Rusty and I used to watch a show on TV about idiots. To be more specific, it was about idiots who would perform outrageous stunts and catch them on tape, as if they actually wanted to volunteer to the world just how high their level of stupidity could reach.

One of our favorites had been the one about the weather balloon guy. Weather balloons look like oversized party favors, used to send instruments into the sky in order to measure whatever it is they measure so that meteorologists can take a wild guess on whether or not it will rain. This one particular idiot decided it would be fun to attach a bunch of these helium-filled balloons to himself, until they became strong enough to lift him into the sky like something out of an old roadrunner cartoon. All he needed was a T-shirt that said “ACME” in big red letters.

His plan worked.

It worked way beyond his expectations, and soon the United States Air Force was involved, investigating something that was either a UFO or an idiot. It turned out they had found the latter.

Anyway, they came up with a method to help this guy down out of the sky without making a nasty splat on some-body's driveway, and yelled it out to him on a loudspeaker from a helicopter. (Which kept blowing the guy away with the wind from its rotating blades, giving us many opportunities to laugh uncontrollably on the floor as we watched.)

They told him to pop the balloons, one at a time, pausing after each one to see how much of a difference that one had made in keeping him in the sky. This gradual popping of the balloons worked. After popping two or three, he began to level off instead of maintaining his path toward space. Then, he popped some more and began to descend. A couple of more pops and he drifted down to the ground at a nice and comfortable speed until he was once again safe on the ground.

His elation at being alive couldn't be dampened, even as they whisked him away in a police car. I could never have known that the dumb weather balloon guy would come back to inspire me some day.

It was time to pop some Shadow Ka.

They were everywhere, attached with their taut chains to the ship, wings flapping like frantic dragons. Their gray skin glistened with sweat from their exertion. I could not imagine it was easy to lift such a huge structure, no matter how many of them there were.

I knew that it was imperative to be selective in the Ka I picked off with the Ice. If too many in one area were released from the ship, it would tilt and fall to the ocean at a horrible angle. I had to keep the people inside the cabins safe, and prevent my dad from falling off the ship altogether.

Black rain spattered our faces, angry wind ripped at our clothes, frightful cries of evil filled the air.

I explained my plan to Miyoko and she looked at me with some hesitation.

“Trust me,” I said, and then began the assault.

A Ka was only a few feet from us, attached to a big pipe that jutted from the deck with a railing around it, huge painted bolts dotting its surface. The Ka's chain wrapped around the pipe then up and around its neck. Its legs and arms dangled for balance as its massive wings beat at the misty air. Its ragged clothes hung like tattered laundry, flapping in the wind.

It was looking at me with black eyes as it flew, knowing it could do nothing.

With barely a thought, I sent shivers of Ice throughout the Ka's chain, freezing it until it was brittle enough to break. I formed a round ball of Ice from the air, three feet in diameter, and blasted it toward the Ka. The ball connected with the force of a catapulted stone of ancient wars, and the creature's shriek trailed off quickly as it plummeted away from the ship, toward the roiling ocean below.

The next ten minutes consisted of nothing but ice and screams. Miyoko and I walked the decks, discussing and choosing the Ka that we should blast off the ship. We tried to choose five or six that were evenly spaced around the yacht, and after they were sent in a steep, tumbling plunge to the passing ocean, the ship seemed to slow and level off. A sense of panic tingled in the air. The Ka grasped what we were doing, but there wasn't much they could do. Except release their chains and let us drop …

The thought made a lump form in my throat. But after the seventh Ka was ice-blasted off the ship, and it became clear to all that the remaining beasts were losing their ability to hold and carry us, they did not give up. Fighting a losing cause, the Ka beat their wings with a renewed urgency. But, just like the dope with the weather balloons, we were lightly descending to the ocean. It was actually working.

It was strange, but for the first time since the Ka had lifted the yacht, I wondered what their purpose was in kidnapping our ship. Perhaps the thought came because they did not cease their efforts in trying to fly us away even though it was obvious they could no longer succeed. Why not drop us then, letting everyone perish but me and anyone who may be lucky enough to be within touching distance? Then it hit me—thoughts of conversations I'd had with Kenji and Raspy.

The Shadow Ka knew that after the failure of the Sounding Rod, I was now indestructible. They knew that the Givers were helping me, guiding me, watching over my journey to obtain the Gifts. They could do nothing to stop me directly. Their only hope was to divert my attentions, to tempt me to abandon the Givers for other priorities. The Ka knew that if my family and friends were killed, there would no longer be even the slightest thing to hold me back from going full steam ahead in my efforts against them.

It was ironic. They wanted nothing but misery and pain for my family and me. And yet they seemed determined to keep us alive.

Collateral.

They needed the collateral against me.

It had been so when Raspy and his men took my family in America. It was so when Kenji and his thugs took my family in Japan. It was so now.

It was comforting in a very absurd way, but I also knew that it was a string that could reach its end before we knew it. I could not allow myself to ever make a judgment or assumption based on it.

I forced my thoughts back to the situation at hand.

I ran over to the railing at the edge of the yacht and looked over the side. We were getting closer to the water, perhaps halving our distance already. The ship was no longer moving forward as it descended, just straight down with a slight swaying motion, like a dry leaf falling from its limb in autumn. The remaining Ka had now put their moot efforts into simply trying to keep the boat above water.

For a fleeting moment I admired their determination. Why would they not give up? Another thought swept across my brain. Maybe I was giving them too much credit. Maybe they were just following orders and didn't think as deeply as I had assumed. It could be that they were just like the flying monkeys in The Wizard of Oz, dumb as dirt but very obedient. That thought brought back memories of Ole Betsy and Mayor Duck, when I really could've used some flying abilities.

A wet thump, followed by my knees buckling beneath me, announced that we had hit the water, as gentle as a drunk-piloted airplane landing. The Shadow Ka slammed into the objects they were attached to, finally giving in to defeat, and their chains loosened. They scrambled out of the metal links and folded their wings. All of the Ka, including the ones who had been flying alongside the ship, gathered together in one group, refusing to leave just yet. They came over to where Miyoko and I were standing.

One stepped forward. It was the same one who had spoken with me when they arrived the first time. His gray skin and black eyes almost blended in with the mist and rain and shadows that surrounded us. The spider web veins that covered his skin seemed to throb and pulse.

His face. It had an oriental feel to it … something familiar. It didn't take long for me to figure it out. Replace the splotchy hair, remove the veins, add a red bandanna …

I couldn't believe that I'd missed it before.

It was Kenji.