Page 68 of Jade Lion and the Witch Boy

He taps the green button and covers his other ear. “Luther?” Kai asks. He nods intently, and I know that he’s beingsummoned. I gaze back at the woman for a few seconds and watch as she lights a fresh pipe.

“Be there shortly.” Kai hangs up and grimaces. “I need to go,” he whispers.

I nod, then glance at the woman. “Um, thanks for the book, I guess. Goodbye?”

She gives another knowing grin, like none of this is surprising. Maybe for her, nothing is. Smoke leaves her lips, and she appears almost ethereal.

Kai reaches the doorknob, then looks back at her. “We will converse again. I have questions,” he says firmly.

The pipe-smoking woman smiles and nods. “When you need me, you’ll find me.”

I frown and head out the door. We stride down a sidewalk, and fortunately, no one’s around. “What was that?” I ask.

“The Union. A monster from the Other Side has been spotted here in Hong Kong.”

“Yeah, I figured. I meant the book.”

Kai looks at the small tome, then puts it in my hands. “I need to go through it closer, but so far it appears as though…” He cranes his neck around and looks away in discomfort. “I am not the only one of my kind.”

I gasp, and we walk to a shady corner of a nearby park. “Are you saying…?”

Kai nods. “There is much I need to learn. About all the years I was gone.”

“Sounds like we have our work cut out for us,” I say with a grin. “I’ll help you find out more about the past you never had.”

He lifts up my chin and slowly kisses me. Like the first time, his touch is the greatest magic I’ve ever known. “You, Sebastian Suarez, are the only past, present, and future I want to have.”

I laugh softly and kiss him again. “You can’t get rid of me now, Jade Lion.”

He smiles against my mouth. “I love you so much, baby.”

“I love you, too, Zhou Kai.” I pocket the book, then firmly grab his ass. He yelps, and we both laugh. “Now let’s get a move on. You need to save the world.”

He handily picks me up in a bridal carry. One day, I’m going to ask the Jade Lion to marry me; I bet my life savings on it. “Weneed to save the world.”

I beam at him. “The continuing adventures of the Jade Lion.”

“And the witch boy,” he adds. With that, he waves one wrist, and magical fog surrounds us. In moments, he propels us into the air as I cling to him.

There are monsters to face, mysteries to solve, and a magical community that needs protecting. But as he flies me up into the air, I know we can do it all. Kai holds me up, and I’ll always have his back?I can’t think of a stronger magic than that.

The End