The wind spirits weren’t as fast as Spike had been. But still, everything felt pretty wild when you were riding on a donkey made of air.

Hluas didn’t get too far ahead of us, although we were only able to spot the demon because its storm cloud kept flickering like a dying lightbulb. With only the roar of the wind in my ears, it was impossible to talk and too dark to see much beneath us other than silvery treetops. So I looked up instead, watching the stars dart across the sky. Unlike in the mortal realm, these stars weren’t fixed points. They danced and chased one another from one horizon to the other and played…connect the dots?

Zhong waved her arm to get my attention. Then she pointed ahead. Our wind spirits were descending, following Hluas down into the forest. A faint orange glow lit up the branches from below, like from a campfire.

As the trees grew closer, I realized Hluas was taking us much closer to the camp than I would have liked. I held my breath as the firelight flickered past the shadows of trees. The storm spirit rumbled as it wove around the branches and then deposited Hluas on the ground. The demon grimaced in pain.

A moment later, our wind spirits followed. The leaves rustled, and a few branches snapped off. I winced at the sounds we were making. A tree spirit poked its head out of its trunk and waved.

“You hear that?” came a gruff voice.

My heart beat faster. We were way too close to the camp. Once our feet were on the ground and the wind spirits had swept back into the air, Zhong gestured wordlessly for me to follow her. We crept slowly deeper into the woods to put more space between us and the demons.

“No, but I do smell something,” came another voice.

“It’s just your armpits. Put your arms down before you take out the whole forest.”

There was a round of grunts that I realized was demon laughter.

“I’m pretty sure I do smell something, though,” the same demon said. “Smells like mortals.”

Oh no, Zhong mouthed as we moved more quickly.

Hluas had turned around and was limping after us. But then it stopped and glared angrily at Zhong. “The hair clip. You promised.”

“Keep it down,” Zhong hissed.

The demon’s lips pulled back over its teeth again, this time in a snarl. “You promised,” it repeated much too loudly. “Give it to me, or I’ll shout for my friends.”

“What was that?” one of the demons said. There was the sound of shuffling, like they were getting up.

“Just give it to Hluas,” I whispered frantically.

Zhong thrust her hand into her pocket. Then she flung the plastic hair clip through the air. As it flew toward the demon, a flower spirit jumped up and down and called out, “Ooh, pretty!”

Zhong and I both hissed at them to be quiet. The flower spirit pouted and stuck out a purple tongue.

Hluas caught the hair clip. Its teeth flashed in triumph. Then it turned and limped off into the trees, in the opposite direction from camp. Now that it had what it wanted, it was surprisingly quick as it vanished into the thick undergrowth.

Just in time, too, because one of its companions came crashing through the forest not a second later.

Zhong drew her sword as I raised the lightning ax. She muttered some choice insults in Hluas’s direction that sounded like “cabbage breath” and “stick it with my sword next time.”

“I told you!” the demon shouted, pointing at us. It had pink curlers in its hair and wore a nightgown with lace cuffs at the wrists. “Mortals. Just in time for dinner.”

My eyes widened as more of them appeared. There were five in all. I recognized them as the ones who’d survived the battle with the dragon warriors. That meant they were good fighters, which also meant we were in big trouble.

A demon in a gleaming pair of fake leather pants that looked incredibly uncomfortable bashed its fist into Curler Demon’s head. A punch like that would have knocked out a normal person, but Curler Demon just snarled and jabbed its sharp elbow into its companion’s gut.

“You idiot!” Leather Pants said. “These aren’t just any mortals. It’s the shaman brat. And that other one.”

“Hey,” Zhong said, sounding offended. I gave her a look to remind her that now probably wasn’t the time.

“How’d they find us?” another demon said, scratching its greasy head.

“Who cares?” Leather Pants said. When it stepped toward us, the leather squeaked like a dying toy mouse. “Our master will be so pleased. Tie her up.”

“What about the other one?” Curler Demon asked.

“We can have her for dessert.”

A cheer went up among the group. Before they could get any closer, though, I held out the lightning ax. It glowed white, illuminating the entire space. Energy crackled down the handle and sparked across the ground. The demons paused.

“You guys used to be mortal, but you also eat mortals? Doesn’t that seem kind of gross?”

One of the demons shrugged. “If we eat enough mortals, we might become mortal again.”

“That doesn’t make even a little sense.” I thought the opposite was more likely to be true. The more they behaved like monsters, the less human they became.

“Also, you taste good.”

They tried to get closer, but I lifted the lightning ax higher. “No one’s eating my friend. And you aren’t taking me to your master, either. But you are going to tell me what you did with the cat spirit you took from the Tree of Souls.”

“Too late for that one,” one of the demons said. It was picking its sharp yellow teeth with what looked like a small bone.

My stomach did a serious double backflip. Even though I was afraid of the answer, I made myself ask, “What do you mean?”

“Storm spirits carried him away. He’s with our master now. You cannot save him, shamanling.”

I shouldn’t have been so relieved to hear Miv was Xov’s prisoner, but at least the demons hadn’t eaten him. What mattered was that he was still alive.

“Now do we get to eat them?” Curler Demon asked.

The flower spirit, who’d been watching the entire exchange, cut in. “They’d probably give you heartburn. Have you ever smelled a poj ntxoog with heartburn? Phoo-eey. It’s all singed fur, smoke, and ashes.”

Leather Pants only growled and ripped one of the curlers from the other demon’s hair. “Don’t you ever listen? We’re not eating both. We have to take the shorter one back to our master. Just squish the other shaman so we can have some gravy with our dinner.”

I cleared my throat. Now that I knew Miv wasn’t here, there was no reason for us to stick around. “Or you could let us go, and we’ll bring you back some nice juicy steaks? I think I saw a restaurant just down the mountainside.”

Two of the demons began nodding enthusiastically. “And mashed potatoes?”

“And spaghetti with eyeballs?”

“I’ll have to check on those eyeballs, but sure,” I said, slowly backing away.

Zhong began to follow suit, but Leather Pants shouted, “It’s a trick, you idiots! Grab them now!”

There was a second of confused mayhem, with one of the demons muttering, “But spaghetti…” and the squeak-squeak of those shiny leather pants. Then the group charged us with flashing claws and snarling teeth. The flower spirit squealed in fear and vanished under a rock.

I focused my senses on the current of spiritual energy flowing through me. It wasn’t easy to relax while being attacked by five hideous demons, but eventually my body’s reflexes took over. The lightning ax hummed through my gloves, but the part of me that had Shee Yee’s instincts told me not to use it.

I ducked a swipe of claws and swept the legs out from under one of the demons. It fell, tripping the one behind it. I leaped over them both, smashing my foot into a nose. But then that demon snatched my ankle, slamming me down hard.

My head smacked the ground. Pain lit through me, and lights burst behind my eyes.

“Pahua—agh!”

I couldn’t see, but it sounded like Zhong was in trouble. The demon dragged me through the underbrush, probably back toward its camp. Twigs and leaves caught in my hair and scraped the side of my face. The ax snagged on a root and was nearly wrenched from my fingers, but somehow I held on.

“Zhong!” I shouted, trying to shield my head. There was no reply, only the grunts and snarls of the demons. The one gripping me jerked harder, like it was trying to take off my leg. But my fear for Zhong cut through the pain.

With a grunt, I twisted around, squinted through the foliage slapping my face, and smashed the handle of the ax into the demon’s fingers around my ankle.

“Ow!” the demon roared, and let go.

In an instant, I was on my feet again, darting toward my friend. My eyesight seemed fuzzy, though, and everything spun a little. I stumbled, my shoulder colliding with a tree. I reached up and winced as my fingers found a lump on the back of my head.

“Come back here!” the demon yelled behind me. The sound of its heavy steps grew closer as it darted for me. I shoved myself off the tree, ducking to avoid its claws. It collided with the trunk as I hurried ahead.

I’d already gotten Matt and Miv kidnapped by evil spirits because I hadn’t protected them well enough. I wasn’t going to lose Zhong, too. I blinked rapidly to focus my vision before finding her.

To my relief, she was still standing, but she didn’t look like she was doing very well. She was facing off against the other four demons, her shaman sword raised. Her left arm hung at her side. As I neared, the light from my ax illuminated her torn jean jacket sleeve, dark with blood.

Her gaze flicked to mine as I stumbled forward, still a bit dizzy. I was almost there. But the demons saw her moment of distraction and lunged, their claws flashing.

Panic shoved all my instincts aside. I leaped in front of Zhong and slammed the lightning ax into the ground.