Ghoulies Abroad by Julie Steimle (bts book recommendations txt) 📖

and Eddie following right behind. “Fancy bumping into you here!” Right on cue. “What brings you to China?”

“Business,” Rick said, smirking.

Daniel and the others in his group nodded as if that were enough. He then looked to the monk, feigning surprise. “Hey, he’s the same guy from the airport! Is he a friend?”

Rick shrugged. “We are hoping so.”

The monk frowned. His eyes held clear discomfort. Perhaps he was sensing he had bitten off more than he could chew. Yet he still led the way toward line six.

“Red?” Daniel hissed to Andy, “I was thinking… He might be leading us into a den of demons where we could possibly be overpowered.”

Andy cringed, nodding.

Sighing, Rick was glad to know he wasn’t the only one thinking that.

Andy tapped Rick on the shoulder and whispered, “Change of plan. We don’t follow him any further but insist to the go to the hotel instead. It is getting late and all that stuff.”

Sighing, Rick nodded. He looked to Tom as he said loudly, “You know what? How about we postpone this until tomorrow?”

The monk halted in his tracks. His head crooked around as if he had been sharply slapped. “Shenme?”

Rick pretended to be sorry. “I know, it is really rude considering how far we have come. But bumping into my friends like this… I don’t know where they are going, but I think we should all go out to a restaurant and have dinner before we head to the monastery.”

“Do you have one in mind?” Chen asked, not quite following what was going on, and yet his instinct made him inclined to follow Rick.

Rick said, “Nope. But I bet if we go up top we can find something.”

He turned toward the exit to go out

“But…” The monk rushed after him. “We have small time!”

Glancing back, Rick blinked at him with a would-be casual shrug and said, “It will only take a bit.”

The monk muttered something under his breath.

Hearing his words, Chen colored. Chen snapped back in Mandarin something none of them could understand except the monk who flustered with the realization that one of them did comprehend his words.

“What was that?” Tom asked, smirking.

“He was swearing,” Chen whispered. “A good monk does not swear.”

“Maybe he isn’t a good monk,” Tom suggested loudly, his smirk crooking higher to one side. They couldn’t see his eyes or the expression in them as Tom was wearing his usual sunglasses to mask his orange irises, but they were sure he was watching the monk intently.

The monk cursed at him. “Ni shi shenme yaomo?”

“Ni chuyan bu xun!’ Chen snapped back.

But the monk glared at him, stepping back. He shook his head and looked to Rick. “I come for you only. You now come. No want them.”

Gazing wanly at the monk, Rick hung back. “That’s not what the monk who contacted me said. He said he wanted me to bring my friends. And so I did.”

“He change he’s mind,” the monk said.

Rick shook his head and continued toward the exit. “I don’t think so.”

The monk stared. Making such a sour face, cursing more under his breath, he stuffed his hands into the folds of his robes. He drew out a gun. Pointing it immediately at Rick, he fired.

*click*

Staring at his gun in shock, he fired again. *click*click*click*

The people around them screamed. Nearly all ran, clearing the area and hiding. Several were screaming for the police. Others were on their cell phones calling 119. The Seven all pulled back, hands on their red crystals, yet not quite using them.

“Bu hui!” The monk slapped the gun, trying to make it fire, but it didn’t go off.

Rick glanced to Tom who coolly smirked back at the monk. He lifted a bullet, showing the monk he had stolen them.

The monk paled.

Daniel drew his sword and pointed it at the monk. “Who are you really?”

Chen’s eyes widened on the weapon. He stepped from Daniel towards Rick.

Staring in panic at Daniel, the monk immediately turned, sprinting for the stairs.

“Sheathe that!” Andy hissed at Daniel, running after the monk. “We’re still in a public place!”

Huffing, Daniel swiftly did, following him along with the others. And yet as the monk darted up the stairs, the police on duty ran down them.

The monk was still holding the gun in his hand.

The Chinese police drew their weapons.

Every one of the Seven backed off while Chen called up, “Zhe sengren qitu yao kai qiang dui wo de pengyou!”

“Eh?” The police then shouted at the monk to drop his weapon.

Not having it, the monk let out an inhuman shriek. Right before their eyes, the monk shook off his robes while at the same time shriveling and shrinking down into a twisted bird form until he was entirely crow—a white magpie with three eyes, six legs, and a red tail that glistened as if it were letting off sparks. The white bird immediately abandoned the gun and monk robes, swooping down toward Rick to attack him with his many claws.

“Ben!” Daniel pointed up at it as Rick ducked.

“Youguai!” the police shouted, panic on their faces.

The demon magpie shrieked, swooping after Daniel.

Tom cackled, hopping into the air to have at it—but James grabbed his ankle, yanking to get him down. “No! Public place!”

Somersaulting while kicking off James’s hold, Tom slapped the bird out of the air. Tom landed behind the police, who whipped around in a stare at him now. They lifted their guns.

Tom went transparent and slipped back into the shadows where they could not see him.

“Yangui….” They then looked to the foreigners below as the Seven surrounded the white magpie demon. Rick stood back, as did Chen.

“I don’t think we can interrogate it,” Semour said. “I don’t know Chinese. Do you?”

They all shook their heads, watching the demon unruffle its feathers and prepare to launch into the air again.

“So we kill it?” Eddie said.

Andy nodded.

“Good.”

All five of them wrapped their hands around their red crystals, focused on the demon as it flapped its wings and pushed off the ground.

Almost immediately, flames surrounded then engulfed the creature. It shrieked and yowled as its feathers burned up in the flames emitting a foul stench—and it plummeted back down to the tile.

“Huo zai!” someone called out.

There were more screams.

And yet the police watched at a distance until the fire burned out.

The Seven stood around the charred bird demon, peering at it.

“Do you think it is dead?” James asked.

Tom reappeared next to them. “I don’t know.”

They all jumped. “Tom!”

Daniel swatted him.

The police stared more. They also lifted their guns. “Nimen shi shei?”

Rick lifted his hands and was about extract his wallet. “Wo gei ni kan kan wo de shenfenzheng.”

“Wait!” Andy put out a hand to stop them. “You don’t need to do that. We will.”

Sighing, Rick said, “Ta gei ni kan kan ta de shenfensheng. Ta men shi yao ren geng jia wo.” He hoped he had said it right. He had tried to say that Andy and his friends were more important than he was, but Chinese grammar was sometimes confusing.

Andy took out his wallet, gesturing to the others to follow suit. They drew out their UN Id cards for the Seven and extended them to the police officers.

“I think you may have to go to the police station,” Tom muttered. “Which I think for me is a bad idea.”

“Do you want to sneak off and go to our hotel?” Rick whispered back.

Tom shrugged, then shook his head. “No. I’m hungry. I’ll just lurk in the shadows and continued to have them believe I am a ghost.”

“They think you are a ghost?” Daniel whispered at him as one policeman gingerly took his ID card from the UN.

Tom nodded, chuckling. He then whispered, “If you tell them I am your pet ghost I think—”

“Don’t do that,” Chen nervously hissed back. “It will make things worse. Just tell them you have Tom under control.”

Daniel lifted his eyebrows at Chen whom he thought didn’t understand that no one could control Tom. However, he saw that Chen was a little less brusque, perhaps even apologetic for the way he had acted earlier.

The policemen looked to Chen to make translation, handing the cards as if he didn’t know what to do with them. In quick Mandarin, the policeman asked Chen questions. Chen paled and translated with looks to the others. “These cards are from the UN?”

All five from the Seven nodded.

“There is a chip in it that should be readable on their database,” Semour explained.

Chen translated.

The policeman raised his eyebrows, then applied one card to his ID reader which he carried with him for security purposes. Sure enough information popped up in Chinese characters for him to read. The police officer read the information aloud to his colleagues. Though Rick hardly understood it and the Seven had no clue what the man said, Chen stared palely, peeking back at the Seven as if he had finally realized he had harassed some extremely important an powerful people.

The burnt bird emitted a weak squawk, shifting on the tile.

“I knew it,” Semour muttered, drawing his sword. He stabbed the beast.

Chen’s eyes, as well as the policemen’s eyes, widened. The one officer stopped reading. He handed back the one card and inserted another one.

“Is it dead now?” James muttered, peering at the thing.

Cringing, Chen crouched near, frowning. “Maybe.”

“Maybe?” Eddie huffed. “That was a silver sword.”

Frowning more, Chen slowly shook his head. “But this is China. Silver might not do enough. It might have to be a red sword, or—”

Andy walked over to James’s nearly empty bag and opened it, taking out his sword which was a peculiar shade of red. Drawing it, he stabbed the demon bird. The demon bled this time, emitting a painful shriek.

“Or what else?” Daniel asked, watching Chen stare in horror at Andy’s sword, which looked like the steel was infused with blood.

“Uh…” Chen weakly shrugged. “Gold? Or Jade?”

The demon, however, emitted a last breath and died. Andy made sure, chopping off its head.

The police peered at it.

Daniel crouched down and grabbed the demon by its tail—which for some reason was unharmed by their fire. He held it up and said, “Who wants it?”

“Swift!” Eddie huffed, “Really?”

But Chen shook his head and said, “He is right. Most legends say there is something of a prize for killing certain demons. The feet might be good luck or the eyes might be valuable.”

“Don’t talk about eyes,” Tom muttered, scooting away from Chen.

Rick cringed, nodding.

“What?” Chen glanced back at him.

“Chen wasn’t there when Carlos came, Tom,” Rick said. “He doesn’t know.”

“Know what?” Chen looked confused, also watching Daniel pluck the glittering tail feathers to take as booty and then tying up the many feet so he could hand it to the police.

“What Tom’s future holds,” Rick explained, thinking about the day they had met Carlos Mendez.

“You know a guy who can see the future?” Eddie inched near him, also offering the police a bag to put the dead demon bird into.

Shaking his head, Tom gravely said, “No. Morty can only see your future death.”

Everyone who understood him drew in a breath, wondering if Carlos and Morty were the same guy as Tom tended to nickname everybody he was fond of—and not fond of.

Adding with a shrug, Tom said, “I die an old man—but blind, because in the future someone is going to steal my eyes.”

Daniel exhaled tensely. “That’s awful.”

Shrugging again, Tom said, “At least I got a heads up. I mean, Morty telling me that gave me time to learn braille and practice flying without seeing.”

They noticed a couple policemen who reacted—clearly understanding some English. The cops shared what they learned in whispers to their companions. The one officer with the card reader had finished inputting in their information then glanced to Rick and Chen, ignoring Tom. “Gei wo ni de shenfenzheng.”

Chen shared a look with Rick and pulled out his passport. Rick did the same.

“Ni men bu yiqi ma?” the policeman said.

“What’s he saying?” Daniel asked.

“He wants to know if we are not with you,” Rick said.

Chen replied for them something that sounded to