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

mess his clothes were in from the battle.

Everyone in the group looked at themselves. Of course they stood out. Ridiculously so.

“They might release a dirty bomb for all we know,” Rick said.

Michael raised a finger, grinning. “Ok. Then it’s my turn.”

They looked to him.

“I’m listening,” Sun Wukong said, folding his arms.

“Let’s go to the road and get in the bus I ordered for us first,” Michael said. “Then I will explain.”

Everyone blinked, including Rick as they remembered that Michael had just as many wealthy connections through his father’s company as Rick did.

“Ok.”

They hurried.

A decent sized tour van was exactly where Michael had said, waiting for them. The driver stared at their wrecked appearance when they arrived, asking in broken English if they need to go to the hospital while his eyes raked over Andy’s cuts in particular.

“No. The hotel,” Michael said, climbing into the front passenger seat. He gestured for everyone else to quickly take a seat inside. As soon as they had buckled up and the driver was on the road, Michael turned around and explained. “I actually was contacted by the Chinese government a while ago about some supernatural activity within the country—mostly on a consultant basis as a member of both the Holy Seven and the SRA….”

Everyone’s jaws dropped, including Sun Wukong’s who had slowly changed to a tamer form of himself with more humanlike characteristics.

“…as they don’t actually trust the SRA and they barely approve of the Holy Seven.” Michael shook his head. “They claim to have been using monks to deal with their demons, trying to form their own division to deal with this kind of thing. I mean, they won’t even let in Tommy Whitefeather—”

“Not surprising,” Rick murmured to himself, knowing there was a certain degree of racism in China that he did not want to explain in front of Sun Wukong since it might leave him feeling insulted. But the guy eyed Rick anyway with a smirk. Sun Wukong patted Rick on the head as if to say ‘good doggie’.

“But anyway,” Michael continued with a nod to Rick, “They had informed me about one factory which they want me to visit as a businessman. You know, an unsuspecting ‘Western buyer’.”

“I’m really listening,” Sun Wukong said, intrigued.

Nodding to him, a glint formed in Michael’s eye that the rest of the Seven recognized and Rick understood a little. Rick could see on the faces of the others that Michael was about to suggest something incredibly risky. “Normally I’ve dealt with this kind of thing with Tommy Whitefeather watching my back…”

Rick nodded, knowing how handy it was to have a shapeshifter with other supernatural gifts with you. He peeked to Chen who was critically sizing Michael up—the one member of the Seven Chen did not know at all.

“…but since Tommy can’t come into China,” Michael said with a shrug, he gazed hopefully at Sun Wukong. “Are you willing to play the role of personal assistant or at least translator for me?”

But Sun Wukong looked to Chen. “Are you up for it?”

Michael blinked at Chen, almost realizing in that moment that he was there and with them and not just a local who had just gotten swept up in their mess.

Chen frowned as he said to Sun Wukong, “Are you not sure they won’t recognize me?”

Chuckling, Sun Wukong shook his head. “You are still not aware of your full capabilities still. I need to teach you.” He then patted Chen’s shoulder and presented him to Michael, “This young man is also a spirit warrior, like your favorite Tommy. This is my descendant—Bai Nian Chen.”

Chen immediately colored, ducking his eyes.

Michael leaned back, a smile forming on his face. He then took Chen’s hand and shook it. Chen immediately was swept with the shock of Michael’s past, jerking back. He pulled his hand from Michael’s grip, trembling. And he stared.

Rick leaned close. “Are you ok?”

“What’d I do?” Michael asked, looking to the others then Sun Wukong.

Quickly lifting his eyes to Michael’s face, Chen’s chest heaved. His eyes flickered to Daniel’s. Daniel raised his eyebrows, nodding.

Andy peered warily at him. “Are you ok?”

But Chen looked to Rick, “Holy heavens, you have the weirdest friends. His grandmother had tried to kill him—twice! Did you know that?”

Rick peeked once to Michael, but the rest of the Seven rolled their eyes and presented their burned palms as if that explained it all.

“So, you have something in common,” Rick said, smirking back.

Michael gazed at him, lifting his eyebrows with interest in knowing Chen’s past now.

 

They ended up at a four star hotel where they washed and changed. Michael put on a clean suit while Rick was urged to simply dress warm yet respectably. Chen and Sun Wukong were also given business suits. Everyone was taking turns in the shower.

While all of them were in the middle of eating takeout food from a local shop, a knock was heard at the hotel room door.

Michael looked, then walked over and opened it. The others who were still half dressed ducked behind walls and furniture. James was in the shower.

Standing in the door was the police.

They briskly spoke Mandarin then marched into the room, immediately closing the door behind them.

“Do you realize the chaos you have caused up at the mountain?” one of the policemen then said in accented, yet clear, English. He turned with a sharp look just on Michael, as if his friends were incidental.

Rick stood back near the wall, having jumped there when he had heard the door. Tom was right behind him trying for the first time ever, to make himself look small. Chen had shrunk entirely into the size of a small dog. His suit was on the floor, emptied. Daniel surreptitiously picked it up, one of the few completely dressed.

Michael replied rather flatly, “Demons bring chaos. What did you expect we were going to do against the demons, arrest them?”

“We thought your people would handle things discretely,” the policeman said, each word bit out.

Sun Wukong—now Sun Laoshi again—or rather Sun Xiansheng as he asked to be called in that moment, folded his arms and peered at them silently. He had a Sun Wukong look on his face, though… like he would take out his staff and clobber that pair of cops. The only thing that seemed to be stopping him was that they were human.

Andy stepped up to them, chin raised with a sharp examining glare on the police, hair still damp from the shower. “Things were handled discretely. No human was harmed in mountain battle—”

“As far as we know,” Daniel interjected, setting Chen’s suit on the bed.

Andy shot him a look.

Daniel shrugged, seeing no point in lying.

But the police only looked to Michael, ignoring Andy’s and Daniel’s existence. “You were seen.”

But Michael continued to look bored with the conversation, which Rick found an interesting way to deal with Chinese police. He wasn’t sure it was wise. “And?”

Blustering, the policeman snapped, “You are jeopardizing your relationship with the people of China. The people must not know there are demons in this country. They are happy—”

Tom snorted without meaning to.

The police shot him a look. But when they saw him their eyes widened even more, recognizing him.

One policeman pointed at him, going pale and staggering away. “What is he doing here?”

“He is not allowed in this country!” the other shouted, looking sick with terror.

Tom rolled his eyes, straightening up.

“He is a spy!” one of them snapped. He turned on Michael again. “You work with spies?”

Michael threw up his hands.

Rick raised a hand. “Actually Michael did not bring him. Tom came to be my bodyguard.”

This time the police stared at Rick. Their eyes are dark and hard on him, acknowledging him only because he was difficult to ignore—for some reason they respected people with money. “You have broken the law!”

“Did I?” Rick tilted his head with a mild frown of unconcern. “I got all the appropriate visas. And I do believe Tom’s passport was stamped.”

They shot a look at Tom, glowering. “The stamp was probably stolen.”

“I wouldn’t have even needed to steal one,” Tom snickered. “I could have done it with a potato.”

“Or a fat eraser,” Sun Wukong suggested off-handedly.

Tom pointed at him, smirking.

“Enough!” the policeman shouted. He pointed at Tom “You are under arrest.”

Smirking more with a wider, more crooked grin. Tom sank through the floor and was gone.

Rick shrugged when he saw him go. Then he turned toward the police and said, “I do believe that means you would have to catch him first.”

Scowling at Rick, the policeman said, “Then I will arrest you.”

“No.” Sun Wukong hopped up, immediately putting himself in the way.

The policemen stepped back, feeling his power despite that Sun Wukong was dressed more like a businessman than a Monkey King.

“Ni shi shei?” the policeman demanded.

Grinning wide, their opponent responded slowly, “Sun. Wu. Kong.”

They blinked. Then they paled, backing up toward the door.

“You see,” Andy interjected, approaching. “He hired us.”

This time they looked at Andy. On their faces were expressions of disgust, though. Their eyes raked over his red hair and especially his freckles as if he were the ugliest thing on the planet. Rick rolled his eyes when he saw and stepped out from behind Sun Wukong.

“Look,” Rick said, “You and the Monkey King both have the same goal…”

The policemen paled as the confirmations of Sun Wukong’s identity, which for some reason they entirely believed.

“…which is the removal of demons from this area and the protection of China.” Rick looked to his friends. “We came at his behest—”

“Because your government slaughtered the people who would have been protecting China in the first place!” Chen marched up, hands clenched into fists. “If you people hadn’t done it, China would have been safe!”

Blinking at him, the policemen stared, having not seem him before.

“Ni shi shei?” one of them demanded.

“Bai Nian Chen!” Chen’s face had gone red with anger. He was thankfully dressed, though not in the suit which was still on the bed. “Descendant of Sun Wukong!”

Paling even more, the policemen pulled back. They could tell they had been given an alert that a Bai Nian clansman had entered the country.

“And friend of the Holy Seven!” Chen added.

Those in the Seven smiled.

The policemen’s eyes flickered to the others in the room now. They had not wanted to acknowledge them, but now they were unable to as they realized they were infinitely outmatched, never mind outnumbered. All their bluster was for show.

One cop whipped his eyes back to Michael. “You have betrayed our trust!”

Michael gazed dryly at him. “Oh? And how?”

“You brought them without our permission!” the cop said, bristling.

“Uh, no.” Rick raised a finger. “I told you, we came on our own—and we invited Michael to join us.”

But the policeman ignored him. “You will lose your visa for this! You are under arrest for—”

Sun Wukong hopped in his way now, his staff expanding in his hand from a ‘toothpick’ he had been fingering in his teeth. “Gunkai!”

The policeman stepped back.

“I invited them here!” Sun Wukong said. His eyes seemed to glow red, his face changing very much like an angry baboon, with long fangs. “To my China!”

Both policemen staggered back.

“And we will take care of the demon problem because you cannot!” Sun Wukong towered angrily over them.

They could not get fast enough out the door—though they cursed at Michael when they ran off.

Deflating, Sun Wukong said to Michael, “We should head out now. Those bozos were just smaller thugs, but they might cause trouble for us when we have to go to the factory.”

“They could have been bought,” Tom said, appearing out from a shadow. “You know, by the triads?”

Several of them jumped.

Rick, who was used to Tom appearing from nowhere, said, “I was thinking that too.”

Chen frowned as Sun Wukong nodded.

“I was messing around downstairs and saw a couple of large long horned imps who had been lingering back so I could not see them,” Tom explained.

“You what?” Rick’s eyes widened.

Andy looked confused. “Long horned imps? Is that supposed to mean something?”

Tom nodded frankly. “Most regular imps have