Chapter Two

Jon sat straight up, sweat soaking into his blankets and pooling down his chin. Wide-eyed, he glanced around his dorm room not expecting to be back here. So it was just a dream after all?

Everything was in its place from where it was last night before he went to sleep. His bed, his desk with the essay paper and pencil he used to write it, his still-open laptop with black screen, the television hanging on the wall, the mini-fridge below the only window—which always made an annoying hum—his roommate’s empty bed. He found the alarm clock at his desk read 9:32 a.m.

“Damn it!” he spouted and threw the blankets off him. He’d already missed a half-hour of English class!

He hustled to stand on shaky legs as he searched his side of the room for a T-shirt. He’d rather not go outside being covered in sweat, but he also needed to hurry so he didn’t miss too much class. After finding his shirt and slipping it over his head, he grabbed his bag and dashed out the door into the hallway.

Down the stairs and into the foyer, he slowed a bit as he realized... everyone was staring at him! He was hardly ever late to class, so maybe it just surprised everyone. That may be true if he even knew everyone who glared at him! The room was full of students, but he only recognized a few.

One girl leaned over to her friend and whispered. Chattering rumors sparked up immediately as they all continued to stare at him. Did he not have pants on or something?

He thought to slink back up to his room and not even face the day. Instead, he smiled and motioned to the door. “Umm... late to class.”

Without waiting for a response, he hurried outside and toward the classroom building. There were a few students who glanced at him, but most just made their way casually across the sidewalks. A group of women laughed as he passed by them—he really should have made sure he was proper enough to go outside before leaving his room.

But he had never been tardy. Never had missed a class! His grades were perfect, just like they’d been in high school. He wasn’t about to mess up now after having one really weird dream.

Right. He’d never had a dream like that before. Not one so realistic. It’d been years since he even had a dream he could remember but even now, with his mind so worried about English class, he could still recall his dream as if he were still in it.

That man... The long, flowing handsome robes and the glistening sword at his side. Those boots. Everything came back to him with ease. Who was that man? What was his name? Jon almost regretting not learning it; he had to know who stared at him with those commanding, dark brown eyes.

Jon flew through the doors of the classroom building. The hallways were mostly bare with classes already in session. He skipped up the stairs by two and found his classroom on the second floor, room number two-hundred and one. One voice inside echoed outside of the door. The professor was lecturing again.

Taking a moment to breath, he brushed back his messy hair with his fingers and adjusted his shirt. Oh, he checked his fly, making sure it was zipped. And yes, he was wearing pants. Then, he opened the door.

Time seemed to stand still. As he stepped in, the entire room went quiet. For a brief second some students started to whisper and laugh. Others stayed silent. But one thing was true, they all gawked at him like he had something stuck on his face.

“Uhh...” Jon wasn’t sure what to say.

“Take your seat.” The professor motioned to the desks, and Jon immediately found his seat. “We’re on page fifty-four, half down, the column about editing of Shakespeare’s MacBeth.”

David, his roommate and the student sitting next to him, held his head low as Jon sat down and found the page in his English book. As the other students all turned back to the professor, and it seemed no one cared about Jon’s lateness anymore, David suddenly spoke up.

“You feeling okay?”

“Yeah, fine. Just overslept,” Jon answered, trying to keep his attention on the professor’s lesson.

David huffed. “You don’t feel... weird?”

“No. Why?”

“Do you even remember what happened last night?” David leaned in. “What you did?”

Jon glanced at him, uncomfortable by the sudden closeness. “Bro, back off.” The warning made David back away. “I only remember studying until midnight, then passing out sometime after that. Nothing else happened.”

“Oh...” David laughed. “Really? Nothing else?”

“Stop! What’s so funny?” Jon’s tone escalated along with his impatience.

“You two!” The professor barked, and they silenced. “Have something to share with the class?”

David shook his head. “No, professor.”

When the professor went back to the white board, Jon decided that maybe he’d wait until after class to figure out what the hell David was talking about. He tried to pay attention to the lesson, but found his mind wandering.

“What happened?” he whispered minutes later.

David muttered, “You scared the shit out of me and Eric, talking some kind of nonsense.” He kept his head and eyes lowered to the open pages of his book. “Then, you ran downstairs and about gave Sal Jensen a heart attack.”

“What?”

“You were going up to everyone asking them weird questions in some language. Sounded Asian. When Sal came over, you grabbed her Chemistry book and ripped pages out of it... she now has to buy a whole new book.”

“No way!” Not Sal Jensen! Jon’s cheeks flushed hot. How could he be so rude to her?

“It was really weird, like you were on some kind of drugs.” David glanced at him. “You sure you weren’t?”

“Of course, I wasn’t!” Jon couldn’t control his voice, again.

The professor slammed his hand on the desk. “You two! If you don’t shut up and let me finish, I’ll have to ask you both to step outside!”

“Sorry, Sir,” they both said in unison.

The professor took a breath. “I’m sure whatever is so important it can wait until after class. Now, turn to page one-hundred and five. Time for a quick quiz.”

Students grumbled around them.

It was because they couldn’t shut up that the professor gave them a quiz. And since Jon had missed most of the class, he was sure he’d fail hard. What a lousy day! He tried to focus the rest of the class-time, but had trouble keeping his mind on his work.

If he really had dreamed about being in a different land, then what the hell had David and everyone seen him doing last night? He didn’t usually sleepwalk, or talk in his sleep, either. And of course, he didn’t do any drugs. He never even drank much when they went out to the club.

A loud buzz came from the speaker above the class door—damn it! Class was over and he barely finished his quiz. It’d be no wonder if he failed since he wasn’t here for most of the time, nor could he concentrate the time he was here.

“Remember to have your essay’s in by Friday,” the professor announced as students were leaving. “Oh, and don’t forget to study for mid-terms in two weeks. Tomorrow, I’ll hand out lessons to make study time easier.”

Jon stood and gathered his books and paper into his bag. “Tell me again what I did last night.”

“Come on. I already told you.” David secured the strap of his backpack around his shoulder. “You said some weird shit and scared the living hell out of all of us. Be lucky we don’t ask you to change dorms.”

“You wouldn’t!” Jon chided. “We’ve been friends for years.”

“No, but I’m sure Sal is talking to the Placement Office right now.” They scooted out of their seats and walked down the stairs to the hallway. “You seriously freaked her out with that.”

“What exactly was I saying, huh?”

Someone punched Jon’s arm from behind, and he turned to see their third roommate, Eric, just getting out of his class. “You alright?”

“I’m fine. I’m fine.” Jon reassured him. “Okay, so what was I saying last night?”

Eric shook his head. “Something like foreign. I don’t know. Me and David couldn’t understand a word of it.”

Thinking back, he remembered from his dream everyone spoke a little strangely, too. He wasn’t sure why he could understand it perfectly, like they spoke English but not really. More like broken English. Chinese English?

“I do know some Chinese,” Jon said with a shrug. “Did it sound like Chinese?”

Both Eric and David looked at each other, then said in unison, “Maybe, a little.”

No way. Unbelievable! So he was randomly spouting Chinese words last night, even though he normally only spoke Chinese around his parents. And in his dream, the more he thought of it, the more he realized the language the troll-dude and the hunter spoke could have been Chinese as well.

Although is Mother was Chinese, his parents never pushed him to study the language. They never introduced much of the culture to him, either. And he just never found it very interesting, only learning Chinese words from his Grandma when she came to visit from Changsha.

“Okay. So you’re saying that I was speaking some random Chinese words to people last night?” Jon had to get clarification just to make sure.

“Yes!” They both said together again like a pair of twins, which they weren’t.

Great, now everyone thought he was a weirdo. He best just dig his head in the dirt and never come out into the real world again. Everyone would hear about this, he was sure, it was probably why all eyes were staring at him as he walked down the hallway with his friends. Damn, he was really getting sick of being gawked at!

As they reached the stairs, a recognizable face was coming up. Beautiful, soft skin with full cheeks and a pair of supple, glossy lips... it was Sal Jensen. Her legs tall and filling in the thin pair of jeans, showing off her nice, round butt. And the shirt may have left little to the imagination if it weren’t covered in a long-sleeve cardigan. Still, she was Jon’s dream girl and he completely ruined it by last night’s outburst!

He lowered his head hoping she wouldn’t spot his flushed, red cheeks. But she already noticed him as she stepped up the last step to the second floor.

“Jon,” she acknowledged him with her sweet voice, and his heart almost flew out of his chest. “You should pay me back for my Chemistry book.”

He swallowed. Yes, of course, she wouldn’t be asking him on a date now. “Umm, I’m so sorry, Sal. H-here.” He dug in his pocket, pulling out a couple one dollar bills. “It’s not much, but I can get more for you. How much was the book?”

“Four hundred.” She set her hand on her hip. “They didn’t have any used books in the store.”

“O-oh. It might take me a couple weeks, if that’s okay?”

Sal narrowed her eyes, then swiped the dollars from his hand. “Whatever. But please, just don’t ever come near me again with that... whatever it was last night.”

“O-okay. Yeah. I’m sorry, really. I don’t know what got into me.”

Sal huffed and brushed past him. Though her attitude was very rude, she normally wasn’t such a—

“What a bitch!” Eric spat. “Can you believe that book cost so much?”

“It’s no problem,” Jon reassured them. “I get paid in a week.”

“Yeah, but isn’t that for your dorm cost?” David asked.

Jon chuckled. “Yeah... It’s okay, though. I’ll figure it out.” He hoped laughing it off would help, but he knew that he couldn’t just figure it out. Dorm room costs were important to keep up, and there was no way he could run to his parents for help. Maybe he’d take on a few extra shifts at work, or work later on the weekends. He really wasn’t sure how he was going to do all this right before mid-terms.

*****

Bai Yazhu had mounted his sword and drifted towards the swamplands where he’d first met the dan jiao, ogre-like demons. Certainly, they wouldn’t be anywhere around now but he could only hope that they took shelter in one of the abandoned mud dwellings that lay on the outside of the swampland.

He rode back and forth, sweeping across the marsh low enough to spot any movement. There were only a few walking corpses lurching about—this wasn’t really the best place for a night-hunt. Most corpses fell into the deep pits of mud and couldn’t get out. Those who managed to walk around them would find a pit soon enough. If one was lucky, a quick morning hunt would garner a few unlucky corpses with their bodies sticking out of the thick sludge, ready for slaughter.

However, there were no monsters or demons left after their hunt earlier in the day.

Bai Yazhu decided to check the outlaying areas past the marsh where several packed and dried mud houses were built decades ago. At one time, this land was used to gather water, duck meat, and other essentials. They built the flimsy cob-style houses for temporary use during that time. Some of them still stood, while others were washed away in various floods—the same disaster that ended production.

As he flew past the small dwellings, he heard voices from one of the houses in particular. Strange how those ogres didn’t move on from the swamps or else they weren’t afraid of hunters attacking in the middle of the night. No, they probably did move on. It wasn’t safe out here, nor anywhere.

Bai Yazhu touched the ground a few steps away and sheathed his sword quietly. With light steps, he snuck over to the cob house and listened carefully. Inside were two, the voices recognizable from earlier in the day. The older one spoke to his brother with a grumble.

“Brother, you’re awake?”

“H-how long was I asleep?” the younger one asked as if he’d just come out from a week-long coma.

“Not long.” The brother quieted and footsteps sounded out. “I’m still surprised that hunter gave us pardon, but we should leave early before more come.”

“Hmm? What happened?”

“Ugh! There you go again!”

“I don’t remember any hunters... There were strange people in a strange building. They were talking strange words.”

“You and your fantasies! Here, eat this.”

“I’m honest, brother. You weren’t there, though. Where were you? I was calling for you.”

“I was right here beside you, Fangde. Now no more talk of this. Eat and sleep. We must hurry and be gone before daylight.”

Bai Yazhu stood just near the small window with no worries if he were caught listening in to the tale. But what a story it was! The dan jiao he’d met earlier today claimed he didn’t belong in this world, now the same demon was making up some fantasy about being somewhere completely different.

“Brother, please listen,” the young one continued. “These people looked like hunters but wore these bizarre clothes. I was even dressed like them!”

“That’s enough!” the older brother commanded. “Fangde, I know you are full of fantastical stories, but you were right here with me. We were almost killed by hunters today. If it weren’t for you, we’d be dead. But I’d like to sleep, now.”

Bai Yazhu pulled a thin, yellow piece of paper from his sleeve. A talisman, its diagram showing a large T-shaped design with several short pillars in the middle. He thumbed across the pillars, and the talisman’s drawing lit up in a pale white light. This was a tracking device.

Whether placed directly on someone, or placed on a building or sword or another object, the talisman would continue to track the object for the entire day before its magic burned out.

And Bai Yazhu had plenty of these thanks to Xu Shiuan. His own spirit energy non-existent, but his partner had shown him how to use these to the best of his ability.

He stepped lightly towards the flimsy closed door and stuck the talisman at the bottom. If all went well, in the morning when the ogres left, the talisman would slip off the door when it opened and drag along their leg or the bottom of a foot. It was the only way to keep track of where these demons traveled next. As long as he followed close enough, he would know where they were.

All was silent inside the house as he walked away. He had to know more about them, especially the younger one named Fangde, or Jon, whichever name he truly used. If Xu Shiuan didn’t notice, he’d lead them along the same trail as these ogres took. Then, on nights like tonight, he’d sneak away from Xu Shiuan’s watchful eye and replenish the talisman.

Quietly, he snuck away from the sod house and mounted his sword to fly back to the pavilion. On his journey back, he thought about both stories Fangde had told. This dan jiao surely had an illness, maybe the best thing to do would be to send him to the underworld.

Then, he thought of how he’d keep Xu Shiuan away from these demons. He’d have to steer him away if necessary. Perhaps Xu Shiuan would like a day of rest?

Upon his return to the pavilion, he stepped in quickly noticing how quiet it was inside. A few wobbly steps across the pillows, he spotted Xu Shiuan asleep atop the posh cushions with only one woman left to accompany him. She sat on her knees with his head atop her lap.

“You may leave,” Bai Yazhu said to her.

She blinked and raised a brow. “Sure you don’t need me to accompany you tonight, young master?”

Bai Yazhu motioned toward the curtained doorway. “I’ll be fine. Go!”

She pouted her lips, but gently scooted away from Xu Shiuan and left. Bai Yazhu knelt down next to his friend and pet his hair lightly. This man had gotten them into trouble many times before. Now and for the past few months, it seemed that all Xu Shiuan wanted to do was drown in jars of alcohol after a days hunt. He even brought the liquor with him wherever they went.