Chapter 12: The Ritual

Xia's POV

It's finally the day. Mei is gonna get her red panda spirit removed her and sealed away in a talisman. At the same time, it's also the day 4 Town will be having their concert at the SkyDome tonight. Over the past several days, everything has been very quiet. Mei and I rarely even talk, only exchanging glances at each other as our bond as cousins and friends was unfortunately broken.

Miriam, Priya, Kendra, and Abby were still willing to be friends with me so they asked if I wanted to meet at the park to talk and they also asked if I wanted to go to the concert without Mei. But I decided that it wouldn't be fair to leave her out and I had to help Mei during the ritual so I declined because if my cousin will not be going to that concert, then neither will I.

Also, Tyler has been avoiding me and Mei for some time. He wasn't picking on us but he's not gonna talk to us either, primarily because of what happened at his birthday party.

As for my cheek wound, it's all healed up but it is still visible on my face and it's gonna take a few more weeks for it to disappear completely.

On the evening of the ritual, our family was sitting outside, eating our massive dinner. Red lanterns were hung up for good luck and everyone was chatting. Mei and I were sitting next to each other but we weren't speaking. We were just staring up at the sky, watching the 4-shaped spotlights from the SkyDome sadly.

"What is that?" Grandauntie Wu asked when she saw the spotlights.

"Um, I think it's coming from the SkyDome, Mother," Auntie Ming answered.

"Four is the worst number," Grandauntie Wu scoffed.

"You know, Vivian was due on the fourth but I held her in until the fifth," Lily grinned proudly.

"Quiet, Lily!" Grandauntie Wu hissed, "Hurry up, everyone. It's almost time to start the ritual."

"Nervous, Mei-Mei?" I heard Mr. Gao asked her.

"A little," she giggled nervously.

"Oh well, I've got 50 years' experience as a shaman," he chuckled, "This will be a piece of cake. And mostly painless."

"Thanks, Mr. Gao," Mei sighed calmly before realizing the final sentence, "Wait, 'mostly'?"

Before he could respond, Grandauntie Wu tapped her spoon on her glass, catching everyone's attention for what she was going to say.

"Long ago, the spirits blessed the women of our family with a great challenge," she said, "Mei-Mei, tonight is your turn. Like all the women around this table except for Xia, who is on your father's side and Ai, who is her beloved husband, you, too, will banish the beast within and finally become your true self. May Sun Yee guide you and keep you safe."

All of us raised our glasses as I plastered a fake smile on my face. I wasn't entirely happy about Grandauntie Wu's speech because my mom and I felt excluded from the family for not having the same red panda gift as all of the other women. Also, calling Mei's panda spirit a beast seemed rather offensive. My thoughts were interrupted as Mr. Gao tapped me and Mei on the shoulders.

"Uh, it's almost time," he exclaimed, "The red moon is about to begin."

We looked up and saw that the moon was starting to turn a beautiful ruby red color.

"Mei-Mei, go get ready and Xia, stick with her," Auntie Ming instructed and we both nodded.

The two of us plodded over to our room, worriedly. Once we got in there, I helped Mei put her robe over her clothes. It was long, red and white. They chose this robe color because red was known to be a lucky color in our family. Mei needed help because it was rather complex to get correct. When I was done, she clipped back her hair with a pink flower hair clip. I saw her look at me in the mirror and I'm pretty sure flashbacks flew through her mind of what happened back at Tyler's party where she accidentally hurt me and scared him. She started breathing heavily.

"Remember, Mei, breathe deeply," I reassured her, trying to calm her down, "The ritual will go perfectly fine. If we know Mr. Gao, it's guaranteed to work."

"How are you sure about that? What if I hurt you again?" Mei asked, scared.

"I know you won't, also, I forgive you for that," I said.

"Really?"

"Yeah," I nodded, "If I'm being honest, I shouldn't have let what happened affect our bond because what you did last week was an accident. And it was a really stupid idea for me to just run over in between you and Tyler so it's basically my fault that I got hurt myself."

"I forgive you for doing that, too," she smiled and I smiled back. I was glad that our bond had partially mended after a few days of ignoring each other and tense and solemn silence whenever we were alone together. Just then, we heard a knock on our bedroom door. It was Uncle Jin, Mom, and Dad.

"Hey, Uncle Jin, Mom, Dad," I greeted.

"Hey, Dad, Auntie Ai, Uncle Chiang," Mei greeted, "I-I'm almost ready."

"Did you guys make this?" Mom questioned us.

We then realized what he was holding; it was our old video camera. Mei and I used it a month ago to record silly videos with Miriam, Priya and Abby while we were saving up for that 4 Town concert. It was a shame that we got the stupid date wrong. In the video, the six of us were in the classroom and Mei was in her panda form, pouring cereal onto me, Miriam, Priya, Kendra and Abby as the six of us were laughing. I smiled at the memories but my smile faded when Iremembered what happened.

"Here, I'll erase it," I suggested as I held my arm out for Uncle Jin to give it to me, only for him to pull the camera away, "What? We were just being stupid.

"The panda's dangerous, out of control," Mei sighed as we sat down by our bed, Uncle Jin, Mom, and Dad sitting next to us.

"Hmm, you sound like your own mother, Mei-Mei," Dad told my cousin, "What has she told you guys about her panda?"

"Nothing, she won't talk about it!" Mei sighed.

"It was quite destructive," he giggled nervously, "And big. She almost took out half the temple."

We looked up at him.

"You... you all saw it?" Mei asked.

"Only once, yes," Mom answered, "She and Grandma Wu had a terrible fight, Mei-Mei."

"Over what?" I questioned.

Uncle Jin pointed at himself, causing my eyes to widen. It was all because of him?

"Your father here was the first man who loved Ming just the way she is." Dad pointed.

"But Grandma Wu didn't approve of me," Uncle Jin explained, "But you should've seen her, girls. She was incredible."

"Wait, so if she never fought her mother... I wouldn't have ever met my cousin!" I mumbled as Uncle Jin nodded.

"But I'm a monster!" Mei argued.

"People have all kinds of sides to them, Mei, and some sides are messy," Uncle Jin told her, "The point isn't to push the bad stuff away. It's to make room for it, live with it. Xia, Mei, erase it if you want, but this side of you guys... made me laugh."

During then, we started to realize that maybe the red panda wasn't a bad thing and maybe what Miriam said back on the roof was right. Maybe Mei shouldn't get rid of the red panda and stick with it after all. It had basically become part of herself at this point. I know this sounds rather weird after knowing and living with her for only 2 years but imagining Mei without her panda seems like it isn't her. The truth was, I didn't want her to get rid of it personally. But that was Mei's choice to make. The two of us watched us laughing and hugging on the video and slightly smiled.

Then Auntie Ming opened the door, causing us to hide the camera behind our backs.

"Girls, it's time," she smiled.

Mei and I nodded. We were ready for this.

Mei's POV

Mom took me and Xia outside for the ritual. The lanterns were shining brightly red and all of my relatives were standing outside, watching me: the ritual is about to begin! Xia held my hand and motioned me to relax. Hopefully, everything was going to go well and be okay.

"Just follow my directions and breathe," Mr. Gao instructed me . He was in a robe as well and he was holding a massive silver sword with a ruby on the hilt.

Mr. Gao led me to the middle of the courtyard which had red candles all around it for good luck. Mom, Dad, Xia, Auntie Ai, and Uncle Chiang smiled at her reassuringly and she smiled back and nodded.

"Now don't move from the circle," Mr. Gao told me as I sat on the ground while he used some chalk to make a circle around me, "You understand? For as long as the red moon shines, the astral realm will be open. And this circle is the door."

He then nodded to my cousins, aunts, and grandmother. They started playing instruments and singing in Cantonese.

Jihng fa sām sān
Gán āk sáu sām
Yùhn hei gwāi wái
Jiht ngh fāan sān

"What are they saying?" I asked Mr. Gao.

"The door will open only if we sing from our hearts," he explained, "It doesn't matter what. I like Tony Bennett but your grandma, uh, she's from old school. Now, focus on their voices. Let them guide you."

I took a deep breath in and out and closed my eyes while focusing on their calm singing and music. I heard a sound that was most likely the door to the astral realm opening.

"Oh, Sun Yee, revered ancestor, hear us now," Mr. Gao called out.

I opened my eyes and saw Mom and Dad take each other's hands while also singing in Cantonese.

"Guide this girl through her inner storm!" Mr. Gao called out.

I looked up and the moon was fully red and shining. The circle lit up and started glittering a bright turquoise color. It was working! I felt myself starting to levitate into the air.

"And return the red panda spirit from where it came!" Mr. Gao yelled, lifting the sword.

The ruby on its hilt and a red light shone out of it, onto my forehead. My eyes shut as my body lifted up.

Once I opened her eyes, I was in the astral realm. It was extremely peaceful: bamboo trees were everywhere with calming music. I looked around before a calm gust of wind and some leaves blew me over to what seemed to be a clearing. I looked up and saw a bunch of leaves all rising up to a beam of light. The leaves spun around until I saw a beautiful woman: my ancestor Sun Yee. She slowly floated down.

"Sun Yee!" I gasped and I bowed. Sun Yee bowed in response before she moved her red ribbon around in a circle, forming a portal. I was supposed to go through the portal to banish the red panda spirit.

I looked into the portal at my reflection and saw myself but with my hair was back to its original black color. I put my hands through and saw my red panda paws starting to separate with it. I took her hands back before I continued pushing myself through the portal. It was an extremely difficult procedure, probably because as Mom mentioned, the more the red panda was released, the harder the ritual was. I pushed her head through the portal while my red panda was pushing itself from where I was entering. I screamed in agonizing pain but continued pushing.

"Come on, cous. Fight. Fight it." I heard Xia's voice from the physical realm.

That was when I looked back at the red panda and remembered all the good times I had with it. That's where I decided to make my stand. I'm not getting rid of my red panda spirit now!

"No!" I screamed as I pushed myself back and reunite with her panda. This triggered an explosion that blew everyone back.

As everyone came to, Xia looked over to where I am and noticed the form I was in.

"Mei! Your panda form is back!" Xia smiled ecstatically as she gave me a celebratory hug.

"What happened?" Grandma Wu asked when she noticed me still in red panda form.

Ming went over to me, saying, "Mei-Mei! It's okay! We can do it again!"

But I'm not going through that ritual again.

"Mei-Mei?"

"I'm keeping it," I told everyone.

"What did she say?"

"Keeping it?!"

"I'm keeping it!" I repeated defiantly as I ran over to the temple entrance.

As I opened the gates, I felt my relatives trying to pull me back in.

"Let go!" I strained.

"What's gotten over you?!" "Get a hold of her!" "Don't do this!" "Xia, help us!" All of my relatives said to me, with Lily telling Xia to help them pull me back inside.

I then noticed Xia's determined look on her face and this finally gave me the strength to make my older relatives release me.

"NO!" I shouted, "I'm going to the concert! Xia, you coming with me?"

"Oh yeah, Mei!" Xia replied as we ran out of the entrance, "To SkyDome!"

And with that, the two of us made our way to the 4 Town concert.