“Where the hell have you been?” I can’t help but burst out, annoyed with her for disappearing like that.

“Don’t be mad,” she says, not bothered at all. She grabs my arm and leads me to the other side of the room. Away from where the others are clustered around the food and drinks. “I was doing some reconnaissance.”

“Are you going to try and talk to her?” I ask. That girl who danced in the studio with a brilliant smile, who once shattered Delia’s heart into a million pieces.

“She seemed…happy,” Delia says, averting her gaze. “That’s enough for me. I’m only here to make sure the Temple of Hopeful Desires hasn’t returned under another form. I don’t want anyone else to get hurt like my family, like Shen’s family.” Her lips pull into a thin, harsh line.

“And did it come back?” I have to know. “Where is it?”

“I heard the Temple of Fortunate Tidings is here. Somewhere in the mall. Can you believe that it’s been under our feet all along?” Delia licks her lips, her eyes shining. “I have to see it for myself. See if it’s how I imagined it. Maybe I’ll even make a wish.” She speaks loud enough that someone near us glances over. I half lead, half pull her behind the black curtain so we are hidden from view.

“Didn’t Shu-Ling tell you to leave it alone?” I remind her, though part of me is still reeling from the revelation. How can the temple be here? But only a moment later, I realize that it makes sense. All of Tina’s dreams, all her desires, they’re wrapped around the dance studio. That’s where she met the “True Believers.” Soulful Heart. The Temple of Fortunate Tidings. They’re all linked together. Hiding in plain sight. So close to the guardians.

“I know Shu-Ling and Shen want to protect me.” Delia pulls her arm out of my grasp. “They don’t want me chasing ghosts. I’ve spent so much time afterward, getting accepted to university, working on my degree. But I’ve met so many people in Chinatown while working on my research here, met the aftereffects of the temple rippling through it all.”

“What are you saying?” I ask, uneasy.

“It’s no longer about me. It’s about people like you, people like your sister. Families being ripped apart,” Delia says, insistent now. “I’m the one who doesn’t have anything to lose, so it’s my responsibility to end it all.”

I feel a sudden chill even though the space is warm, shielded from the winter cold.

“Delia…” I say helplessly, trying to hold her back, but she slips away from me. Oh no. I follow her, quick on her heels.

“You’re stronger than you know, Ruby. Remember that. I’ll see you later,” she says, with a finality that makes me nervous, before stepping through the curtain. I’m about to go after her, but Ma is suddenly there, taking a firm grip on my shoulder.

“Who are you talking to, Ruby?” Ma says, Denny in tow. “The show is about to start.”

“Just a friend…” I turn back, but Delia is gone. I have to let Shen know.

We return to our seats in the studio. I think I catch a glimpse of her at the other end of the room, which eases the worry inside me a little. Will she do something rash? Like rush to Hope while she is performing, fall to her knees and declare her love for her? Beg her to keep her promises? I don’t think so. That doesn’t seem like something she would do, even though I haven’t known her for very long at all. She said so herself—she’s gotten therapy, she’s working on putting the past behind. But the way she spoke about the temple…that look on her face…

The light dims as the second half of the show begins. I try not to look up, because if I do, I’ll see those humanlike shapes again, leaning over the balcony. Their faces obscured by shadows.

The drums are struck lightly as the feet of the dancers pound to a new beat. Five figures rush into the studio, yellow jackets on, each of them wearing frightening masks of red and black. Large eyes that bulge out of their sockets, wispy black hair decorated with bells that trail down the sides of their faces, comically huge ears with a gold ring dangling from each. They growl and shape their hands into claws, leaning into the performance.

They remind me of the man that grabbed me on the street, and I hate that the memory resurfaces, leaving a sick feeling at the bottom of my stomach. The lithe bodies of the dancers form spiderlike shapes as they crawl on the ground, forcing their limbs into disjointed postures. As the drumbeat of the song progresses into a frenzy, they approach the audience, causing many of them to shriek when they get too near. I don’t like their movements, the unnatural way they skitter across the floor. I’m glad when the performance is done, and Mrs. Tsai comes up to close out the session. All the dancers then stand and join hands for a final bow, and I look at all the men, wondering if I can see the one who threatened me, but I don’t find him there.

When we file up to leave the studio, there is a bottleneck at the door. Too many people shaking hands, talking to each other. Someone bumps into me, and we step away from each other, apologizing.

“You dropped this.” Another audience member picks up a white card at my feet and hands it to me. Before I can tell him it’s not mine, he’s already gone. I stare at the card in my hand.

There’s a large red square stamp that acts as a logo, the character 緣. My breath catches in my throat as I read THE TEMPLE OF FORTUNATE TIDINGS below it in plain black capital letters, then tucked underneath: BLESSINGS. GUIDANCE. GOOD FORTUNE. There’s no phone number, web page, social media. Nothing to show how to contact them. I flip it over and there is an address. A date and a time. Tomorrow. Four p.m.

Even though I didn’t seek it out, the temple has found me.

“姊, c’mon!” Denny whines, tugging at my arm when I don’t move. But I forget all about the card and the temple when I see Delia at the end of the room, talking to someone in a yellow jacket from the studio. I start in her direction, determined to stop her from doing whatever it is she is planning on doing. But my parents are all smiles as they stop me. They’re with a man I recognize, Melody’s dad—Mr. Lee.

“Hello again, Ruby,” he says. He has on a black jacket over a white shirt, with a tie that has lucky cats on it, and extremely shiny black shoes. I force a smile on my face as I say hi, even though I want to spin around and find Delia.

“What did you think of the performance? Melody tells me that they rehearsed many, many times to ensure they got it right,” Mr. Lee says. Melody comes up beside him, beaming, as he places his arm around her shoulder. I see Tina standing there beside Ma as well, and I know she probably wishes for the same sort of acknowledgment from our parents. But they’re not the physically affectionate type.

I glance over my shoulder. Delia is now surrounded by three men wearing those yellow jackets. The sight of them makes me nervous. I don’t like it. I need to get over there, talk to her, make sure she’s okay.

“Mr. Lee is talking to you.” Baba places his hand on my shoulder, forcing me back to the conversation.

“Melody also plays piano. She has your piano teacher, Mrs. Nguyen,” Mr. Lee tells me. “There’s a great opportunity coming up tomorrow. A concert in the Chinese garden, music provided for the attendees as they participate in various activities. We had a stellar lineup, but one of our performers got sick. If you are available though, we’d love to have you involved. It’s for a good cause. A fundraiser.”

“I can’t,” I immediately say, a burrowing feeling in my gut as I flash back to the last time I played for an audience. I haven’t prepared for this performance—for any performance. I already told Dawn I would visit her at the conservatory tomorrow.

“Ruby!” Ma reprimands, but then gives Mr. Lee a smile. “Sorry, give us a moment please while I discuss this with my daughter.

“This is a big deal,” she tells me. “Mr. Lee sponsors a lot of art programs in the city, and he’s also a board member at Westview. He has a lot of connections. To scholarships, other opportunities.”

“I promised Dawn I would see her play tomorrow,” I tell her.

“Dawn will understand,” she says with a scowl.

“And I don’t want to,” I tell her. “I don’t want to perform.”

“What’s the point of all of those lessons, then?” Ma says, furious. “What’s the point of paying thousands and thousands of dollars of our well-earned money? Those hours your Baba works away, traveling to all those places, me taking jobs that I don’t want, so you and Tina and Denny can have the best opportunities? This is how you repay us?”

I can’t help the sudden anger that rises inside me, the one that retorts: “You don’t even care if I never perform as long as I get my diploma. That’s all you want me to do, so I can put it on my university applications, because your friends or whatever said that most people never make it to the ARCT level before they graduate high school. That’s what you told me to do. Now you’re going to force me to perform?”

“It’s not even a big deal. You’ll play one of the pieces you’ve been working on for your diploma anyway, as practice.” Ma’s eyes flash, angry that I’m using her own words against her. “You will do this tomorrow and you will do it with a smile, and one day you’ll tell me ‘謝謝, 親愛的媽媽 for making the right decision for me.’” She places her hands on my shoulders and physically walks me back to face Mr. Lee, talking over my head as she confirms my attendance. Ignoring how her “Thank you, dear mother” comment made me bristle. Tina watches all of this, gleeful, enjoying the show.

But I don’t care about Mr. Lee and the performance and whatever good it will do for my future. I’m worried about Delia now. I look back toward the room again, but there’s no one there anymore. None of the dancers in the yellow jackets. Only the drawn curtains. The empty chairs.

Mr. Lee leaves with Melody. I stand there, with a bad feeling growing inside me. I’m sure Delia hasn’t left the studio; I’ve had my eye on the exit the entire time. There must be another way out, somewhere that the dancers emerged from earlier. But when I pull the curtain back, there’s nothing.

I hear whispers above my head, and when I look up, I can see ghostly forms standing there on the balcony, watching me with eyes that glint back in the dark. Shen told me that I shouldn’t talk to them, but I’m too worried about Delia to care.

“What happened to her?” I shake the curtain to get their attention. They grow larger before my eyes, a darkness stretching and stretching above me, bending over the edge of the balcony to loom overhead. Is it one spirit? Or maybe more? Their bodies contorted all together, twisted and misshapen. Their features are blurred, partially obscured by wavy black hair that hangs like a curtain over their faces. Glimpses of things that writhe and catch the light at certain angles, sights that no one should ever see: the movement of too many eyes blinking, snakelike tongues flicking out from cavernous red mouths…

“Miss! Please don’t touch that!” One of the studio staff hurries over to stop me. Before I step away, I can hear them whisper above me, voices overlapping: “They took her…. They took her down….”