Page 24 of The Girl with a Thousand Faces
“You look like you’ve seen a ghost,” Erika said, dryly. “And don’t give me shit for an English name, not when you have one yourself.”
“I don’t mean offense, I just wasn’t expecting it. People are allowed to change and grow. Including me, and including you.” Mercy pulled out a chair and sat down at the little kitchen table. “Still. Why didn’t you tell me?”
Erika settled across from her. “What was there to tell? I changed a little every day, over many years. It did not seem worth mentioning. Do you write to tell me how much you’ve aged, every few months?” She shrugged. “Anyway, not everyone feels about change as you do.”
“Not everyone is smart,” Mercy agreed. “Tomorrow is a new day, hey?”
“Tomorrow is a new day,” Erika agreed, and the tension eased from her shoulders.
Mercy grinned. “How are you doing, big sister? It’s been too long.”
“Good, good. I run my school, and pay my rent.”
Mercy nodded. With the war long over, Erika had returned to teaching unruly local children.
Erika added, “I pay my triad dues, too. You’d better not be here for money.”
“Of course not!”
“But you still work for that Snakeskin woman, don’t you?”
Mercy grimaced. “I don’t know.”
“What the hell does that mean?”
She found herself launching into an explanation of the day: the fire-breathing grandmother, to start with. Then the water fetcher, and her odd demeanor. The demolitions consultation that Cobra Lily had chosen to attend, and the trip from Kowloon into Hong Kong. The strangeness of the Executive Council member, Tsang Kit Ling. The ill-fated meeting, Kit Ling’s accusations, and Cobra Lily’s loss of face.
“This is serious business. Especially that dead girl you met,” Erika said, when she’d finished. “Let me see those files.”
Mercy slid the binder across the table. Erika flipped through it, silently shuffling through photos, eyes narrowing as she skimmed reports.
“That’s a lot of dead people,” she said eventually.
“Yes.” Mercy drummed her fingers on the tabletop. “I can’t help but think there is a connection. The girl, the demolitions, the councilwoman… it all feels linked. Don’t you think it’s a bit too convenient, this ghost arriving just in time to serve Kit Ling’s agenda?”
Erika sat back, fingers interlaced thoughtfully. “Ah. You think this councilwoman has found a ghost to inflict on Kowloon, in order to make the city look dangerous, so that she can demolish it? And if so, maybe it is targeting you, specifically, because you’re associated with Cobra Lily.”
“Something like that.”
“Where would a government official even find such a ghost, Chan?”
“That’s why I’m here.” Mercy scooted her chair forward a little. “I think this ghost might be something left over from the war. One of the spirits rounded up during those city-wide exorcisms. You know, something more powerful than normal.”
“Ah. Down in the Murray Building, no? I suppose she would have access to those,” Erika said, with a sidelong look. “Which ghost were you thinking of, particularly?”
Mercy spread her hands. “You tell me, old lady. This is your area of experience. I didn’t really know much about the ghosts that ended up down there.”
“Who are you calling old? Aiyah. Let’s have a drink.” Erika got up to fetch some bottles of beer from a nearby shelf. She popped the tops with her teethand extended one to Mercy, who accepted it gratefully. They each took a long sip of the sour, slightly warm liquid.
Erika belched quietly, patted her belly, and said, “That’s better. Beer always helps me remember things. You know… now that you mention it, something is coming back to me.”
“Oh?”
“There were rumors, during the war years, of ghosts who fought in the resistance.” Erika ran a thumb over the neck of her beer bottle. “You’re right about the ghosts down in the Murray Building. They are not just any old spirits. Almost all of them were spirits of unusual strength, who helped fight against the Japanese.”
“Why on earth,” Mercy said, faintly astonished, “would ghosts fight the Japanese?”
“You’re kidding, right? Can you truly not imagine whata ghostmight have against invaders and occupiers who killed thousands?”
