The Tale of the Ghost Eyes Chapter 104 Many Omens of disaster

I took a deep breath to keep my voice from shaking. I didn't know how to answer her. She looked up at me in expectant silence.

I held the mirror out at arms length, not sure of what to do. "Master Liu said this would hurt Yin things…so how could there be a ghost image inside of it? If a spirit took over Xiao Wen, wouldn't the mirror have knocked it out?" I wondered.

"Brother," She started, grabbing my arm. "Let's go draw a picture!" She smiled and moved towards the door.

"Yeah…" I said, putting the mirror back in my bag. "Let's leave the mirror for a while."

That night a man died in the watermelon field. He was driving down the mountain when he turned to his companion and said, "Did you see that?"

"What?" A groggy half-sleeping voice replied from beneath a blanket in the passenger seat.

"There's something in that field." The driver said. He drove the car to the base of the mountain and pulled off to the side. Getting out of the car, the driver retrieved and turned on a flashlight.

"Get back in here, we're not home yet!" The other voice shouted from the car. "Hey!"

The driver was running now, his flashlight beam dancing in the night. He tore into the watermelon field smashing the fruit as he went. Just as he neared a small mound of soil, his foot caught inside of a half crushed melon. His friend watched from the car as the flashlight spun in the air.

"Oh you dumbass." Said the man in the car. He got out and stretched, peering into the field where his friend had taken a tumble into the weeds. Grumbling and scratching his head, the passenger followed his friend into the field. Swinging his flashlight left to right to examine the rough path, he finally came to the spot. His scream was almost loud enough to reach the village, certainly loud enough to rouse the neighboring house.

When the police arrived they found one man sprawled in the healthy field, his head bashed in by a rock in the middle of what looked like a burial site. They found the other man sitting in the grass meters away, shaking and clenching his flashlight. The beam shook and quivered, but never left the mottled soil below his friend.

Wang An slept through all of this. It wasn't until the police knocked on his door, for far too long given his hearing, to take his statement. When he saw the dead man's face, Wang An said, "I know him. That man stole from me not three days ago!"

"Looks like he got what was coming then." Muttered one of the police officers.

The accident was in the papers and soon everyone knew about it. Ghost stories about a watermelon-eating thief circled the usual route, until it swept through the school. I was baffled at how imaginative the gossip could get, but it made me wonder, "Was it the little girl?"

As time went on I didn't dare to let Xiao Wen use my mirror. I was terrified that she'd see the ghost girl again. I watched her closely, but she didn't seem to be enchanted. Why was that damn girl inside my mirror? The question plagued me.

Zhao Jie arrived at my house one afternoon, dolled out the usual candy to Sister Wen, and then asked, "Did Ku Tou take you guys to the watermelon field? The same one that dude died in? Was there a ghost there?"

I scowled at him and then nodded towards Xiao Wen. He mouthed, "Oh sorry," and then squatted down where she was demolishing a sucker. "Hey little sis, why don't you go find mom and tell her you love her?" He smiled.

"Okay!" Xiao Wen said, beaming at the idea. She marched out the door.

"I'll tell you, but you have to keep it a secret, okay?" I told him. He nodded and made a cross on his chest with his fingers. I told him what happened on the night we visited the watermelon field, about the girl I saw, and about how she showed up again in my mirror.

He looked more shocked than I expected, clapping a hand to his mouth. "Do you mean it showed you the ghost? Like the very same little girl ghost?"

I nodded.

"Does that mean your sister is…? Does the mirror show the truth?"

I closed the distance between us and gave him a push. "Xiao Wen is not a ghost! That mirror is a protective treasure! It woulda hurt her when she touched it if she was a ghost!"

He raised his hands in defeat saying, "Okay, all right, okay! Why don't you call Master Liu? He might know what's going on."

We walked past my mother on the phone and Zhao Jie shook his head at me. "Come on, we'll try the neighbor's." I whispered to him.

The two of us went to Wang Qi's house and knocked on the door. The old man himself answered. "Oh! It's you Xiao Yong! What can I do for you?"

"May we use your phone to call Master Liu?" I asked him. The old man smiled down at us.

"After what he did for our family, yes indeed!" He told us. He walked us through to the phone. "I'd like to talk to him myself! Do you have his number?"

I did indeed. I made the call and was surprised when a new voice answered. "Is this a public phone?" I wondered.

I introduced myself and told the woman on the other end about the death in my village and what was going on with the mirror. "I'm not joking," I added, unsure whether she thought I was pranking. "Please tell Master Liu."

She gave a small chuckle. "I know you're not joking. Don't worry. I'm a Taoist like your godfather. I'll make sure he hears. Is there anything else?"

"No ma'am." I said. After a moment of silence she said goodbye and hung up.

Wang Qi escorted us back outside and asked only one question at the door. "Is this about another ghost incident?" His face had gone a shade paler.

"I don't know." I told him honestly, "I wasn't there. We're just being cautious."

I didn't hear back from Master Liu. Three days later something else happened in Wang An's watermelon field.

Three people, two men and a woman went into the field around eight in the evening. They stood there until the light began fading. When the sun was all but gone, they performed a cleansing ritual above the small grave. Then, working only two at a time, they began to excavate the grave. At the bottom of the grave however, they didn't find a corpse, only the remains of a small girl's clothing. The three figures disappeared into Wang An's house, not bothering to close up the hole.

News of the grave robbers and the missing corpse were in the news the following morning. People began to speculate that something unseemly was going on and I had to agree. "Someone took that girl's body," I told Zhao Jie after we heard the story. I closed my eyes and concentrated on what the ghost looked like. "She had red clothes, and very bright pink cheeks. She looked like she was playing dress up or something, like…like a bride."

That afternoon we called Master Liu again, only this time, he answered. I told him everything I knew.

"There are people who seek corpses for certain rituals like that. Weddings I mean. Years ago there was a crazy fellow selling spiritual ceremonies for tens of thousands of yuan. Can you believe it?" He said.

I looked around Wang Qi's house and shuddered. "So they resurrect them? Or bring their souls back to wed them?" I asked Master Liu.

"Male ghosts can dominate female ghosts if this twisted ritual is successful. It links the two souls together for eternity. It's very bad business, Xiao Yong." He said.

"That must be what they're doing." I told him. "But, do you think Wang An invited them to deal with her spirit? They might still be here!"

"Check with Wang An." Master Liu advised. "Maybe whoever dug the grave up is still around. Who knows, maybe he called them himself?"

"I'll do some digging." I told him and hung up the phone. Wang Qi and Zhao Jie looked at me in earnest.

"Well?" Zhao Jie finally spoke.

"We're going to Wang An's house. Let's get some answers."

Chapter end