Zedecker's Secret

Andi couldn't help but stare in wonder, "I can't get enough of you..." Andi confessed.

The woman grabbed a fistful of Andi's shirt and pulled. Andi fell into the woman's arms. Andi felt soft hands very quickly discarding her clothes. The woman pushed Andi onto her back with a seductive smile, "Something we can immediately rectify, my love."

"Holy shit," Andi muttered as the woman trailed kisses down her body. The woman's tongue traced a journey of passionate worship all over Andi's skin. Fingers and hands made quick work of disrobing Andi, caressing her body with unambiguous desire. When Andi felt her clit enveloped by the woman's lips, Andi cried out as a blaze of exquisite pleasure ripped through her. Andi's body shook as she neared her climax, which the mystery woman's tongue coaxed into an eruption of orgasmic bliss.

Andi eyes sprung open. She was panting with sheer astonishment. She blinked at the darkness in her room, the dream now a jumble of images and sensations.

Andi rubbed her eyes in frustration, "Who the hell are you?"

Chapter Six -- The Truth in the Dream

"Please stop with the 'Madame Zedecker' nonsense. They only do it because it makes me sound respectable."

Andi and Madame Zedecker were in the mezzanine apartment, chatting over lunch, a habit they'd formed over the past week after Andi moved in. Truthfully, it was Andi doing the eating, and Madame Zedecker watching Andi eat.

"You are respectable," Andi tilted her head and winked.

Madame Zedecker's heart sped up, like it always did now when Andi did something endearing. Lord help me, she's adorable. "I'm incapacitated in a wheelchair and I look like a withered tree with a hollowed out trunk. I look beastly."

"I beg to differ. Like I said before, I don't see you as a hideous beast. Far from it," Andi said earnestly, "I mean, you're not going to be entering Miss Universe competitions, but hey, neither am I!"

"I think butches are beautiful," Madame Zedecker replied. She was grateful for her sunglasses; her eyes were giving Andi a very un-subtle and appreciative once over.

Andi was surprised. She studied the woman sitting across from her, "Huh, that wasn't something I expected you to say," she smiled, "But I appreciate it."

"I'm full of surprises," there was a wry smile, "you should know that by now."

"Did Mr. Zedecker know you have a thing for women like me?" Andi teased.

Madame Zedecker paused for a moment, lost in her memories and utterly paralyzed by Andi's question.

"I'm sorry," Andi misunderstood the silence, "I didn't mean to bring up something painful."

"No, no. It's fine -- I was... younger. Damian treated it like a flight of fancy. We only talked about it once," her voice trailed off, "What about you? How did your parents take your coming out?"

"Like they do most things," Andi shrugged, "Pretty clinically. They're both very matter-of-fact, and I think my father was relieved he didn't have to deal with boys coming around. They never blinked an eye."

"That's not what I expected..."

Andi grinned, "Yeah, I didn't get the Chinese parents flipping out thing. Lucky, for sure."

"And what does your girlfriend think about you living here?"

Andi shrugged, "No girlfriend."

Madame Zedecker was delighted with that answer, but she quickly checked herself. She pointed to a pile of debris in the far corner of the living room. "Hmm... what've you been unpacking?"

Andi turned to look, "Oh, I found a stack of boxes in the bedroom closet. Six of them, all stretch-wrapped together. I thought you might want to take a look so I undid the wrapping yesterday and--"

"Let's go open them up!"

"Ok," Andi grinned. She went into the bedroom and pushed a box out to the sofa and slashed it open with a pair of scissors.

"Oh," Madame Zedecker started looking through the box, "College stuff. I remember packing these up. Seems like a lifetime ago now..." She picked up a framed photograph and smiled.

"May I?" Andi sat down on the couch as Madame Zedecker handed her the photo frame.

Holy shit! It's her! "Who's this?" Andi stammered, "I mean that's you, right? But who is this?" The photo was a close up of Joan Zedecker and a young woman -- a stunning young woman -- with beautiful eyes: one blue, one hazel. The same woman who'd been turning up in Andi's dreams.

"Quinn... before Damian...before Damian's trip to China," Madame Zedecker put her fingers on the photo, caressing it gently.

"That's Quinn? She looks different than other photos I've seen... I mean, I guess the other ones were taken when she was younger... and from a distance..."

"Quinn grew a lot in college, she left with an adolescent's body and came back at woman."

Andi wasn't listening, she only had eyes for Quinn Zedecker. It felt like Quinn was looking right at her.

Andi's dreams of Quinn have lengthened and intensified since moving into the mezzanine apartment. The dreams have become a life lived together. They shared moments of companiable silence in those dreams, their touching flesh offering abundant tenderness and devotion. They had myriad conversations, from the deep to the mundane. They have made love; their physical couplings fiery, explosive, and achingly sweet.

Andi woke each morning cursing the rising sun and wondering if she was losing her mind. After all, she'd fallen for a woman who was a figment of her overactive REM cycles. But she actually exists... or she did exist...

"Oh, you like Quinn," Madame Zedecker observed.

Andi blushed, "She's..."

"What? You can tell me..."

"She's.... um... I've seen her before."

"How?" An atom of hope pulsed in Madame Zedecker's heart.

Andi blushed, a torrent of images from her nightly dreams felt even more real now that she knew who the mystery woman was. "It's hard to explain," Andi kept staring at the photograph, "But I feel that I know her, which I know sounds weird because I've never met her before."

"Maybe you have and don't remember?"

Andi shook her head, "No. I wouldn't mix her up with anyone else - that smile, that face." Those lips...

"Are you sure? Maybe it's someone you've spent time with who resembles her?"

"No," Andi looked directly into the oversized sunglasses of Madame Zedecker, "I would remember eyes like that."

"Heterochromia," Madame Zedecker said, "Those eyes were a lot of trouble: easy targets for bullies at school..."

Andi shook her head, "Kids can be so cruel. I think her eyes are stunning."

"Quinn would like hearing that," Madame Zedecker said with a smile.

Andi was captivated by the photo of Quinn; she couldn't look away.

"You said you've seen her before?" Madame Zedecker felt a sudden pang of hopelessness. Andi had certainly never looked at her the way she was looking at the photo of Quinn.

"Yeah," Andi said quietly. It's like a cruel joke. I'm in love with a woman who shows up every night in my dreams... and now I find out she's an actual person who's missing and presumed dead.

Andi put the photo down for a moment, "I feel like I'm crazy." She noticed Madame Zedecker struggling to maintain her composure, "I'm sorry, this must be painful to talk about..."

Madame Zedecker's tears started flowing, "It's okay, Andi. I keep hoping ... I think... no, I know you and Quinn would like each other very much."

"I think so too," Andi said quietly, "I wish I could meet her."

Madame Zedecker's heart fell once more. Andi's not going to get it... it's not going to work. At that moment, the cruelty of her deal with Kei Shang became all too clear: he was never going to let her win. The end of the Zedeckers was always his goal. Any measure of hope he allowed was merely a way to prolong her agony.

For the first time since she took the wager, she helplessly surrendered to the idea that Kei Shang would succeed in bringing his revenge to its final and inevitable conclusion.

The frail woman took a breath and attempted a small smile, "I wish you could, too."

Andi handed the photo frame back, but Madame Zedecker pushed it into Andi's hands, "No. You keep it. To remember us by."

Andi stared longingly at the photo, "Thank you..."

Madame Zedecker exhaled sadly, "I'm feeling quite tired today, Andi. I think I need to go back to my room."

"Oh, sure," Andi got up and gently lifted up her client, who settled into the tall woman's arms. Andi carrying Madame Zedecker up and down stairs had become a well-practiced skill now.

Once in her wheelchair, the broken woman wordlessly swiveled the chair and headed towards the foyer.

Andi frowned and quickly caught up, "I've upset you. Was it the photo? I shouldn't have said anything about Quinn, I'm sorry."

"No, Andi, it's nothing you did. I promise. "

Before Andi could say anything, Kei Shang glided into the foyer.

"Don't mind me," he said smoothly, "I was just checking on this..." He laid his hand lovingly on the giant hourglass.

"Oh," Andi looked at the top bulb, "Is it almost time to turn it?"

Shang chuckled, "There's still a little time left... but yes, it's almost come to the end of its run. Stick around, it'll be quite a sight."

"Andi was just leaving, actually," Madame Zedecker stated in a surprisingly blunt manner.

Andi looked at her in surprise, "I am?"

"Yes, Andi, you've been working very hard - take the day off... in fact, you don't have to come back. I'll have the contract changed so you don't have to be here anymore."

Andi stood rooted to the spot, hurt by the abrupt dismissal. This isn't right. "It's fine, Madame Zedecker, I have quite a bit to get done - I can take a break later."

"Andi, go," Madame Zedecker said wearily, "Please. For me. Go."

"If you wish it," Andi said, still confused. She slowly headed out.

"Well, well," Shang's simpering whisper was almost too quiet to be heard, "Didn't you just shoot yourself in the foot."

Andi drove home and spent the next three days in the cocoon of her room. Her heart was hurting. Her instincts were telling her that she needed to be back at the estate, but her head was telling her to trust Madame Zedecker and comply with the request to stay away from the Estate.

"Andi!" Tina's shout was muffled, "Lunch!"

Andi sighed and shuffled downstairs to the kitchen and slid into a chair.

"Did something happen at the estate? You've been hiding in your room for days now. What's wrong?" Tina asked.

"Ma, I don't know. She released me from contractually having to be there, and I don't know why," Andi explained for the tenth time, "So I am listening to her and staying away. The end."

"You keep saying that," Tina scoffed, "But clearly something's wrong, you're behaving like someone just died."

The beeping of a truck saved Andi from having to answer.

"Are you expecting a delivery?" Tina asked her husband.

"Nope," Steve said with a mouthful of food, "Let me go check."

Andi pushed her food around her bowl.

"Still no appetite, huh?" Tina asked.

Andi shrugged.

Tina sighed, "ANDI! You need to stop with this self-pity business. Either talk about it or snap out of it."

Andi put her chopsticks down. "I don't know why she sent me away."

"You miss her." Tina stated.

Andi shrugged.

"You've never missed someone so much that you allow yourself to waste your life away in dreamland."

"I sleep, but I don't dream anymore," Andi muttered. It was true. No matter how hard she willed it to happen, Quinn no longer appeared in her dreams.

"What do you mean you 'don't dream anymore'?" Tina was confused.

"Nothing," Andi waved her hand dismissively.

"Who's in your dreams?" Tina asked.

Andi shrugged again.

"Madame Zedecker?" Tina was starting to put the pieces together, "En Ming told me to expect this."

"Expect what?"

"A Gu curse can make dreams and reality mix together. The fact that you're having dreams about Madame Zedecker confirms you're definitely the key to the counter-curse."

"But I'm not having dreams about Madame Zedecker. I'm having dreams about... someone else. A younger woman."

Tina frowned. This was unexpected. "Who?"

Andi shrugged in deflection. She felt stupid confessing her dreams about Quinn.

"Andi, who are you dreaming about?"

Andi hung her head, "It's not a real person, Ma." She knew her mother would keep nagging her though, so she decided to reveal the bare minimum of information. She told her mother about her dreams of an unnamed woman, about the woman's mis-matched eyes... and how the dreams stopped when she returned home.

Tina didn't interrupt as Andi talked, but she quirked an eyebrow at the end, "There's more to these dreams than you're telling me, isn't there, Andi?"

Andi blushed.

"You're in love with this woman," Tina made the correct guess.

Andi gave a short, bitter laugh, "Except she's not real."

"She might be," Tina said, "Remember what En Ming said about dreams and reality."

"She's a fortune teller, she's all about conflating dreams and reality."

"ANDI!" Steve shouted from the driveway.

Mother and daughter looked at each other and quickly made their way outside.

A massive Zedecker AutoParts truck stood idling noisily in the driveway. Steve jerked a thumb towards the driver, "Took him a couple tries to back this baby into the driveway. Says it's a delivery for you, Andi."

The driver hopped out of the cab, wearing the instantly recognizable company colors, with the stylized "ZAP" logo on the shirt. He quickly lowered the rear ramp door of the trailer, revealing the classic red muscle car from the Zedeckers' basement garage.

"Andi Zhao?" the driver looked at the three Zhaos.

Andi raised her hand.

"This is your lucky day!" The driver disappeared into the trailer and moments later, the car slowly reversed onto the ramp and off the trailer.

Andi couldn't quite believe her eyes. The young man handed her an envelope, "Madame Zedecker wanted the car delivered to you ASAP, with this note."

"Thank you," Andi didn't know what else to say.

"This was her daughter Quinn's favorite car, you know, you must have done something right with the boss lady," the man said holding out a pen and a clipboard, "Sign this; the title and keys are in the car. Have a great day!"

Andi blindly signed the form and didn't move for a long time, not even after the truck rumbled off.

"What does the note say?" Tina asked. Steve was walking around the car, muttering "wow" every few seconds.

Andi looked at the envelope in her hands and finally got her brain to coordinate her fingers properly to open it.

An elegant script met her eyes, 'To Andi, with affection and gratitude, Z'

Andi turned over the card to see if there was more to read, but it was blank.

"I'm so confused," Andi shook her head, "She tells me to leave, and now she gives me a priceless car that Quinn loved... I mean, what the hell do I do with this car?"

"We put it in the garage and take very, very good care of it," Steve said.

"That's not what I mean, dad," Andi said, "She's in trouble. The hourglass in the house was running out. If I can be helpful, why did she send me away?"

"Maybe she's given up?" Tina suggested.

"That's what I've been afraid to think," Andi said. She turned and headed back to the house, "I'm going to take a nap." Maybe I'll have that dream again...

"Want me to put this in the garage for you?" Steve asked hopefully.

Andi didn't even look back, "Yeah, okay, dad."

She fell into bed, desperately hoping to find Quinn in her dreams.

A dream came, but it was not the dream she hoped she'd have.

Andi was walking down the familiar hallway again. Andi felt apprehensive, her stomach lurching with nerves. She reached a door, the same door from the other dreams, which she pushed open. It was definitely Quinn's room. Sunlight flooded in from the windows and Andi looked across to the enormous four-poster bed to her left. The bed in which she and Quinn had spent passionate nights of abandon. There was someone in the bed. As Andi walked closer she realized it was Madame Zedecker, whose face was in her hands, wracked with sobs.

"Andi... Please come find me... You promised you would...."

Andi woke up, heart pounding, "She's not... She's..."

Andi's brain felt like a jumbled-up Rubik's cube that was solving itself at lightning speed.

The room, the voice, the dreams. Those images all collided at once. Andi gasped, "She's Quinn!!"

Andi looked at her watch. She'd been asleep for an hour, "I have to go!! I have to go!"

She sprinted downstairs and jammed her feet into her shoes, "Ma, I gotta go back to the Estate. She needs me!"

Tina came hurrying out of the kitchen, "I'll come with you. I sent dad to run some errands, but I'll tell him to head straight there afterwards."

Chapter Seven -- The Sorcerer's Vengeance

Kei Shang was watching the sand relentlessly drain out of the top bulb of the giant hourglass. He was giddy with anticipation. Sweet, sweet victory. He had initially regretted the one year time horizon, but now that the last day had arrived, he realized he had enjoyed every minute the Estate writhed in agony under his malicious tyranny.

Damian Zedecker had been an easy mark; the man was all ego and ambition. Kei Shang dangled his alchemy skills under Damian's willing nose -- promises of power, riches, fame, immortality -- in exchange for vast sums of money. Shang got his initial payouts, but then hit a brick wall in the form of the Zedecker women. Joan did not fall for Kei Shang's charms nor his promises. She even threatened to divorce Damian and cut him off if the sorcerer continued to stick around.

Quinn Zedecker proved an even more formidable foe. Quinn held the family together despite Kei Shang's efforts to cleave them apart. In a last-ditch attempt, Shang tried a seduction charm to ensnare Quinn into his favor. It didn't work. His ego wounded, the sorcerer decided getting the money was not enough, shifting his malice and evil to destroying the Zedecker family.

Damian and Joan disappeared the next day; losing their lives to Kei Shang's wrath. Now, after a year under the power of Kei Shang's potent aging curse, Quinn's end was finally at hand.

He was so deep in thought he almost didn't hear the thumping of closing car doors outside in the motor court. He turned in surprise as the front door was thrown open.

Andi skidded to a stop as she almost ran into Kei Shang.

"You came back?!" His face was a picture of disbelief.

"She needs me," Andi started down the corridor towards the stairs, but Shang blocked her path.

"What's this? She needs you? How much is she paying you to be needed?"

Andi frowned. Kei Shang had always been cold towards her, but this was outright hostile.

The sorcerer took Andi's silence as contrition, "Ah, so it's the money, eh? You're just going keeping hitting up the Zedecker ATM until she dies?"

Andi's heart stopped, "She's dying?"

"Manifestly so," Kei Shang sneered as he looked at the giant hourglass. There was only a fistful of sand remaining.

Andi's eyes widened. "You did this!" She barked, "You're the one putting her through this!" Andi once more made for the bedroom upstairs, but Shang grabbed her arm in a vice-like grip.

The sneer turned into terrifying smile, "I'm not putting her through anything she doesn't deserve."

"No one deserves this," Andi ground out, "Least of all her. She wouldn't hurt anybody. Let go of me!"

Kei Shang tightened his grip and pursed his lips, "Why do you care? One last cheque from the Zedecker cash pile--"

"Enough!" Andi roared, "I care because she is worth my care. She's worth it."

"Worthy of your care?" Kei Shang snickered, "She's an old crone. She's not worthy of care or love."