CHAPTER EIGHT

Ferry Building, San Francisco
April 19, 1906
Thursday morning, 5:00 a.m.

Jade sat up and pointed the comb at his neck. “Get away from us,” she said in Mandarin. Her hair spilled around her face, and her voice was a growl. She held her body at a sharp angle, ready to strike.

The man dropped my book and held up his hands. He backed away and fled.

“Jade,” Lee said, his eyes wide open. “You’re my number-one outlaw!”

Jade glared after the man. “No one will bother us anymore,” she said as she tucked her comb back in her hair. “I will protect us.”

The crowd of people were starting to wake. With no food left, Lee, Jade, and I went without breakfast. Though we were hungry, the new day brought hope. We gathered up our things and walked around the Ferry Building again.

After a few minutes, I saw a familiar head of hair. White streaks in a long black braid. The man turned his head, and I recognized my friend.

“Mr. Quan!” I shouted.

Mr. Quan turned. “Lily! Lee! Jade! I found you!” He rushed over to us, grinning. “I heard from others about a young Chinese girl, standing up to a bunch of mean people!” he said. “I wondered if this brave girl was you, Lily.”

I held my hands to my cheeks. I was blushing, but this time, I didn’t duck my head. “It was me,” I said. “You should have seen Lee and Jade too. We almost got trampled by a runaway steer, and we lost our laundry basket, but Lee found it. Jade also scared away a person who was trying to steal from us.”

Mr. Quan smiled. “You all run wild, like the horses,” he said. “No one had better get in your way.”

I wrapped my arms around my friend. “I am so happy to see you.”

He hugged me back. “Your parents and June are already in Oakland. They are safe.”

Lee jumped up and down. “You saw them! How did they make it out?”

“Your father was able to get a ride for your mother and the baby,” Mr. Quan said. “I saw them yesterday, right here at this park!”

Jade reached out to Lee and me. “Your parents are so very close,” she said.

Mr. Quan hung his head. “I told your father to take your mother and sister to Oakland on the first ferry they could get. I felt so terrible that I was separated from you all and promised to stay here until I found you.”

“I’m glad they are safe, but I wish we hadn’t missed them,” I said. I was disappointed to know I had been so close to being reunited with my parents yesterday.

“Good news!” Mr. Quan said. “Your mother’s leg isn’t broken after all. There was a doctor at the Ferry Building who looked at it. It is badly sprained, but she can walk. It was still best to get her out of the city as soon as they could so she can rest.”

“I understand,” Lee said, sounding like a grown-up. “Mother needed to get help.”

I looked out at the bay. Just across the water, my parents were waiting for me. Oakland looked more promising than San Francisco right now. I tried to imagine them on the other side.

There were still thousands of people waiting to leave San Francisco. In the distance, the city still burned. Somewhere in the chaos was Chinatown. From what I was hearing, I knew there would not be much left.

Jade, who had been quiet this entire time, stood up. “I’m ready to leave this place,” she said. “Chinatown is no longer my home. I will start over.”

Lee stood next to her. “We are ready to go too,” he said.

I looked across the water. “Let’s go find our parents.”