“Beacon Fire,” Yishan whispered, watching the shooting star with surprising intensity.

“What?” Pinmei asked. “What beacon?”

“Oh, it’s just a constellation I suddenly remembered,” Yishan said, and Pinmei saw his self-assurance had returned. In fact, he looked strangely confident. He looked around at the garden. “This place is big.”

Pinmei nodded, but she was still shaking. They walked on. The branches above created a canopy patched with dark swatches of the sky, embroidered with the stars and falling snow. What were they going to do? Would they get out of here? How could they save Amah now?

Across the frozen lake, a pavilion was brightly lit. Pinmei stared. Even from their distance she could see two silhouettes inside it. She gripped Yishan’s arm.

“The emperor and the king!” Pinmei hissed.

Yishan squinted. “Looks like they’re just talking,” he said. “I wonder what they’re talking about.”

Pinmei continued to stare, the small figures like two stitches of embroidery thread on a vast tapestry. Could they be talking about Amah? Or the Luminous Stone? And the king—they never got to ask the king about the dragon’s pearl. Maybe…

“Should we try to find out?” she squeaked. Was she crazy? But this might be their only chance! She placed her hand on her chest, letting her heart beat against the stone of Amah’s bracelet.

“Good idea,” Yishan said, nodding. “We’re going to be killed for being on the wrong side of the walkway, so we might as well make it worth it.”

Pinmei gulped. Still, she stepped forward and led Yishan onto the path with the silent and skilled stealth of a mouse.

CHAPTER

32

He was tired.

He had slashed and snapped, struck and roared, but it had done nothing. He had only beaten the air that slipped and slithered around him like smooth silk. Even his screams and howls seemed to have been smothered in that brilliant blankness.

His throat was raw from screaming. His arms and legs lay limp.

He was the Black Tortoise of Winter, indestructible and invincible.

But that did not matter.

His strength and power could not help him. There was nothing for him to fight, no one for him to conquer.

He could do nothing. Except…

He could do what he had never done before. He could do what he had never imagined he would ever have need for.

The gold glimmered at him, mocking and taunting. He closed his eyes.

Perhaps it was time for him to ask  for help.

CHAPTER

33

“Do you think we could hide behind that?” Pinmei whispered right into Yishan’s ear as she pointed to a large stone sculpture at the foot of the pavilion.

The sculpture, dark in the shadows, would hide them well, and it would place them close enough to hear everything, but it meant that they would have to run across the open pathway to get there. Yishan shrugged and gave her a doubtful motion with his hand. I don’t know, he said to her with his eyes. You decide.

They could both see the emperor and the king clearly now, both of them in the well-lit pavilion as if they were standing on a stage. The king was motioning toward a carved chest, and both turned as he began to open it.

“Now!” she hissed into his ear, and gave him a push.

They dashed to the stone sculpture and crouched in its shadow. Had they been noticed?

They heard a growl of laughter. Pinmei quaked and fought to stifle a shriek.

“Good try, King KaiJae!” the emperor’s voice said.

“The dragon’s pearl is not the Luminous Stone you seek?” the king replied, and despite his formal tone, Pinmei could hear the devastation in his voice.

“A Luminous Stone could be a dragon’s pearl,” the emperor laughed again. “But this dragon’s pearl is not a Luminous Stone.”

Pinmei and Yishan looked at each other in dismay. The dragon’s pearl wasn’t the Luminous Stone? Then what was?

“I do not understand,” the king said.

“Ha! Maybe if you took a swim at the Crystal Palace at Sea Bottom you could figure it out,” the emperor chortled. “But I doubt it. You are not as smart as you think!”

“I am a fool when compared with Your Exalted Majesty,” the king said in a dull, almost practiced tone.

“Liar!” the emperor said. “Admit it, you think yourself very clever because only you can read the Paper of Answers.”

Paper of Answers! Pinmei sat up and almost gasped aloud. Did the king have the Paper of Answers? How could he? And what had the emperor meant about the Crystal Palace?

“I am not the only one who can read it,” the king said.

“Yes, yes,” the emperor said, and Pinmei could hear him waving his hand as if trying to swat a wasp, “I know! Immortals, or those with great fortune or peace or whatnot, can read it too, so you tell me. But because I cannot read it, you no doubt think you are much wiser than me.”

“I would never…” the king began.

“But you are not!” the emperor continued, ignoring the king’s protests. “Answer me, have not all my questions to the Paper confused you?”

“Tortoises, mountains holding moons, and needles under the sea? I would not even pretend to understand what you are asking,” the king replied. “Except, of course, for your last question.”

“Bah! Last time was a wasted question,” the emperor said with a snort of irritation. “The Paper obviously didn’t know the answer!”

“The Paper always knows,” the king said immediately.

“Stories!” the emperor said, dismissing the king’s words. “Only that word, repeated over and over again! How could that be the secret to immortality? I even took the Storyteller too! But for nothing! Just a waste!”

Stories? Pinmei felt her thoughts swoop as if caught on the tail of a kite. The Paper had told the emperor that the secret to immortality was stories and that was why he had taken Amah! But Amah didn’t know the secret of immortality! Did she?

“However, that was last time,” the emperor said. “The Paper can attempt to redeem itself tonight.”

“Yes, Your Exalted Majesty,” the king said. They heard a rustling and the king stumble.