Coldness moved from Leng’s wrist to the rest of his body the way a tree’s roots sought water. But eventually the roots gave up. Not having found what they needed, the coldness quickly left Leng’s body.

    The feeling was uncomfortable, extremely so.

    Even though Leng couldn’t control his body, he could feel someone gripping his wrist. He had the sensation it was a man’s hand, who let his wrist go, and then came a deep voice. “Cloud, you made a mistake this time.”

    “No way!” Cloud stood right next to Leng; as soon she heard the man’s words, she retorted, “I didn’t make a mistake. How could someone slip past my boundaries so easily? And he saw the human-faced snake monster, too.”

    “You were his classmate for three years. Has this ever happened before? Was there anything weird about him?” the man asked.

    It was apparent this man had a higher status than Cloud. He may be Cloud’s father. Why had Cloud kidnapped Leng and make things so complicated? So Leng saw something he shouldn’t have, but he’d never tell anyone—besides, would anyone believe him?

    “Even if I made an error, I couldn’t have misheard him,” Cloud insisted; she sounded upset at having been doubted. She told the man, “When I confronted the snake monster that time, before Leng passed out, he said ‘It snowed.’ I would’ve never brought him to you otherwise. I wanted you to test his power.”

    “It snowed?” the man replied, pondering. “Cloud, I don’t want to lie to you. I did test him just now; he had nothing but human power. It was simplly that and nothing else. He’s human. But you’re saying he saw snow. . .  Cloud, let him talk.”

    Cloud snapped her fingers. As Leng listened to the back-and-forth, he figured he could finally talk. He had a lot to say: Please let him go. He’d never tell anyone that Cloud wasn’t human. He’d always been good at keeping secrets, etc., but the only thing he was able to say was, “Let me go.”

    The man chortled. “Not bad. You can still be even-tempered after dealing with my Cloud. You’re no coward.”

    Is he kidding? Leng was about to break into tears; if he could’ve run, he would’ve.

    “I could let you go. Just tell me, did you really see snow that night?” The man kept interrogating Leng after seeing his mood.

    “No,” Leng denied.

    Cloud sounded stressed. “You’re lying. You did say it was snowing that night.” As she panicked, she released the holds she had on Leng, who tumbled to the floor upon being freed. Pain followed. But Leng realized he could control his body now; he could open his eyes and move his hands, but being able to see also scared him.

    “What the . . . ?” he mumbled. His words echoed in the space, which was shaped like a circular concert hall. Leng had seen many monsters, but he couldn’t be calm after seeing this monster, who had a human body with a dragon face. Its dragon whiskers floated in the air, as did its feet. The male voice Leng heard earlier came from this dragon-faced monster. The three of them were the only ones here.

    Leng’s reaction made the monster laugh and turn to say to Cloud, “You’re telling me this isn’t your mistake?”

    Cloud was startled. She hadn’t counted on Leng’s holds being freed; she did lose control earlier, but it was odd he got loose so easily. There was more to it, but she couldn’t figure out why.

    “You’re lying! You said it snowed, and now you’re denying it.”

    “I said I was scared, not that it snowed.” Leng’s expression didn’t seem like he was faking. For a minute, Cloud doubted herself. Even the calmest people would be a little flustered in moments like those, and Leng wasn’t like them. Being the class leader, Leng had to have contact with the rest of the class, but he was known as a loner. He had few friends and was always by himself. His grades were great and he was well-liked by teachers. He just seemed like a regular student.

    The dragon monster said, “Well, Cloud, just erase this part of his memory. If we caused trouble, we’d have to explain to our family elder.”

    “I understand, Second Uncle.” As Cloud replied, she raised her right hand, shooting out flames. She walked toward Leng, who was terrified into saying, “Wait.”

    Cloud raised her eyebrow. “Why, you want to tell the truth now?”

    Leng had to admit that he was wrong to think Cloud was a goody-two-shoes kind of girl. His political science teacher had once said it was important to see past the exterior to the truth.

    “I did see the way you were and that monster,” said Leng. “But I’ll stay quiet.” He didn’t want these people to do anything to his brain, since he knew Cloud had the power to erase his memories. If she did, he’d start to think everything he saw was a hallucination. He didn’t want to go back living like that, seeing weird things every day, having a ton of pills to take, but afraid to do so, since they didn’t work. He would have to keep telling himself those were hallucinations and not real.

    He had only followed Cloud beause he was worried about her; he hadn’t realized his hallucinations were real. This was a relief to him.

    “Why should we believe you?” Cloud looked at Leng in a suspicious way.

    Leng stared back at her. “Have I ever not done something I promised the class?” His sincerity and gaze did seem trustworthy, making Cloud a little hesitant.

    The dragon monster said, “Cloud, let him go. But, kid, you’ve gotta remember what you said and have no regrets. If you go to the police after leaving here, I can make you stay at the police station for the rest of your life.”

    “I know. I walked here to see a friend,” replied Leng. In fact, he had walked here. There were witnesses who saw him get in and out of the car. If he said he was controlled by someone and that he saw a dragon-faced monster, would anyone believe him? Leng didn’t think he was that stupid.

    Having received Leng’s promise, Cloud politely sent him back, only telling him that she’d find out who Leng was eventually, playing with the flames in her hand the whole time.

    It was quite a threat.

    “Cloud, please put away the fire, okay? I also want to know why I keep seeing terrifying things!” Leng turned away with a slight smile. “I’ll wait.”

    After he got out of the car, Cloud gritted her teeth and yelled at the driver, “Go!”

    Leng thought Cloud may have misunderstood him. He just wanted to say that he also wanted to learn the truth, but he’d only made her angrier. Maybe because he had lied earlier. He lied when he said he didn’t see the snow.

    Traffic flowed endlessly down the street.

    Leng stood on the side of the road, reaching out his hand. The big snow storm dropped one snowflake into his hand, which didn’t melt. In this world, snow was on everything: houses, streets, parked cars, and pedestrians’ shoulders. But no one noticed, because it was a hot summer day.

    It has been snowing for days.

    But now Leng knew he wasn’t the only one who saw this summer snow.

    “Leng, you’re back? Want to eat?” The landlord didn’t ask where Leng has been, making him feel relieved. It was good not having to explain. Maybe the landlord thought he was just out. He shook his head; he was too excited to eat.

    I’m not crazy, I don’t have hallucinations, I don’t need treatment!

    He was chanting in his mind as he hopped his way upstairs, until a zombie-like face almost made him fall back down the stairs. It was good Leng only froze when got scared. He asked, “Who are you?”

    “Muyi Xiu. I used to be a Soul Cultivator and a Soul Fixer.”

    The dead face revealed his status to Leng right away. But the problem was not who he was but why he was here. Just what was a Soul Cultivator and a Soul Fixer? Leng was confused. Before he could react, the dead face looked even paler, his body leaning over onto Leng.

    What is going on?

    Leng was at a loss at what to do.

    When Cloud went back to her place, she didn’t want to argue with her Second Uncle, but heard him telling his confidante.

    “It’s all here.”

    After a while, another man’s voice said, “There’s quite a few interesting things here!”