Sue returned to Wu's Garden and found Mei Hua pacing, which was unusual.
"Nana, what's going on?" Sue asked
"Sue, I have a bad feeling, there is magic in the air" Mei Hua stated
Sue knew not to question Mei Hua's instincts where magic was concerned
"Sue, get the cookbook"
"Okay, Nana" Sue replied and went to get the book
"Nana, do you think Kong Li would use a magic recipe?"
"I would not be surprised, he knows that I cannot fight and will have difficulty with my magic until my arm heals" Mei Hua sighed
"Yeah, but he forgot about me" Sue smirked "just tell me what you need me to do"
Sid and Tobey arrived back at Wu's garden as Ulrich got to the market; he wanted to get a snack with his tip money. He passed the plum display and got a strange feeling that something wasn't right.
'I think I spent way too much time fighting Xana' Ulrich thought unaware that the fact that he had fought Xana had given him a sixth sense, almost like Spiderman's spider sense, but it hadn't yet become truly anything beyond a gut feeling.
Ulrich went back to Wu's Garden empty handed, he figured he could get a snack there, the information he had was much more important than the snack he was hoping to get.
Mei Hua noticed that Ulrich was acting differently.
"Ulrich, what is wrong?" Mei Hua asked
"I went to the market a little while ago and got a strange feeing as I passed where they had the plums on display, I think something bad is going to happen"
Mei Hua knew not to question Ulrich's bad feelings; she had questioned one before and ended up with a broken arm to show for it.
Sue found out that the plums, for the most part, were bought by one person, a man wearing a long brown cloak and carrying a red staff.
"Kong Li" Sue said
"Sounds like it, but what would he want with plums?" Sid asked
No one seemed to have the answer and that bugged Ulrich.
Later that day Tobey found something interesting, it was candy that tasted like plums. He didn't notice the blue flash that signified the magic held in the candy.
Ulrich went into the garden and was immediately attacked by Tobey. It was immediately clear that something wasn't right about Tobey.
"Tobey, come on, what's wrong with you?" Ulrich demanded; then noticed that Tobey's eyes were completely purple. "Oh, no..."
Ulrich headed for the door, but Tobey was faster.
'Man, he's like Odd, only worse!' Ulrich thought bitterly then Tobey landed a punch in Ulrich's gut that immediately knocked the wind out of Ulrich.
'He's not that strong' Ulrich felt worried that this was a magic recipe
Mei Hua, Sue and Sid rushed outside; Sue had a small vial in her hand. Sid went to join the fray. Ulrich figured that gave him a bit of an edge. Sid was stronger than Ulrich, but neither of them really wanted to hurt Tobey.
That was when Tobey decided to spit something dark purple at Ulrich; he missed and hit Sue instead.
"Meimei!" Sid cried as Sue nearly dropped the vial, Mei Hua managed a left handed catch and they gave Tobey the contents of the vial and he instantly passed out.
Mei Hua felt the dread rise as she fully realized the gravity of the situation.
'Kong Li, you really are a monster! You had to pick the venom plum sauce recipe to use while I was out of commission, didn't you?' She thought
"Ulrich, help Sid get Tobey into the basement, I will help Sue" Mei Hua said
"Yes, ma'am" Ulrich immediately went to help Sid
None of the three conscious teens argued with Mei Hua, they all knew that in this situation, as with any concerning magic, listening to her wisdom was the best thing to do.
"Do not worry, Sue, everything will be just fine" Mei Hua assured Sue gently.
Sid and Ulrich were first into the basement, Sue and Mei Hua followed behind them. Sid grabbed some extra pillows and they settled Tobey on them, Sue sat close to him.
"Sid I'm going to give you a list of ingredients that I need you to get out of the kitchen for me immediately. We have no time to waist" Mei Hua whispered the last part as to spare Sue from becoming more frightened.
Ulrich was trying his best to help Sue, but in the end there was little he could do for her.
"You know what recipe this is?" Sid asked
"Yes, it is a plum sauce recipe that my master referred to as 'Venom Plum Sauce' he had it in the very back of the cookbook with several warnings, I had thought that I still had that recipe, it is apparent now that I did not." Mei Hua sighed "either way, he made me memorize the antidote should such an emergency occur… this is one of the most dangerous single recipes in the cookbook it renders the person that consumes it a mere puppet to be controlled by the one that cooked the recipe. It is very difficult and extremely dangerous as you have seen." Mei Hua looked solemn "I am glad now that I memorized the antidote and had it written down in a special place. I hid it down here should I need it."
Sid took the list of ingredients and headed back to the kitchen and started grabbing them off the shelf as fast as he could. He was horrified to discover that they only had half of the ingredients on the list.
"Oh no…" Sid whispered and took what he had downstairs Mei Hua.
"Oh dear, this isn't good" Mei Hua said
"What isn't good, Nana?" Sue asked her eyes now covered in gauze soaked in a recipe that should stave off whatever effects the stuff that Tobey spit in her eyes would have
Mei Hua had explained the recipe's effects for the most part earlier, but she had wanted to spare them the more gruesome details until she had absolutely no choice but to tell them.
Sid was sent to get the rest of the ingredients from the market and herb shop, while Ulrich helped Mei Hua combine what ingredients they had. He was also getting a crash course on how to read Chinese, Mei Hua had promised that she would teach him how to read Chinese more proficiently after the danger had passed.
"Nana, would it be okay if I went to sleep for a little while?" Sue asked it was late in the evening so it didn't surprise Mei Hua that Sue was getting sleepy.
"Go ahead, Sue, I will wake you when the antidote is ready"
Fighting off the discomfort Sue soon fell asleep leaning on the pile of blankets and pillows that Tobey was resting on.
Mei Hua turned her attention back to Ulrich and couldn't help think that she would be in a major hole if she had not told Ulrich about the magic cookbook when she did.
She was discovering that Ulrich was a rather good student and capable of keeping a cool head under extreme pressure.
"Nana, something's not right…" Ulrich stated
"I know, I feel it too" Mei Hua replied, she was surprised that he picked up on such subtle inconsistencies especially given his young age as he was a few months younger than her youngest.
"Nana, about that secret my friends and I had kept, I think that may be part of the reason why I feel these things" Ulrich said
This raised several questions in Mei Hua's mind, what kind of secret were Ulrich and his friends keeping?
"After we've given them the antidote and know that they are going to be okay, I'll tell you the secret." Ulrich turned to look at Sue and Tobey. To him, this was like a Xana attack, and Sue and Tobey were the targets.
Sid returned with the needed ingredients and he helped Ulrich finish and administer the antidote.
"Oh no, what have I done?" Tobey said
"Nothing, you weren't in control" Mei Hua said trying to reassure Tobey
"Now we have to get that recipe before Kong Li can use it again," Sid stated
Sue and Tobey agreed with him.
"Ulrich are you in?" Sue asked
"Yes" Ulrich replied his expression serious.
Mei Hua watched as the teens left to battle Kong Li.
"Wait, shouldn't someone stay with Nana, in case Kong Li comes here?" Tobey asked
"We all will, knowing Kong Li, he'll come to us" Sid said
"Yeah, and I need to tell you guys something" Ulrich stated
They returned to Wu's Garden and went into the kitchen so Ulrich could tell them what they needed to know.
"Do you remember when I told you that my friends and I kept a secret? I talked to them and they said it was okay I told you the secret"
"What is it, Ulrich?" Sue asked
"A little over a year and a half ago my friend Jeremy turned on a super computer and it revealed a virtual world. In which was a girl and a corrupt artificial life form, known simply as Xana, it wanted to destroy all life, especially Jeremy. It later grew to include myself, Yumi and a boy named Odd, and yes that is his real name." Ulrich explained "We managed to get the girl out of the virtual world and defeat the evil, but it left a lasting effect on us all. We are closer and I think it also caused me to develop a sixth sense.
"The last two times that Kong Li has attacked he told me that he had a bad feeling before the attack" Mei Hua added
"The worse the event the worse the feeling I get… or that's how it's worked so far" Ulrich said
"It makes sense, a worse event would cause worse vibes" Sue said
"If I had only known how to interpret them sooner, maybe Nana wouldn't have a cast on her arm" Ulrich started to head outside but Mei Hua stopped him.
"Ulrich, I though we went through this all ready, we have no idea what Kong Li would have done to you if he hadn't gotten me first. Kong Li is ruthless, we can never forget that"
"So was Xana, but we never had this happen!"
Ulrich ran outside and Mei Hua watched in concern
"Nana, everyone deals with this differently, we just need to give him time" Sue said placing a hand on Mei Hua's shoulder.
"That, I am afraid, we may not have" Mei Hua sighed nervously.
To Be Continued…