No, I will not devolve into a panic attack from his threats.
I will read these messages and I will allow their meaning to enter my mind. My mind will work on the problems the messages present, and so will my family’s minds. We will talk. We will find solutions. We will support one another and get through this, together.
Together.
Nai Nai pulls the phone from her pocket and hands it to me. I take one more deep breath and open the texts and read them out loud.
Lei:You think I don’t see you booby-trapping the coffee shop?
Lei:You’re a fool, xiao mei mei, and the consequences of your inaction will be great.
Lei:Meet me here tomorrow at noon. Alone.
The next message is a map location, and the one after it…
Another picture of Ba holding a sign with today’s date. He’s thinner, and his eyes are ringed by dark circles, but the strength and defiance in his expression are strong. Maybe even stronger.
“Sign,” is the only word below the date. His eyes are telling me not to. My parents are not stupid, and they’re not weak. If he’s telling me no, he has his own plan. Even if that plan is just to endure until justice is served, it’s his choice.
And it’s time I made mine.
I let out a long breath and set down the phone. An idea is already forming in my mind, and I’m going to need everyone’s help to make it possible.
“Nai Nai, call Deelia,” I say with resolve. “We have wards to scribe tonight.”
thirty-three
A Surprising Declaration
Lacey is first to arrive with Jamie in tow around seven-thirty. They have all the materials I asked for, including the Halloween paint palettes—ten in total—that, when asked, I refused to tell her why I needed them. Better to get her and the stuff here so I can convince her my plan is way better than calling the police.
Because it is.
Lei isn’t going to know what hit him.
They sit down on the booth bench beside the Jupiter table where I’ve prepared our magical feast and drop the bags of goods on the Saturn next to it. Deelia arrives ten minutes after them, and so I call the impromptu meeting to order. I stand in front of my new friends and my family, nervously clearing my throat until the chatter dies down.
“Thanks for coming, and bringing all the weird stuff I asked for, Lacey,” I start.
She beams. “No problem! Are we decorating for something special?”
I raise my brows and chuckle as I look down at the Party Central shopping bag bursting at the seams with content. “Yeah, you could say that.”
I want to shuffle my feet and rub my neck, but I don’t let those ticks take over. I think of my calming song and remember that I’m confident the plan will work. I straighten my spine and look at each of them.
“Zhao Lei has been threatening my family. Not just us, here, but my mother and father in China. It’s a long story, but they were conned into going overseas and giving up their passports. They’re trapped there at the Zhaos’ compound, and if I don’t comply with Lei’s demands, their lives are going to get worse.”
Lacey’s face pinches into a sad frown. “I’m so sorry, Jade.”
Jamie rubs her partner’s shoulder to console her, squeezing Lacey tight against her side.
“I’msorry that I wasn’t completely truthful with you guys when I asked you to help us protect the café,” I say, shrugging. “Trust has been hard to come by for a long time, and I never know when someone’s going to use something they know about my family against me.”
“This explains many things.” Deelia hums sagely. “Your aura has been glowing for days. It was stifled when we first met. You’ve not just been hiding secrets from us, but yourself, too.”
I nod. “I think maybe I have.”
“I’m your grandmother your whole life, and you take the advice of a woman you met a month ago?” Nai Nai crosses her arms as she prattles off a quick admonishment in Chinese. “I’ve been telling you for years to let your qi flow!”
