39. Move Along
Move Along
After what felt like an eternity, the Palace of Radiant Clouds finally seemed normal again.
Or, at least as normal as it could, for a pocket dimension ghost palace.
It was gonna take a while before he fully wrapped his head around it all.
“So, Mr. Liu, what are you planning to do now? Go back to running your pawn shop?” Bailey asked, leaning against the altar, “we could drop in to chat from time to time,”
Ruanyu smiled warmly, patting the top of Bailey’s frazzled pink hair.
“As much as I’ve enjoyed living in Pacific Cove, and among humanity more generally, I think it’s time to return to heaven.
Rather than spending more centuries avoiding the Jade Emperor’s ire, my time may be better spent gaining influence among his court.
Maybe then he won’t be so hostile whenever mortals act in ways he can’t predict,”
“Promise you’ll at least pop in every now and then? We graduate in like six months and it would be a crime if our jade dragon honorary grandpa wasn’t there to cheer us on,” Chloe added, wincing and holding her abdomen as she giggled.
“I wouldn’t miss it for all the tea in China!” Ruanyu said with a cheeky wink, before waving fondly… and disappearing in a flash of green light.
“What the hell have our lives turned into?” Chris exhaustedly sighed, sitting down and resting against the wall, “shit’s so wild man,”
“That’s putting it mildly,” Dustin replied, joining his brother on the ground, “I’m still waiting to wake up in a hospital and for a doctor to tell me that this has all been a comatose dream or some shit,”
Mist rolled into the room, light and airy, swirling upwards and taking the familiar shape of Sima Yao.
“Your lives have become what they were always meant to be, Master Ying,” he said, smiling widely. The entire group rushed to surround him, only realizing that they couldn’t actually touch him after the fact.
“Oh, thank God, I thought you died!” James exhaled in relief, “don’t scare us like that again!”
“Master Zhang… I was killed thousands of years ago. I am not sure that it is possible for a ghost to die again,”
“Well let’s not find out!”
Sima looked around at the group, his face somewhere between sadness and contentment.
“Elemasters, I… I cannot find the words to adequately summarize my feelings. You have done what myself and the other Sages could not. Qin Shi Huang… Ying Zheng, has finally found peace, and the threat is ended. It is over, for now,”
“For now?! That motherfucker better not be coming back bro, I swear to God,” Chris groaned.
“I think you all have seen to it that he will not return. But if the centuries have taught me anything, it is that peace is not lasting. We may be fated to meet again in this place, I may be finally permitted to rest and enter the next life, born anew. Whatever awaits us, I wish you this; health, love, and perhaps above all, problems worth solving,”
“Thank you for everything Sima, we couldn’t have done any of it without you,” Dustin said, doing his best Qin era formal bow. Sima Yao grinned and returned the gesture.
“And I thank you, Dustin. For finally allowing this old ghost to fulfill his purpose,” Sima gestured to the arched doorway on the far side of the room, “take time in the Celestial Grotto. Rest, heal, and prepare to return to your lives. There are still many pieces yet to pick up,”
The warm waters of the Celestial Grotto felt like they were penetrating Dustin’s soul as he floated there on his back, finally allowing himself to relax a little bit.
Everyone had abandoned their torn and blood stained clothes on the roots of the large tree overlooking the pool, and now they were just lounging around like they never wanted time to keep ticking forward.
“I’m kinda pissed at Sima for not telling us this place had a fucking hot tub sooner,” Chris said, his eyes closed in bliss as he rested his head on Bailey’s shoulder, “I know it’s supposed to be for healing or whatever, but damn it’s peaceful,”
“You’re so right babe,” Bailey hummed in agreement, “do we like… have to leave? Because I could totally live here,”
“I’ll drink to that girl,” Chloe raised an invisible toast, “the Palace is more than spacious enough for five bedrooms,”
“Me and Dustin only need one,” James wiggled his eyebrows suggestively, but then his expression dropped a bit, “actually… I snore like a woodchipper. Baobei, you might want your own space,”
Dustin and the others broke into laughter, and he playfully splashed James before sitting up and resting against one of the tree’s roots where it dipped into the water.
“Unfortunately, we’ve gotta do damage control sooner or later. Even if the church folks didn’t tell anyone about us using our powers to save them, I’m sure the storm did a lot of damage to the town. We’ve gotta help out however we can,”
“Uuuugh,” Chris squeezed his eyes shut tighter, “can’t we leave this one to the adultier adults? We’ve done enough for a lifetime,”
“Not how that works bro,”
“I know… which is why I’m pissed about it. I’ll help, but I will be complaining the entire time,”
“It would be weirder if you didn’t,”
“Well, you said we gotta do it ‘sooner or later’… I pick later,” Chloe fully let herself melt into the water, “for now, we’ve earned a little TLC,”
Dustin had absolutely no desire to argue.
TLC sounded pretty damn good.
The streets of Pacific Cove looked like the aftermath of a damn warzone.
The fierce winds from the unnatural storm were enough to shatter windows, lightning strikes left craters in the pavement, and the intense rain was enough to cause flooding in some parts of town.
Sima Yao sent the Elemasters back to the Blood of Life Ministries parking lot, where James immediately got to work getting rid of the impossibly tall tree he’d summoned earlier that night.
Dustin’s first instinct was to knock on the church doors to check on the people inside, but before he could do so, the sound of screeching tires got his attention.
His mother’s minivan came careening into the parking lot, skidding to a stop as she hopped out and ran over to him.
“WHAT ARE YOU DOING OUT HERE?! ARE YOU INSANE!” Charlotte immediately started yelling, pulling Dustin into a bone-crushing hug and checking him all over as if the storm personally beat him up…
which, it kinda did but she didn’t know that, “that storm is the worst one I’ve ever seen! You told me you were at home!”
“And you were supposed to be getting a motel for the night instead of risking it on the road,” Dustin reminded her, “so I got it from my mom,”
“I should pinch you for that, but I’m just glad you’re not hurt,” Charlotte said, exhaling a shaky laugh, “but you still didn’t answer me. What are you doing here at the church?”
“Looking for that asshole,” Dustin just nodded to the space behind Charlotte… where Chris was standing with a big smile plastered across his face. Charlotte’s expression ran the full gamut from disbelief to absolute, unadulterated elation as she laid eyes on her other son.
“CHRISTIAN?!”
“Present and accounted for, babe,” Chris began, but his words were cut off by his mom’s arms wrapping around him.
“God, I have a million questions. Where have you been?! You clearly haven’t been eating! I swear you better not have been doing drugs or I’m going to ground you until you’re a hundred!”
“Okaasan, chill,” Chris assured her, putting his large hands on her shoulders and looking her in the eye, “I haven’t been doing drugs.
I just… I needed to be MIA for a while, but then I ended up getting lost in a really dark place.
Trust me, I’m okay now. Thanks to Dustin. Thanks to all these guys, really,”
The tension in Charlotte’s shoulders slowly dissolved as she took a deep breath.
“Well, I can’t possibly thank all of you enough for this. Why don’t you all come back to our house and I’ll make Manju buns? A celebration seems appropriate,”
Dustin looked around at the battered buildings and streets, hearing sirens blaring in the distance as the emergency response finally came.
“Shouldn’t we stay and help? I’m sure the first responders are gonna need all the hands they can get,”
“There will be plenty of work left for us if you’re so desperate to do community service, but I’m not passing up the chance to taste your mom’s food again,” Chloe said, “now get your big booty in the car and let’s go eat. I’m starving,”
As the group filed into the Cadillac and followed Charlotte home, Dustin couldn’t take his eyes off the black ring around his pinky.
Something so small, that anyone else in the world would see as insignificant, had taken him from a shy swimmer who’d given up on his musical ambitions and accepted a life as the “quiet Ying twin”, to an unsung hero who’d just basically saved the whole damn world.
He couldn’t even begin to imagine where it would take him next.
But wherever that may have been, he knew one thing…
He was ready to take a deep breath, and embrace it.