I searched all my pockets, even the ones inside my innermost robe. Nothing.
Then, out of the last pocket, something came fluttering. Kiki eased herself out of the fabric, bending her neck and wings to smooth out their wrinkles. She landed on my lap, her paper face somehow expressing concern.
Kiki!I cried in my thoughts.
She heard me, and she opened a wing to stroke the flesh of my palm. That simple caress was enough to bring tears to my eyes again, this time with relief. I wasn’t alone.
I cupped her in my hands and pressed her against my cheek.
I can’t speak,I told her. Even my thoughts sounded wretched.My words…they bring death…they killed the swans.
My paper bird was quiet for a moment. Then she said, surprisingly gently,What are words but silly sounds that tire the tongue? You don’t need them to find your brothers. You have me, and you won’t be alone, not as long as we search together. No more tears until we find them, all right?
Kiki’s promise moved me. I hadn’t expected so much from my bird, and I held her against me, keeping her safe as the waves crashed around us.
“Find the light that makes your lantern shine,” Mama would say. Now, more than ever, Kiki was that light.
All right,I agreed.
By the way,Kiki said, settling on my palm,I think those bandits back there were actually fishermen.
Why didn’t you say anything?
I was stuck in your pocket.
At that, I smiled. A little bit of my old strength returned.
Together, we found Tianyi Village, the only village on thisisland. With my chin high and nose to the sky, I walked the streets with the air and dignity of a princess. But no one cared how daintily I walked, how gracefully I gestured, or how proudly I could move my lips without speaking. All they saw was my torn and muddied dress, my dirty feet, the odd bowl on my head. All they understood was that I could not speak. And so they spurned my silent entreaties and turned me away.
It’s just a matter of time before Father finds me,I reminded myself grimly. Gods, I hoped Guiya was still alive. Shehadto have heard my brothers fighting against Raikama—she would tell the guards, who would tell the emperor, and Father would force Raikama to undo the curse. All I had to do was survive until then.
Except how did one survive on nothing? I tried begging, but no one would help a strange girl with a wooden bowl stuck on her head. I tried writing in the dirt for food, but no one could read. Children gathered to mock me, and some villagers threw stones, calling me a demon, but I couldn’t speak to defend myself or look them in the eye. After three days of being ignored and spat on, of sleeping outside with nothing but rainwater to fill my belly, my hopes deflated.
Hunger made me desperate. Desperation made me bold.
When the next dawn arrived, I sneaked out to the gray-watered bay, where all the fishermen docked their vessels, and unknotted the rope to one of the shrimping boats.
I didn’t notice a woman’s dark profile looming over me—until it was too late.
“No one steals from Mrs. Dainan,” she hissed, raising a fishing pole. Before I could react, it came whacking down on the wooden bowl on my head, so hard that my ears rang and the world spun.
I collapsed.
CHAPTER NINE
I scrambled to my senses and tried to get up, but Mrs. Dainan beat the bowl on my head again. “It would have been smarter for you to swim off the island, girl. That bucket’s not even fit for catching shrimp.”
She pushed me toward the gray waves crashing against the docks, daring me to jump in. When I didn’t, she harrumphed and grabbed my chin, studying the sooty hollows of my cheeks. “Just as I thought. No demon would be as pitiful asyou.”
She threw her apron at me. “You work for me now. Any tricks, and I’ll tell the magistrate to cut off your hands for trying to steal my boat. Understand?”
Hunger sharpened in my gut as I bunched up the apron in my hand. It was stained with oil and brown sauce, and dried grains of rice that I could have licked right off the cloth.
Just for a day,I promised myself before I trudged after her. I glanced at the empty sky, imagining six cranes threading through the clouds.Just for a day.
I’d soon lose count of how many times that promise was to be broken.
“Lina! Lina, get over here, you stupid girl!”
