Page 32 of Shinji Takahashi: Into the Heart of the Storm

storm/tempest boar. thought to be revered by an extinct culture that existed somewhere in the polynesian triangle. perhaps worshiped as a god of rain and wind, the storm boar was believed to be volatile and bad-tempered, its anger the cause of many hurricanes in the south pacific.

That was all the information the article gave, but the chill Shinji felt slithered all the way down his spine. The Storm Boar. The lightning-shrouded beast that roared at him in his dreams; it had to be the same creature.

“What are you doing?”

Shinji jumped at the sound of Lucy’s voice, turning to find her standing a few feet behind him. He was so focused on the book and the Storm Boar, he hadn’t even heard her enter the library. Tinker peered down at him from her shoulder as Lucy’s eyes drifted to the book on the armrest, then narrowed sharply.

“Is that my book?”

“Um, yeah.” Shinji glanced down at the open tome, but the Coatl was no longer in the corner of the page. “Roux had it. Guess you were right.”

“I knew it,” Lucy muttered. “I’m going to have to talk to Mano about changing the locks on my doors.”

“He’ll just pick them again,” Shinji pointed out. “Besides, he said he was going to give it back.”

Lucy just gave him a cold glare, clearly unimpressed. She closed the book with a thump, losing the page with the Storm Boar without even seeing it. She picked up the book, cradled it to her chest, then turned and exited the room without saying anything more, leaving Shinji standing there by himself. For a second, he wondered if he should track her down and apologize, but he didn’t know what he’d be apologizing for.

Glancing down, he saw the Coatl tattoo was back on his arm, lifeless and unmoving once again. If Shinji hadn’t seen so many strange and bizarre events by now, he might’ve thought he had imagined the whole thing.

“What are you trying to tell me?” he whispered. “What is the Storm Boar? Why is it calling to me? What does it want me to do?”

Apparently, one could only receive a single hint from enigmatic guardian spirits per day, because even though Shinji spent another hour in the library trying to communicate with his Coatl tattoo, it didn’t answer him.

The journey across the ocean continued as they followed the coordinates on the strange map, trusting Mano and Oliver to know the directions at sea. Lucy eventually started talking to Shinji again but remained frosty to Roux, who never apologized for taking her book without asking. He didn’t, as far as Shinji could tell, break into any more rooms, so maybe he’d taken Shinji’s “stealing is bad” lecture to heart. Or maybe he just hadn’t let Shinji know he was doing it.

On the morning of the third day, the skies started to darken. Black clouds formed on the horizon, looming and ominous, and the sea grew choppy, tossing the boat and

causing Shinji to stumble several times as the floor beneath him rocked and pitched.

Wandering down the hall with Roux, he met Lucy at the end of the corridor. “Where’s Oliver and everyone else?” he asked as, behind him, Roux grabbed a post to keep himself steady. He was, Shinji saw nervously, looking a little green. He hoped the other boy wouldn’t lose his breakfast all over the carpet.

“Up on deck,” Lucy replied. She looked nervous as well and braced herself against the wall as the ship rocked beneath them. “I think they went to check out the storm. From what I can see, it’s a bad one.”

Shinji remembered his dream, and the angry pig appearing in the roiling clouds, lightning crackling around it. It couldn’t be the same storm, could it? “I want to see it,” he said, stepping past Lucy. “Be right back.”

“Shinji, wait up,” Lucy called. “We’re coming, too.”

A growl of thunder went through the air as Shinji stepped onto the deck, seeing Mano, Phoebe, and Oliver at the railings. Glancing at the sky, he saw the sun was still shining directly overhead, but over the horizon, lightning flickered through an ominous wall of clouds, and a sharp gust of wind tossed Shinji’s hair like it was trying to yank it out.

“Hurricane?” Oliver mused as Shinji and the others joined them at the railing. He sounded far calmer than Shinji thought he should. Especially when talking about hurricanes in the middle of the ocean.

Mano grunted. “No, not a hurricane,” he muttered. “But a nasty storm nonetheless. Like I said, this area is notorious for bad weather. Most ships avoid sailing through it.” He stuck a hand into his pocket, probably to grab some lucky item, and shook his head. “Unfortunately, our coordinates are smack in the center of the storm. So, we’re going to be sailing right into the teeth.”

The storm loomed closer. More flashes of lightning lit up the sky, and thunder boomed. Spatters of rain hit Shinji’s face, and he could see huge curtains of water creeping toward them, looking almost solid as they swept forward. The waves got bigger, huge swells lifting the ship several feet before dropping it down again, making Shinji feel like he was on a roller coaster.

“All right, this is getting dangerous,” Oliver said. He and Mano, Shinji noticed, were having far less trouble keeping their balance on a pitching boat, being so used to the ocean. Surprisingly, Phoebe was also keeping her feet. “You kids get below deck now,” the ex-pirate ordered. “Maybe tie yourselves to something solid. The last thing we need is someone going overboard. I donotwant to go diving into this ocean after you.”

Shinji looked up at the storm, and his skin prickled. Itwasthe same as the one in his dreams; the same roiling clouds and flickering blue lightning. He felt that if he kept staring at it, the clouds would part and he would see a huge boar with electric-blue eyes peering down at him from the sky.

“I want to stay,” Shinji protested. If the Storm Boar did make an appearance, he wanted to see it. If only to prove to himself that he wasn’t going crazy.

But Oliver shook his head. “Not negotiable, kid. It’s getting too rough up here and besides”—he nodded to Roux—“I think he needs to get to the med bay before he pukes all over the deck. Ask Dr. Malcom for something to help with seasickness. At the very least, she can get him a bucket. Go on,” he urged as Shinji still hesitated. “I’ll call you again when it’s safe.”

Reluctantly, Shinji turned to go belowdecks but stopped, chills running up his spine. Something was watching them. He could suddenly feel a presence, huge and powerful, peering at them through the storm. He felt invisible eyes lock on to him.

And then something strange happened.

The ocean suddenly…calmed. The deck below them stopped pitching, the winds ceased, and the rain that had been starting to patter against his skin disappeared. Overhead, the sun vanished as black clouds crept across the sky, and the air turned very dark. Around the ship, Shinji could see huge waves rising and falling, sending up sprays of foam as they crashed against one another. He could hear the wind howl, saw the rain swirling through the air…but it never touched the ship. They seemed to be in their own private tunnel of calm, a bubble that the storm and wind and raging sea couldn’t get through.

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