It had become a habit of hers to tug on it several times throughout the day, each time a little more urgently than before. Rui wasn’t sure if it was because she wanted to get rid of it or if she was making sure the thread was still there, as though it was proof thathehad been real.
Ten cackled in her head.Whatever you think this boy feels for you, it is a lie. You were merely a host, a convenient coincidence.
Her heart ached. Did Zizi the mortal boy truly exist, or was everything a lie? Sometimes she thought she might hate him. He’d waltzed into her life, made himself seen and known, until she was so used to his presence that, without him, everything lost its color. She hated that he had saved her—before and again. But deep down inside...
Rui shook her head, severing the thought and its emotion at thejugular. What was the point of replaying the things that had gone down in the tunnels at Outram that day? There was no closure, and she didn’t dare hope for any. She had failed in all the important ways. Feng, the Hybrid Revenant who had murdered her mother, had been found. But it was Ash Song, her mentor, who’d killed him. Her revenge felt half empty. And it hurt more because after everything, the boy she’d once had a connection with was no longer speaking to her, and theotherboy... well...
She spat out her toothpaste. At least the realms were safe now. With all ten Kings together in the underworld, the Nothing should have stopped decimating the Courts, and fewer Revenants would be formed in the human world.
3
Rui
At first, the familiar sight of her schoolmates in their navy and white uniforms gave Rui some comfort. But it was short lived as silence descended on Xingshan Academy’s main cafeteria. Everyone stopped what they were doing, craning their necks to get a good look at their new hero. She’d forgotten it was the common break time, and the room was packed with cadets from all levels cramming in a quick bite before their lessons.
She squirmed, unsure of where to look. She was one of the top cadets, and she’d gotten used to the attention that came with it. But this new scrutiny had an air of unspoken expectations that was suffocating. Why was it so much easier to face a Revenant that wanted to kill her than the curious eyes of her peers?
It was all the Guild’s fault—and Ash Song’s. They had extolled her actions at Outram, spinning a narrative that was flattering to both their star cadet and their institution. It was an enticing story: a mere wisp of a girl saving a city. The media ran with it, exaggerating everything as usual, and Rui had found herself elevated to some kind of savior. But the thing about saviors and false idols placed on lofty pedestals was that their fall from grace was swift and the landing hard.
No one knew the dark truths behind her shiny new facade.
Ash had promised her a place in the Exorcist Guild in exchange for her silence about the Hybrid Revenants who had shown up in the tunnels. It was for the greater good, he’d said. The public would panic if they knew that Revenants that looked just like them walked their streets.Joke’s on him.Ash himself barely knew half of what had happened that day in the tunnels. He didn’t even know of the underworld’s existence or about the Kings. The lies Rui had to live with—that she was a herowho’d saved the city and that Hybrid Revenants were an urban legend, that Zizi’s disappearance was an unrelated coincidence—they were all eating into her.
But she had weighed her options and made the best out of terrible circumstances. What else was there to do but to soldier on? She couldn’t give in to despair. She was better than that. Shehadto be.
Ignoring the stares, she scanned the cafeteria for her friends.
“Roo-eeee, you’re back!” came a squeal from a table on the left, where Ada was flailing for attention. She was sitting with two other seniors, Teshin and Mai.
The spell broke. The chatter and clinking of utensils resumed, and most cadets turned away. But tension lingered in the air. Strained laughter peppered conversations, and a heaviness rested on her schoolmates’ expressions. Rui wondered if, secretly, any of them wanted to be a normie. If, during the long dark nights lying in their dormitory beds, they ever regretted their decision to train as Exorcists.
But it wasn’t as though the cadets at Xingshan Academy had a choice. They couldn’t lead normal lives. It was impossible when you were born with a high level of spiritual energy. You couldn’t change your nature, and Revenants were always drawn to you. The monstrous creatures craved yangqi, which meant people with high levels of spiritual energy were prime targets. The only way to survive was to enroll and train and hope that your magic was enough to protect you and your loved ones.
It’s not theonlyway.Rui pushed the thought aside. She didn’t want to think about the underground magic community and the practitioners who were a part of it.
She didn’t want to think about him.
Ada wrapped her up in a tight hug, and Rui realized how much she’d missed her best friend. Ada had popped by Matthias Lin’s apartment, but her visits were brief because the senior cadets were going on regular Guild missions now.
“I didn’t expect to see you today,” Ada said.
“Aren’t you still on medical leave?” Mai chimed in.
Dull anger flickered in Rui’s veins. She was only here earlier than expected because she had confronted her father about the old photographs she’d found in his desk drawer. It had taken a while to summon the courage to bring them up.
After recuperating at home for the last month and a half, it felt like the father she’d remembered and needed had returned. Normalcy was what she craved, and Rui wanted to cling to it. But she’d seen those photographs with her own eyes, and their existence pestered her. They were evidence that Matthias Lin might have once cultivated his spirit core in these very same hallowed hallways, and that at some point in his life, he could wield magic. Which made no sense, because her father’s spiritual energy level was that of a normie now.
Last night, she’d finally asked.
Her father denied everything, and when Rui stormed into his room and yanked the desk drawers open, there were no photographs. No evidence to throw in his face.
Your mind is playing tricks on you. You must’ve imagined it.
It wasn’t the words he’d said, or even the gaslighting. It was his tone—the insufferable concern behind the words. The guilt in his eyes was unmistakable. He was lying. Worse, he knew thatsheknew he was lying. That had hurt the most.
Refusing to say another word to him, Rui had packed her bags in a pissed-off flurry. She couldn’t stay another second in her father’s presence.
“I didn’t want to rot at home anymore,” she said to her friends now, keeping her tone light.
