The car sped through the dark streets, the hum of the engine the only sound aside from Mimi's heavy, ragged breathing. She lay across the back seat with her head in Lin's lap. Her skin was burning to the touch, and sweat soaked her hair.
"What's wrong with her?" Lin asked, his voice shaking. "Her temperature is boiling."
Naoa glanced back from the front seat, his expression uncharacteristically serious. "She's suffering from Chi poisoning," he explained. "That spirit grabbed her, and its energy leaked into her. Plus, she was trapped in a small room with us people with high spirit energy. Her body; it can't handle the pressure."
Lin looked down at Mimi's pale face. He tightened his grip on her hand. I can't let her die, he told himself. I promised her she'd be safe.
Naoa turned back to the road, but his mind was racing. Something doesn't make sense, he thought. If Lin has enough power to summon a sword and kill a spirit, his energy should have poisoned her before we got there. How did she stay healthy around him until now? "Don't worry, she'll be fine," Robert said with a calm voice, trying to calm Lin down. "We just have to get her away from us for a while so her body can reset."
A few hours later, the silence was broken by a rhythmic beep... beep... beep... Mimi opened her eyes slowly. The ceiling was bright white, and the air smelled strongly of antiseptic and detergent.
Where am I? she wondered. The last thing she remembered was moving a couch, and then... nothing. A nurse in pink scrubs walked in to check the monitors. "Oh, you're up!" the nurse said with a kind smile. She walked to the door and signaled to someone in the hallway.
A girl rushed into the room. "Mimi! Oh my god, I was so scared!"
Mimi blinked, feeling a dull throb behind her eyes. "What happened?"
"The doctors say you had a hard fall," the girl said, sitting by the bed. "You must have hit your head while moving into that new place."
Mimi touched her forehead. It felt sore. "Maybe you're right," she whispered. "My head hurts a lot." She thought hard in her mind for the face of a boy someone she felt was important.
At the Order's headquarters, Lin was sitting in a room. The walls were thick, and there were no windows. Suddenly, the heavy door swung open. A man in a sharp, dark suit walked in.
Lin's eyes went wide. "You?"
It was Yanda. Lin's mind flashed back to the hospital after the party the two detectives who had asked him so many questions.
"Yes, me," Yanda replied, pulling out a chair and sitting across from him.
"Why am I being held here?" Lin demanded, his voice rising.
"You're not being held here," Yanda said calmly. "We just want you to be honest with us. We want to know how you got your powers so we can help you use them." He kept his face neutral, but inside, he was thinking: And so we can use you to bolster our ranks.
Lin looked at his hands. "I don't know how I got these powers or why. But I do know that I'm meant to use them to stop something."
Yanda stared at Lin. His eyes began to glow with a faint, steady red energy. He watched Lin's chest rise and fall, and he listened to the steady beat of his heart. He's telling the truth, Yanda realized. His heart rate isn't spiking. He really is clueless.
Why are his eyes glowing red? Lin wondered, he could see the energy leak from his eyes.
"Fine," Yanda said, the glow fading. "But you'll have to start coming in for training and reports. If you work with us, we can stop spying on you."
Lin went silent for a moment. Then his eyes snapped toward Yanda. "Huh?! You were spying on me? That's an invasion of privacy!"
Yanda let out a short, dry laugh. "Yeah, we saw everything. Including your sorry reactions. Honestly, kid, with the opportunities you had, you could have been laid three times by now."
Lin walked out of the Order's headquarters as the sun began to set. He stood on the sidewalk and looked back at the massive building. It looked like a normal corporate office glass, steel, and stone. On the outside, it was a place for business. On the inside, it was not an ordinary place.
"I wonder how many more places are like this," he muttered, shoving his hands into his pockets.
He started walking. The streets were crowded and loud. It looked like a local festival was starting; people were hanging lights, and the smell of street food filled the air. Lin ignored the crowds and hiked up a nearby hill that overlooked the city.
He reached the top and watched the sky turn from orange to deep purple. The cool evening breeze felt good against his skin. He took a deep breath, filling his lungs, and let out a long, slow exhale.
He thought about the soft weight of Mimi on his lap, the feeling of her skin, and the rush of the night before. A small, honest smile touched his lips.
"I think I enjoy sex a lot," he said to the empty air.