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“Hurry, if Hanzi returns and sees you touching her....” Jerome’s voice faded off.
    “He left.” She had to interrupt. The world spun, a slow, steady circle. It wasn’t unpleasant, somehow akin to being on a slow moving merry-go-round.
    “Well he can’t have gone far,” Feri remarked. “The sun blazes in the sky. Unless he’s developed a new skill the rest of us don’t have.”
    “He hasn’t,” Jerome confirmed. “I imagine he’s hiding somewhere in the basement, probably trashing the wine cellar.”
    “All the Bordeauxs should beware.”
    He laughed as though he’d said something funny, and she rolled her eyes. Whatever he was doing, it worked. Her body loosened, and the air conditioning in the room cooled her skin. Like a cat she’d had as a child—and hated because the damn thing always hissed at her— she stretched her limbs, feeling easier than she’d been since the day her parents had dropped their unwanted bombshell right on her with the news about her so-called destiny.
    “Good girl. You’re going to sleep, and when you do you’re going to dream. They’re directed thoughts—memories if you will—mine.”
    “Feri.” Jerome tried to interrupt although she barely heard him. Her mind moved toward Feri’s words, and the world seemed to be slipping away, a peaceful warmth surrounding her.
    “Don’t start with me. Hanzi has always been unwilling to do what needs to be done when it comes to the humans. I haven’t compelled her to love him or to want him in any way. All I have done is shown her the story. The one he should tell her himself.”
    “It’s not for you to decide....”
    Feri’s hand fell away, and the world finished its drift. She knew she’d be sleeping soon, and she smiled. Adrienne never slept well. A good nap would be refreshing for a change.
    “The second you brought me in, you made it my problem. I will do for Hanzi what needs to be done.”
    What on earth were they talking about? She yawned. Who cared?
    And like Feri had told her she would, she dreamed.
    ****
    “H anzi.”
    A voice called out, and she jumped. She was walking next to Hanzi; the sun beat on her face although it didn’t warm her. The coldest time of the year meant they were always freezing. She shivered.
    “You’re cold.” Hanzi spoke to her, staring in her direction. “I can’t have you uncomfortable. If you die before our wedding, I’ll never get to be the perfect husband.”
    She laughed, and it sounded strange. Adrienne had never been in this place before. A green hill, a river in the distance, and thunder clouds forming above their heads. The words she spoke, they weren’t her own.
    Her body didn’t feel right. She stared at her arms through the gap in her coat. It took her a moment to realize all her ink was gone. Adrienne’s legs were different too, thicker. She’d gained some weight and lost height. Her appearance was weird. Feri’s words dawned on her, and with them came a headache, forming right between her eyes. He’d given her memories, directed her dreams, and now she was going to have to go with it whether she liked it or not.
    She was—what?—stuck in some Hanzi-memory Feri wanted her to have? She wasn’t wearing Feri’s body in her weird visitation into the world, which was made up of Hanzi memories. She was who then? Some woman Hanzi wanted to marry.
    Adrienne’s temper rose, and she had to shove her hands in her pockets to stop them from shaking. Why should it bother her? She didn’t really want him—although in the real world she suddenly really did—and so what if he’d had a life with someone else sometime in his two thousand year journey?
    “Ema?” Hanzi stopped walking and grabbed her arm. “Are you okay?”
    Ema? She glanced left and right. She must be Ema then. She didn’t have to think of anything to answer; her mouth moved, forming Ema’s words all on its own.
    “I’m okay. Nervous, I think. I’ve never been a married woman before. What if I