Fu released a questioning growl. “Hok?”
Charles snapped his head around. Hok was standing alone in the apothecary doorway.
“Hok! Hok! Hok!” Malao squealed in a hushed tone. He raced toward her.
“In here,” Hok said.
Charles and Fu ran after Malao, and all three of them followed Hok through the apothecary entrance, into the maze of aisles. There wasn't a single customer left in the store. They made it to a back storage room and Hok led them inside. She gestured for them to sit at a large table covered with candles, then locked the door behind them.
“We'll be safe in here for a little while,” Hok said as she sat down. “But we shouldn't press our luck. The shopkeeper is a very nice man, obviously. I don't want to get him in trouble.”
Charles stared at her, dumbfounded. “You work here?”
“Volunteer is a better word,” Hok replied. “I happened to mention PawPaw when I first spoke with him, and he got very excited. It seems they are old friends.”
“PawPaw is the reason we're here, too,” Charles said. “How long have you been here?”
“We arrived in Hangzhou yesterday.”
“You and Ying?” Fu asked.
Hok nodded. “And a small boy called ShaoShu.”
Fu growled.
“Where are they now?” Charles asked.
“Ying is several li down the river,” Hok said. She glanced quickly around the room. “I don't know where ShaoShu is. He could be hiding, or he could have wandered off to explore. I've learned he likes to do both.”
“What do you do here?” Malao asked.
“Grind herbs, mix tonics—lots of things. I needed something to keep me busy while I waited for Ying to return, and this is fun for me.”
“When is Ying coming back?” Charles asked.
“ShaoShu and I were supposed to meet him in front of the apothecary at sunset tomorrow,” Hok said. “Unfortunately, there is no way we can do that now. Not with Tonglong and his men here.”
“Why don't we go to Ying?” Charles suggested. “We can't stay here, anyway. Do you know where he is?”
“I know where he was supposed to go,” Hok said, “but I won't be surprised if he is no longer there.”
“Where did he go?” Malao asked.
“To meet his mother.”
The room fell silent.
“See,” Hok said. “That's what I mean. There is no telling what might have happened.”
“Well, we have to do something,” Charles said. “Let's just go there now and take our chances.”
Hok rubbed the back of her neck. “Maybe you're right, Charles. Maybe we should go. But we can't leave right now. I don't want to abandon ShaoShu.”
Charles nodded. “Let's give him until tomorrow morning. If he shows up, then we take him with us. If not, we leave without him and come back some other time. What do all of you think?”
“It makes sense,” Malao said.
“To me, too,” Fu replied.
Hok waited a long moment, then nodded. “Okay, let's handle it that way. I'm staying at a nearby inn with ShaoShu, and the room is very big. We can all go there and wait until morning. Maybe ShaoShu will even show up. I think we will be safe there. The shopkeeper owns the inn, too.” She turned to Charles. “What about your boat? Will it be safe until tomorrow?”
“It will be fine,” Charles said. “I'm docked alongside hundreds of other foreign boats. No one will connect it to me or any of you. We will have to be sneaky getting aboard if we wait until morning, though. Simple disguises should work. I've done it many times. I tend to stand out in a crowd, you know.”
“Me too,” Hok said, and gave Charles a satisfied nod.
“Anything else?” Charles asked the group.
No one replied.
“Then there is nothing left to discuss,” Charles said. “Tonight, we wait. Tomorrow morning—at the latest—we set sail.”
Ying woke just before sunrise with tired eyes and a heavy head. While he'd begun the night sleeping just fine, he'd ended it with troublesome dreams of being watched. He slipped out of bed and peered out the window.
His mother was already outside, practicing in the early-morning moonlight. Perhaps she had been out there for a long while and disturbed his sleep. Or maybe she had come in and spied on him? He'd dreamed that he'd heard noises, too. Not that it mattered. He was leaving today with what he needed. She wouldn't have learned anything last night that would stop him.
Ying crawled back into bed to wait.
A quarter of an hour after sunrise, WanSow entered his room. Ying's eyes were closed, and he kept his breathing slow and steady—ironically, just as she had taught him the previous morning.