Jubilee blinked her way out of the memory, reorienting herself to the detainment room. Looking up, she met the detective’s unreadable gaze. A silvery gray haze, matching the hue of his eyes, hovered around him. Reminiscing over the origin of her gift must’ve settled her nerves enough to restore some of it.

Because it was, she remembered, a gift. Receive your sight.

Her phone buzzed in her pocket. Discreetly sliding it out, she found a text from her coworker Qihou. Are you lost? it read, after Jubilee hit the translate button. I will combine your class with my group, so don’t worry about the kids. But Director Huang will want to see you when you are back!

The detective’s aloof voice interrupted Jubilee’s thoughts before she could process how to respond. “Let us take a minute to clarify things, Miss Wong.”

“Yes,” she replied, suddenly more at ease. It was only fair he’d have some questions about her story. But once she answered them, it’d be her turn to get answers from him, about the girl and why he’d been following her. Then Jubilee could leave and never see him again. And she’d finally put her gift to good use, by finding that girl and helping her to get free from that demon.

Maybe that was why Jubilee had been given this ability in the first place—to use it to help someone else. She hadn’t been ready to do that before when she’d first come back from death. But she’d been given time to recover since then, both physically and emotionally. It should be easy now compared to how it had been back then.

The detective continued, “Did you just say that you were—” Here he lifted one pale eyebrow by a millimeter, the first display of any emotion. “Pronounced dead, at the scene?”

She’d skipped big chunks of the story—namely the parts about stealing—but had left everything else intact. His skepticism was inevitable.

She sat a bit straighter. “That’s what I said.”

“I see.” The detective scrutinized her for a long moment. “If I may backtrack for a moment. Why did you bother to finish college after your family passed away? You said that after graduating, you were...” He leaned forward slowly. “Doing what, exactly? As a profession.”

Jubilee blanched. She hadn’t said anything about that at all. Quickly recovering, she fumbled for the half-truth she used to use in Chicago. “Selling things online.” Expensive, stolen things. At the detective’s unimpressed look, she added somewhat defensively, “It’s a thing.”

“Hardly a thing you need a degree for,” he pointed out. “So why bother getting one?”

Because drunk frat boys and trust fund kids were some of the easiest people to steal from. But also because... “A degree was what would’ve made my parents happy.”

“Even though you didn’t put it to use,” he remarked. “And what was your major?”

“Ethics,” she answered, torn between feeling insulted or paranoid over his observations.

“Interesting. Why not at least take a leave of absence to grieve, though?”

“How would that have helped?” she retorted. “I had no other family to stay with. No extra money to travel and get away. If I’d taken a leave of absence, all I would’ve done was shut myself away and be completely alone for months on end.” Memories of wiping blood-stained bathroom tiles in the dead of night, the door locked and her wrists stinging, invaded her mind. She pushed the images down and continued dryly, “Not to be dramatic, but I probably would’ve killed myself if I didn’t have school to keep me busy.” School, and being a klepto.

She shoved that thought aside too and put her hands on the table, tapping the photograph still in front of her. Time to change the subject. “I’ve told you my story, so now it’s time for you to tell me yours. What do you know about this girl, and why were you following her?”

His gray eyes didn’t blink as he measured her in silence. Jubilee restrained the urge to fidget or look away. Finally, he spoke. “I have reason to suspect that Yang Zhengyi is involved in a case of mysterious deaths which I am investigating.”

Jubilee started. “Her?” She glanced down at the photograph. The girl looked so young. So…innocent. “How?”

“That is precisely what I aim to determine.” He said nothing more, much to Jubilee’s frustration.

“Could you...” She gesticulated impatiently. Kailin and the other kids were waiting, and she didn’t have all day. “Elaborate, please? What kind of deaths? What makes you think she’s involved?”

The detective’s face remained blank. “That, Miss Wong, is classified information.”

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She swallowed her outrage. Was he going to make her late for nothing? “I thought we had a deal.”

“We did,” he agreed. “I said I could arrange for you to know everything that I know about the subject.”

Jubilee crossed her arms in a vain attempt to hide her confusion, as well as the feeling that she was somehow not keeping up. “Well?” she demanded.

“Well.” He folded his arms over the table. “That would require you taking a further step. You would have to join the investigation.”

There was a long moment of silence. “You can’t be serious,” she said at last, dumbfounded.

“I am always serious,” he stated somberly.

The man was crazy. “You did not make that clear earlier,” she said, anger rising. “I never agreed to anything like that.”

“Well, now you have the opportunity to do so.”

“Why do you even want me on the case?” she exploded. “I have no experience or training. I’d just be in your way.”

“This is true,” the detective agreed, to both her relief and annoyance. “Unless your ability is legitimate...in which case, you could be an asset.”

Her jaw clenched. “So, you just want to use me.”

He retained his stoic expression. “Everyone uses each other, Miss Wong. You wanted to use me to obtain more information about this girl. I want to use you to investigate her for the case. And, perhaps, we are all being used by this God of yours that you described, for his own passing entertainment.”

Jubilee’s eyes narrowed. “No.”

His brow furrowed in displeasure. “Are you refuting the statement I just made, or refusing my offer of a job?”

“Both!” she exclaimed. He was insane if he actually expected her to work for him. After he’d forced her into an interrogation—over things she didn’t want to talk about—and then kept her for far longer than he’d let on he would, there was no way she’d willingly spend another minute with him. Even if she didn’t find him incredibly insulting and about as trustworthy as a python, she’d have to watch her back every minute around him to avoid ending up behind bars.

Life was too short for that kind of stress.

Maybe he could’ve gotten her access to the girl with the demon, but exposing herself to demonic activity, again, without the choice to withdraw whenever she wished, wasn’t worth it. Plus, she already had a job at the orphanage, that she liked. Ever since Jenny’s death, being around kids was the only thing she’d found on earth that could numb the pain of her loss. Jubilee wasn’t about to give that up.

She stood. “If you’re not going to tell me anything else, then it’s time for me to go.” With that, she headed for the door.

“Miss Wong...” The detective’s steely tone stopped her in her tracks. Slowly, she turned back to him. “You already know far too much for me to let you go.”

A shiver crawled down Jubilee’s spine. The spirit world faded in her awareness, and for a second all she could see were the detective’s eerily pale eyes boring straight into her.

He continued. “You now know the primary suspect of my investigation. If I let you go now, I have no assurance that you won’t go and compromise the case.”

“I wouldn’t do that!” she cried.

“I have no guarantee of that. Since you clearly have a personal interest in the suspect, you may do so even unintentionally.”

She took a step back, wide-eyed with panic. “But that’s—that’s your own fault,” she stuttered. “You chose to tell me.”

“In exchange for your compliance. That was the deal, wasn’t it?” Over his head, a black line formed and wavered but did not break.

Jubilee, too shaken to discern the line’s meaning, rapidly shook her head. “No, that was—I never agreed to—” The man had manipulated her right into where he wanted her. Fear and anger twisted inside her, making the line and gray haze over the detective grow dimmer.

There had to be a way out of this. Closing her eyes, she took a steadying breath before opening them again, and leveled him with a glare. “Is it even legal to keep me here?”

“You’re in China now, Miss Wong.” He met her furious gaze with a calm look. “As I said before, I can and will detain you for as long as I see fit.”

Though faint, the line over his head snapped at this statement. Jubilee blinked in surprise.

What a lying snake.

Angry though she was, she exhaled in relief. Both the line and haze sharpened back into focus. “You’re bluffing,” she declared.

He arched an eyebrow. Around him, the gray haze shifted with an air of surprise. “On what basis are you making that assumption?”

“I can just tell.” If he’d been lying about that, maybe he’d told her other mistruths as well. What was his relationship to the police, anyway? Why would they hire a lao wai like him? She scrutinized his casual clothing, remembering the cops they’d passed in the hall who had all been in uniform. Her eyes narrowed. “You don’t actually have police jurisdiction, do you?”

Again the haze around the detective moved, as though flinching. “If I didn’t, how would we be here?” he countered smoothly, his outward expression betraying nothing. The line over his head wavered again. He was hiding something.

She squinted. “What exactly are you?” she asked. “A detective?”

“That was what I said during our introduction, wasn’t it?”

“But not for the police,” she guessed, confidence growing. Now wasn’t the time to admit her limited language comprehension. She noticed the haze flinch again. “So, you’re a private investigator?” No doubt he had connections if he had permission to use a room at the police station, but even so... “That means you don’t actually have any legal authority over me,” she concluded. “And seeing as I’ve committed no crime—” Lately, at least... “You have no reason to detain me. I’ll see myself out.”

She spun on her heel and walked quickly for the door. Ignoring the unsettling feeling of his eyes on her back, she exited the room before he could stop her.

Ten seconds later she was down the hall, and he hadn’t followed. In another minute she was on the street again, shrugging into her coat, and finally allowed herself to look back.

No one was coming after her.

She let out a long exhale and tilted her head back to look at the yellow sky. That had been a close call—too close—to being found out. As she took a shuddering breath, uncertainty came over her. She stared upwards for a long moment.

Had she just rejected the more difficult but rewarding path?

Her phone buzzed. Checking it, she saw that she’d missed several calls and a voicemail—doubtless because she'd been absent for her entire shift. She was going to have a lot to answer for when she returned to the orphanage.

But there, at least, it was safe—even if it was a little mundane and ordinary.

“Back to normal life,” she whispered and, pocketing the phone, started back.