“Are you—?”
“I’m fine,” Ren said abruptly. His eyes were fixed on the Bull Demon King. No, some spot beyond him that the demon didn’t seem to be aware of. Ren pointed. “Faryn.”
I followed Ren’s gaze. “Keep pushing him back!” I yelled. The others were so focused on their fight, I had no idea if they’d heard me or not. I snatched my sword up off the ground. Sprinting back to the fight, I put all my weight behind the blade of my sword. Only a half dozen paces away from the Bull Demon King, I leapt into the air and sliced down toward his middle with my sword.
As I’d predicted, he knocked all the breath out of me when he blocked my attack easily—and took another big step back.
A little farther, I thought. Just a little farther.
“You don’t learn, do you?” The Bull Demon King chuckled. He sounded amused, like we were nothing more than playthings to him. He reminded me of Luhao from the Jade Society, who’d sneered at me the same way. My anger burned even hotter. “You can fight me all day, and you still won’t be able to win!”
I fell to the ground and braced myself against the cold stone floor with one hand. “Keep pushing!” I shouted as I launched myself back toward the Bull Demon King.
Under the combined force of all our blows, the Bull Demon King stepped backward. His feet found nothing but air.
“Nooooooo!” Waving his arms and weapons around like a really ugly windmill, the Bull Demon King tried in vain to regain his balance. He toppled and disappeared over the edge of the cliff. I saw a flash of his red cape. Then he was gone.
I darted toward the place where the Bull Demon King had fallen and peered down the edge.
“The Cauldron of Boiling Oil.” Moli shuddered as she glanced downward with me. The Bull Demon King was still cursing us as he splashed around the huge, boiling black cauldron. Steam rose until it covered the Bull Demon King and I couldn’t see him any longer. “He’ll be out of our hair for at least a little bit.”
“What’s gonna happen to him?” Ren asked.
“He’s in a place called the Cauldron of Boiling Oil,” Ashley said matter-of-factly. She turned away, but not before I saw pain flash in her eyes. “What do you think will happen to him?”
An ominous silence followed her words, but then Moli interrupted.
“Actually, the Bull Demon King will be fine. He’s got tough skin, and he’s way more powerful than most demons or spirits. This will just be a tiny setback. In fact, he’ll probably escape soon, and I have a feeling he isn’t going to be happy to let us through, which is why we gotta leave—now.”
Moli didn’t wait for us to answer her before taking off on a path leading away from the Chamber of Mirrors. I quickly followed, with Ren, Ashley, and Jordan just behind.
“I hope we never see him again,” Ashley growled as we made our way through tangled vines and ducked under low-hanging branches.
“He’s our father, Ashley,” Jordan said quietly.
“So what? He can boil away in that nasty cauldron until the end of time for all I care. I can’t believe we’re related to a demon. A demon who didn’t even bother showing up in our lives until now!” Shaking her head, Ashley sped up her march through the forest.
“At least he’s a superpowerful demon,” Ren put in helpfully. “That’s pretty neat.”
“This is like Lord Voldemort telling me he’s my father! Blech!” Ashley continued as though Ren hadn’t spoken. Her voice grew progressively louder and more high-pitched.
“Shhhh.” Moli spun around with a warning look on her face, a finger raised to her lips. “Do you want more demons to find us?”
That got the siblings to shut up.
“We’re almost there,” Moli said after a long stretch of walking in silence. Thankfully, we hadn’t run into another demon yet.
“Are you sure about that?” Jordan asked skeptically.
I winced. Wrong move, buddy. I could see the regret cross Jordan’s face as Moli whirled on him.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” she snapped.
“Well, you haven’t exactly been the most reliable guide to Diyu. Like, you didn’t even know that the Bull Demon King was back there …”
Splotches of bright red rose on Moli’s cheeks. “I’m so sorry I don’t know everything there is to know about the entirety of the Underworld, all eighteen levels that have been here for millennia after only working here for a couple of months.”
As Jordan hastily tried to backtrack, my attention was drawn to a huge shape that rose out of the darkness of the forest. “Um … guys?”
“And you know what? I rightfully spent the first several weeks in Diyu contemplating my mortal life and everything I was supposed to be. I was supposed to go to Harvard Medical School, okay? I was supposed to be a rich, smart, beautiful doctor and marry a rich, smart, handsome doctor prince.”
“What the heck is a doctor prince?” Ren murmured.
“I think it’s what all good Chinese sons are supposed to become,” Jordan whispered. “I dressed up as one for Career Day in fifth grade.”
Meanwhile, Moli ranted on. “Now I’m stuck in the Underworld, shepherding around idiots who question why I haven’t learned thousands of years’ worth of information in a matter of months—”
“Guys!” Ren shouted, startling a furious Moli and frightened Jordan. “I think we’re almost there.”
Moli pushed past us. “Of course,” she said smoothly. “Just as planned.”
“Planned, my butt,” I heard Ashley mutter.
We trekked onward, following Moli down the path. Soon, the trees and bushes disappeared. We entered a dark clearing, which led into a city surrounded by towering walls. This had to be Youdu. Its walls were much bigger than the ones built around the Jade Society. They were so
