“You… are… thieves!” A choked noise broke the spell of their awe. Pinmei and Yishan looked away from the moon to see the Sea King, and both froze.

His mouth was gaping and his arms were reaching out helplessly toward the luminous water. But it was his eyes that made them stop. Those eyes, which had been so unreadable before, were now illuminated with the light of the moon, and they were filled with horror and revulsion.

“You would steal…” the king continued, his words strangled noises. “It does not belong to you… not to only one… How… how could you?”

Yishan saw the disgusted eyes of the young boy that the Sea King had been, the great hero who had refused to hurt anyone, even to save himself. Pinmei saw the eyes of Amah, dismayed and disappointed.

Suddenly, they were both ashamed. Pinmei and Yishan looked at each other, stricken.

“Put it back,” Pinmei ordered. “Put the moon back. We can’t trade Amah for the moon. We… the emperor… have no right to take it.”

Yishan nodded. He lowered the string, and the glorious brightness began to dim. The enormous ball got smaller and smaller until, finally, it was only a glowing circle on the black silk of the night. Yishan shook his wrist to remove the string, and all watched as the released moon returned to its place in the limitless Heavenly Lake. Yishan breathed a sigh of relief.

“I don’t think the emperor’s going to get his Luminous Stone,” he said.

CHAPTER

57

Pinmei smiled feebly at Yishan, but when their eyes met, she knew they were both aghast at what they had almost done. Yishan looked over at the Sea King. Even now, the Sea King was leaning motionlessly over the bridge, the glow of the moon on his still-concerned face.

“Don’t worry! We’re not going to take it,” Yishan called out. The Sea King raised his head to look at him. “We were just, uh, joking,” Yishan finished lamely.

To Pinmei’s surprise, the Sea King turned to them and bowed to Yishan. “I apologize. I should not have doubted you,” he said with a respect one gives to an equal. “I should have realized that even while young, you could still…”

“It’s nothing,” Yishan said, cutting him off. His face flushed again, this time from shame.

Pinmei’s hands were trembling, and she felt her knees quake. Weakly, she sat down, her back against the carved stone wall of the bridge. Her hand rubbed her wrist, naked without Amah’s bracelet or even the red string. Yishan, waving away any further words from the Sea King, sat next to her.

“I got carried away,” Yishan admitted in a low tone. “But the moon isn’t something the emperor should have. We can’t take it.”

“Amah wouldn’t want us to anyway,” Pinmei said. Just thinking of Amah cut into her chest, but she knew her words were true. Amah would never want them to take the moon out of the sky. She would be horrified by the thought. But without the Luminous Stone, without the moon, would she ever see Amah again? The blackness of the sea suddenly overwhelmed her; it was nothing more than a vast emptiness. Pinmei’s eyes stung with tears.

“You’re right,” Yishan said after a long moment. He handed her the damp string bracelet, returned to its original size. “We’ll find another way to get Amah back.”

Pinmei nodded and rolled the bracelet onto her wrist, not meeting his eyes. Despite Yishan’s assured tone, she knew it was a hollow hope. There was no other way. What else could they do?

Tears continued to fill her eyes, and she reached into her sleeve for her handkerchief. But, as Pinmei brought it to her face, she realized she was holding the Paper of Answers. She stared at it, and shafts of light from the full moon below streamed in through carved openings behind her.

“If there is another way to get Amah,” Pinmei said, waving the clutched paper at Yishan, “this is how we can find out!”

CHAPTER

58

“What?” Yishan said, startled and confused.

“The Paper will answer any question in the light of the full moon,” Pinmei said, waving the Paper toward the dark water. “The moon is full here! And any immortal can read the Paper—the emperor said so, remember?”

“An immortal?” Yishan asked.

Pinmei cocked her head over at the Sea King.

“You mean, ask him to read it for us?” Yishan said.

Pinmei rolled her eyes. “Yes!” she said. “The Paper can tell us if there is another way to get Amah!”

Yishan took the Paper from Pinmei, his hands caressing it in an almost loving gesture. Then he stood.

“Your Majesty,” he said as Pinmei scrambled to her feet, “we have a favor to ask you.”

The Sea King stepped forward. “Ah, just a paper now?” he asked. “Not a book anymore?”

Pinmei’s words rushed out in her eagerness. “It’s the Paper of Answers,” she said. “If we ask it a question, can you read us the answer?”

“Yes,” the Sea King said, but he had a puzzled look on his face. “But surely—”

“Thank you,” Yishan said in a voice that made both Pinmei and the Sea King quiet. Yishan stepped closer to the edge of the bridge, holding the Paper in front of him as if offering it to the sky.

Pinmei tingled with such excitement that she felt she could have been one of the flickering fish above. They could still save Amah! The Paper knew everything!

Yishan was already speaking. In a loud voice, each word like a stone dropping into water, he asked his question.

“How has the emperor captured the Black Tortoise of Winter?” Yishan said.

CHAPTER

59

Pinmei shrieked a sound of disbelief.

“Yishan!” she hissed. “What about Amah? You were supposed to ask about Amah!”

Yishan said nothing and just looked at her sheepishly, holding the Paper away from her as she flew at him. Dark marks were already forming on the page.

“Why did you ask about the tortoise?” Pinmei said, unable to stop. “How will we ever get Amah now?

Her last words ripped out of her in a wail, plaintive and piercing. But the cry, so raw in her throat, disappeared in the blackness like a single tear falling into the sea.