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

said, “I had a nightmare.”

Rick nodded, urging him to elaborate.

“Don’t I sound pathetic…?” Chen muttered. “The boy is having nightmares.”

Rick stared, confused.

“That’s what your friends are probably thinking,” Chen said.

“Forget what they are thinking,” Rick said. “And don’t assume. Most of them have PTSD. They might understand.”

Chen lifted his eyes, meeting Rick’s. He swallowed, building up the courage to speak. He said, “I keep dreaming of when my parents were killed. I remember it. I remember how the witch did it. The thing is… today it was like I was there. Like I was standing there and watching it. How she stabbed them while they were sleeping. How she set the fire and burned their home in the countryside. And how demons settled in their home afterwards, celebrating their deaths. They said they were waiting for me.”

“Ugh…” Rick clenched his teeth. Chen didn’t usually get premonitions. He was more of a ‘past reader’ kind of guy. That made this especially unsettling.

“And the worst thing is, I don’t know if I can take them on. I haven’t shifted-shape in forever,” Chen murmured, his eyes wildly blood-shot from crying.

“I see,” Rick said. He then sighed, nodding to himself. “That means we need to take you somewhere where you can practice.”

Chen cringed, nodding.

“In the meantime,” Rick said. “You need to make nice with my friends. They can protect you.”

“Who are they?” Chen asked with a tone of dread. “Really.”

That was perhaps the question everyone would ask. A while ago Rick would have said they were just his friends from Middleton Village who were in Medieval Club. Sword fanatics. But in reality Rick knew they were so much more and Chen needed the truth. So he replied, “They are the newest generation of a group of supernatural warriors known as the Holy Seven, a group which apparently has existed since ancient times and has passed on the duty for generations. I don’t know a whole lot about their duty as the Seven, but I do know the individuals personally. And each one of them is gifted.”

“Like Matt Calamori?” Chen asked, taking it in carefully.

Shrugging, Rick said, “In a way… though none of them have natural magic or psychic abilities like Matt. It is more like magic and power was thrust upon them.”

Chen stared.

“They do share one commonality, though,” Rick said, thinking about it. “Each one of this generation’s Holy Seven—all eight of them—were magically abducted to another world where most of them grew up pretty fast, and they faced many supernatural dangers. This is why they say they know elves and gods. And yeah… They are dangerous and they have killed before.”

“What about that fire they conjured?” Chen asked with a shudder. “And those crazy swords?”

Sighing, Rick explained, “Those swords all come from that other world. And as for that fire, I don’t completely understand how they do it. The red crystals they wear are sources for the fire. And they told me how they got them—split some kind of fire crystal between them, one they had confiscated after an arson incident. But they can control it with the magic they are branded with in their hands—and that power I don’t really get. My friend Abey says the mark on their hands was where their souls had been ripped out in the other world and where it was reconnected. They say they can feel magic and supernatural beings through the burning in their palms. And they can tell if you are hostile or not by how severe the burn is.”

Chen nodded, drawing in a breath. “Which is why they grabbed their wrists like that and rubbed their palms when I got mad at them.”

Rick nodded.

“How come Tom takes their side?” Chen asked. “He is part of the Unseelie Court, isn’t he? A half devil.”

“Half-imp,” Rick corrected. “And Tom knows the Seven’s imps pretty well. He knows they are not evil people. Besides, Tom is not a member of the Unseelie Court. They just like to kidnap him every Halloween. I think Matt said Queen Maeve is still ticked off at him—though Tom says she has a crush on him.”

Chen raised his eyebrows.

“I think Tom was joking,” Rick added.

Looking around, Chen drew in a breath, calmer. “So they are what I am.”

Rick wondered on that.

“The Bai Nian Clan were supernatural warriors for China,” Chen said, explaining. “Only they were wiped out.”

“Like Tommy Whitefeather’s people,” Rick said, thinking about it.

Chen frowned. Apparently he didn’t like being compared to Tommy Whitefeather.

“You really should meet him,” Rick added. “Tommy is a really great guy. He’s saved my hide a number of times.”

Nodding to appease Rick, Chen averted his eyes. Rick wished Matt were there to tell him what Chen was thinking.

Rick then walked with Chen back to his room. Chen was reluctant to go back in, so Rick said, “Hey, I don’t think there is one person in our group who doesn’t have nightmares. So nobody is going to laugh at you or think less of you. You don’t have to talk about or explain. Just say you had a nightmare. That will be enough.”

Sighing, Chen nodded. Yet he said, “What about Tom?”

Gravely, Rick replied, “I used to share a room with Tom. And he is just like you and me. And honestly, I hate to know the contents of his nightmares, as he is a CIA agent.”

Chen stared into space, thinking about that. He then slipped back into his room. Rick turned and walked back to his room. The door was still ajar, thankfully. He hadn’t taken the key card, so he could have gotten locked out.

In the darkness, Rick walked back to his bed wondering what that monkey was. It wasn’t Chen, but it had led him to Chen. The chances that a monkey would be in a five star hotel in Shanghai were so scarce that Rick wondered if they were being watched and helped. If it had been a demon, surely it would have harmed him. On top of that, with all the red paper banners on the windows and around the doorways, Rick was sure those moguai would not have been able to get in the hotel in the first place. At least not the one called Nian.

He walked over to the bedside lamp with a glance to the sleeping lump that was Andy and turned it on to look for something. For a second, Rick thought the bright light would wake Andy, but he then saw that Andy was not even in his bed. Pillows had been propped up, making it look as if he were there. But Andy was missing.

Why?

Huffing, Rick walked over to Andy’s bags to look for the book on the Monkey King. He went through his backpack, his suitcase, and then the surrounding area. It wasn’t there either.

Sighing, Rick went back to the door, took the key card and went out into the hall. He crept from door to door where his friends would be sleeping, listening in. From one, he heard conversation.

He knocked.

The conversation stopped.

No answer either.

Rick knocked again, this time with the rhythm he and Andy used when they were kids when they snuck out to each other’s houses.

A disgruntled moan echoed inside.

James opened the door. It wasn’t his room. “Wanna come in?”

Rick nodded, frowning a smidgeon at him. The guy had said he wanted to sleep. This was sleeping?

Reluctantly, James let him inside, stepping to the side while all those from the Seven stared back at him from their various seats on the beds as if he were crashing their private meeting. Andy rose from where he was sitting. In his hand was the book.

“A secret meeting?” Rick asked, walking in further.

“You were konked out,” Andy sheepishly explained.

Rick stepped in further. “So?”

Sighing, Daniel spoke up, “We are trying to assess our options.”

“In case a demon had summoned us here,” Semour added more clearly, also facing a computer that looked like Rick’s.

“A demon didn’t,” Rick said, eying the back of the familiar-looking laptop from his vantage point. “I’m sure of it.”

“How do you know?” Andy critically asked. “You’re not psychic.”

Groaning, Rick nodded, taking a position closer to the center of their gathering. “Yeah. I know that. But…” He decided not to tell them about the monkey. They would misinterpret it. “There were specifics that I could confirm. Besides, I still need to hear back from that monk.”

“You did,” Andy said, gesturing to the computer

Rick stared. It was his

Sighing, Andy pulled up Semour’s high tech lap top next to it. On it was Rick’s personal email and his blog website—of which he had never given anyone else the password to.

“You hacked into my files,” Rick breathlessly said, rushing to his computer to close it.

Semour shrugged unapologetically. “We had to make sure you were not being manipulated.”

“And?” Rick’s face felt hot, irritated that not only they did not trust him, but that they had the audacity to mess with his private internet space. He closed every window on it.

“And...” Eddie nodded to the others, encouraging them not to be cowed by an angry werewolf. “Your monk uses a VPN, making it difficult to track him.”

Moaning with a heavy hang to his shoulders, Rick said, “Everyone who wants full internet access in China uses a VPN. The Chinese government blocks most sites used in the US like Facebook and Google. I have a VPN.”

They nodded kindly.

Semour said, “And so do we. The point is, his VPN is one of the best. I can get through most of them. But his… I don’t know who your so-called monk is, but he either has a lot of money or a lot of resources. But what monk has that kind of money?”

That was a good point. And yet Rick never really thought his contact was a typical monk to begin with. A typical Buddhist monk would not be reading blogs written by a werewolf about werewolves. So he said, “I’m not ignorant of that. But you hacked into my email and you said he responded. What did he say?”

They waved him over to Semour’s computer.

Going nearer while tucking his laptop under his arm, Rick read the email.

 

Anonymous_Wolf,

That is terrible news. If a demon took my friend’s place, he is most likely dead. If a ben came to meet you, then my fears have been confirmed. This means you must go more stealthily. I hope you read Journey to the West. It is your best guide. You need to go to the monastery where the monk was from and tell them the bad news. He was from the Jade Buddha Temple on Jiangnin Road. If that monastery is overrun, you may need to cleanse it. I am so sorry to have to put this burden on you, but as our golden warriors are no longer, I must beg you to do their job. I cannot meet you in Shanghai. I am being watched for. If there is still a true monk at the monastery, they will tell you where you need to go to meet me.

A MonkK

 

Rick frowned at it. He then looked to the others and the book in Andy’s hand. “So… you are going through the book again and looking for some clue what to do?”

“More like highlighting the kind of trouble they come up against,” Daniel said.

“Deities,” James added with a firm nod.

“Demons and locations for a map,” Eddie said.

“Ways to kill them,” Semour explained.

Andy cringed, glancing at them. “Which is not so easy because half the time the Monkey King had help from deities.”

Rick nodded slowly. But then he looked to the email again. “Well, either way I guess this means we need to go to the monastery.”

All of them cringed, reluctant to move a step.

Frowning, Rick said, “Or do I have to go there by myself?”

They shared other glances. Andy nodded to them then spoke their minds. “We’re here for you. Either way, if a demon has summoned you here to kill you, we will take them out. But if it is real, we will do as we