“Why? Why are you buying these things?” Gloria frowned: “And why can’t you just buy them yourself? You have your own credit card right?”

“No I can’t - I can’t let my parents know.” Kevin shook his head.

“Why?”

“Because - they’ll know I’m up to something!” Kevin flailed his arms: “I want to order a lot of salt and sage! Not many people will order them!”

“You haven’t told me what you are using them for yet.” Gloria narrowed her eyes: “I am not going to help you buy something unless you be honest with me right now.”

“... fine!” Kevin thought for a while, then relented without even trying to resist - it seemed he was eager to tell someone his thoughts, or maybe even boast: “You see - my friends and I have been doing some digging and some diving - and what do you know? I think we’ve found out what was kidnapping all the kids!”

“What? You have?” Gloria frowned deeper, but then immediately lightened her tone: “What I want to ask is - what’d you find? Something you can share with me?”

“Yeah, of course. But you’ll have to keep it a secret.” Kevin gestured to Gloria to come closer and with a lowered voice: “Do you believe in monsters or ghosts, Gloria?”

“Well - ” Gloria was somewhat surprised, but thinking back on the fact that the boy was trying to order salt, sage and talisman paper, she could have definitely seen it coming. “Maybe, what - what do you know? What kind of monster slash ghost are we talking about?”

“What do you know about - ” Kevin leaned in closer and lowered his voice even further: “The Cat Granny?”

“The Cat Granny?” Gloria thought for a brief moment, then answered: “That’s - that’s an urban legend right? Why do you think it’s her? And where’d you learn all of this salt, and sage - and the talisman paper?”

“The internet?” Kevin shrugged: “You know you could learn anything these days.”

“But it doesn’t mean what you learned is true. Or even remotely relevant.” Gloria gently patted Kevin on the shoulder: “But even so, tell me what you know, and how you know.”

“Okay. ” Kevin looked Gloria straight in her eyes: “You know, the legend says it, that the Cat Granny eats children, right? And she eats mostly young teenagers. And she can go on walls, squeeze through tiny cracks, open closed windows and even enter a house through walls. The guy in my grade, the night he went missing, nobody broke into the house. They said that it’s like someone just went in and took him.”

“Okay.” Gloria nodded, noting it in her mind: “But - it’s still not enough to say that it IS indeed the Cat Granny, you know? What if he was lured out? What if he was just careless and he went out of the door?”

“Yes. This is something the Cat Granny does as well.” Kevin started searching on his phone: “And some of the other kids that are missing - almost all of them went missing on their way to school or on their way home. Cat Granny also does that - she lurks in the ways.”

“Yes. But do you have anything concrete? Or - do you have anything that can tell us exactly that this is the Cat Granny?” Gloria pretended to think for a moment, then asked.

“Well, we have this.” Kevin showed Gloria a picture on his phone.

It was a picture of a metal-framed window with a desk lamp on its side. The lamp was not on, and there seemed to be only some very faint light source behind the camera that took the picture. A shadow was projected onto the wall around the window. And outside the window, was a long-haired shadow, wearing what seemed to be an old Qipao. The most significant thing on the shadow, of course, were the two green, glowing eyes.

“When was this picture? And who took it?” Gloria asked, grabbing Kevin’s phone.

“Hey! Give it back!” Kevin stood up and took the phone off Gloria’s hand: “It was on our school forum. I saved it before it was taken down.”

“Okay. ” Gloria thought for a moment, maybe Kevin’s theory had more merit than she realized: “And - can you send this to me? I’ll ask some friend of mine to look into it. If anyone could help you, it’ll be him. And you still haven’t told me what you need salt and sage for.”

“It’s for fighting against the Cat Granny, of course, duh!” Kevin seemed to be frustrated by Gloria’s attitude: “Haven’t you read about her? She is afraid of salt and sage. And - the talisman paper is for us to make talismans, of course. We’ve found the recipe for some repelling talismans, and we’re going to protect ourselves!”

“Well then, tough guy. I believe you.” Gloria nodded at Kevin, but still patted him on the head like treating a child: “Tell me, what are you going to do to ‘protect yourselves’? You’re gonna hunt her down? You’re gonna set up traps?”

“Ugh… ” Kevin’s body shook, almost as if he was caught in the act of mischief: “No?”

“Nice try. Then I am not gonna order it for you.” Gloria shook her head, then stood up and pointed at the kitchen: “What I CAN do is cook you some snacks. You wanna eat something?”

“Please! You’ve gotta believe me.” Kevin also stood up: “We want to protect ourselves! The police are not doing anything! Our parents are trying to form some kind of group to patrol the street, but you know it’s not gonna work against the Cat Granny!”

“Let me think about it.” Gloria shrugged: “But just like real life - if you want me or anyone to do you a favor that could get me in trouble - big trouble, you’d better give me a detailed plan and be honest with me.” Then without waiting for Kevin’s response, she proceeded to go to the kitchen.

On her way to the kitchen, she walked past the Teiths’ study. There were some pieces of freshly printed but crumpled up paper on the ground and some poorly painted ones dangling from the desk. Out of curiosity, she went into the study and picked those up.

They were posters, and some organized notes regarding the missing children’s cases. One piece of paper even had pictures of the missing children on it. She hesitated for a brief moment, then put them back where they should be.

The spring onion pancakes were served on a plate 15 minutes later. As per usual, Gloria cooked Kevin’s even though he didn’t ask.

“So, you’ve changed your mind yet?” Kevin picked up the chopsticks, looking at Gloria.

“Maybe, maybe not.” Gloria shook her head: “You’re ready to be honest with me yet? And I’m telling you, if you’re trying to go out there and do anything, you’re shit outta luck. You can’t fix this. Your parents and the adults know more than you think. And if you go out there, you’d be falling right into their traps - whatever ‘they’ are.”

“...I thought you were cool.” Kevin couldn’t help but pout.

“Eh, you’ll learn cool doesn’t mean jack soon enough.” Gloria giggled, then responded with a serious tone: “But do remember Kevin, your parents do love you very much. And maybe you can share a bit of your theories and worries with them. I can’t promise they’ll believe you. But that’s when you’ve gotta gather a bit more information.”

“I couldn’t even convince you.” Kevin stabbed his spring onion pancake with his chopsticks.

“You got me thinking. I’m just not ready to say if I believe you.” Gloria shrugged: “What other possible monsters have you considered?”