Since when did my baby sister grow up? I wrap an arm over her shoulder, she slips hers around my waist, and we stand together, just watching the clouds move across the sky like molten flame.
Eventually, though, my thoughts turn to the journey ahead of me: two days to get to the pass between the Gods’ Fingers,the mountain range that marks the midway point between the mortal and immortal realms. There I’ll catch the convoy that will cross the most dangerous lands: mountains and forests haunted by not only spirits and monsters of the mortal realm…but the hellbeasts from the Kingdom of Night seeking to break through the wards protecting the immortal realm.
My thoughts must spill through to my sister, for Méi’zi pulls back slightly and glances at our house.
“Ma’s asleep,” she says softly.
“I know.” Perhaps it is better this way. Whether or not I say goodbye to my mother, the woman inside will not know. Still, I can’t help but glance at the open bamboo door. In the darkness within, I think I see my mother’s silhouette, her tufts of white hair.
I think of the five vials of elixir stored in our coolbox. Five months for me to survive the journey to the immortal realm, hone my skills so I become strong enough to pass the trials and win a pill of immortality. Then I will be free to return to the mortal realm and give the pill to Ma.
I turn away. I shoulder my pack, checking again for my crescent blades, my silken handkerchief, and the jade pendant at my neck.
Méi’zi grabs my hand. “I’ll go with you to the gate,” she says.
It’s a short walk. All too soon, the pái’fang appears, with the gold-inked charactersXi’lín Villagenow faded and covered in dust. We stop just before it.
Méi’zi turns to me and throws her arms around me. Her grip is like steel. “I’ll miss you,” my baby sister whispers, and the tremor in her voice breaks my heart open all over again.
I hold her tightly. I can’t speak, but I think she understands.
She draws back, and though tears run down her face, she smiles. “But I’ll be just fine,” she says. “Me and Ma. I’ll count down the days to the snows. That’s when you’ll be back, right?”
“Yes.” I reach into my sleeve. “I have something for you.”
Her eyes go wide when I retrieve Shield. She darts a glance up at me, and the delight on her face is real. “Truly?” she gasps. “But…she’s your favorite!”
Of the eight crescent blades my father gifted me, Shield was the first he taught me to use, because it can serve as both a blade and, with just a spark of spirit energy, a shield.
“She is,” I say, and press Shield into my sister’s palm. “Protect her well. I’d better not see a single scratch on her when I come back for her next season.”
Méi’zi beams at me. “I’ll keep her safe, don’t worry.”
“I’ll find a way to write,” I promise. Then I swallow. “Méi’zi, if I don’t return…”
Méi’zi’s hand flies to cover my mouth. “Don’t say that, jie’jie. It’s bad luck.”
Gently, I remove her hand. “If I don’t return…” I steady my voice. I have to speak the hard truths. “Go south. Or west. Anywhere but the Central Province. Promise me.”
Méi’zi’s eyes shine. “You heard Fú’yí,” she whispers. “There is an old magic guarding our land, our people. Even if you don’t, jie’jie, I’ll believe in that magic. I’ll believe in you.”
I cup her chin with my palm. My sister might still trust in magic, but I know better than to trust anything other than my own two hands and my crescent blades.
“The first snows,” I tell her. Then I turn and march out through the pái’fang. I leave my baby sister standing alone beneath the gate, cradling my blade like a favorite doll.
I don’t look back.
3
The convoy is late.
It is sunset on the second day of my journey, and I do not wish to spend another night alone in the mountains. Journeying eastward through the Central Province to thick pine forests that wind through a narrow, uninhabited part of the Eastern Province, I have reached Gods’ Fingers, the famous mountain range that marks the final frontier of safety in the mortal realm. It is here that the convoy will meet to traverse the most dangerous part of the journey: the last stretch of mortal lands before the immortal realm borders. Named the Way of Ghosts, it is said to be filled with hellbeasts from the Kingdom of Night, prowling in search of a way through the immortals’ wards. For the nine years since they invaded our realm, the mó and their beasts have been seeking a way into the Kingdom of Sky—and have yet to succeed.
I pace, fingering the jade pendant at my throat and wondering for the umpteenth time if I read its latest messagewrong. The messages are rare and disappear as quickly as they come, with the heat of magic.
Now the pendant remains blank.
The bamboo shadows are lengthening into claws, and the setting sun turns the sky a blood red. I have yet to stumble into any mó, but my luck may soon run out. With the added danger of hellbeasts roaming the Way of Ghosts beyond here, I know I am not strong enough to make it to the Kingdom of Sky alone.
