Chapter 34 Nai Nai’s Extra Special Powerup
thirty-four
Nai Nai’s Extra Special Powerup
My skin is tacky when I wake up, and I desperately want to shower, but I know I can’t.
I throw open the window, letting the cool fall air wick away some of my sweat.
I have to avoid anything that would make my skin damp, and I definitely can’t wipe the sweat off.
I pump my loose shirt to get more of the moisture to evaporate.
I stare across the street to where the cop car once sat for weeks. It feels strange not to see it there beside the little blue post box on the corner. The wind carries in the scent of woodsmoke, offsetting the crayon-scented tinge that wafts up from under my shirt.
My phone dings with a text message beside my bedroll. I pick it up and see it’s my old friend, the detective.
Armhurts: Got an earlier flight. Coming in this afternoon. Please don’t do anything stupid.
I wonder if she has a sixth sense for stuff like this? I don’t think the plan is stupid, but I’m sure to someone like her it seems pretty rash, and insane, since she doesn’t believe in Grandma’s mysticism. But I’m certain it’ll work.
I have to be. There’s no other alternative.
I realize I’m scratching something sticky on my back and groan. My fingers come away with black rolled under my nails and I sigh, glaring at the ceiling.
Already ruined one. Great.
“Nai Nai!” I groan as I walk from my bedroom.
She’s sitting at her work desk in the living room, weaving red twine through holes in the tops of little wooden placards. She mumbles something in Chinese I don’t catch, then grabs the nearly depleted palette of Halloween skin paint.
I lift up my shirt and turn around so she can get the rune. I feel her weathered finger press into the spot that itches and drag a new line of black paint. She hums and moves my shirt, then touches up another mark I probably smudged in the night.
“Are you sure this is what you want to do, Jiahui?” she asks.
I swallow the rise of bile at the back of my throat and nod. “This move will put us in a position to negotiate for real.”
And then once we have Lei, we can use just a little of his blood to make Zhao-specific protections on the café and our talismans, making us that much safer from him. Is it sort of wrong to use his blood like this against his consent? Yes. Do I care?
Only a tiny bit.
I care about keeping Ace and Nai Nai safe while we get our parents back, and if that means conning the con man, I’m ready to get my hands filthy.
“That was not an answer,” Nai Nai says as she pulls my shirt down.
I turn to face her. Nervous lines crease the skin around her lips. She holds my gaze, demanding I answer. A knot fills up the space in my stomach where breakfast should be.
“I know I’m not a hero for doing the same thing as my enemy, but I’m not a bad guy, either. I won’t let this lead to worse behavior. I want to do this.”
I want Mama and Baba back.
She pats my hand. “Your heart has always been heavy with guilt that’s not yours to carry. You are not at fault for their predicament. You are not responsible for solving it.”
Weeks ago, I would’ve rejected this idea, and the urge to shy away from her is still strong. But I don’t protest, and she continues.
“My son went into debt with Zhao knowing who he was. He is being held accountable for his decisions—unjustly,” she interjects when my mouth pops open to protest. “But it is not up to you to give him and your mother justice. It is not up to you to punish the men who have been punishing them.”
“If not me, then who will?” I ask.
“You don’t have faith in the nice detective?”
I move to rub the back of my neck and halt, flopping my hand against my side with a sigh. “Maybe, but it could take years, Nai Nai. It’s already been years. Zixin needs his mom and dad back.”
She hums thoughtfully and returns to weaving string through the wood placards.
“Meanwhile, Lei would still be free to come bother us whenever he wants. My plan solves two things.”
“You plan to keep him forever?”
“No, part of our agreement will be that the Zhao family can’t bother us anymore.”
She tightens the string, then ties it off with a decisive jerk before looking up at me. “And if Shang says no to your deal?”
“Who wouldn’t protect their son?”
The wood clacks as Nai Nai raises the new charm, settling it around my wrist. She slips the beaded end through the tight loop, closing the circle.
Power moves into me, awakening another sense I didn’t know I had.
An anticipatory sense, as if the future whispers to me, but only from a few feet ahead.
We’ll see, it murmurs in my inner ear, and I cock my head.
“We’ll see, won’t we?” Nai Nai says.
I lift the charm to my eyes. “Is this your magic?”
Step ahead.
She nods. “It should keep you one step ahead.”
I laugh. “Is this what it’s like being you all the time?”
I get a sense of her answer before she starts speaking but force myself to focus on her words instead.
“Yes, but I’m very experienced in putting the information away and blocking it from my mind. I spend an hour meditating every morning, reviewing these thoughts and strengthening the barrier between me and the magic.
“This much of it should give you very little view into the future, to help anticipate their moves. It will become more natural with time, which I wish we had more of, but if we practice filtering current truth from future truth over breakfast, I’m sure you’ll catch on.”
I grin as I sense Ace walking down the hall with Nai Nai’s magic. A moment later, he emerges from their room with a sleepy-eyed blink. He stops in his tracks, looking at me with sudden shock.
“What?” we both say at the same time, me smiling like a loon.
“What are you doing?” I say with him again.
His gaze snaps to Nai Nai.
“What did you do to her?” we say in tandem, his voice cracking with his increasing panic.
Nai Nai chuckles and smacks my wrist. “Stop, child, you’re abusing my power.”
I break into a fit of laughter and Ace groans.
“You should’ve seen your face,” I wheeze between breaths.
He marches right up and punches me in the shoulder.
“Aye, watch the runes,” I say, cradling the spot. “That did actually kinda smart.”
“You deserve it for being so dumb,” he says with a snort.
The last of the joviality leaves me in a final amused sigh.
“You’re getting strong,” I say, ruffling his hair.
He bats my hand away with another groan and fixes his hair. I move back in to poke him in the ribs, getting a good jab in. Grandma’s magic alerts me to his countermove and I dodge the smack, poking him in the belly. He hollers a, “Not fair!” at the same time I do as I move with anticipatory grace.
“āiyā, bié dǎ nào le!” Nai Nai grumbles as she rises from her chair and we cut the horseplay as she’s demanded.
“You obviously have a firm grasp on how my magic works, so it’s time for breakfast. Magic needs fuel just like the body does.”
“How does magic get fuel?” Ace asks as we walk to the kitchen.
“It’s different for many beings, but for all humans, eating food is the easiest way to build a magic reserve. Old shamans taught me the foods that can clog the qi pathways, and so we will be having—”
“Sweet potato,” I groan.
She smiles at me. “A blessing and a burden, isn’t it?”
“Would the answer have been different if I didn’t have your magic?” I ask.
She grins wider. “You’ll never know.”
I force down as much sweet potato as I can muster, then finish it with a glass of water. I’m dying for anything with flavor, like a piece of chocolate, so I stuff one in my pocket for later when Nai Nai isn’t watching. I doubt candy will affect my qi flow that much.
When it’s time to go, I hug Nai Nai tightly, and she hugs me back just as hard.
“Any words of wisdom?” I ask as I release her.
She shakes her head. “You don’t need them.”
The rubber plant whispers something from the corner of the room. We moved it upstairs after Lei attacked the shop, and it’s been generally quiet the last few weeks, but now…
I step closer to the vegetation that’s been a constant pain in my periphery for four years.
“Yeah, you got something to say?” I ask.
Ace grunts in concern. “Jiejie, are you talking to the tree?”
I glance at him over my shoulder. “Yes.”
The rubber plant whispers again, and the dark green leaves tremble. It’s not words, but images. Brown and small. Something I have in my hand. Bitter. Energy. Sweet. Brown and small.
I snort and look at Nai Nai. “You made this plant an addict. It wants coffee grounds.”
“I did not,” she grumbles. “And it’s good for him.”
I chuckle and grab the bag full of dangerous goodies, then toss my car keys to Ace. “You ready to clock some permit hours?”
“Heck, yeah!” he says, snatching the keys from the air.
I want to see Rhazan before I go, just to bask in some of the confidence I know he’ll give me. But he might also give me a firm slap on the ass and tie me to his bed to keep me away from Lei, so not the best idea.
Nai Nai’s power mixes with mine as we drive, allowing me to astral project moments into the future.
The pink hues of the world around me vibrate on a strange frequency that hint at the possibility of their uncertain nature.
Things like stoplights are steady, but the woman on the sidewalk is blurred, and her dog seems to be split in three different directions at once. It looks like chaos.
As time catches up to me, I watch the dog pick its route—around a tree—wrapping itself up and causing the woman on the phone to yank to a halt.
Two variations of her exist in a sliver of time, one where she groans and glares at the dog, waiting for it to unravel from the tree, while the other unwraps the leash herself and continues on her way.
The second variant is brighter, stronger, and that’s the path she chooses.
“Incredible,” I murmur as I watch the world and all its choices.
“How far away do you want me to park again?” Ace asks.
I come back into myself and check the map. “At least a quarter mile. I’ll walk the rest of the way and signal you on the phone when it’s go time.”
“Why can’t I just be there?” he asks.
“Because I don’t want you in snatching range,” I say. “Plus, he told me to come alone.”
“I won’t get snatched,” he says. “I’ll drive off, Fast and the Ferocious style.”
“You absolutely will not do that,” I say. “You’re lucky you’re coming at all. The only reason you’re driving is so I can project ahead and look for traps…and because Lei is far too heavy for me to lift on my own.”
He chuffs and looks back to the map on my phone, leading the way. It’s just after ten-thirty and we’re twenty minutes out. I’m hoping we beat them there, because who shows up an hour early to the middle of nowhere?
Someone who wants to set a trap.
I hum quietly as we get farther from town, the trees growing up around us like vibrant pillars of golden flame and red blood.
The fall colors are gorgeous, but all I can think of is the blood that might be spilled, and the fire that’s not moving through me now.
I had to leave Rhazan’s power back at the café, where it’s bound.
It’s just my strength I’m depending on now, and Nai Nai’s foresight. And Zixin’s ability to drive between the lines, but not much else. The kid needs to clock more hours behind the wheel before he’s going anywhere near a scooter.
When my phone alerts us to the upcoming turnoff, he slows down, and I scan for a place to stash the car without notice. My ability to see outside myself gives me a significant leg up in the parking department, so we quickly find a spot well layered with bushes but not too far from the road.
He puts it in park and looks over at me with wide eyes. “Are you sure I have to stay here?”
“He told me to come alone,” I say. “Plus, you’re my man in the chair.”
I stick my Bluetooth earbud in my left ear and smile at him before opening the door.
“Until I’m your man towing a two-hundred-something-pound dude,” he complains.
“Yes, that too. You’re essential!” I say with a bright smile as I open the back passenger door.
I sling the backpack full of traps over my shoulder and shut the door, then look at Ace. The blue streak in his hair falls over his ruffled brow. He tosses his head to flick it aside, then scrunches his face at me.
“You’re going to be okay, right?”
A twinge of fear strikes a chord in my chest. I suck down a quick breath to stifle the tightening of the band around my ribs, and then smile big.
“I’m going to kick their asses,” I say, then shut the door.
Before the doubt can take hold in my gut, I turn toward the trees and begin to hum Rhazan’s song. There’s no fire in my chest as the notes move through me, but they bring a sense of calm anyway.
I look at my phone to get back on the gravel road, and then call Ace. He picks up with a, “Pizza Dome, how may I take your order?”
“Extra-large cheese and pep with a Cherry Coke, please,” I respond without missing a beat.
“Blech,” he says on a retch. “Pepperoni? Don’t you know what that’s made of?”
“Deliciousness,” I say.
“Pig buttholes,” he replies.
“I’m pretty sure it’s more than just the butthole.”
“Yeah, but they’re in there. Once the butt has touched it, it can never be untouched by the butt.”
I laugh, and the tightness that was creeping into my chest starts to ease. I pick up the pace, ready to get the hard part over with. My senses scan ahead in space and time, finding the trailhead empty. I smile to myself.
“Time to rig the game.”