“It’s not too bad,” Ryker said, running his fingers through the collar secured around his neck. “I bet some social media influencers can turn this into some fashion statement if they squint hard enough.”
“Given what it stands for, I wouldn’t actively recommend it,” Tala said. “You know you don’t have to do this.”
“I do have to. This coat Alex loaned me hides it just fine.”
“I trust you. Thought you ought to know that.”
Ryker smiled at her, that dazzling, confident grin that had bowled her over nearly two years ago. “Thanks. That makes all the difference to me.” He turned to Loki, who was slouched against the doorframe and frowning at him. “I am being sincere about helping, you know.”
“I’m sure you are,” Loki said in a tone that suggested they found that hard to believe.
Following the duke’s advice, they had agreed to strike for the lotus lantern first, with the other rangers on standby. Lola Urduja was swift to express her disapproval.
“Lord Suddene and Ryker were pretty clear about segen being a prerequisite,” Alex pointed out. “We’ll be monitoring them through the comm links every step of the way. We need you here, Lola. The Esopian borders are barely manned as it is.”
The old woman scowled. “It does not feel right to be sending so many younglings in on their own, my dear.”
“Have a little faith in us,” Ken drawled.
“I agree with Lola Urduja,” Lumina said. “We do have faith, but all the same…”
“Oh, we’ll go with them, Urduja,” Tita Baby spoke up. “We’re not too busy.”
Lola Urduja harrumphed but said nothing else.
“Your first priority is making sure Alex is safe,” Tala told her mother fiercely. And finding out where Dad is and what the Snow Queen has done to him. She let it go unspoken, but the older woman’s expression told her she understood. “We’ll handle everything else.”
“Every source I have on the lantern says it’s located somewhere within the Kunlun Mountains,” the duke told them. “The Chinese government has some heavy security defenses in place, but Lord Gallagher believes we can override enough of them to keep track of your locations. He’s less sure on whether they can pull you out immediately should trouble arise once you’re within their borders. Not very many have actually explored Kunlun. There’s been a ban against entering the mountains for several hundred years now, even among the Chinese. From the little I’ve heard, every investigation the authorities have made there failed. It leads me to believe that—” He paused.
“Believe what?” Zoe asked.
“Well, it makes me believe that they’ve never located the lotus lantern either. If they had, more likely they’d have taken it out, housed it in a much more secure facility they would have more control over.”
“Maybe they just wanted to keep their sacred item in a similarly sacred place?” West suggested.
But the duke shook his head. “I think it’s far too valuable to them to leave it just like that. The lotus lantern is tied to two popular heroes in their history—Chenxiang and the Buddhist monk Sanzo. The documents China has made public don’t provide a lot of details, but it was Chenxiang who took the lantern from a supposed god named Erlang Shen—an equivalent to what Koschei was to Avalon—and purified it. It was later guarded by Sanzo and then by one of his companions inside Kunlun after his death.”
“That’s a lot of alarming information to heap on us just before heading in,” Nya said.
“It’s the best I can do, given the circumstances and the short time we have,” the duke said apologetically. “Kunlun is sacred. It’s why they’re resistant to granting Avalon access.”
“How are we going to get in if they don’t want us there?” Ken asked.
Lola Corazon coughed. “There are ways to get past their security defenses if you know where exactly to hit.”
“And how do you propose we do that?” Lola Urduja asked warily.
“The solution is simple. But first we make a slight detour.”
The slight detour turned out to be a short trip to Manila. Tala had never been to the Philippines before, and the busy rush of jeepneys and wooden carts and noisy hawkers and vendors shouting their wares was a shock. She jumped to give way to several men striding past, weighed down with sacks on their backs, followed by several others pushing small wooden carts piled high with a stunning mishmash of kitchen appliances and fresh vegetables.
The streets were narrow and flanked on both sides by makeshift stalls selling bolts of cloth and ornaments. Aging buildings that looked to be part warehouse and part wet market loomed over them. The cheerful noise was a stark contrast to the quieter streets of Invierno, but she liked the liveliness.
“This is Divisoria,” Lola Corazon said, accustomed to all the chaos. “One of the busiest places in the city. If we had more time together, hija, I would have delighted in showing you many more places like this. It is not good to have been so long away from the motherland like you have been.”
And maybe if you hadn’t been so dismissive of Alex just because I don’t want to marry into the Tsarevich lineage, Tala thought sourly, I would have accepted.
A street food vendor had set up shop nearby, deep-frying large pieces of calamares in a large wok, and Lola Corazon directed them toward him. “Have as many as you’d like,” she said. “My treat. I will be right back.”
“Take this barbecue stick here and this plastic cup,” Tita Chedeng instructed them as the older woman left, “and pick out the pieces you would like. Here is the vinegar.”
“Can everyone hear me?” Alex’s voice crackled in Tala’s ear.
“Loud and clear,” Ken pronounced, his mouth already full. Even the firebird, safely hidden inside his jacket, had gotten in on the action, happily wolfing down a strip of seafood. The adarna had grudgingly relinquished its perch on Tala’s head to find anonymity inside her hoodie, though its sighs made its displeasure known.
“Where exactly are you in Manila?”
“I believe we are in the district of Tondo,” Zoe said, “eating fried calamares while we wait for Lola Corazon’s return. These are delicious, by the way.”
“Oh.” Tala heard her mother’s voice next, sounding envious. “I haven’t had it in so long…”
“Tangina,” General Luna said contentedly, scarfing down his share.
The firebird took another piece, almost shyly pushed it in the adarna’s direction. The adarna chirped a question, and the firebird responded with a hoot. The adarna poked its head out briefly to eat the offering, and the firebird beamed, then blushed again.
Lola Corazon was back ten minutes later. “Everything’s ready,” she told them. “There’s a side door on the next street. Go in twos and threes. There may be people watching.”
“Why all the secrecy?” Ken muttered after they were finally standing in what looked to be another empty warehouse.
“This place is not, technically, recognized as government property,” Lola Corazon admitted.
“Keeping secrets from your own superiors now?” Lola Urduja asked with a smirk.
“We cannot all have the same noble rulers as Avalon. Or do you not remember living under the horrors of a dictatorship, Urduja? The Makilings cannot be protected by anyone else but the Makilings. We have learned that lesson the hard way many times before.” Lola Corazon made a gesture, and half a dozen more people emerged from the darkness. Three carried a looking glass. “A few Chinese nationals were resourceful enough to configure a port that allows them to bring products in from China without going through our customs,” the old woman said while they set about activating the portal. “We have since taken possession of it. Kunlun magic is unpredictable. Be as quick as you can about it, find the lantern, and get out without arousing attention. My clansmen here can negate enough of the Chinese government’s security to port you inside and also to port you out when needed.”
“Be careful, all of you,” Alex said, sounding grim.
“Of course,” Ken said with a grin. “We’re always careful,” and Nya rolled her eyes.
The looking glass flared to life, the bright light illuminating the whole room. “Game na, madam,” said one of Lola Corazon’s men.
“Ready?” Zoe asked and received nods all around. “Right. Thank you for helping us get this far, Lola Corazon.”
“Think nothing of it. Return safely, and protect my granddaughter.”
Traveling within this looking glass was very different from others Tala had been in before. It actually resisted her as she went through, like she was forcing her way through a sea of very thick molasses. “Must be the security defenses your grandma was talking about,” Loki said, landing beside Tala with a grunt as they finally made it out the other side. “Can’t even begin to think of the exertion it would take to get past official…”
They trailed off when it became apparent that the Banders and the Katipuneros were not the only people in the clearing.
The first thing Tala saw was the Kunlun Mountains: a majestic view, their peaks hidden by a thick froth of white clouds. Even with her faulty agimat, she could taste the powerful spells emanating from within, heavy with incense and burnt wood.
The second thing she saw was the group of officious-looking people standing on the same narrow stone path they were on, gaping at their unexpected arrival. They were military, likely government soldiers judging from the state of their uniforms—two dozen in total, all armed.
The third was Vivien Fey, standing with the men and looking just as gobsmacked to see them.
“You,” she hissed.
“Oh,” Ken said. “Oh no.”
“Run!” Ryker grabbed Tala’s arm and dragged her away, toward the mountains. “We need to get inside before they catch us!”
The Banders and the Katipuneros had come to the same conclusion. The adarna had hunched itself over, clinging to the back of Tala’s head. There were yells behind them and then a sudden surge of wind.
“Crap,” Ryker said. “Crap, crap.” He paused long enough to lob a tire-sized ice sphere over his back, and the subsequent explosion resulted in loud curses in angry Mandarin Chinese.
The firebird lingered at their rear, but Tala didn’t need to turn to see what it was doing. She could feel the sudden intense heat behind her and hear more swearing.
“No!” Vivien shouted. “Don’t let them escape!”
She followed that with a stream of Chinese that Tala didn’t understand but that no longer mattered. They were close to the base of the mountain; she could spot a cave entrance up ahead, and she followed the others as they raced through the opening.
Loki held Ruyi Jingu Bang aloft. The staff spun in the air.
The other soldiers recognized the weapon and skidded to a halt. Only Vivien and who Tala presumed was the general in charge of the troops continued running, the latter shouting commands at his men, urging them to continue the charge.
“Why are you doing this, Fey?” Loki shouted.
“Are you still asking me that question, Wagner?” Vivien yelled back fiercely. “You know exactly why I’m doing this!”
“The Snow Queen will turn on you!”
“You’re wrong. She’s the only one left who can help me!” Vivien turned to Ryker, standing just beside Loki. “We thought you were dead.”
“Sorry to disappoint. This isn’t going to end the way you want it to, Fey. You’re not so coldhearted as the others to survive this.”
Vivien looked fearful for a second and then rallied. “I’m not here to talk to traitors,” she said and raised the banana leaf fan she was holding over her head. She swooped her arm down, sending a powerful whirlwind hurtling toward them.
Loki spun Ruyi Jingu Bang, and the dangerous gusts of wind dissipated once they made contact with the spinning staff. Titas Teejay and Chedeng were giving them further cover. Their abanico fans were not as powerful as Vivien Fey’s, but they were knocking soldiers off their feet before they could get too close, and General Luna was successfully warding the rest off with his shiv right up until Ryker gestured. A thick wall of ice promptly shielded them from the soldiers’ view, obscuring the entrance of the cave.
“They were never going to let us borrow the lantern,” West said. “Lady Corazon was right.”
“So what now?” Nya asked. “We just walk farther inside Kunlun and see if we can get out the other side?”
“Pretty much,” Tala said with a sigh.
“All I see is darkness,” Ken said. The firebird glowed. “Okay, I see…well, still nothing.”
“I hear a river,” Zoe said. “It sounds like it is coming from somewhere nearby.”
“Is that a good thing or a bad thing?” West asked.
“I may have a few suggestions,” a voice through Tala’s earpiece said—the Duke of Suddene’s reassuring timbre. “My father had a Chinese colleague who was willing to put up with some of his odder quirks. I’ve only just found letters they exchanged. He told my father about a poem attributed to Sanzo in the fifth century. Its translation isn’t as pretty to the ears as the original, but the gist of it is this: Follow the ways of the Red River, and repent at the Rushing Sands, for nothing there is your enemy. Only when you win without defeating your opponent will you behold the true beauty of Chenxiang’s light.”
“A riddle?” Tala asked.
“If it is,” Cole said quietly, “I don’t think anyone knows the answer.”
“There’s a first for everything, eh?” Ken drew out Kusanagi. “If the prophecies or whatever say this sword is gonna help us find it, then I’ll go with it.”
“If everyone’s putting him in charge, I’m not sure how practical that actually is,” Nya grumbled.
Ken grinned at her. “Love you too, Rapunzel. Let’s get going before they find us.”
“Tangina,” General Luna said and sighed.
It didn’t take long for them to locate the river and confirm Sanzo’s poem. The waters were three feet wide and wound even deeper into the mountain, seemingly with no end in sight. They were also the color of blood.
“Poisonous?” Ken asked.
“I don’t think so,” Loki said doubtfully. “Tala?”
Tala shook her head.
“Best not fall in anyway.” Zoe pointed. “The passageway’s large enough for us to walk beside it one at a time.”
“What was that thing Fey was using?” West asked. “That oversize fan?”
“A banana leaf,” Tita Baby said. “Another of China’s treasured artifacts. It was once owned by one of their royal nobles, Princess Iron Fan. It’s said to put out forest fires with just a swipe.”
Zoe crouched down tentatively beside the embankment and slowly pulled out something from her boot that resembled a thermometer.
“Zoe,” Nya warned.
“It’s all right. Dex showed me how it works. It’ll take a reading of the water’s composition. Maybe we can figure out what this river’s made of.”
“You’re a bloody Girl Scout is what you are,” Ken said. “Do you have emergency kits on you too? Needle and thread? A toolbox?”
“First, your girlfriend’s got a medical bag on her too. That’s a pro. Second, I did bring my trusty sleeping needle to fall back on. I don’t think I should be using Ogmios too close to this much water. Dexter? Are you there?” Zoe scowled. “Is anyone getting anything back from Avalon?”
“I’d be surprised if you could,” Ryker said dryly. “Not even your best spelltech can get past a whole mountain chock-full of ancient magic.”
“We’ll keep trying to reach Avalon and see if we can get a signal,” Tita Baby said. “Can you reach out to Alex, little firebird?”
From its position on Loki’s shoulder, the firebird folded a wing over its eyes and then spun around in a circle, stopping to point deeper into the caves with a flourish.
“Thanks,” Ken said. “That’s a lot of help.”
They resumed walking. Loki kept glancing over their shoulder as if they were expecting the government soldiers to pop out of thin air at any second.
“I’d tell you she’s a lost cause if that means anything,” Ryker said quietly to Tala. “She wants to be an ice maiden, but she’ll need to prove her loyalty to the queen in horrifying ways before she can. Take it from me.”
“You aren’t an ice maiden. Or an…” Loki paused. “An ice dude?”
“Not a lot of dudes who choose this, I’m told. Guys angry at the world tend to also be angry at women, so they don’t last long being subordinate to one. She had no plans of turning me anyway—I was more useful recruiting people to her cause. Foolish me just thought I was saving them.” Ryker gazed ahead. “She’ll offer you a taste of her powers,” he said, “if you’ll do something for her. Help build up her army maybe, or steal some important spelltech she has her eyes on. Something easy enough to accomplish with her support. For a good cause, she’ll say. That’s the first step. Next she’ll ask you to do something incredibly cruel to prove your devotion, bind you to her. Finally, she’ll ask you to kill for her, and then she’ll strip you of your humanity and mold you into her image. I didn’t know that was what she asked of those who wanted to be her ice maidens until before she stabbed me. She—” His hands curled into fists. “She boasted to me about it.”
“I’m sorry,” West said sympathetically.
“There isn’t anything here that could turn the river red,” Nya said, sounding bewildered. “The rocks aren’t the type for it. It’s almost like it’s just red because it’s red.”
“I can try and drink it,” Ken offered.
“You absolutely will not.”
“The redness of the water might be the least of our problems now,” Zoe said. “Take a look at what’s up ahead.”
They looked. And then looked again.
“Is that more water?” Tito Boy asked presently. “Is it normal to have this much inside mountains?”
“It’s not water,” Loki confirmed. “It’s some kind of transparent sand.”
There was a large stone arch over the river, unadorned, though its near-perfect symmetry and smooth ridges suggested that it was man-made. The color of the river as it passed underneath the arch changed remarkably, from scarlet to an odd opaque color. And while the red river had gushed forth and burbled and flowed, this new stream was strangely placid, without even a ripple on its surface.
“The riddle’s starting to look very literal instead of metaphorical,” Zoe said. She took out the measuring spelltech again, gingerly dipped a part of it into the still water. There was a very decided gloop as the metal tool touched the odd liquid—and then remained there. Startled, Zoe took it with both hands and tried to push it down but couldn’t. “You’re not gonna believe this,” she said. “But the water’s so dense that it’s not letting anything in it sink. I can’t even get an inch past the surface.”
“But why?” Nya asked. “What purpose does this have?”
“You’re forgetting about what the duke said about this place and how it’s the same as Wonderland,” Tita Teejay said sagely. “There weren’t any real good reasons for some of the magic in Wonderland to be the way it was. Shrinking teacups and stairs that go nowhere and flowers dripping paint and all that. I think it’s the same here.”
“Not quite,” Tita Chedeng demurred. “There was some purpose to Wonderland magic—as a good defense against outside forces. Maybe it’s the same here.”
Ken spun, Kusanagi in his hands leveled at the ceiling above them.
“What’s wrong?” Nya asked.
“Something’s bloody following us. I don’t know if it’s Fey or the soldiers or something else, but it looked like a shade to me. I keep seeing it out of the corner of my eye, but it isn’t attacking.”
The others immediately formed a circle, standing shoulder to shoulder with their backs to each other as they all gazed around. “I don’t see anything,” Loki said presently.
“I know what I saw,” Ken growled.
“One shade, Ken?” Zoe asked. “They usually attack in groups, so one shade doesn’t sound like—”
“I know what I saw. Hey, firebird. Did you see it too? Nottingham?”
The firebird blinked at him and then shook its head.
“I don’t sense anything,” Cole confirmed.
“I didn’t sense anything either,” Tita Baby confirmed. “Maybe Kunlun magic?”
“Tangina,” said General Luna.
“Stay alert,” Zoe instructed. “Call out if you see anything else that’s strange.”
“We’ve just seen a bloodred river and water so dense nothing can sink in it,” Tala said.
“Anything else that’s stranger.”
They headed deeper in, and to Tala, it seemed like they’d been traveling for hours. Their cell phones were useless, with neither reception nor even a working internal clock. The passageway had widened enough to fit two people at a time. She was all too aware of the adarna alert on her head, silent, and of Ryker, who was beside her.
“I would volunteer to take the weight off,” Ryker said, “but I’m not sure the adarna is as fond of me. Would you like to sit on my head instead, little bird?”
The adarna looked at him and then, very emphatically, shook its head.
“It reminds me of the firebird in a lot of ways,” Tala said. “Mostly its entitlement issues.”
There was a squawk up ahead from somewhere along Loki’s shoulder as if to say, I heard that.
“I think it’s acting that way toward you in the same way the firebird acts toward Alex,” Ryker chuckled. “It just wants to look out for you.”
“Easy for you to say when you don’t have a bowling ball on your head,” Tala grumbled and received a light peck on her ear for her efforts. “Hey!”
Ryker laughed softly again, making her laugh with him. She stopped abruptly. So did he.
“Sorry,” Tala said. “It just reminded me of the way things used to be back at Elsmore High. You and me and Alex.”
“I’m sorry too,” Ryker said quietly. “For ever having put you in danger, even when I said I would never harm you and meant it. If I could have just—”
“Oh hell,” said Ken, who had just stepped through a smaller entrance. He’d disappeared from view, but Tala could still hear his voice, awed and very much worried. “Oh hell, oh hell, oh hell.”
“Is it safe to assume this isn’t anything good, Ken?” Zoe asked warily.
And then it was their turn to enter, their turn to gape.
Before them was a large cavern the size of ten football fields, and there was sand everywhere. It poured down from above, though where it was streaming from was obscured by more sand spilling from even higher ledges.
Tala pressed her foot against the uneven ground, her boot sinking a couple of inches lower when she put her full weight on it. The sand swirled around her, pulled along by some unseen current.
“This sand is acting more like water than the water we just left,” West said.
“Now what?” Ken asked. “I don’t see any other exits beyond the one we came out from.”
Several hundred meters in front of him, something rustled from deep within the endlessly shifting sands. He jumped back when it burst through the surface.
It was a demon. Its skin was reddish in color, a bushy, bristly beard starting from its chin and reaching its knees—a considerable achievement, given that it was about eight feet tall. It had bulging eyes and wore a necklace of skulls around its neck, possibly a testament to other intrepid explorers who had gone before them, because even as the sands stirred and settled, Tala spotted skeletal remains lying haphazardly within the cavern, the bones scrubbed clean from the grit.
The demon settled its lidless eyes on them, its mouth pulling back into a horrifying grin to reveal at least three rows of jagged brown teeth, and roared.
“Uh,” West said. “I guess that’s what.”