“No,” Maggie said. “Ye Kang knows you. If he sees you, the whole plan will fall through.”
“I’ll do it,” Patsy said loudly, surprising even herself.
“You?” Wu Ji asked, raising his eyebrows.
Hearing the lack of conviction in his voice, Patsy’s resolve strengthened. She didn’t want to touch time magic again, but this at least she could do. Yes, surely she could. “I’m the best choice. I doubt if Ye Kang remembers me from our brief encounter last year, whereas I just saw him yesterday so I know what he looks like.”
“It’s not that I doubt you,” Wu Ji said, “but it could be dangerous—”
“I’ll go with her,” Elena cut in. “I won’t be much help identifying him, but at least I can keep Patsy company and two is safer than one, isn’t it?”
Patsy gave her a grateful smile, then turned back to Wu Ji and Maggie. “We’ll be careful. We’ll just watch until we see him, then we’ll come back.”
“I don’t know,” Wu Ji said, a troubled look on his face.
Maggie sighed, puffing out her cheeks. “I guess they’re our only option. I can’t go either—Ye Kang met me once when I came to look for Charlotte a few days ago.”
“But what if—”
Elena cut off Wu Ji’s protests in a teasing voice. “We don’t need your permission, you know.”
Now that Elena mentioned it, Patsy realised that all this time Wu Ji had been the one leading the discussions in their little group. It had seemed natural, since he was the oldest among them. For a moment, she wondered if he minded Patsy and Elena overruling his decision now, but he just laughed, shaking his head, and the tension in the room eased.
Now, why hadn’t it occurred to her to make that joke? Elena is so much more natural with him, Patsy thought wistfully.
“That’s settled then,” she said aloud.
She wished she felt as confident as she sounded.
chapter fifteen
hey felt as if they were in a detective story.
It was 2pm and the street was quiet. Ye Kang’s house was a semi-detached two-storey—the last in a long row of houses with a front garden and backed by a wide, uncovered drain. A small, deserted park lay to the side of the estate, and it was there that Patsy and Elena hid to check out the house. Crouching behind a shrub, they peered through the dense branches and leaves to survey the silent house.
“Look, the curtains of the front rooms aren’t drawn,” Patsy whispered, pointing at the upper storey of the house. “That means Charlotte and Auntie Min Ling are probably kept at the back.”
Elena nodded. “That makes sense. The back of the house faces just a drain, whereas the front faces the road.”
“So I guess we just wait and see if anyone goes in or out of the house.”
“I guess.”
The girls followed a paved path into the park where they found a bench from which they could still keep their eye on the house. It had the added advantage of being directly beneath a large tree, the overlapping leaves forming a natural canopy. They had both brought books, so they could look as if they were just enjoying an afternoon reading in the park.
They didn’t get much reading done though. At first, both girls kept peering over the tops of their books, expecting they would see someone enter or leave the house soon. Then, as the hours wore on and the house remained still and silent, they began to grow restless. They had no choice but to continue waiting. After all, they had volunteered for this job, and everyone else had their separate duties for that afternoon. Maggie had gone to Mabel’s flat to work on their geography project in order to keep up appearances. Joyce, Mabel and Charlotte used to meet at Charlotte’s or Joyce’s flat in the past, as they were both from single-child families and so the girls would have more privacy to do their work and chat. But this time, Mabel had suggested Joyce go over to her flat for a change.
As for Wu Ji, he had been sorely tempted to go along with Maggie so he could meet his idol in the freshness of his youth, but he couldn’t think of any excuse for making an appearance at Mabel’s flat. Besides, he had to write a farewell note to his mother. Patsy and Elena had helped him to cook up some story about how his family had found him and the shock of seeing them had helped him regain his memory, and now he had to leave the country with them urgently so he had no time to say a proper goodbye to Yvonne. Wu Ji was now struggling to put that story into written words and make it sound believable. The girls had suggested he drip some water on the letter pad so that Yvonne would think he had been crying at the thought of leaving her, but he said that would be overly dramatic.
“So, Wu Ji will be going to Ye Kang’s house tomorrow,” Elena said to Patsy. The girls had given up their pretence of reading and fallen to chatting to stave off the boredom. “If all goes according to his plan, we’ll be home soon.”
And I’ll never touch the crystal again, Patsy swore to herself. She would put that part of her life behind her and start all over again, learning to live as a normal, average girl. Only, would she really be happy being just a normal, average girl? She still remembered the delirious joy of being singled out to be special. Could she really throw it all away?
“You know, I never asked to be a Keeper of Time,” Patsy blurted out.
Elena looked surprised, then quickly said, “Of course you didn’t. And you don’t have to be one if you don’t want to.”
“It’s not that I don’t want to rescue Charlotte and Auntie Min Ling. I just can’t!”
“I know,” Elena said soothingly. “Wu Ji is going to take care of everything. Don’t stress yourself out about it anymore, okay?”
Patsy knew Elena was trying to be reassuring, but she couldn’t help feeling disappointed at how promptly Elena had agreed that she was worthless as a Keeper of Time.
“I wish we didn’t have to go home so soon,” Elena said wistfully. “This adventure is way too short.”
Two days ago, when Patsy had been yearning for another time-travelling adventure to take her away from her mundane life, she would have thought so too. How had she ended up in this state where all she wanted was to go home and forget all this had ever happened?
The thought of starting over made her think of her unresolved quarrel with Elena. “You know, that night you came to my flat?” she said. “I’m sorry I couldn’t go out with you.”
Elena looked down, studying her fingernails. “I know, it was too much to ask.”
“No, it wasn’t too much to ask,” Patsy said, her words coming out in a rush. “You’re my best friend, and you came to me when you were in trouble, yet I let you down. But you were there for me when I accidentally activated the crystal again. If not for you, I wouldn’t have been able to get back. I wish I’d tried harder to understand and help you. I really should have gone out with you.”
Elena laughed. “You couldn’t have. It’s not you.”
Patsy reddened and she twisted the hem of her T-shirt abashedly. “I suppose, but…”
“It’s okay, I understand. We were brought up differently and have very different ways. I can’t expect you to always behave the way I do.”
“But what’s going on with you and your parents anyway?” Patsy asked. “You never did tell me why you skipped class and went to cry at the slope.”
Elena took a deep breath. Patsy could see her eyes filling, but Elena managed to control herself with some visible effort. “My mum wants to get a divorce,” she finally said.
“What?” Patsy exclaimed.
“She told me the night before we time travelled. I yelled at her and accused her of bailing out on me, and then I made her promise she wouldn’t do it.”
“And she promised?”
Elena nodded, her lips twisted in a forced smile. There was a harsh edge to her voice as she said, “She would do anything for me, even staying with an abusive husband just so I won’t have the stigma of coming from a broken family.”
“Abusive?” Patsy echoed, shocked.
“When my parents had their
fights, he would call her all sorts of names and sometimes hit her. It’s been going on for years.”
“I’m so sorry, I didn’t know,” Patsy whispered.
“I haven’t told anyone before,” Elena admitted. “I guess I felt ashamed. If you hadn’t told me about Ye Kang hitting Auntie Min Ling, I might not have found the courage to say this to anyone.”
“And you’ll make your mum stay in this kind of relationship?”
“I don’t know. The thing is, will she be happy even if she leaves him? After all, she loved him, that’s why she married him, didn’t she?”
Patsy recalled with shame how she had been annoyed that Elena had texted her about her own problems while ignoring Patsy’s messages about missing out on the trip to New Zealand. What was her petty grievance compared to the turmoil Elena had been going through? She reached out and touched Elena’s hand, squeezing it once. “Maybe she doesn’t love him anymore,” she suggested.
Elena sighed. “What is love anyway?” She fell silent and appeared lost in thought.
Was Elena thinking of Wu Ji, just like she was? Patsy felt a coldness spread out from the pit of her stomach. “What do you think of Wu Ji?” The words had popped out of Patsy’s mouth before she could stop herself.
Elena gave it a moment’s thought, then said carefully, “He’s very decent, with clean hobbies. At least, I didn’t spot cigarettes or anything like that in his room. Seems kind and very gallant too.”
“You think he’s boyfriend material?” Patsy asked softly.
Elena regarded Patsy with a searching look, then answered with all seriousness, “Yes, I very much think so.”
Patsy’s heart sank at those words. Feeling the treacherous tears welling up in her eyes, she grabbed Elena in a big hug to hide her emotion. Elena seemed surprised, but she returned the hug earnestly. “Everything will be all right,” Patsy whispered to her friend, adding silently, I know you like him, and I won’t fight with you for him. You’re my best friend—only your voice was able to call me back when I was lost in the mists of time. I will give up everything—even him—for our friendship.
chapter sixteen
atsy, help! Help me!”
The voice was shrill and distorted with terror. Patsy could not make out whether it was Charlotte’s or Min Ling’s. All she knew was that it was echoing all around her as she floated helplessly in a darkness so black her very soul seemed to be sucked out of her.
All of a sudden, the voice dissolved into a wordless scream. Patsy saw Min Ling’s pale face materialising before her, her eyes wide with pain and fear.
Patsy awoke with a jerk. She had nearly fallen off the park bench. Dusk had fallen while she had been dozing. Elena was now looking at her with an amused expression. “Morning, sleepy head,” she said dryly.
“Did anything happen?” Patsy asked, rubbing her eyes sheepishly.
“The street’s been busy, with people coming home from work, but not a peep from Ye Kang’s house. Here, eat something.” Elena passed Patsy a packet of biscuits.
Patsy slumped against the bench for a minute, chewing on the snack while trying to shake the last dregs of sleep from her head and calm her pounding heart. It’s just a dream, she repeated to herself. Just a dream.
But try as she might, she could not get rid of the image of Min Ling’s tortured face. Was that a vision of what would happen because she had given up on her mission? Would her failure as a Keeper of Time cause Min Ling to die?
Suddenly, she sat bolt upright. The third person Charlotte had mentioned! They’d forgotten about that third person! When she had first learnt that Min Ling had remarried, she had assumed the third person must be Ye Kang. But now that they knew Ye Kang was a Midnight Warrior and the enemy, the third person couldn’t be him!
Patsy searched through her memories for some clue of who this person could be. Elena? After all, she was risking her life by being part of this adventure. But no, Patsy thought with relief. It couldn’t be her. Charlotte had said it was someone Patsy did not yet know. For that same reason, it couldn’t be Maggie or Joyce either.
As she turned over this puzzle in her mind, Patsy gave an involuntary gasp as a thought occurred to her for the first time. Was that third person Wu Ji? He had said that he had known Charlotte all his life. She had probably watched him grow up, and naturally would be very attached to him. Was he the important person Charlotte had meant? Because of her failure to live up to her responsibility as a Keeper, Wu Ji would be taking her place to accomplish the mission of rescuing Charlotte and Min Ling. Would he be sacrificed because of her failure?
Frantic, she thought back to what the adult Charlotte had told her at Mount Emily Park, hoping to find some hint that her guess was wrong, but it was no use. Wu Ji would only travel back in time in 2017. Charlotte in 2016 would have no inkling of whether he would still be alive one year later. Would she, Patsy, cause the death of Wu Ji because of her cowardice and incompetence?
No! Every fibre in Patsy’s being shouted. She must not let that happen, she thought fiercely. But what else could she do other than what she was already doing?
Finishing the last biscuit, Patsy stood up and dusted the crumbs off her jeans. The surrounding houses were mostly lit, with people and cars bustling in and out of the gates. But Ye Kang’s house was as dark as before, seeming almost deserted in its stillness.
She began pacing the area in front of the bench.
“Hey, stop that,” Elena hissed. “You’re drawing attention to us!”
Patsy flopped back down on the bench. She looked at her watch. “It’s already almost nine!”
“You’re still hungry?” Elena asked. “I knew we should have brought more than just those biscuits.”
“No, I meant, we still don’t know if Ye Kang is here! What if he isn’t? Or what if he is but Wu Ji will be walking into a trap tomorrow?”
“I know, it worries me too, but what else can we do?” Elena said.
“We can’t go back without at least finding out some useful information that might come in handy to Wu Ji,” Patsy said. She stood up again. “I’m going to sneak round to the back of the house and see if I can see anything.”
“I’ll go with you,” Elena offered eagerly.
“No,” Patsy said firmly, though she was sorely tempted to have Elena for company. “You stay here and watch the front of the house. See if anything happens.”
“Why don’t I go and you stay here instead?”
“No!” Patsy said quickly and more insistently this time. “Charlotte came to me for help. This is my burden, all right?”
“All right,” Elena said, sounding a little taken aback at Patsy’s vehemence. “Be very, very careful, all right?”
Patsy nodded, adrenaline pumping through her veins. I’ve got to do this, she told herself. Refusing to give herself more time to think, she walked boldly down the paved pathway, then at the last minute scooted behind the same shrub she and Elena had used as their spy post earlier that afternoon. From her hiding place, she took one last look up the street. No movement at Ye Keng’s house.
She looked back at Elena, gave her an “OK” sign, then emerged from behind the shrub. Trying to look casual, she strolled across the small street, past the front of the house and turned the corner to walk along the pavement next to the side of the semi-detached house. A railing and small drain separated the pavement from the wooden fence and garden that bordered the house on three sides.
Once she neared the back of the house, she saw there were lights in the upstairs windows. The curtains were drawn, however, so she couldn’t detect any movement from within. That’s not much help to Wu Ji, she thought.
I’ll just see if the curtains at the side windows downstairs are open, she told herself. Maybe I can spot something useful. She glanced back at the park, but she couldn’t see Elena from where she stood. Well, I’m sure she’ll approve. After all, this isn’t the first railing we’ve climbed over, Patsy thought wryly as she checked that the street was emp
ty before scampering over the railing.
Balancing herself carefully atop the lip of the open drain, she jumped over easily and immediately squatted down to make herself less conspicuous. She peeped through the wooden slats of the fence and had to stifle a gasp. The back door was ajar, revealing a yawning darkness within. Someone had carelessly left it open, then gone upstairs. This was too good an opportunity to pass up! Patsy knew what Elena would do in such a situation, but did she, Patsy, dare to attempt it?
Then she recalled Min Ling’s scream of pain, and Charlotte’s entreaty for her to save the third, most important person. Before she was even aware of what she was doing, she had placed her foot on one of the horizontal slats of the wooden fence and hoisted herself over.
chapter seventeen
he back door led into the kitchen. Patsy paused on the threshold, holding her breath and listening in the semi-darkness.
Not a sound. She was probably right in concluding that whoever had accidentally left the door ajar had gone upstairs.
Patsy pushed the door open slightly wider and slipped in, feeling amazed by her bravery. Or was it foolhardiness? No time to think. Soft steps. Carefully now…
She crossed the kitchen and paused again at the entrance leading into the rest of the house. There did not seem to be any light on downstairs. Peering out of the kitchen, she could barely make out that opposite her was a storeroom, and a bathroom was to her left. Their doors were open and nobody seemed to be inside. The living room was on her right. As the girls had noticed from the park, the curtains across the window were drawn, blocking out most of the light from the street lamps.
Treading carefully, Patsy ventured into the living room and looked around. A staircase loomed before her, rising about a dozen steps before twisting around on itself to reach the second storey. Her heart pounding so hard against her ribcage she was afraid it might drown out warning sounds from the house, Patsy crept up the stairs, flattening herself against the wall as she went.
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