Author's Note: We're back to Ju, Yao, and Jing again. It just felt natural to come back to them, you know? Just a little something before the Halloween special next week. (I have the Fallen City and Wonderland Halloween specials already finished. Just need to buckle down and work on Tea Leaves' special.) My tech fail problem got fixed. (See Death and All of His Friends for that note.) All that's left to do is work on the Halloween special next week and then figure out what I am doing the week after next. For now, enjoy this week's match.
Match Eighteen: News from Europe, Witches, and Halloween:
-Ju-
It's crazy what's going on in Europe. There is an endless fog all over the country. The weather people can't figure out how and why this is happening. I looked out my window. It looked clear to me. Okay, it looked like it was going to rain. Other than that, it looked fine. I turned back to the family table.
"What were you saying?" I asked. Yao gave me a curious look.
"I was saying that Mao wants an answer back on the agreement," he said. I nodded as I narrowed my eyes.
"Oh," I said. "Oh." Yes, we were talking business over dinner.
"What do we say?" Yao asked. I shrugged. Now, my husband was looking at me funny.
"Did you even read it?" he asked.
"I did," I said. "I just had so much going on." Yao leaned back with a curious look on his face.
"Your cousin?" he asked.
"Yes," I said. I picked up my chopsticks and shoved more rice into my mouth.
"What will you do when you find her body?" Yao asked.
"Have her cremated," I said. I had no other plans. Yao put his hand on mine. I looked up to see him staring at me.
"I understand how you feel," he said. Did he though? I didn't say anything.
"What do you think about the deal with Mao?" I asked.
"He does have potential," Yao said.
"Hang on," I said. I got up from the table and walked out of the dining room. I came back with my tablet in hand. I brought up the document on the screen.
"I managed to make some notes on what I wanted to change," I said. Yao came around to have a look with me. I blew up the screen with my finger. My husband took a read for himself.
"You sure about this?" he asked.
"I'm trying to adjust the costs for both of us," I said. "I want to boost his business if we are going to do this. He's just starting out, you know?" I scrolled through the pages.
"Slow down," Yao said.
"Oh, sorry about that," I said. I stopped on a chart I made.
"I had Hen-to and Fei help crunch the numbers," I said. "It took a couple of days. This is just a rough estimation right now. The one on the left is if we do it our way." My husband read over the data in thought. He nodded a bit. Honestly, it felt good to talk about something other than those damned witches or my cousin.
"So should we schedule another meeting tomorrow?" Yao asked.
"Yes," I said.
"Right," he said. I closed everything and turned off my tablet. Yao sat down and we finished up dinner.
I am trying to keep it together. I have to. Life must go on. Still, I have to look over my shoulder. Those nightcomers won't give up. They will not lay a hand on my son. In the meantime, I have my eyes on Europe. There are rumors about people seeing a circus in several different countries. They say that some of the performers look like several people who have gone missing over the past few months. No one has been able to find out anything about the circus. Not where it comes from. Not who runs it.
I scrolled through the various forums talking about them.
"Are you looking up about that circus again?" Yao asked beside me in bed.
"A little bit," I said.
"Why?" he asked. I shrugged.
"I just find it fascinating," I said. I scrolled through my phone. Yao sat up next to me.
"You don't really believe all of that, do you?" he asked.
"Not really," I said. I closed out of my browser. I turned my attention to my husband.
"What do you think?" I asked. Yao frowned at me.
"Of course not," he said. "It's just rumors."
"Okay," I said. I set my phone on the nightstand and lay down.
"Maybe you're right," I said. "Good night." I reached over and turned off the light.
"Good night, dear," he said back. That was a good sleep that night.
The rest of the week was rather chill. I still couldn't stop thinking about witches. It's been quiet around here lately. It's too quiet. They've either moved on from my son and me, which I highly doubt. Or they are planning something bigger. I stood over Jing in his crib. He kicked his little feet about.
"I'm not going to let anything happen to you," I muttered to him. His little coos calmed me down. Another thought crossed my mind as I started playing with him. Halloween was coming up in a few days. Well, for the rest of the world at least. I overheard that the veil between worlds is thinning. I can't help but think that they will be using that somehow. Hungry ghosts are one thing. I don't want to picture what would happen if a witch got hold of one of them.
I pulled out my phone as I stood up from over Jing's crib.
"It's me," I said in a whisper. "I think I will be taking you up on your offer for protection." I pressed my lips together before I took a deep breath.
"Tell me what I need to do," I said. Though I wouldn't know it at the time, but after what I learned what would happen in Europe on Halloween, I called that number just in time.