In Over Her Head by Elsie Russell - Parnasse.com

under a lot of stress back there."
He retrieved his coat and slipped it on, molded his hat back
into shape and planted a big wet kiss on Sandro's good cheek. "And
keep growing that beard, dear boy! Bye, kiddos." He swooshed out
briskly, still buttoning his coat.
"Wow, he was in a hurry to leave! He even forgot his scarf and
gloves!" Penny saw them peaking from beneath her own green coat as
she picked it all up to sit down. Sandro sat down beside her and rubbed
his face.
"He is her father! All these years and I was blind! Poor Ula, no
wonder she is such a mess!"
"Think she knows?"
He shook his head and tore off another strip of lip.
"Hey, you wanna put some chapstick on that before that gets
any worse?"
"Grazie! We stay here tonight? These chairs will be torture."
"Yeah, I should've slept on the plane."
"I think maybe we go to the Crillon now, so we can escape this
madness and relax like kings, eh? I will go home soon and pick up the
painting, some notebooks, and have Mario bring over the system so
you can continue the work and we can make a little home there."
"Is this why you live in hotels?"
"For the personal space." He looked at his hands. "I go to the
toilettes now and wash my hands, hospitals are full of germs."
On the way back he entered Ula's room and stayed for nearly
an hour. Penny plugged her ears and opened the Immortal Sisters book
to get her mind off things. She skimmed some pages, "The jade girl
rides a blue phoenix, the gold boy offers a scarlet peach. One strums a
brocade lute amidst the flowers, one plays jewel pipes under the moon.
One day immortal and mortal are separated and you coolly cross the
ocean."
Where had she heard that before? It made more sense now.
"The fourteen poems of Sun Buer and their commentaries.
Projecting the spirit." Projecting the spirit. What was this?
"There is a body outside the body... unified original spirit... the
bright moon congeals the gold liquid. The Old man of the Blue flower
says... the emergence of the light spirit from its encasing... like the sun
when it first rises out of the ocean." Okay, this was poetry.
"Warnings." Warnings?
"Fear... Attraction... Not being ready... Falling into demon
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