' I squeal. Elecktra looks at me cross-eyed, but this time with confusion. I point silently to her forehead. Cinnamon, Jackson and Sabo rush over. We all stare at her.

Elecktra reaches a hand up to rub her forehead. When she feels the deep grooves there, she screams. 'What's happening?!'

My heart is a furious hammer. Elecktra isn't ready for this. She has no weapons!

'Those black stripes on your forehead mean that the Cemetery of Warriors is summoning you. You're going to have to fight to return home,' Jackson says, his eyes murky with fear.

Elecktra rubs her forehead again and tears fill her eyes. I reach out to hug her, but my hands s.n.a.t.c.h air. She has already disappeared.

'Go after her,' Sabo says urgently to me. It's the first time I've ever seen a sense of desperation in his grey eyes.

'Me g-go?' I stutter. 'Again?'

'Yes, again. This is Elecktra's test, though she doesn't know it yet. She could inherit power. Be up against ...' His eyes trail off to look at Jackson.

'Samurai,' Jackson finishes his sentence.

Samurai! Elecktra isn't even a fully fledged ninja yet, she's completely untrained. There's no way she'll know how to survive, let alone return home. 'Jackson, please get my ninja stars,' I say.

Sabo puts a heavy hand on my shoulder and shakes his head. 'No, Roxy. This isn't your summons. You can't fight her fight.'

'So I can only watch her get herself killed?' I gasp. Cinnamon takes my hand and squeezes it. I'd expect her to be in tears by now, but she is being strong for me.

Sabo presses his lips into a hard line and grimaces.

Jackson pa.s.ses me my ninja stars, his hand seeming to linger with the final one. Even if I can't use the stars, they'll give me comfort in the Cemetery of Warriors.

'So how do I get there when I haven't been summoned?' I ask.

'The White Warrior is the only one who can transport to and from the Cemetery of Warriors as they please,' Sabo says. I don't know how he knows all this stuff. He isn't a ninja, but he's the biggest ninja buff in Lanternwood.

'You sort of have a Cemetery of Warriors pa.s.sport, Rox,' Jackson says. 'Just hold your belt and close your eyes. Remember when I taught you invisibility?'

I nod fervently.

'Think of water and you'll transport,' he says. 'Good luck.'

I grip my belt at the tips, then paint my mind blue as I did that day on the school oval in an awesome game of Tiggy. My mind washes turquoise and I feel the calm blue rinse through my muscles. In two deep breaths, I disappear.

ELEVEN.

Brutal darkness surrounds me. I strike the tip of my belt along my leg and it lights as a torch. I hold up the end to look around. The Circle of Self-defence has been transformed into a ma.s.sive mud pit. Whispering mountains lean in on me, capped in the algae-green glow of the low moon. A labyrinth of graves, headstones and crypts rings the circle. There is that feeling of being watched, of eyes creeping all over you like spiders, and the choking smell of rotting flesh invades the air.

'Lecky,' I whisper. I steer the flaming tip of my belt from left to right, but I can't see her anywhere.

The Cemetery of Warriors is scarier this time. There is a s.h.i.+mmering violence in the distance and the place is too quiet. Something is very wrong.

'Roxy, is that you?' Lecky's voice s.h.i.+vers behind me.

I spin around. Lecky is trembling in the swirling blue smoke rising from the mud.

'Your uniform is white,' she says.

'It changes whenever I fight. They don't call me the White Warrior for nothing,' I say, extinguis.h.i.+ng my torch belt as my eyes have adjusted to the darkness.

Elecktra walks cautiously through the mud, jumping at every wisp of shadow. Her ninja hood hangs at her back and the tar marks across her forehead are stark. The green moon cloaks her blonde hair in a mossy sheen and she looks six years old again after spending too much time in the swimming pool.

'Where are we?' she asks as she reaches my side.

'This is the place I was talking about - the Cemetery of Warriors. Summoned fighters come here to claim powers by fighting dead masters of martial arts. You kill, you inherit their power. Remember I told you?' I say, pointing at her forehead.

Lecky drags her fingers across her forehead gingerly. Her eyes are wide as they absorb the surrounding nightmare. They remind me of Cinnamon's kitten when it was about to drown.