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“I let the divine being leave first and gave him a few minutes to do whatever it was he needed to do to get back to Heaven. It seemed polite, though I’d only made that rule up in my head.

When I stepped out of the shack, Quentin was there by the roadside, waiting for me.

“Have a nice chat?�

I knew his peevish tone was his usual allergic reaction to Erlang Shen, but for some reason I didn’t field it well today.

“Yeah, we really connected on an emotional level,� I snapped. “I promised to turn into a stick for him.�

That was perhaps the weirdest, most hyper-targeted dig I’d ever leveled at someone, but boy did it work. Quentin looked like I’d broken him in half and left him on the curb for pickup. He was completely silent the entire trip back to civilization.

He didn’t call or text me that night either”
― F.C. Yee, The Epic Crush of Genie Lo

“The sheer amount of effort I was putting into these essays had to add up to something. It would be a violation of thermodynamics if it didn’t.”
― F.C. Yee, The Epic Crush of Genie Lo

“This is bull crap!â€� I shouted. “I’m tired! I don’t have the energy for this!â€�

“Genie,� Quentin said. “Please stop telling the swarm of yaoguai how weak you are right now.�

“I don’t want to deal with you!â€� I hollered at the demons from afar. “Screw everything! Evil wins, are you happy?”
― F.C. Yee, The Epic Crush of Genie Lo

“I squeezed my eyes shut so I wouldn’t have to look at my arm trailing away like the streamer on a bike handle.

“I can’t be stuck like this!� I wailed. Visions of having to gnaw it off like a jackal in a trap flooded my brain.

Quentin knelt before me and put his hands on my trembling shoulders.

“You’re not going to be stuck,� he said, his voice low and reassuring in my ears. “You are the most powerful thing on Earth short of a god. You can do absolutely anything. So believe me when I say you can certainly change your arm back to normal.�

He held me firmly, the way you’d brace someone trying to pop a dislocated joint back into place. “Just relax and breathe,� he said. “It’ll happen as you will it.�

I took his advice and focused on calming down. Focused on nothing. Focused on him.

I couldn’t really feel my arm retracting. And I certainly didn’t want to look at it happening. I just . . . remembered how I was supposed to be. I kept quiet, kept at it for what must have been a good ten minutes, until I could feel both of my hands firmly on Quentin’s broad back.

“There you go,� he said.

I opened my eyes. My arm was normal again. I was aware that we were sort of hugging.

I buried my face in his chest and blew my nose on his shirt. “I’m a human being,� I muttered.

“I never said you weren’t.�

I raised my head. Quentin looked at me with a smile that was free of any smugness. He didn’t even mind my snot on his lapel.

“Reincarnation as a human is practically the highest goal any spirit can achieve,� he said. “It’s considered the next best thing to enlightenment. If anything, I’m proud of you for what you’ve accomplished.�

I’m not sure why, but the rage that had been so palpable before seemed to float away at his words. Like I could have been angry with him forever had he said anything different.

I was mildly relieved. It was a hell of a one-eighty on my part, but right now I didn’t think I wanted to hate Quentin until the end of time.

“Genie Lo, you are unquestionably, undeniably human,� he said. “You just . . . have a whole bunch of other stuff going on as well.�

“Tell me about it.”
― F.C. Yee, The Epic Crush of Genie Lo