“How long will it take to fix me?” Zhao’s voice was loud enough to discern now. She could feel his anger inside of her, a bubbling pit of rage in her gut. “I cannot continue like this.”
The woman spared him a passive glance and shrugged. “A few days. Maybe a week.”
Zhao picked up a vase and hurled it at the woman. She showed no indication that she was bothered as the vase passed right through her. “That’s not good enough!” A surge of white-hot pain passed up Jennie’s arm, as though she could feel his pain. In her periphery, she could make out the mangled shape of his body.
The woman shrugged. “Not much I can do about it. There’s no spectral healing acceleration. Well, except in some rare cases. Looks like you’re not gifted with it.” She gave a derisive chuckle and took a seat across from him.
Zhao pinched at his eyes. For a moment, Jennie’s view was blocked by fat, spectral thumbs. She tried to decipher where they were, but the room they were in had no recognizable features. It could have been a disused utility closet for all she knew.
“My associates won’t be pleased,” Zhao growled. “They’re waiting on my command, and I can’t give it to them in this state. What will they think of me?”
Again, the woman shrugged. “I’d think it was pretty badass.”
“What do you mean?” Zhao asked.
The woman may as well have been filing her spectral nails. Jennie couldn’t understand the relationship here. Was this specter hired to help Zhao navigate his new life? Was she someone that he’d known previously? Why was she helping him?
“Think about it,” the woman continued. “You call up your guys and give them the okay looking like this, and you’re showing them that you can’t be killed. Even when specters are mangled and broken, they can continue—with the exception of holy light, that is. Here…” She handed him a handled mirror.
Jennie audibly gasped as she saw Zhao’s reflection. Whatever bones were left in Zhao’s head had been broken and set apart. He looked like an egg that had been dropped while inside a balloon. Bits of shell poked out where it shouldn’t, and his eyes and mouth were twisted into the likes of a Picasso painting.
At Jennie’s gasp, Zhao narrowed his eyes and studied himself in the mirror. He leaned closer, examining his pupils.
Jennie had a sudden, worrying thought. Can he see me?
Out of nowhere, Jennie’s body throbbed with heat. Zhao’s anger transferred into her, and she was overwhelmed with fury. He stared in the mirror, and his voice came into her head as though he was standing next to her. Of course I can see you, bitch. Clever girl, working out the two-way part of our intercom. I didn’t think you had it in you.
Sitting in the living room, Jennie grumbled. A moan of pain escaped her lips. Rhone leaned forward, but Ula held him back.
Why are you doing this? Jennie asked. What’s the point of all of this?
Zhao grinned at his reflection, his mouth contorted and alien in shape. The woman looked at him curiously. Why does anyone do anything? Power, girl. I may have been unable to dominate in life, but with this gift they call death, I can finally sit on the throne and call myself king. With my mortal minions at my side, there’ll be no one left who can stop us.
You’ll never win this, Jennie replied, instilling as much of an authoritative grace as she could while the anger coursed through her. You don’t know what I’m capable of.
No, Zhao admitted. But thanks to you, I’m learning. A pause. You still haven’t solved any of my riddles yet, have you? Say hi to Renminbi when you get the chance to meet her.
Zhao cast one last look at Jennie before a sudden burst of white filled Jennie’s mind. She felt the physical sensation of being kicked away before she mentally reappeared in the room. She was knocked back, but Roman and Triton caught her before she could fall off the table.
“What happened?” Carolyn asked. “Did you find him? Do you know where he is?”
Jennie was breathless. She waited a moment before replying. Her mind was still spinning as she tried to process what Zhao had just told her, and what she had just seen.
Two things clung to her mind. The first was the Taste the Orient takeout flyer that had been tossed to the floor.
The other was a very interesting factoid about Renminbi. Zhao had called the new Dragon her.
That rules out fifty percent of the population. Progress is progress.
Jennie’s eyes met Carolyn’s as she relayed what had just happened.
Richmond, Virginia, USA
The western face of the manor overlooked the city and offered the best views all around. Lupe, Tanya, and Jiao were sitting at a table across from each other on the second floor, watching the city wake up and come to life.
Traffic was steady. There were no signs of anything being amiss. That seemed strange to Lupe, given what Tanya had told him about Madame Celestine and her possession by the specter.
They ate breakfast in peaceful quiet, only vaguely aware of the poltergeists speeding around the lawn and racing around the outside of the house.
When do they ever rest? Lupe wondered.
For that matter, when would they get some rest? Tanya, the only other mortal present besides Hendrick, looked beat. Her eyes were dark and half-closed. She ate slowly, occasionally throwing a lazy glance out of the window at the city.
“Here.” Lupe offered her a vial of one of Hendrick’s potions.
Hendrick had stocked him up with a handful so that he could stay awake and learn faster as an apprentice. After all, in Hendrick’s words, “Sleep slows the mind.”
Which was contrary to everything Lupe had ever been told, but when in Rome…
Tanya took the vial. “Thanks.” She hesitated. “Did you make this?”
Lupe let out a laugh. “No. I haven’t even started brewing yet. You’re in safe hands, don’t worry. It’s not like you’re going to turn into a frog if you try it.”
Tanya laughed, then drank the formula. Instantly, the weight of her weariness faded. Her eyes grew bright. Her spine straightened, and a look of relief came over her. “You’re not going to offer one to Jiao?”
Jiao held up a hand. “I need no chemicals to enhance my mind.”
Lupe raised an eyebrow at the petite woman. Sure, she didn’t look half as bad as Tanya had, but everyone could use a pickup, surely?
“I’ve learned a lot through my upbringing, as well as my time with the Dragon,” Jiao explained, her voice soft and delicate. “I train my mind and conserve my energy. The trivial things of common life don’t affect me in the same way as your everyday folk. Meditation and mindfulness conserve energy and holds off the need for sleep. Stress and panic and the pace of everyday life are enough to drive people into an early grave. That’s not the life I want.”
Lupe found a vial for himself and held it in the air. “Well, good for you.” He drained it in one, feeling its instant effects.
They sat for a while longer, enjoying the morning quiet. They had debated trying to call Jennie and the others but thought better of it. With things quiet once again, there was no need to disturb them while they were clearly busy. Whatever event had occurred the previous evening, they would be able to handle themselves. As of yet, there had been no further disruption.
Lupe’s ears pricked up. In the streets below, a handful of cop cars blared their sirens and flashed their lights. An ambulance followed not far behind.
Tanya stood and moved closer to the glass. She pressed her face against its cool surface and shielded her eyes from the morning sun. “That seems ominous.”
Lupe joined her at the window. Jiao remained where she was, sipping her green tea.
The cops sped into the heart of the city, traffic shifting to the sides to allow them to pass. A knot tightened in Lupe’s stomach. He didn’t know how he knew, but somehow this was connected to Tanya’s telling of events from last night.
Tanya turned to look at Lupe. “Up for a road trip?”
Lupe considered this. He shook his head
. “My position is here now. I can source you some items from Hendrick’s stash that may be useful.”
Tanya rolled her eyes and grabbed his wrist. Before he knew it, he was being dragged to the door. “Come on, you wet blanket. This is just an investigatory outing. Besides, you don’t know any chemistry yet.”
Jiao drained her tea and followed closely behind.
Lupe half-heartedly protested, drawn forward by his own curiosity. As they passed the laboratory, he dropped his eyes, hoping to avoid Hendrick’s stare. What would the man think if he was already heading back out onto a mission when he promised he’d train?
It’s not a mission. It’s a friend accompanying a friend to bolster numbers and investigate what’s going on. A reconnaissance mission.
Damn…It is a mission.
But not a true mission. There are no guns and shots fired and explosions.
I hope…
Tanya dragged Lupe onward and collected Sandra along the way. Soon they were all in the car. She twisted the ignition, pressed the accelerator, and headed out into the city.
Meanwhile, Hendrick peeked through the gap in the laboratory door, with a knowing grin on his face.
* * *
It wasn’t difficult to find the source of the disruption. Tanya eased off on the speed as they approached the place where the flashing blues lit the surrounding buildings.
They parked nearby, their attention fixed on the glass that lay shattered on the sidewalk around a three-story building with mostly glass covering its front facade, the building had clearly been hit by something that caused all of the windows to shatter.
Witnesses were being interviewed. A woman was wrapped in a blanket, shivering as she addressed the questions of a middle-aged cop. Tanya thumbed through her phone, where she’d typed in the building’s address.
“The Second Richmond Community Center,” Tanya read its listing on Google. “Apparently, it's used often in the mornings for yoga classes and Pilates. Sometimes they have meetings for the local slimming club to gather and support each other on their weight loss journey. Today, it’s the yoga class.”
Lupe watched one woman who was standing with her arms folded while sitting in the back of an open police car. “Why is it called the Second Community Center?”
Tanya raised an eyebrow. “Really? That’s the part that grabbed your attention? You’re right. Maybe this life isn’t for you.”
Lupe snorted. “Seemed like an apt question.”
Tanya ignored him. “What the hell happened here? It looks like nobody is really hurt, but something smashed all of the windows. Kids throwing rocks?”
From behind one of the cop cars, Sandra appeared, strolling back toward them. She walked through the hood of their car and stood in the center console. “Their stories don’t all add up, but there is one common theme. The windows smashed of their own accord, and three of their yoga class started acting strangely. That woman over there said that ten minutes into their class, a howling wind came out of nowhere, and three of the women stood up and left without a word. When she called out to find out what was going on… Crash!”
She clapped her hands together so sharply that she made Tanya and Lupe jump. Jiao was unaffected in the back.
Tanya recovered. “This has to have something to do with last night. How do we get close enough to interrogate those guys? Do you think we can talk to the cops?”
Lupe shook his head. “I doubt it.”
“Why don’t you ask that woman?” Jiao offered.
The woman in question was walking about two blocks down from where they were parked. She crossed from one side of the street to the other, a dream-like expression on her face. She wore yoga pants and a tube top, and parts of her body were blotted with crimson.
Tanya glanced from the woman to the cops, who appeared not to have noticed, before cranking the car into reverse.
She caught up with the woman and drove alongside her after the woman ignored her requests to stop so they could talk. In fact, she showed no sign of any recognition whatsoever. Her eyes were blank, white marbles, and her footsteps labored as though she were sleepwalking.
“I’m beginning to think we’re onto something,” Lupe muttered. “This isn’t normal.”
Sandra leaned through the two front seats and pointed ahead to where another woman was drifting lazily onward, her luminescent orange yoga pants almost impossible to miss. “Look…”
“It’s like they’re possessed,” Jiao commented.
The idea of it made them all shudder.
Tanya’s face hardened. “I have a bad feeling about this.”
Lupe nodded his agreement. “Let’s just follow them. Stay a little way back, just in case anything comes out.”
Tanya looked as though she was about to argue back, then realized what Lupe was saying. Their numbers were too small to have any impact if something big were to come out at them. What if they encountered another spirit like the Mendlesons? What if it was another sturmgeist like the one that Jennie had so thoroughly described to them? Hell, what if it was nothing more than a simple terrorist plot?
What could the four of them do against something like that? Jennie and the others were off in Washington, for all they knew.
Doing nothing wasn’t an option, not while they were aware that something was going down. They needed to open the lid of the jar and peek at the horror within.
Hopefully, they’d be looking at nothing more than a fresh batch of marmalade, and nothing like a rotting, festering jar of moldy jelly.
Tanya shook her head to shake away the image. She slowed to a near crawl, and dropped back behind the woman, following her at a snail’s pace through the city.
Chapter Thirty-Four
New York City, New York, USA
The lights were all off as they approached the front of Taste the Orient.
On the outside, it was nothing more than a simple Chinese restaurant, but Jennie was almost certain they were somewhere inside. She could feel Zhao’s power exuding from the building.
Why hadn’t he fled?
They had made their trip in impressive time, knowing that time was critical in this operation. As they sped toward the restaurant, specters checked in with them and updated them as Baxter had requested. No one had found anything in the city that in any way linked to Zhao…
Yet.
Jennie latched onto the specters, and melted through the door and unlocked the building. A security alarm blared. Feng Mian took care of the alarm by short-circuiting the device and sent the room back into silence.
They raced up the stairs, Jennie using Zhao’s power as a divining rod. By the time she made it to the third floor, she knew he was nearby. She wasted no time in booting open the door and aiming the Big Bitch at Zhao, but she definitely wasn’t prepared for what was in front of her.
Zhao was a mangled mess. He hardly looked human…or specter. Parts of his body were beginning to heal from the fall, but most of him was yet to work his way back into true form.
A small TV played the news in the background. The female specter Jennie had seen in her vision was sitting on a rotting chair beside the TV set.
“Hi.” She spoke so nonchalantly that it was disarming.
Jennie turned her attention to Zhao and aimed the Big Bitch at him. “Enough games, Zhao. Consider this my final warning. My team is with me. I’m ending this before it can go any farther. Tell us what you know before I blow you into a thousand pieces.”
Zhao chuckled, the sound like mud running down a drain. “What are you going to do to me? Mutilate me more than I already am? Please, girl. Think about what you’re saying. I’m already a mess.”
Jennie didn’t want to look at him, but she had no choice. She had to get to the bottom of his stinking riddles. “Tell us what your plan is, Zhao. My patience is running thin.”
Baxter tapped her shoulder. “Er, Jennie?”
Jennie brushed his hand away. “Tell me!” she roared at Zhao.
Zhao grinned a
nd turned toward the TV. A clock on the wall chimed nine AM. The moment the ringing started, a ticker-tape rolled across the news broadcast, detailing the eruption of bombs across New York’s neighboring states.
Amateur footage on shaky phone cameras showed explosions billowing black clouds into the sky while people screamed and ran for the hills.
The woman spoke to the camera, pressing a finger to her ear with a look of shock on her face. “Live and exclusive, we are getting reports of devastation in neighboring state capitals. So far, confirmed explosions have occurred in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, another in Trenton, New Jersey, a third in Hartford, Connecticut, and a fourth in Boston, Massachusetts. It is unclear at this point what the cause of these explosions is, or how many casualties may have been affected, but we will be sure to keep you updated on the situation.”
Jennie and her team stared at the screen with morbid fascination. It seemed almost impossible to be seeing the amount of destruction that was occurring as footage showed first-person perspectives of civilians running for the hills. Buildings collapsed and cars were crushed as smoke covered a wide radius of each attack.
Jennie scowled. “You son of a bitch!”
She dived at Zhao, forgetting her gun and going for him with fists. At that moment, pummeling the mangled specter’s brains into a pulp would be a thousand times more satisfying than shooting him.
How had he done this? How had he orchestrated this whole plan? Sure, he had mentioned the neighboring states, but it was hard to tell what was truth and what was fiction as it poured out of his hollow of a mouth.
To her surprise, Jennie passed straight through Zhao. She slid across the floor and knocked into a table, sending a lamp crashing to the floor. The woman watched passively. Jennie rose and tried to attack again, once more finding only thin air.
Baxter ran forward. “Jennie! Jennie!”
“You son of a bitch, Zhao!” Jennie shouted, flailing her arms, only stopping when Baxter caught them and held her back. He was surprised by her strength. Even with his thick muscles it was an effort to restrain her.
Agents, Agreements and Aggravations: In Her Paranormal Majesty’s Secret Service™ Book Three Page 26