A few days later, at Uncle's Antique Shop.
Tohru came out of the kitchen carrying a tea tray.
His massive frame looked especially cramped in the narrow aisle. He carefully skirted the table piled with ancient books and set a cup of hot tea beside Pops.
"Sir, your tea."
Pops did not look up.
Seven or eight ancient books lay open before him: star charts, zodiac calendars, a diagram of the Bagua Directions, and several parchment volumes whose covers were nearly falling apart.
His fingers slid back and forth across the pages as he muttered to himself. His reading glasses had slipped to the tip of his nose, but he did not push them back up.
"Dui represents the marsh... a marsh is where water gathers..."
"Kan represents the moon... the moon is the essence of yin..."
"Now both are empty..."
Not daring to disturb him, Tohru stepped aside and began sorting through the sundries piled in the corner.
The door curtain lifted, and Jade rushed in.
Her schoolbag still hung from her shoulder, one shoelace was undone, and her hair was a windblown mess. She had clearly run all the way back.
"Pops!"
Her voice was high and clear, with a hint of excitement.
"Any discoveries? Did you find anything? Will Jormungandr cry out again? Have the other demons woken up?"
Pops's pen stopped.
He slowly raised his head and looked at Jade over his reading glasses.
"Quiet."
"Pops needs quiet."
Jade immediately shut her mouth.
She tugged her schoolbag off her shoulder and dropped it on the floor, then tiptoed to the table and rose onto her toes to look at the ancient books spread before Pops.
She could not understand them.
They were all densely packed with ancient writing and symbols, like swarms of ants crawling across