“Lazy thing,” Lady Meng sighed. She flung the shell into the air. “Wake up! Show us the way to the City of Bright Moonlight!”

And as the mussel spun into the sky, it burst into feathers. It was a bird! It hung above them, its chest a stitch of red thread in the white silk sky.

“A swallow!” Pinmei breathed. “The mussel turned into a swallow!”

Lady Meng had already turned back toward the road and Yishan trailed comically behind, his mouth open and head angled upward. But Pinmei stood still, curiously studying Lady Meng, who, against the whiteness of snow and ice, looked like a painting come to life.