Kevin gripped the steering wheel, his knuckles white, the pistol now holstered, but his hand resting ominously close to it. He pulled the Camry out onto Bolsa Avenue at 1:30 AM, the familiar neon glow of Little Saigon washing over them.
“Alright, Father,” Kevin said, a chilling sarcasm in his voice. “Let’s see your ghosts.” He reached for the radio, his finger hovering over the dial, and twisted it sharply to 00.0 MHz.
The air inside the car thickened instantly. The streetlights overhead, one by one, flickered and turned a deep, ominous blood-orange. The modern storefronts, the familiar signs of Vietnamese businesses, wavered as if painted on water, then dissolved into the hazy, indistinct facades of mid-century buildings.
The car veered, not onto a side street, but onto a six-lane asphalt boulevard that stretched into an infinite, grey fog. And then they appeared: hundreds of silent pedestrians, clad in traditional garments, lining the sidewalks. Their heads turned slowly, their reflective silver eyes locking onto the Camry.
Then they began to clap.
But this time, Liem noticed something different. The clapping figures, their hollow eyes, were not staring at him. Their collective gaze, hundreds strong, was fixed squarely on Kevin.
Kevin’s face, initially triumphant, began to pale. His eyes, wide with disbelief, darted from the impossible road ahead to the spectral crowd. “No,” he whispered, a tremor in his voice. “This isn’t real. This can’t be real!”
A searing heat erupted from beneath the dashboard, directly beneath Kevin’s right hand. The stolen talisman, the spirit-talisman coil, began to burn with an intense, white-hot glow. The air filled with a metallic tang and the faint scent of burning herbs. The spirit energy, intended to break Liem, was violently backfiring against Kevin’s own malicious intent.
The Camry’s speedometer began to climb on its own, steadily pushing past 70 mph. The clapping grew louder, a percussive roar that vibrated through the floorboards, demanding.
Panic contorted Kevin’s face. He tried to turn the wheel, to hit the brakes, but his hands seemed frozen, locked by an unseen force. His eyes were wide, unblinking, fixated on the rapidly approaching fog at the end of the spectral road.
Liem saw the terror, the pure, unadulterated fear in his son’s eyes. He saw the talismans glow, understanding what was about to happen. The spirits weren’t for him. They were claiming Kevin.
With a surge of desperate strength, Liem reached across the center console. He grabbed Kevin’s jacket, his fingers digging into the fabric. Kevin cried out, a guttural sound of pure terror, but Liem pulled. He pulled with everything he had, tearing Kevin from the driver’s seat.
Together, they tumbled out of the moving car, onto the hard, unforgiving pavement of the Shadow Boulevard. The screech of tires filled the air as the driverless Camry, its engine roaring, plunged into the dense spiritual fog bank, disappearing without a sound.
➡️ Read CHAPTER 15 to continue the story
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