The sparks remind me of Shen’s tiger, which has long disappeared. They rise up and dance, spreading along the stage, burning with a transparent flame, but there is no heat—only a symbol that emerges. The same one that was formed from the blood of the three sacrifices. The one Delia made me draw.

“The temple is directly underneath us,” I whisper. Golden threads emerge, rising to the skylight. They form a boundary, a golden cage.

“It’s the Bagua,” Shen says, calling the symbol for what it is.

“You… dare?” Juyan’s voice rises, as an impossible wind picks up. It lifts the hair of the demon, rippling wild black waves above her, and lightning flashes in her eyes. She drops Mrs. Tsai back onto her knees, where she clutches her throat, gasping for air.

“No…please…” Mr. Lee drops down to the floor, lowering his forehead to the stage. “It’s not…it’s not what you think.”

“It’s exactly what you think,” Shu-Ling says, calm and steady, even as the figures in yellow grab her arms, pull them back. “They want to trap you, bind you, so you can be controlled to do their bidding.”

“It is a doorway.” Mrs. Tsai folds herself in half, chokes out her words. “It’s a way to bring more of your lieutenants from hell. A way for you to set up your own kingdom, here among the living!”

Juyan takes a purposeful stride forward, sweeping two girls aside as she reaches out and touches the barrier. It sends out another cascade of golden sparks, and she pulls back, hissing.

“Go.” She gestures, and all the children stand, obedient, forming a single row behind her. Leaving only the prostrate forms of Mr. Lee and Mrs. Tsai in the middle of the stage.

“Look at me!” Juyan commands. Mrs. Tsai’s shoulders tremble while Mr. Lee looks fearful for the first time. Juyan’s upper arms join together in prayer at her chest. Then she lifts her lower set of arms as well, placing her hands on their heads. Like she’s about to offering them a blessing.

There’s the feeling of electricity in the air, like the taste of the rain before a storm. Then…the heads burst. A shower of blood arcs above the stage, dripping down the edge and splattering onto the floor before our feet. Mrs. Tsai’s body falls sideways, sliding off, landing into the fountain with a plop. While Mr. Lee lands on his side, blood dripping from what remains of his neck.

The pressure on our arms cease as the figures in yellow who were holding us back all let go.

The demon Juyan lifts her many hands to the air, catching the droplets as they splatter upon her skin. She raises one hand to her lips, almost delicate, and licks her finger, slowly, an expression of almost ecstasy on her face.

“Soon! Soon we will feast!” the spirits yowl.

“I’ve forgotten how good it tastes,” she says, continuing to lick the blood from where it splattered against her skin. “But now…who among you will free me?” She reaches out and grabs one of the girls. Tina.

I scream, but Shen grabs the strap of my pack. Pulling me close to him. I can feel him shaking beside me.

“Patience,” he reminds me, whispering into my ear. I’m about to turn on him and tell him what I think about him and his sister and his patience, when—

“Wait!” Shu-Ling nimbly vaults onto the stage, passing through the still-shimmering barrier like it is nothing. “I have a bargain for you.”

Juyan regards her with her head tipped and a decidedly unfriendly stare. “What other treachery will you offer me? Let me tell you there is no other option. Free me, and the rest of the children can go. Or else you can watch me eat them, one by one.”

“Leave them alone,” Shu-Ling says. “You require a better vessel. Someone with the knowledge to escape from here. I will help you. If you let them go.” She places the whip at her feet, takes off the pouches, lays them down as well.

“No, you can’t!” It’s Shen who protests now, realizing what his sister is offering. “You can’t! She’s going to be too powerful.”

“Stay back!” Shu-Ling snaps, holding her hand up to stop him. She pulls the sword out and holds it up to her palm, slices it open, with only a slight frown to indicate that it hurts when it cuts into her flesh. Blood wells up, darkly red, as she lifts it up toward the demon, tossing the sword off the stage, where it lands in the bloody fountain.

The demon licks her lips. “Interesting.”

“Taste my blood.” Shu-Ling holds up her hand. “You’ll know that it has the power of a conduit to the guardians. The Sight. The ability to wield yin energy. You will have no better vessel than me.”

“Hmm.” The demon lowers her head beside Shu-Ling’s and sniffs, her breath stirring her hair. She then pulls back, dips her finger into the blood, digging her nail into the wound, grinning all the way while Shu-Ling grimaces. Finally, she lifts it up to her mouth and tastes it, nodding with satisfaction when she confirms it is good. “You speak the truth. You and I, we will do great things.”

“Let them go first, and then you can have me.” Shu-Ling does not cower, even as the demon regards her with a thoughtful expression. Without breaking their gaze, the demon nods again, and then the girls turn and walk obediently down the stairs, single file. They join the audience, sitting down cross-legged upon the floor. Waiting.

With her lower arms, Juyan grabs Shu-Ling around the waist and lifts her up into the air. With her upper hands, she holds Shu-Ling’s head still. They stare at each other for a long, drawn-out moment. The air is suddenly filled with the sound of indecipherable whispers, slowly building. The whispers join together, becoming many, many voices, muttering a guttural chant.

Blackness fills the whites of Shu-Ling’s eyes as her mouth drops open, and from its depths emerges a terrible scream. Her body thrashes violently, still hanging in the air. My ears ring from the sound of the screams, as the chants turn into furious howls.

Someone else is screaming too, alongside her.

I think it’s me.

“Ruby! Ruby!” Someone is yelling my name, trying to get my attention. My ears still ring with an odd noise. Black tendrils emerge from Juyan’s body, piercing Shu-Ling all over, until she’s enveloped in it, and I can’t see her anymore.

What did Shu-Ling call it once? 惡意… all the darkness within human hearts. That’s what she is filling her with. Somehow, I could hear her voice still. Echoing inside of my skull. My memories? Or something else?

My mind fragments, as there is only so much a person is able to endure without succumbing to terror. Dances by girls to call forth a demon. Shimmering strands of mystical gold crisscrossing the ceiling like spiderwebs. A woman with too many eyes and limbs. The explosion of heads, like watermelons. Blood raining from the sky…

“You cannot let her off the stage.” Somehow Delia is there, speaking urgently to Shen and to me. Shen shakes me once, shakes me twice. He’s the one still yelling my name. Behind him, Shu-Ling emerges again from the black. Eyes closed, face serene.

Delia’s words are slow, running through my mind like molasses, trailing through my fingers, sticky and difficult to comprehend.

“If we cannot contain her, more horrors will come….”

Shu-Ling’s eyes snap open, and something unearthly looks out. The darkness has filled her eyes entirely, but there is a red ring that outlines where her iris should be. She slowly moves her head forward, neck cracking as she rolls it in a circle. Her fingers bend backward, unnaturally, bones crunching with strange sounds as her joints adjust and pop into place. Her hands curl back into fists.

Shen reaches into the fountain and pulls out the dripping sword. His jaw is set with grim determination. He climbs the stairs beside the stage. The fountain seems to bubble behind him.

Blood is life. Shu-Ling’s voice echoes in my mind. What she once said to me. It’s so easy for us to die.

Shu-Ling lifts her hand and holds it up before her face, regarding it with that alien curiosity.

My blood is the conduit.

“She thought she could bargain with me.” Juyan speaks with Shu-Ling’s face, but the voice that comes out is not Shu-Ling’s. It’s deeper, more calculating. “But now who will stop me from keeping up my end of the bargain?”

Shen lifts the sword above his head, a talisman in the other hand, advancing upon his sister. Ready to strike her down.

“Kill them!” the demon screams from Shu-Ling’s mouth. “Kill them both, and you can have your pick of all of the waiting bodies here. You can return to the world of the living again! I promise you blood! I promise you life!”

The spirits shriek in triumph and rush toward us in a frenzy. My hand reaches for the talismans again pulling them out. I slam the first against the eager spirit reaching for me with their too-long arms. I expect it to explode, but instead it freezes before me.

Shit. I picked the wrong one. Another spirit tries to grab for me, and the talisman stuns it too. It seems to have formed a boundary, the spirits now having to crawl over each other to reach me. But there are too many of them, gnashing their teeth, snarling, all of them wishing for my death.

“Get in the barrier!” Delia yells at me from the stairwell. “Help Shen! Keep her in there! They’re coming!”

Who’s coming?

I scramble up the stairs just as a spirit’s hand closes around my ankle and tries to pull me down. I look back and kick at it, ripping another talisman out and slamming it on its head. It explodes in another shower of sparks, letting me go. I crawl inside the barrier and see more spirits throw themselves against the boundary, but they’re not able to get in. They shriek, furious that they’re not able to reach me. My arms are covered in scratches and bruises. There’s a line of pain running down my shoulder.

Beside me, there’s a strangled cry. I leap to my feet, only to see that Shu-Ling is holding Shen captive by his right wrist, the sword landing with a clatter on the floor. Shen’s left arm hangs down at his side, limp and useless. Even from here, I can see the angle is wrong, like his arm has been twisted out of its socket. Talismans flutter down toward the ground around him, useless. She smiles down at him and grips another finger, bending it back until it snaps. He screams again. The pain is evident upon his face, having already suffered so much.

“How will you draw your pitiful symbols now?” The demon laughs. She drops him, and he lands on his knees, jarring his arm. He falls onto his side, tears running down his face. I can see the bone of his forearm protruding from his elbow, and bitter bile rushes into my mouth.

“First, I’m going to eat your uncle’s heart,” the demon says, grinning down at him. She raises her foot and kicks him right at his broken shoulder. He falls onto his side, groaning. “Then I’m going to eat the heart of your little girlfriend.” Her gaze flickers to me, her enjoyment evident, confident that there is nowhere else I can go, with the spirits waiting outside the boundary to kill me.

“Then, finally, I’m going to eat your heart. I’m going to savor every bite of your suffering while your sister screams inside of me, knowing that she chose this for you. Her precious little brother.” She utters those final words with joyous delight.

“The sword, Ruby!” I hear Delia calling from a distance, but everything outside the boundary seems muffled, far away. I reach down and pick it up. It’s still damp and warm from Shen’s hand. I don’t know how to wield it, but I’m going to have to. I’m the only one now.

Shu-Ling turns and crouches over the body of her uncle. She plunges her hand into his chest and pulls out the heart. She brings it to her mouth and begins to eat, taking big, ravenous bites, ripping and tearing into the flesh with her teeth. I pick up a handful of talismans, half expecting they will be useless against her, but I have to try.

She looks at me expectantly when I lift the sword with a cry, her bloody mouth open in a vicious grin. Her fingers lengthen, nails sharp like claws. I throw the talismans in her face. She swipes at me, and I drop down, her fingers catching in my hair, but with both hands joined around the hilt of the sword, I thrust it into her foot, throwing the entirety of my weight upon it, piercing it in the center.

I feel it go through, and I use all my strength to push it farther, as it sinks deeper still.

This is it. Will it hold her?