by Alyc Helms
Across the Huangpu? Had she lied about that, too?
My step quickened. Let Jian Huo play his games of debt. I’d save Mei Shen myself, but I’d be doing it on my terms.
I returned to our temporary rooms and pulled traveling clothes from my wardrobe. Jian Huo had brought the entire thing when I made it clear that I wouldn’t return home without my daughter. My old knapsack sat wadded in a heap at the back of the wardrobe. I shook it out and began filling it. I sighed over the cracked and tattered remains of my Doc Martins, Union Jack emblazoned on each side, but tossed them into my pack for luck. I settled on flimsy slippers to go with my Shaolin robes.
Rooting through my jewelry, I found little worth taking. Not that the jewelry didn’t have value, but it was just gold and jewels and craftsmanship. All gifts from Jian Huo, and nothing that would interest Lung Di. Except… I extracted my grandmother’s pearls: Jian Huo’s gift of love. More than just a symbol; they warmed to my touch and smelled of sandalwood.
It was a risk, taking them, but if I worked things just right, Lung Di would never get his claws on them. I tucked the pearls into one of the deep interior pockets of my pack along with the nurse’s carving knife.
Pulling out a small writing desk, I sat on the bench at the foot of the bed and composed the note that might end everything. I wrote in English because my frantic mind and hands could not properly construct the Chinese characters into coherence. A gajillion characters. I snorted at yet another example of Jian Huo’s slow-moving pedantry. Give me a good old 26-letter alphabet any day of the week.
I sealed my hastily-scribbled note with a bit of wax and set the writing desk aside. Then I hefted my pack over my shoulder and headed to the nursery.
Mian Zi had crept up onto Mei Shen’s empty bed and fallen asleep. I hesitated over waking him. He was too like his father; he’d try to stop me from going. I brushed the hair over his brow and kissed him on the forehead, then I propped the note on the end of the bed.
I accosted one of Jiu Wei’s servants on my return to the gardens and commandeered a candle, a lighter, and a handful of sparklers. Then I returned to the gardens, to the archway opposite the one where the hag had accosted me. A few steps out into the alleyway was probably far enough, but I ventured out until I could hear the noise and smell the smog of the city beyond, just in case. Before sense could return and stop me from what I was about to do, I stepped off the path and into the Shadow Realms – the one place Jian Huo couldn’t follow.
The shock of entering the Shadow Realms after so long left me staggered. Had the place always been this chill, this empty, this echoing with the howls of pain and grief and despair? All around me was gloaming; the dark pressed against my skin like a living thing – which in this place it very much was. I stood on a vast plain that stretched bare in all directions save for the odd tree, twisted of limb and stripped of leaves. A hollow-voiced wind rushed across the plain, whipping clouds of shadow dust into whorls and eddies. Some of those eddies took life and form of their own, crying in rage as they tried to flee from the cutting wind. None of them made it more than a few paces before they were shredded back into dust.
Everything was devoid of color, and even the gradients between hues were muted. I was grateful that I had opted for undyed silks. I would have felt like a neon sign in the middle of Kansas if I had worn my usual clothes.
As it was, I still felt like something was watching me. That was always the case in the Shadow Realms, and it was usually true. No one who came here escaped the notice of the Conclave for long. I didn’t have time to get dragged into their war. What I needed was a guide who could take me quickly and surreptitiously to my destinations. When you’re looking to skitter unnoticed through the shadow, there’s only one creature to call.
“Ghostbusters,” I whispered to myself with a nervous laugh. I closed my eyes and concentrated on a dark, sleek shape about the size of a small dog, with beady, black eyes and a nervous air. I heard a scrabbling of claws in the dust and opened my eyes to see the imagined shape darting from twisted tree to shadow-whorl to rocky outcropping, nose a-twitch for the slightest hint of danger. I smiled. It had been so long since I’d last seen my friend.
“Heya, Templeton.”
“Missy? Missy, it is good to see you!” His twitching rat-nose snuffled over my legs and torso as if to verify that I wasn’t an illusion. He jerked like he’d received a shock and looked at me warily. “You smell strange,” was his verdict. He sneezed. “Like foreign magic.”
“I’ve been living in a pocket spirit realm for a while. I guess it’ll take some time for the residue to wear off.”
“You had better take care. If the Conclave lays their hands on you, they may be able to scrape off enough magic to open a portal to that realm.”
“I’d like to see them try.” The Conclave was high on my list of people I wouldn’t mind seeing get theirs, pretty much right after Lung Di. “Something tells me they’d be biting off more than they could chew.”
At Templeton’s confused look, I smiled. “Let’s just say that only a fool beards a dragon in its lair.” The rat nodded, despite his lack of comprehension.
But I had little time for, or interest in, sniping at the powers-that-be in the Shadow Realms. “Let’s try to avoid Conclave attention. I’m hoping I won’t have to be here long, it’s just that there are places I need to go, and this is the only way I know how to get there without being caught.”
“You would like me to guide you?”
“I know it’s asking a lot.” I rummaged through my pack. “I don’t have much I can offer in return–”
“I will do it. Of course I will. You are my friend. You gave me my name. You don’t need to give me anything more. I will be happy to help.”
I stopped rummaging and shot him a stunned look. Despite my recent barbs flung at Jian Huo, I had forgotten there was a time when my life wasn’t ruled by debt and counter-debt. When I had friends who would help each other out because we could. I sniffled back a few tears, leaned down, and squeezed Templeton into a grateful hug. He squirmed with ratty indignation.
“Thank you,” I whispered, releasing him.
“Of course. Where do you need to go?”
Where first?
“Well,” I began, thinking as I did best – on my feet. “The first thing I need is another guide. You know your way around the Shadow Realms, but I need someone who knows Shanghai.”
“I do not think I know anyone like that,” Templeton said, confused.
“No, but I do. And I know where to find her. And she owes me big. She’ll help me, one way or another.”
* * *
“I cannot help you. You cannot ask me to.” Si Wei’s initial shock at seeing me emerge from the shadows of her living room, accompanied by a dog-sized black rat, had turned to stubborn refusal.
“Can’t, or won’t, Si Wei?” I demanded. She’d come to visit me at the temple a few times, given me her address in the city – a shikumen terrace house owned by Song Yulan – in case I needed company. In case I decided to forgive her. I don’t think she expected me to come begging her aid to go behind Jian Huo’s back. She looked at me as if I’d somehow usurped her friend.
“Does it matter if the result is the same?”
“You know what Lung Di can do to Mei Shen in however long it’s going to take Jian Huo to get her back. I was the only one who didn’t blame you for falling for the nurse’s trick, but now I need your help. Who else can I go to?”
Her amber eyes shone with unshed tears, lovely and forlorn. If it weren’t my daughter at stake, I would have taken her in my arms and hushed her tears away. As it was, I remained implacable. Let her cry a thousand years of salt tears on me, she could not erode my resolve.
“Please. Lung Huang knows you have left to seek Mei Shen on your own. He has sent messengers to all his allies, telling us to turn you away or warn him of your movements. Shui Yin has promised to forsake me if I choose to honor my friendship with you over my debts to
his brother.”
“I thought that debt was forgiven,” I countered. Guilt had knocked Si Wei off her game. Manipulating her was too easy.
“You do not understand our ways. I allowed Lung Huang’s children to be taken, and he did not slay me for it. That is the debt I now owe.”
“They’re my children, too.”
She winced, twisting her fingers, but didn’t contradict me, however much she might want to. I knew what she wouldn’t say; my entire plan depended on it being true. I was Schrödinger’s wife until Lung Tian dispensed his judgment. I had no claim on what was Jian Huo’s, neither responsibilities nor debts – nor our children. As infuriating as I might usually find this, at the moment it was a blessing. Jian Huo would not be embarrassed by any action of mine. His precious balance of power would be preserved.
“Fine,” I snapped. “I suppose I’ll have to get help from someone who isn’t kissing dragon tail. Come on, Templeton. There’s nothing more for us here.” I turned away, my rat friend cowering at my side from the charged argument he had just witnessed. With one final, angry glance at Si Wei, I fell into the Shadow Realms.
Standing on the other side of the veil, I lit my candle, using the meager light to peer across the thin membrane and watch Si Wei.
Templeton stood at my other side, shying away from the light. “I am sorry about your friend, Missy. What do we do now?”
“Now? We wait,” I murmured, my attention only half on him as Si Wei rushed around her room.
“But… I know you had hoped your friend would act as your guide. How are we to find our way to your other allies now?”
“I said she would guide me,” I assured the rat as the fox-maiden left her home. I stepped along the same path, trailing her through the Shadow Realms. “I never said she would do so knowingly.”
* * *
Following Si Wei through the shadows was not hard. The most difficult part was avoiding the dangers of the Shadow Realms: ancient nightmare monsters of void and smoke; patrols of shadow-knights serving the Conclave; scars across the landscape that bubbled and oozed with unformed horrors. The darkness crawled against my skin, seeping in bit-by-bit through my nose, my eyes, my mouth, my very pores. I had never stayed long in this awful place, and now I recalled why. I tamped down on a surge of nostalgia for my happy home in the mountains of Sichuan and concentrated instead on trailing a sad and forlorn fox-spirit who was carrying a warning against her will. My hatred of Lung Di in that moment knew no bounds. The shadows around me fed upon it and grew darker, more daring.
“Missy…” Templeton ventured, nose twitching at the growing miasma around us that was beginning to take on life of its own.
“It’s fine. We’re here.” I wrenched in my emotions and waited for Si Wei to deliver Jian Huo’s warning. She was quick about it, and before long she had been shown to rooms for the night to rest before the next leg of her journey. I smiled at the convenience of the slow-moving wheels of Chinese hospitality. I would not have to rush through my meeting in order to catch up with Si Wei as she led me to those she thought would be most likely to help me. I waited in the shadows until my quarry was alone, puttering around his workshop, then lit one of my sparklers and blew out my candle. The flare of burning phosphor was enough to shred the darkness taking form around me. Templeton squeaked. I grabbed his ruff and yanked him through into the light world.
“Hello, Mr Dung Heap.”
Fang Shih gaped row-upon-row of sharp teeth at me in his version of a smile. He didn’t roar his roaring laugh at me, an indication that he understood the seriousness of the situation.
Our friendship had grown since the birth of my children, and he was one of the few spirits I’d met who was my friend. As a lesser spirit, he found Jian Huo’s elevated company to be somewhat discomfiting, always worrying that he would somehow make a faux-pas or offer insult. My early mistake and my regular missteps since then caused him to regard me with the indulgence of a more-experienced uncle. He enjoyed the novelty of it.
Still gaping, he approached me with a series of bobbing bows.
“Miss Missy. You are welcome here. You and your friend.” He nodded at Templeton, who twitched his whiskers in greeting.
“Are you sure?” I was feeling guilty over how I had manipulated Si Wei, and now I was having qualms about getting Fang Shih in trouble, too. He worked so hard to avoid the squabbles between the greater spirits. “I know you’ve been warned off from helping me.”
“Perhaps I can help you,” he said, swaying before me. “Perhaps not. But always am I happy to see a friend. Come. Sit. We will have tea and talk as in happier days, and we will be friends. After. After, you may ask me your favors.”
He pulled me to a little table strewn with odds and ends. Fang Shih was an alchemist, a craftsman at heart, and his home reflected this. He gathered up the scraps of half-finished projects onto a linen square and bundled it away before laying down cups and putting an old cast-iron kettle on to boil. Templeton and I sat as he puttered, nattering on about inconsequentials. It was so normal as to be soothing. The shadows that draped about me in a stranglehold loosened and bled away in the warmth and light of Fang Shih’s presence. I drank deeply of the tea he offered, and the rhizomatic warmth chased the last remnants of bitterness away.
I contemplated the green depths of my cup for some time, letting Fang Shih’s genial chatter wash over me. Templeton sniffed at his cup before deciding the strange, bright green liquid might be safe and slurping away at it.
“You should have offered this tea to Si Wei when she arrived,” I observed. My original plan had been to trick Fang Shih as I had tricked the fox-girl, but I couldn’t go through with it. In fact, now that my impetuous anger was draining away, my entire plan was undergoing a massive overhaul.
Fang Shih paused in his banter. His wide mouth drooped into seriousness. “She would not have accepted a brew from my leaves. She is still too full of recrimination. Perhaps if others were to forgive her, then she would begin to forgive herself. Until that time, I fear she will not feel welcome to enjoy tea with friends.” There was no accusation in his tone, but I nodded my understanding. If I wanted his help, I needed to come clean with Si Wei. I needed to find some other way to locate my possible allies.
“But our own hour for genial companionship draws to a close, and you have weighty concerns. How may I aid you, Lung Xin Niang?”
I straightened and took a deep breath, glad to put aside the shifty terrain of guilt-ridden contemplation to focus on my mission.
“I do not come to you as Lung Xin Niang,” I said, grateful for once that Lung Tian hadn’t yet passed down his judgment. It freed me to do what I needed to do. “I am Melissa Masters – Missy – and I come to you because you are the greatest artisan that has ever lived. I need you to craft me a jewel. A jewel to tempt a Dragon.”
* * *
Half an hour later, I stood outside Si Wei’s door. Once I had described to Fang Shih what I needed, once I’d explained the details of my still rough plan, a mad fervor had lit his eyes and he had gone to work. No artist can resist the challenge of the impossible. I’d seen taggers nearly kill themselves trying to get at a bit of pristine underpass. Fang Shih was no different at heart.
Nothing was left but to discharge my debt, and Fang Shih had made it pretty clear how I should do that. I’d never realized he had such a soft spot for Si Wei. It made me reconsider how I had pushed to match her with Shui Yin. Fang Shih might not be much to look at, but he was solid. Didn’t he deserve some hot lovin’ and domestic bliss?
I shuddered at the idea of the Muppety-looking spirit getting some hot lovin’ and decided that it would be best if I laid off the matchmaking for a while. I had enough worries on my plate.
Like admitting I was a manipulative ass to a dear friend.
I knocked on the wood support next to the thin, rice paper door. Something rustled, and a moment later I was looking into the wide, amber eyes of the fox-maiden. A robe of russet silk wrapped loosely around
her, and the rumpled covers on the empty bed behind her indicated that sleep was eluding her.
“M– Missy?”
“Hello, Si Wei. Can I come in?” Without waiting for her answer, I entered. She had no choice but to close the door behind me. She turned to me, mouth still working.
“How… how do you come to be here so quickly? How did you find this place so fast?”
“Yeeeaaah…” The word was long, drawn out, and twangy – a complete Americanism amidst my Cantonese. Obnoxious sound. I vowed never to make that particular noise again. “It’s like this. I tricked you. I played on your worry over your debt to Jian Huo, and then I followed you here because I knew that the first thing you’d do would be to warn all my potential allies that I was coming, and I needed to find Fang Shih.”
“Oh.” She sank down onto the rumpled bed, hands loose at her sides as she worked through her mistake. Poor Si Wei. It must have been quite a blow to her huxian’s pride to be duped so thoroughly and in such quick succession by so many non-foxes. I sat next to her on the bed and took one limp hand in mine. It was cold. I rubbed the warmth back into it.
“I’m sorry. I don’t want to get you into any more trouble with Jian Huo. I don’t want to mess things up between you and Shui Yin. I just want to get my daughter back, and I guess I went a little crazy. I thought the easiest way to get what I needed was to play on your guilt.” This was what Jian Huo was always on about: the how and the why of doing things. Some hero I’d turned out to be.
“You are within your rights to do so.” Her hand remained limp in mine, her voice strained and distant. “I am to blame for your loss–”
“No.” I took her by the shoulders and gave her a rough shake. She was so fragile in her distress, I might have been shaking a doll. “You’re not to blame, and neither am I, or Jian Huo, or anyone else except Lung Di. He’s the one who did all this. Sure, we all knew it was coming; we knew what he was and what he was capable of. Maybe we should have taken more care, but he’s the one who did this. He spent years planning it. If not this way, he would have found some other way to get at Jian Huo.”
