by Katie Zhao
“How dare you insult our demon lord, the Red Prince! His hairstyle is goals,” shouted one of the Mafia-looking demons. He pulled out a sword, but the Red Prince held out a hand and shook his head.
“Wait! Red Prince. I know where I’ve heard of you.” Alex gasped. “You’re from Warfate. One of Sun Wukong’s greatest adversaries.”
My brother’s words stirred my memory. Ye Ye had loved telling stories about the protagonist of the video game—Sun Wukong, the Monkey King, who had waged war on all of Heaven with his gold-banded cudgel, Ruyi Jingu Bang.
I had no idea how powerful the Monkey King was in the video game, but the fact that Alex had called the Red Prince one of Sun Wukong’s greatest adversaries wasn’t a good sign.
The demon lord’s smile widened. “Sun Wukong? My adversary? Do you hear that, men?” The Red Prince laughed, and his followers joined in. The demon lord’s smile dropped. “Now shut up.” The men quickly obeyed. “Sun Wukong isn’t even fit to shine my shoes, especially since he’s lost Ruyi Jingu Bang. He’s powerless.”
Trying to calm my racing heart, I assessed the situation. Fenghuang had been taken from me. I’d already used up my prayer note.
As they were arguing with the men, I saw Alex, Moli, and Ren struggling to reach for their hóng bāos and weapons in their pockets.
I felt for my own hóng bāo. I stretched my fingers as far as they could reach, the rope biting into my skin and threatening to leave burns. They barely grazed the edge of the packet. I pulled, willing myself not to wince from the pain.
I kept my face neutral as the Red Prince continued listing all the ways he was better than Sun Wukong. “… And so what if he’s got a stupid stick? The flames of my samadhi fire can consume anything—even water.”
“That sounds, um,” Alex said, “most impressive and villainous of you.”
“Isn’t it? Would you like to see?”
“Keep your stupid salami fire to yourself,” Moli snapped.
“It’s samadhi fire!” the Red Prince roared.
Ren’s face turned red, though I didn’t know if it was from anger or the exertion of trying to extract his weapon from his hóng bāo.
After ages of slow, painful work, the hóng bāo opened beneath my fingers. I grasped Ye Ye’s gift—the hilt of a pocketknife. Careful not to accidentally cut my fingers, I sawed at the rope.
The demon lord had turned around to yell at his men. Moli sat up straight, her body still. The look on her face was stricken. Her eyes met mine, and she mouthed a word: “Longma.”
I was worried about the poor horse, too. But we’d been tied up by a demon lord, and all she could do was think about Longma?
“I hope you idiots are prepared for a feast tonight,” the Red Prince was saying. “It’ll be a nice warm-up for the real banquet tomorrow—when we ambush Peng Lai Island.”
I nearly yelped but caught myself just in time. The demons whooped with glee. If we didn’t stop them, they were going to wreak havoc on humans and immortals.
Alex, Moli, and Ren followed the motion of my arm. They nodded. Their hands grasped their hóng bāos behind their backs. I eyed Fenghuang where it lay on the ground in front of the demons’ feet, calculating the distance I had to cover to run to it.
“On my count,” I whispered. “Three, two … one!”
I tore through the last bit of rope with one vicious slice, freeing my hands. The demons yelled as Alex and Moli slashed through their rope with their swords, Alex helping release Ren a second later. I moved on to the ropes that bound my legs and lunged to pick up Fenghuang.
“Hey!” The Red Prince stumbled back. His henchmen threw their hands over their eyes to shield themselves from the bright light. The spear’s glow transferred to me and traveled through my whole body. A white-hot sensation ran down my arms and legs.
A snarl twisting his face, the demon lord thrust his red spear at us.
“After them!” he ordered his men.
The gangster groupies roared and surged forward, but their movements seemed slow and clumsy. I sent a silent prayer to the gods. Strength surged through me, a burning sensation so powerful it nearly swept me off my feet.
I swept my spear in an arc and knocked the demons down in one wave of gold. They yelped, their swords clattering to the ground.
The demon lord stepped over the groaning men on the floor as though they weren’t there. “Cute trick,” the Red Prince sneered, holding out his palms, “but nothing stands a chance against my samadhi fire.” Flames burst from his palms and outlined his body.
“Samadhi fire.” Alex’s voice was already choked from the smoke. “M-most powerful fire in the w-world. Run!”
“There’s nowhere to go,” Ren shouted. He shot off arrows left and right, each one meeting its mark with a shriek of pain from its target. I couldn’t imagine how he could see through the smoke.
Alex grabbed my hand, pushing Moli and Ren along as we scrambled to the opposite end of the shed to get away from the flames. The Red Prince’s laughter grew with the size of his flames. He threw ball after ball of fire, which I blocked with Fenghuang, at us. The glow of the spear itself repelled the samadhi fire and shielded us, but I could see it weakening with each blow.
“We can’t keep blocking forever,” Alex said.
Already the smoke that filled my lungs made it too difficult to breathe, let alone hold off the Red Prince’s attacks. Fire jumped and spread onto the walls around us. The samadhi fire ate away at the hay hungrily. We backed up against the far wall until there was nowhere else to go.
A flame leapt up and licked my hand. Pain, scorching hot, seared through my arm, and I couldn’t help but scream. In my desperation, I said a silent prayer. Help us! How do we get out of this mess?
Do not fret, Heaven Breaker. That familiar female voice entered my mind once more. There is one cure for the samadhi fire: rain from a Dragon King. The son of the Dragon King of the West Sea, Ao Ji, is by your side. Awaken him. Bend his will to yours.
By “son of the Dragon King of the West Sea,” could she mean Ren? I didn’t like the sound of that. And come to think of it, that didn’t make any sense. Ren was already awake, albeit choking and half-dead from the smoke. Plus, hadn’t he been cursed by the Dragon King of the East Sea, Ao Guang?
My hands shook. I could no longer hold Fenghuang steady. A blur of red and gold showed me the Red Prince was advancing, homing in for the kill.
To my left, I heard a choke from Moli. “Longma!”
At first I thought she was hallucinating. Flashes of her life reeling through her head, that sort of thing. Then a sound rose above the roar of the flames—whinnying and snorts.
Through tear-soaked, blurry vision, I spotted a skinny white horse. My brain leapt back to the animal noises I’d heard earlier.
Longma had been trapped here all along?
A new voice entered my head, lower, and male. Five hundred years I’ve been a horse, waiting for the Fenghuang’s presence to ignite. I, Yulong, third Dragon Prince, have come to serve you—and break my father’s curse. Free me, Heaven Breaker.
Instinct told me what to do. I give you permission to transform and help me.
Longma’s hooves morphed and lengthened into blue claws. His body shot up and quadrupled in length, turning scaly and serpentine. His head was the last to transform, turning the horse’s muzzle into the whiskered, ridged face of a dragon.
In transforming, Longma—no, Yulong, the third Dragon Prince—busted the roof. Dust showered on us. The Red Prince dove out of the way as a chunk of ceiling plunged down. The walls collapsed, eaten away by the fire. Fresh air rushed into my lungs, but only momentarily. Moonlight poured through the ruined building.
“No, you stupid animal!” screamed the Red Prince, emerging from the rubble unscathed. He stamped his foot and spear on the ground, glaring up at the dragon. “I wanted white-horse meat for the Year of the Horse. If you don’t want to die, then make yourself presentable on a dinner plate!”
The d
emon lord sucked in a deep breath, and I saw flames forming in the back of his mouth.
Yulong roared, tilting his horned head skyward. Father, the great Ao Ji, bring forth the rain. Powerful enough to purge Chinatown of this evil.
As I raised Fenghuang to shield against another blast of the Red Prince’s fire, a column of water shot out of Yulong’s mouth. The speed of the water alone was enough to cause me to stumble away.
The Red Prince’s fire had barely left his mouth before the water pushed him back. He flew through the air with a scream, his body slamming against a distant building and falling to the ground.
I breathed a sigh of relief. Looked like the demon lord wouldn’t be in shape to ambush banquets anytime soon.
But there was no time to relax. The rain fell in unforgiving sheets, pounding my body so hard I clenched my teeth. The Red Prince’s henchmen screamed with pain.
Master, we must get out of here, Yulong roared. Far from seeming pleased with himself, his eyes were stricken with terror. My father must be angry. His rain is too powerful. This Chinatown is ruined. We must abandon it.
As though she’d somehow sensed Yulong’s thoughts, Moli whistled. Within seconds, the golden flash of a large flying object tumbled out of the gray clouds. Soaring high above our heads was our driverless chariot, pulled by four drenched horses. With the sound of horses neighing and a gust of harsh wind and rain, the chariot swooped down.
Someone grabbed my hand. Ren. “Get in!”
The rain was falling too hard and fast. It pummeled our intertwined fingers until they were forced to separate. Ren shouted. His cries grew more distant. The rain poured down harder. Faster.
The rain was going to consume me. I would die where I stood, unless …
“D-Dragon Prince,” I spluttered through the pouring rain. “S-save your master!”
Something thwacked my body, and I flew through the air. I screamed as I landed on a large, cool, and bumpy surface, the fall knocking the breath out of me. I grappled around wildly for something to cling to and managed to wrap my legs around the length of a thick, scaly body, my free hand closing around a thin, leathery white line that whipped past me in the rain.
I shot upward into the sky, my skin on fire, praying the pain would end.
CHAPTER
20
After a while, the downpour lightened to a drizzle. I peeked an eye open—and screamed. Scales. Blue scales in front of and beneath me.
Ow! Yulong protested. Watch the whiskers. The ladies love them.
I relinquished my death grip on his whisker. I wish I could’ve produced some snappy comeback for the horse-turned-dragon, but really my thoughts were something closer to: AaaauGHHHaaaauGHHH!
The chariot streaked below us, with Moli standing at the front, commanding the horses. Even though we’d just lived through a hurricane from hell—probably literally—the wind up here seemed to love Moli. Her black hair had fallen out of its ponytail and billowed behind her like it thought it was in a shampoo commercial. My hair probably looked like it had lost a duel with a Weedwacker.
Yulong roared with glee. This feels good. Being cursed as a horse gave me horrible knots in my hair.
I had so many questions for the dragon. “Are you the lost treasure? Did you know we’d come to D.C.? And why were you a horse for so long?”
Lost treasure? Maybe, answered Yulong. Guanyin told me that once I made it to this Chinatown, the way back to my family would become clear. At first, I thought she’d deceived me. But when you showed up, Heaven Breaker, I realized what she meant was that in order to find my own family, I had to help you complete your quest first.
“Okay,” I said, struggling to process all this information. “That still doesn’t explain why you were a horse for so long.”
No response except a snort from Yulong. I guess I’d hit a touchy topic.
“And if you’re a dragon, how come I couldn’t sense you before?” I added.
My father’s curse is powerful. I was shielded from your powers.
Of course. It would’ve been too easy if we’d found Yulong earlier. The gods really liked toying with warriors.
“H-hey, we can’t leave just yet. What about Ba?” Alex’s voice reached my ears, faint over the wind. I looked down at the chariot and saw that he was waving his arms as if flagging down an airplane, trying to get our attention. “Tell the dragon to go back. We have to find our family!”
Your family is not in that Chinatown, Yulong said. The Red Prince chased out all the inhabitants.
“Then where can we find our family?” I demanded.
I do not know. But the deities at Peng Lai Island will.
“Where’s the dragon taking us?” Alex demanded.
“His name’s Yulong,” I shouted. Then I turned back to the creature I was riding. “And now that we’ve completed this quest, as the Heaven Breaker, I order that you take us to the island.”
Yulong shot through the sky at breakneck speed, the chariot following close behind. I closed my eyes and clutched my spear in a tight grip, so the wind didn’t tear it out of my hands. The dragon wouldn’t stop whooping with glee in my head.
Yulong slowed after a while. I dared to open my eyes again. We’d reached the shoreline of a vast, sparkling body of water that seemed to sprawl on to the edge of the Earth. The Atlantic Ocean.
Exhilaration swept through me. The wind whipped my face as Yulong dove toward the water. He righted himself millimeters before breaking the surface. His great white underbelly skimmed the waves, the spray of mist hitting me in the face and dampening my clothes.
My heart felt like it could burst with fear and joy. I’d never felt so alive.
Yulong’s voice returned. Take out Fenghuang, Heaven Breaker.
I obeyed with difficulty, leaning forward to keep my balance as the wind threatened to knock me off the dragon. Fenghuang’s glow radiated with heat. Its crystallized point skidded along the surface of the water, and the waves churned more violently than ever.
My breath caught in my throat. Wave by wave, the ocean lit up with a dazzling golden path that stretched before us, ending somewhere far beyond the horizon.
Yulong shot along the path, increasing his speed until I was forced to close my eyes. We flew through the night, and I dozed in and out of sleep—until the dragon prince lurched to a stop and bobbed on the surface of the water.
We’re here, master. This is Peng Lai Island.
The water beneath us looked different. It was a clear, crystal blue, untouched by human pollution. It stretched on forever in all directions.
And then the island before us. The sand on the shores led us to a huge redbrick wall that spanned the entire length of the island. Beyond the wall I could see the sparkling lights of a great metropolis—in the middle of the sandy shores.
With wobbly legs, I disembarked from Yulong’s back and stumbled in the sand. The horses came to an abrupt halt, spraying sand all over me. Moli, Ren, and Alex got out of the chariot.
“Fenghuang,” Ren murmured. I thought he was referring to my weapon for a moment before realizing he was studying a pair of red birds that soared into the city. The spear’s namesake. “This is Peng Lai Island?”
“Ah,” said a familiar male voice from behind. “The deities have done some renovating in the last five hundred years.”
I turned toward the voice. A boy a little older than me, with the greenest eyes I’d ever seen, stood there. He walked toward us over the surface of the water. He wore green cháng shā, an outfit of a matching long-sleeved shirt and pants, embellished with intricate gold designs.
Moli gaped at Yulong. The former horse looked up at her with innocent eyes, as though expecting sugar cubes or carrots.
Instead Moli scowled. “I liked you better as a horse.”
Yulong’s shoulders drooped. “Really? I thought … once my father’s curse lifted, you’d be … I mean, you’d want to …”
He scratched the back of his head and blushed.
R
en’s shoulders shook as he held back a laugh. It was pretty comical: the idea that Moli’s horse had been harboring a secret crush on her all along.
Moli’s mouth dropped. “What? No way! I mean, you’re a … and you were … my horse, and …”
Yulong cut off her horrified babbles by raising a hand. He closed his eyes and sighed. “I get it. No matter how hard we try, we could never work out. You know that I’m too good for you. I am a prince, after all, and you’re a lowly mortal.”
The bewildered look on Moli’s face told us that wasn’t what she’d been thinking at all. “What? Longma—I mean, Yulong—”
“Say no more, Zhao Moli. Our star-crossed love simply isn’t meant to be in this lifetime. But in another, I pray our stars will align.”
Yulong blew her a kiss.
Moli looked like she wanted to cry or gag. “Lost treasure,” she mumbled. “Lost treasure, my butt.”
My brother glared at Yulong and shifted closer to Moli. Ren had doubled over in silent fits of laughter. I patted his back, unable to suppress my own grin, even though I felt kind of bad for Moli, too.
“What’s his deal?” Yulong nodded at Ren.
“He is, um … oh, uh, it’s almost time for the banquet!” Pulling Ren along with me, I rushed up to the wall.
Ren had recovered by the time we arrived in front of two guards blocking a circular door in the wall. The men, dressed in bronze armor and holding matching black spears, crossed their weapons in front of us. The message was clear. We weren’t allowed in.
The Dragon Prince appeared beside me, giving the guards an annoyed look. “It’s me, idiots. Yulong. Third and favorite son of Ao Ji. My father’s in there. Let us through.”
The guards relaxed their stances but not their weapons. “Oh, Yulong,” said one with a nod. “You’re just in time. The Lantern Festival is about to start.”
The other guard eyed us warily. “We haven’t seen you in centuries. What kept you away for so long?”
Yulong scowled. “I, uh …”
