Sacrifice (36 page)

“Why does water flow from your eyes, Mama?” she asked.

Zhen Ni let out a small laugh. “Mama is sad. I’m worried for Skybright.”

“Not for Baba?”

“No.” Zhen Ni’s expression hardened. “Not for Baba.”

Skybright wanted to hug her friend to her—there was so much to say and explain. But she felt awkward and shy, and Blossom’s strange questions acutely reminded Skybright of her own demonic side. But if she shifted back to her girl form, she’d likely faint. “Thank you,” she said in her rough voice.

“Thank
you
, Sky.” Her friend wiped her eyes, then touched Skybright’s face. “I had sent that message with Pearl so you would leave me. I wanted to keep you safe. But I should have known that you’d never abandon me if you could help it. I’m sorry I ever doubted you.”

Skybright grabbed Zhen Ni’s hand in gratitude, her heart aching but feeling full, when the earth groaned loudly beneath them. Their eyes met, and Skybright knew Zhen Ni had the same thought, this all felt terribly familiar—when the breach had closed the first time at the base of Tian Kuan Mountain.

“Stone and Kai Sen are working to collapse the caverns below ground,” Skybright said. “We have to go!”

Blossom ran ahead of them out into the courtyard, and Zhen Ni tried to put an arm under Skybright to support her. “No,” she said. “Go on, I’m all right.”

Zhen Ni nodded, following Blossom as the ground heaved beneath them, rumbling, still grasping Nanny Bai’s dagger. Skybright slithered right behind, then saw Kai Sen’s leather pouch on the ground where it had fallen after she shifted and grabbed it, clutching it to her. She was still woozy but strong enough to keep up. “Where do we go?” Zhen Ni asked over her shoulder.

“We have to leave the estate.”

Zhen Ni led them, but Blossom had run ahead, disappearing behind a large pavilion. “Blossom!” Zhen Ni shouted, following the demon child. She truly loved the girl, and Skybright couldn’t understand why. Even as the thought crossed her mind, Zhen Ni tripped in front of her. Skybright smelled the corpse before she saw it. Blossom was crouched over a monk and had gouged out his eyes, clutching one eyeball in a small fist, with the other shoved in her mouth. She was making contented noises, savoring the meal. Skybright remembered the rotten corpses below ground, most gnawed to the bone.

Blossom
had eaten them.

Zhen Ni slapped Blossom’s arm, then grabbed her wrist, pulling the eyeball from the girl’s bow-shaped mouth. “Drop it,” she said, her voice harder than Skybright had ever heard it. “No.”

The girl let go, unblinking amber eyes turned upward, and Skybright would have shivered if she had been in mortal form. She had no doubt that Blossom could kill Zhen Ni if she wanted to. But shockingly, the little girl loved Zhen Ni back; Skybright could sense their love for each other, a warmth that emanated between them. The ground shook harder now beneath their feet, and Zhen Ni held on to Blossom’s hand. “Stay with Mama.”

The girl obeyed, and they ran on. An ear-splitting crack filled the night sky, sending shock waves through the air. Skybright looked back and saw a dark crevice opening in the ground, zigzagging its way toward them at lightning speed. Kai Sen and Stone had succeeded—but had they survived? There was no time to cast her senses downward for them as she followed Zhen Ni and Blossom, trying to make it out alive.

Zhen Ni knew where she was going, winding her way through the courtyards and covered corridors without slowing, her hand clasped with Blossom’s. The demonic child kept up, likely holding back, her chubby legs a blur of motion. The yawning crack that chased them had diverted in a different direction, but the ground didn’t stop shuddering. Sounds of screaming and fighting drifted to them from within the massive estate, yet they never encountered it firsthand. Although Skybright could see no flames, the pungent odor of smoke and fire penetrated the night air. Her wound throbbed, but since emerging into the cool outdoors, she’d become focused, her senses even more keen, so intent was she on their survival.

“We’re almost there,” Zhen Ni shouted over her shoulder.

She had barely spoken when a giant roar reverberated across the rockwork in the courtyard they were in, and Zhen Ni skidded to a sudden stop in front of Skybright. Skybright slithered forward so she was beside her friend. Two massive demon hounds paced in front of them, blocking their way. She recognized them as the statues she had seen guarding the main entrance of the manor. Their ruby eyes glowed red flames now, and wisps of smoke curled from their mouths. Squat and muscular, they were as tall as large stallions, with golden claws that cut deep grooves in the dirt. One lifted its powerful head, lips pulled back to expose sharp teeth and fangs. Fire shot from its mouth.

Pouncing, one of the hounds leaped at Zhen Ni, its lethal claws extended. Skybright pushed Zhen Ni behind her and lashed her serpentine body out, thwacking the beast in the face. She stunned it, but the hound was too large and powerful for her to wrap her coil around, so she grabbed Zhen Ni and they crumpled to the ground, Skybright covering Zhen Ni with her own body.

Within a breath, the hellhound was on top of them, exhaling smoke so hot that it singed the skin on her bare back. She bit her lip so she wouldn’t scream in Zhen Ni’s ear. The beast had planted both giant paws on either side of them; the talons were curved and as long as her palm. When the beast chose to swipe, Skybright knew she’d be eviscerated—if it didn’t rip her head off with its powerful jaws or burn her to a crisp first. She was ready to launch herself at the hellhound’s front leg and sink her fangs in, hoping she’d be fast enough before the giant beast reacted and killed them.

But a girlish voice cut through the thunderous rumbling of the ground beneath them and the low growl in the hellhounds’ throats. “No,” Blossom said. “Leave them be.” The snarl she heard from the hound above them stopped, and Skybright saw the other hound sit down on its haunches, also quiet.

“
I
am your master now,” Blossom said matter-of-factly. “Baba is dead.”

Skybright could feel Zhen Ni shaking beneath her. The demon child’s chubby legs approached them. “Get off Mama and my new auntie,” Blossom commanded. “If you hurt them, I will kill you.”

The hound crouching over them whined, so sharp it hurt her ears, and carefully shuffled backward until they were free. Skybright pushed herself up and was going to help Zhen Ni, but Blossom already had her small hand extended. “Well done, petal,” Zhen Ni said, smiling at the demon child through her tears. Again, Skybright felt the strong bond between her friend and the girl, a genuine warmth and connection. Blossom was eloquent and as beautiful as a doll, but Zhen Ni had never been taken with small children. It perplexed Skybright.

Blossom spoke again to the hounds, imperiously, “You shall protect us.”

The ground tilted beneath their feet and hot acrid air rushed at them. They ran together, with the giant hellhounds bounding beside them. Skybright spared one glance back and saw that the chasm had caught up, had likely spread through the foundation of the entire Bei manor. She slithered right behind Zhen Ni and Blossom, and they all crashed through a side entrance of the estate. The two hellhounds rammed against the small exit, until the stone broke and the beasts burst through, panting. They heeled near Blossom, as they all tried to catch their breath.

But before they could recover, a deafening
boom
filled the skies and the walls of Bei manor folded inward, collapsing before them. Zhen Ni pulled Blossom back, and the hounds bounded away, retreating from the manor’s perimeters. Skybright watched as the entire estate was swallowed by a yawning gap in the earth, devouring tall trees, tiled roofs, and rock gardens alike, until her vision was filled with dust clouds and the thick stench of smoke.

She threw her senses downward, but there was too much disturbance within the earth for her to pinpoint any life below. The ground shuddered again, and she had to force herself back from the estate’s edge while the manor continued to collapse inward.

How could Kai Sen or Stone have survived this?

Shouts of fear and excitement filled the night air. It was well past the thieving hour, but Bei manor’s fate had not gone unnoticed. Servants and handmaids began trickling out of the various rich estates bordering the manor, intent on collecting news and gossip for their ladies and masters. Skybright slithered away to the back of the manor near the forest. She didn’t want to be seen, but neither did she want to shift back to her mortal form. As a girl, she’d feel exposed, in more ways than one. Zhen Ni followed with Blossom clutching her hand and the two hellhounds closing the rear like demonic guards, which they were to the little girl now, Skybright realized.

The grounds of Bei manor were so expansive that no one was near the back where they had entered through the tunnel. The tall wall above the tunnel still stood for a few lengths, likely because it was on the outer most perimeter of the estate, far from the center of the manor. But no one was there. She felt her heart plummet, and she cast her senses as far below as she could.

Stone.

Without saying a word, she dove headfirst into the narrow hole, ignoring the panic that was rising in her chest. She found him collapsed midway through the tunnel, unconscious. “Stone,” she said and touched his cheek. He stirred a little, groaning. “Stone!”

He lifted his head. “Skybright?”

She knew he couldn’t see her in the darkness. “Give me your hands. I’ll pull you up.”

He struggled to lift his arms overhead in the cramped space, and when he finally managed and she clasped both his hands in hers, she was flooded with such relief that her face burned. She pulled him, using her powerful serpent coil to shift back and up the steep tunnel. Her torn shoulder screamed in pain, but she ignored it, gritting her teeth. Stone, obviously weak, worked with her, pushing with his feet. The earth shook around them, the manor’s collapse still sending shock waves. Dirt and rubble rained down, and she was terrified that the tunnel could crash in on them at any moment.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, she felt the cool air on her scales, and she was free with Zhen Ni beside the entrance, waiting anxiously. Stone crawled through, coughing, covered in dust, his face blackened with soot, and dirt, and dried blood. “Thank you,” he gulped another breath, “Skybright.”

“Kai Sen?” she asked, deep down already knowing Stone’s response.

Stone gave a weak shake of his head. “He gave his life saving me.”

She wanted to fall to the ground and howl from grief, to cry until she was hoarse and could not shed another tear. But she could not cry in serpent form and instead held still as a statue. “You saw him die.”

“No,” Stone said. “He was trapped within the cavern.”

Zhen Ni reached for her arm, gripping it, trying to offer comfort and strength.

“He could still be alive then,” Skybright said and cast her senses again, going deeper to where the demon spawn had dwelled. Some demons still lived far below; she could feel them, their lives like flickering flames. But they were all near death. Then a glimmer of recognition, so fleeting it was like trying to capture mist in her hands. “I sense him!” She lunged toward the tunnel entrance but amazingly, Stone moved fast enough to block her way.

“No.”

She jerked her good arm back to knock him aside. He lowered his chin, ready for the blow, but stood his ground.

“I can save him,” she rasped.

“Skybright,” Stone said in a thick voice. “Kai Sen is gone. The entire estate crashed down on us.
I
barely made it out alive.” He lifted his head, and his face was wet from tears. “To go back in is suicide.”

The sight of Stone crying was so shocking she dropped her arm and snapped her coil, sliding away from him. His display of emotion unsettled her—something she never thought she’d see from Stone, who had always been stoic and impassive. “I can try.” Her throat felt closed, raw.

“Sky.” Zhen Ni was beside her again, wrapping her arms around her. “Please. Stone is right. I-I can’t lose you again.”

Zhen Ni laid her head on Skybright’s good shoulder, and she felt as if her chest had crumpled, been crushed as terribly and fast as Bei manor had been. Her friend kissed her softly on the cheek, as she used to do when they were little girls and Skybright had scraped an elbow or knee or had had a nightmare and needed comforting. Skybright’s throat filled with the salt of tears, but they didn’t reach her eyes.

“We have to go,” Zhen Ni said. “It isn’t safe here.”

“I have to do one thing,” Stone said. “Do you have the divining stone, Skybright?”

For a moment, she didn’t know what Stone was referring to. Then she remembered the leather pouch Kai Sen had handed her before he hugged her farewell for the very last time. She still gripped it in one hand, through the hellhound attack and escaping the estate’s destruction, as if her life depended on it. She opened the pouch and pulled out the heavy divining stone and gave it to him.

But she felt something else in the bag and retrieved it. It was a wooden figurine of a woman, and Kai Sen’s scent lingered on the piece, as if he had held it often in his hand. She examined it, and although the face was too rough to be recognizable, the woman wore a bun pulled to each side of her head, as Skybright often did.
I enjoy carving too
, Kai Sen had said when they were first getting to know each other. She had never seen his work, but somehow she knew that his hands had made this, and it was meant to be a figurine of her.