Black Water Sister by Zen Cho

Black Water Sister by Zen Cho

Author:Zen Cho [Cho, Zen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780425283431
Google: 58UOEAAAQBAJ
Amazon: 0425283437
Publisher: Ace
Published: 2021-05-10T23:00:00+00:00


* * *

• • •

FOR A SHORT time Jess had been freed from the horror of the night before, distracted by her conversation with Mom. But now the dream rushed in on her again—the hunt through the forest, the knife opening her flesh. She put a hand to her throat.

“Min?” said Mom. Her voice sounded like it was coming from a great distance away. “You OK?”

“I’m fine,” Jess heard herself saying. She wanted to crawl away and hide herself, like an injured animal.

“What did Ah Ku do?” said Mom. “See lah, you keep secrets from Mom. If you told me, I would have warned you. I should have told you, stay away from Ah Ku. But how I know he’ll contact you without asking me? I’ve been patient, you know. Not like he does so much for me. When Dad was sick also he didn’t call me. Didn’t offer to help out, even though I gave him so much money over the years. I don’t mind. I don’t expect him to give me money. But he cannot even leave my daughter alone! My poor girl! What did he do?”

“It’s not him,” said Jess. She was getting a grip on herself. Mom’s ready flow of words was helping. Irritation cut through the haze of terror, bringing Jess back to the mundane world. “It’s not Ah Ku. I saw him at the garden temple, but—”

“He took you to that temple?” said Mom, her voice rising.

Jess looked up. “He didn’t take me there. I—”

It might all have come out then, Ah Ma and the whole improbable nightmare. But that was when Jess saw the god.

The Black Water Sister stood outside the glass sliding doors, framed by Kor Kor’s bougainvilleas, sickeningly real against the vivid-hued blooms.

Jess froze, her voice drying up in her throat. She tore her gaze away, but she had looked now. There was no taking that back.

“You what?” said Mom.

“I, uh—” The instinct to hide descended on Jess. She needed to keep talking or Mom would realize something was wrong. “I went to the temple myself. I saw an article about it online.”

She barely knew what she was saying. Her thoughts were scurrying around in her head, frantic. What should she do? She needed to get Mom out of this room, away from the god. But would the god follow them?

“You shouldn’t have gone there!” said Mom. “Why you didn’t tell me? I would have warned you . . . Let me see your neck. Don’t know why Kor Kor likes this old light, even when it’s on, you cannot see anything. Come, come to the window.”

Mom tugged her toward the glass sliding doors where the god stood. Jess resisted.

“I don’t—Mom, no!”

Mom reached out to the curtains, apparently intending to let the early-morning sunlight in.

For the first time, the god took her eyes off Jess. She looked at Mom.

Jess’s body moved without the intervention of thought. She threw herself at Mom, dragging her away from the sliding doors.

“What are you doing?” said Mom.



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