Jubilee ran back around the corner, whirling left and right. Where had the girl gone? She was nowhere in sight.

Jubilee spun once more. There.

The demon, nearly twice as tall as the humans surrounding it, crossed a far street. The young woman had to be a part of that multitude teeming around him. If Jubilee followed the demon, she might be able to track her down and talk to her.

Despite the sting of cold, Jubilee began to sweat. For a moment she was haunted by memories—the smell of burnt rubber, the sound of Chicago traffic, warm blood flowing down her forehead. She shook her head to clear it. This demon was not the same one that had been at the scene of that disaster.

It was an even bigger one.

"I must be crazy," she muttered, then took off after him, running to catch the tail end of the jaywalking crowd. She'd fall too far behind to gain on them if she waited for the light. There was safety in numbers, right? Chicago had taught her that.

She was halfway across the street when the drivers decided they'd waited long enough and flooded the intersection. With a yelp, Jubilee jumped out of the way of a surprisingly fast rickshaw. Did these people not understand the unwritten laws of jaywalking as a crowd?! Clutching the pharmacy bag to her chest, she sprinted the rest of the way across the street, as much for her life as to catch up with the demon.

This was already a bad idea on so many levels. For one thing, she hadn't run since high school gym class.

For another, she was literally chasing a demon—the last thing she ever wanted to be near again. Worse, Kailin would have to wait longer for her medicine.

But Kailin had a fever that would almost certainly go away, and this girl—whoever she was—had a demon that might never leave. If Jubilee didn't intervene, what were the odds of this young woman bumping into someone else who could see angels and demons to help her?

Slim to none.

Panting, Jubilee stripped off her coat and threw it under one arm as she ran. Cold air hit her bare arms but she was too overheated at the moment to care. Finally reaching the curb, she looked up. The demon was still half a block away, standing at a bus stop next to the girl. Relief and anxiety warred within Jubilee over spotting her. What now?

A bus started to pull up. The girl and demon got in line to board.

Great. More running.

Skidding to a halt at the end of the bus line, Jubilee stared helplessly as the young woman boarded along with the demon, glancing once behind her as though to check whether he was following. Or was that just coincidence?

Jubilee's lips pursed. Was she going to have to get on the bus too in order to talk with her? Where was this bus even going? She whipped around to read the sign overhead, then remembered that her Chinese reading comprehension sucked. Memorizing a million different characters? Forget it. She could make out approximately ten percent of what the sign said. North something-something.

"Agh." She dug out change to pay the fare, slipping on a pair of sunglasses as she did. Wouldn't do to be caught staring. Boarding the bus, she faced front and tried her best to act inconspicuous—only to promptly fall backwards as the vehicle lurched forward. Miraculously, she managed to grab onto a pole before losing her footing completely.

Thanks, she thought, knowing that Hellenos had probably caught her even though she still couldn't see him. He once told her that he'd kept her from cracking her head open precisely three hundred and seventy-four times since the moment she'd learned to walk. Still, it irked her that he wasn't visible at the moment.

As discreetly as she could, she turned so that the girl was in her line of sight, and considered how to approach her. Jubilee avoided looking straight at the dark being beside the younger woman. For all Jubilee knew, he'd be able to sense her eyes on him. Instead she focused on the girl, absorbed in a book, chocolate brown bangs falling across the rims of her glasses. She didn't seem to notice the demon towering ominously over her. In fact, there was nothing about her behavior that seemed odd at all.

What if she hadn't actually been talking to the demon? Maybe she'd just been talking to herself, and it just so happened to correspond with the demon's statement. Lord knew Jubilee talked to herself all the time, even when she couldn't see Hellenos.

Maybe she had just imagined the whole thing.

But an oily black haze still shrouded the young woman like a cloud, and Jubilee knew she wasn't imagining that. Her stomach churned as she observed that haze. It would be extremely uncomfortable to get closer to this girl's aura. Jubilee couldn't judge her for that, though...she herself had probably looked just as bad in the spirit three years earlier.

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Which was why she had to say something to her.

Nervously, Jubilee began to make her way towards the back of the bus. Passengers grunted irritably as she attempted to squeeze past them. She didn't get very far before encountering a wall of tightly packed people who refused to budge.

"Excuse me," she addressed one man's back. He didn't move. She glanced up to see fair skin and blonde hair peeking out from under a large sun hat, the Great Wall embroidered around its brim. Ugh. Tourists. Who wore a sun hat in the winter? Jubilee was pretty sure she'd passed this same hat at multiple vendor stands. She could try using English instead, but not every tourist spoke English. Even if this one did, she really didn't feel like getting caught up in an inevitable conversation about where she was from and why she was here—questions she hated answering.

Furthermore, people around the white man stared at him in fascination, while some older passengers gave him the stink eye, oddly strong treatment just because he was a foreigner. Talking with this lao wai—an outsider—was a no go then, as it might draw the demon's attention before she even had a chance to talk with the girl. Jubilee would just have to wait for her to get off the bus.

As luck would have it, Jubilee didn't have to wait long. At the second stop, the younger woman rose to disembark. Jubilee snapped around and exited also.

Back on the street, she loitered by the side of the bus to let the girl and demon pass her. As they did, both the demon's presence and the edge of the other woman's dark haze swept over Jubilee, hitting her with another wave of nausea. Clapping a hand to her mouth, she breathed hard through her nose to collect herself.

Whatever was going on with that girl, it was not good.

Jubilee forced herself to take slow steps after her. What should she say? Hi, I noticed you have a giant demon following you. You should probably get that checked out. Yeah...that'd go over well. How could she convey to this girl that she herself had once been in a similar position and wanted to help?

The young woman passed through a red entranceway with ornate Chinese carvings. Above it was a sign with characters that, to Jubilee's surprise, she recognized. "Beijing...College?" she read slowly.

So, a college student. But wasn't it a bit early in the month for classes to start? Speaking of class—

Jubilee checked her phone. She had to be back at the orphanage in twenty minutes to teach English lessons. If she confronted the girl now and flagged a cab in the next five, she might make it. It was now or never.

Quickening her steps, Jubilee headed for the entranceway. Surely she could still pass for a college student. She'd graduated only four years ago. Plus, she was Asian. She was guaranteed to look young until she was fifty.

All of a sudden, a hand clamped down on her wrist and pulled her from the crowd. Yelping, she spun around.

It was the white tourist from the bus with the Great Wall hat.

He released her and stepped back. "Pardon me, Xiao-jie," he said—in flawless Mandarin.

Jubilee gaped. He didn't even have an accent. And, now that he faced her, she could see why everyone had been staring at him. Not only was every inch of his skin covered from the neck down—by an oversized parka and a giant scarf that looked like it was strangling him—but he also wore a face mask and reflective sunglasses that were far too big for his face, making him look like a bug. Earmuffs rested under the wide hat sitting atop his white-blond hair, which shadowed most of his features, but what little skin was visible beneath all the accoutrements shielding him from the light of day was a ghostly, translucent white. The man was not only Caucasian—he was albino.

"Uh...can I help you?" she stammered, knowing full well she couldn't. She was as much a foreigner here as this guy was, and his Chinese was as good as hers—actually, better. She glanced back toward the gate. The girl and the demon had slipped farther away.

"You can," the man said.

She looked back at him as he pulled out his wallet and flashed an ID. It was in Chinese.

"My name is Graeson Law. I'm a—" he said some words Jubilee couldn't understand "—with the police," he finished, pocketing the ID before she could try to make out the text. "I'd like you to come with me and answer some questions."

Jubilee's breathing grew shallow. Around her, all awareness of otherworldly sights and sensations flickered out like a light. The girl—the demon no longer visible—turned a corner and disappeared.

Jubilee swallowed and focused on the man. Was he a detective? "About what...Law Xian-sheng?" she asked, belatedly remembering to tack on a respectful form of address, as he had done for her.

"We'll discuss that at the station. I'll hail a cab." He gestured towards the street. "Now, if you'd please?"

The station? As in the police station? Jubilee started to panic. She'd always feared this day would come, yet it'd still caught her completely by surprise. Quickly, she weighed her options. She could make a run for it...but if her earlier attempts were any indication, this guy would likely catch her in ten seconds flat. Despite his odd getup, he seemed legit.

How long had he been following her, anyway? What were her rights here? Maybe she could refuse him. She licked dry lips. "I, uh, can't do that," she said, waving towards the college's entrance. "I've got to get to class." Technically that wasn't a lie.

The man seemed to scrutinize her. "I don't think so, Xiao-jie." He fished something out of his pockets and Jubilee's eyes widened. It was a pair of handcuffs. He continued, "You can either come with me willingly, or not. Your choice." Around them, people continued to swarm past, either not noticing the altercation or pretending not to. The man stuffed the handcuffs back into his pockets. "I'd prefer not to make a scene. You'll be free to go once you answer my questions."

This caught her off guard. "Really?"

"Yes."

Jubilee's brow furrowed. If the law had caught up to her, then surely someone with the police couldn't make such promises. What was this really about? Something other than her past transgressions?

Maybe, just maybe, that part of her life really was forgiven and forgotten.

"Alright," she said at last. "But I've got less than twenty minutes. I'm already running late, and—" She raised the bag in her hands. "I've got to get this medicine to a kid."

The man nodded. "Understood." Turning, he flagged down a cab. "I won't take up too much of your time."