Ashley stomped up the temple steps, taking them two by two, to join Xiong outside the door.
“Don’t take it personally,” Jordan said with an apologetic grimace. “Ashley’s always been hard to get along with. She used to steal all my Pokémon action figures right out of my hands while I was playing with them and flush them down the toilet. Made me cry.”
I winced. I was reminded of Luhao, who’d bullied Alex and me back at the Jade Society. “I’m sorry. Sounds like Ashley was a real childhood bully.”
“Childhood?” Jordan gave me a funny look. “No, no. I’m talking about last week.”
“You know I’m right, Jordan,” Ashley called, startling me. I hadn’t realized she’d overheard. “Faryn isn’t a New Order warrior. She has no idea what it means to be one of us.”
I gritted my teeth. I hoped there’d be lots of hungry demons on this quest. I had an idea of what to feed them, and it rhymed with “Mashley.”
“Maybe I’m not a true New Order warrior,” I said, “but I did help save the world half a year ago. Where were you, Ashley?”
Bright-red patches rose to Ashley’s cheeks. She opened her mouth to retort but then shut it again and turned away with a huff. A flash of triumph surged through me but quickly faded—especially when Jordan gave me an annoyed look.
“What? She started it,” I mumbled, kicking a stone beneath my foot.
“You two.” Jordan sighed.
Guilt shot through me. I didn’t even have time for petty squabbles. I had to save my brother, father, and the world.
“Are you guys coming or not?” Ashley shouted from the top of the steps.
Jordan looked at me, and we both rolled our eyes at the same time. Together, we ran up the steps and followed behind Ashley to enter the temple of the New Order.
I looked past the statues and tables of offerings for the Hungry Ghost Festival. My attention was quickly diverted by the presence of very real gods and goddesses standing inside the temple.
“They got my nose all wrong.” Erlang Shen glared at a statue of himself. “It’s not that big. And my stomach does not have that much flab. I’ve been doing P90X for nine weeks now!” The god of war jabbed his three-pronged spear at the statue and then looked down at his own belly as if comparing the two.
Nezha hovered near his statue. “Do I really look that angry to you guys?” He stared around at the room with a worried look. “Hey, guys?”
Only Guanyin seemed satisfied with her golden statue. “My eyebrows are on fleek,” the goddess of mercy said.
They turned when Jordan and I entered the temple and the doors closed behind us. Xiong and the Elders stood in front of the statues of the Jade Emperor and Xi Wangmu.
“Warriors,” said Xiong. “Ashley, Jordan, and Faryn. You have proven yourselves worthy of an honor that generations of warriors have only dreamed of—to embark on a quest for the gods. Now, as we prepare to send you off, please pray to and receive this blessing from the gods.”
Three Elders stepped forward. They placed smoking incense sticks into our hands. Ashley led us as she stepped in front of the table, inserting the sticks into the holders beside the food. As one, we knelt down onto the ground and prayed to the gods.
Even though my eyes were closed, I could still see the brilliant flash of light that accompanied our prayers.
“Ahhh,” sighed Erlang Shen. “That feels good. That feels powerful.”
As we gave our prayers of thanks, I could feel the power surging into the gods, the energy crackling through the air. I was pretty sure there was enough energy filling the temple to bring down the whole town.
When Guanyin spoke, her voice sounded more distant than before, as though she were speaking from somewhere high above us. “The shī, Erlang Shen. Repeat the shī of prophecy to the warriors.”
After a moment, Erlang Shen chimed in.
“To seek the weapon of greatest power,
five warriors must search the highest heights and lowest depths,
and when darkness reaches its greatest hour,
an old ally will return from the brink of death.”
I knew poetry was supposed to be vague and stuff, but that really didn’t give us much to go on. Highest heights? Lowest depths? Were we talking about places or Ashley’s mood swings?
And who were those other two warriors who were supposed to accompany us?
“What does that mean?” I blurted. “You sure you can’t give us even a hint?” It was almost as if Erlang Shen had given us this confusing shī because he wanted our quest to be a miserable failure. If he and the other gods wanted us to succeed, why not be more helpful? I squinted at Erlang Shen. Or could it be … that the riddle was just to slow us down?
Nezha turned on me, purple flames dancing in his eyes. I froze. He seemed more serious than the Nezha from the Lunar New Year. I guess he really did mean business. “There are ancient laws that guard the issuance of quests, warrior.”
“Laws you wouldn’t understand,” Erlang Shen added in a cold, harsh voice. “If we gods give even a hint, as you say, the magic of the quests will break, and there will be no hope left for us all. Humanity will be wiped out, Earth will be plunged into utter darkness—”
Okay. Next time I had a dumb question, I’d just keep my mouth shut.
“Be warned, you only have two weeks to complete the quest,” said Erlang Shen. “The gates of Diyu will open at sundown, and spirits and demons will flood the Earth. As you know, the other gods will stop at no cost—even the near extinction of the human
