Chapter 12 Yiran #2
the bobby pin. He seemed nervous. But it wasn’t about the lock. Whatever it was, it must’ve caused him to lash out.
Seconds later, he spun around with a self-satisfied grin, the rusty chain and padlock in his hand. Shaking his head, Yiran
followed him out to the rooftop. The surrounding apartment blocks formed a wind tunnel, and the rush of air made a steady
whistling noise like a kettle boiling over. Yuki had picked a good place to have a conversation without anyone eavesdropping.
It was freezing at this height, and Yiran pulled down his beanie to cover his stinging ears.
“Now you see it,” Yuki murmured. The wispy strands of hair near his shoulders fluttered in the wind as he stared into the
distance, an indecipherable look on his face.
Yiran followed Yuki’s pointing finger to the softly shimmering river that divided the city starkly in two. On one side, the
spectacular skyline of modern skyscrapers and brightly lit bridges was breathtaking, a beautiful playground set aglow. On
the other side—the side Yiran and Yuki were on—were dimmer, murkier neighborhoods full of cramped high-rises and narrow streets.
Homes of the people who kept those playground lights on. The difference between the wealthy and the working class.
The stars in the sky mirrored the city lights, as if there was another world up there, looking down on this one.
Dawn would arrive soon. And when the sun rose, they would never see each other again, and Yiran would have to move on.
He smothered the gnawing feeling in his chest. Might as well cut it off now.
Yuki was still looking at the bright lights across the river.
“I’m done waiting,” Yiran said. “Tell me everything or I’m leaving.”
“I’ve heard them talking about you in their meetings.”
Yuki tended to use the word them whenever he spoke about the other Hybrid Revenants. Did he hold himself apart? Doesn’t mean he won’t kill out of necessity or hunger, or that he doesn’t want a world without Exorcists, Yiran reminded himself.
“Go on,” he said.
“The leadership seems veeeeery interested in the boy who can cast a defensive shield so large and strong it single-handedly
withstood multiple sustained attacks from one of their strongest.”
So the Hybrids knew what had happened that day during the Guild mission when Eddy died. Magic had streamed out of Yiran, and
it was that magic—that false, unnatural thing in his body borrowed from Rui—that had saved him and Ada.
“They’re interested,” Yuki continued, “because the boy was allegedly born with a weak spirit core, and he couldn’t do magic
until recently. They’re interested because Song Yiran is an anomaly, and anomalies draw attention.”
“I can’t do magic anymore,” Yiran said bitterly.
Yuki shot him a piercing look. “Are you absolutely sure about that?”
“I’ve tried. I’ve put on that stupid glove so many times, but nothing happens.”
“That’s not what I mean—”
“Then what do you mean? Stop talking in circles, Yuki. I’m tired of—”
“They want to meet you.”
“What?” Yiran must’ve heard wrong.
“They’re curious. Like I said, you fascinate them.”
“If you think I’m just going to waltz into their evil lair like some free gift for the taking—”
“But then you’ll know where their lair is, and you can share the location with your precious Exorcist Guild.” A wry smile
tugged at Yuki’s lips. “Did you think I couldn’t tell that you only let me get close because you wanted information from me?
I didn’t lose my brains when the Blight infected me, remember?”
I let you get close because I wanted to, Yiran almost yelled. But Yuki wasn’t wrong. The two of them had been dancing around each other for weeks in a discordant
waltz. Back and forth, round and round, but never quite in sync.
“Anyway,” Yuki said, scrunching his nose in a way that was too endearing for no good reason, “don’t be dramatic. It’s not
an invitation to the evil lair. I’m only telling you what I heard. The boss seems to think that maybe you’re not a normie.
Maybe you’ll be able to do magic once you figure out a way to access it again.”
Yiran’s fingers throbbed, a reminder of pain from the past. Old memories buried in the far corners of his mind were digging
their way out. He squeezed his eyes shut, refusing to acknowledge them, refusing to face them, beating them back into the
ground.
“Are you okay?”
He heard the concern in Yuki’s voice and immediately wished he hadn’t. He felt Yuki’s touch on his arm, and his eyes flew
open.
“Whoever your boss is, they’re wrong,” he said, pushing the Hybrid away. “Finding a way to access it assumes that there’s
magic inside me somewhere. Which there isn’t. Is this all the information you have? Is this what you’ve been holding around
my neck all this time, leashing me along like a dog?”
Something flickered in Yuki’s storm-gray eyes. The wind was picking up, and he raised his voice to be heard. “They found a
way to imbue normies with magic.”
“Don’t lie to me.”
“It’s not exactly the kind of magic you’re thinking of, but it’s still power. It works similarly to the Exorcists’ magic in principle.”
“How’s that possible?”
“They’ve been experimenting with a new spell that’s similar to the one the girl cast on you.”
That spell had caused Rui’s spiritual energy to transfer to Yiran and allowed him to do magic. But it didn’t exist anymore.
Zizi had tried to replicate it and failed. Did he lie? Yiran didn’t think so. Zizi might’ve detested the Exorcist Guild, but
he had worked with them eventually, and he hated Revenants even more. He wouldn’t switch sides.
The Hybrids had tried to capture Zizi once, and the mage hadn’t been seen in a while. Ash said he’d run off to escape further
Guild punishment for his rogue activities. But Yiran knew better: Zizi would move heaven and hell before abandoning Rui. Which
could mean only one thing.
“Did your friends kidnap Zizi?”
“I wish.” Yuki scoffed. “That asshole took out my wings once. Now that I know how his spiritual weapon works, it’ll be payback
when we meet again. I heard your former associate is missing in action, but it has nothing to do with the Hybrids.”
“Then where did the new spell come from? What other mage are you holding prisoner?”
“There’s no other mage as far as I know. All I heard is there was a transaction behind the scenes. I’ve only seen the spell
in action once. There was a kid, a runaway they took in. They made him feel like he was one of the gang, then they asked if
he wanted to truly be one of them, and guess what?” Yuki raised an eyebrow at Yiran. “Kid said yes. Imagine that.”
Yiran wondered why anyone would want to be a monster. But as he stared at Yuki standing there in all his glorious, forbidding
beauty, Yiran started to understand. Despite living in the shadows, the Hybrids seemed like superior creatures with power
and control. If the runaway boy had left home because of a bad situation and he was feeling helpless, it would have been easy
to tempt him by welcoming him with open arms.
It seemed like consent was important to the Hybrids.
They’d asked the boy before they transformed him.
Which made sense if they wanted to build a loyal army.
Followers who believed in a self-righteous cause were more dangerous than those who believed in money.
Whoever the Hybrid leader was, they knew what they were doing.
“They cast the spell and transferred some of a Revenant’s yinqi into the kid,” Yuki said. “The spell worked, and the kid transformed. He settled quickly, and he didn’t give in to any of the early impulses to feed indiscriminately. He’s one of their success
stories.”
That means there were failures. What happened to the normies who had agreed to the transformation, only for the spell to fail? The fact that the Hybrids
were using yinqi from actual Revenants made the whole thing more macabre.
“What does all this have to do with my situation?” Yiran said.
Yuki didn’t reply. He had stepped to the edge of the rooftop.
It’s not exactly the kind of magic you’re thinking of, but it’s still power. . . . The spell worked, and the kid transformed.
Horror crawled over Yiran’s skin as he put two and two together. “Are you suggesting that I turn myself into a Hybrid Revenant?”
“I’m presenting an option, a way to gain power,” Yuki said. “That’s what you want, isn’t it? This new talisman can be used
again and again. It worked on others. It could work on you.”
“What the actual fuck!” Yiran shouted. Wind rushed against his ears as he backed away to the stairwell door. He had to tell
Ash about this.
“I know why you carry that glove with you all the time, even though you can’t use it anymore,” Yuki said, walking toward him.
“I know how it feels to be helpless and chained to your fate. I’m trying to save you, Yiran. I’m trying to give you the power
you want to control your life.”
“Shut up! You don’t understand anything.”
But Yuki had struck the heart of his true desire.
Magic was just a word he bandied around.
Power was what he wanted. Magic was a means to that end.
Power over others who did him wrong, power to protect himself, to control his own life.
That wasn’t too much to ask, was it? And if Yuki’s suggestion worked . . .
Yiran shuddered, repulsed by himself. How could his own wretched mind consider the option even for a fleeting moment? How
could he give up his humanity?
“I don’t want you to get hurt,” Yuki said abruptly, stopping in his tracks. The wind whistled loudly like a creaking door
left ajar.
Yiran kept his eyes on Yuki, afraid that if he turned his back, something might happen. Still, he sensed that Yuki didn’t
want to hurt him. Trouble was, Yiran had a bad feeling he would get hurt anyway.
It’s not an invitation to the evil lair.
Yuki was telling the truth. It wasn’t an invitation.
“Why did we come here?” Yiran asked. His voice trembled, but it wasn’t because of the cold. A sudden understanding was descending
on him. “Why did you bring me here, Yuki?”
Yuki’s lips parted, but all Yiran could hear was the wind. He had to get out of this place. What was Yuki saying? The wind
was too damned loud.
Yiran mouthed it to himself. Was Yuki saying sorry?
The wind whistled sharply again—no, that creak had come from behind. It was the creaking of a door.
Something slammed against his skull.
And everything went dark.