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Moon tipped his head to the side, moving directly into his line of sight. “You make it sound like there was a change of plans.”
“There was. Once I settled into the sect with the Zhang clan, I never wanted to leave. Shifu Zhang Shi Lei was an excellent teacher, and I found a home with my brothers there. Why would I ever wish to leave? I filled my days with studying the ancient techniques of our sect, reading, and working in the garden. Why would I want to rush off to one battle or another, fighting people who had done nothing to me?” Chen frowned. “Shifu kept us safe from that. At least, he tried to.”
“He sounds like a great man. He—whoa! Is that a fox?” Moon broke off.
Chen’s head whipped around to where Moon pointed. With his right hand, he shoved the witch behind him while throwing out his left hand toward the fluffy red tail with the white tip as it darted between some trees. An icy blast shot out from his palm and slammed into the trees, coating them in lacy, white frost.
“Holy shit!” Moon cried out, but Chen didn’t move. His entire body was tense, watching for another sign that the damn creature was still lurking about. He didn’t hit it, but he hadn’t expected to. It was a warning that he wasn’t welcome here.
The witch tugged on the arm that was restraining him. “What’s wrong? Not a fan of foxes? Got a chicken coop I haven’t seen?” His tone was teasing, but the grin fell away when Chen turned to him and pushed him to the house.
“That wasn’t a fox, and you are to stay away from it if you see it. Hurry into the house. Lock the doors. Do not speak to it. Don’t listen if it tries to speak to you,” Chen ordered.
Moon blinked at him. “Tries to speak to me? Are you saying it’s a shifter?”
Chen stopped his march to the house. They were on the paving stones and the long, winding koi pond was in view. He glanced over his shoulder one last time, then focused his attention on Moon. “It’s not a shifter as you know them. It’s a huli jing.” Chen’s lips twisted, and he corrected himself with a sound of disgust. “More likely a jiuweihu now.”
The witch shook his head. He looked confused, but he also seemed to at least be taking Chen’s warning seriously. “I don’t know either of those terms.”
“Huli jing is a fox spirit. After many years of cultivation, they can shift into human form. They are crafty, tricky pranksters. They are not to be trusted, and their tricks can be quite malicious, depending on their moods.”
Moon’s brow furrowed. “And the jiu…jiuwei—”
“Jiuweihu is a huli jing that has cultivated for more than a thousand years and achieved its greatest form. They will often appear with nine tails and—” Chen broke off at Moon’s outburst of giggles.
“It’s like a Pokémon! It evolved into a kitsune!”
Chen’s eyes narrowed and Moon slapped his hand over his mouth, but Chen could still see the laughter in his eyes. “This is not a joke. The huli jing is not a Pokémon, and kitsune is a Japanese word.”
“Sorry,” Moon mumbled behind his hand.
“A huli jing is not a shifter either.” Chen stopped and took a deep breath. He released it slowly between his lips, shedding some of his anger. “Shifters are humans who can take an animal form. The huli jing is a fox spirit that pretends to be human.”
Moon dropped his hand to his side and frowned. “I’ve never heard of it. Well, I mean, I’ve heard of a kitsune, but hey, anime and manga are big here in the US.” Moon pointed a warning finger at him when Chen continued to frown. “But I’ve never heard of one being here in America.”
“There are few in the world.” Chen sneaked one last look over his shoulder before grabbing Moon’s elbow and moving him along toward the house. “I fear this one followed us from China. He’s been haunting my shixiong for centuries. I hope he has not tagged along to cause problems.”
To his surprise, Moon pulled him to the house, smiling sweetly. “You’re worried, but you don’t need to be. Your shixiong has evaded the huli jing this long, right? That fox spirit’s got nothing on him. And I promise to stay away from it as well.”
Chen huffed and released his hold on Moon, but the witch continued to cling to him as they wandered inside together.
“Will you tell me more about your clan?” Moon prodded.
Chen narrowed his gaze on Moon. “Will you tell me more about your magic? Your coven?”
Moon shrugged as they passed through the kitchen that was now spotless. “There’s not much to tell. We call ourselves a coven, but we’re more like four good friends who get together, talk spells, watch BL once a week, and go out for drinks when we can. There’s nothing formal about it. Mad and Red met while they were in school and have been friends ever since.” Moon lifted a hand and scratched his head, leaving his hair standing up. “I think they tripped over Sky and me online. We’ve stuck together because there aren’t a lot of male witches in the world.”
