The Pearl Ch. 16

Ballsy little bastard. "And what would that be?" Chad slung the empty bag around his body.

"Could you help me get this man to someplace safer? I assure you, once you're gone they will be back." The rat was always in motion when he talked. When he spoke of the man, he gestured to him. When he spoke of the attacker's he gestured to the wall were they disappeared.

"And what were they, anyhow?"

"Goblins, of a sort."

"Of course." Chad sighed heavily. He looked down at the man. The rat remained crouched by him, awaiting Chad's decision. It occurred to Chad that even if he walked away, the rat would remain by the man's side. Chad shook his head, but crouched down and pulled the man's arm around his shoulder. He got a full whiff of the man.

"Fuck, what a stink. Is this a buddy of yours or something?" Chad asked as he pulled the man upright.

"No," the rat answered as he got up and moved to the man's waist. "But even the lowest should have their defenders. I am called Ambrose."

Chad grunted as he maneuvered the man's weight around. "I'm Chad. Where are we taking this guy, anyway?"

"There is a mission, not far from here. I was hoping to convince them to take him in."

"As a three-foot rat?"

"No, I will appear differently to them. As I would to you, but it would seem you are gifted."

"If you want to call it that."

The two of them struggled along in silence broken only by grunts and the occasional expletive by Chad as they carried the dead weight between them. The man started to come to at one point, only to lapse back into semi-consciousness. The two-block walk took longer than Chad could have imagined. Once they arrived at the door, Chad kicked it to rouse someone as both his hands were full. Almost immediately, the door was answered. A middle aged woman, dressed in plain, well-kept clothes, opened the door. Her face, already care worn, frowned at the site that greeted her.

"No, we can't take any right now." Her tone was as severe as the bun her hair was drawn up in.

"But ma'am," Ambrose spoke up. "My friend here and I just chased three rather nasty hooligans away from this poor soul. Surely, it we leave him they'll be back to perpetrate who-knows-what harm on his person."

She looked over all three of them with a critical eye. "What does he have that anybody would want?"

"There are those who hurt for no greater reason than the pleasure of it."

Her look softened a bit. "Sad but true, Lord knows. But we can't take him here."

Chad put on his best game face. "Ma'am, we appreciate your situation, we really do. There's always more need than supply. But if we can just get him off the street for a little bit, I'm sure those punks will forget about him. Please, ma'am."

She looked him over. She tightened up her expression, but Chad could see it start to crack. He pressed her harder. Getting people to do what he wanted was something of a way of life for him.

"You've gotta have somewhere he can rest, just for a little while. Just 'til he's back on his feet."

She relented. "Fine, bring him this way."

Chad and Ambrose brought the man in and settled him on a couch in a back room of the complex.

"Thank you, ma'am," Ambrose said and Chad echoed him. The woman smiled at them, but it was a sad smile, and she closed the door.

Chad turned and headed back to the alley, followed by Ambrose. He retrieved his gun and laptop, relieved they were both still there, packed the computer up and realized he had no idea where to go next. It was by now mid-morning and the jangling, electrifying rush he'd gotten from the adrenaline was long gone and his body needed –demanded-- sleep.

"Ambrose, do you know any flops around here?" Chad was aware he was trusting a rat he'd never met, but he was just too exhausted to care.

"Yes," he said, quite amiably. He led Chad out of the alley way and pointed down the street. "Down there, about three blocks, there's an old hotel. Daily and weekly rates, very reasonable and clean. Mostly older clientèle, but if you're quiet, and," he gave a long glance at the gun bag, "keep to yourself, you shouldn't have any problem."

"Thanks. Later days, Splinter."

Chad made his way to the building.The Baxter Building, read the painted wood sign; nightly and weekly rates. Chad entered, went to the check in and asked for a weekly room. He paid in advance, took his key, and made his way to the room.

He entered and looked around. The room wasn't big, but it had a bed, a kitchenette, and a small sitting area. There was no T.V. The bed was made up and the linens looked clean. He took a deep breath. The room at least smelled clean. Though, at that moment, he didn't really care.

Chad closed and locked the door and placed the chain across. He put both of his bags and his coat into the closet then collapsed on top of the bed covers fully dressed with his shoes still on. Within minutes, he was out.

Perhaps twenty minutes later, there was a faint rustling behind the walls. The building was maintained as well as the owners could, but there were still issues with such an old building. Chad, sleeping soundly, never heard. He also never saw as a small rat, gray and white, worked his way out from behind the fridge. The rat worked his way over to the prone form, an inch at a time until he was convinced the young man was asleep. He then scampered up the night stand and looked at the sleeping form.

He looked so peaceful, and so heartbreakingly young. Almost child-like, though from his face he'd left childhood behind a while ago, not even reckoning age.Oh, very young, what will you leave us this time? Played through his head as he watched the young man sleep.

********************************

Sebastian stirred in the morning sun. He raised his head and saw mist rising off the river and the low slant of the sun and determined it to be still early in the morning. He looked around, bleary-eyed, and saw Mingzhu standing on the lower balcony.

"Morning, Ming." He uncurled and headed over to her. "What's up?"

"Not much. I was considering ordering breakfast and wanted to know if you would like to join us."

Sebastian took inventory of how he felt. Still a little tired, but much better than he had been just a few hours ago. He felt recuperated enough to hold the human form, and breakfast sounded very good.

"That's cool. Dakota's up already?"

Mingzhu hesitated. "She had difficulty sleeping. She fell asleep quickly, but became restless before too long."

Sebastian noticed the hesitation. It reminded him of Dakota's insistence about Qiang only talking about the fire. "Ming, what happened last night? I know I'm not getting the whole story."

Mingzhu sighed and looked down. "In truth, I can't tell you. I was knocked out by the Jorogumo's agent almost immediately upon its arrival. When I came to, we were all in Qiang's lair. I don't know what happened, but I will tell you Dakota is very reluctant to speak of it." When Mingzhu looked up, there were tears in her eyes. "I wish I could have done more to help. It seemed the minute it was in the door, it was on me." She covered her face as she began to cry.

Sebastian moved his head in close and nudged her. "Hey, don't do that. It's not your fault, don't blame yourself."

Mingzhu wiped her eyes with the sleeve of her shirt and ran her hand down his snout. "That's kind of you to say."

"What was the agent, anyway?"

"In the time I saw it, it looked like a man. But it wasn't human, whatever it was."

"Look, forget I mentioned anything. When Dakota's ready to talk, I'm sure she will, to one of us. Now where are you guys going for breakfast?" Sebastian asked as he climbed on the shale-lined bank. Once he was on the bank, he focused on being human and was surprised at how easy it was. He felt a smug rib from the river.

see should have let in long ago

Sebastian sighed.I'm never going to hear the end of this. He climbed to the balcony and cleared the rail in a graceful jump.

"We are planning on ordering room service."

"On Qiang's dime?" Sebastian was surprised.

"Of course, who else?"

"Ming, I don't think he really likes me and I don't think he's going to appreciate his credit card being used for my breakfast."

Mingzhu smiled her sweetest smile. "Then it's a good thing that I'm ordering breakfast and you are my guest."

"And the difference being?"

Mingzhu's smile brightened. She reached up and patted Sebastian on the cheek "I have means of persuasion at my disposal you don't."

"Yeah, you know, I don't even want to know about that."

Mingzhu laughed. "Besides, do you think Qiang would have specifically chosen a hotel on the river if he didn't expect you to be around? Now, please, join us for breakfast. I'm sure Dakota would love to see you."

That crumbled the last of his resolve. Sebastian followed Mingzhu back into the hotel.

Breakfast was very nice, if a bit strange in the ordering. Mingzhu read off the menu what was available. When either Dakota or Sebastian asked to see the menu, Mingzhu would smile and shake her head

.

"The minute you're in the bathroom, I'm memorizing the prices on that menu," Dakota threatened.

"Then I'll have to take it in with me. Now what shall I order?"

After much debate the order was called in at several omelets, French toast, home fries, danishes, a pitcher of orange juice and a pitcher of milk. It took the kitchen a little time to fill the order. It arrived quicker than they expected, if still longer than they wanted to wait.

The conversation over breakfast was mostly small talk. It did get serious when Sebastian asked Dakota if she'd missed work the night before and if she had to go in today. It was Saturday, she didn't have classes, but the library was still open.

"Yeah, I had to call off. I told them something unexpected had come up with a friend. Fortunately, one of the women on duty owed me a favor from when I covered for her and worked my shift, so there shouldn't be too much trouble. I don't go in tonight." She gave a heavy sigh. "But I do need to go back to the house, if for no other reason than to file a report."

"Wow...just, wow." Sebastian held Dakota's hand as they surveyed what was left of the house.

A few blackened timbers stood upright amongst the burnt out ruins. The roof had collapsed and had taken most of the walls with it. Most of the back wall remained standing, but that was all. Dakota dared not rummage through the still-warm debris scattered among the foundation.

"Did the landlord have insurance?" Sebastian asked.

"I don't know. God, I hope he did 'cause there isnothing left here."

Sebastian glanced over to the driveway. "At least it didn't make it to your car."

One of Dakota's neighbors made his way across the yard towards the group. He was a little older than Dakota and wore a look of relief and sympathy. He had something in his hand.

"I'm so glad you weren't home," he said as he came up to them. "No one was sure at first, since your car was here. But when the firemen didn't find any remains..." He trailed off.

There was an uncomfortable pause as Dakota tried to think of something to say. When nothing came, she muttered, "Thank you."

"Here," he said, handing her a card. "It's from the fire investigator. He asked me to give it to you when you came back. I'm glad I caught you."

Dakota took the card. "Thanks. I'll be sure to give them a call."

***************************************************

Chad rolled out of bed and looked at the clock; it was one in the afternoon. He thought about what to do next and decided a shower was in order. After cleaning up, he realized that perhaps he should have grabbed some additional clothing when he left his apartment; he only had the one set. Not a problem, he decided. He had cash, he could grab some more clothes and when the cash ran out, he knew any number of places to pick up more that wouldn't look too closely at the new hires. Some of them were even almost legit.

No, the big concern was what now. The Jorogumo was dead but that didn't change anything, not really. The Jorogumo didn't make the world what it was and her removal didn't return it to what Chad had understood as reality before. The entire experience in the alleyway confirmed that. And what was with the "hunter" tag? Both the rat and the Jorogumo had called him that. He told himself he didn't like it even as he recognized the need to do it. There was only one place he could go to get answers, he decided. Besides, he hadn't eaten yet and Chinese sounded good.

Chad sat in an booth in the back of the restaurant, eating his lunch. He had considered asking to see Qiang, but thought he'd know Chad was there. So, he ate and waited to be seen.

"I'm surprised you're back so soon."

The voice startled Chad and he looked up from his bowl of egg-drop soup. He hadn't sensed Qiang and then realized why. The entire restaurant felt like him.

"Yeah. You have good food."

"Thank you. May I join you?"

"If you'd like."

Qiang sat on the bench opposite Chad. "I am glad you came. I feel the need to thank you for your assistance last night. The entire affair would have been much more difficult without it. The meal is on the house. It's the least I can do."

"Thank you. I killed the Jorogumo."

"Direct and to the point, aren't you? I know you did."

Chad sat back in his seat. "Then why leave her alive if you knew I was just going to kill her?"

"I didn't know at that time you would eventually kill her. But I did know when you left last night that that was where you were going. Was it difficult?"

"No, she wanted to die. She said you did it wrong. You had an obligation to kill her."

Qiang tilted his head and shrugged. "I suppose that's one way of looking at things."

"Why didn't you kill her?"

Qiang crossed his arms in front of his chest. "I had my reasons. Why did you go back?"

Chad looked down. "I wanted it to be over."

Qiang arched an eyebrow. "And is it?" he asked, though he knew the answer. That Chad was here gave him his answer. Not that it could have been any other way.

He looked up, anger in his eyes. "No, damn it. I want things to be the way they were before."

"Do you, really? Replace the monster you vanquished with the monster you were becoming?"

Chad rubbed his face with his hands. "OK, not that. Never again that. But I want the world to be the way it supposed to be."

Qiang's look hardened into a glare as his eyes turned to a burning gold and red scales appeared around them. He unfolded his arms and leaned on the table, closing in on Chad. Chad felt the spike of power run deep. People at tables some distance away shifted in their seats, uncomfortable for reasons they couldn't name. A few got up and left.

Though Qiang's voice never rose above the soft conversational tone he'd maintained throughout their talk, it dripped with power. "Thisis the way the world is supposed to be. What you were living before was a lie."

Chad trembled, in fear and desperation.

"But it was a lie I understood. It was a world I knew how to navigate. Now what?"

Qiang reigned in his anger, touched by the boy's plea. Now was the time to do what had to be done, as much as he didn't want to do it.

"If you want a guide to this new world, I will help as I can."

Chad was taken aback. "What do you mean?"

"I mean I will set about to provide you with a safe haven and I will find a means to see to your survival as you find your place here. Because you have one."

Chad tried to process what Qiang had told him, which went against his experience. In the world he came from nobody did anything without personal gain, himself included. Unsure of how to proceed he asked, "Why?"

"Because somebody has to."

"Do you know what my," Chad raised his hands to make quotation marks, "'place' is?"

"No. That's for you to find. Or not find, as you choose." Qiang slid towards to edge of his seat and stood up. "For you see, the world hasn't changed, only your way of seeing it. And even with this altered view, you can still return to the world and carry on as you were, or nearly as you were since some things should still remain changed. You decide. Take a week. If my offer sounds good, then return. In the meanwhile, enjoy your meal. It is, as I already said, on the house." He started to walk away then stopped as something occurred to him. "If, in the following week, you are in need of a meal stop here. There will be one available to you."

Qiang returned to his office. Soon afterward, there was a knock on the door and Enlai, Mingzhu's father, entered in.

"Do you think he'll be back?" he asked.

Qiang sighed. "Oh, he'll be back. The week was for me."

*************************************

In the following days, Dakota picked up the pieces of her life. She arranged for emergency time off from work and school. She spoke with the investigators and was advised it appeared to be an electrical short.

"It's the damnedest thing," the investigator she spoke to said. "There were huge spiders all over the place. A few had gotten into the wiring. We figure one must have completed an arc between two damaged wires and up it went. Judging from how many we found, you had quite an infestation going."

Dakota also went shopping with Mingzhu for new clothes and a few other necessities. She tried to balk as the tab was going higher, but Mingzhu would smile and insist Qiang would settle for nothing less. Dakota drew the line at replacing her burnt textbooks with brand new ones.

"The old ones had been bought used, the replacements can be used."

During one of the shopping trips, Sebastian went to the Dragon's Garden to help Qiang replace other things. Qiang sat Sebastian down at the computer in the office, brought up the Internet and sat down in another chair. Sebastian looked up over the monitor to Qiang.

"And I'm supposed to do what?"

"She's your lover, buy things she would like."

"OK."

Sebastian returned his attention to the computer. He thought a moment, then plugged Abney Park into the search engine. It pulled up a website. He explored it, hoping to find CDs. He found those and other merchandise.

"Wow, this band she likes has a bunch of stuff..."

Without looking up from the papers Qiang was reading he said, "Buy one of everything."

Sebastian looked at the very full screen of offerings. "Qiang, there's a lot of stuff here."

"One of everything."

"I meana lot a lot of stuff."

Still not looking up, Qiang reiterated, "One of everything."

"Um..."

"Do I need to put it on a recording for you?"

"One of everything," Sebastian confirmed with a shrug.

The rest of their time went by like that. Whatever Sebastian found that he thought Dakota might like Qiang instructed him to purchase. After an Amazon order that went well into the triple digits, Sebastian felt obliged to speak up.

"You know, Qiang, I get that you feel responsible for what happened. And you want to fix it. And it's totally cool that you're putting her up and stuff. But I think this might be a bit much."

Qiang paused, considering what had been said. "Do you think she might be made uncomfortable by this?"

"Yes I do."

Qiang nodded. "Very well. We'll stop with the Amazon order. I don't want to make her uncomfortable. I've mentioned this to Mingzhu, but I'll have you check also. Please let me know when Dakota is ready to look for a house."

"Seriously, you're buying her a house too?"

"Yes. I said I was and I meant it."

"I know this isn't my business, but, dude, where are you getting the money?"

Qiang leaned back in his seat and crossed his arms. "You're right, it's not your business. But since you've asked; I've been in this country for nearly one hundred fifty years. I have been gainfully employed for pretty much the entire time. I have... resources."