Chapter 61 Ash
Ash
Ash leaned on the balls of his feet as he waited. He had tried calling Rui, but the line went straight to voice mail. He managed
to get a hold of Ada instead. After checking Rui’s dorm room, she reported swiftly that Rui was gone. No one knew where she
was.
Ash had visited The Reverie first, but no one came to the door. He stopped by Zizi’s shophouse next, but it was shut. Finally,
he found Matthias Lin’s current address, and he’d come here on the assumption that Rui would want to see the only family she
had after her arduous journey from the underworld.
The front door opened. Just a crack. He could see a sliver of Rui’s face. “Oh good, you’re here.”
She made no move to open the door farther.
Ash frowned. “It’s me. Open up.”
“Why are you here?”
“Why didn’t you tell me you were back? Did you manage to talk to Zizi—the Fourth King, whatever—about the talisman?”
“Are you alone? Does anyone know you’re here?”
“Yes. No. What’s going on?”
Rui stared hard at him. “I want to trust you.”
Something about her expression reminded him of how she had looked when he last questioned her about Yiran. “Is my brother
in there with you?”
She didn’t answer. Which could only mean one thing. “Is he okay? Let me in. I know he didn’t do it—I want to protect him.
Let me see him.”
After a beat, she nodded. “Give me a sec.” She shut the door.
The next few minutes were agony. Ash could shoot the locks with his spiritual weapon, but it would do nothing to earn the trust of those inside. He was thankful to have found Yiran, but he didn’t know how he was going to explain what their supposedly-dead-but-actually-alive father had been up to.
The door finally opened, and Rui gestured him in.
The last time these same three pairs of eyes were staring at him, Ash had discovered something miraculous about his brother.
This time, he was even less sure what to expect.
“Hey, Lan Xi,” Zizi said cheerfully, breaking the silence. He was holding a plate of buttered toast.
“I didn’t know you were back too,” Ash said, still astonished that the scrawny boy he’d met in an alleyway was, allegedly,
an immortal being from the underworld. Apart from the silver emo-streaks in his hair, he looked more or less the same, albeit
paler and thinner.
“Miss me?” Zizi asked slyly.
Ash did not bother to answer.
“Hi, Ash,” Yiran mumbled, unable to meet his eyes.
It was easy to take that as a sign of guilt, but the video footage he’d seen had convinced Ash of Yiran’s innocence. They
faced each other, awkward and uncomfortable. Ash wanted to hug his little brother, but his hands stayed by his sides.
Huffing, Rui grabbed him and Yiran by the wrists, dragging them to the living room. She pointed at the couch. “Sit.”
They sat.
“Now talk to each other,” she commanded.
She shoved Zizi and his stack of toast into the kitchen, even though it was obvious he very much wanted to stay and listen
to what the Song brothers had to say. The apartment was too small for there to be any real privacy, but Ash appreciated her
efforts. He could sense the turmoil inside Yiran. There was no point playing games; it was best to be forthright.
“I saw you at the teahouse with Yeye, but I know you didn’t do it. I knew you would never.”
Upon hearing his brother’s assurance, Yiran’s face crumpled, and he took a long, shaky breath.
“Where have you been?” Ash said softly. “I kept calling you. I even called Theo until he confessed he was covering for you.
He’s worried too.”
Yiran was counting under his breath. His fingers unfurled, and Ash saw the small white scars. Scars that rebuked him. Scars
he’d ignored over the years, telling himself that his brother was fine. That Song Wei was only doing what was best for the
family.
“I got hold of security footage from that day,” Ash said. “I don’t know why you were at The Green Needle, but I’m sure you
had a good reason. The Council says the spiritual energy erupted from you and that you murdered Yeye, but they’re wrong.”
He wanted so badly to assure Yiran that everything would be fine. He would take care of it. He would take care of his little
brother. “I saw something that will prove your innocence—I saw someone else at the teahouse. It wasn’t the clearest, but he . . .
I’m sure I . . .” Ash couldn’t continue. Part of him didn’t want it to be true.
“You saw our father,” Yiran said dully.
“How did you know? Did you see him too?” Ash demanded, stunned that Yiran knew their father was alive. And just when he thought
that nothing else could surprise him, Yiran exhaled and raised his hand.
Crimson sparks hovered over his fingers.
“I’ll start from the beginning.”
Ash listened attentively to everything Yiran had to say. He tried to stay calm, to exude the sense of stability and sanity
he thought his brother needed to see. But the tough shell his body had built started to crack as Yiran’s revelations continued.
His first reaction was that it didn’t sound like the father he knew.
But if he was being honest with himself, he didn’t know his father well at all.
Truth was, they hadn’t been as close as he’d led younger Yiran to think.
Song Liming had been far too busy with his Exorcist duties to be home much, and for some reason, there’d always been a kind of barrier between father and son.
In some ways, it felt like Ash’s birth had disappointed his father somehow.
Ash had been so excited when Yiran joined the family, and he’d wanted his new brother to be proud of the Songs. He had wanted
to show how amazing their father was, thinking that the amazingness would rub off on himself too, and that Yiran would like
him more. What were a few embellishments and white lies about their relationship if he could make his brother proud? Make
him love his new family? But Ash understood now that in his effort to pull Yiran closer, he had pushed him away.
Yiran had started trembling in the middle of talking. Ash wondered how many times his brother had to patch himself up, sewing
himself together again and again after tearing apart. Even once was too many.
He reached over, taking Yiran’s hand in his own. “I’m sorry . . . for everything.”
“I blamed you,” Yiran said. But when he finally looked up, he was smiling. “But I wasn’t being fair. I don’t anymore.”
Ash smiled back. It felt like a chasm was closing. Someone would have to take down Song Liming eventually, and he swore it
would not be his brother.
There was still the matter of the Guild Council at hand. The Council members had not told Ash that Yiran was an Amplifier.
They’d kept the truth from him. Lied to him. How long had he been a good, obedient soldier for them? How long had he carried
out their will and his grandfather’s will, swallowing his questions, quieting his own voice? He’d thought it was his duty
to carry on the Song legacy, but it was a tainted and terrible one. It didn’t have to continue this way. He could break the
cycle.
“I don’t think the Council knows about Dad—about Song Liming,” he said. He hadn’t gotten used to not calling that man Dad yet. “They pinned Yeye’s death on you so they could send Exorcists after you without revealing you’re an Amplifier.”
Yiran’s eyes turned steely. He didn’t look like the frightened little boy Ash remembered.
“We can clear my name later. We need to get the talisman and stop our father first. Zizi and I came up with a plan. Rui isn’t
quite on board, but I hope you’ll be.” Yiran craned his neck, yelling in the direction of the kitchen. “You can come over
now.”
Rui and Zizi trooped in, settling onto the couch next to Yiran.
“We were eavesdropping, so there’s no need to catch us up,” Zizi said in a matter-of-fact way.
Rui shot him an aghast look. “We didn’t mean to, but you weren’t exactly keeping it down.” At least she had the decency to
look embarrassed.
Ash didn’t have the energy to be upset with either of them. “Tell me about the plan.”
Zizi and Yiran laid things out, with Rui throwing in a side of skepticism.
“It’s risky,” Ash said when they were done.
“It’s the only way,” Yiran said. “Let me do this. I have to.”
Yiran’s expression told Ash all he needed to know. His brother wanted redemption, and in his mind, this was atonement. “Given
our choices, it might be the best bet,” Ash said reluctantly. “Regardless, our primary objective for this mission should be
the talisman and nothing more.”
“What about the kidnapped Exorcists and cadets? What about Surin?” Rui asked. “Shouldn’t we use this opportunity to rescue
them too? Can’t you send in a team of Exorcists?”
Others are searching too.
Ash wasn’t sure which Exorcists he could trust to keep his brother alive if they saw him. He would have to rely on Teshin
and the rest of his A-Team. Still, there might be other ways to make use of the Exorcists’ firepower.
“Let me handle that,” he said. “Timing is important. We don’t want to spook the Hybrids and have them escape with the talisman and the prisoners.”
Yiran sat up. “Shut down the city. Shift things to our advantage.”
“A complete lockdown,” Rui said, eyes glinting, catching on to what he was saying. “Make it too dangerous and risky for the
Hybrids to come out and feed. It’ll weaken them and stop them from moving around.”
“Have the rescue team on standby,” Yiran said, nodding at Rui. They were in sync with each other. “Once I’m clear, they can
go in to do a clean sweep.”
Ash didn’t like that the plan had so many variables in flux, but it was a shot they had to take. “We’ll have to improvise
if things change. I’ll make the preparations.” He glanced at Yiran pointedly. “Kodie will put a tracker in you.”
“It won’t work.” Quickly, Yiran explained the device the Hybrids had used on him.
Ash hit the table in frustration. “That must be how they found Surin’s tracker. Fine. You get in, you find the talisman, you
get out immediately. No casting of the rogue spell, nothing flashy, and no unplanned heroics.”
“Then I’ll bring it to the underworld and destroy it,” Zizi said.
He had been oddly quiet for a while in the ongoing conversation. The darkness in his left iris had grown, the pale blue almost
swallowed up by black. Ash brushed it off. There were more important things to focus on; Zizi could take care of himself.
After all, he was immortal.