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That was a kind way of saying we were too poor to leave Liverswell.
“Then you’re overdue. Stay for as long as you want.”
“Thank you, sūnzi. We’re going to an alligator farm tomorrow and ride an airboat. Then they want to visit a museum and go into New Orleans for a few days. They have streetcars!”
He’d been particularly excited to hear some jazz and ride a streetcar through the French Quarter.
“That sounds amazing!” It really kind of did, to be honest. I was happy for them both.
“I’ll send you pictures! We have to go. Food is ready, and it’s rude to make others wait for us. We miss you. Give Phil a hug from us.” Monique and Yeye both blew kisses before the screen went black. What a nice way to start a new day. Aside from a soaking wet cereal box, that is. With a kickoff like that call, I was pretty sure nothing could sour this spring Monday in any—
My phone buzzed. Probably Yeye calling back to tell me something about the shop or not to forget to water his herbs on the windowsill. Chuckling softly, the smile fell from my face when I saw the call was from M. Kestrel. Super. Drawing in a breath to steady myself, I took the call even though I really wanted to drown my cell just like Reg had that box of cereal.
“Hello, Senator,” I opened with my most polite tone.
“Mr. Kee.” He sounded winded. I could hear the steady thump-thump-thump of sneakers on a treadmill. Huh. Impressive. Guess he and his son had that running gene in common, if little else. “I’m calling to inquire if you and Philip have come to a decision about the project we discussed yesterday?”
“We have. We’re predisposed to taking on your project under one condition.”
“That being?”
“That the payment be deposited into a retirement fund at our bank under the name of Jaw-Long Kee.”
“Easily done. Thank you for choosing the sensible solution. One of my aides is outside your shop door now with NDA forms for you and Philip to sign and return.”
My eyes flared. I leaped from the counter and ran to the front window and threw it open. A cool spring wind hit me in the face as I stuck my head out. Glancing down the rickety fire escape, I saw a young man, early twenties, white as new snow, in a sharp suit looking back up at me. I gave him a weak wave then drew my head back inside, phone still resting on my ear.
“Yeah, he’s here.”
“I’m aware. Fill out and sign the forms. Then head to the Catskills to—”
“We can’t leave right away. We both have studying to do, papers to write, and Phil has games to play.” I closed the window. “We’ll get to the project in a week or two.”
The thudding of sneaks on the treadmill slowed, then stopped. “You’ve both been given extensions on your academics and sports requirements to deal with the pressing family matter that Philip is leaving school to attend to. I don’t foresee this taking more than three days to complete, so there are motel accommodations in place as well as a stipend for food in the nearby town of Bloodroot Ridge. Anything past a week you’ll be responsible for covering, so I would suggest you two not spend too much time fooling around as your generation likes to do and accomplish the cleansing. Once it’s done, you will send the tapes to me and only me. No one is to know about this. That includes your family, Mr. Kee, as well as the crew that backs up your online shenanigans.” Wow, this dude was not leaving anything to chance. I wasn’t sure whether I should be impressed by his attention to detail or terrified of his rigid perfectionism. No wonder Phil had felt suffocated as a young teenager. “Are you still there, Mr. Kee? I don’t have time to stand about waiting for you to digest the terms of this project. I have a nine a.m. flight to Washington to sit in on an immigration hearing.”
“Oh, you’re on an immigration committee?”
“I am.”
“So, like, did you check out Yeye’s and my immigration status when you discovered Phil and I were dating? Just, you know, in case you could yeet me out of the country?” I half-joked. He couldn’t. Yeye and I had both been born in Massachusetts, but you never knew anymore what bullshit certain people would try to pull.
“Mr. Kee, I plan for every contingency. Trust me, if there had been one period out of place on your and your grandfather’s birth certificates, you’d both be selling fish at an open market in Shanghai right now.”
The phone went dead. My mouth fell open. I stared down at the dark screen.
“Wow, this guy is a massive dick,” I said to no one as Mr. Senatorial Aide started hammering on the shop door.
Talk about a Yin and Yang morning…
Chapter Five
“This sucks.”
I looked up from my family journal at Phil sitting across from me at the tea shop, looking like someone had just run over his dog. He’d been in a blue mood ever since waking up to hear that his father had been…well, his father.
“It’ll be okay,” I offered, closing the thin tome filled with information about ghostly interactions my lineage had taken part in for centuries. No lie, there were pages in this dusty, delicate leather journal that were Cantonese—a two-thousand-year-old language—as well as rubbings I’d researched last fall and discovered were oracle bone script. A language even older than Cantonese. Basically, this skinny book was a how-to text for the followers of Zhong Kui, a Taoist god known as the vanquisher of ghosts and evil spirits. There was no actual proof, but I’d come to strongly believe my ancestor, Kee Huang, had been a follower of Zhong Kui. Had the god given his most trusted followers a gift that allowed them to communicate with the dead to help them evaluate whether a spirit was good or evil? Nothing I have found to date has cemented that fact, nor did I expect to ever find out. It was kind of hard to supply scientific fact to the blessing of a Taoist god of evil ghost butt-kicking. Cryptids, on the other hand, were few and far between in this skinny tome.
Phil sighed dramatically while Candy frothed her little heart out behind the counter.
