Page 113 of The Girl with a Thousand Faces
Sung Siu Yin, she whispered.
Lost memories returned in a torrent and cratered through her consciousness with such force that Mercy slumped sideways, held up only by the slime-drenched walls.
Fuck everything, she groaned.IamSea Sister!
It made sense, now. All of it. She was guilty of so much. First for killingSiu Yin and taking the other woman’s body, then staying too long in a skin that wasn’t hers, until her memories had faded and she had become someone new.
Of course the water ghost hunted her; it sought justice, like the many other spirits Mercy had talked to over the years. When the Girl with a Thousand Faces had killed her for the second time, Mercy’s spirit must have slipped from its stolen skin into that barrel, hiding in the water.
Then the lid had been sealed on top, and the barrel placed… here, wherever this was. The intent was for her to rot in stinking darkness, forgotten and trapped, as she deserved. Mercy could not even complain that it was unfair.
So many were dead, because of her. Along with a slew of other unnamed, countless dozens—hundreds? More?—whose existences had been snuffed out in Siu Yin’s endless quest for justice and vengeance. All paying a price that Mercy had evaded for years, against the balance of a debt she could never fulfill.
Nor did she have any hope that things would improve now that she’d been shoved in this hole. The Thousand-Faced Girl was a water ghost unbound, free to wear skins and wreak havoc. All this was surely only the beginning.
A clear voice cut through her despairing thoughts, like a hot knife through pig fat:
“Finally, you got there. Took you long enough.”
Mercy spun.Who said that?
“Some call me the goddess of mercy. I have been your friend for years, though you never pray to me anymore.”
Lady Kwun Yam?she said, stunned.Where… where are you?
“Everywhere. Nowhere. All around. It is easier for us to speak, now that you are dead again. Flesh dulls spiritual senses.” I manifested myself, coalescing from the darkness to hover in front of her, my robes dry and pristine despite the rotting damp of this pit. “Is that better? Mortals like to look on faces when they speak, I’m told.”
Her mouth opened and closed, fingers twitching. Trying to process it all.
“You were born special, like Ma Zu was, long ago. As a child, you came to my temple often. You asked me to remember you when you died. I took pity on you, Mei Chi, and I kept your name in my heart,” I said, sadly. “But the memory of a goddess is a dangerous thing.”
Why are you talking to me, here and now?!Mercy exclaimed.Haven’t you had years to speak to me?
“I’ve always been talking, but you don’t listen,” I tell her. “I sent you dreams,for decades. Dreams so strong they broke into the waking world. I pushed you to remember, to think, to reflect. At every turn you chose to bury yourself and hide from the past. There is a limit, Mercy. Even for a deity.”
… Oh. That was you?
“Who else?”
A clear dream with a clear message would have been far more helpful!
“Would it? Would it, really? And how do you think you would have reacted to a dream that claimed you were a long-dead water ghost accidentally stuck in the body of the niece she murdered? Would you have believed that?”
She glowered.
“Precisely.” I adjusted my golden headdress primly.
Why are you here now?she said.Is it to stop Siu Yin?
“No, that’s your job. I am just here to confront you with the truth.”
What… what truth?
“What is happening today in Hong Kong is your fault, Mercy. Your actions created a monster, and you bear responsibility for every soul she drowns, every life she wrecks.”
Mercy’s shock was visceral.I never intended any such thing! How are you pinning that on me?
“Pinning? You took her life, little one.Youmade her into a ghost, like yourself. Gave her your curse and your pain, selfishly. Then you took her skin and lived the life she should have had.”
