Chapter Two: The City's Other Voices

Wen Jiu sat by the stove, gray-faced, one palm holding down a dying flame. “Who told you to return?” he asked Su Li. “A paper child, a dragon doctor, and my rapidly diminishing will to survive.” She slapped the viral video onto the table. “What is that door? Who are those people? How do I turn off the voices?” “You can't.” The city, Wen Jiu explained, had two skins. Humans lived upon the visible one. Otherfolk had migrated from the Between and wore human guises. The restaurant was the Night Kitchen: neutral ground where neither side could fight, and also a gate. Heartfire Noodles should only affect Otherfolk, but in Su Li they had awakened the rare gift of Spirit Listening.