Page 99 of The Girl with a Thousand Faces
Because honestly, as much as Mei Chi dominated your thoughts for years, you only have one overriding desire at the moment: to stay out of this hellish bottle they’ve kept you in. Going back is a horror that frightens even you to think about. Worry about the rest once you’ve persuaded this arrogant young woman to set you free.
Of course.Smile as best you can, with your monster teeth.I would be honored to know what favor the wise councilor requests.
Kit Ling actually claps her hands in delight. “I’m so pleased! Very well. Have you heard of Kowloon Walled City? I’m sure it was around even in your day.”
Surprise flits through you, though you don’t allow it to show.
I have, yes. It is a small neighborhood where the undead were driven by Japanese forces, who feared their retribution. Refugees also gathered there. We coordinated many resistance operations with the people in that place, though I never met any of them in person.
All of that is true. You were always out in the field, busy wearing stolen skins. You add,What of it? Does it still exist?
“Oh, it exists. As a rotten little slum.” Her lip curls again, with fresh disdain. “I have made it my career mission to have Kowloon Walled City demolished and built over.”
You keep your silence, and say nothing lest your own contempt leak through. The sheer pettiness of human ambitions never ceases to amaze you, even after all this time. “Career mission” indeed.
“I suppose financial gain means little to a ghost,” Kit Ling says thoughtfully, with a flicker of self-awareness. “But you see, I own some of the property in that place. Demolishing the city means I will benefit from the government compensation payouts, and as a Council executive, I can influence the amount we compensate the residents and landlords.” Her smile is wolfish and unpleasant. “There are also certain building contracts which will fall into place, and again benefit me, if all comes to fruition. However, the clock is ticking, and these businesses will not wait forever.”
I respect your clever financial ambitions, Miss Tsang.A good thing that ghosts can lie, and very easily. You respect nothing about her, not an inch.Yet I remain confused as to what you require of me, willing though I am to serve and be of use.
The obsequious language seems to please Kit Ling. She practically wiggles, like a child who has been praised for good school marks.
“It’s very simple. There is great resistance to demolishing Kowloon, from within and without the neighborhood. Therefore, I hope to unleash you on the Walled City. It is the perfect place for you: dark, with many underground waterways, and lots of ghosts. The triads who control it insist that only they can keep the ghosts in check, but if you are running wild and causing chaos, it will give me the perfect excuse to seize control and have it all knocked down. We both benefit, and some nice buildings can replace that ugly slum.”
You’re far from stupid, but she clearly thinks you’re an idiot, and that rankles.
It’s obvious that once she’s used you to wreak the havoc she needs, she’ll either step back when the exorcists and ghost hunters come calling, or send them inherself. No way would she let you simply wander free at will, especially if she thinks you’re dangerous. Doubly so if your existence implicates her actions.
Not that you can call her out on this, unfortunately. Anything suspicious and she’ll likely force you back into the bottle gourd with fu talismans and chants. Best to assume she’s able to do that, even though she gives the air of someone with more confidence than competence.
Your main priority needs to be getting out of prison. The next words you say to her matter greatly.
Forgive me, Miss Tsang, but what happens to me when Kowloon is demolished?
A little risky, but your gut instinct whispers that not mentioning it at all will be suspicious. She might be inclined to think you are insincere if you leap to accept her offer without question, and you don’t want that. She must believe your capitulation is real.
Kit Ling’s eyes narrow in response, and she examines you the way a housewife might examine a cockroach who has dared crawl into her house.
“What do you want to happen?” she says, acidly.
The ocean, you say, immediately.I long only to return to the sea, to the island from which I came.
“Huh. And how do I know you won’t do that straightaway, if I release you?”
Because my soul cries out for justice.That is certainly true.The people of Kowloon betrayed me, and caused me to be locked away here, even though I once worked with them. I seek retribution, and you kindly offer me this chance, Miss Tsang.Not quite accurate, but close enough that the truth rings through it.When that is done, I yearn only to retreat to the waves. Will you let me?
“Well. I think that can be arranged.” Her self-satisfied smile fills you with loathing. “I won’t ask you to sign a contract, Thousand-Faced Girl. Paper agreements cannot restrain a ghost. But here is what will happen. First, I am going to bind you back into that vessel.”
She pulls out a second bottle gourd, similar looking to the one you inhabited before. “I’ll swap gourds, leaving this empty one behind. Then I will walk out, with you tucked safely in my bag. Your old prison will be put away, and no one will know you have been released. Later, when I am out in the city, I shall set you free. Are we agreed?”
You agree, after pretending to think about it. There’s no other choice, except to trust her. If you don’t agree, she’ll only force you back inside, anyway.
Still, stepping willingly back into that tiny prison is one of the hardest things you’ve ever done. The trauma of that bondage is fresh, the relief of being “out”immense in so many ways. It takes all of your resolve, your years of forged inner strength, to let her bind you anew.
She begins to read a chant from a piece of paper, and you close your eyes, willing yourself to yield. Darkness closes in again, and your final horrified thought as she seals up the new gourd is that you can, in fact, tell there is less room in here.
A while later.
You’re not sure how much time has passed, only that it was a much shorter span than before. When you come to, you’re lying in a bath of water, groggy and exhausted. Still not fully recovered from the exorcism which first trapped you, never mind the second one that Kit Ling has put you through. There is very little light in here; the windows are boarded up, and the taps leak badly.
