I didn’t say aloud that both women looked as if they could eat more, haggard as they were.
I glanced at the door, remembering someone else who needed food and energy. “Has Ren eaten yet?”
“He had a mantou this morning,” said Feilin. Her hands stilled, and she looked back up at me. “Is he very ill, Mistress Kang?”
I blinked. “What?”
“Well, he’s obviously alive,” Feilin said slowly, every word prompting my pulse to quicken. “But he says he needs the Fu talisman to retain his strength.”
“He saidwhat?”
I started for the door but was stopped by Feilin’s hand on my arm.
“It was an accident,” she blurted. “He didn’t mean to tell. He was approached by some of the neighborhood kids whowere curious, and… well, his hood fell back while they were playing.”
I inhaled deeply, biting back a curse. Of course Ren would do something so careless. This was precisely why I’d tried to keep him away from the living as much as possible. And now he’d gone and done the exact thing I’d wanted to avoid.
Yet Feilin’s response was strangely calm.
I studied her, hesitant. “You know about the talisman, but you aren’t afraid?”
Feilin laughed, the sound like gasps through a pipe, and she released her hold on me. From behind, her mother’s lips twitched in amusement.
“Our town is protected by a powerful spirit,” said Feilin. “Why should we fear a boy with a yellow slip of paper on his forehead?”
“Don’t you fear misfortune?” I eyed her, searching for an awareness of the misfortune that already seemed to plague the residents.
“Your friend isn’t yet dead, which means he isn’t a true reanimated corpse. So, no, we aren’t concerned.”
Ren had said a similar thing before, but I hadn’t thought that anyone but him would believe it. Xiatang was a stranger town than I’d expected, and I hadn’t even encountered its famed spirit yet. Still, it was a relief to know that the townsfolk wouldn’t be chasing us out for superstition’s sake.
“Thank you for your understanding,” I said, inclining my head. “I know it’s an unusual situation.”
Feilin waved her hand dismissively, then nodded at the door. “You may as well tell Ren to come in for lunch. We should be finished in just a few minutes.”
I accepted her suggestion and retrieved my staff.
Despite the daylight, the town appeared as bloodless as before. Residents shuffled along the main roads, going sluggishly about their business, and children and stray dogs frolicked halfheartedly at the fringes. Though the passersby nodded courteously at one another, there was an eeriness behind their smiles, as if they were in a trance—
No, as if they were walking corpses.
I didn’t see Ren anywhere near the house, meaning he must’ve wandered farther into the town. Feilin had mentioned gossiping aunties. Perhaps he was near the marketplace.
Recalling the row of closed-up shops that we’d passed the previous day, I turned right, keeping an eye out. I recognized Ren’s tall frame standing beside a stall selling rolls of brocade. It was surprising how I could easily distinguish his back from the other shoppers.
A pair of older women loitered nearby, including Ren in their conversation. None of them displayed a hint of discomfort or fear. One of the women even placed her hand on Ren’s arm as she spoke, her painted lips garish against her sickly complexion. The color reminded me, disturbingly, of Yuyan.
Just then, a movement caught my eye, and I looked away from Ren and the aunties to see a man leaning against the inner lip of an alleyway across the street. He appeared to be around Baba’s age, with a long gray beard and a matching topknot bound by leather. His arms were crossed, hands buried underneath the long sleeves of his gray-green pao. Most noteworthy, however, were his eyes, made darker beneath a bristly pair of brows.
Eyes that were glaring at me.
The moment I met his gaze, he turned and disappeared down the narrow lane. He looked just as Feilin had described. Heart quickening, I bolted after him.
CHAPTER 17
The alleyway, cast in shade, was noticeably cool, its cramped lane made narrower by a stack of crates piled up against the wall. Old, withered hay littered the ground, sticking to the soles of my boots as I bounded after the man.
“Wait!” I called to his retreating back. “Please, sir, I’d just like to speak with you for a moment!”
