Lao Shi, it turns out, had already had a bag of essentials packed. Jonathan isn't terribly surprised Lao Shi didn't say as much when Jonathan had said he was going to start packing, but another bag will hardly be unwelcomed. He leaves his new discovery in its hiding place under Lao Shi's bed; his father-in-law will no doubt grab it before he goes.
Still, Jonathan tasks Haley with searching out another pair of good shoes for her grandfather and whatever else she thinks he needs before he slips over to talk to the man himself. He is in the living room, flipping through a stack of papers that had been pried from behind a picture frame on the wall. Well, that's Jonathan's assumption, given that the painting has been taken off the wall and is leaning against the half-emptied bookshelf with its backing removed.
"Haley's afraid," he says as he reaches Lao Shi.
Lao Shi doesn't look up, despite Jonathan standing over him. "She is not foolish."
Jonathan isn't blind to the unspoken implications of that sentence, but he had long ago decided that being friendly regardless of the situation is the best way to deal with his father-in-law. He crouches and lowers his voice. "This Huntsclan will be coming, won't they?"
"Are you only now surmising this?" Lao Shi places the papers into one pile and reaches for another, selecting some of those to place inside the picture before replacing its backing. Jonathan takes the painting from him once it becomes clear he means to hang it back up on the wall and does so. The nod of thanks he receives for the effort as he resumes his previous position is an uncommon acknowledgement that makes him think Lao Shi is far more rattled than he lets on.
"They're going to come," Jonathan repeats as Lao Shi reaches for a vase and pulls a vial from inside. The liquid inside the squat bottle is the rich blue of the summer sky. "They're going to come, and they might be able to figure out what happened here."
"They will realize that someone has been here, yes," Lao Shi says. He waves a hand to catch Fu's attention before showing him the bottle, and Fu nods before walking over to the TV cabinet and rooting around inside. The bottle is set on the floor next to the first stack of papers, and Lao Shi reaches for another book. The thick tome turns out not to be a book at all but a secret compartment hidden in plain sight. The tiny scroll inside is swapped for a wad of paper folded into quarters. "These walls are steeped in too much magic to pretend otherwise."
"But you're—" Jonathan gestures vaguely at the papers, the vial, the mess. "You're doing all this to try to fool them."
"To try to fool them about who we are. If we can seed any doubt that this little shop has been frequented by the American Dragon, we must do it."
Jonathan swallows. "Then let me do it."
His words make Lao Shi pause, and the man raises his head to meet Jonathan's eyes. "What do you propose?"
Jonathan tugs at the knot of his tie as Fu places a small vial of lime coloured liquid—similar in total volume to the blue one but in a longer and narrower bottle—into the vase. "Wherever you're going. I can't come with you."
It isn't really a question, but the lack of answer is confirmation enough.
Lao Shi waits in silence as Fu Dog trots over to the back wall by the desk and stands on his hind legs to reach a box wedged into an adjoining bookshelf two shelves up.
"I should stay here and talk to whoever comes looking for you. I can throw them off the scent."
The box comes crashing to the floor with a thump and the telltale clinking of shifting glassware. Jonathan flinches, rocking back on his heels and nearly losing his balance even though he'd seen the fall coming, but Lao Shi doesn't move. "That is a terrible idea," Lao Shi says over Fu's quiet cursing. "You are not prepared to do such a thing."
"But that's better. It'll make it more genuine."
Lao Shi shakes his head. "You underestimate the Huntsclan."
Jonathan kneels and squares his shoulders. A part of him isn't sure if he's trying to convince himself or his father-in-law of his confidence. He balls his hands into fists so they aren't seen shaking. "You're underestimating me. You always have. I can do this."
"No. It would be too easy for one of them to catch you in a lie, and that would only invite them to find out why you have lied to them."
"But—"
"Their ways of encouraging you to share your knowledge are not pleasant."
Lao Shi returns to his work, deliberately turning slightly away. Jonathan knows it's a dismissal, but he can't accept it. "I need to do this. I'll— I can pretend to be a wizard. Susan told me they exist. That would explain the magic."
"My daughter has hardly told you enough of our world for you to pretend to be part of it."
If Lao Shi hadn't been so insistent that Susan keep the family secret a secret, Jonathan is sure he would have found out long before now. He could have known enough about the magical world to do this without argument from the others. "I need to try. For Haley. For Susan. For you and Fu Dog. And for that boy downstairs, even if he isn't my son."
Lao Shi shuts his eyes and grumbles something under his breath—in Chinese, Jonathan thinks, though it isn't clear enough for him to know for certain, let alone to guess the dialect if it is Chinese. He knows Lao Shi speaks more than one. Susan, too. Haley can make all the right sounds, differentiating them in ways Jonathan can't even distinguish, but she isn't fluent. She understands more than she can speak.
At least, that's what Jonathan had always assumed.
Since finding out the truth, he's wondered if they're all fluent and had used that as a way of talking about the magical world around him without his ever realizing it.
Beyond Lao Shi, Fu carefully tugs open the flaps on the box and heaves an audible sigh. He glances towards them, notices Jonathan staring, and says, "We would've been sending out smoke signals if these had mixed." He pulls out one jar to inspect it more closely; even from this distance, even without direct sunlight, the pale pink liquid inside gives off a noticeable shimmer. "Agagagoo, would ya look at that? Not even cracked."
Fu doesn't try to intercede in the conversation he surely overheard, so Jonathan merely quirks the corners of his mouth into what he hopes is at least the semblance of a smile and nods.
"Fu Dog," Lao Shi says sharply without opening his eyes, "have you ever seen it used when it is so potent?"
The jar drops from Fu's paws and shatters on the hardwood, but the sound of breaking glass never comes even though the slivers fly in an arc. Liquid beads like water meeting wax and rolls away, reminiscent of mercury from a broken thermometer being chased by ignorant hands. Each pink pearl is seemingly unhindered by any fragments of glass in its path, but it is not until the liquid sinks into the floorboards with a faint trace of the shimmer Jonathan had noticed earlier that he realizes there is a pattern to it. He looks back up at Fu, who seems to slump as he picks his way through the shards and walks over in front of Lao Shi. Now that he is closer, Jonathan can see his fur sparkling.
Fu nudges Lao Shi's knee, and his appearance is met with pursed lips. Jonathan expects Lao Shi to comment, expects an explosion or at least a reprimand, but all he says is, "Well?"
Fu shakes his head.
"From what you've seen in the past, do you believe it could be reversed?"
Jonathan had never known any dog to shrug before learning of the magical world, but he can recognize the gesture for what it is now.
He decides it is worth the risk of intervening. "Ah, what exactly are you wondering about reversing?"
Lao Shi ignores him in favour of focusing on Fu, but that is the response Jonathan had expected. "Do you believe it worth the risk?"
Fu holds Lao Shi's eyes for a moment before looking deliberately to the bedroom, then the stairs, and then over at Jonathan.
Something clenches in his stomach. "Should, uh, should I be worried?"
Lao Shi exhales slowly before nodding at Fu. He retreats to another room, and Lao Shi finally meets Jonathan's eyes. "This potion has been maturing for twenty years."
The time period is not lost on Jonathan. "And?"
"And it could have been used immediately upon being mixed."
"So letting it mature increases its potency?" He is not the fool Lao Shi believes. He has been ignorant, and he has missed so much, but he will not allow himself to miss it all now, even though he's admitted to Susan that so much of it goes over his head. If she were here, she'd murmur the answers he needs, but as it is, he cannot figure out what Lao Shi is not saying.
"Time increases its potency and flexibility." Lao Shi pauses, no doubt expecting Jonathan to start questioning him as he usually would, but Jonathan bites his tongue. "It starts its life as green as the new leaf but darkens to match the ocean's depths as the years pass."
Fu returns with a dustpan and brush in his mouth. As he starts to sweep, Lao Shi rises to his feet, and Jonathan tilts his head back slightly so he doesn't break the man's gaze. "I have whispered my wishes to it, but I have never attempted to use it in its onyx form, and I do not have the time to research the best way to do so when there is so little time." He walks the few feet over to the test tube rack on the bookcase, pushes it aside, and shoves the books behind it so that they stand straight instead of tilting to one side. He reaches into the dark corner he's exposed and pulls out a small volumetric flask. The dark liquid inside roils at the movement but cannot escape past the glass stopper.
Lao Shi holds it out, and a not insignificant part of Jonathan is afraid to take it. What if he drops it and it explodes and the shop burns to the ground? What if it slips through his fingers and eats a hole clean through the floor? What if the liquid turns out to be some sort of tar or superglue that keeps them stuck in their spots? He might as well hang a giant sign himself to announce to the Huntsclan that his family is here.
He doesn't reach out with both hands until Lao Shi says pointedly, "It cannot harm you."
The glass is cool to the touch, even though the liquid inside seems alive. Jonathan had thought it would be warm. Susan keeps telling him that the rules of magic don't necessarily align with the rules of science, and he knows he shouldn't expect them to, but even this small reminder that he doesn't know enough to predict something so inconsequential is disquieting.
"If you choose to drink it, you will not be injured."
From Fu's reaction when Lao Shi brought it up—for this is surely what had prompted the reaction—Jonathan isn't sure he believes that. Injured doesn't necessarily mean physically, but drinking this concoction is hardly the first thing Jonathan wants to do. He swallows and decides to ask the most important question. "Why would I drink it?"
It doesn't matter what it does. On one hand, he wants to know. To make an informed decision, that only makes sense, and he's awfully curious. On the other hand, that doesn't matter to him if Lao Shi's answer is what Jonathan suspects it will be.
"Because doing so might give your daughter the best chance of success if you wish to stay here and wait for the Huntsclan." Lao Shi looks to the bedroom before glancing over in time to see Fu walk out of the room with the pieces of glass in the dustpan. Even once Fu disappears into the other room, it is a few long seconds before Lao Shi turns back to Jonathan. "And because you are a better man than I have often thought you to be."
Something clenches in his chest.
It's the first time Lao Shi has ever given him a genuine compliment without any prompting from Susan.
"Magic can be unpredictable. Should you choose to do this, you should first remind my daughter and granddaughter of your love for them."
Shock would have the flask lying in pieces before him if fear and fury hadn't caused his hands to clench. It's a wonder he doesn't snap the delicate neck of the glassware. "I beg your pardon?"
He's trying to be civil.
It's a struggle—and not one he's sure is worth fighting.
"Magic can be unpredictable," Lao Shi repeats. "I cannot guarantee every effect, nor can I guarantee its reversal."
"And this might change my feelings for my family?" His voice climbs, and he's tempted to hurl the potion to the floor. His hands shake. "You kept something like this in your living room? Where Haley could have found it? What if she'd been younger and she'd drunk it without knowing any better?"
"That was never a concern. I have not always kept it there, but if I had, and if Haley had taken it, it would not affect her in the same way it would affect you. You are fully human. She has magic in her blood, and that magic would have offered some protection even before it was fully active."
"But this—" Jonathan forces himself to stop and take a few deep breaths. If he doesn't calm himself, he'll alarm Haley, effectively undo whatever progress Susan has made with the boy—assuming she's made any at all—and give Lao Shi all the motivation he needs to take away Jonathan's family forever. Which was very likely the original intent of this potion in the first place.
Jonathan doesn't think of himself as someone who is easy to anger, but suppressed rage still seethes in his veins as he hisses, "Why do you think I would ever risk my family?"
"You would not be risking them."
"I'd be risking my love for them! Would I even know who they are, who they're supposed to be to me, or would this take away my memories of them, too?"
"You would be saving them, not risking them."
It's not an answer, and Lao Shi's voice is infuriatingly patient.
It takes more self control than he'd ever admit for Jonathan to place the flask gently on the floor between them. "Are you going to try telling me you think the risk of me feeling differently or forgetting them entirely because of this potion is small? Insignificant? Right after you warned me to tell them I love them? Because whether you like it or not, I am part of this family, and I am not going to conveniently go away just because you think I'm too much trouble to deal with."
"It is better for the ant to be prepared than to go hungry like the grasshopper," Lao Shi says, which might as well be a confession. His gaze is steady, and he doesn't even sound remorseful. If he thinks his earlier compliment offsets all this….
Jonathan takes another deep breath and tries to pick out some choice words. Instead of saying what he really wants to say, he asks, "If you were me, would you drink that?"
Lao Shi is silent, and Jonathan starts to wonder if he won't answer, but then he says, "If it came to it, I would do so without hesitation."
Really. Jonathan isn't sure if he can believe that, either. "Why?"
"Because Haley is afraid."
It's hard to keep hold of his anger when his own words are directed back at him so plainly. Jonathan swallows as coldness washes away the anger, leaving him drained. Haley is afraid. There is so little he can do to help her with this magical world, with all her responsibilities—responsibilities he still isn't convinced she should have, whatever Susan has told him about the systems they've built up in the magical community to help her. But that isn't a battle he wants to fight right now—it's certainly not one he can win, though he could still make his point—and he has far more immediate concerns.
Like Haley's present well-being.
And the fact that she is afraid.
There is so little he can do for her as a father who doesn't understand enough about her life.
Still, he could take a risk, take that potion, and be in a better position to help her than before.
Somehow.
Jonathan doesn't ask if something so small might make a difference. Lao Shi would not have brought it up if he didn't think it would. He wouldn't risk what might be an irreparable rift with Susan otherwise. She would be furious with her father for making the suggestion. She'd tell Jonathan he needn't even contemplate this, that they would make it through everything without taking things to this extreme….
Jonathan doesn't realize he is staring blankly at the flask until a light touch on his arm by Lao Shi draws his attention. "I cannot say the exact form the effects would take," he says softly, "but at the very least, this would take away all your knowledge of the magical world. You cannot play innocent, but you could be innocent. If you did this, I would do my best to find a way to reverse it once our fight is over, but it is not a guarantee I can make."
Jonathan blows out a shaky breath. Lao Shi clearly knows the potion will do far more than rob him of the little knowledge he has of the magical world, and it's losing his family that he fears the most. When he speaks, his voice is little more than a bare whisper. "What's your best guess? That I forget them entirely? That I forget who they are to me? That I know who they are, that I should love them, but I can't remember enough to have that connection anymore? Or that I just don't remember anything about any of this for the last twenty years?"
"I wanted to protect my daughter and then my granddaughter." Lao Shi doesn't meet his eyes. "If I needed to protect them from you, then it would be better if you were little more than strangers who had once met on the street, if you knew them at all."
The words drive a dagger into his gut and twist.
Knowing that his father-in-law has never resorted to such drastic measures—at least as far as Jonathan can tell, though he expects Susan would have filled him in if something had happened before—is little comfort in the face of the fact that he was fully prepared to do so.
The fact that Lao Shi still has the potion now that Jonathan knows the truth and is trying to be supportive of everything makes him feel sick.
"I can't believe you'd do this. I'm your son."
"I will do whatever I must to protect my family."
"But I'm also your family. Why can't you accept that?"
This time, Lao Shi meets his gaze. "It would not be the first time I have felt the scorpion's sting, nor the first time betrayal has come from one who is trusted deeply. It is better to have something that is never used than to need it and not have it."
Jonathan doesn't want to see the logic in it. He knows he doesn't know enough about Lao Shi's past to understand, but that's because he was so insistent about shutting Jonathan out from everything. "I can't do this."
"You do not have to. I am not asking that of you. I am merely saying that I believe it the best chance, should you decide to stay here and confront the Huntsclan yourself. When your attempts go awry, this would offer a modicum of protection for all of us."
When, not if. Lao Shi is as confident in Jonathan as he ever was.
Jonathan sits mutely as Lao Shi inclines his head to him. The other man turns and calls out Haley's name as he strides towards the bedroom, leaving Jonathan alone with his thoughts.
He stares at the flask for a long moment, trying to figure out what he should do with it. For all Lao Shi's past judgement, Jonathan does not think the man would begrudge him ignoring this now. He could put it back and pretend they had never had this conversation.
There is perhaps a cup of liquid inside. Lao Shi didn't tell him how much he'd need to drink if he decided to take it, but he suspects—given that its potency increases over time—he would need very little. A few sips could change everything, and if there's no guarantee of reversal….
Loathe though he is to admit it, his father-in-law is right. Their family is at stake, and the Huntsclan—from what Jonathan knows of them—will not see the human side of his family and show them mercy. They will only see monsters, and they will act accordingly. From what he understands, this potion cannot help him trick them, but if it can help protect his family if he makes a mistake—
Lao Shi will have seen far more situations similar to this one than Jonathan can imagine.
His words—his wisdom—shouldn't be something Jonathan discounts simply because he doesn't like to hear the truth of it.
It is better to have something that is never used than to need it and not have it.
Jonathan lets out a slow breath, and then he reaches out to take the flask and tuck it into his pocket.
If he feels the circumstances warrant taking it, well, that's a bridge he can cross if he comes to it.
