Chapter Fifteen
“Father!” Shanlin called as he hurried into the room.
Leander jerked upright. He’d been dozing, his head pressed against the carved side of the ornate bed where Xi slept.
Xi groaned as Leander hit his cheek by accident.
Master Teacher Wang followed behind with a bemused expression.
At least that was a significant improvement over the expression he could have worn given Shanlin’s propensity to be annoying.
“Are you being a good boy?” Leander asked.
“I am,” Shanlin promised, and then he turned his attention to Xi who sprawled on the bed with the grace of a corpse with one foot firmly planted in a grave.
“Are you feeling better?” Shanlin asked.
He bounced on his toes. Given the indulgent expression on Master Teacher Wang’s face, Leander suspected copious amounts of candy.
“Much. Thank you for asking,” Xi said in a strained voice.
“I’m glad she didn’t get away with poisoning you,” he said.
“Who is she?” Leander asked sharply.
“Most poisoners are women,” Shanlin said.
“I saw it on this television show I used to watch with Mother. It was all about how criminals got caught, and the show said that women were more likely to use poison than men, just like women were more likely to kill themselves in a bathroom so that it would be easier for the family to clean up the mess.”
Leander lost the ability to speak for a moment. He could not imagine a less appropriate television show for children. Tecca had clearly lacked any common sense.
“That sounds interesting,” Xi said weakly.
Completely missing the horror in Xi’s voice, Shanlin nodded enthusiastically.
“There was one episode where they thought this man had killed a woman because his phone and car and credit card were all used to get her to visit him, and he said someone must’ve stolen his phone and his credit card and his car and then returned them before he noticed and everyone thought he was the killer.
Then it turned out that his friend had borrowed all three and then returned them and was going to let him go to prison for murder.
” Shanlin managed all that without taking a breath.
Either sugar or supernatural forces were involved.
“How fortunate that he cleared his name,” Leander said. He gave Xi a desperate look hoping he had some change of topic that could rescue them from this shit show, but Xi just stared back with the same mute horror.
Master Teacher Wang cleared his throat. “Heng had hoped that you would sit the examination for our school. Is there a chance you would be interested in that?”
“I’m afraid I cannot take that risk,” Leander said. “I know it would temporarily weaken my magical abilities, and this is not the appropriate time.”
“I promise you are perfectly safe in the school, and your qidi and son would be welcome to stay with you. We encourage people to separate from their worldly obligations once they are in the later core foundation stages, but now you should enjoy your relationships.”
Leander hesitated, not sure how to navigate these waters.
Master Teacher Wang was offering an incredible opportunity, especially given how much Chinese magic users disliked outsiders, but he needed to protect himself and Shanlin.
If the Chinese government came, Master Teacher Wang or Heng would be obligated to tell the truth.
He could not risk weakening his own magic, even for the promise of stronger magic later.
“I take it as a sign of respect that you would even offer me a chance to sit for the examination,” Leander said slowly, “but I fear this is not the right time to pursue my magical education.”
Master Teacher Wang nodded. “It is a wise man who knows his own limitations.” He turned to Shanlin. “And an even wiser one who can teach his elders something new.”
Horror washed through Leander as he considered Shanlin’s guilty expression.
What had he done? Leander had been very explicit that elders were to be treated as infallible and listened to at all costs.
They were just lucky that any misbehavior was in front of Master Teacher Wang and not Pill Master Yang who would have demanded punishment.
Before Leander could compose an appropriate apology, Master Teacher Wang spoke. “Since you will not sit for the examination, then we must find alternate living arrangements for you.”
“We can go back to Acolyte Heng’s house,” Leander said.
“I don’t think that would be safe,” Xi said, and his pale complexion and shaking hands reinforced that.
“I quite agree,” Master Teacher Wang said, “and that is why the Nie family will take you in. You are qidi to their son, even if you did not complete all the proper ceremonies.”
“‘Ceremonies’?” Leander had no idea that he had failed to complete adoption rites.
Knowing how seriously the Chinese took their traditions, he was surprised the Heng’s family wanted to have anything to do with him.
It was a major breach of etiquette to neglect family ceremonies.
“We would not wish to impose,” Leander said.
“Sure we would,” Xi interrupted, and Leander glared at him.
Xi held up both hands as though surrendering. “Someone poisoned me, they may have been trying to poison you, and we have nowhere else to go. Staying with your friend’s family sounds good.”
Leander opened his mouth to protest, but Master Teacher Wang slapped his hands together with a sharp crack. “Excellent. I will contact them, so they are prepared to host you.”
Horror clawed at Leander’s ribs. He couldn’t impose on his ex-lover’s family after he had apparently failed some tradition. His shrivelled, misanthropic heart would fail.
Master Teacher Wang gave him a cheerful grin that didn’t fit the image of a staid and noble elder. If anything, he seemed gleefully naughty. Meddling, autocratic, molding excuse of a dishtowel.
Wang held out a hand toward Shanlin. “Come, I will introduce you to Nie Heng’s parents, who will be very pleased to meet you. And in return, you can teach me more about Star Wars.”
Shanlin practically flew toward Master Teacher Wang, grabbing his hand before being whisked out of the room.
Leander rubbed his eyes and wondered when his life had gotten so out of control.
Probably when he was twelve years old, and the staff had brought Finn to the group home.
Before that, Leander had done an excellent job of being the loner who hid in the corner of any room.
But Finn had dragged Leander almost involuntarily into a friend group that had turned family.
Leander had always been flotsam pushed about by the ocean currents.
He sank into his chair and stared at Xi. “You could have backed me up and said you wanted to return to town.”
“The potential murder plot argues otherwise,” Xi said without an ounce of remorse. Annoying, obnoxious, decomposing example of a dingleberry.
“Now we’re going to be caught in the middle of a potentially complicated family situation, and I don’t even know what ceremony I missed.
But trust me—someone will take offense, and insults will fly, and passive-aggressive will happen.
They will probably smile and serve food before torturing us with detailed lists of our inadequacies.
” Leander wondered if he could get himself some poison.
Xi had the audacity to be amused. “You’re overreacting. Again. You either overreact or completely stick your head in the sand. You should find the middle ground.”
Leander stopped rubbing his eyes just long enough to glare at Xi. “Family obligations are complicated in China, and I don’t know where we fit into the family given that it was my friend who adopted me as his little brother.”
“If his parents are taking us in, it sounds like there are some good feelings.”
Leander stared at Xi blankly. “If the master teacher asks, they will take us in out of obligation. However, have you ever seen a Chinese drama? Even one?”
“No,” Xi said slowly.
“Adopted family members are the villains in those stories,” Leander said.
Xi gave him a crooked grin. “Then we’re right back where we started, living with people who look down on us for being orphans. It’ll feel like home.”
Leander hated it when Xi brought up the history they shared.
Life would’ve been much easier if he had never connected to people, never learned to love them and then lose them over and over until he had no one left and he sat in a shitty, little apartment filled with shitty, little plants because he had no one else.
“Hey,” Xi said, reaching out for Leander even though he was too far away. Still, his hand stretched across the distance. “We’re going to be okay.”
“The way we’re always okay? The way none of us have ended up dead? Yes. Because things always turn out well for us.” Leander clenched down on the urge to scream. Xi was such a numpty.
“We’re still here.”
“And how many of us aren’t?” Leander demanded.
“I saw Ireen that day, you know. The druggies she was living with, they knew we were friends. They wanted someone to take her to the hospital, so they called me. By the time I got there....” Leander closed his eyes.
He hadn’t seen the bodies of Tecca or Karn.
.. or Finn, and Petel had disappeared without a body, but he often imagined Ireen’s empty eyes in their faces.
And then he had worked hard to remember nothing about any of his friends at all.
Xi winced as he forced his body up and sat on the edge of the bed. “We’ve all had shit hands in this game, but we do the best we can. It’s what we’ve always done. If this Nie family is more than we can handle, we’ll leave.”
Leander had envisioned himself having a normal life here. Working in a small village. Raising Shanlin. “I shouldn’t have wanted more. When you have more, when you love more, it’s just more that the world can take away from you.”
Xi hissed with pain as he stumbled to Leander’s side, where he almost collapsed.