“Tea comes in all shapes and forms,” Hugo said. “There are many kinds, more than you could possibly imagine.”
“And you think I’m going to drink your tea?”
“You don’t have to,” Hugo said. “It’s an offering to welcome you to my tea shop. When people share tea, I’ve noticed it has the power to bring them closer together.”
Alan snorted derisively. “I doubt that.” He took in a deep breath, tilting his head from side to side. “I bled. Did you know that? I bled out in an alley. I could hear people walking by only a few feet away. I called for them. They ignored me.” His gaze grew unfocused. The lights flickered again. “I asked for help. I begged for help. Have you ever been stabbed before?”
“No,” Hugo said quietly.
“I have,” Alan said. He raised his hand to his side. “Here.” He moved his hand to his chest, fingers curling. “Here.” To the side of his throat. “Here. I … I owed him money that I didn’t have. I tried to explain that to him, but he … he flashed the knife, and I said I’d get it. I would. I was good for it. But I’d told him that before, time and time again, and…” His eyes narrowed. “I reached for my wallet to give him the few bucks I had on me. I knew it wouldn’t be enough, but I had to try. He must have thought I was going for a weapon because he just … stabbed me. I didn’t know what was happening. It didn’t hurt at first. Isn’t that strange? I could see the knife going into me, but it didn’t hurt. Even with all the blood, it wasn’t real. And then my legs gave out, and I fell in a pile of trash. There was a fast food wrapper on my face. It smelled awful.”
“You didn’t deserve that,” Hugo said.
“Does anyone?” Then, without waiting for an answer: “He got away with seven dollars and a debit card he doesn’t have the PIN for. I tried crawling, but my legs didn’t work. My arms didn’t work. And the people on the sidewalk just kept … walking. It’s not fair.”
“No,” Hugo said. “It never is.”
“Help me,” Alan said. “Help me.”
“I will. I promise I’ll do what I can.”
Alan nodded, almost relieved. “Good. We need to find him. I don’t know where he lives, but if we just went back, I can find—”
“I told you,” Mei said. “We can’t go back.” She looked perturbed. Wallace wondered what had happened to make her seem so spooked. “You can only move forward.”
Alan didn’t like that. He glared at Mei, teeth bared. “You said that, yes. But let’s leave it up to your boss here, huh? You’ve already said enough. I don’t like it when you talk. You don’t tell me what I want to hear.”
Hugo lifted the teapot and began to pour hot water into the cups on the tray. The steam billowed. He arched an eyebrow at Wallace and Nelson. Nelson shook his head. Hugo filled three cups before setting the pot back down. “What would you do?” he asked as he lifted tea leaves from the jar. He placed a single leaf in each of the cups. “If you could find him? If you knew where he was?”
Alan flinched, brow furrowing. His hands curled into fists. “I would hurt him like he hurt me.”
“Why?”
“Because he deserves it for what he did to me.”
“And that would make you feel better?”
“Yes.”
“An eye for an eye.”
“Yes.”
“This tea is called kuding cha,” Hugo said. “It’s unlike any tea I have here at my shop. I can’t remember the last time I made it. It’s not for everyone. It’s said to have medicinal properties, and some people swear by it.”
“I told you I don’t want tea.”
“I know,” Hugo said. “And even if you did, I couldn’t give it to you yet. It needs time to steep, you see. Good tea is patience. It’s not about instant gratification, not like the bags with the little strings. Those can be fleeting, here and gone again before you know it. Tea like this makes you appreciate the effort you put into it. The more it steeps, the stronger the taste.”
“The clock,” Alan said. “It’s not moving.”
“No,” Hugo said. “It’s stopped to give us as much time as you need.” He picked up a teacup and set it closer to Alan. “Give it another moment, then try it and tell me what you think.”
A tear trickled down Alan’s cheek. “You’re not listening.”
“I am,” Hugo said. “More than you know. I’ll never know what it was like for you in that alley. No one should ever have to feel alone like that.”
“You’re not listening.” He turned toward the door.
“You can’t leave,” Mei said. She took a step toward him, but Hugo held her back. Wait, he mouthed to her. She sighed, shoulders sagging.
“I can,” Alan said. “The door is right there.”
“If you leave,” Hugo said, “you’ll begin to break apart, something that will only get worse the farther you go. Outside these walls is the living world, a world you don’t belong to anymore. Alan, I’m so sorry for that. I know you may not believe me, but I am. I wouldn’t lie to you, especially not about something as important as this. Leaving here will only make things worse. You will lose everything you are.”
“I already have,” Alan snapped.
“You haven’t,” Hugo said. “You’re still here. You’re still you. And I can help you. I can show you the way and help you cross.”
Alan turned back around. “And if I don’t want this crossing?”
“You will,” Hugo said. “Eventually. But there’s no rush. We have time.”
“Time,” Alan echoed. He looked down at the teacup. “Is it ready?”
“It is.” Hugo sounded relieved, but Wallace was still wary.
“And I can touch the cup?”
“You can. Carefully, though. It’ll be hot.”
Alan nodded. His hand shook as he reached for the cup. Mei and Hugo did the same. Wallace thought back to how it’d been for him, the scent of peppermint in the air, the way his mind had been racing, trying to find a way out of this. He knew Alan would be the same.
Hugo and Mei waited until Alan took the first sip. He swallowed with a grimace.
Hugo drank from his own tea.
Mei did too, and if she didn’t like the taste, she didn’t show it on her face.
“I’m dead,” Alan said, looking down into his cup. He swirled it around. Tea sloshed onto the table.
“Yes,” Hugo said.
“I was murdered.”
“Yes.”
He set the teacup down on the tray. He flexed his hands. He took a deep breath, letting it out slow.
Then, Alan swept his arm across the tabletop, striking the teapot. It fell to the floor and shattered, liquid spilling. He took a step back, chest heaving. He raised his hands to the side of his head, clutching his skull before bending over and screaming. Wallace had never heard such a sound before. It burned as if the hot tea water had scalded his own skin. It went on and on, Alan’s voice never breaking. The lights in the sconces flared brightly before they went out, casting the tea shop into darkness. Apollo growled, standing in front of Nelson and Wallace, hackles raised, tail ramrod straight.