Snow was falling on this winter morning, but not enough to form a blanket atop the pavement tread on by two teenagers on their way to school. They took slow and cautious steps, careful not to slip on the glistening wet sidewalk. Their winter jackets and pants, one blue and the other black, made them look like puffed up, colored marshmallows. Or at least, to Jackie Li, the boy in blue, stuffed in one.
It was a struggle for him to move in his winter clothes, which were one of the reasons he disliked winter. He much preferred to wear looser fitting clothes. But he had no choice but to endure the feeling of being squeezed out like toothpaste or deal with the other reason he disliked winter: it's damn cold.
On the other hand, Circe Tsing, the girl in black, liked winter. It was not that she found snow particularly pretty or fun to play with, not even as a child. She liked winter because it meant that she didn't have to deal with a lot of . . . "them".
Who is "them", you might ask? Well . . .
"Brr! It's cold!" Jackie complained for the umpteenth time. He glanced over his shoulder and asked, "You doing okay, Boney?"
Lumbering behind the two young Chinese-Americans was a living skeleton, more than ten feet tall with comically swollen hands and feet. Its eye sockets were occupied by balls of red light. It flashed an "OK" sign with its right hand, answering Jackie's question.
The "them" mentioned earlier are monsters called Egregors. Egregors, according to experts, are born goo-like and transform as they grow up from absorbing the thoughts of the people around them. Because of that, the looks of countless Egregors make no sense. And lots look positively horrifying. Boney, also an Egregor, is one of the tamer-looking ones.
Circe frowned disapprovingly at Jackie.
"Will you quit that?" she snapped.
Jackie flashed a dismayed frown in return. "What? I'm only talking to Boney."
"That's the problem," said Circe, losing count how many times she's had this discussion before. "You know we're the only ones who can see him. To anyone else, you're a clinically insane person talking to empty air."
To most people, Egregors don't exist. That is because they cannot see or hear the monsters. And because of that, in return, the monsters act like people don't exist too. Jackie and Circe are the exception.
Unlike most people, Circe and Jackie had the power to see Egregors. But unlike Circe who had this power her whole life (however much she wished she hadn't), Jackie only got this ability a few months ago.
Back then, Circe had come across a group of people called the Gathering, who had the same ability she had. It was her first time finding people who could see the monsters like she could, so, extremely, excited, she took the invitation to one of their meetings. But it wasn't all it was cracked up to be. In fact, it was extremely bad.
The Gathering was created and headed by an evil wizard. Yes, an evil wizard, like in a fairy tale. And like in a fairy tale, the evil wizard was planning to do something terrible. The wizard, whose real name was Donald Putts, planned to cast a magic spell, the sort of magic spell that would have caused a lot of death and destruction. And he brainwashed the members of the Gathering to help him cast it.
To stop him, Circe decided to become a member of the Gathering and worked her way to the top, learning as much of the wizard's tricks as she could. But in order to do all that, she ran away from home and disappeared without a word. That did not sit well with Jackie, who was Circe's childhood friend, and he was determined to find her. And find her, he did.
At the time, Jackie had no special magic vision like Circe did. Nor did he have any kind of superpower. But his eyes were no less special. He was observant to a scary degree, and he had smarts that could put the seasoned detectives of his stepfather's police station to shame. No matter what tricks the wizard pulled to hide his operation, Jackie saw through them and eventually found Circe and the Gathering.
Circe's plan to stop the Gathering from casting the spell ended in disaster. She had been found out and captured. But then Jackie showed up and convinced the Gathering not to follow the wizard's plan when he willingly took the wizard's potion to prove he cared about them all. That potion, used as eyedrops, was what gave Jackie the power to see Egregors now. And it was very painful.
Unable to get his followers back on his side, Donald Putts' plan was foiled. He was rendered powerless by another wizard and got arrested for kidnapping.
Months have passed since then and life for the two friends returned to the way it used to be. Well, mostly. There were quite a few things different now. Now Jackie could see the monsters too and he was even friends with some, Boney being one of them. Boney stuck with Jackie like a loyal dog after he saved it from the wrath of a brutal wizard.
Out of the corner of her eye, Circe caught Jackie waving to something in a nearby alley. At first glance, it looked like there was just a big, black trash bag sandwiched between two smaller trash bags. But then one of the small trash bags rose in the air and shook like a hand waving back. That's because it was a hand waving back. A pair of eyes on pink stalks popped out of the top of the big one.
This was a new monster to Circe. Before that, Jackie had said hello to a gray-skinned, eye-less man in raggedy clothes. And before that was another skeleton monster like Boney, except that one wore black robes and carried around a huge scythe. Those were just a few monsters that Circe knew of right now. She didn't want to think about how many more Jackie may have befriended out of her sight.
Not that I'm one to talk, she thought to herself. Using what she learned from Donald Putts, she could now control dozens of monsters of all shapes and sizes whenever it suited her needs.
But those fantastical things weren't the only things that made life different for Circe and Jackie. Nor were they the more fantastical ones.
Circe's thoughts were cut short when she felt her hand grabbed. She met Jackie's gaze, feeling her cheeks turn warm against the biting winter air.
Indeed, the single most fantastical change to their lives happened after that whole ordeal with the evil wizard: Circe and Jackie were now boyfriend and girlfriend.
The school day went like all other school days did for Circe and Jackie: they listened to the teachers' lectures, did schoolwork, hung out in the library secretly playing games on their phones during break time, ate lunch together at the cafeteria and then left school together as soon as the teacher dismissed the students for the day. After walking together for a bit, they parted ways at an intersection crosswalk. Jackie had part-time work at a supermarket.
He was reluctant to leave Circe to go home alone and like many times before, suggested Boney keep her company. And like many times before, Circe declined.
She understood that Jackie was worried about her. The ordeal with the wizard had put a newfound sense of fear in him that something could happen to her outside his watch.
But Circe felt the same way about Jackie. She still had nightmares of watching helplessly as he writhed in agony from the potion burning his eyes and when a huge stage light fell on top of him. He was lucky to escape with just a bruised-up leg. Although she had mixed feelings about Boney (having her childhood ruined by his species created a permanent bias against them), she believed wholeheartedly that it was better to have the skeleton monster watch over Jackie and keep him safe than have Jackie running around without any protection at all.
So, after giving her boyfriend reassurance that she will be fine, Circe went one way while said boyfriend went the other. All was quiet except for brief howls from cars passing by and the footsteps and chatter of other people around her. She took a straight route to Chinatown where she lived with her Great-Aunt April who was otherwise known as the infamous Granny Tsing, the undisputed matriarch of the district, taking her time to again enjoy the lack of monsters out on the streets.
Like any other living creature on the planet, most Egregors would rather stay sheltered someplace warm than deal with the winter cold. This meant no mean fairies to pull at Circe's hair, no ugly zombies to jump-scare her, and no beasts to chase her around. Not that the monsters could do any of that now that she knew ways to keep them from bothering her. But it was nice to be left alone and not deal with them at all.
Peace was the best. As soon as that thought passed Circe's mind -
"DIE, WITCH!"
She was tackled to the ground by something pink, with a head of garlic shoved against her face.
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