Chapter 45 Rui
Rui
A light breeze came through the windows in the infirmary, and the blue flames flickered toward Zizi. But he didn’t move, didn’t
even flinch. He wasn’t afraid of her fire.
Wasn’t afraid of her.
“Does it hurt? Is it burning you?” Zizi asked, still holding her hands away from her body.
Rui shook her head. The flames on her hands were small, a little warm, almost tickling her fingers. “They’re . . . different
this time. It felt like it came from a place of anger on the highway, like a scream in my head. Right now, they’re just . . .
here.”
“This doesn’t make any sense.” Zizi looked confused, but also relieved. “Maybe it’s a sign you’re adapting to them.”
Somehow it didn’t feel that way. Rui shivered, a raw catch in her voice. “What’s wrong with me?”
With no regard for himself, Zizi wrapped her up—fire and all—in his arms.
Rui struggled, but he held firm. “It’s okay, the flames don’t hurt me either, remember?” he assured.
She softened, allowing him to hold her. The steady beat of his heart centered her, and slowly she felt the thing inside her
subside.
When she pulled away, the blue flames were gone.
Zizi helped her with her clothes, wrapping his own sweater around her like a scarf. “I’m taking you to your room,” he said,
scooping her up in his arms before she could protest. “Grab that, will you?”
She snagged his tank top, but when she reached for his Exorcist coat, he shook his head.
“Leave it.”
“It’s freezing outside.”
“The cold doesn’t bother me much.”
Pressed against his bare chest, Rui directed him to the dormitories, trying not to feel mortified as he carried her across
campus. It was late, but several cadets were still around, and they gawked at the half-dressed boy swaggering down the hallways
of Xingshan Academy with its star cadet in his arms and a shit-eating grin on his face.
She was never going to live this down.
With the door to her room firmly shut, Zizi settled her onto the bed. His nose was pink, and his skin looked as chilly as
she felt. As he pulled on his tank top, Rui stared at the sprawling tattoo of wings on his back. They moved as his muscles
tensed.
“Ash said there’s a room for me on campus, but no one bothered to tell me where.” Zizi shrugged. “I’ll stay the night to make
sure you’re okay; I’ll be outside your door.”
“If you’re staying, you’re staying in the room.” It would be against the Academy rules, but Rui had already broken so many
tonight, she didn’t care anymore. “Ash would be upset if he knew his prized healer was sleeping out in the cold. I don’t want
to be responsible for that.”
“Lan Xi does take care of his people,” Zizi admitted with a frown, reluctant to praise the man who’d maneuvered his way into
recruiting the mage for the Guild. “We should have a hot shower to warm up.” When Rui stared, Zizi added, “Separately. Get your mind out of the gutter, Rooroo.”
“I wasn’t—” she started to say, then shut her mouth. Zizi grinned as she felt her cheeks burn.
“You can go first,” he said with a gracious gesture.
Rui kicked his shin and he yelped. “I hate you so much,” she said fondly.
“You must be feeling better to kick so hard,” he said, rubbing his leg.
She almost laughed. She wasn’t better. They both knew that.
“I’m too tired. I’ll save the hot shower for morning.” She could barely get under the covers by herself.
“Rest is good,” Zizi agreed, flicking the light switch.
The room plunged into near darkness. He sat on the floor next to the bed, leaning his back against the frame.
Rui tapped the top of his head lightly. “You don’t have to sleep there.”
Zizi looked up over his shoulder. Half his face was in shadow, but she could see the dubious arch of his eyebrows. “Looks
like you have a twin-sized bed. I’m six feet tall and—”
“You sleep on a crappy mattress on the floor of your shophouse,” Rui reminded him. “I’m sure my Academy-issued bed is fine.”
“—a gentleman.”
She sighed. “Oh, just get in.”
Zizi shook his head with amusement. “This wasn’t how I imagined our first night together.”
Rui’s jaw dropped. “Have you actually imagined—”
He pressed a finger to her lips. “Didn’t mean to say that out loud. I must be tired too. Please ignore whatever I just said—thank
you, I will join you in your tiny and uncomfortable Academy-issued bed.”
She laughed and made room for him to climb in. Draping an arm around him, she rested her head on his chest.
Zizi’s hand found hers immediately, his fingers stroking her knuckles absently, like a habit so ingrained it’d become a natural
part of him. Rui smiled. It felt right, like they’d always been together, lying side by side, fingers interlaced, two pieces of the same puzzle created for the
sole purpose of fitting together.
“If your spiritual weapon was a conduit for the blue fire, then isn’t the fire also a form of spiritual energy?” he said suddenly.
He must be thinking of the first time her blue flames had manifested on the highway, when she drove her flaming sword through
Aloysius—and him.
“Aloysius said it was similar to yinqi.” Rui shivered. She didn’t want to think about the Hybrids.
“That’s impossible.” But she thought she heard a hint of doubt in Zizi’s voice. “Anyway, it’s late,” he said, holding her
tighter. “You should get some rest. We’ll talk tomorrow.”
Rui nestled into him, wishing the night would last forever, that she could lie in his arms, the two of them hidden from the rest of the world.
The pitter-patter of rain against the window woke her. Stretching her stiff limbs, Rui found herself alone in bed.
Something scratched her skin. A pink sticky note on her arm. She recognized Zizi’s slanted writing.
Went to the hotel. Didn’t want to wake you. Back soon!
Rui smiled at the comically large heart drawn over the last two words. Had he gone to ask his grandmother about her blue flames?
Or did his head hurt again? Either way, she wished he had taken her with him.
She frowned at the red thread looped a few times around her wrist. It looked like the one Zizi always wore. He must have taken
a length from his own and tied it there. Was it meant to be a romantic gesture? Smiling to herself, Rui found her phone and
checked the time. It was almost noon. Crap. Too late to see Ada off on her mission.
She tramped into the bathroom. The hot water from the shower was a welcome reprieve from the cold weather and the lingering
chill in her bones. Trying to absorb all the warmth she could, she stayed in there until the skin on her fingers puckered.
She was pulling on a sweater when she heard a noise.
A whisper.
Was someone in her room? She stuck her head out of the bathroom. The room was empty.
But there it was again. The same childlike voice.
“Hello? Hel-looo!”
It was coming from her bed.
Rui tipped the pillow over.
Nikai’s mirror.
“Nikai?”
A face appeared in the glass, but it wasn’t his.
A young girl was staring back at Rui, her large brown eyes looking too big for her face. The ends of her dark brown curls were ashy, like the color was fading.
“Hello,” she said.
“Hi? Who are you?” said Rui, noticing the skull print on the girl’s purple dress. Was she a Reaper too? “Where’s Nikai?”
“Nikai cannot speak at the moment.”
“Did he send you? Does he have an update? Has he found out anything about the blue—” Rui bit her tongue. Why were the words
spilling out of her mouth? Even through the mirror, she could feel a force pushing her to speak.
Rui had a sudden inkling who this girl might be.
The little girl quirked her head. “Show me your blue fire.”
“I can’t—it bursts out of me randomly. I can’t control it.”
“Randomly?” The girl seemed disappointed. “There should have been a pattern. But maybe you fail to see it.”
“There isn’t. It comes out of my hands, but I’ve used my sword with it once. I think it was a fluke and—” Rui cursed angrily.
“I will speak because I want to, not because you’re making me. I don’t know how you’re doing it through this piece of glass,
but I know what you’re doing, Seven.” Damned if she addressed a little girl with Your Majesty.
She felt the force releasing her.
Seven giggled. “Clever . . . what a clever little bug you are. You’re pretty, too. I can see why he likes you.”
Was she talking about Nikai?
“Why did you contact me?” Rui asked. “Do you have a message for me?”
“I guess.” Seven made no move to elaborate.
Rui’s patience was wearing thin. The Kings of Hell were an annoying bunch. “Out with it,” she said sternly.
Seven widened her eyes. “Nikai has discovered who contains Four’s power.”
Who? Was Seven saying that the other vessel was a person, too? What were the odds of Four choosing two different humans; one to contain his power, one to house his soul?
Suddenly, Seven made herself small, pulling in her arms and legs like she was afraid. “The Nothing is coming,” she whispered.
Her lips lost their color, and her face was pallid. She looked like she was fading, just like her hair. “You must save us,
Rui. If the underworld ceases to exist, there will be nowhere for the souls to go. They will not be collected, they will wander
aimlessly in your realm, and the Blight will take them.”
The glass flickered, and the edges of Seven’s face blurred. She was still mouthing something.
“What are you saying? I can’t hear you,” said Rui, picking up the mirror.
“. . . is waiting . . . will tell you . . .”
“Is Nikai waiting for me? Does he want to meet to tell me who the vessel is?”
The glass flickered again.
Seven’s face vanished, and Rui was left with a disembodied whisper.
“. . . he is waiting beneath the stairway to heaven . . .”