Jordan and Ashley wore twin expressions of shock on their faces. Their sibling resemblance had never been stronger.
“Whoa,” said Jordan. “That’s wack.”
“So that’s why you wanted to go on this quest. You just want to restore your father’s memories,” Ashley accused, her eyes flashing with anger. “This is why I said we shouldn’t trust her, Jordan.”
“That’s not the only reason!” I protested. “Besides, don’t you want to find your father, too? We can help each other save the world and be reunited with our fathers. We can’t do either if we don’t trust each other.”
“What Faryn is saying makes a lot of sense, Ashley,” Jordan pointed out. I shot him a relieved smile.
“You always side with her. Are you her brother or mine?” Ashley grumbled. She didn’t look happy, but at least she wasn’t taking a swing at me. “Fine,” she said. “Do what you want. Just don’t get in my way.”
Without another complaint, Ashley urged the stone lions off the bridge and down toward the earth. Jordan folded his arms across his chest and looked over the side of the vehicle, making loud sighing noises every few minutes to remind us that he wasn’t happy with this plan.
My limbs ached. I knew I should get some rest, but sleep evaded me for a day and a half. Eventually, Jordan’s sighs turned into snores. I tried not to be envious or do anything petty, like kick him awake. I think I showed remarkable self-restraint by letting him stay asleep.
Then my body jolted. A vision bloomed before my eyes. Different from the dreams I’d been having of Alex but no less jarring.
Faryn? Can you hear me?
Could it really be? Ren? I thought back. We hadn’t even been apart that long, but after hearing his voice and sensing his presence, I suddenly missed him so much that my chest ached.
Ren sighed in relief. Oh, thank the gods. I finally managed to reach you.
How are we even able to communicate right now? I thought our connection was supposed to end after … you know … Alex became the Heaven Breaker.
There was that moment during the Duels, Ren reminded me. I thought maybe we could connect again after that, but I haven’t been able to reach you. The Dragon Kings cut off most of our communication with the outside world.
Then how are you communicating with me right now?
There’s this spot in one of the toilets that another dragon told me about, and— Wait, that’s not the point. Faryn, I think I made a huge mistake. Coming here to the dragon palace, I mean.
What happened? Didn’t you say the Dragon Kings would train you?
Yes—and they have.
In just three days? I thought, perplexed.
Time passes much differently at the dragon palace. I’ve learned so much, Faryn. More than I ever learned at crossbow lessons with Mr. Fan. Even though I couldn’t see Ren, I could hear the excitement in his voice. But it’s come … at a price. The Dragon Kings want to recruit me into their army against the warriors.
Recruit you?
A long pause. Not recruit. More like … use. They want to use me as a tool for war.
I shuddered. Those words sounded all too familiar. An unwelcome memory surfaced—Xi Wangmu during the Lunar New Year, telling Alex and me that because we were half–Jade Society warrior and had the blood of Turkish and Greek warriors in us, we’d been “engineered” to become stronger.
You’ve gotta get out of there, Ren, I urged. I don’t care what fancy new tricks the Dragon Kings have been teaching you. You can’t let them use you like that.
Ren heaved an exasperated sigh. You think I don’t know that? I’ve been trying to escape the palace, but I can’t find a way out. They’ve got all us dragons locked up at night, guards surrounding all the exits, and I even have to be escorted to the bathroom. Do you know how humiliating it is to be escorted to the bath—?
Ren’s voice cut off in my head, as suddenly as though a switch had been flipped.
Ren? Are you still there? Are you okay?
They found me. His voice returned, full of panic and fear. I gotta go. I’ll try to reach out again—soon.
Tell me where the palace is! I’ll come find you.
No. Whatever you do, don’t come. This is no place for a human warrior.
But—
The connection shut off. I awoke with a gasp. It took me a moment to gather my surroundings. I was in the chariot, under an early-evening sky, the sun setting over the horizon. Ashley was curled up asleep beside me, and Jordan had taken her place as the chariot driver.
I tried reaching out to Ren with my mind again but heard nothing. The silence in my head was deafening.
Where was Ren? Would he be okay? I hoped against hope that the Dragon Kings hadn’t found and punished him—and that he’d be able to escape. I had to trust that he would. After all, this was Ren we were talking about. He’d been trained in martial arts from a young age.
Besides, it wasn’t like I could drop my current mission and go help Ren. I didn’t even know how to find the Dragon Kings’ palace.
I had to continue on the quest and trust that Ren would be strong and resourceful enough to make it out on his own.
“How long was I asleep?” I asked, raising my voice to be heard over the wind.
“Twelve hours,” Jordan replied. “Must’ve been having some dream!”
I couldn’t believe I’d slept for twelve hours. That meant five days and five nights had passed since we’d left the New Order. We should definitely be close to Diyu by now. My compass would be able to—
My hands were empty. I almost panicked, but then my gaze dropped down, and I saw that Ashley held my compass in her limp hand. I snatched it up, and it began to shudder and grow warm in my grip.
“Jordan—go
