“Wanna come along? I’ll show you.”
I hesitated, mostly because the sour expression on Ashley’s face told me that, no, I didn’t want to come along. But even though his little sister was possibly the spawn of the nián demon, Jordan seemed cool. So far, he hadn’t given me resentful looks or tried to kill me or anything. I was pretty sure that meant we were friends.
“Hey, Ash—” Jordan turned toward his sister—or rather, the empty spot where his sister had stood moments ago. I watched Ashley draw farther from us as she sprinted toward the New Order apartment complex.
“Don’t follow me!” she shouted over her shoulder.
“Good luck to you, too, sis.” Jordan sighed, rubbing his forehead.
“Is Ashley always so …?” I trailed off, trying and failing to find a niceish synonym for “constant thorn in my side.”
“Speedy?”
I cleared my throat. “Uh … yeah, speedy. That’s the word I was looking for.”
Jordan’s pride for his sister glowed on his face. “Fastest runner the New Order has seen in decades. Demonically fast, some people have said. Ashley loves being first in everything.”
As Jordan prattled on like the proudest parent in the world, my thoughts drifted toward Alex. I tried to ignore the pang in my chest.
I followed Jordan down the temple steps and raced out onto the cobblestone ground. Everyone was branching out, some headed down packed sidewalks and side streets, while others disappeared into nearby grocery stores. After the destruction from the demons’ attack six months ago—which the news reported as a “freak storm”—many warriors had mingled with the regular humans to help rebuild Manhattan’s Chinatown.
Ah Qiao the monkey impersonator found a nice tree to climb. And next to Ah Qiao’s tree was … Ba. Our eyes met again, and he gave me that same distant, polite smile. For a moment, I considered going over to my father—but then thought better of it. What was the point? Every time I’d tried talking to Ba, he’d given me no indication that he knew I was his daughter. I’d asked around, and everyone told me he’d mysteriously shown up at the New Order one day three years ago, bedraggled and half-alive, with no memory of who he was.
I couldn’t decide which was worse—being around a father who didn’t remember me or having no father at all.
“… Faryn?”
I startled, realizing I’d tuned Jordan out. Quickly, I followed him as we joined the crowd that was headed toward the entrances of the high-rise apartment.
“Sorry. What’d you say?”
Jordan gave me an annoyed look and sighed. “I was saying,” he continued, “it was so cool how the gods just showed up in the temple, huh? The gods are freaking awesome. And, like, they gave us a real quest!”
“Um … uh-huh,” I said. I stopped myself from adding, And some gods are bloodthirsty and murderous and human hating, and we’re gonna have to stop them from waging war on everything ever.
Jordan must’ve sensed the lack of enthusiasm in my voice, because his smile faded. “Oh yeah. You and Ren have already been on a quest for the gods. Seeing them is, like, totally normal to you guys now.”
“That’s not true,” I said.
“Actually, you’ve never given any of us a straight answer. What exactly was it like?” He lowered his voice like we were sharing a secret. “Going on a quest for the gods during the Lunar New Year?”
I didn’t want to talk about this with Jordan right now—or ever, actually. Many New Order warriors had pressed me for details of the quest I’d undertaken during the Lunar New Year, but I’d kept my responses vague, for a couple of reasons. Of course, the rebel gods had told me to “lay low” at the New Order. (Apparently that didn’t actually mean digging a hole in the ground and lying down in it, but that’s a tale for another day. Also, why did the gods always have to be so cryptic?) I also didn’t want to unpack all my family-related trauma, such as the fact that my little brother had betrayed me, with a bunch of strangers who didn’t even like me.
“The quest was … stressful,” I said vaguely. “Exhausting. Cold. Didn’t pack enough Pocky. Rookie mistake.”
Jordan’s shiny eagerness didn’t fade, despite my stiffness. “I mean, what did you and Ren do?”
A blast of air-conditioning greeted us as we headed inside the building. “We, um …” We were on a quest, trying to find a mythical island and my father. Many demons tried to destroy us, which was slightly rude. We thought the gods would help us, but instead, most of them wanted humanity destroyed, which was even ruder. Oh yeah, and my grandfather Ye Ye and friend Moli died, and my brother, Alex, betrayed me. The food at the gods’ feast was bomb, though.
I imagined telling this to Jordan, who stared at me all wide-eyed and eager.
“Let’s just say we, uh … we … crashed the Jade Emperor’s banquet together,” I said.
“Oh, is that why the dude went all cranky?” asked Jordan.
“Cranky” was the understatement of the year. “Yeah. Sure. Let’s go with that.”
We ducked into the stairwell and walked up to the second floor, then entered through the first set of white doors. I’d never actually been inside Jordan and Ashley’s apartment before, even though Jordan had invited me many times.
“Welcome to our humble abode,” said Jordan as I came to a stop in front of a black door with the number sixteen over it. He pulled a key from his pocket, inserted it into the lock, and swung the door wide open.
Ashley stood there wearing a set of pink headphones, holding a half-eaten mán tou, a steamed bun, in one hand. She bounced a red yo-yo up and down with her other hand. As soon as the door opened fully, Ashley looked up and raised an eyebrow at us both. Her eyes narrowed when they landed on me.
“Hey, sis,” said Jordan happily, raising his hand in a wave. “Looks
