Eternal

by Grant, Alasdair

  We stare at the oil-stained concrete floor.

  “I’m sorry you’ve been dragged into this, Lil. Maybe if Jade and I had handled things better… Maybe if…”

  I don’t get the chance to figure out what I’m going to say, because one of the warehouse’s rusted metal doors creaks open and three familiar figures step in.

  A fourth person—a thin middle-aged man—walks in behind them. I feel like I should know him, but I can’t quite place his face.

  “Good morning, Lily. Good morning, Jade.”

  We stare back at him, unsure what to say.

  “You still have the protective amulet, I see.”

  I follow his gaze to the jade pendant falling from my neck. Sometime during our traumatic escape, it worked its way out from beneath my blood-stained blouse. I haven’t bothered tucking it back under my collar yet.

  “We’ll have to get one for you, too, Lily. Now that you’re linked.”

  He stares at her a moment as if seeing something in her that impresses him.

  “How about the war fan, juk faa?” He looks at me again. “Do you still have the gift?”

  Juk faa? Gift?

  I study him more closely, and as I stare into his gray eyes, a shiver goes up my spine.

  “Yeye?”

  He smiles.

  “But…but you’re dead. I went to your funeral. I saw you in the casket.”

  I shrink back, feeling cold and dizzy.

  “Those who master the amplitudes have ways of making others see what they want them to see.”

  His voice. I recognize it, too, but it’s not the ancient, wheezing voice I heard in Yeye’s bedroom. This is Yeye without infinite wrinkles and a nearly hairless scalp. This is Yeye as he would look if he were thirty or forty years younger, or if he were a clean-shaven version of…

  “Master Ning?”

  Master Ning’s younger doppelganger smiles and turns to Mistress Song.

  “You see what I told you, Li. She’s already learning to see through amplitude distortions.”

  He turns to speak to me now.

  “Unfortunately for us all, my old friend Zhao Zheng—or Qin Shi Huang as you know him—has taken the art of distortion to levels only a man with no conscience could devise. The measures we put in place to protect you turned out to be no match for his prodigious mind powers. We should have removed you from your home the moment he discovered you. The only thing that stopped us was the risk of reawakening your mother’s memories.”

  A swarm of hungry questions buzzes around this statement, but all I can think to say is, “My mom… Is she safe?”

  “She’s safe. As is Lily’s family. Keiko spent most of last night and this morning seeing to that.”

  “When can we go back to them?” Lily asks, shifting forward on the crate.

  It’s never a good sign when someone pauses so long before answering.

  “For the time being, you must remain apart. Your presence would endanger them.”

  “We’re not going back?”

  “Not immediately. Not until we sort through the ramifications of Anqi Sheng’s prophecy.”

  Lily looks at me, distraught. I think I expected this, but she didn’t.

  “All will be set right,” Master Ning assures her. “As soon as possible. We’ll do everything in our power to make your and Jenna’s lives safe and happy again.”

  “Can we ever be happy?” I ask. “Can we ever be safe?”

  “We’ve protected you for fifteen years,” Master Ning says. “We’ll find ways to do it again.”

  “You’ve been protecting me? For fifteen years?”

  “Let’s get you some breakfast,” Master Ning says. “That and a few hours of sleep. Afterwards there will be plenty of time for explanations.”

  SIXTY-TWO

  六十二

  JADE

  I walk quietly through the mandarin orchard. Birds twitter cheerfully in the foliage above me, but their joy doesn’t warm my heart.

  “There you are. I’ve been looking everywhere for you.”

  I turn and Mistress Song glides toward me. She smiles, but I can’t return the favor. Not today. Not feeling the way I feel.

  “Lily is looking for you.”

  “I know.”

  Mistress Song watches me a moment then motions toward an overturned cart. Its wheels are caked with orchard mud, and its wood has weathered to a pale gray. I reluctantly follow her, and we both sit down.

  “Something is bothering you. I’m willing to listen if you’re willing to talk.”

  I’m not sure what I want to say. I’m still reeling from everything that has happened to Jenna and me. I start with a nagging question.

  “Master Ning… Our Master Ning… Or maybe the other one, too…”

  I shake my head. Sometimes this dual reality becomes so confusing.

  “He thinks the prophecy is about Jenna and me. Doesn’t he? We’ve read it. It doesn’t mention our names.”

  “You read it? How?”

  “Jenna stole pages from an old book.”

  Mistress Song nods. “Then I suppose the two of you need answers. What in particular do you want to know?”

  “I want to know what it means. I want to know how a senseless riddle has turned our lives upside down. How does Master Ning know—how does anyone know—Jenna and I are the ones who will kill the Emperor? Where does it say that in the prophecy?”

  “You think that’s what it says? That you’ll kill the Emperor?”

  I clench my fists.

  “The Eternal Emperor is trying to murder us, and Harold Chin told us the prophecy was our only hope. Mistress Jiu-Li has been training us to become assassins. It doesn’t take a scholar to figure out the prophecy has something to do with killing the Emperor. Why does he think it will be Jenna and me?”

  “May I quote the prophecy? We can go over it line by line.”

  I shrug, and Mistress Song repeats Xu Fu’s confusing riddle in a hypnotic voice:

  “Daughters of the Yellow Emperor,

  Sisters in shui,

  Moon Rabbit flees as Fu fades away.

  Mountain is toppled by Seaweed’s grasp,

  Dragon declawed in Flower’s clasp.

  Thus ends First Emperor’s endless reign.

  Two become One and Five the same.”

  She waits to let me brood a moment. When I frown and shake my head, she gives me help.

  “The power of Anqi Sheng’s prophecies,” she says, “has always been his ability to say so much in so few words. He spoke in symbols, and symbols can best be understood if their context is known. Let’s consider the first line: Daughters of the Yellow Emperor, sisters in shui… Think, Jade. Stretch your mind. What do you know about the Yellow Emperor?”

  I rub my temples. This isn’t a classroom, so why do I feel like I’m being given a challenging test?

  “‘Daughters of the Yellow Emperor,’” I say, rubbing harder. “Jenna’s mom explained that one. Most Chinese people claim to be descended from him. The subjects of this prophecy must be girls or women of Chinese descent.”

  “Good. What next?”

  “‘Sisters in shui. If the girls are sisters, they’re either related or share a common cause. Shui is water. The Fifth Amplitude. I think it means they’re linked by the Fifth Amplitude. Like…like Jenna and me.”

  “Go on.”

  I feel ice creep through my veins. The pieces are slowly falling into place, and I don’t like the picture they’re creating.

  “‘Moon rabbit flees as Fu fades away.’”

  This piece is more difficult. I have to think about it carefully and then think again. Part of it finally comes to me from a bedtime story my mother used to tell me.

  “Moon rabbit,” I say, dread squeezing my heart. “He’s supposed to be the moon goddess’s companion. My mother called him Jade Rabbit. He pounds the elixir of life for his mistress, Chang’e. Anyone who consumes the elixir is supposed to become immortal.”

  Mistre
ss Song nods. “Excellent. What else do you perceive?”

  “I don’t know what ‘Fu’ is. It’s a nonsense word to me.”

  “It is a marking on the Eternal Emperor’s imperial robes.”

  She hops off the cart and draws the character in the soil. Two mirrored images like broken links from a silver chain.

  “It represents a king’s ability to distinguish good from evil,” she says, “and choose right over wrong.”

  “‘Fu fades away,’” I whisper. “The other Master Ning told Jenna the Emperor lost his conscience.”

  “A sad fact to which I think we can all agree.”

  I consider the rest of the poem, but its symbolism continues to escape me. Mistress Song sees this, and she ties the loose ends together.

  “Most of the imagery in the prophecy relates to Imperial symbols. The mountain is the Emperor’s strength—his ability to rule over the earth. The seaweed represents purity—another reference to the two girls.”

  “The dragon,” I say excitedly. Every child understands this symbol. “It represents power, good luck, and transformation. And the flower… It’s…it’s referring to the two girls again.”

  I can’t say those girls are Jenna and me. I won’t. I’m still not ready to accept it. But I finally understand how the Eternal Emperor could interpret them as being Jenna and me.

  “‘Thus ends the First Emperor’s eternal reign,’” Mistress Song finishes. “‘Two become One and Five the same.’”

  “What does that mean?” I ask. “The last part. Two become one—that’s what happens when an eternal link is formed—but what about ‘Five the same’? What is that supposed to mean?”

  Mistress Song shakes her head. “I’m not sure. None of us are. Possibly it refers to how links are formed—through the Fifth Amplitude. Or it may be a reference to the mastery of all five amplitudes. My personal belief is that it suggests five other linked people will help the girls from the prophecy. The second explanation becomes quite intriguing now that Lily is one of us.”

  Five immortal helpers. Five in each world.

  It frightens me to think about it too long. It can’t be them. It can’t be me. There have to be other interpretations.

  “I can’t do it,” I say. “I can’t kill another person. Even if that person is as evil as the Emperor.”

  “None of us know what we’re capable of until the moment of decision. And perhaps you’ll never even have to face that decision. If Master Ning and I have anything to say about it, you’ll live your eternal life in anonymity, never running afoul of the Emperor again. This isn’t the first time Qin Shi thought a certain girl was supposed to be his prophesied slayer. It probably won’t be the last.”

  “You said something about that before,” I say. “When the Emperor’s barge showed up, you mentioned something about the prophecy trying to fulfill itself again.”

  Mistress Song nods. She gets a pained expression on her face.

  “One of our number,” she says, “one of the linked, thought she could destroy the Eternal Emperor. She searched him out. He, too, believed she and her link were the girls from the prophecy. Both of them were wrong.”

  “He told Jenna about a girl,” I whisper. “One of Xu Fu’s two thousand. He said he tortured her for three years…” I stop speaking and shudder. “What happened to her? Did he find her link? Is she dead?”

  Mistress Song bows her head. “Yes. But that won’t happen to you. There are ways to stay invisible. Some of us have kept ourselves hidden for a very long time. We’ll help you and Lily do the same.”

  We fall silent a few moments, listening to a cool breeze as it sighs through the treetops.

  “Lily still needs to speak with you,” Mistress Song says. “I think you two should talk.”

  I nod.

  “The last time I saw her, she was at the edge of the orchard near the plum tree.”

  I start walking, but pause after a few steps so I can look back.

  “Mistress Song?”

  “Yes?”

  “Thank you. Thank you for everything.”

  She nods, gives me another smile, and I start walking again, looking for Lily.

  I feel apprehensive. My palms are sweating by the time I find her alone under the plum tree. She’s staring at the mountains, but I know she hears me coming. I can see it in the way her shoulders tense. She’s as nervous about this as I am.

  The Dikang dagger is no longer in her sash. It sticks out of the orchard’s rich, dark dirt. She looks subtly different from the Lily I knew at the academy. I’m not sure if I’m seeing something I missed that was always there or if the past few days have changed her. It’s probably a little of both.

  “I’m not who you think I am,” she says. “But you already know that. Lily told Jenna, and you overheard.”

  I sit beside her in the grass. “That’s what the other Lily said, but I have no idea what it means.”

  “It means my real name isn’t Lily. It’s Lilja. And I wasn’t selected for the academy. I infiltrated it.”

  “You’re a Dikang agent. You’re the one I heard speaking with Opal that night in the hallway.”

  “Yes. Did you figure that out now, or have you known for a while?”

  “I had my suspicions after I watched you maim those defenseless chalk people with Mistress Jiu-Li’s throwing stars.”

  Lily allows herself a small laugh.

  “Then I suppose you’ve figured out everything else as well.”

  “The boy with the bomb…”

  “I didn’t send that boy to his death,” Lily quickly says. “That was Opal. I don’t always agree with the Dikang’s methods.”

  “How did you become involved with them? Did they recruit you? Did you seek them out?”

  “I was born into it,” Lily answers. “My father is a high-ranking Dikang general.”

  I imagine the other Lily’s cheerful, friendly father and can’t imagine a more war-like version of him. But Lily and Lilja are different from each other. So are Jenna and I.

  “You’re a general’s daughter…”

  “I was. But when Opal returns to the High Command to give her report, my father will be disgraced and my family will disown me. The ironic thing is I actually accomplished what they sent me to do.”

  “You came to steal Master Ning’s codex,” I guess.

  “Yes. The Dikang was after the elixir of life, and our spies learned it might be in Master Ning’s library. They were right about that, but they have no idea what the ‘elixir’ actually is. If they ever learned its secret…”

  She shakes her head. “That can’t be allowed. So I hid the codex. I put it somewhere where no one will ever find it.”

  “It can be used for good,” I remind her. “It saved Lily’s life. It also saved mine.”

  “I’m not smart enough to know who will use it for good or who for evil,” my Lily says. “Apparently Xu Fu wasn’t either.”

  I decide to let that subject drop and pursue another.

  “You were working with Opal all that time?”

  “Not by choice. The Dikang’s High Command made the assignment.”

  “But I’ve known Opal all my life! How did she hide her connection to the resistance for all those years?”

  “Have you really known her all your life?”

  “What do you mean? We grew up in the same village.”

  Lily shakes her head. “You only think you did. Your mind was tampered with so you would think you knew her. The resistance altered the memories of every person in your village.”

  I shake my head. That can’t be possible. I’d know if someone played with my memories.

  “You know Opal as the shizhang’s daughter,” Lily says, “because his real daughter was ‘eliminated’ after she was chosen for the academy. The resistance used amplitude manipulations to make your entire village forget the shizhang’s murdered daughter and accept Opal in her place.”

  I feel suddenly sick.

  “Did…did th
ey do something like that in another village?” I whisper. “Murder another girl so they could put you there?”

  “Yes.”

  She watches my reaction, sees me struggling.

  “I’m sorry, Jade. I made the mistake of becoming your friend and…and after that things got complicated. I didn’t want to hurt you. I even tried to warn you before things went too far.”

  I look up from my feet.

  “The dagger outside Mistress Song’s window,” I say. “You were the one watching us. You left it there.”

  “It was one of Opal’s knives. I thought if you and Mistress Song found it, she or Master Ning would trace it back to Opal, and it would force Opal and me away from the academy. You would have been safe and, for the time being, the elixir would stay out of Dikang hands.”

  “I guess nothing ever worked out,” I say. “For either of us.”

  “No. Not then. Not now.”

  We stop speaking until I work up enough courage to ask a final question.

  “That night outside Master Ning’s pagoda. Was it you or Opal controlling me?”

  “I had to stage something so Opal wouldn’t know I was working against her.”

  Lily closes her eyes and wearily shakes her head.

  “I’m sorry, Jade. I tried to protect you from Opal, but everything went wrong. First you formed your eternal link. Next the bingmayong and the dream hunters came. It’s a wonder either of us is still alive.”

  I thought I finally had things figured out, but now it has all become complicated again.

  “Mistress Jiu-Li says we’ll be helped to form new identities,” Lily says. “We’ll live as loyal ‘Imperial’ citizens right under the Emperor’s nose. They’ll do the same for Jenna and her Lily in the other world. Their families’ memories will be altered. They’ll start new lives in new places out of the Eternal Emperor’s reach.”

  The same thing the resistance did with Lilja and Opal except without killing anybody and with a markedly different purpose. In our case, I hope it works.

  “We’ll watch out for each other,” my Lily says. “We saved each other before. If we have to, we can do it again.”