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

met Rick’s gaze and smirked.

Rick checked his thoughts and realized that he had just been tempted to put a tracker on Tom, among other things…. He blushed.

Sun Wukong strode up.

He came as Sun Wukong also. Not the Monkey King. Not the monk. Not Sun Laoshi or Sun Xiansheng. Sun Wukong. He didn’t quite look like an elf—not with pointy ears or anything, and he still had a lot of monkey-ness about him, but he was standing with much solid power that the Seven found it impossible to ignore. This was the elf as himself. The monks in the room stared at him with enormous awe, most absolutely surprised that he was in fact not a fictional person. Sun Wukong said, “Normally this would be where, in a movie, I would say ‘This is where we part ways.’ Only, this isn’t. Not yet.”

Half the Seven chuckled.

He then bowed to them solemnly. “This is where I apologize for not trusting you all from the start.”

The entire Seven rose, getting onto their feet. They bowed back.

“No apology needed,” Andy said. “It is only right that you should be suspicious of strangers. Besides, we have had the same misgivings about you.”

Daniel and the rest chuckled more, nodding.

Sun Wukong smirked.

But then Sun Wukong turned toward Rick. He extended his hand.

With a shrug, Rick took it, expecting a handshake.

Sun Wukong lifted him to his feet rather easily, and then pulled Rick into a hug. Startled, Rick stared at Andy who also looked surprised. Sun Wukong whispered, “I never doubted you for a second.”

Then he pulled back.

Rick stared at him. His face felt hot.

Sun Wukong was smiling. “However,” he said, “I do have another favor to ask of you.”

Rick nodded. “Sure. What is it?”

Grinning more, Sun Wukong said with a glance to Chen, “I’d like to borrow your friend for a while.”

Chen blinked up at him. His face flushed and he rose to his feet.

Reaching out a hand to Chen, Sun Wukong said, “Though this will not make up for the damage my neglect has caused, I feel it is my duty to train you. As my descendant, the world will not be kind to you. I would like prepare you so that you can handle anything that comes your way.”

Flustering, realizing all that that meant, Chen opened his mouth to reply, only to find he didn’t know what to say.

“Cool, Chen. You can become a true spirit warrior now,” Tom murmured with an up-jerk of his chin, smirking.

And yet, Chen colored, looking to Rick like a lifeline. “I… where would we, you know, do this?”

“Here in China,” Sun Wukong replied matter-of-factly, waving his arms about to the room. “I am a guardian of this land. I need to stay here. And so can you.”

“What about work?” Chen asked, a little panicked, but also a little excited. “I would need a place to stay and food to eat.”

“We can officially hire you at our Hangzhou factory,” Rick said quickly, grinning. “You’ve got a college degree, you speak both Mandarin and English fluently, and I think it would be great to have a personal friend here to keep an eye on things.”

Chen flustered. He looked a smidge afraid to be happy about this change in events. “What about the government? I don’t think they want a Bai Nian in the country. What if they come after me?”

Sun Wukong put an arm around him. “You will be with me. And we will work it out.”

Chen nervously laughed, clearly overwhelmed.

“You could always consider that part of your training,” Daniel cut in, with a wry smirk. “You know, dealing with crooked government.”

Chen shot him a wry look. But he was still smiling.

“So?” Rick asked, as did Sun Wukong at the same time. “What do you say?” They shared a look, grinning.

Blinking at the idea, Chen seemed to sway. “Yeah… I guess that would be great.”

Clapping his hands together, Rick grinned. “Awesome! I’ll call my dad.” He immediately got out his cell phone to make the call. He stepped aside from the party to do it.

As Rick spoke with his father, the rest of the Seven clustered back around the table and discussed their trip back home. Eddie took out a notebook and a pen. While Michael offered for them to fly home on his family’s private jet if in case Rick’s family jet had been messed with while they were gone, Semour suggested they stop somewhere to dry out their tech and fix any damage to it. Daniel remarked that it would be best not to linger in China as they had upset those government agents and a triad, while Andy commented that they really ought to get home as soon as possible because they all had school or training to return to. That’s when Daniel interjected that Andy should visit Jessica before going back to college.

“He should do more than that,” Rick interjected from the middle of his phone conversation with his father, overhearing Daniel’s remark. “He should text Jessica right away and plan a time they can skype together, if not an actual date.”

Andy looked as if he had been kicked in the stomach. His shoulders hunched and he peeked at Rick. “I know. But my classes are killer—”

“Excuses,” Rick said, and went back to his phone call.

Tom leaned on Andy suddenly, arm wrapped around his shoulder. He said with commiseration, “Dude, that Jessica really likes you. But as a guy who dated a high-maintenance girl, I can tell when a gal starts to lose interest. And you don’t want that from her.”

Nodding, Andy closed his eyes.

“Even a small text a day is better than nothing,” Daniel said, gazing dryly on him.

The others nodded.

Then Semour put a hand on Andy’s shoulder. “Hey. We’d all like to see you succeed. I mean, we’re super jealous over what you’ve got—but we don’t want to see you crash and burn either.”

Sun Wukong chuckled. He and Chen had sat down on the fringes of the group. They had been whispering about their plans for Chen’s training. But the conversation among the Seven had distracted them.

Smirking back at them, Andy then looked to Rick who was still talking to his father. Rick winked at him, nodding.

“Ok.” Andy sighed.

“And we’ll help you,” the rest of them said.

With a glad laugh from all, they finished their dinner.

 

They left the monastery before the sun rose the next morning and went to train station while the stars were barely winking out. Sun Wukong traveled with them in the form of Sun Laoshi and boarded the train toward Shanghai. It was a long trip which took several hours and was largely uneventful. Largely.

There were small mishaps along the way of course.

James ate something from a vendor in one of the cars and ended up seeking out a toilet to vomit. Tom had to hide most of the trip as the government agents were still looking for him. Chen and Sun Wukong had to duck out on occasion also, as Chen’s passport still did say Bai Nian on it and they had the occasional freak out from a few train officials who knew what that meant. But no one messed with the Seven. And as for Rick, he was largely ignored.

When they arrived in Shanghai, Michael led the rest of the Seven back to the airport where his family jet awaited him while Rick traveled with Chen and Sun Wukong to Hangzhou. Tom ‘tagged along’ as a bodyguard for Rick. They stayed in a company apartment in the lake area of the city, showing it off to Chen mostly as it would be his.

“This is where I can stay?” Chen asked, staring around at the unbelievably well-furnished three bedroom apartment with kitchen and a regular sized refrigerator and a washing machine. It was on the forty-second floor and had a glass-walled balcony that overlooked the city. They were there in the evening with the city lighting up all around them.

“It’s either this or we can get you two a place in the mountain where you are closer to nature,” Rick said with a nod to Sun Wukong.

“I’d like to see that,” Sun Wukong replied with a nod.

But Chen liked the apartment. His eyes were taking in the man-made marble floors, the gabardine curtains with tassels, amazingly upholstered furniture, and the big screen TV.

“The beds here are hard,” Rick said, with a gesture to the rooms, “But we can furnish you with a better mattress if you want. Also, you’ll have to drip dry your clothes as driers are hard to come by in China.”

Yet Chen continued to grin. In fact, he looked like all of it was too good to be true.

“I can introduce you to your new boss tomorrow morning,” Rick said, his eyes trailing after Tom who was walking on the ceiling, checking out the fancy chandelier in the center of the open room. “And we can start getting all your papers in order so your visa and passport are approved.”

Chen lowered his eyes, paling. “Um… but that means the government will know where I am.”

Rick shrugged with a look to Sun Wukong. “It’s either that or you live here illegally in the mountains with our friend here.”

“Not to worry,” Sun Wukong said with a smile, glancing about the place as if he would be more than happy to commute back and forth from his mountain home to this apartment. “I know a few people in the visa offices. Besides, I can also make it so people don’t ever read your name right.”

Tom performed a mid-air flip and landed between them. “Or you can always change your last name to Wang.”

Shaking his head, Chen chuckled. “No. No name changing. It would disrespect my ancestors.”

Sun Wukong grinned.

Rick smiled. “Then it’s agreed. We’ll start the paperwork tomorrow.”

“I can help him with all that,” Sun Wukong said, nodding cheerfully. “And when you are done, you two need to leave China as soon as possible.”

Rick nodded, peeking to Tom who rolled his eyes.

 

The day after was a busy one. It was also rather tedious when it came to the details. Chen got a tour of the company where he would be working. Then he waited as an employment contract was drafted and he had to read it over for the details. He read both the Chinese and English, double checking for any mistakes or incongruences. As he did all this, Sun Wukong hung out with Tom, inspecting how the factory worked and how things were among the local workers. Rick found it amusing when he reported back anything he thought could be changed, including any bad practices among the workers that he noticed. Rick wondered if in fact that would be useful. Together with Tom, Sun Wukong had made everyone nervous. In fact, by the end of the day both of them had on manic expressions. And when Rick took them all out to a restaurant for dinner, everyone in the factory was glad then those two had left.  

Rick, however, had a proposal for Sun Wukong during dinner that evening.

“I was thinking,” he said as he was eating steak in a Western restaurant they had found so that he could have a garlic-free meal, “Would you be interested in working for me part time for environmental control at the factory?”

Sun Wukong raised his eyebrows. “Me? Work?”

Tom snorted, chuckling into his tall glass of Coke.

Chen was devouring his plate of spaghetti, making sure it was far from Rick as he listened in.

Nodding, Rick shot Tom a look. “Yes. We offer decent pay, a place to live, and a reason for you to prowl around the company once in a while to make sure the folk here stay honest. Dad has always been concerned that the locals cut corners and don’t follow the company rules when our backs are turned. And though I am sure Chen could do it, I don’t want to create any workplace animosity for him.”

A smirk curled up on the side of Sun Wukong’s mouth.

“As for you, I know you