City of Ghosts

by J. H. Moncrieff

  She leaned past me in order to see the Australian. “Booth at the front of the market, near where we meet our transportation for the journey home. Man with tattoos has very nice Yin and Yang.”

  “Thank you.” After glaring at me some more, he left, a sour expression still on his face. It was a relief to see him stalk down the hill to the market, slipping on the wet grass.

  And then there were four. The other stragglers had grown impatient and left. Maybe they would lob their questions at Carol over the roar of the golf-cart engine on the drive back to the boat.

  “What is it you would like to know?” Carol asked, her expression serious underneath a thick curtain of hair. Her wire-rimmed glasses magnified her eyes, giving her an owlish appearance.

  “I want to know what happened to the people who used to live here.”

  She bit her lip. “They were evacuated. Relocated to another village.”

  Carol had barely said the words when another woman screamed, “She’s LYING.” Her voice was so loud it reverberated in my brain. I wouldn’t have been shocked to discover my ears were bleeding. It was all I could do not to fall to my knees in pain.

  “Are you all right, young man?” Margot stared at me with concern, and she wasn’t the only one. Whipping my head around, I searched for the screamer, but there was no one else there. Kate’s face was the color of curdled milk.

  “I’m fine.” I gritted my teeth and turned to Carol. “I know that’s the party line, but it didn’t actually happen that way, did it? Something went wrong during the evacuation, and I need to know what.”

  “I’m not sure what you’re referring to. Everything was routine. I haven’t heard of—”

  “LIAR! LIAR! LIAR! LIARLIARLIARLIARLIARLIARLIARLIARLIARLIAR!”

  It was like a blast of microphone feedback between my ears. I slapped my hands over them and cringed, doubled over, waiting for the pain to stop. Someone touched my arm, and I guessed Margot had asked me what was wrong again, but I couldn’t hear.

  The pain was over as suddenly as it had begun.

  Before I could explain, Kate moaned. She collapsed against me, shooting me a pleading look. “I need to get out of here, Jackson. I’m not feeling well—”

  “Your friend needs medical attention. We have to leave immediately,” Carol said, but I caught her wrist as she tried to brush past me.

  “Please, no more lies. Something happened to these people—something terrible. And unless we find out—”

  “Sir, what’s important right now is getting your friend to a hospital.” She tried to pull away, but I held on, inwardly wincing at the creaking sounds made by the tiny bones in her wrist.

  “She doesn’t need a hospital. She needs the truth. You’re going to have to trust me on that. I’ll ask you again—what really happened to the people of Hensu?”

  Carol slid her gaze left, then right.

  “Carol, please. It’s obvious you know something. Please tell me.” I tightened my grip on her wrist, cradling Kate against my chest with my other arm. “Something terrible happened to a friend of ours here, and we need to know what it was. It’s the only way she’ll rest in peace.”

  And the only way she’ll leave us alone.

  “I have told you. I am being honest when I say nothing bad happened here. The rivers have flooded several villages in my time. Lots of people have been evacuated to new homes. What happened at Hensu was sad, yes, but it wasn’t a tragedy. Perhaps your friend is just angry she had to leave her home.”

  I was still managing to hold onto Kate and keep Carol from bolting, so I quickly ducked my head, pressing my ear against Kate’s cap. This left one of my ears vulnerable, but it was better than nothing. Bracing myself, I waited for the scream of rage that was sure to follow.

  It didn’t.

  Instead, every window in the building beside us shattered. Margot and Carol shrieked, but Kate only leaned against me, her head lolling back and forth.

  “What is it, Kate? Are you in pain? Do you feel like you’re going to faint?”

  “Get me out of here, Jackson. Please.” Her voice was hoarse, and I could see the effort each word required.

  Taking advantage of the distraction, Carol yanked her wrist out of my grasp. She ran down the hill, her obvious fear making me feel ashamed.

  I wrapped my arm tightly around Kate’s waist and shuffled after the guide, doing my best to catch up. On my own and in perfect health, it would have been a challenge, but with Kate barely able to walk, it was hopeless.

  “Would you mind telling us what that was about?” Søren trotted beside us, helping me half-carry Kate down the endless flight of stone steps. “We never would have introduced you to Carol if we’d known you were going to cause such a fuss.”

  “I’m certain she had it coming, darling. Did you see her eyes? So shifty. She’s definitely hiding something,” Margot argued. “What happened to your poor friend, the one you asked about?”

  I thought of the times Yuèhai had made me follow her through dreams of jade waters. How she often appeared with her hair and dress soaking wet, even if it wasn’t raining. “She drowned.”

  “Hurry. She’s coming, and when she’s here, no one will be able to stop her,” Kate pleaded, stumbling over her feet in an attempt to descend the stairs under her own power.

  Sweat poured from my face and my lower back was killing me, but I raced down the steps as quickly as I could, hoping against hope I would be fast enough.

  “Jackson, I don’t think I’m going to make it.”

  “Of course you are.” In spite of my bravado, I’d finally realized how stupid this was. At the speed we were going, I wouldn’t be able to get Kate to the market and out of Hensu fast enough. Panting, I shifted her in my arms, but it didn’t help much.

  My brief rest gave Søren and Margot time to catch up. “See if she can ride on your back,” Søren said. “I’ll help her on if you have the strength for it.”

  Kate’s mind was gone. As she muttered nonsense, the robust Finn scooped her into his arms as if she weighed no more than a sack of rice. Her body briefly leaned against me before it was hoisted into the air. Slipping my arms around her thighs, I staggered to keep my balance on the moss-slicked step. Søren’s hand pressed against the front of my shoulder, steadying me.

  “Have you got her?”

  I nodded, not trusting my ability to speak. Every breath was a wheeze, and I was terrified another asthma attack was on its way.

  “I’ll go ahead to spot you. Margot will stay behind you. Only a few more steps now, son,” Søren said. “One foot in front of the other. Don’t lose your grip. Easy now, easy. One more step. Keep going. You’ve got this. Take it easy.”

  I knew he was trying to help, but his monotonous cajoling was driving me mad.

  A crowd had gathered at the base of the steps. The flashes from their cameras were tiny fireworks that burst in front of my eyes, causing me to stumble.

  Søren yelled something in Mandarin that sounded like “Fuck off!” but was probably a polite request not to take pictures. I’d almost reached the ground when Kate shifted, feeling less like a corpse and more like a human being. Her arms tightened around my shoulders and she boosted herself up, strengthening her grip on my waist with her thighs.

  “We have to get out of here. This is much worse than I thought. We should never have come. This place is bad…” She was whispering in my ear when her last words trailed away. I was afraid she’d fainted again, but her hold on me didn’t falter. All too soon I saw what had silenced her.

  The crowd below parted to reveal a military squadron. Harold led the pack with his hands on his hips. Carol pointed at me and spoke rapidly to one of the soldiers.

  Shit.

  “Those folks seem anxious to talk to you, son. Whatever you’ve done, you’d best own up to it…fast.”

  I turned to Søren, prepared to defend myself, but the most I could manage was a wheeze. I was seriously winded. Before this trip, I’d thought I was in good s
hape, but there was a huge difference between a few CrossFit circuits and running for your life with a girl clinging to your neck and the mother of all asthma attacks lurking in your lungs.

  “We haven’t done anything,” Kate protested, shifting so she could peer at the Finn over my shoulder. “He’s the one who’s done something wrong.” She pointed at Harold. “He thinks that if he kills us, no one will find out.”

  One of the soldiers, a burly fellow who looked older than the rest, shouted something at us. The rest of his team shifted restlessly, no doubt preparing to run up here and make their arrests. In a way it would be a relief not to have to carry Kate anymore, but I knew my gratitude would be short-lived.

  “What is he saying?” I asked Søren.

  “He wants you to surrender. He says you cannot evade them this time.”

  “Tell him we are innocent. Tell him Harold Wu is guilty of murder,” Kate said.

  She leaned so far over my shoulder her cheek rested against mine.

  “Murder?” I whispered. “Are you sure?”

  “He was responsible for Yuèhai’s death in some way. That’s good enough for me.”

  Søren yelled our response at the soldier, who wasted no time before bellowing a reply. “He’s saying something about illegal communications. Something broadcast to an American audience that wrongfully accuses a Chinese citizen of a crime?” He raised a bushy blond eyebrow at me.

  “We wrote a blog post about what happened, but only to protect ourselves,” Kate said. “Harold threatened Jackson several times, saying his friends in the government would make us vanish. We had to get the truth out somehow.”

  The Finn sighed. “That alone gives them cause to arrest you, I’m afraid.”

  “But we posted it in Hong Kong. The rules are different there. The Chinese military has no jurisdiction.” In her anger, it felt like Kate was going to launch herself from my back. I tightened my grip on her legs.

  “If you’d stayed in Hong Kong, that might be true. But unfortunately, you came to the mainland. And on the mainland, there is a warrant for your arrest.”

  Because of the color of my skin, I’d spent most of my life half-expecting to be falsely accused or arrested. However, I never thought it would happen in China.

  “Carol claims you attacked her and held her against her will.” Søren shook his head. “I’m sorry, but as you say in America, I think you’re going to have to face the music.”

  Margot tugged on her husband’s sleeve. “There must be something we can do. We can’t just let them go with these men. God knows what could happen to them.”

  “We’ve gotten too involved as it is, Margot. This isn’t our fight.”

  For the moment, the soldiers seemed prepared to wait while the Finnish couple argued it out, but Harold danced around like he had an inferno in his pants, pointing at me while he yelled at his buddies. Carol desperately tried to get his attention, waving her arms around, her mouth turned down in a grimace. I wonder what she knows. Did Harold tell her what this was about? Was she involved somehow?

  And where the hell was Yuèhai? If she had any powers, this would have been a great time to use them.

  “Do you remember where the river is?”

  Kate’s voice in my ear startled me so much I nearly dropped her. “Yeah,” I said. I knew all too well where the river was—it was about a football field’s length in the opposite direction. Not up the stairs, thankfully, but across the hill and through the trees, where the ground turned to marsh.

  “If you put me down, do you think you could get there before the soldiers catch you?”

  “What if they shoot me?” So far, no one had drawn their guns, but it probably wouldn’t take much to provoke them.

  “I don’t think they will. Not in front of a crowd.”

  “You don’t think?”

  “I’d go, but I wouldn’t make it. What happened here…it’s too much for me. It would kill me, Jackson. It almost did already, and I wasn’t even close to the water.”

  “So your plan is to kill me instead?”

  “I wouldn’t suggest this if I didn’t think it would work. The river is the key to this whole thing.”

  I glanced at Margot and Søren, who were now arguing in their native tongue.

  “What’s going to happen when I get there?”

  “I have no idea. I just have a feeling it’s what we’re supposed to do.” As I kept an eye on our enemies, Kate spoke again. “What have we got to lose? It’s our last shot. Whether they grab you there or take you here, they’ve got us. We might as well put up a fight.”

  “I’m not feeling great. I think the asthma is returning.” Taking a deep shuddering breath, I admitted the truth to the woman I’d come to know so well in the past few days. “I’m afraid I won’t make it either.”

  One of Kate’s arms disappeared from around my shoulders. I felt something hard and plastic press into my hand, and managed to get a grip on it without dropping her. It was her inhaler.

  “Don’t use it until you get there, if you can avoid it. Don’t waste any time. You have to be fast, Jackson. You have to take them by surprise, as much as you can.”

  I started to lower her to the ground inch by inch when she tightened her legs around me. “Not yet,” she hissed in my ear. “Wait until I can give you a decent diversion.”

  Before I could respond, she yelled at Margot, her voice as strong and clear as it had been before the ghost city weakened her. “Margot, they’re going to kill us. Please don’t let them. Get Søren to tell everyone Harold is framing us. Please.”

  Margot opened her mouth as if to reply, and then shut it again. She eyed her husband, who was even redder in the face than normal, if that were possible, and then Kate. I realized I had a better chance of convincing her.

  “Please, Margot. We need your help. You guys are our last hope.” I prayed she would listen to me. The poor woman’s eyes watered as she regarded us. I’m sure we resembled the walking dead already, and the soldiers hadn’t laid a hand on us yet.

  “How do we know you’re speaking the truth?” Søren asked, and although I could tell from Margot’s face that she wasn’t happy he’d asked the question, she still waited for our answer.

  “You don’t. You have to take our word for it.” I wished I had something that would convince them. “Who seems like they have something to hide—him?” I indicated Harold, who roared at the soldiers in frustration. “Or us?”

  “Something terrible happened here, and that man was a part of it,” Kate said. “We want the truth to come out. We want to help our friend. That’s all.”

  There was a brief, hushed discussion between them, and then Søren bellowed at the men below again. I didn’t have a moment to think before Kate told me to go. She hopped off me in one smooth motion, and before I knew what I was doing, I ran like the Minnesota Vikings were after me.

  The ground was as wet and marshy as I’d suspected. It squelched and sucked at my sneakers with every step, but I lifted my knees high and kept going, sliding as I went. The vegetation became thicker the closer I got to the river, and I soon lost my shoes. I plunged on in bare feet, my toes sinking into the cold mud and the rushing of the wind filling my ears. I was sure they were pursuing me, but I couldn’t hear anything but my own breathing.

  Then I saw the Yellow River, putrid and powerful. It wasn’t the jade green of my dreams, but a dirty brown. The sight of it gave me pause, and for a moment I wasn’t sure I’d be able to go near it. But I had to. If not for myself, for Kate. It was my fault she’d become entangled in this disaster.

  The riverbank was deserted, unlike every other place in the country. I groaned. This had not been one of Kate’s best ideas. Instead of forcing Harold’s goons to drag us away, kicking and screaming, in front of a crowd armed with smartphones, I’d conveniently provided the soldiers with a nice, deserted location where they could torture us at will.

  There was only one person who could help, but I had no idea how to summon her
. My lungs filled with fluid, shutting off my air supply. Panicking, I brought Kate’s inhaler to my lips with shaking hands, ignoring the nasty taste that flooded my mouth. After a moment, I had my wind back.

  “Yuèhai! Yuèhai, we need your help. They’re going to kill us.”

  It didn’t occur to me how ridiculous it was to plead my case to a ghost. A ghost who apparently wasn’t even there. Why did Kate tell me to go to the river? Was I supposed to jump in?

  Remembering my nightmares, I shuddered and kept on running. I had no idea where I was going, but hell if I knew what else to do. At least I could make it difficult for Harold by putting as much distance between us as possible.

  It was bound to happen. One minute I was sprinting along the riverbank in bare feet, the next I was flying through the air. I hit the ground hard enough to knock the wind out of me, scraping up my hands pretty good. A loud cracking noise and the resulting nausea told me the injury was more serious than some scratches.

  When I turned to check how close the soldiers were, I saw what I’d tripped on. At first it appeared to be an ordinary stick jutting out of the mud, but it was too ornate for that.

  I crawled toward it, not sure if I’d be able to stand upright again, much less run. When I got closer, I realized the stick was part of an instrument. As soon as my fingers touched the curved wood, fire burst through my body like I had hold of a live wire. My hand tightened on the instrument as my upper body jittered and bounced and my teeth chattered. I was going to faint or die; I wasn’t sure which.

  A man stood before me. He wasn’t a soldier, only a civilian in a thin cotton shirt and pants. He frowned, but not out of anger. He looked worried—deeply worried, and even as I wondered what his problem was, his thoughts invaded my mind.

  Something was wrong, had been wrong for weeks.

  “Father, I am done packing.”

  The man turned toward the voice, and I was startled to find I could understand Yuèhai even though she’d spoken in Mandarin. I tried to free my hand from the wood, but it held me in place as though we were fused together. The river was gone. All I could see was Yuèhai and the older man. The room they were in was nice—small, but welcoming and warm. I could see it had been decorated before. Now there were pale shadows on the walls where paintings had once hung.