“This won’t work unless they are.” Without waiting for my permission she went over to Quentin, who was fuming in the corner. Before he could resume shouting, she leaned over and pulled him into a kiss.
Quentin was so surprised that he went completely rigid as her hands caressed the back of his neck. Erlang Shen grunted in protest. But I was at the right angle to see that it was a total fakeout. She stopped just short of his lips, needing only for him to hold still while her fingers brushed his ears like a pickpocket.
Guanyin straightened up and waved the silencing spell away. My souvenirs from the Happiest Place on Earth were now fastened to Quentin’s earlobes. He realized he was involuntarily wearing jewelry and began pawing helplessly at the clasps. They were probably stuck on there with magic, but it could also have been that he was a boy and didn’t know how to undo them.
“What was that?” I asked her.
“A bit of forbidden help,” she said. “Those earrings will let the wearer know every time a demon gets too close to a human.”
“Okay,” I said. “How close are we talking about? Like restraining order distance or county lines distance?”
She gave me a look that said I was examining her gift horse in the mouth. “Far enough away that you should be able to react accordingly. The magic in them will provide a general sense of what direction the demon is in, but beyond that you’ll have to do the searching yourselves. Once you receive the alarm, you must strike as soon as you can, Genie. A yaoguai that has fed will be exponentially more dangerous.”
The human tragedy inherent in that statement was probably implied. “But what about Red Boy?”
A shade of agony passed over Guanyin’s face. “For now we have no choice but to wait until he shows himself. There will undoubtedly be a confrontation with Red Boy at some point, but until then you have to minimize the damage caused by the other demons.”
She gestured behind her at Quentin. “The earrings will also help if he gets out of control. Just say the magic words. You know which ones.”
She swept past Erlang Shen and motioned for him to follow, in no mood for any departing pleasantries. The mighty nephew of the Jade Emperor got up without a peep. He nodded to me before closing the door.
Another flash of light streamed through the windows and then faded. I didn’t feel the need to go outside and check that they were gone. Guanyin really did not screw around when it came to making an exit.
I turned to Quentin. “How much of a dick do you have to be to upset the Goddess of Compassion into leaving without saying goodbye?”
He glowered at me, hands still on his ears.
“I’m joking,” I said. “I understand how you feel, honestly. It’s maddening to see those you care about get hurt, even if it’s their own fault.”
“It was my fault,” said Quentin. “If I had could have defeated Red Boy on my own she never would have come near that son of a bitch. I shouldn’t have gotten her involved.”
I took a closer look at the side of his head. “What did she do to you?”
“I’m assuming she put the Band-Tightening Spell back on, only with a different focus item. It’ll trigger if you say the chant that kept me imprisoned under the Five Elements Mountain.”
“What, you mean, Om Mani Padme Om?”
The words left my mouth before I realized what I’d done.
Quentin’s back snapped into a crescent. His scream of pain was shut off by the closure of his airways. He toppled over to the ground, hitting his head hard on the floor.
“No!” I shouted. “Stop! I didn’t mean it!”
He was having a seizure. I raced to his side and put my hand under the back of his skull as it slammed into the floor over and over. I had to hug him to my body to keep him from smashing into the base of the counter.
I could feel Quentin wail into my shoulder, his teeth caught in the weave of my shirt. “I’m sorry!” I cried, even though he was in no condition to hear me. “I’m sorry! Please stop!”
The spell must have been on a timer. After a few more eternal seconds, Quentin’s body slowed to a halt. I realized I was smothering him and sat up so he could breathe.
His skin was burning up like a fever that hadn’t broken. When his eyelids fluttered open they were mostly whites.
“ . . . hot,” he mumbled.
I let his head down as gently as I could before grabbing a towel and wetting it under the cold tap. I slid my lap back under him and patted his face and neck until he shivered and relaxed.
Quentin opened his mouth to speak. I wiped my eyes and nose so I wouldn’t drip on him when I leaned in to hear.
“So anyway . . .” he whispered. “That’s what that spell does.”
I could have killed him for joking after what just happened. Instead I held him while he laid his head back and rested.
The microwave clock said that ten minutes had passed. It was getting late in the day, the shadows in my house growing longer across the kitchen floor where we lay. My mother would be home at some point.
“Genie,” Quentin said, his voice back to its normal strength. “I think I’m okay now. Thank you—urk!”
I shook him by the neck. “That’s the Band-Tightening Spell? That’s what happened to you every time Xuanzang said those words?”
Quentin was either nodding or his head was just flopping back and forth. “Pretty much.”
“Jesus Christ!” I shouted. “How was that okay with anyone? That’s screwed up! What kind of holy man just tortures another person? What kind of human being?”
I tried to pry the earrings off Quentin without success. “If I ever meet Xuanzang I’m going to knock his teeth down his throat,” I said, my fingernails jamming against the clasps. “And I’m not too happy with Guanyin either, right now.”
“Genie, stop! Ow! You’re pulling my earlobes off!”
He tried to fend me off but I didn’t let him. We struggled against each other, using our hips for leverage. He flipped over on top of me and managed to pin my wrists to the floor before we realized what we were doing.
Quentin picked up on the sudden flush in my cheeks and slowly pulled his hands away as if I might be upset by any sudden moves. But he didn’t unlock his eyes from mine.
“I should go,” he said, sitting back on his heels. “Before your mom finds us like this.”
“Wait.”
I reached up and buttoned the top of his shirt. I’d undone it part of the way when I was toweling him off. The damp fabric clung to his skin. I could see his muscles twitch like live wires as I slowly popped each button through its hole.
“Thanks.” He let me fix and smooth his collar before we finally got up. Benefits of having a long reach.
I walked him to the door and he lingered on the steps. “So I’ll see you at school then,” he said, giving me a drawn-out, hungry look.
“I guess so.”
“Or if you want to meet elsewhere, I have a phone now. It could be any time, any place.”
My breathing picked up at the hint.
“That’s good,” I said. “You should have one.”
I could feel where this was leading. And as glorious and satisfying as it would be to dive headlong into it, to drink deeply from the river, I wasn’t quite ready yet.