Capo nodded weakly as his eyes closed. Sunny quickly moved back to Chichi. Then she let go. Letting go was easier than getting ahold of time. She sank to her knees beside Chichi. She’d been standing on the other side of Chichi, and Chichi was still looking where she’d been. Now she turned to Sunny and did a double take. She looked where Sunny had been and then back to where Sunny now stood. “Sunny, what did you do?”

Sunny only shook her head, watching Capo yards away. All the others were gone. Capo wasn’t moving.

“Did . . . did you kill him?” Chichi whispered. “Why didn’t you just leave him?”

“You didn’t see my brother,” Sunny coldly said.

Capo twitched and suddenly jumped to his feet. He looked around drunkenly, and Sunny and Chichi ducked down. When he saw that he was alone, he started walking away. Then he turned back, dumped the water from the cooler on the fire, and then stumbled back the way they’d all come.

Chichi and Sunny stayed down for a while in the dark. When it was clear that everyone was gone, they stood up. “What did you do?” Chichi asked again.

“What needed to be done.”

Chichi looked hard at Sunny. “You were beside me and then you weren’t. And I didn’t see you near Capo,” she said. “But . . . I saw him slump after you disappeared.” She frowned as she thought hard. “Did you hold? Hold time? Is that what you and Sugar Cream have been working on?”

“Some, but that was the first time I tried it.”

“He saw your face?”

She nodded.

“Shit,” Chichi said.

“It’s okay.”

“No, it’s not.”

They walked back to the main road. It took them a half hour in the darkness even with a torch. When they reached the main road it wasn’t five minutes before the black council car drove up to them and demanded that Sunny get into it. Sunny did so without a word of protest.

“Let my mom know that I’m okay,” she told Chichi.

“Okay,” Chichi said. She paused. “Give me your phone. If you don’t, they will take it from you.”

Sunny handed Chichi her phone. They looked at each other for a moment. Then Sunny said, “I’ll . . . I’ll be okay.” For now, she thought. She didn’t know about later. Still, as the car drove soundlessly down the dark empty road, past the satellite hostels where the university students who were not up to satanic mischief slept soundly, Sunny felt it was worth it.

13

DEBASEMENT

The ceremonial masks stared at Sunny. There were fifty-two of them. Over her months as Sugar Cream’s student, she’d had plenty of time to count. The first time she was here, she’d thought there were only twenty, but then again, she’d been distracted by the fact that she was there at risk of being caned for showing her spirit face to Jibaku.

The masks didn’t stay in the same spot, either. Every few days, some of them moved—sometimes across the wall, sometimes switching with the mask beside them. And some would change the expression on their faces. Sunny had learned early on not to touch them or mutter anything in anger near them. They would sometimes lick, smooch, try to bite or spit on her hand, and they’d tell Sugar Cream anything she said.