Read The Twelve Kingdoms: Shadow of the Moon for Free Online

otherwise!""
    "No!"
    The beast reared, threw back its head, doubled back. Youko kept her eyes tightly shut. She was not going to cause any more death. If shutting her eyes stilled the sword, then that is what she would do.
    Hyouki swerved abruptly to the left. They struck hard, a collision like hitting a wall. She heard the yelp of a wounded dog. She opened her eyes and saw only black. Before she could grasp what had happened Hyouki keeled over.
    Her legs lost their grip. She pitched into the air.
    Before her startled eyes charged a beast like a wild boar. In her right arm she felt the impact as steel severed muscle and bone, heard the roar of the eviscerated monster, her own screams.
    And then nothing. No sight, no sound, no taste or touch or thought. Only her falling and falling through the endless dark.

Part II
    ouko awoke to the sound of crashing waves. She felt the spray of the ocean on her face. She opened her eyes, raised her head. She had fallen onto a sandy beach not far from the water's edge. A big wave broke against the shore. The water swept along the strand, bathing her feet.
    Unexpectedly, the water was not cold. Youko lay there on the sand and let the waves wash against her. The rich smell of the ocean surrounded her, a smell something like the smell of blood. The sea was in her veins. That is why, when she closed her ears, she heard the distant roar of the ocean.
    The next surge flooded to her knees. The sand churned up in the tide tickled her skin.
    That deep scent of the sea.
    She looked at her feet. The water lapping against her body was stained red. She glanced at the gray surf, up at the wide, gray sky. She looked down again. The water was indeed red.
    She searched for its source. "Ah," she said.
    Her legs. The crimson streams were washing from her skin. She bolted to her feet. Her hands and feet were stained red. Even her navy blue school seifuku uniform had turned a dark maroon.
    Blood.
    She moaned. Her whole body was soaked with blood. Her hands were black and sticky with the gore, as were her face and hair. She cried out, splashed down in the midst of the breaking waves. The water rushed in muddy gray, receded crimson. She scooped up water in her hands. It bled between her fingers. As much as she scrubbed at her hands she could not uncover the natural tone of her skin. The surf rose to her waist. A pool of color spread out around her, scarlet beneath the charcoal sky.
    Youko again raised her hands to her face. In front of her eyes her fingernails lengthened, grew to sharp claws half again as long as her fingers themselves.
    "What . . . ?"
    She turned her hands over. There were a multitude of small cracks or fissures running along the skin. A fragment of her skin peeled away, wafted away in the wind, tumbled into the water. Beneath the skin was a matt of short-haired red fur.
    "No, I don't believe this."
    She brushed her hand against her arm. More skin flaked away revealing red fur. Every time she moved she shed flesh. A wave swirled against her. Her uniform shredded as if eaten away by acid. Water washed the fur and the ocean ran red.
    The claws on her hands, the fur growing on her body, she was turning into one of the beasts.
    "No, no, no," she sobbed. Her uniform fell to pieces. Her arms wrenched about like the forelegs of a cat or dog. The blood, the blood of those creatures, it's made me into one of them. It was not possible. She screamed, "God, NO!"
    In her own ears she heard no recognizable sound, only the roar of the crashing waves and the inarticulate howl of a beast.

    Youko opened her eyes to a pale blue sky.
    Her whole body hurt. The ache in her arms was excruciating. She held up her hands and gasped in relief. Normal. She had normal human hands. No fur, no claws.
    She sighed to herself. She wracked her brain, trying to remember what had happened. All in a flash it came to her. She was about to clamber to her feet but her muscles were so stiff she could barely move. She lay there taking one