We went way over our allotted time. At the close of the Read-a-Thon, there was a whole crowd of parents just as enthralled as the kids they’d come to pick up.
“George didn’t say a word,” I read. “He felt quite trembly. He knew something tremendous had taken place that morning. For a few brief moments, he had touched with the very tips of his fingers the edge of a magic world.”
“The End,” said Quentin. Somehow the difficulty level of the books had risen over the course of the day. The two of us got up and took a bow at Mrs. Thompson’s insistence while everyone clapped.
The room began to clear out slowly, the adults lingering to chitchat with each other and the children running around to enjoy their last moments of freedom.
“How soon can we have you two back?” Mrs. Thompson said with a smile. “After today’s performance, I’d be willing to make this an every week thing.”
An adorable little cherub tugged at Quentin’s trouser leg.
“Where’s the pretty girl?” the kid said to him. “You should read with the pretty girl instead of her.”
“Beth!” Mrs. Thompson gasped. “Your mother’s calling. Get along now.” She shooed the towheaded child away from the awkward-bomb she’d just dropped.
Yunie and I spent so much time together it was only natural that people would refer to us as a pair. And no one thinks she’s gorgeous more so than me. She’s petite, slender—the natural beauty.
Which means I’m the . . . not.
If she’s the small one then I’m the big one. If she’s the friendly one who’s on good terms with everyone, then I’m the rough one with a sharp tongue and bad temper. If she’s the attractive one, then, well, it’s pretty obvious what’s left over.
“Yeah . . . so, uh . . . this was a one-time arrangement,” said Quentin.
“Aw,” Mrs. Thompson said. “But the two of you have such good . . .” She waved her index fingers crisscross at him and me.
“Comedic contrast?” There was way too much edge in my voice. “Yeah, we’re a regular Laurel and Hardy. I’ll see you next month.”
I spun on my heel and went out the back of the library, avoiding the crush of parents and children in the front lobby.
7
I didn’t hear footsteps as I began the walk back to my house, or see a shadow trailing mine, but I spoke anyway.
“Are you going to tell me I was rude?” I said. “That I shouldn’t have spoken to an adult like that?”
Inside I was kicking myself. I was rude. Mrs. Thompson didn’t deserve any guff from me. She was like Mrs. Claus and Maria von Trapp put together.
“I’m not going to tell you anything,” Quentin said from behind. “Except that you’re going the long way.”
I turned to face him. “Okay, how much of a stalker are you that you know more than one way to my—”
Standing behind Quentin, perfectly and unnaturally stock still, was a huge man.
The hugest one I’d ever seen. He had to have been at least eight feet tall.
He was wearing a suit made out of silk so black it looked like human hair. His bulging eyes didn’t seem to point in the same direction, and there was something crooked about his massive arms, almost as if they had an extra joint he was hiding.
Quentin noticed my surprise and glanced behind him. In the blink of an eye he was by my side, shoving me away from the stranger.
“Ho, little one,” the giant said to him. “You’ve gone soft to let me sneak up on you. What happened to that famous vision of yours?”
“Hunshimowang!” Quentin shouted. “So it was you I sensed lurking about this town! How did your sorry ass get out of Hell?”
“Oh, wouldn’t you like to find out?” the man in black said with a laugh. “Let’s call it ‘good behavior.’ What really matters is that I, Hunshimowang, the Demon King of Confusion, am finally back in the world of the living.” He fanned the air toward his egg-size nostrils and breathed in appreciatively.
Oh god oh god. Yunie was right. Quentin was a gangster and this was some Tong friend of his from prison. I fumbled for my phone to call someone, anyone, but the sweat pouring out of my palms cost me crucial seconds.
“Mmm, is that the smell of human child?” said the man. “After I kill you I’m going to have to follow the trail back and have myself a celebratory meal. It’s been ages since I’ve tasted flesh of any kind.”
“You make one move toward her and I’ll feed you your own liver!” Quentin snapped.
“Always such concern for mortals.” One of the man’s eyes, just the one, swiveled toward me, and he licked a strand of drool off his lips with a tongue as thick and knotted as a two-by-four. His nauseating appearance and bizarre threats robbed me of the ability to respond quickly. Maybe I could have gotten over my confusion, and maybe I could have powered through my fear, but not both together.
“I notice you haven’t told the girl to run yet,” he said to Quentin. “Could it be that you’re scared to face me without her? Surely you haven’t become that weak?”
Quentin bristled. “You don’t know who she is! And I don’t need anybody’s help to beat you to death a second time!”
He snatched my phone out of my grasp before I could hit the second 1 of 911.
“I’m sorry, Genie,” Quentin said, crushing it to glass and metal splinters with a single squeeze. “But we can’t involve anyone else.”
The man in black grinned. And grinned. And kept grinning. His smile parted his face and sliced toward his ears, exposing a mouth that went nearly all the way around his head like a crocodile’s.
Quentin snarled, his flawless looks contorting into a mask of rage. I could see his canines bared, much longer than they should have been. He gave me a hard push to the side, sending me through the air. I landed on the grass as he launched himself at the giant.
The force from their collision nearly popped my eardrums. Quentin was telling the truth before. Whatever he and the man in black were doing, it wasn’t wushu. They attacked each other like rabid animals, clawing and biting as much as they punched and kicked.
I scrabbled backward on my heels and hands, trying to get away from the radius of their malice. My heart hadn’t beat in the last minute. I was looking at two people trying to kill each other. The sight was an infection that I couldn’t allow to reach me.
I heard a sharp wooden crack across the street like a tree had split and fallen, and suddenly Quentin was gone from sight. He must have been thrown off into the distance.
The giant yawned in pain and rolled his shoulders before turning his attention to me. He walked over and crouched down, slamming his hands against the ground on either side of me, blotting out the sun above.
“It’s strange, meeting you for the first time under these circumstances,” he said, his foul, raw-meat breath descending over me. “Let’s see if I can get a taste of you without cracking my teeth.”