Chapter 1

Huang Zitao was no coward, thank you very much. He was many things, but coward was not one of them. Moreover he didn’t shy away from anything, and he was not afraid to do that which others cringed at. There was nothing to fear but fear itself, and Zitao had no reason to be afraid.

“I am not a coward,” Zitao whispered to himself. “I am not afraid, and I do not back down from any challenge.”

Especially not when that challenge was the result of his own stupid boasting.

Not even when that challenge was to spend the night in the haunted hotel.

Or at least, that was what Zitao told himself…had been telling himself for the last three days, ever since he’d stupidly bragged that he wasn’t afraid to do anything.

Technically by ‘anything’ he’d meant things like trying the school lunch or asking the scary math teacher if she could please turn on the air conditioner, or even climbing the rope in gym class. Zitao could do those things no problem, because that wasn’t scary at all (no matter what his classmates said).

“There’s no such things as ghosts,” Zitao muttered to himself. “And even if there were, what could they do to me? They couldn’t hurt me.”

He was terrified of ghosts. Absolutely, one hundred percent petrified of them, but his classmates didn’t know that. It wasn’t exactly something Zitao broadcasted to the world, but if they had known Zitao is sure they wouldn’t have dared him to spend a night in the haunted hotel.

Oh no wait, they probably would have…because Zitao’s classmates are a bunch of rude, mean, snot-nosed little bottom dwellers who would make the President of Korea the bottom of his own shoes if they had the chance.

Zitao turned the corner and saw the old building at the end of the street. A few of his classmates were gathered outside. They wouldn’t spend the night (probably), but they would at least make sure he went in.

Zitao struggled to keep his face blank as he walked up to the group and he stuffed his hands inside his pockets so they wouldn’t see his fingers shaking. They were a merciless bunch and if they had detected even the slightest hint of weakness they would never let him live it down. Zitao already got enough crap for being Chinese and for his accent, he didn’t need crap for being a coward and worse, a liar for saying he wasn’t a coward.

For the hundredth time he wished he knew how to keep his mouth shut. He thought they’d finally accepted him when they stared at him in awe after he’d carried the wild snake out of the classroom (a tiny little thing, really…and perfectly harmless) and called him the bravest boy they knew. He’d just had to go and boast that he wasn’t afraid of anything. That was what had gotten him into this mess, and if his Master had been there, he would have told Zitao that he’d gotten exactly what he’d deserved for bragging and he had to own up to the consequences.

“Huang Zitao,” one of the boys drawled as he walked up. “Thought maybe you’d chickened out.”

“How could you think that, I’m early,” Zitao deadpanned. The three girls who were present—Zitao’s best friends—giggled behind their hands and the boy looked a bit flustered as he a flashlight at Zitao.

“And that’s all you get,” he fired, regaining a bit of his swagger. That was part of the dare—go in with just a flashlight, not even a phone or MP3 player.

Zitao held out his hand, palm up.

“You want a high five or something?” Another boy sneered.

Zitao rolled his eyes. “I want the batteries.”

One of the girls, Krystal, punched the boy in the arm. “I told you not to take them out!” She hissed angrily. “How could you be so mean to our Zitao?”

They were perhaps the only ones on his side, Zitao thought. Krystal, Minji and Suzy. The bad part was that none of them were in his class. They thought he was cute though, so they tried to stick up for him whenever they could.

The boys rolled their eyes but dropped the missing batteries into Zitao’s hand.

“And we’re counting on you to stay in there all night,” they warned. “You said you never go back on your word and we’re gonna hold you to it.”

So now if he tried to leave before sunrise, Zitao would be a double liar. This was getting better and better, not that he would ever do something as underhanded as that.

“I’ll keep my word,” he vowed. “And I expect you to keep yours as well.”

They’d promised that if he could stay the night, they’d stop hazing him. He kind of expected that they’d find some kind of loophole around that, but all that Zitao cared about at this point was keeping true to his word.

The girls hugged him and promised to buy him lunch the next day, and Zitao could tell that they wanted to come inside as well, but if they did the dare would be void. He made them promise that they’d go home and get some rest, there was no reason for them to wait outside in the middle of January on his behalf. He went into the hotel without ever breaking his cool exterior, even though on the inside he was ready to faint from fear.

Once he got inside, Zitao forced himself to calm down. The allure of the hotel was really just that it had been abandoned for nearly seven years and yet stood basically still intact. A few windows were broken, but there was no graffiti on the walls and as far as anyone knew, nobody went in even though the doors were unlocked. Somehow a legend had sprung up about ghosts, but they were very generic stories and Zitao guessed that they came with any old building. He seriously doubted it was really haunted.

The hotel was three stories. From the front door stretched a long corridor that led to the front desk, and a hallway branched out on either side. The ceiling over the front desk was extremely high, as tall as the building was, and the ceiling was the only dilapidated area Zitao could see, with a few pieces of plaster missing to show the beams in the roof. He ran his hands along the wall until he found a light switch, but when he flicked it on nothing happened. He really hadn’t expected it to anyway.

Zitao would have been content to stay in the front hall, but he could feel his classmates watching him and figured it would be best of he at least pretended to explore the building. He took the hallway on the right and went about ten feet before stopping in front of one of the doors. He wondered if they were all unlocked or if he needed to find a room key to get in. Were there even any keys left behind the front desk? Zitao laid his hand on the handle and suddenly felt a chill. He’d seen this horror movie before…he’d open the door and something would jump out at him or there’d be something horrible lying on the bed.

He staggered backwards until his back hit the wall behind him. He laid a hand over his heart and tried to calm down, nothing good would come from scaring himself. Still, he decided to avoid the rooms.

Zitao slid down onto the floor and tried to think of happy things. He closed his eyes and imagined that he was back in China at his maternal grandparents house. He’d always liked their place—it was in a less populated area, but it wasn’t exactly rural. All the neighbors knew each other and his grandmother had a flower garden in the back, and if he sat really still on the back steps an army of bird and butterflies would pass through the garden, sometimes landing inches away from where he was sitting.

The vision worked so well that Zitao actually fell asleep for a little while, only waking up when his head dropped back on the wall behind him with an uncomfortable thud. He groaned and rubbed the spot, already imagining the bruise he would get.

He stood up and stretched, and decided that he would go see if anyone was left outside. When he turned the corner he saw that the side walk was deserted, and wondered if maybe he could step outside just to get a look at the moon, maybe judge what time it might have been. As he walked down the hall he noticed something that made his heart stop.

“They didn’t,” he gasped, running the rest of the way. Zitao slammed his hands against the doors and pushed with all his might, but through the glass he could see the piece of wood his classmates had wedged through the handles on the doors to keep him from getting out.

Heart in his mouth, Zitao crumpled to the floor and fought to keep from crying. This was beyond cruel of them. What if something happened? What if the building caught fire and he couldn’t get out? What if they never intended to come back for him and he starved to death? The glass was strong, he couldn’t very well break it and it wasn’t like he had a battering ram on hand. He ran over to the front desk to see if there was anything he could use to break the glass, but it seemed like everything had been taken, there wasn’t even a lamp or paperweight left.

Zitao felt tears prick at his eyes and this time he did nothing to stop them. He was such a fool to agree to this whole thing. How could have been so dumb not to take his phone? How could he have been so naïve as to trust these animals? He totally deserved this, Zitao berated himself. This was his own damn fault.

He sank to the ground with his knees pulled up to his chest and the flashlight got stuck awkwardly pointing upwards so he couldn’t even curl up without getting blinded. Zitao groaned once again at his inability to do anything right and banged his head on the desk behind him. He squinted up at the ceiling through the pain, and it took him a moment to register what he was seeing.

There was a face staring down at him from the ceiling.

Zitao gave up any pretense of bravery. He shrieked and stood up so fast he hit his head on the desk and dropped the flashlight. Little bursts of light flashed in front of his eyes and he wondered if he had a concussion. He scrambled for the flash light and once he had it he skittered away from the desk, holding it out like a weapon. He briefly flicked the light back up at the ceiling, but the person was no longer up there.

For a brief second Zitao wondered if he’d imagined the face—it wouldn’t be unreasonable, since he was already scared as it was…but he’d stared at the person for a good twenty seconds before he’d even realized what he was looking at. Then again he had hit his head for the second time right before that…

“Hello?” He called shakily. There was no answer but he swore he could feel eyes on him.

It felt like every hair on his body was standing on end. Now that he thought about it, the place was surprisingly free of rats and roaches and other vermin. Did those animals usually avoid haunted places?

Zitao backed away toward the doors and began babbling. “If anyone’s there I’m really, really sorry I barged in on you. I had no choice, I was forced into it I really don’t want to be here and I would leave if I could but I can’t and I don’t mean any disrespect or harm to you so please—”

His back hit something that was definitely not a wall or window. He gulped and looked over his shoulder.

“You woke me up.”

~~~~~~~~~~~

He’d been all set to avoid the little dark-haired boy that night. He wasn’t the first to come parading into his home and he for sure wouldn’t be the last. At least this one had been quiet, he told himself as he settled into his roost. A few had brought radios or alcohol with them and been general nuisances, it was like they didn’t understand the concept of sleep. He’d never shown himself to anyone before, but then this one had to go and shine his light directly into his eyes while he was sleeping. Seriously, how rude! It had practically blinded him, he was sensitive to that kind of thing.

He hadn’t meant to make the human faint though…he almost felt sorry for the little thing, he’d been quite terrified. And those awful boys had gone and trapped him inside, too…

Well, he thought to himself, it wasn’t exactly his problem. And with that he huffed and returned to his nest in the ceiling.

That lasted all of ten minutes. He kept peeking out to look at the boy crumpled on the floor. It was kind of his fault, sneaking up on him like that, even if he hadn’t meant for it to happen. Shouldn’t he at least take the human someplace more comfortable? And shouldn’t he make sure he was alright?

He huffed again and returned to the boy, crouching next to him. He poked his arm.

“Wake up,” he demanded. The little one didn’t move.

“Oh come on,” he sighed and turned the boy onto his back.

Oh.

Oh.

“Oh, why me? Why him? Why now of all times?” He moaned to himself. Curse his people and their stupid natures.

He sighed because now he really had to look after the human. Grumbling, he easily scooped the human into his arms.

“You’d better appreciate this,” he warned the unconscious boy.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Zitao knew he wasn’t in the hotel anymore. He had dreamed the whole thing up, there was no way any of that had been real…he was obviously at home right now, in his bed. He flexed his fingers and dug them into his mattress. His nice, soft bed. Yes, and he would go to school in a few hours and laugh with the girls about this creepy dream he’d had. It was all a dream.

He sighed contentedly. His head hurt a bit, but the gentle felt nice.

Wait, his hands were on the bed…who was his hair?

“I know you’re awake, please don’t faint again.”

Zitao’s eyes flew open. Hovering above him was the face from before.

He tensed up and realized that he was lying half on a bed, but his head currently rested on the legs of this strange boy who had been petting his hair five seconds ago. The boy now raised his hand over his head and looked away from Zitao.

“Not touching anymore, not touching,” he muttered. “Quit looking at me like I’m going to tear your organs out.”

“Are you?” Zitao whispered, almost embarrassed at how scared he sounded.

“What? No! Why would I do that?”

“Because you’re living in an abandoned hotel and you were hanging upside down from the rafters!” Zitao cried hysterically. The boy clapped his hands over his ears.

“Easy! I’m sensitive to loud noises,” he grumbled.

Zitao sprang up and staggered away from the bed, making it to the wall before he collapsed, his head spinning. Unfortunately he’d wound up on the side of the room opposite from the door. Swell.

The boy stood up from the bed and Zitao almost screamed again. He had wings, oh god he had wings sprouting from his back.

“Don’t come near me!” Zitao cried. “Don’t touch me, don’t…just don’t.” He felt the tears starting again and he bit his lip.

The boy looked a little hurt. “I carried you up a flight of stairs while you were asleep and stayed with you until you woke up. So far I haven’t hurt you.”

“How would I know that?!” Zitao yelled. “You could have done any number of things to me while I was knocked out!” He was vaguely aware that he was defending his own panic attack to some kind of…either cosplay freak or otherworldly creature and this was definitely one of the weirdest nights of his life.

“But I didn’t!” The boy defended. “I swear I didn’t…how can I make you believe me?”

“You can start by telling me what the hell you are doing here!”

Now the boy looked pissed. “Excuse me,” he said crossly, “But I was here first, you’re the one that barged into my territory.”

Zitao shut his eyes. “I’m dreaming,” he muttered. “Or hallucinating…I have a concussion and I’m imagining this whole thing.”

There was a snort. “You have a concussion alright but you ain’t dreaming, kid.”

Zitao opened his eyes again. The boy was sitting on the bed with his arms folded, looking almost pouty. He was tall and had a very sharp, angular face. His hair was surprisingly light and Zitao realized they’d been speaking Chinese the whole time.

“How are you blonde yet you’re Chinese?” Zitao demanded.

The boys stared at him incredulously. “You never heard of bleach?”

“Insane people dye their hair?” Zitao retorted.

“Who said I’m insane?”

Zitao laughed. “You’re walking around in some kind of fairy cosplay in an abandoned hotel and you’re gonna tell me you aren’t crazy?”

The boy looked confused. “The hell is cosplay? These wings are real, you know. How else would I have gotten up to the ceiling?”

“Of course they’re real,” Zitao said faintly. “Of course…and let me guess, you’re a vampire, too? Or maybe a harpy?  Or a Sirin or a Jiufeng?”

The boy seemed to consider it for a second. “Yes and no, to all except the vampire…and even then maybe.”

“…What?”

The boy sighed. “Look, I’m a mix of so many different creatures I don’t even know what I am, none of us do. Just call me a Pet, most everyone does.”

“Us…there are more of you?” Zitao gasped, looking around the room.

The boy laughed hollowly. “Not here. My clan is back in Canada still. They kicked me out,” he added softly.

“Oh boy,” Zitao muttered. “Oh just my luck.”

The boy sighed and stood up, Zitao flinched and raised his arms defensively.

“I’m not going to hurt you,” The boy insisted almost desperately. “Look, I’ll help you get out of here, alright? There’s more than one door to this place, those heathen children didn’t lock all of them so follow me.”

Zitao hesitated. “How did you know about that?” He asked.

The boy snorted again. “You think I’m deaf? I heard them talking about it, they weren’t exactly being very quiet once those girls left.”

Zitao got to his feet and swayed a bit. The boy reached out to steady him and Zitao didn’t have the energy to flinch.

“Can you even get home like this?” He wondered.

“I have change for the bus,” Zitao muttered.

The boy looked doubtful but shrugged. “Whatever, once you’re out of here you’re on your own.” With that he swept Zitao into his arms. Zitao yelped and struggled a bit.

“Oh quit whining,” The boy sighed. “It’s faster this way.”

Zitao forced himself to stay very still even though could feel his heart pounding in his chest and he was so scared he was shaking from it.

“How can someone as scrawny as you have the energy to be so afraid?” The boy asked rhetorically. Zitao felt himself blush.

“I’m a coward, that’s how,” he muttered.

The boy seemed to get uneasy. “Oh I wouldn’t say that,” he sighed. “I didn’t mean it, alright? I say things before I think about them.”

“Whatever, it’s the truth anyway,” Zitao sniffed. “This whole night has proved that. I bet they hired you to freak me out, didn’t they?”

The boy stopped, stood Zitao on his feet and turned so his back faced him.

“Touch the wings,” he demanded. “Go on, really sink your fingers into the feathers. I dare you.”

Zitao hesitated but he’d backed down from enough dares for the night. He his fingertips lightly along one of the wings. They were covered in soft, iridescent black feathers. The boy grabbed Zitao’s wrist and made him almost stab his fingers into the thick layer of feathers until he touched the skin underneath. And it was real skin—a bit leathery, but it was warm and Zitao could feel a pulse thrumming beneath it.

Zitao jumped back as though he’d been shocked. Those wings were undoubtedly real.

“Well we’re at the door now,” the boy said after a long pause in which Zitao stared at him in wonder. “And it’s sunrise so…go home and then get to school.”

“What…what are you?” Zitao stuttered.

“I told you,” the boy said exasperatedly, “Call me a Pet.” And with that he shoved Zitao out the door himself.

//////

Wow I didn't expect such a positive response!! So many subscribers in under 24 hours o__o I have to wonder if it's because of the plot or because it's Taoris XD

Welcome everyone, people who have read my previous fics and those who have not! I very much hope you enjoyed this first chapter, updates should come in a timely manner and I do hope you leave me a comment!