They reached a bridge and, with a hiss, the snake slithered away. Almost soundlessly, it splashed into the water and vanished. Pinmei could not even see a faint shadow of it as they began to walk over the lake… or was it an ocean? The bridge stretched and stretched only to disappear, and Pinmei could not even imagine where it ended.

“Are we walking over the sea?” Pinmei asked faintly.

“This is the Heavenly Lake,” the Sea King told her. “The immortals of the sky call it the Celestial River and you mortals call it the Starry River, but here we call it the Heavenly Lake. I suppose to us at Sea Bottom, it seems more the size of a lake than a river.”

“But the Starry River is the sky,” Pinmei said, shaking her head in confusion. “It’s up high. This is below!”

The Sea King nodded. “Our worlds connect here,” he said. “The bottom of the Heavenly Lake is your sky.”

Pinmei could only stare. The water below them was as smooth as a jade plate and melted into the horizon. It was as if she were walking through an infinite night sky, and it was making her dizzy. After another long pause, the Sea King stopped and brought them to the edge of the bridge.

“Here it is,” he said, and waved his hands toward the water below. A soft glow shone from the reflections on the lake, bathing them all in light. “Nuwa’s tear,” he said with reverence, “or a Luminous Stone That Lights the Night.”

Or, Pinmei thought as she stared downward, the moon.

CHAPTER

55

Both Yishan and Pinmei gazed down at the moon. It was a perfect, glowing circle in the still black water, and the reflection of the thousands of fish above twinkled around it exactly like stars. Pinmei felt as if she were looking down at the night sky.

“It’s beautiful, is it not?” the Sea King said. “A Luminous Stone That Lights the Night,” the Sea King finished, motioning downward. “I myself found it long, long ago. I shaped it into a dragon’s pearl, but it was never meant to belong to one being. It belongs to everyone in the sea, sky, and earth. That is why it floats in the Heavenly Lake, so all can see it. ”

“Of course,” Yishan whispered, almost angrily. “I am such a fool. Why didn’t I remember…? I should’ve realized…”

“How would you?” Pinmei said. “Who would have thought the moon would be at the bottom of the sea?” The pure light stroked her face with the tenderness of a mother, and she felt a wave of anguish. The moon! They were here to take it to the emperor. But how could they?

“Why did you wish to see it?” the Sea King asked.

“We need to take it,” Yishan said. “To give to the emperor.”

“What?” the Sea King said, and began to laugh, a deep, roaring laugh. His head arched back and his hand thumped against his chest in amusement. “You! Take Nuwa’s tear? That is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard!”

“It’s not ridiculous!” Yishan flashed, his face the color of his hat.

“A little goldfish like you?” The Sea King laughed again. “You are a fool! You could not even lift it from the lake, much less carry it from the sea!”

“I can!” Yishan was shouting like a spoiled child, and he moved as if to climb over the railing to dive into the water.

“Yishan!” Pinmei hissed, grabbing him. “Stop it! What is wrong with you?”

“He’s laughing at me!” Yishan huffed. “He called me a fool!”

“Well, if you dive into that lake to try to get the moon, you are!” Pinmei said. “The lake is the sky! You could be falling forever!”

Yishan grabbed Pinmei’s wrists to push her away, but his fingers caught on her string bracelet. Suddenly, he stopped struggling.

“You’re right,” he said. The resentment disappeared from his face and was replaced by a mischievous expression that puzzled Pinmei even more than his anger.

“Anyway, I don’t need to jump into the lake,” he said. He gave the Sea King a smug look. “I can get the moon another way.”

CHAPTER

56

“Y-you can?” Pinmei stuttered, confused.

Yishan grinned, and Pinmei felt hope bubble inside her. Maybe he could! And if he could, they could still save Amah!

“Just let me borrow back that bracelet,” Yishan said to her.

She gave Yishan a baffled look, but rolled the string off her wrist and handed it to him. He gently tugged at the knot until one end of the string was pulled out, forming a small lasso.

“There!” he said, and began to move to the edge of the bridge.

“Yishan, you’re just teasing!” Pinmei groaned. “You know that’s much too small! It’ll never reach the water, and it won’t fit around the moon either!”

“You’ll see,” Yishan said, giving her braid a tug.

He bent over the bridge rail and dangled the lasso from his hand. Together, the Sea King and Pinmei leaned over to watch. They both gasped in disbelief.

The small circle continued to lower, going down, down toward the water, and the string in Yishan’s hand stretched longer and longer.

Noiselessly, the ring slid into the lake. Was the water magnifying it, or was the loop getting bigger? When it finally wavered next to the moon, it looked as if it were the moon’s empty outline.

Pinmei stole a glance at Yishan. Had he somehow gained a magic power? But Yishan still looked like the same boy, tilted dangerously over the bridge’s railing, now with the tip of his tongue sticking out from the corner of his mouth. “Almost there,” he whispered.

He flicked his wrist and the string circle swayed, missing the moon entirely. Yishan grumbled, twitched his wrist, and missed again. He did this over and over again until—

“Ha!” Yishan said. Finally, on his sixth try, the loop neatly encircled the shining moon. Yishan grunted with satisfaction and began to pull, the noose tightening around the moon until the delicate thread looked like a thin scratch of blood.

Slowly, carefully, Yishan began to lift the moon. It grew larger and larger until the great globe seemed to be filling the lake. And as it came closer, its glow became stronger and brighter, with a brilliance so dazzling Pinmei could scarcely bear to look at it. The light was whiter than snow, whiter than ice, whiter than the purest flower or pearl. The black waters and sky turned a shimmering silver, and Pinmei felt as if she could drink its radiance.