Falun,
Thank you for your well wishes. I’m sorry I haven’t been able to respond to your prayers before now. It’s been very busy in Heaven, and Wenshu has been monitoring all his disciples and ingoing and outgoing prayers closely. We’ve been practicing intense meditation, so I haven’t heard any news from your brother. I will send word as soon as it is safer.
In the meantime, I think you’ll find this gift useful. It’s a compass that represents navigation and also order and harmony. When the time comes, you’ll need this compass not only to save your brother but also to restore the axis of the Earth, which the demons and gods alike have greatly disturbed in these troublesome times.
Finally, to restore your father’s memory, you need to find a special elixir that can only be obtained during the Hungry Ghost Festival. To find this elixir, you will need the help and full might of all your ancestors—and that means journeying far beyond the walls of the New Order.
I’ll try my best to see you during the Hungry Ghost Festival, but I can’t make any promises. Wenshu has been very strict. If I don’t see you, know that I’m there with you in spirit.
Don’t forget to brush your teeth and be wary of demons,
Ye Ye
I read and reread the words and then pressed the book to my chest. As the tears slipped down my cheek, an item materialized on the altar. It was a large black compass with not one but four arrows. Each pointed in a different direction, presumably north, south, east, and west. Only I had no clue which direction was which. I shook the compass, as though that would somehow give me the answers. It didn’t.
Great. Ye Ye had given me a compass that didn’t work. But at least he’d given me the letter, too.
I flipped through the pages in Restorative Potions, but that note was the only message from Ye Ye. There were no other details, or further instructions, or some kind of cheat code for completing this quest without actually going on it. I sighed. Real life was never as easy as video games.
If I needed proof that I had to take on the quest, this was it. My gut told me I’d have to find my ancestors somewhere along the way. This wasn’t just about protecting the other warriors. This was about restoring my father’s memory. On my way back to the apartment, I read the note in the book a few more times, imagining Ye Ye’s weathered, skilled hand penning those words.
I will send word as soon as it is safer.
I hoped against hope that that would be soon. That Wenshu would let my grandfather visit the human world during the Hungry Ghost Festival.
But something told me I wouldn’t be so lucky.
Later that day, Xiong called a society-wide meeting in front of the temple. Everyone was gathered for the send-off. Some of the women had brought flowers. Xiong handed us backpacks stuffed with packaged foods like dried meat, Choco Pies, and rice crackers. We had enough food to sustain us for this quest—plus the next five, probably. The backpacks also contained prayer notes, which we could use to pray to the deities and ancestors for help if we ran into danger.
“Use these only as a last resort,” Xiong warned. “We don’t know which gods or spirits are on our side. Praying to the wrong one might send you to your doom.” On that cheery note, he walked away, calling order to the other warriors.
Ah Qiao ran up to me. “Ren still isn’t back,” he said accusingly. “Master Xiong said he’s gone for a long time! Why did you lie to me?”
“I’m sorry, Ah Qiao.” I didn’t know what Ren was up to any more than he did. For a brief moment when Ren had turned into a dragon yesterday, I’d been able to communicate with him. But now, when I reached out with my mind, I couldn’t sense him anywhere.
The little boy squinted at me, like it was my fault that Ren hadn’t returned. Then he sniffed and placed a clipboard with a paper and pen in front of me. “Sign this.”
I obeyed without thinking, then handed the paper and pen back to him when I was finished. “What is this?”
“Your last will and testament,” Ah Qiao said seriously. “It says that if you die on this quest, I get to turn your room into my video-game room.”
I was not reassured by his grin and hopeful tone of voice. “Gimme that back.” I reached out for his slip of paper, but he yanked it out of reach. Then he ran for his mother.
A current of fear passed through the air. Some of the warriors kept shooting the siblings frightened looks. A few of the older women, though, gave them encouraging smiles.
None of us had forgotten what had happened last night. How Ashley had won her duel with some mysterious magic. But a win was a win, after all.
“What did Xiong say to you guys last night after we all left?” I muttered to Jordan.
He shifted his weight from foot to foot and wouldn’t meet my eye. “Just … you know,” he said vaguely. “The usual. The normal stuff. The haps.”
“Xiong gave you ‘the haps’ on a life-or-death quest? The first one in decades?” I said in disbelief. I was almost certain that Xiong had spoken with the siblings about Ashley’s transformation, but I didn’t want to press for details. Not yet, anyway.
“Look, we don’t know any more than you do, okay, Jade Society warrior?” Ashley burst out.
“What’s your problem? So what if I’m a Jade Society warrior?” I snapped. Enough was enough. I wasn’t going to let Ashley keep pushing me around. Besides, the dislike was mutual. I would’ve given anything to have Alex, Moli, and Ren with me on this quest instead of Ashley and Jordan.
Ashley’s fists clenched at her sides. “You don’t know anything about how hard we’ve had
