Seven hundred kilograms of ‘tea’ have been loaded in the underground cart. It takes around half the day to reach the point under the city library.

I built these tunnels several years ago for easier access to the city, in case I ran into something nasty and had to keep Mum in a safehouse. The only reason no one has shut them down is because everyone’s in on it. The world is not as just as one would imagine. I wouldn’t be surprised if mother knew about the whole thing too.

I could form my own underworld gang if I wanted to, with the number of people I’ve worked with. Take the Blue Eye Clan for example–Idris and his men are loyal to a fault and always work with me. They mostly deal with non-lethal drugs and illegal medication, some of which are actively bought by unlicensed pharmacies in the city. Most of the drugs aren’t harmful, just make you get high for a bit before falling into a deep sleep. Others are medical combinations that are banned or no longer in production. The Midnighters are another trusted group comprised of retired assassins, mostly from Greater Yang City. They intercept human trafficking gangs and cultists lurking in the city. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Shaman’s from our town are on their watch-list. Why else would I work with them? It's got to be a win-win.

I park the drug cart in a hole in the wall and pull down a tarp from the roof to cover it. There are a few other carts in different allotted holes as well. The dealers will come down to this pickup point and slowly siphon the goods to various pharmacies in the city. Everyone knows their lot and, despite it being a rather unruly trade, it’s fairly organized. The gang politics are usually sorted without disrupting the goods. Any wars won result in the loser’s loss of business.

The ladder at the end of the tunnel leads up to a restricted section in the city library. It’s a rather old-fashioned ‘secret passageway’ gimmick, which requires a specific book. The only difference is that the specific book contains a singular scannable sheet of paper, kept with the Librarian. Naturally, she knows, and partakes in the consumption of ‘tea’. Milko slips through the hole in my sweater and gnaws on a rope tied to a buzzer at the Librarian’s desk. After a few minutes, the lock on the trapdoor clicks and I pick up the cat, heading up.

Milko emerges first, atop my head. I hear some shuffling and then a voice filled with surprise.

“Oh! You’re such a smart kitty! You doing Yin’s job now! Whoseagoodboy? Yuwuwuwu…”

As I climb out I hear the voice’s enthusiasm die down upon seeing me.

“…Ah! Ahem–Well I–hello Dearie!”

“Hi.” I hide the grin on my face as she pats her flushed cheeks before helping me up. “Good day Dearie, how are yo–oh, you’ve been beat up quite a bit.” She winces at the blood on my sweater, promptly fishing out a shawl and draping it over me. “New shipment?”

“Yup. Don’t ask me for a cut, ask the dealers.”

“…oh well. It was worth a shot.” She dusts my sweater and shakes her head. Milko hops back on my shoulder.

“We got some new arrivals which may interest your friend,” She pushes her glasses up and digs around her drawer, “He was here yesterday.”

“Really? Where? I’ll take a look.”

“Just down aisle seventeen. Oh, by the way, this magazine interviewed the Shamans at your town, Dearie. They had some pretty interesting things to say! Sparked a lot of interest.” She hands me a small magazine with the main story reading: ‘Madness Disease: Cleanse your Child from the Darkness’. A small scoff escapes my lips and I brush away the booklet. I do not need to read an account of their ‘Cleansing’.

I adjust the shawl, quickly fix my hair and leave the restricted section, heading to the religious literature section on the second floor. The book Sika wanted is something titled ‘Divine Magic and the Soul Arts’ by a writer called Tanek. It loosely details various magical properties of souls and each soul colour, including terms like ‘Soul Seeing’, ‘Soul Dissociation’, ‘Soul Reading’, and more such terms that span two pages. There’s notes on each term and a basic description of what the magic entails. I scan the pages.

I could most definitely use this, especially since Sika’s tied his soul to mine. If there’s a way to undo the Soul Bind, then this book may have some answers. And if I could learn some ‘Soul Arts’ while I’m at it, why not? It may be useful in the long run. I’ll start with…this one:

‘Red souls, a special kind of soul, made to surpass most limits of a mortal coil–they have the ability to dissociate from the vessel and roam freely the space between living and dying–a magic often termed ‘Soul Dissociation’, which allows them to tap into their gargantuan source of unrestrained magical energy.’

When I get back to the guesthouse Mum is tapping her foot on the floor while Fenri stands beside her holding up a wall clock.

“Yin-ah, you know what is time lah? Is three in evening.” She prods my chest, “You gone for more than twelve hour and to where? Only blood on you. You come from hospital and you want go back–aiyah–and your clothes! I have to wash–nono, Feifei can wash, but still lah, why you no tell ah?!”

“Who’s Feifei?”

Fenri clears his throat and gently adjusts his tie, his ears slightly red, “Madam insisted on calling me so.”

“Haha–ow!” Mum twists my ear and drags me to sit down on the sofa. “Sit down Yin-ah. Take off clothes, put for wash.” Milko hops off my shoulder as I hand her the shawl. I look up at Fenri, “Could you get me a new shirt?”

“Right away Mr Rivers.” He puts the clock back on the wall and instantly leaves. Only then do I take off the shirt. Mum gawks at my shoulder which is completely healed. “I thought you injured!” She slaps my arm and winces slightly when her wrist makes a noise before clicking her joints back in place and sighing. “I know about your ‘job’ Yin-ah. Why you do such dangerous thing?”

“I can’t get normal jobs since everyone thinks I’m mad. And the city is too dangerous and expensive for me.”

“But why you have to do drug deal? And tunnels? I know you been working under house for last seven years.”

My eyes twitch. I thought as much. It would be stupidity to believe she really didn’t know anything. I feel a twang of guilt. “I didn’t want you to get involved Mum. I thought I’d kept it well hidden.”

“I only know when I packing before see you in hospital. Small hole in floor near cupboard. Maybe you forgot putting it properly.”

“…I’m sure you knew far before that.”

She smiles. “Initially Mumma did not care about your ‘work’, but now after you hurt…Mumma concerned about you.”

“I know, I’m sorry. I promise I’ll try to be safer.” I think for a bit before decidedly telling her more. “Sika has done something crazy, and now we are both being chased by a lot of bad things. Bad ‘spirits’. I don’t want you to get hurt or get involved, so I’m planning to live away from you for a while to sort things out.”

“…I see.” Mum looks at the floor as Milko rubs against her legs. “You will be staying with Sika?”

“I’ll figure something out. I’m sure he’ll let me stay with him, but it’s not safe for both of us.” I do not want to compromise anything right now, and I really want to keep mother away from everything as much as I can. As much as I want to be with her, I can’t protect her entirely from the Soulless or Sika’s God. “…Fenri is a good support system.” I slowly look up as he bends down and sets a shirt on my legs. His eyes are closed. A soft smile corsses my lips as I put the shirt on. “You can open your eyes now.” He looks at me, smooths the creases on my shoulder and steps back, bowing slightly. “I’ll convince Sika to let him go with you. That way you can use him for everything, and if you need to access the hospital…the underground tunnels are accessible from home in case of emergency. There’s a track in place, you and Fenri could ride a cart directly to the hospital.” I look up at Mum. She thinks for a long time before speaking. “You do one thing, you find new job first. Then I go home.”

“But–!”

“No. You find new job. No more tunnel. No more gangs. Normal job. Mumma don’t need money, Mumma need you safe.”

“…Fine.” I’ll figure something out. “Give me a week.”