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cleared from all the books. That doesn't mean she'd let the dream slip away from her; she held onto every detail she could remember, and that was most of them. She still wondered how much of it was real, but the arrival of her promised assistants would be proof enough. If they arrived. Jin wasn't holding her breath.
    Jin glanced at the clock again. She had a little time left before she had to leave, and she was almost certain that her mother had taken her laptop along on her latest assault on the forces of oppression and greed. Jin booted her own laptop and sent an email.
     
    SUBJECT: GUESS WHAT?
     
    Dear Mom:
     
    I'm fine, and hope you are too. Give my best to the Forces of Darkness as you kick their hinies and what's this about a boyfriend? I want details. BTW, I've just learned that I'm the mortal incarnation of the Buddhist Goddess of Mercy, Guan Yin. Ain't that a stitch?
     
    Love,
    Jin
    (())

Chapter 4
     
    The following morning Jin found this email waiting for her at breakfast:
     
    SUBJECT: SAY WHAT?
     
    Dear Lotus Blossom:
     
    Remember when you thought you were Death? You got over it, and I'm sure this will pass too. Preferably before the real Guan Yin finds out. Wouldn't want a goddess pissed at me! :)
     
    The Forces of Darkness send their regards. They're fine. They're also kicking me out of the country in a day or two so I'll see you before long. I've told Jonathan all about my lovely daughter with the identity issues and he's looking forward to meeting you. Be nice to him or I'll pull out your naked baby pictures.
     
    Love,
    Mom.
     
    Jin blinked. Who the heck was Jonathan? Then she remembered--the new boyfriend. Jin shrugged. No doubt her mother's latest conquest, one more in a string of serial relationships that made Jin's own love life look cloistered by comparison. Which Jin admitted, was more or less the truth; Jin might as well have been a nun for all the difference it had made so far. Her lack of interest had quashed several promising friendships; Jeff was merely the latest. She shrugged. It wasn't something to worry about right then.
    She could worry about other things, however. Jin decided that, when the time came, she would be nice as nice could be to her mother's new flame -- Jin knew her mother wasn't bluffing about the baby pictures.
    While her mother's mention of Jonathan might be a mystery, the reference to Jin thinking she was Death wasn't. Jin had almost forgotten about it. Kissing Jeff had shook the memory a little but her mother's email finally jarred it loose. She flashed back on the little girl in the corridor, and finally understood why she had thought this incredible thing, this vanishing had happened before. It had happened before.
    Jin was twelve. Her old ginger tabby, Missus Tickles, had crawled into Jin's lap while Jin was trying to do homework. Nothing unusual there; it is the role of a cat to demand affection at inconvenient times. Only this time Missus Tickles didn't head butt Jin's face or hands or any of her normal "drop whatever silly thing you're doing and pet me now " signals. Instead she just climbed into Jin's lap and sat there looking, so far as Jin could tell, confused.
    Despite Missus Tickles making no demands, Jin had reached down to stroke her, absently, while pondering an algebra problem. In that precise instant something strange had happened. Jin had a very clear vision. It seemed that Jin was Missus Tickles, or at least a much younger and slimmer version, stalking prey through tall grass. And she wasn't alone -- an older female cat was close to her left shoulder. She realized that it was Missus Tickles's mother, or rather her mother. It was all very strange, but it wasn't vague or hazy or even the least bit dream-like. It was real, or at least felt and looked that way. She saw the prey, a field mouse, grooming its whiskers just outside the entrance to its nest. Jin knew the time had come to pounce and she did so, without thinking twice about it, or whether it was