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Evie shook her head It hurt to do so "Just a silly song I heard the other day I wondered if itand…" What? What could she say that "

"As you say Would you like to try the duck?"

Evie fought a wave of nausea as she waved the chopsticks and offending food away But she felt a sense of relief, too Perhaps the disconcerting i to do with the girl’sat all

A quiet coirl in a red dress, about Evie’s age, shoved a bundle at a youngto him in Chinese Her voice carried the tone of an order not to be contradicted Under the girl’s penetrating gaze, the youngbehind hiirl in the red dress appeared at their table with a silver tray of sreen eyes "Will there be anything else?" she asked with a hint of polite annoyance

"No, thank you" Uncle Will paid the check while Evie extracted the slip of paper from a tea cake

"What does it say?" Jericho asked

" ‘Your life will soon change’ " Evie tossed it aside "I was hoping for ‘You will er’ What does yours say, Jericho?"

" ‘To gain trust youUnc?"

Will left his untouched on the tray "I never read fortunes if I can help it"

They exited onto the narroinding cobblestones of Doyers Street, known as "the bloody angle" for its bend and the large nuht, the street was peaceful Across the narrow crooked strip of cobblestone, a crowd ofcandles inside s them float up into the dusky sky The smell of incense wafted into the street

"Mid-Autumn Festival," Uncle Will explained "It is an important cultural tradition, a celebration of harvest"

Farther down, paper lanterns adorned the front of a shop: Mee Tung Co, I breeze Pieces of paper with Chinese lettering had been pasted on a brick wall beside the shop Men on the street gave the postings a surreptitious glance as they passed by

"What’s that?" Evie whispered

"Listings of which businesses are not aligned with the Tongs"