by Van Hoang
Thom and Kha looked at each other. His lips twitched. She almost choked trying to hold back her laugh.
Usually it was Thom’s job to do the dishes, but Ma took over when it was time to clean up. “Go, go play with your friend.” She took the sponge away. “Or do homework, or whatever you like for fun.”
“Are you sure?” Thom stepped off the step stool she used to reach the kitchen sink because she was so short, folding it up and tucking it in the space next to the fridge.
“Yes, I clean up. Go have fun.” Ma started humming as she soaped the sponge, and Thom headed back to Kha, wondering if her mom had been replaced with a more cheerful look-alike. Lots of weird things had been happening lately, so it wasn’t impossible.
She stopped. Kha was crouched down, petting Mochi. Mochi, who usually shook so hard he almost fainted around her, was snuggling up to Kha as if Kha were made of treats. She approached slowly so she wouldn’t scare her dog away. Mochi looked up, ears perked. He hadn’t let her come this close in months.
“I guess he just needed time to get used to me,” Kha said, scratching Mochi behind the ear.
“Weird.” She leaned down and held back a gasp when Mochi nudged her hand with his nose. He was still shivering fearfully, but he actually let her pet him. Thom and Kha huddled together, playing with the dog until he got bored and ran back to his carrot chew toy. Kha didn’t move, and for a few moments, everything was quiet and peaceful and Thom let herself forget about everything else—soccer, the dynamic trio, the Monkey King, and her superstrength—and focus on the fact that this was the first friend who had come over in a long time, who had stayed for dinner and laughed with her mom and played with her dog.
“Do you want to stay a little longer?” Thom asked. “We can work on our project.”
Kha’s eyes widened, and his mouth opened into a grin. “Yeah, for sure! We never decided on the topic.”
“Let’s go with the Four Immortals.”
Kha looked surprised. “Are you sure? I thought you wanted to go with demons.”
“You were right—demons might be too scary.” And she would have to admit where she’d gotten all the information on them. Kha might know about the Monkey King, but she wasn’t going to expose Shing-Rhe and the monkey brothers.
While Thom went upstairs to collect their art supplies, Kha ran next door to get some books from his grandparents. They spread out the poster and markers in the living room this time, and Thom began cutting and coloring while Kha flipped through the books and read out loud.
“First, there’s the Sage,” he said. “He has a hat and stick that combines into an umbrella and can fly.”
“Oh, like Mary Poppins.”
“Who’s Mary Poppins?”
“She’s like this magical nanny who has an umbrella that helps her fly.” Thom propped the poster against the carpet.
“Magical nanny? What powers does she have?”
Thom considered that. “She can clean up very fast.”
“Your mom must love her.”
Thom chuckled. “And I guess she can make medicine taste better?”
Kha frowned, as if it had never occurred to him that these were enviable gifts. “I don’t think the Sage is like that at all. He was this poor dude. Like really poor. Apparently, he and his father owned one loincloth. They had to share it.”
Thom frowned over the poster at him. “Ew.”
“That’s what the book says.” Kha hid behind the cover. “He married Princess Tien Dzung. The princess’s father was super upset when he found out his daughter had married a commoner, so he sent soldiers after them. Instead of fighting back, they chose peace or whatever, and because of that they ascended into the heavens and became high immortals.”
“How come he’s called the Sage?” Hadn’t the Monkey King called himself the Great Sage of Heaven? Was this the same person? Was it the Monkey King in disguise?
“He apprenticed with a sage, who gave him the hat and stick.”
“How come only he got to become one of the Four Immortals? What about his wife? She ascended with him, right?”
Kha looked up from the book. Mochi’s chew toy gave a squeak from the corner. “Maybe it’s because she didn’t study with the first sage? I don’t know. I’ll ask the next time I get a chance.”
Thom wasn’t sure if he was joking or not, but she cut out a triangular hat in yellow, and a stick. “Maybe we can add real straw to the hat.”
“Good idea. Okay, next is the Mountain God. He was involved in a love triangle with the Lord of the Waters. They both wanted to marry Princess My Nuong, and the Mountain God won the challenge for her hand.”
“Like a contest? Like she was a prize?”
Kha shrugged, looking harassed. “This was a long time ago, okay? Women’s rights weren’t a big deal back then!”
“I’m wondering if we should go with the demons after all.”
“Anyway,” Kha continued, “the Mountain God won, so the Lord of the Waters was enraged, and he flooded the world with storms and stuff. To protect the people, the Mountain God raised the mountains and saved them.”
“So he was already a god? I thought the Four were mortals who ascended to become gods.”
“He was a god of a mountain. A lower-level god who was in charge of a small area of the mortal world. His protection of the people allowed him to ascend to the heavens and join the greater immortals.”
“Okay, cool,” she said. “Who’s next?”
“You’ll like this one. She’s known as the Mother Goddess. She was born in the heavens, but she was a troublemaker, and after breaking the Jade Emperor’s favorite teacup, was banished to the mortal world.”
“Must have been an expensive teacup.” Thom cut the shape of a teacup out of some origami paper she’d never used. “Look!”
“Cute!” Kha grinned. “She lived her life as a mortal punishing bad people and rewarding good people, and every time she died and went back to the heavens, she begged the Jade Emperor to send her back so she could keep up her vigilante ways.”
“Like a superhero.”
“Yup.”
“She’s definitely my favorite. Okay, who’s the last one?”
“The Boy Giant.”
“Oh yeah.” Thom picked up a new piece of construction paper. “The small baby who didn’t talk or grow for a long time until invaders … um, invaded, and then he suddenly grew powerful and gigantic and beat them.”
“Yup.”
“But he wasn’t a god before he ascended to the heavens?”
“No, I think he was a normal mortal.”
“So how did he get so strong?” How did Thom get so strong? She paused in her cutting. She’d never made the connection before, even though Ma told the story all the time, because it was just a story. But if the Monkey King and demons were real … was she like the Boy Giant? Was she—
Ma yawned loudly, making them both jump. She’d been reading so quietly on the couch behind them that they hadn’t even noticed she was there.
“Ayah, it’s so late, you two.” She looked at her phone. “Nine o’clock already.”
Thom held back a yawn herself, stretching her neck.
“We got a lot done,” she said, getting to her feet. Maybe Kha wasn’t so bad after all. They looked down at the poster, a mosaic of construction paper depicting each of the Four Immortals’ stories. “I think we can probably finish it tomorrow.”
“Want to walk me home?” Kha asked.
Thom glanced at Ma, who nodded. She’d probably be watching from the door the whole time anyway.
The cold air felt good after such a long homework session, and Thom bounced on the balls of her feet. She hadn’t had a night like this in so long, hadn’t had a friend come over, and even though it had been for homework, she’d still had fun. She felt exhilarated, like she could do anything, but as she stopped at Kha’s door to say goodbye, the serious expression on his face wiped the smile off hers.
“What’s wrong?” sh
e asked. “Are you worried about the project? We’ll get it done in time. We have more than a week.”
“No, that’s not it.” He wouldn’t look at her.
She had a feeling what this was about. The excitement leached out of her, filling with heavy dread. “It’s the Monkey King, isn’t it?”
“You can’t trust him,” Kha burst out.
“That’s funny. He said the same thing about you.”
“What? Why? I haven’t done anything.”
“Neither has he.” She lowered her voice, even though they were alone. “Why don’t you like him? Have you even met him?”
“Because … you don’t know what they say about him, about what he’s done.”
Thom hadn’t trusted the Monkey King at first, either, from all the stories about his mischievousness, his reputation as a troublemaker and a trickster. But after hanging around him, she knew he was different.
“You said yourself that the Mother Goddess was a troublemaker,” she pointed out, “but she was given many chances and reincarnated lots of times, and she became a superhero.”
“That’s different.”
“How? Because she was a princess and Wukong is a demon? That’s not his fault.”
Kha shook his head. “I don’t know what he has planned, but he’s using you. That’s why I’m here—my dad sent me to stop you from helping him.”
A sharp pain twisted its way from her chest to the bottom of her stomach. So she’d been right all along. Kha wasn’t there to be her friend. Why would someone cool like him want to be friends with a loser like her? Of course he was hanging out with her because he had to. He had been assigned to her, like she was a chore.
Something in Thom’s stomach soured. What a bad way to end the night. “You’re right,” she said. “You don’t know. The Monkey King’s my friend. He’s never asked me for anything, but if he needs my help, then of course I’ll help him.”
Kha’s face went red. Was it just her imagination, or did it suddenly get much hotter? “He’s manipulating you, and you’re falling for it.”
She stepped back, away from the searing heat of his body. She wasn’t imagining things. The air was much cooler the more space there was between them. “He’s my friend,” she said.
“He’s a demon-god. He doesn’t have friends. He doesn’t even know what friendship means!” Kha’s face was tense, the skin around his nose scrunched. That shimmer was back on his cheeks, not just a trick of the light anymore.
“Oh? And you do?” she snapped.
Kha looked confused. His skin stopped shimmering, and the temperature cooled.
“You’re not my friend, either,” Thom said. “You’re the one who lied to me.”
“Thom?” Ma called softly across the yard.
”Maybe we should find different partners for the project,” Thom said.
Kha clenched his jaw and looked like he wanted to say something else, but Thom didn’t want to hear anymore. She walked away.
20
THOM PUSHED KHA’S WARNING OUT of her head. He didn’t trust the Monkey King, but the Monkey King didn’t trust him, either. She wasn’t sure who to believe. Kha was the first person who’d wanted to be her friend since she’d moved to Troy, while the Monkey King was the one who’d helped her, taught her to control her power, shown her that she could use her strength after all.
But Kha didn’t really want to be her friend, did he? He’d admitted it—he had another motive. Was anything he said even true? He was the one who’d lied and manipulated her. The Monkey King had always told the truth, even when it made him come off as the bad guy. At least he had always been honest with her.
And the Monkey King knew why she was like this. He hadn’t told her so, but little things he said when he visited, almost every night now, convinced her that he knew exactly why she was superstrong. Hints about another world, other magical creatures.
Ever since discussing the Four Immortals with Kha, she couldn’t help wondering about the Boy Giant and how they were so much alike. But he was a god, who ate a bunch of rice to grow and defeat the enemy. Thom was just a mortal girl, who continued to grow stronger every day for no reason.
If the Monkey King didn’t have the answer as to why she was special, at least he could take her to the answer.
“I want to go back,” she said one night when he popped in through the window, “to the Mountain.”
“My home? Why?”
“I’ve been thinking—about how you’re training me to control my power? I could get better if I knew more about it, and I could ask Shing-Rhe—I’m sure he knows.”
The Monkey King flipped through a textbook from her desk. “Useless teachings,” he muttered. “Where’s the magic? What good will this do you?” He opened to a diagram of the ecosystem. “I hope everyone knows that lions eat other animals. Who would be stupid enough to test that theory?” He tossed the book over his shoulder.
“Can we go?” Thom hopped off her bed and pulled a jacket from her closet. But as she shoved her arms through the sleeves, she stopped. The Monkey King looked odd … serious. His brows drawn in a way she’d never seen. When he noticed her staring, his grin broke the effect, and his eyes gleamed with their usual mischief.
“Fine. The brothers will be happy to see you.”
Thom glanced at her bedroom door. Ma had tucked her in a couple hours ago, but she sometimes came back to check on her, or just opened the door to peer in when she thought Thom was asleep.
Just to be sure, Thom fixed her bed so that it looked like she was buried under the covers, just like she’d seen in movies about rebellious teen daughters.
It was kind of thrilling, like she was a different person, someone who got in fights, who snuck out at night, someone who hung out with the Monkey King.
* * *
Her hat and scarf keeping her warm and no fever threatening to make her faint, Thom found the flight to the Mountain much more enjoyable this time. Despite it being pitch-dark when they’d left her house, the Mountain was bathed in sunshine, like a magical paradise perpetually in beautiful weather and full of green life.
This time, it wasn’t empty. They landed in a forest clearing filled with animals. But these animals looked odd, like someone had chopped up different animal parts, mixed them up, and pieced them together. Thom didn’t immediately slide off the Monkey King’s back when he released her legs.
“Um, Wukong? What … who…?”
“Friends. It’s okay.” He patted her hands, but she didn’t release her death grip on his shoulders. “I’ll keep you safe.”
If anyone could, it would be him. Still, her hands shook when she let go and turned to survey the herd circling them. They were demons. She knew without asking. Animals shaped like humans, like a pig that stood upright in a man’s body, with a snout for a nose and sharp horns above his ears. A cross between a hyena and some sort of bear with a plump, fluffy body, and a mean sharp-toothed jaw.
Hiding behind the Monkey King didn’t help. No matter which way Thom turned, there were more, at least twenty or thirty of them.
A white-furred figure stepped forward. A girl. Her eyes were large and doelike, full of curiosity and framed with thick black lashes that contrasted with the pure white of her skin and fur. Her nose was elongated almost into a fox’s snout, but not quite. She sniffed at Thom, crouching low to observe her from head to toe.
Thom should have been scared, but something about the fox demon made her want to pull her into a hug instead, maybe because she reminded Thom of Mochi.
“This is Concao,” the Monkey King said, pulling Thom forward. “Concao, the mortal girl I told you about.”
Concao sniffed Thom again, then leaned close to the Monkey King to whisper something.
He brushed her aside, beckoning to Thom. “Meet the rest of my friends.” He turned to the demons and growled, a hissing sound, complete with bared teeth.
Thom jumped and jerked away. She’d never seen the Monkey King like this. The muscles o
f his face taut, spit flying. He really did look like a demon. His growl lingered, becoming words in a language too old for her to understand, and the demons shrieked in return. Thom forced her hands to stay still instead of doing what she really wanted them to do, which was to cover her ears. It was too loud, animals everywhere, crying, howling, jumping.
And worse, some looked at her with a hunger like they wanted more than just to eat her, like they wanted something else, something deeper. Solid ice formed in her veins. Had the Monkey King tricked her? Taken her just to feed her to his demon friends?
And then, the Monkey King’s growl erupted into laughter, his staccato giggles cascading over the crowd like bees spreading pollen. The other demons broke into laughter, too. One tackled another, and pairs teamed to wrestle and roll across the forest floor.
“They’re demons,” the Monkey King said, as if that explained everything. “Here.” He grabbed the pig, who was wrestling a smaller creature, with bovine legs but a manlike torso. “This is Pax. Pax, my friend Thom.”
Pax snorted. “Girl flesh,” he grunted, moving closer to her like he was ready for a feast.
“Not dinner,” the Monkey King said, stopping him. “Just play.”
“Play?” Pax eyed Thom with his thin black lips pursed. “Pax no play with weaklings.”
“Oh, but she’s no weakling. Show him, Thom.”
“Show him what?” This was getting too weird. She’d wanted the waterfall, the cave, the monkeys’ oasis. Not demons who had to fight the urge to eat her. Sure, they’d resisted so far at the Monkey King’s request, but what if they decided they didn’t want to anymore?
“Your strength.”
“No.” An automatic response. She didn’t want to use her power, not if she could help it. She wanted to find out more about it, about where it had come from. She needed to talk to Shing-Rhe and find out what he knew about her: her background, the source of her power.
The Monkey King was next to her, an arm around her shoulder, head bowed like they were sharing secrets. “Listen, these demons value strength over anything. Like pack animals.”