"What?" I asked. "Do I have to sign a contract or something?"
He shook his head at me slowly, but his eyes never left mine. "If you insist." He reached to the table and grasped the stean, carefully bringing it to me. "Once again though, if she over powers you, you can't blame me. I've already caught her once. I've no doubt that seeing people will enrage her."
I nodded. "I understand." I told him.
I stretched my hand to touch the stean when Lv Bin's colleagues finally spoke up. "Senior Fellow Apprentice Lv, this isn't a good idea." The woman said.
"I'm inclined to agree." Spoke the man. "We're supposed to bring this spirit back. How can we complete our duty if you let the boy try to play master Taoist?"
Lv Bin turned to them, "It's none of your concern. I'll deal with it." His voice was confident and firm.
I grasped the stean firmly and said, "I need to prepare at home. Lv Bin," I bowed my head slightly, "You're welcome to join us, so are your…fellows." I looked at the other two, not sure what their purpose was here.
I knew with every fiber of my being that he would come. He expected me to fail.
We arrived at my house shortly. Zhao Jie marched ahead of me, the three masters behind me. I introduced them as we walked through the door. My parents watched all of us curiously.
The three Taoists accepted the tea my mother offered without a word. "Rude." I thought, "Even Master Liu knows to say thank you. Who are these people?"
I pulled my mother to the side. "I'm going to try and perform the rites to set the girl's spirit free. I need you to take care of Xiao Wen. Take this amulet," I handed her a special amulet from my stash, "And don't let her come into the room. No matter what." I looked at her very seriously.
"You said she wasn't enchanted though…" My mom said, looking at the amulet in her hand.
"I'll explain later." I grasped her hand firmly. "I promise."
I moved about the house, gathering everything I'd need. The altar was stashed in the spare room. I found some candles in the kitchen and incense by my father's desk. Zhao Jie and my dad went about gathering fruits, nuts, and a few steamed buns from the kitchen.
Lv Bin watched us ready the ritual with apparent amusement. I marched past him with my arms full of supplies and he said, "You're quite familiar with the process then aren't you?"
I scowled at him. "You're not a kind man. A kind man wouldn't ridicule someone doing a good deed." I thought. "Yes, I am." I said aloud. When everything was ready I asked Zhao Jie to go to his home for his dad's peach wood sword. He brought it back with lightning speed. My mom came into the yard where everything was set up and saw me standing at the altar with the sword in hand. She took a deep breath and walked over to me. "Xiao Yong, why don't you let the masters do this?"
I cast a look at Lv Bin and his companions, saying, "They can't. That's why I have to, to save her."
Lv Bin met my glance and sneered at us.
"Trust me mom. I'm doing this for Xiao Wen." I told her.
She nodded slowly and then turned, her eyes at her feet. She marched back inside without a second glance. My father took her place beside me.
"Xiao Yong, are you sure?" He asked.
"Yes!" I told him, trying to hold my temper. I couldn't get angry if I was to try and do this right. Dad took several steps back.
I placed the stean on the alter and bowed to it, showing my respect to the dead. Afterwards I lit the candles and incense, murmuring the meditation incantation while I did so to slow my heart rate.
When I felt calm enough to continue, I began the conjuration footwork. Muttering the invitation incantation, I began to summon my own ghost.
Lv Bin muttered something to his companions in the middle of my incantation. It sounded something like, "summon…weak spirit…" I clenched my jaw and dared my mind to focus.
I finished the incantation, speaking the final words and stamping my foot into the loose soil. The familiar presence blossomed into my mind. I felt the weight and light push into my head, pulsing with a greenish tint that only I could see or feel.
Across the yard Lv Bin gasped, his mouth dropping open.
"What is it?" The woman asked him.
Lv Bin spat on the ground in front of him and closed his mouth, muttering, "Nothing. Shut up."
I felt the green spirit's power course through me. My senses heightened with a rush as he spread lower into my body. I heard the grass swish lightly in the wind. I smelt every ingredient in the incense before me. And I could see the sweat beading on Lv Bin's forehead. I grinned.
The spirit flashed green behind my eyes and its deep voice rumbled loosely through me. "There's no danger here, boy…" I felt it move to use my mouth to speak and I focused everything I had on restraining it, being sure to speak inwardly to the spirit only. The green spirit sensed my urgency and halted its attempt. The deep voice rumbled within again, "You've summoned me only to start a ritual?" It sounded amused and incredulous at the same time.
I felt the spirit flit through my memories. Images of the past few days flashed across my mind as the spirit made sense of why it was called. I felt a rumble in my chest as the spirit purred in interest. "A ghost in the mirror, eh? Interesting…" If the spirit could smile, it would be. When that thought rippled through my brain, I felt the muscles of my face curl my lips into a grin. Across the way, Lv Bin and his companions looked at each other uncomfortably.
"What is that bastard doing?" The woman asked. Her face was twisted in a grimace of disdain.
"Quiet!" Lv Bin hissed, raising his hand to her face as if to hit her.
Green flashed inside my mind and I couldn't stop him from taking control of my mouth. A voice that didn't belong to me bellowed from my mouth, "What did you say?" The air in the yard came to a halt. I felt the temperature drop and then rocket upwards as the spirit inside of me tried to take control. "I will not be talked down upon by the likes of you!" The last word came out in a gut-wrenching scream that felt like it tore something in my throat. I tasted blood in my mouth, but did everything I could to focus control back onto the spirit.
The woman's scowl deepened. She took a step towards me, but Lv Bin put a hand in front of her. "Step back." He said very slowly, not taking his eyes from me.
He raised his voice in a soft call, addressing the glowing spirit within me, "Master, don't blame my junior apprentice, please. She's not experienced enough yet to recognize the likes of you. Forgive her, please?" His voice was firm, but I sensed the slightest quiver with my heightened hearing.
The presence inside of me rumbled a deep rolling laugh. "Fine." It spoke through me, "This time. There will not be another."
The woman's mouth snapped shut. She took a step behind Lv Bin, her face pale.
My father was watching from the doorway, also pale. He'd never seen how powerful this side of me was.
I reigned in my focus and placed mental hands on either side of the spirit's core. It felt like I was holding a dying star together with my bare hands. I inwardly explained what we were doing. The spirit boomed another wave of rolling laughter. "Yes, I see." It spoke through me, aloud this time. "I will send the girl away." His voice faded, and then he asked the question that Lv Bin wouldn't, "Does the spirit have any other wishes?"
I smiled, sensing more compassion in the spirit than in the man across the yard. Focusing my mind, I stretched my hand out and took the suppression amulet from the strean.
A red shadow flew out of the stone pot. She shot up into the sky like a geyser of blood. The spirit in me extended its influence, casting itself out like a net beside the stream of red. Before I knew exactly how he was doing it, the red ghost was on the ground before me. Her arms were pinned to her sides and she looked to be struggling against invisible bindings.
She looked the same as before, her black hair fell in braids, her cheeks bright pink, and her clothes tinged red.
A wailing cry came from the house behind me. The red girl's eyes looked past me, burning holes in the wall. It was Xiao Wen. "Sister!" She screamed as if in pain.
The green flash that came next was deeper than usual, like I was seeing the world through an emerald lens. "Is that your sister?" The spirit spoke through me to the red ghost.
The red girl stopped her struggle and looked at me, at us, as if just now realizing we were here. "Yes!" She said with a young girl's insistence. "Yes, she's my sister!"
"Did you seek her out?" The green spirit asked.
The dead girl before us looked puzzled. "No." She replied.
I was even more confused now. "How did she appear in the mirror then?" I wondered. The green spirit had no time for my musings though.
"I will send you away. Will you go?" The spirit rumbled through me.
The red girl began to struggle again. Her head shook back and forth with disgusting speed. "No!" She screamed, her voice now pitching endlessly into the sky like a whistle. "I won't leave my grandpa! He's sick! He's sick! He's sick!" She screeched, baring her teeth. "I will go with him. I will stay with him!"
I felt the green spirit focus its presence around the girl, holding her tighter.
"Go with him?" I wondered, "Where is her grandfather going? He's dead." And then it hit me. She wasn't here to hurt anyone. She was sticking around to guide his soul away. He was a sick old man. And he was her family. Her spirit was still here to save Wang An, not to haunt him.
"We had it all wrong…" I said aloud.