The next morning, Gloria went to Luoshan Zi’s coffee shop to kickstart today’s shifts as usual. Maybe it was because of the relaxing baths she took with Sue yesterday; or maybe it was because the weather was unusually pleasant, with the cool breezes, blue sky, white clouds and bright but not burning sun.

Though the poorest district in the entire Poison City, and the butt of many jokes for those who belonged to the upper class, the people of the South Eastern District did have one prized traditional site: medicinal bathhouses. These were specialty houses only the most traditional and native of the South Eastern District residents frequented. Gloria did not grow up in this district, but she was lucky to be raised by some of the local natives, one of whom was Luoshan Zi, her boss. She was actually the one who brought Gloria to a bathhouse for the first time on her 15th birthday.

“So, how was your day yesterday?” Luoshan Zi was already in the coffee shop prepping the kitchen and cleaning the coffee machines when Gloria went in.

“Eh, thank you for asking, but could have gone better.” Gloria shrugged and shook her head: “Anyway - I brought Sue to that bathhouse you used to bring me to, and had a specialty bath, with sage and ginger. That made it a quite bit better.”

“Wow, next time call me first.” Luoshan Zi chuckled: “I’d wanna go with you, and - maybe get you a deal.”

“Sure, sure, next time. I figured I might need to go there again soon.” Gloria sighed: “And - how are you? Busy? ”

“Well, business is not as good as we’d hoped, as you can tell.” Luoshan Zi raised her eyebrows, but still smiling: “And - uh, I started picking up teaching young kids Kung Fu and other martial arts again, because you know, things are getting a bit weird right now. ”

“Yeah, yeah… ” Gloria immediately turned and looked down at the sink as she was washing the dishes - she did not want to trouble Luoshan Zi too much with the knowledge of what she had been doing, or what she had found out.

“Oh? You’re not worried?” Luoshan Zi asked curiously as she started brewing their signature coffee: “Or do you already know what was happening in the city?”

“I - well - I heard about stuff.” Gloria still did not look up.

“You little minx - you’ve been looking into it haven’t you?” Luoshan Zi raised her voice and poked Gloria on her shoulder: “You’ve been sniffing around, haven’t you?”

“Yeah - maybe a little.” Gloria had no choice but to look her friend and mentor in the eyes: “You know, the thing I encountered at Fuman’s - I just need to find out what went wrong, okay? I had a hunch, and I followed it…”

“... alright. ” Luoshan Zi sighed: “Just be careful.”

“Woah, that’s it? ” Gloria chuckled, and let out an exhale of relief.

“What do you expect me to do? Stop you?” Luoshan Zi shrugged: “Nah, I just want you to be safe - my nagging you and trying to stop you will not work, will it?”

“It probably won’t.” Gloria chuckled and almost laughed out loud along with Luoshan Zi: “But seriously, I really appreciate your support. It - it means a lot.”

“Well, it better does.” Luoshan Zi rolled her eyes, smiling: “And - I’m just saying this because I DO want to be supportive, if you run into any trouble, you let me know as well, okay? I just found out about your meeting, and I could have helped you.”

“Oh my god, I’m so sorry - ”

“Uh-uh-uh, don’t apologize to me. I just want to help you, okay?” Luoshan Zi gave Gloria a quick hug from the side: “And do let me know if you need help.”

“Well… ” Gloria scratched her hair: “Maybe - maybe there’s something - ”

Before Gloria could name what she needed, a group of guests rushed into the coffee shop, carrying uncheap-looking bags and a large suitcase, wearing thick and appearance-covering clothing.

“Welcome, what can we offer you?” Gloria immediately put up a smile and asked the guests. But she immediately froze, because the guests who came in were none other than the Teiths, the family for whom she used to babysit: the father Brian Teith, the mother Samantha Teith, and the son Kevin Teith. “Mr. and Mrs. Teith, and - Kevin, what are you doing here?”

“We need help. Gloria.” Samantha Teith immediately came over to the counter and grabbed Gloria by her hands: “Please! We need help! ”

“Okay. What - what happened?” Gloria held Samantha Teith’s hands tight, trying to help her warm up and calm down a little, “Let’s take a seat, and tell me…”

Luoshan Zi went over to the door and flipped the “OPEN” sign to “CLOSED”, came back and patted Gloria on the shoulder and pointed at the kitchen. After getting a grateful acknowledgement from Gloria, she went into the kitchen and started making tea.

“Okay, we can chat here. What happened?” Gloria pointed at the most spacious booth to sit the Teiths down.

“Our home is not safe now. ” Brian Teith nervously looked around, and even peeked out the window as if he was leading his family in hiding: “I don’t know what it is - but - but - I think something not normal - ”

“It’s the cat granny! It’s the cat granny!” Kevin interjected, but was quickly held back by his mother.

“Shhh, Kevin, lower your voice.” Samantha Teith shook her head with an almost whispering voice: “Let’s not make a fuzz.”

“Is it true?” Gloria frowned: “Did you see it?”

“No - no, we did not see it.” Brian Teith shivered, then shook his head. He coughed and rubbed his eyes. The bags on both sides of his nose told Gloria he had not slept well at least for a few days.

“It was a shadow - I - we don’t know what we saw.” Samantha Teith looked at Gloria: “That thing tried to get to Kevin, and - it just passed through our locked window and the doors as if they were nothing - I don’t know what happened! I don’t understand …”

“Tea.” Luoshan Zi came over with a wooden tray with three steaming mugs: “Don’t worry, just tell us what happened.”

“Well - the other day, at night, we heard the alarm we put on the window going off - ” Samantha Teith sniffled, then wiped her nose with a piece of dirty tissue. Luoshan Zi frowned, and handed her a box of fresh ones. “And - and we smelled smoke coming from Kevin’s room - ”

“- Kevin slept with us for the past few days, because things were getting much more worrisome.” Brian sighed, “I went to check it out, and I just saw this - this thing hovering over Kevin’s bed. I didn’t hesitate, and I just swung the baseball bat… But it just - just changed shape and bounced over me and rushed towards our room.”

“And I - I tried to pepper spray that thing. It just scratched me and tried to snatch Kevin away - until - ” Samantha Teith held Kevin tighter, enough to make her son squirm and protest: “Until that jade medallion we bought for him drove it away.”

“Show me the scratch.” Luoshan Zi immediately said, almost at the same time as Gloria.

Samantha reached her left arm out, hesitantly pulling the thick sleeve up.

Three long darkened scratch marks, surrounded by swollen skin tiny dark veins, as if the nails were toxic or laced with poison.