The Lost Scroll of Fudo Shin Read Online Free PDF Page B

family for a long time.  Now it’s with you, where it needs to be.  Treat it well.”
    "My family?"
    "Your real family, Jimmy.  After all, you didn't just pop into being, did you?"
    "Well, no, but I've never known anything about them-"
    "You will.  Just be patient, all right?"
    Jimmy looked down at the staff.  It didn’t appear to be that old, but here and there along the length, he could see small indentations.  He wondered if it came from hitting other staves.  Or people, even.  He looked back at Vanessa.  “Thank you.”
    “You’re welcome.  That’s the first weapon you will learn to use.”
    “First weapon?”
    “You need to master a very old system of combat, Jimmy.  Unarmed techniques, a vast array of traditional and modern weapons, strategy, and a whole lot more.”
    “Oh.  Great.”
    Vanessa smirked.  “Don’t worry, it only seems completely overwhelming.  You’ll do just fine.”
    “Okay.  So, what did you mean about retrieving lost scrolls?”
    Vanessa looked ready to start yelling at him, but then abruptly sank to the floor and motioned to Jimmy to do the same.  In a loud whisper she waved him back out of the kitchen.  “Get down!”
    Jimmy ducked back outside of the doorjamb.  As he did, a dark shadow passed by the kitchen window outside, paused, and then slunk away. What was happening?
    Vanessa crawled over to him and put her mouth next to his ear.  “Follow me.  Don’t ask any questions.  Do exactly as I say.  All right?”
    Jimmy nodded and watched Vanessa scamper down the hallway back toward the stairs leading to the upper floors.  Jimmy followed, grateful his cotton slippers made his movement almost silent.
    Vanessa sped up the stairs, but didn’t stop on the second floor.  Instead, she went to a small closet at the end of the hallway and opened the door.  Pressing against the back wall of it, Jimmy saw that it was a secret door that opened on a new flight of steps going up.
    Vanessa nodded at him.  “Into the attic.  Now.”
    Jimmy ducked into the small opening and raced up the dusty creaky stairs with the hanbo held in front of him.  Vanessa closed the door behind them, plunging the stairs into darkness.  Jimmy found his way to the top where smaller half windows let some of the light in from outside.
    Boxes and trunks and old pictures in cracked frames littered the expanse of the attic.  Rolls of old carpeting were stacked against the wall.  Dust was everywhere, and Jimmy lifted his shirt over his nose to keep from inhaling it and sneezing.
    Vanessa ignored the contents of the attic and moved directly to the windows, carefully peering out of the corner.  Jimmy watched her frown deepen.
    “So much for secrecy.”  She glanced at Jimmy.  “Come here.”
    Jimmy eased over to the window.  Vanessa grabbed him.  
    “Never look out of a window directly.  Even if you can’t see what’s around, someone will be able to see you.  Here.”  She pointed at the lower right hand corner.  “Look through there and tell me what you see.”
    Jimmy peered out.  What he saw scared him.  Six men dressed in black commando garb advanced on the house across the lawn.  They held automatic weapons.  He looked back at Vanessa.  “Six of them?”
    Vanessa shook her head.  “There are more than that.  Look in the trees.”
    Jimmy peered back out.  The giant oak that had branches leading to the roof of the house held another three men working their way over the gnarled branches closer to the eaves.
    Jimmy heard Vanessa’s voice.  “And on the outskirts of the woods.”
    He looked further out and saw more men poised by the forests, studying the ground.  “They’re looking at our tracks from the run earlier.”
    “Very good.  They’re trying to determine how many of us are in the house.  See if they have enough men to take the house down with risk of injury to themselves.  They have a force of about a dozen.  To our two.”  She frowned.  “Well,