Dragon Mirror- Ties Between the Veil
20:Being Grounded, Telepathic Chat, & Making Plans

Tito stared at her ceiling.

Her life was absolutely tits up since going on the road trip to find what could be found about her sister. She no longer had internet access, except when at school. School had started back up last week and she wanted to just- dramatically end everything.

The extreme side eye from teachers and her friends, the whispers and immediate silences when she walked up to the lunch line.

Fucking plebs.

Her cell phone was in her mothers bedside table and she doubted she’d get it back any time soon. It didn’t matter that she had a burner phone in her locker at school. It was the principle of the thing.

She hadn’t dared contact Zhao again after the reaming she’d received from her mother, then the lawyers, then strangely, her friends.

“Are you nuts, girlie?” Rachel had said for the up-teenth time during lunch, as she’d glossed over the less weird details. She didn’t share the fact that she had a mystical uncle, or her whacky vision quest that led to him. Her other friends occasionally glanced at her over their food.

“Maybe I fucking am, Rache- get off my fucking dick.”

“But I like it there!”

Hank leaned forward, cutting off Rachel’s snark. “No, Tanya. Everyone is saying you're hooking up with your sister's boyfriend and that you killed her to get her out of the way!”

Her best friend Michelle gasped and hit Hank in the arm. “What the fuck, bro!”

She had abruptly stood up and walked out of the lunchroom, ignoring her friends' stunned looks. She had beelined for the nurses office, called her mom, and said she didn’t feel well. Wonders of the fucking world, the woman had let her come home.

Now she lay on her bed, bald headed, wearing a sports bra and fuzzy tye dye pajama pants, fuming.

Her mother had poked her head in to check on her, having calmed over the past few weeks, but she was still overwhelmingly overbearing. But after a few monosyllabic responses, she was left alone.

Last week she had been interrogated by a detective, two lawyers, her fucking mother, and this week it had been all of her friends and people she barely knew at school.

Someone had written a goddamn blog piece about her possible involvement with her sisters older boyfriend, how she was a suspect as an asset to Raina’s murder.

If I ever find who fucking wrote that shit article, I WILL be an asset to fucking murder. If her anger had the ability to smite someone, hopefully the person was at this moment entering cardiac arrest.

Sounds like a personal problem.

Tito sat bolt upright, her skin covered in goosebumps. That was Moon’s voice-

The fuck-

The fuck. Kiishthwa’s voice agreed. I hadn’t received a text from you, so I became mildly concerned.

Are you even in the same state as me? Tito’s brain blurted before she could control herself.

Nope.

Tito rubbed the stubble on her scalp and rested her head on her knees. She felt overwhelmed and more than a little stupid for not reaching out to Moon after getting home.

She hadn’t even thought about the ability to communicate via mindwaves after her mom had snatched her phone and leveled her life to ground zero. Without her phone, she hadn’t had his phone number.

I'm sorry, man. Shit went down and I’ve been fucking reeling.

I saw. It was in the newspaper. And on facebook.

Her head jerked up as if she’d been stuck with pins.

“Are you FUCKING kidding ME!?” She roared, throwing a pillow at her dresser, satisfactorily knocking two of her wig bedecked head forms to the floor. She heard her mom shout something up the stairs, and Tito sobered.

“Nothing, Ma- I’m reading a book!”

“Whatever, stop shouting- you scared the piss outta me! Christ!” Tito waited till she heard her mother retreat back down the stairs.

Everyone thinks I’m an accessory to murdering my own sister to get some asian dick. How you been?

She felt more than heard the low chuckle in her brain. It was comforting, in a bizarre way.

Been smoking my pipe, communing with the spirits, all that Injun stuff. Living under the white mans’ thumb.

Tito scoffed. As she had relaxed, she started getting a visual of the older man sitting in what looked like a very nice camper, with an incredible piece of glassware.

You’re out in the woods getting high?! She accused, and received another chuckle.

I get bored. Being immortal and everything. So you weren’t interested in the “asian dick”? Not even a little bit?

She sucked in an angry breath. A small kernel of seething resentment blacked out her vision for a moment. Did people really think she wanted a man that was obviously obsessed with her sister? She was sick of being compared and treated like a second fiddle to her older sister.

Whoa there, the joke was flat and tasted bad. Peace? I wanted to discuss developing your abilities and do some….shadow work.

Tito flopped back onto her bed, trying to relax again. She pinched the bridge of her nose with her fingers, exhaling slowly.

Don’t talk to me like I wasn’t born during the rise of New-Age Wicca. I know what fucking Shadow Work is, and you ain’t slick.

With her eyes closed and her relaxation, she was able to again get a visual of Kiishthwa sitting in his camper, the glassware was now conspicuously missing.

Well then, set yourself up like you're about to nap- did you still have the focus?

Tito scowled up at the ceiling. What was he even talking about? Of course she was focused- Oh. That lil’ pendant that sent her out of her body.

Give me a second, I have to get it out of my backpack. She leapt off her bed, creeping out of her room to listen at the stairs. She could hear her mom’s murder documentary, and hoped she was curled up in her recliner.

She padded downstairs in her bare feet and turned immediately into the empty kitchen to grab her backpack off the counter.

When she turned, she screamed.

“TITS AND RICE!” Her mother shouted back. “What the fuck is WRONG with you today?!” Tito took a moment to steady her breathing.

“I’m sorry- I’m just not feeling well at all.”

Her mothers eyes misted and Tito groaned inwardly.

“I know, hun. I’m struggling, too.” She set aside the coffee mug she was holding onto the counter. There was an awkward moment while Tito contemplated edging towards the door- and her mother spoke again, softly.

“I’m not going to press charges against Zhao.”

Tito’s mouth dropped open. But her mom looked up at her fiercely.

“I don’t believe ya were involved with him, or with ya sister's disappearance. But our lawyer thinks it would cause difficulties with… with…” she stopped speaking.

“With the investigation?” Tito asked softly, since she knew her mother was still convinced Zhao had something to do with it all.

“With the damn Wong’s!” The woman burst out. Then she started crying, and Tito dropped her back in alarm.

“We don’t have the damn money to fight against their lawyers- and I can’t throw us into financial hardship, our lawyer told us to let the- the- state-” Her sobs became uncontrollable.

Tito hugged her mother tightly, trying to hide her relief. She knew Raina wasn’t dead, and she knew in her bones Zhao wasn’t responsible. But she also knew her mother fully believed something heinous had happened in the mountains. If the state handled this case, it would peter out without any evidence to convict Zhao, especially if her mother dropped the kidnapping charges against him.

After she disengaged from her mother, she ran up to her bedroom with her backpack.

Moon, is there any way to bring Zhao into this vision? I have some good news for him.

The reply didn’t come immediately, and Tito paced in her bedroom, picking up the wigs she had knocked over before and carefully placing them back in their proper places. Minutes ticked by and she contemplated the idea that she was having schizophrenic episodes and that none of this was real.

She was ready to start chewing nails when she heard Kiishthwa’s voice again.

Only if he’s sleeping, might be better to just leave the man alone, neh?

Where the fuck have you been? She snapped before she could control herself. Her skin was hot and she had worked her annoyance up into a peak.

I’m sorry ma’am, didn’t realize my personal life went on hold when you called. The tone was so dry, it crackled like paper. She took a moment to sit and calm herself.

Shit, I’m sorry, Uncle. I’m all fucking nerves and I don’t want to leave Zhao in the dark, alright? He’s been my friend for as long as he’s known Raina.

You just called me Uncle. The voice sounded mollified and she had a brief flash of a indigenous woman’s face and two children. Tito realized that this man had been without family, except her Grandmother, for centuries.

Why didn’t you ever come find us? My mom is your sister, for shitssake. There was a very long pause.

Panillia forbade me to contact any of her other children. The voice clipped short. And Tito had a momentary thought.

Are there mor-

I wouldn’t tell you if I knew.

She bit her lip, chewing it in frustration. She had contemplated the fact that her mother might never age again if she or Raina never had kids, but what if there were more of these semi-immortal freaks out there? What did that mean for Gma Pani dying? What did that mean for her?

How many kids did it take to expend the store of immortality?

“How many licks does it take to get to the center?” She said out loud. Then laughed at herself.

I have the focus pendant. What do I need to do? Is there any way to keep my eyes from getting crunchy?

Moon laughed, reverting to his easy humor.

After laying down comfortably, hold the focus in one hand. Fix what it looks like in your mind, then close your eyes and visualize the focus. You don’t actually have to look at the thing.

Tito nodded, but he continued before she could ask her next question.

Send your thoughts to me. Think of me, and I will catch you- to guide you the rest of the way.

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