The Corpse Ritual, page 7
“How do we extract the qi?”
“Beats me. We’ll have to do it through trial and error. Whatever works.”
He wasn’t sure he liked the accusing look in her eyes. “I’m curious,” she said. “How much do you actually know about these undead qi-suckers?”
“Not much,” he confessed. “My father discussed the creatures, but he died before I got the full tutorial.”
“So this is your plan? It’s kind of lacking in specifics.”
“Okay.” He shuffled his feet impatiently. “Thanks for letting me know. Can we go now? I want to get back to the apartment to fetch the sword and some talismans.”
Chapter 9
Elsie and Sze Ho were gone for the day by the time they made it back to the office.
Junie went to her room. She opened the steamer trunk where she kept the Golden Dragon’s weapons and picked up a handful of talismans, or fu. The talismans were rectangular pieces of yellow rice paper about three inches wide and eight inches long. Their magic symbols were painted in red. She went outside and handed them to Joe.
When she returned to her room, she pulled the Energy Devourer out of the trunk and put that in her backpack. The sword’s handle stuck out, but that couldn’t be helped. She added her new sword belt to the backpack as well.
The belt was similar to the one she had lost earlier in the year. She ordered it from the same leatherworking company that catered to cosplay enthusiasts. The belt came with a scabbard that allowed her to wear the Energy Devourer at her hip and keep her hands free. She had no idea what would happen tonight, but she always felt better with the sword than without it.
She found a light jacket in her closet and put it on. She pulled more talismans from the trunk and shoved them in one of the jacket’s pockets. She slipped her crystal into the front pocket of her jeans.
She had attached a sports strap to her glasses and was about to tie up her hair when Noah called. “How is Joe doing?” he asked.
“He’s uh, he’s doing okay,” she said. “We’re actually working right now.”
“Is feng shui consulting an essential service?” he asked in surprise. Under D.C.’s Covid restrictions, only essential businesses were allowed to remain open.
“Yes, I guess you could say we are.”
“Okay. Hey, you sound busy. I’ll talk to you later.”
“How are the deliveries?” she asked. “I’m sorry I can’t be there.”
“It’s fine,” he said. “Really. I was the one who told you to stay with Joe. Don’t worry about us. We’re coping.”
She walked out of her bedroom to find Joe stuffing two Early Heaven bagua mirrors into his bag. The baguas were protective amulets cut into octagonal shapes about five inches in diameter. The mirrors in their centers bulged slightly. Chinese words, circles, and black, red and yellow lines radiated outward from the mirrors.
Bagua mirrors were used in feng shui as protection against negative energy. Geomancers used the convex form of the mirrors to push or reflect “sha” qi—negative or murderous energy—out of the environment. She and Joe had discovered that the mirrors also repelled ghosts.
“Will those work with jiangshi?” she asked.
He shrugged. “It’s worth a try.”
* * *
They walked back to the Mall. It was mostly deserted except for a handful of joggers and dog walkers enjoying the sun’s last rays. There were fewer than the night before. Some people probably were frightened away by the jogger’s death.
“Now what?” Junie asked when they stood once again at the Smithsonian stop’s barricaded escalators.
“We have about half an hour left of daylight,” he said. “The jiangshi won’t make its appearance until nightfall. I’m pretty sure he’ll come out the same way he went in.”
He went right up to the barricade and peered downward. It was dark at the base of the escalators. The lamps at the station’s mezzanine level hadn’t come on. Perhaps the operators of Metrorail hadn’t felt it necessary to keep the lights on given the lengthy period the station was to be closed.
He went back to where Junie was standing. His eyes roamed the darkening paths and fields around them like a hovering dragonfly that never stayed long on any one object. When he was satisfied that nobody was paying them any attention, he bent over his bag and brought out the bagua mirrors and talismans. He placed the talismans in the side pockets of his sports jacket.
She shrugged off her backpack and opened it. She took out the sword belt and buckled it around her waist. She clipped on its scabbard and slipped the sword into it. She tied the scabbard’s leather strips to her left thigh to make sure the sword wouldn’t bounce around when she moved.
They hid their bags behind some bushes. The setting sun dyed the clouds in pink, purple and orange hues as it sank below the horizon. The street lamps winked on. Most of the people had disappeared except for a few laggards.
They returned to the barricade. “Be careful,” Joe warned. “The jiangshi is very dangerous.”
“Do you know if the sword will work against it?”
He hesitated. “I’m sure the Energy Devourer will have some effect,” he said at last. “In fact, I’m confident of it. The sword is carved from the wood of a peach tree. Peach wood repels evil. And this isn’t any ordinary peach wood, but peach wood from the sacred Shen Ting Mountains.”
He tried not to show how worried he was. But she must have sensed something. She didn’t look reassured at all by his words.
* * *
Joe and Junie were so preoccupied that they didn’t notice the person watching them from behind a tree.
Pearl had seen them leave the office from her white van, which she had parked across the street from the Laughing Buddha. She also caught sight of the hilt sticking out from Junie’s backpack.
Finally. This was her chance to nab the Energy Devourer.
She got out of her van and followed them from a prudent distance. They were totally oblivious as she tailed them all the way to the Smithsonian station. She didn’t even have to work hard at a disguise. D.C.’s new mask requirements made going incognito so much easier.
She could have gone up to Junie and grabbed the sword from her backpack. However, she didn’t want to tussle with the younger woman unless it was absolutely necessary. Their last encounter hadn’t been exactly friendly. She had no doubt that Junie held a deep grudge against her.
If it came down to it, she was fairly certain that she could still beat the young Dragon in a hand-to-hand scenario. But why take the risk? The girl had been taking martial arts classes and she might have improved her fighting skills. Pearl couldn’t afford to get hurt right now.
It was best to seize the sword under the cover of darkness. That would give her a better chance of losing Junie and Joe in the roads and buildings surrounding the Mall.
As she watched from her vantage point, she wondered why the pair loitered in front of the shuttered subway station. No matter. It wasn’t any of her business anyway.
She observed the lengthening shadows on the ground.
It would be dark soon.
Chapter 10
Leonie Bowman leaned back against the wall. According to the electronic signboard above her, the Orange Line train would arrive in the next 15 minutes.
It had been a long day, and her elderly client—a woman cantankerous from the onset of senile dementia—had been especially difficult. Moreover, the woman’s son, who relieved Leonie and took over his mother’s care in the evening, had been late coming home. Leonie reminded herself that she would receive overtime pay for the extra hours she worked. It was fortunate she didn’t have any other responsibilities, such as children or pets, that necessitated her leaving her job on time.
She supposed she should thank her lucky stars that she could continue to work as a personal care aide. She still had a regular paycheck, unlike many others who had lost their jobs in the pandemic.
She shifted her position, trying to distribute her weight on her tired feet. Metro had pared back its services in an effort to ensure the rail system was used only for essential trips. This resulted in long wait times between trains. That sure didn’t help the commuters—essential workers like herself—who had no choice but to use public transportation.
Speaking of other commuters ... Leonie gazed around, surprised at how empty the platform was. Even with the closures mandated by the D.C. government, there usually were more commuters than what she now saw. But of course, she was going home later than she normally did.
She clenched her teeth in irritation and shuffled her aching feet. She tugged at her mask, which was slipping yet again. Why couldn’t the damn thing stay up? She eyed the signboard to make sure there weren’t any new delays before turning her head to check the tunnel. It remained stubbornly dark. Her train seemed like it would never come.
She was about to look away when something stirred in the tunnel. She blinked and stared harder. It certainly wasn’t the train she was expecting. Whatever it was stepped out into the dim light of the station. Leonie caught her breath. She gaped, not trusting her eyes for a moment. What she saw was surreal.
It was a person dressed in odd clothes. He or she wasn’t very tall. The voluminous blue dress with the long sleeves made the person appear even shorter. The material had a sheen, like satin, and there were patterns on it. A black and red hat covered most of the person’s face.
The individual lurched about, his or her body jerking and twitching in an alarming manner, as though from muscular spasms. Leonie frowned. Could it be a homeless person who’d been sleeping in the tunnel? A drunk, perhaps? Or was it someone suffering from a medical emergency? The person really shouldn’t be on the tracks.
The other commuters had noticed the strange sight. Heads turned. People pointed. A woman gasped.
Leonie jumped when a man shouted, “Hey buddy! You’re not supposed to be down there. It’s dangerous. The train’s coming any minute now.”
“Yeah, get out of there,” someone else said.
The figure on the tracks halted. It swayed on its feet. Leonie sighed with exasperation and shook her head. It was a drunk after all. Some people just had no sense.
A Metro employee walked briskly past her, making a beeline for the figure. She was accompanied by a large man in an orange safety vest. Someone must have alerted the station manager.
Leonie and the other commuters heaved a collective sigh of relief. Someone else was in charge now. They no longer had any duty to act.
“Sir!” The Metro worker’s voice was loud and no-nonsense. “Get off the tracks right now. Don’t make me tell you twice.” She placed her fists on her substantial hips, confident in her authority as Metro’s representative.
The figure raised its chin. The Metro worker and her companion stopped short. The figure threw its head back and inhaled deeply. It gripped the edge of the platform and tried to clamber up.
Leonie’s blood turned to ice in her veins. Her fear was visceral and all-encompassing. The thing in the blue dress was now near enough that she could see its features clearly. The face under the hat didn’t look human. It was skeletal, with flesh the color and texture of brown rock. The arms protruding from the loose sleeves were nothing more than bones covered with a thin layer of leathery skin.
The Metro employee uttered a harsh cry and backed away. Her co-worker, made of sterner stuff, rushed forward and reached down to either restrain the figure or help it up. To Leonie’s horror, the thing grabbed the man by the neck and threw him off the platform. There was an audible crack when he landed on his head.
He lay limp, his bulky body sprawled across the tracks. Leonie knew he was dead because his eyes were open and staring at nothing. She was barely aware of the screams from her fellow commuters. The Metro employee yelled hoarsely into her walkie-talkie, teetering on the verge of hysteria.
The other commuters were running now. Leonie’s eyes finally darted back to the figure on the tracks. It had made it onto the platform. It was sniffing the air again. It turned and staggered toward her.
Her instinct for self-preservation kicked in at last and she tried to run as well. Her legs didn’t seem to belong to her anymore. Before she could move, a man barreled into her and knocked her off her feet. She fell heavily on her side. She felt a hot burst of pain before her shoulder and left arm went numb. The man kept going, not bothering to stop and help her.
She struggled to get on her hands and knees. A horrible smell assailed her olfactory nerves. She gagged, her mind conjuring up images of ancient graves and long-dead things. A dark shape blocked out the light.
She looked up. The thing from the tunnel stood over her. It was even more terrifying close up. She shut her eyes, unable to take the nightmarish visage any longer. She could hear her own whimpers as she curled into a tight ball. She felt a fresh flare of pain when multiple sharp points punctured the flesh under her ears. Cold hard fingers curled around her throat and squeezed. She was hauled upwards, until her feet dangled in the air. Her eyes popped open as she struggled to breathe. Her face was inches from the thing’s.
It opened its mouth. She was transfixed by its large yellow teeth and rotted gums. The exhalation that escaped its parted lips was even more foul than what she had smelled before.
Bright lights swept over the platform. An inhuman shriek filled her ears. Even in the midst of her terror, Leonie recognized the sound as the metallic screech of a train pulling into the station. The creature let loose an angry hiss. Another whiff of that rotting stench. The fingers released her.
Leonie crashed to the floor. Before darkness engulfed her, she was thankful that the man in the safety vest was dead when the train ran over him.
* * *
Joe and Junie sat on the steps midway down one of the escalators, waiting to surprise the jiangshi. He was startled when a shrill ring punctured the silence.
It was his cell phone. He had forgotten to turn it off. He pulled it out and answered the call. It was Sze Ho.
“Joe, there’s an emergency at the Metro Center Station,” the scholar gasped.
“What kind of emergency?”
“There’s a mad man in the station grabbing people and flinging them about. It’s all over Twitter. Someone tweeted a video of the incident. Elsie and I just watched it.”
“What?”
“The mad man wore a blue dress and a black and red hat,” Sze Ho said, his voice rising in agitation. “He’s inhumanly strong.”
Joe shot to his feet. Junie stared at him, her mouth open. “We’ve got to go,” he said. “We’re at the wrong place. The jiangshi is at Metro Center.”
They dashed up the escalator and retrieved their bags from the bushes. They caught a taxi at 12th Street.
The cab dropped them at a side road. The Metro Center stop was surrounded by a swarm of police vehicles. Their emergency lights were so bright it looked like daytime.
Joe and Junie joined the crowd gathered outside the police tape. They elbowed their way to the front where they had a clear view of what was happening. Officers from both the Metro Transit Police Department and the MPD walked in and out of the metro station, but no one seemed to be in any particular hurry.
If there was an emergency, it was now over.
Joe felt Junie nudge him. When he looked her way, she tilted her head at a group of policemen. One of them was staring at her. It was Officer Weems.
As if realizing he had been seen, Weems detached himself from the group and made his way toward the pair of them. It was too late to make a run for it, not to mention it would be highly suspicious.
Joe cleared his throat when Weems stopped in front of them. “What are the two of you doing here?” he asked.
“We saw the bright lights,” Joe answered. “We were curious as to what was happening.”
“So you’re not aware of what happened?”
“No.” Joe’s eyes were wide and innocent. “What happened?”
“People in the station were attacked,” the officer said.
“By what?” Joe asked.
“We’re still collecting evidence and talking to witnesses,” Weems said evasively.
“Okay.” Joe’s eyes curled up at the corners. His mask hid the rest of his weak smile.
The policeman shifted his gaze to the sword at Junie’s hip. She hadn’t had a chance to store the Energy Devourer in her backpack. “What’s this?” he asked.
“It’s, uh, my wooden sword,” she said.
“Do you usually carry it around with you?” Weems asked.
“I use it for our feng shui business.” She coughed. “I mean, the business is closed, as it should be, but I like to carry it around so, you know, I’ll be used to it by the time the business can start up again.”
She would have rambled on but Joe stopped her by stepping on her foot. “Officer, Junie and I have to go now.” He backed away, pulling Junie with him by her sleeve.
They ambled away, trying not to walk too fast. Once there was a building between them and the sharp-eyed policeman, Junie asked, “What do we do now?”
Joe took out his phone. “I’m calling Sze Ho.”
He hung up after a rapid conversation. “Come on,” he said to Junie. “Sze Ho is waiting for us at my mother’s condo.”
Chapter 11
The Golden Dragon left Elsie well provided for. She made many wise investments with the money and now could afford a very comfortable lifestyle.
Her fifth-floor condo was decorated with expensive leather, glass and marble, which Joe found soulless and unwelcoming. It couldn’t be any more different from his own apartment, which he liked to consider shabby chic, with the emphasis on shabby rather than chic.
Sze Ho greeted them at the door. The academic led them to one of the bedrooms, which Elsie had turned into an office-cum-den. She sat at her desk, watching something on her laptop.
“Is that the video of what happened at Metro Center?” Joe asked.
“Yes.”
“How did you and Sze Ho stumble on the video?”
“I was on Twitter when one of my moots retweeted it. The video has gone viral.” Elsie caught the look of disbelief on Joe’s face. “What? You don’t think I tweet? I have over 5,000 followers! And let me tell you—Twitter is faster than regular news. You just have to be able to tell fake news from the real deal.”
