by Zen Cho
“It might not make a difference,” said Jess, swallowing a squeak. She’d just registered that the women in the banana tree had feet that were fixed on their ankles the wrong way around, pointing backward. She wrenched her eyes away from them. “We, uh, we don’t all see the same thing when we look at something.”
“True,” said Sherng. He probably thought Jess was reciting a platitude, instead of making a statement that was very literally true for her at that moment. “You said the medium’s willing to talk? How do you know him, anyway?”
Before Jess could answer, Ah Ku emerged from behind the bodhi tree. He was dressed a little more formally than when Jess had last seen him, in a polo shirt and Bermuda shorts, and he was bearing a tray with drinks on it.
“Hello, hello,” he said. “This is the boy, is it?”
“I’m Ng Wei Sherng,” said Sherng. “How are you, uncle? Terrible, what happened that time. I want you to know we’re very concerned. We want to resolve this.” He hesitated. “Were you badly injured?”
“Aiyah, I’m OK lah,” said Ah Ku, dismissing the whaling he’d gotten from Chief Thug with a wave of the hand. He winced, which rendered the gesture somewhat hollow. “You want chrysanthemum tea? I made for you all. Today so hot, better drink more.”
Sherng declined courteously. “Thanks, uncle, but I’m doing keto.”
“You like chrysanthemum tea, right?” said Ah Ku to Jess. “Come, drink. This is very cooling, good for your body.”
There was a weird vibe coming off him. Despite his expansive greeting, he wouldn’t meet Jess’s eyes. He almost seemed embarrassed.
She accepted the cup at his insistence, glancing discreetly at Ah Ma. The ghost’s ever-shifting face gave nothing away.
“I don’t know who sent those men,” said Sherng. “But we’re going to find out and deal with them. What happened was unacceptable.”
He’d said, “I don’t know,” thought Jess. Not we. She wondered if his dad even knew what he was up to, if Sherng had told him he was going to the temple again.
“Medium’s life is like that,” said Ah Ku. “Cannot predict what will happen. You want to see the temple? I can give you a tour.”
“A tour would be great,” said Sherng politely, but he gave Jess a puzzled look. He’d clearly been expecting somewhat more hostility from the caretaker of the temple his dad was trying to bulldoze.
Jess couldn’t help him. Ah Ma, what’s going on?
“What are you talking about?” said Ah Ma. “Nothing’s going on also.” Her voice vibrated with barely suppressed excitement.
Jess couldn’t have said why apprehension was flooding her body. Maybe it was the spirits she was carefully not looking at, or the proximity of the Black Water Sister’s altar, brooding under the bodhi tree. Despite the sunlight and the heat, a chill ran down her spine.
Something was wrong.
We had an agreement, she told Ah Ma. If I ask a question, you answer. And you tell me the truth.
“You always want to quarrel with Ah Ma only,” said Ah Ma. “Faster drink your tea.”
“Why don’t we tell Sherng why we asked him to come here?” Jess said aloud to Ah Ku.
“You drink finish the tea first,” said Ah Ku. “Then I can put the tray back.” He was twitchy, far more nervous than the circumstances seemed to warrant.
“You know what, I’m not thirsty right now,” said Jess. “I’ll have it later.” She reached out to put her cup of tea back on his tray.
“Ah Ku told you to drink, you drink!” snarled Ah Ma.
Jess hadn’t thought Ah Ma was capable of interacting with the physical world without a body. Surely that was the whole reason she needed Jess’s help. So she wasn’t prepared when Ah Ma grabbed her arm.
The touch of Ah Ma’s hand was delicate despite the force she was evidently exerting—Jess could barely feel the pressure of ghostly fingers on her flesh. It was only because Ah Ma had taken Jess off guard that she managed to bring the cup to Jess’s lips. Startled, Jess swallowed some liquid despite herself. The rest of the tea sloshed down her front.
One more cup! said Ah Ma.
The ghost had vanished. Jess saw her own hand reach toward the tray Ah Ku held, her fingers curling around a second cup of tea. She had gulped down half of it before Jess managed to get ahold of herself and fling the cup away. It dropped to the ground, rolling.
She took a deep breath, trying to clear the clouds from her mind, but this only made her feel queasier. The world spun around her, the ground unsteady beneath her feet. Through her dizziness she saw distress written across Ah Ku’s face, as though this wasn’t his fucking fault in the first place.
“Jess?” said Sherng. “What’s going on?”
“What did you put in my drink?” Jess tried to say to Ah Ku.
But her mouth was no longer her own. Her voice said, in a familiar hectoring Hokkien, “Why you put so little? She’s still awake!”
Because that was where Ah Ma had gone, of course. Back inside Jess, where she definitely did not belong.
You fucking dumbass, thought Jess blurrily to herself. You walked straight into this.
She should have guessed the tea was spiked. They had been too insistent that she drink up. Plus it made no sense that Ah Ku had gone to the effort of brewing actual tea when he’d regaled her with Yeo’s cartons before.
She should never have come here in the first place, never agreed to get involved in something she only half understood. She’d been lulled into thinking she could trust Ah Ma, believing they were on the same side.
Stupid of her. It wasn’t like Ah Ma hadn’t shown her who she was. Jess thought of the construction site, the god driving that man to his destruction. Ah Ma would have left him to die, crushed by the scaffolding.
“Cannot give too much, Ma,” said Ah Ku. “After she has brain damage or what, then how? Ma can use the body, means enough already what. Shouldn’t waste time. You want to settle the boy, better do it quickly.”
Thinking was like swimming through caramel. Settle the boy, thought Jess. What does that mean? Then, Oh FUCK.
“Jess, are you OK?” said the boy in question. Sherng laid a hand on her shoulder, glancing distrustfully at Ah Ku. “Looks like she’s not feeling well, uncle. I think we’d better go. We can meet another day. Come on, Jess.”
The shot of pure horror had burned through Jess’s haziness.
“She’s not going anywhere,” Ah Ma–in–Jess was saying, when Jess seized control of her mouth. With a huge effort of will, she choked out:
“Run!”
“What?” said Sherng.
Jess shoved him to make the point, but she only succeeded in making him stumble. He was righting himself and turning to give her a betrayed look when Ah Ma took over again, pushing Jess to the back of her own mind and assuming control of her limbs. Ah Ma picked up a length of pipe lying in the grass and hit Sherng on the back.
Sherng fell to the ground.
Jess looked around wildly for help, but there was no one. A couple of the spirits were watching with cool interest, as though the scene was some random documentary about Peruvian skateboarders they’d only clicked on because they were bored. Most didn’t even seem to have noticed that anything out of the ordinary was happening.
What the fuck are you doing? said Jess to Ah Ma.
But she didn’t really need to ask. She knew.
Ah Ku hovered behind her, all but wringing his hands, even though he’d probably planted the pipe in the grass for Ah Ma to use. The whole thing was a setup. Mom had been right to avoid these assholes for all those years.
“Ma, you don’t want to wait ah?” said Ah Ku. “They all should be coming already. They can do for you.”
“Wait for what? I can do,” said Ah Ma.
Sherng groaned.
“Jess,” he said thickly, “what the hell
, man?”
He tried to get up. Ah Ma dealt him another blow with the pipe, kicking him for good measure.
“Better finish him off now,” she said. “You’ve got what?”
Ah Ku produced a parang, offering the hilt to Ah Ma. Jess felt Ah Ma’s dissatisfaction course through her body. It was as though her body belonged to Ah Ma now, and so it felt her emotions, carried out her intentions, while Jess was left to rage ineffectually, locked inside her own head.
“This only?” said Ah Ma.
“It’s sharp,” said Ah Ku. “You try first.”
But Ah Ma shook her head. “Dirty lah. After the blood spill, then how? Ah Min must go home after this. I’ll strangle him.”
Sherng rolled painfully onto his back. His eyes were wide and glassy with fear.
“Jess,” he said. “Are you in there?”
Ah Ma flung down the pipe and stretched her hands out toward Sherng.
Not her hands. Jess’s hands. They were Jess’s own two hands and she couldn’t let this happen.
She forced her right hand up, throwing all her willpower into it.
It was like straining to push a boulder uphill. For what felt like forever, nothing happened.
Her fingers twitched. All at once Ah Ma’s will gave way under Jess’s resolve. Her hand shot forward and grabbed Sherng by the arm.
Jess helped him to his feet while in her head Ah Ma snarled, Naughty girl! You don’t interfere!
Each movement was slow and effortful. It was like she’d clamped weights onto her limbs, like when she did a hard workout and her muscles no longer wanted to function. Jess had to concentrate ferociously to push past Ah Ma’s resistance. If her attention so much as flickered, the ghost would take over again.
“You’ve got to get out of here,” she tried to say, but English felt foreign in her mouth, her tongue tripping over its ponderous syllables. The sound that came out of her was garbled and meaningless.
Sherng pulled his arm out of her grasp, looking wary. She didn’t blame him.
“Must. Go,” said Jess, forcing the words out. “Go. Now!”
“Is that you, Jess?” said Sherng. “What’s wrong? Why are you doing this?”
He was staring intently at her, as though he could somehow see through her skull and discern the ghost inside.
Useless girl! snarled Ah Ma. Your own family you’re willing to betray. You’re not ashamed ah?
She tried to smack Sherng, but Jess was watching out for any attempts at violence. She grabbed her own hand, drawing it back.
“I’m not helping you murder anybody, whoever they are,” she said out loud, in Hokkien. “What the hell is your problem?”
“Who are you talking to?” said Sherng.
Everyone ignored him.
“Ah Min ah, let her do,” said Ah Ku. “You don’t know only. Actually it must be done. If you let him go, you think what? He’ll go home and won’t disturb us anymore? This kind of business, once you start, you must finish.”
“Are you kidding me?” said Jess. “Who came up with this stupid idea in the first place? ‘Let’s kill Ng Chee Hin’s son, he’ll definitely leave us alone after that.’ The guy is a gang boss. Piss him off and he’ll send his gangsters after us!”
She could feel Ah Ma’s answer coming up her throat. She tried to seal her mouth shut, choke the words down, but despite herself her mouth opened and she heard her own voice saying:
“You think Ng Chee Hin is the only one who can call people? We also have supporters. How come your phone can work, but the boy’s cannot? You think about it.”
Jess managed to wrest her voice back. “What are you talking about?”
“Ah Ma means, you don’t have to worry,” said Ah Ku soothingly. “We have the god on our side.”
“Oh, she’s talking about divine support? Is that it?” said Jess. “Great! That’s great. We have a god who can mess up people’s reception. His father has men who can beat us to death and throw us in the drain afterward. We’re definitely going to win.”
You think we don’t have that also? said Ah Ma.
A motorcycle horn blared in the distance. Ah Ku brightened. “They’re here already.”
“Who?” said Jess.
But the men were already coming up the stairs, spilling into the garden. There were around ten of them, all Chinese.
That wasn’t the only difference between them and the thugs Jess had seen the last time she was here. Chief Thug and his buddies had been sleeker, better maintained. These guys were scrawny, dressed in shabby pasar malam clothes—worn singlets and T-shirts with incongruous logos on them, flip-flops on their feet, shorts that had seen better days. Some of the men had knives, but others were holding wrenches or rusty metal bars, as though they’d snatched up the first weapon to hand before rushing over.
That didn’t make them any less menacing. They looked just as happy to cut your throat as the other thugs had been, only these guys would probably give you tetanus while they were at it.
“Shit!” said Sherng.
Till then he’d been weirdly relaxed for someone who was the subject of an attempted murder, even if the murderers were proving somewhat inept. But at the sight of the men, he made a break for it, dashing toward the jungle at the back of the temple.
He took everyone by surprise. Ah Ku and Ah Ma started yelling, but Sherng might well have made it, if not for the terrain. A piece of cracked paving tripped him up, arresting his flight for just long enough for the men to catch him.
Two men brought him over to Ah Ku, clocking him on the head casually when he wouldn’t stop struggling.
“You’re late already!” said Ah Ku. “My mother had to try to do by herself. Is it right you let an old lady do your dirty business?”
“Had to close shop first what,” said one of the men sullenly. He looked barely out of his teens, younger than Jess. He was fair-skinned, with a sulky red mouth and a mole on his cheek like an Old Hollywood actress.
The other guy was uncle-aged. Ah Ku’s reproof didn’t seem to bother him.
“Don’t need to answer back, Ah Tat,” he said to the boy. To Ah Ku he said, with the ease of long acquaintance, “It’s OK what, we came in time. The business is not done yet also.”
The truth of the situation burst upon Jess with all the force of a revelation. But it felt as though a part of her had known all along—a part of her that had grown closer to Ah Ma in the shadowy corners of Jess’s own mind, where the ghost’s secrets lurked.
“You’re not fighting Ng Chee Hin because you’re different from him,” Jess sputtered. “You’re fighting him because you’re competitors.”
“Who’s this girl?” said the older man to Ah Ku.
“That’s why you didn’t go to the hospital,” Jess went on. “They’d ask questions at the hospital. You went to Dr. Rozlan instead. You have your own guy. Because that’s what gangsters do!”
Sherng raised his head, looking at Jess. His eyes were suddenly fierce. “Who are you? What’s your full name?”
“Shh,” said Jess, worried they’d hit him again.
Fortunately the men were still busy talking to each other.
“My niece,” said Ah Ku. “You remember Ah Min? Used to come to the shop when she was small. Poey Hoon Chee’s kid.”
“Oh, Ah Min, is it?” said the older man holding Sherng. His face transformed, friendly wrinkles emerging around his eyes. “Grown up already! You remember me or not? I’m your mother’s cousin.”
Of course he was. No wonder Mom never hung out with her relatives, never talked about them if she could help it. They were all in it together—Ah Ku and the rest of them. Only a gangster would use his niece to lure the son of a magnate to his temple so he could murder him.
And only a gangster would come back from the dead to take vengeance on her rival.
Why didn’t you tell me? said Jess to Ah Ma.
Unexpectedly, Ah Ma answered.
Like that also need to tell you? she said. You think normal people dare to fight Ng Chee Hin? It’s not my fault if like that also you don’t know!
Jess had dropped her guard in her shock. She only realized when Ah Ma seized control of her voice and spat:
“Bring the boy here! I’ll settle him.”
“Ma, there’s no need for you to do,” said Ah Ku. “We can handle it.”
“You all don’t do!” said Ah Ma. Her voice came out in a strangled shriek as Jess tried to clamp her mouth shut.
Ah Ma kept going, in a breathless squeak, “You mustn’t do anything strenuous, Ah Soon. After you hurt yourself.”
“The boys can do it, then,” said Ah Ku.
Ah Ma wasn’t having it. “No, no. I’ll do. I’m dead already. What for you all get in trouble?” She stopped, panting as though she’d been sprinting.
“But if you do it, it’s Ah Min whose hands will have the blood on them,” said Ah Ku. “That’s not fair to Ah Min also.”
“That’s right it’s not fair,” said Jess. “This is total bullshit!”
She spoke in English, as a matter of principle and to make it clear it was her talking, not the unwanted tenant in her head. The words were slurred, but that was fine. Nobody was paying attention to what she was saying anyway. What mattered was who was speaking.
“Nah, you see! You can’t even control the body,” said Ah Ku. He wasn’t speaking to Jess. “How can you deal with the boy like that?”
“You think I’m so useless, I cannot even control my own granddaughter?” said Ah Ma.
Ah Ma’s raspy smoker’s voice resonated inside Jess’s head, even as Jess heard her own voice speak the words aloud. Ah Ku might have asked the question, but Ah Ma’s answer was intended for Jess.
“You said what, Ah Soon,” said Ah Ma. “I have the god on my side.”