The kid from Shanghai likes to call himself Duke.\u00c2\u00a0 He doesn\u2019t realize the name\u2019s already been taken.\u00c2\u00a0 He\u2019s been in Midnight only two nights.\u00c2\u00a0 He doesn\u2019t really understand what happened.\u00c2\u00a0 He\u2019d been running, yes, and hiding, but he never meant to disappear with such finality.<\/p>\n
He sticks to the shadows.\u00c2\u00a0 It\u2019s easy to do so in the City of Night, which is almost all dark and murk.\u00c2\u00a0 He listens a lot.\u00c2\u00a0 Not everyone here speaks English.\u00c2\u00a0 Some of them know no more than he does about this place.<\/p>\n
He speaks only a little English himself, mostly what he learned watching old movies with his mom.\u00c2\u00a0 She loved American westerns.\u00c2\u00a0 She loved private eyes but hated war films.\u00c2\u00a0 She never let him watch war films, not even with ones with John Wayne.<\/p>\n
He found himself here with no money, but with a knife, a long sharp blade he\u2019d stolen when he was thirteen.\u00c2\u00a0 It feels like forever ago.<\/p>\n
**<\/p>\n
In the light of a candle, which flickers and dances despite that the air is still, an old, old man, originally from Chengdu, sits at a thick wood table.\u00c2\u00a0 He has tea, the surface of which reveals secrets to him.\u00c2\u00a0 He has a single sheet of quality paper.\u00c2\u00a0 He has brushes and ink.\u00c2\u00a0 He wears only a frown.**<\/p>\n
Duke, a name he stole, used the knife his first night in Midnight.\u00c2\u00a0 There was a lot of blood, but he\u2019s crafty, he knows how to position himself to avoid any spray.\u00c2\u00a0 He wiped the blade clean on the woman\u2019s jeans, took her money, and bought himself some hot meat and cold drink.\u00c2\u00a0 There was enough left over for a piece of bread.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s hungry again.\u00c2\u00a0 But he\u2019s smart.\u00c2\u00a0 You can\u2019t just grab anyone.\u00c2\u00a0 He\u2019d lost the gun while he was running, or lost it while hiding, so he has to go after easy prey.\u00c2\u00a0 No one too big.\u00c2\u00a0 No one with anyone else.\u00c2\u00a0 No one who didn\u2019t look easy to take.\u00c2\u00a0 He is thin, not muscular; he is fast, but tired.\u00c2\u00a0 And the chemicals that had been fueling him are mostly gone.\u00c2\u00a0 He feels anxious.\u00c2\u00a0 Mad.\u00c2\u00a0 Fearful.\u00c2\u00a0 He paces in the shadows.\u00c2\u00a0 He wanders.\u00c2\u00a0 He needs something strong, and he will kill for it, but he has to find it.<\/p>\n
First: money.\u00c2\u00a0 There, that girl, she looks like an easy target.\u00c2\u00a0 She\u2019s walking slow.\u00c2\u00a0 Carelessly.\u00c2\u00a0 Recklessly.\u00c2\u00a0 Perfect.<\/p>\n
**<\/p>\n
The old, old man touches brush to paper, spreading ink in deliberate arcs and lines, in precise control of the breadth and length of every stroke.\u00c2\u00a0 The first, as always, is most difficult, and the candle flame nearly goes out.\u00c2\u00a0 It is a broad first stroke.<\/p>\n
**<\/p>\n
Duke falters.\u00c2\u00a0 It\u2019s a spasm, runs down the length of his arm.\u00c2\u00a0 It\u2019s an effort to keep his fist closed around the handle of the knife.\u00c2\u00a0 The girl, alerted, doesn\u2019t run.\u00c2\u00a0 She kicks him in the balls.\u00c2\u00a0 She screams–no, she shrieks.\u00c2\u00a0 Attracts attention.\u00c2\u00a0 If there\u2019s one thing you don\u2019t want in the shadows, it\u2019s attention.<\/p>\n
He runs.\u00c2\u00a0 He ignores the pains.\u00c2\u00a0 He ignores the cravings and the sheen of sweat and the shakes starting inside him.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a long alley.\u00c2\u00a0 The girl continues to shriek.\u00c2\u00a0 Other eyes appears in the dark, in the windows and crevices.\u00c2\u00a0 As he runs, his left leg suddenly bends sideways, as though he has no control over it.\u00c2\u00a0 He nearly tumbles.\u00c2\u00a0 He does crash into the bricks.\u00c2\u00a0 He tightens his grip on the knife and cries out a string of Chinese curses.<\/p>\n
**<\/p>\n
The old, old man is nearly done with this single new character.\u00c2\u00a0 It takes a whole sheet of paper.\u00c2\u00a0 It\u2019s a work of art, a symbol never before created.\u00c2\u00a0 He would never admit it, but it\u2019s magnificent.\u00c2\u00a0 He pauses before applying the final line of ink.\u00c2\u00a0 He looks to the tea, and he frowns, and he guides the brush back to the paper.\u00c2\u00a0 The symbol, when complete, unites two others: shadow and sword.<\/p>\n
**<\/p>\n
The shrieking still hasn\u2019t subsided.\u00c2\u00a0 His ears hurt, his arm tingles, his leg burns.\u00c2\u00a0 But he\u2019s got control of himself again.\u00c2\u00a0 Full use of his limbs.\u00c2\u00a0 The happy, hungry knife.\u00c2\u00a0 His vision\u2019s a little off; everything\u2019s got a sickly yellow tint.\u00c2\u00a0 The shadows seem thicker.\u00c2\u00a0 Sharper.\u00c2\u00a0 Alive.<\/p>\n
The shadow hits Duke hard in the chest, taking his breath, breaking his ribs.\u00c2\u00a0 The shadow is solid, and looming, and all about him.\u00c2\u00a0 The eyes reflect the light of a single distant candle.\u00c2\u00a0 Its movements sound like metal.<\/p>\n
Duke lunges with his knife, cutting shadow–which is to say, having no effect.\u00c2\u00a0 The shadow draws back its own blade, longer and sharper and older and more traditional, and thrusts it through Duke\u2019s chest, piercing his heart.\u00c2\u00a0 The sword and shadow dissolve into dark and murk.\u00c2\u00a0 Duke, no longer able to hear the girl\u2019s unending shrieks, catches the barest glimpse of an old, old man in the light of a quickly fading candle.\u00c2\u00a0 Duke hits his knees.\u00c2\u00a0 He closes his eyes.\u00c2\u00a0 Shadow embraces him.<\/p>\n
**<\/p>\n
The old, old man drinks his tea, glances briefly at the leaves, and shakes his head sadly.\u00c2\u00a0 He picks up the paper.\u00c2\u00a0 The wet ink still glistens.\u00c2\u00a0 He touches the edge of it to the candle and holds the paper while it transmutes into ash.<\/p>\n
~~~<\/p>\n
June 19, Thunderstorm Books<\/a> starts accepting pre-orders for Once Upon a Time in Midnight<\/em>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The kid from Shanghai likes to call himself Duke.\u00c2\u00a0 He doesn\u2019t realize the name\u2019s already been taken.\u00c2\u00a0 He\u2019s been in Midnight only two nights.\u00c2\u00a0 He […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[9,6,2,1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.darkfluidity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/952"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.darkfluidity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.darkfluidity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.darkfluidity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.darkfluidity.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=952"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.darkfluidity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/952\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.darkfluidity.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=952"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.darkfluidity.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=952"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.darkfluidity.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=952"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}