Erlang Shen brought the end of his spear down against the ground, and the floor shuddered beneath us. A bright golden glow enveloped the three gods. In moments, the glow faded, and the statues of Erlang Shen, Guanyin, and Nezha became stony and still once more.
Xiong clasped his hands behind his back and drew himself to his full height.
“Stand, New Order warriors,” he commanded.
Everyone obeyed, a wave of warriors straightening and clasping their hands behind their backs.
These guys were intense. Mao, the mistress of the Jade Society, had let her warriors train casually. She’d been more interested in reminding everyone that the demons no longer existed, and, oh yeah, that Alex and I, who’d known all along that they did exist, were worth less than the dirt beneath the warriors’ shoes.
“It’s been many, many years since we’ve had the honor of hosting gods in our temple and taking on a quest for them,” said Xiong, “but all of you have learned in your training about the proper protocol for such an occasion.”
“Shì!” shouted the warriors in unison. Yes.
“Tonight after dinner, you’ll show up to the training arena to prove your worth and honor as warriors.”
“Shì!”
Xiong nodded gravely. “Dismissed!”
The New Order warriors bowed and rushed out of the temple. Their momentum knocked me sideways, and I would’ve done a spectacular face-plant onto the ground if Ren didn’t steady me.
“Thanks,” I said.
“Ren,” Xiong called. “A word, please.”
“Think he’s gonna chew me out for being tardy,” Ren groaned. He shuffled away, his shoulders slightly hunched.
But I’d been late, too—and Xiong hadn’t called me over. Weird. Many warriors ran between Ren and me, pushing and shoving me toward the door.
“Where’s everyone going?” I asked as I followed Jordan and Ashley out the temple doors.
“Home, where I should have been all along,” grunted a man with a huge black beard and mustache—Mr. Wan, the grouch of the New Order—as he shoved past us. “Outta my way.”
The warriors cast wary looks in our direction as they filed out of the temple. Reminders that the three of us weren’t as welcome as we would’ve liked to be. I still hadn’t figured out what Ashley and Jordan had done to earn outcast status around here. The adults refused to talk about it, and the kids I’d managed to bribe with White Rabbit candy had said something vaguely about witchcraft. Then they’d burst out laughing. So basically, I lost a bunch of perfectly good candy and learned nothing.
“Where is everyone going?” I turned to Jordan this time.
Jordan’s jaw was set. “Well, there are only a few hours before dinnertime. I imagine everyone’s going to warm up for the Ninety-Sixth Duels tonight.”
“Warm up?”
“Yeah, you know, sharpen their weapons, work on their battle cries, conquer a few small nations … Ah Qiao likes to impersonate a monkey.” Jordan pointed toward the young boy, who was hooting and scratching his armpits. “Don’t ask me why.”
“You don’t need to prepare, since you won’t be participating in the Ninety-Sixth Duels, Faryn.” Ashley smirked. “You can just go relax for a bit. Enjoy the show when Jordan and I wipe the floor with the competition.”
“C’mon, Ashley.” Jordan gave his little sister an exasperated look.
Ashley rolled her eyes and turned away from me but didn’t say anything else. If there was only one person around the New Order who she’d listen to, it was her brother. If only Alex had been so obedient to me.
“How are you planning to prepare for the Duels?” I asked Jordan.
“Wanna come along? I’ll show you.”
I hesitated, mostly because the sour expression on Ashley’s face told me that, no, I didn’t want to come along. But even though his little sister was possibly the spawn of the nián demon, Jordan seemed cool. So far, he hadn’t given me resentful looks or tried to kill me or anything. I was pretty sure that meant we were friends.
“Hey, Ash—” Jordan turned toward his sister—or rather, the empty spot where his sister had stood moments ago. I watched Ashley draw farther from us as she sprinted toward the New Order apartment complex.
“Don’t follow me!” she shouted over her shoulder.
“Good luck to you, too, sis.” Jordan sighed, rubbing his forehead.
“Is Ashley always so …?” I trailed off, trying and failing to find a niceish synonym for “constant thorn in my side.”
“Speedy?”
I cleared my throat. “Uh … yeah, speedy. That’s the word I was looking for.”
Jordan’s pride for his sister glowed on his face. “Fastest runner the New Order has seen in decades. Demonically fast, some people have said. Ashley loves being first in everything.”
As Jordan prattled on like the proudest parent in the world, my thoughts drifted toward Alex. I tried to ignore the pang in my chest.
I followed Jordan down the temple steps and raced out onto the cobblestone ground. Everyone was branching out, some headed down packed sidewalks and side streets, while others disappeared into nearby grocery stores. After the destruction from the demons’ attack six months ago—which the news reported as a “freak storm”—many warriors had mingled with the regular humans to help rebuild Manhattan’s Chinatown.
Ah Qiao the monkey impersonator found a nice tree to climb. And next to Ah Qiao’s tree was … Ba. Our eyes met again, and he gave me that same distant, polite smile. For a moment, I considered going over to my father—but then thought better of it. What was the point? Every time I’d tried talking to Ba, he’d given me no indication that he knew I was his daughter. I’d asked around, and everyone told me he’d mysteriously shown up at the New Order one day three years ago, bedraggled and half-alive, with no memory of who he was.
I couldn’t decide which was worse—being around a father who didn’t remember me or having no father at all.
“… Faryn?”
I startled, realizing I’d tuned Jordan out. Quickly, I followed him as we joined the crowd that was headed toward the entrances of the high-rise apartment.
“Sorry. What’d you say?”
Jordan gave me an annoyed look and sighed. “I was saying,” he continued, “it was so cool how the gods just showed up in the temple, huh? The gods are freaking awesome. And, like, they gave us a real quest!”
“Um … uh-huh,” I said. I stopped myself from adding, And some gods are bloodthirsty and murderous and human hating, and we’re gonna have to stop them from waging war on everything ever.
Jordan must’ve sensed the lack of enthusiasm in my voice, because his smile faded. “Oh yeah. You and Ren have already been on a quest for the gods. Seeing them is, like, totally normal to you guys now.”
“That’s not true,” I said.
“Actually, you’ve never given any of us a straight answer. What exactly was it like?” He lowered his voice like we were sharing a secret. “Going on a quest for the gods during the Lunar New Year?”
I didn’t want to talk about this with Jordan right now—or ever, actually. Many New Order warriors had pressed me for details of the quest I’d undertaken during the Lunar New Year, but I’d kept my responses vague, for a couple of reasons. Of course, the rebel gods had told me to “lay low” at the New Order. (Apparently that didn’t actually mean digging a hole in the ground and lying down in it, but that’s a tale for another day. Also, why did the gods always have to be so cryptic?) I also didn’t want to unpack all my family-related trauma, such as the fact that my little brother had betrayed me, with a bunch of strangers who didn’t even like me.