Prophecies of Pain (The Perkins School for Self Improvement #3)

Prologue

The Last Hope Diner, Maine, United States

Yoshi Tanaka much prefers dusk to dawn, but this early-morning meeting was unavoidable.

It has been a month since his last attempt at chaos, since that pathetic attack on the Perkins School. Yoshi does not like it when he's made out to be a fool, yet he's been feeling like one for the past month.

Now, he's tired of it.

Accompanied by five of his most trusted followers, Yoshi maneuvers his minivan through what will soon become a snowstorm of epic proportions. The Japanese man parks his vehicle with a surprising lack of effort, leading his supporters past a few other abandoned vehicles before walking into the small diner.

The Last Hope Diner is nearly silent at six-thirty on this Monday morning, and Yoshi has his pick of the tables. He selects a relatively obscure location, making sure his companions have found their seats before daring to speak.

"I am no fool." Yoshi's tone carries a threat of danger, an indication that no one will challenge him and live to tell of it. "I am no fool, yet I let myself be dragged into a fool's errand last month."

Yoshi waves a hand at the person on his left, a scowl forming on his face.

"You," Yoshi addresses the teen, "you convinced me to listen to you. Now, I see you have no idea what you are doing. From now on, you will be doing the listening, boy."

The boy, a sixteen-year-old by the name of Marco Wen, continues staring at the table as though the words were meant for someone else's ears. The circles beneath his hazel-green eyes tell the story of someone who hasn't truly slept in weeks, and his recently acquired pallor is related to more than the onset of winter.

Marco Wen is a miserable child, though no one here seems to notice.

"Do you understand me?" Yoshi snarls, leaning in when he doesn't receive a hasty enough response.

Marco nods.

Yoshi smiles cruelly, glancing around the table before speaking again.

"As most of you know, I stumbled across another asset this weekend. The child has no one in this world, and because of that he will likely remain loyal to us. He will arrive at the school today, and I have already given him instructions on what to do, who to get close to."

This proclamation earns a flurry of nods and murmurs of approval.

Yoshi gives his supporters a moment to take it in, then presses on in an urgent manner.

"Now, I think it's time for us to make a real plan, for me to tell you what I want most desperately, and for you to make sure I get it."

Silence reigns, and Yoshi nods.

"My granddaughter turned on us," he declares, the anger clear in each word. "After all I have done for her, after all I taught her, Yumi betrayed me. She will pay for that, and we will make sure of it. Amber Greene, too, will pay for refusing the opportunities I presented her with."

Yoshi surveys his companions, smiling to himself as he continues his speech.

"As it so happens, Amber and Yumi are allied with a handful of others at the school whom, I will not hesitate to say, I would like to see dead. We destroy them all, inflict as much pain upon them as we can, and then we eliminate them from the picture."

From his position next to Yoshi, Marco finally dares to speak.

"And how will that help us in gaining any sort of control, in creating the greater future?"