When I opened my eyes, I was lying on a soft bed inside the bedroom I spent the previous night in. It was very bright outside but the blinds were drawn. I rolled over to one side and was shocked to see him sitting there beside the bed.

“You’re awake!” he said enthusiastically like I have been asleep for days.

“You scared me!” I said, using my hands to sit up on the bed, “Ouch!” I winced when I scraped my arms across the duvet.

“What happened?” he asked, taking my both my arms and gently turning them over so he could take a closer look at the carpet burns.

“Nothing much, got dragged along the carpet into a library by a pair of hands,” I explained and shrugged my shoulders as if it wasn’t much.

“The library?” he asked, a little confused, his hands were still holding my arms up above the duvets.

“Yeah, the door was open and there’s a quote outside the door as well.”

“Oh, you mean my study,” he said, understanding my description, “A pair of hands did you say?”

“Yeah!” I said and then tucked my messy brown hair behind my ears, “They were so strong, so I just gave up and let them pull me in.”

He just nodded.

“Did I just faint?” I asked, coming back to the present time.

“Yeah, you did, after shaking my hands,” he explained, “You know what that means right?”

“What does what mean?”

“It means that you’re the girl I have been looking for, we have to work together for world peace between the spirits and the living. That’s what the book says if not, then everyone is in danger.”

I just continued to stare at him. I gave him a confused stare but he just looked back at me, waiting for me to process the information and then answer him.

“I’ll show you,” he suggested.

He stood up and took my hand. I used the other to push the covers back and stood up. He pulled me outside of the room and walked down the hallway. Then we stopped outside the library. I froze when he tugged my hand to lead me inside. Honestly, I wouldn’t want to go back into a room where books and diaries move by themselves and locks which automatically shut and open when they decide to.

“Come in,” he turned back and looked at me.

I frowned and didn’t move.

“Nothing is going to happen when I’m here, okay, so don’t worry,” he reassured me.

I wasn’t sure whether to believe him or not but over what I have gone through in a day, I guess no harm could be done now. I walked in behind him and then he let go of my hands to walk over to the coffee table where the thick book was.

“This book writes the significant events as each seconds pass,” he explained and turned to a blank page.

Magically, ink started to appear across the page. Each letter was spelt out neatly as a sentence formed over the crisp clean page. After a few seconds, the sentence read:

                        He has found her, now there is a possibility the predicament can be deciphered.

Who is he? Who is she and what is the problem?

“I don’t understand,” I said bluntly to him.

“So, basically, the guy is me and I have been looking for you, the girl, since my grandfather has died. He left me with this house and told me everything on his death bed. The spiritual world will attack the human world soon and we need to work together to fulfil eleven spirits’ dreams so they will be at peace. Understand?” he asked after a very brief explanation.

“How do you know the girl is suppose to be me?” I asked.

“Because you fainted when I introduced myself to you, and the book just wrote it when I showed it to you.”

I nodded slowly, the news processing in my head.

“So you’re saying that we,” I said, point at him and then back at me, “have to work together to fight some evil spirits?”

“No, not fight evil spirits just find them and then make their wishes comes true.”

“Oh, okay, I still don’t quite understand though, but I’ll do what I can to help.”

Only after saying that, did I realised what I have got myself into. I wanted to get out of this place tomorrow morning. I wanted my aunt to hurry up and come to get me so I can go to university. I wanted to see my other friends or other humans other than bloody ghouls and red painted nail hands.

“Really? You’ll do that for me?” he asked, placing both of his hands on my shoulders and bending down a little so he met at my eye level.

I looked into his eyes and felt my cheeks heating up. “Well, it’s not really for you; it’s more of for the human race because I wouldn’t want to see spooky spirits taking over the world, would I.”

“That’s what I meant,” he said, releasing his grip on my shoulders and walking over to the coffee table to place the book back. He left it opened on the most recent page, “Let’s go and have some lunch.”

I followed him back out of the study room and down the stairs. I glanced up at the ceiling about the landing by the pillars. There was a thin fuzzy line across the sky and it was slowly moving down towards the ground. I continued to walk down the stairs, it was probably nothing, I thought to myself.

In the kitchen, Yixing has started to cook; he had his back turned towards the door. He also had a white apron on and was chopping some vegetables. I walked over and took a peek.

“What are you cooking?” I asked.

“Blanquette de Veau and a cheese soufflé with a small side salad,” he replied, the words rolling off his tongue with a slight French accent.

“Blanket-ah-what-what-what?” I said stupidly, the words were unfamiliar apart from cheese and small side salad.

He chuckled light-heartedly at my misunderstanding and repeated the name of the dish again but this time, he said it slowly and I repeated after every word.

“Do you need any help?” I asked. 

“No, you can sit down and have a rest.”

“I feel so useless though,” I mumbled sadly, “I can cut the vegetables.”

“Okay then,” he said, placing the knife down and moving over to the sink. I rolled up my sleeves and washed my hands before carefully slicing the cucumber.

Something was bubbling on the stove and started to spill over the edge.

“Yixing!” I shouted and lifted the lid. The metal handle was very hot so I dropped it instead. Why wasn’t it made of plastic?

“Oh, dear!” he said and turned the heat down, and then he grabbed a towel and started wiping the liquid which has spilled all over the pot and onto the stove.

I giggled at the mistake. He gave me a odd look before laughing himself.

“You can call me Lay if it’s easier for you,” he suggested.

“Lay?” I repeated, thinking that it is kind of an odd name.

“Or Yixing, I don’t mind.”

As I was thinking about both the names, the ground beneath me started trembling.

Gravestones are not going to pop out of the ground again are they?

“What is happening?” I asked a little frightened.

Then there was a loud beeping sound from outside. The high pitched noise really hurt my ears and I clamped my hands over them.

“This property has been surrounded and you cannot escape,” a loud, manly voice shouted from a microphone, “Put all your weapons down and walk towards the front door.”

I looked at Lay and he walked over to me. He took my hands and walked silently over to the front door. He still had his apron on and my sleeves were still rolled up. I gripped his hand tighter because I was confused and scared about what was going on. He opened the front door and we were greeted by many angry faces, their arms loaded with ammunition and ready to fire if either of us dared to move a muscle.