“Alex, I—I— You know I can’t.” I forced confidence into my voice. “I won’t.”
“So be it.” My brother’s words rang with finality. “Soldiers!” he shouted, raising Fenghuang. A bolt of white energy shot out of the top, crackling like thunder in the sky, illuminating the night. “Take this mountain, and capture every last creature living on it!”
The war drums’ beating grew louder. Monkeys screeched as they held their weapons toward the sky. But they were leaderless. Sun Wukong had vanished from his throne.
“Eyes up here, kid!”
We all looked up. The Monkey King floated on a cloud high above, the Ruyi Jingu Bang giving off enough power that it alone held back most of Alex’s army.
“F-Faryn?” Ren said shakily.
I turned toward Ren and gasped at the sight of his body shaking and trembling. Oh no. Fenghuang had the power to control all dragons. Now that Alex had called upon the weapon’s power, the dragon inside Ren was struggling to come out.
C’mon, fight this, Ren, I thought. He hadn’t gone into specifics, but I knew that during his time with the Dragon Kings, Ren had undergone intense mental training to become one with his dragon. I hoped it had been enough to know when to shake off the dragon’s influence.
“Faryn, look out!” shouted Jordan.
I turned around to see and hear an object rush at my head. My reflexes, sharpened through years of training, kicked into action just in time. I yanked my sword up to block Fenghuang.
But the effect was so minimal that I might as well have not done anything at all. The force of the golden spear slamming into my sword sent me flying backward. I landed on my back on the grass, and a sharp pain shot up my tailbone. There was no time to check if I’d broken or twisted something. The next moment, a shadow fell over my head as someone—something—loomed overhead, no doubt to deal the finishing blow.
Adrenaline pumped through my veins. I wouldn’t let it end like this. I didn’t care how powerful Alex and his army were. I wouldn’t go down without putting up a fight.
With a roar, I drove the point of my sword upward. It clashed against the steel blade of another sword.
“Wait—it’s me, Faryn! It’s Ren! I’m trying to help you!”
I blinked. It was Ren. I’d almost stabbed Ren.
“Get up,” he commanded, holding a hand out toward me.
“You’re … yourself,” I said stupidly. I grabbed Ren’s hand and propelled myself off the ground. “Not … a dragon.”
Ren’s breathing was irregular, and sweat mixed with dirt beaded on his forehead, but he gave me a shaky grin. “Training’s paid off, huh?”
From where we stood, I could see everything that was going on. A ghostly swarm of our ancestors surrounded Alex and several members of his army. Even with the aid of Fenghuang, which glowed in bursts of golden light, my brother couldn’t overcome the sheer numbers of angry spirits overwhelming him. They swelled against him, wave after wave. Although Alex beat them back, more kept coming.
I couldn’t help but feel a burst of pride for my family. Few of them carried actual weapons, but their combined power was enough to hold back the army.
“Take that, you awful nephew!” shouted one ancestor, who whacked Alex with her hairbrush. “Bringing dishonor and shame to the family. You won’t be getting any blessings from me this year!”
I said an inward prayer of thanks to everyone, young and old, who’d prayed to their ancestors and given them food during the Hungry Ghost Festival. They’d probably prevented us from being barbecued by Alex and Fenghuang just now.
But my euphoria was fleeting. A sound like a cannon going off exploded through the clearing. When I looked up, my jaw dropped in horror.
Heaven’s immortal warriors had broken through the powerful light of the Ruyi Jingu Bang. Sun Wukong was little more than a streak of red and yellow and brown, fighting back a dozen warriors with his staff. But many more soldiers and dragons flooded past the monkeys into the clearing.
In the chaos, Jordan had somehow instated himself as the temporary leader of the monkeys. They charged into battle with him at the front of the lines, engaging Heavenly warriors in combat.
“Any ideas for holding off this attack?” Ren asked.
No matter how I looked at it, the situation didn’t seem good for us. Even if our spirits and monkeys outnumbered Alex’s forces, the Heavenly soldiers had trained for battle among the best. Plus, they were immortal, which made them pretty hard to defeat.
There was no way around it. If we wanted to win this battle, we’d have to fight fire with fire.
Dragons with dragons.
“Ren, you’re going to have to take your dragon form.” I eyed the two black dragons that circled the mountain from high above, as though biding their time for the perfect chance to attack.
Ren paled. “I can’t. You know I can’t.”
“You have to.”
“But I—I haven’t mastered control yet. I didn’t finish my training with the Dragon Kings. If I lose myself again—”
“Ren.” With my free hand, I grabbed his arm and yanked him toward me so that our faces were only inches apart. He was forced to look me in the eyes. “When I was the Heaven Breaker, you trusted me, didn’t you? You trusted me not to make you or your dragon do anything against your values.”
He nodded, gulping so that his Adam’s apple bobbed.
“I’m not talking to you as the Heaven Breaker but as your friend. We’ve trained together for months now. If you trust me, then remember me when you transform—and
