Page 36 of The Girl with a Thousand Faces
Mercy stared down at the inert body, beneath its covering. Around her, the cavern echoed with lapping water. Spillage leaked from ceiling grates. Machinery clanked occasionally. The bodies, who should have been alive, were the stillest thing in the room.
She couldn’t do it. If she simply left, Kowloon would certainly be slated for demolition. This ghost was working toward destroying the city she had known and loved for years. Kowloon was her world, the one constant in a life full of upheaval and change. Mercy did not know who she would even be without it.
Mercy willed her mind to focus, to hold itself sharp and taut amidst thechaos that clouded her head. Get out of this building first, then take the triad-warded streets to the city limits. Once she was out in wider Hong Kong, she could have options.
“I see you got my message.”
Mercy spun round, her heart skipping beats.
Red Bird stood framed in the entryway, still wearing heels and fake jewelry. Or rather, her body stood there, inhabited by something else; the real woman’s soul was still trapped in a basin upstairs.
“What message?” Mercy asked, shakily.
The tiniest of frowns crossed those pretty features. “The girl. The water fetcher. I sent her to give you a message, and she ended up destroyed. That was you, wasn’t it?”
“The demon,” Mercy managed. In among so many other strange things happening, she had briefly forgotten about the dead kid. “You’re the demon she mentioned. The one who killed her, and made her into a ghost.”
Red Bird giggled. “Guilty.”
“Got a name, then?” She needed to keep this thing talking, and distracted, for as long as possible.
“Of sorts. They used to call me the Girl with a Thousand Faces.” The thing that was and wasn’t Red Bird offered a shrug. “You may call me that as well.”
“Why not. Seems appropriate for a monster who collects bodies like a rich lady collects shoes,” Mercy retorted.
The other “woman” only laughed. “Do you not like my skin room? I worked hard at building it, you know.” It paused, lips curving in a cruel smile. “Kit Ling had no idea how useful this property was when she bought the place. She only wanted the land for her own corrupt, monetary gain. But I discovered the phoenix sister used to store her drug supply down here, and adapted it for my own needs.”
“So happy for you,” Mercy said, coldly. What did it want, a fucking trophy for being creative? “Who or what are you? What the hell is going on?”
“Both are complicated questions, with complicated answers. Would you like to guess?”
“You killed Cobra Lily.” Mercy’s fingers crept toward the knife on her belt.
Some ghosts liked to talk, some didn’t. This one seemed like a talker, which was good. Gave her time to prepare.
“It was a busy night,” said the Girl with a Thousand Faces, stretching languorously. “First, I had to walk through the storm drain tunnels as a spirit, just to get past fu talismans and guards so that I could drown your little triad leader in her own bath.”
Mercy flinched.
“When Cobra Lily was dead, I brought her body here, for safekeeping.” It paused to smile, thinly. “Very soon, Kit Ling will turn up as a corpse, in Cobra Lily’s house. In fact, it has already happened.”
“Kit Ling will… what?” It took Mercy a whole thirty seconds to work through that realization, accompanied by a rising sense of anxiety. “Wait, aren’t you working for her?”
Thousand-Faced Girl laughed. “How funny you are! Of course not. I work for no one, little exorcist. Kit Ling is merely one of my skins, albeit very useful.” Its head tilted sideways, eyes narrowing. “You didn’t expect that, did you? Another thing you didn’t think of.”
Kit Ling was dead.Kit Ling was dead.All along, Mercy had been dealing with a puppet, with a demon looking out at her from dead eyes. This thing was in perfect control. It had played her like a lute from the very beginning.
“What was the point?” Inwardly, she was tense as a laundry line. All her nerves were screaming at her torun, run, runexcept there was nowhere to go. “All that murder, that complex chess playing, for what?”
“I have my own plans.” Thousand-Faced Girl smiled even wider. “You don’t need to know them. Not yet.”
“Again, who the hell are you?” Mercy said, ragged. “What is your problem with my city?!”
“Who am I? Oh, there have been so many names, so many faces. Hundreds, maybe thousands.” Thousand-Faced Girl tilted her chin up, hands on hips. “I am beautiful or plain, young or old, male or female. I am everyone, and no one, all at once.”
A wave of revulsion rose up in Mercy’s throat. “What you are is a disgusting body thief!”
“Disgusting,” the ghost echoed, tilting its head to one side. “I am no more vile than you, Mercy Chan. Chen Mei Chi. Whatever name you choose to use.”
