Once the door is securely locked, I put another pot of tea on. All that just happened definitely requires tea.
By the time I’m feeling the warmth of the teacup in my hand and breathing in the floral aroma of jasmine tea, I’m feeling better.
I still check all the doors and windows several times before going to sleep.
The following morning I wake up to two messages. One is from Mr Sangong telling me that Ilmu must be busy or that she might have forgotten about her phone, but that either way I shouldn’t worry. A baku can handle herself.
I bite my lip. That’s no help, and given the distress I felt in the broken jade, Ilmu might not be able to handle herself at the moment.
The other message is from Mum. Nothing on the piece of jade. Nothing on the link between jade and baku. She asks if it’s important, because if so Dad will keep looking.
In short, no progress whatsoever on that front.
Last night it was a relief to have the safety of my spelled house, given that some nasty was after me in the dark.
Let’s be honest. Last night I got dangerously closer to being cowardly, and I did some impressive cowering.
Thankfully, today I’m back to normal, which means hating how useless and helpless I’ve become. Ilmu might be in trouble but all I can do today is wait by the phone while I either clean my house again, or potter in my courtyard. Again.
I huff in frustration, throw my sheet back, and get out of bed. Hunter greets me happily. That’s another thing. I can’t even take my own damn dog for a walk—I’ve had to hire a walker instead or rely on Chai helping me out.
I miss taking Hunter to the park. I tell him as much as I stroke his ears, and then I head down to make tea.
“What’s with the face?” Tim rubs himself against my legs.
“Good morning. It’s lovely to see you too.”
He jumps up in the kitchen counter, and I grab him and put him back on the floor.
“Spoilsport,” he grumbles.
“I’m making breakfast. No furry creatures allowed on the kitchen counter.”
“I’m not an ordinary furry creature, though.”
“You have fur. Ergo, no climbing on the counter.”
Tim begins to wash himself. “You didn’t answer my question before. Why is it you look like a bulldog licking a stinging nettle?”
I snort, amused in spite of myself at the image. “Just…If I tell you something, will you keep it to yourself?”
“Who else would I tell?”
“I don’t know—Mr Sangong?”
“He’s busy these days. Haven’t seen him in ages. The barbershop has been closed since you’ve been closeted in here.”
I nod. I might be a fool for trusting a cat, but it’s not like I have anyone else to talk to.
“I’m worried about Ilmu.” I run Tim through finding the piece of jade as I make breakfast. It’s a relief to share all of this with someone.
I’ve shared it with Chai, of course, but he doesn’t really care. To him, this is just a source of potential risk to my safety.
Once my breakfast is made, I tend to Hunter’s, and because I am a generous soul—not because Tim has me well-trained—I make Tim breakfast, too.
I finish explaining about the jade as I set Hunter’s bowl down. He leaps on it with joyful abandon, inhaling the kibble and wet food mix so fast, he’s definitely not tasting it.
Tim sits by his bowl, looks it over, and turns his nose up at it with an expression like what’s in the bowl is cat vomit, not good quality cat food. Typical. I’m not making him something else, though.
He looks up at me. “Have you asked anyone else about the jade?”
“I tried. No link between jade and baku that Sarroch knows of—”
Tim makes a derisive noise. “What does he know?”
“Oh, I don’t know. He’s a powerful Mayak, so quite a lot, I would guess. I also asked my dad—”
“Why not ask Hunter while you’re at it?” Tim asks. “Geez, some people. You have to spoon-feed them everything.”
“You know something?”
“No. But I know that Meng Po is linked to memories, so she is likely to be knowledgeable about other creatures linked to memories. Like the baku.”
Meng Po. Of course. She serves soup on the Bridge of Forgetfulness to souls who are about to reincarnate, so that they completely forget their past life. And she also runs a restaurant in town. Maybe she knows something about this broken piece of jade.
But I don’t have her phone number, so that would mean leaving my house. Her restaurant is a Mayak space that’s hidden in a parallel reality within a derelict building. In short, not the kind of establishment that has a phone number listed on Google.
“I can’t leave the house on my own, though,” I say aloud. “Especially not after last night. And I already know there’s no way Chai will take me to Meng Po’s.”
“You won’t be on your own,” Tim replies smugly. “I’ll be there.”
“Not much of a reassurance.”
“Did I, or didn’t I stop Yue?” he asks archly.
“You did, but…”
“Well, then.”
“Whatever attacked last night was apparently strong. According to Sarroch.”
“Sarroch is only part feline,” Tim replies contemptuously, as if that makes Sarroch inferior. Cats, I swear… “Anyway, I know how we can get to Meng Po’s and back discreetly. It’ll be fine.”
I’m not going to lie, I’m tempted. So tempted.
But it would be too much of a risk.
Tim doesn’t hide his opinion of me not taking him up on his offer, spending the day communicating the kind of contempt I normally reserve for Justin Bieber’s songs.
I do my best to ignore him, but my mind has other plans. It keeps going back to that sharp feeling of distress I picked up from the jade. Then there’s the fact that the last time I saw Ilmu, she wouldn’t acknowledge me. It was in Luyang temple, when Yue revealed she was the one who put Akiho, the unstable baku, in contact with Nerong.
Why did Ilmu not acknowledge me when I waved at her?
I scour my memory, trying to remember if Ilmu looked distressed or scared, or anything of the sort, but I wasn’t really focused on her at the time.
I try to get back to my gardening for a while, but I find myself pulling out the broken piece of jade from my pocket every few minutes. It’s like it’s calling to me.
Ilmu got herself banished for me. That’s also maybe why no one else cares that she’s missing. Mr Sangong knows the truth, and isn’t worried either, but then Mr Sangong is often incomprehensible in his reactions.
I return to the plant I’m repotting for no other reason than I need something to do.
Ilmu got herself banished for me. The thought keeps bumping into the forefront of my mind like a fly bashing itself against a window in a futile attempt to get outside.
Ilmu has been banished for years. It’s a huge sacrifice to make for someone.
And it has been a few weeks since I saw her at the temple. Plenty of time for things to go very wrong for her, if they weren’t already wrong.
I glance over to where Tim is dozing in a patch of sun. “You said you have a way to go see Meng Po discreetly.”
“I do indeed, treacle,” he mutters, not bothering to open his eyes. “But what does it matter, since you’ve decided to stick your head in the sand. I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised. A part feline gave you an order, and humans are wired to obey felines.”
That’s not what makes my mind up to go. Not at all. I do not react to being baited by a cat.
I just can’t keep sitting on my hands, knowing that Ilmu could be in trouble.
“Okay, then,” I tell Tim. “If you promise that you have a way to help get to Meng Po and back safely, we’ll go.”