She was drenched from head to toe, her head bowed slightly. Black hair plastered to her chest, skin the color of chalk streaked with grime — the red dress only made her look more ghastly. Her face crawled with web-like black lines, and where her whites should have been there were only ink-dark pupils, staring straight at me.
It was worse than any horror movie. I froze, legs trembling so hard I couldn't move.
Her neck snapped with a soft, bone-clicking sound. Her drooping arms rose slowly. The tilted-head thing wasn't cute in the least. I swallowed and wrenched open the stall door, bolting for the corridor.
But the hallway was somehow worse than the stall. The night pressed down, broken only by emergency lights spaced every few yards, their weak glow making the darkness feel deeper. The woman who had been in the bathroom was already standing beneath one of those lights, as if she'd drifted there in midair.
The yellow light washed over her. Shadows ate away at her jaw; her face looked unfinished, like a mask half melted. Every nightmare my mind could conjure paled next to this floating figure.
Panic rose. I wanted to call Gu Yuan, wanted to swallow pride and beg him for help — but we hadn't spoken since our fight. Why, at a moment like this, was I still stubborn? Maybe because of the other thing on my arm — another talisman — I only had to think the name that flitted through my head: Longlin. I hadn't even decided whether to call him when he appeared.
One became four in an instant: the single woman in red multiplied, and four vengeful silhouettes drifted toward me from all directions.
Cold sweat slicked my spine. My heart hammered.
"My lady, you finally remembered me." Longlin's voice cut through the air like a warm hand on my shoulder.
His presence behind me was solid, like a cliff I could lean on. He rested a palm on my shoulder and, ridiculous as it sounded, relief poured through me. The fear that had been swelling in my chest snapped back a little.
The four women hovered closer as the emergency light flickered. Longlin spoke softly. "Slap them. Don't hold back."
Their pale hands reached toward my throat. I found a trembling courage and struck. My palm connected with each face in turn.
Smack. Smack. Smack. Smack.
The sound was crisp and oddly satisfying. Where my hand met them it left a streak of golden light. The four women were hurled back several meters, letting out thin, wavering wails.
"Who gave you the nerve to harass my little lady?" Longlin snarled.
The accusation broke them. They toppled to their knees, begging for mercy. Longlin produced his fan, ready to hear their excuse — when footsteps came from down the hallway.
He flicked the fan once; the four apparitions folded up and vanished.
Two men stepped out of the dark. Big, crude men — not students, just the kind of street thugs who shuttled for anyone with money. They looked surprised to see me upright.
"Ain't she passed out yet?" one said.
"Better—" the other cut in, eyes brightening when they saw me. "Now that's what we were promised. She's actually pretty."
They'd expected an easy job. They hadn't expected me to have backup. They didn't know Longlin stood behind me, and in a fight they'd be outmatched even if ten more joined them. So there was nothing for me to be afraid of.
"Who let you in? What did Qin Lan tell you to do?" Longlin demanded.
They laughed, lewd and confident. "You wanna know? Fine. We'll tell you after we have our fun."
They lunged. One grabbed me; the other reached. A gust of wind whipped my ponytail into my face. A green light flared, and Longlin's hands cut through the air twice, tracing sickle-shaped arcs. Two red lines bloomed across the men's faces. They screamed and curled into the floor, clutching at their wounds, blood slicking their cheeks.
"Ghost!" one shrieked.
Longlin materialized in front of them, enormous and terrible. Black qi seeped from his gaze; they seemed to see his wrath as a real apparition. Both men dropped to their knees, slamming their foreheads onto the tile.
"Please—please, it was Qin Lan. Qin Lan hired us. She said to take her while she's passed out, snap a few pictures, then we're done. We're sorry! Please!"
It was humiliating to watch. Two grown men begging, wailing like children. Longlin's hands closed around one of them by the throat and lifted him clean off the floor. The man's hands clawed at Longlin's arm, kicking uselessly. The other man, faced with Longlin's ferocity, went white and fainted on the spot.
I knew some of Longlin's limits. He was an immortal-type cultivator — bound to benevolence rules. Killing a human, even a criminal, could cost him power or worse. If he throttled the man to death, it would stain his merits.
"Longlin, let him go! You'll—" I started, voice loud and panicked.
He relaxed when I called his name. The anger drained from him like fog under sun. With a jerking motion he tossed the man back to the floor; the thug hit hard and passed out.
"Since my lady asked," Longlin said, voice smoothing, "I'll obey."
"Let's get out of here. This place is bad luck." He looped an arm around my waist. The next moment we blinked and stood on the school athletic field. Streetlights along the track flared on, ordinary and mundane in the open air.
"Well?" he said, grinning. "How did it feel to hit someone?"
"It felt good," I admitted, a grin of my own tugging at my mouth. "Not enough. I should've kicked them a few times too. Two lousy perverts."
I was still buzzing with adrenaline, and in my excitement I forgot Longlin's hand still rested at my waist. When I glanced up, he was watching me with a soft, almost adoring smile.
I stiffened and tried to wrenched free. He tightened his hold instead.
"I've saved you twice," he murmured, eyes glittering. "Is that how you repay me? You smell so sweet...may I—"
Panic flared hot in my chest. I pushed hard to get free, but he drew me in and before I could scramble back I found myself sitting on his knee. My body went rigid.
Our faces were inches apart. His hand rose, cradling my cheek. He smiled — slow, full of feeling.
Just as I was biting down on my panic and searching for a way out, a cold voice snapped through the night from behind us.
"Let her go!"