“Break the ice!” the emperor ordered. “I want her found!”

Confusion shook the pier, but in mere seconds, pickaxes and men were lowering onto the refrozen ice. The throngs of people, all in an uproar, pressed forward for a better view. Pinmei, at the rear, saw only a forest of legs and backs of coats and robes. As she jumped and leaned, the cries and shouts of the crowd echoing around her, Yishan grabbed her arm.

“Look,” he said quietly, pulling her back.

He pointed at the ice below. Pinmei peered below and gasped, the sound swallowed by the roar of the spectacle behind them. As everyone else was facing the opposite direction, no one noticed what they saw.

Under the surface of the ice was the translucent figure of someone swimming. Even though scarcely a shadow, the silhouette was graceful and lithe, her hair streaming behind her like ripples in the water. But what made Pinmei gape was that as the woman turned to swim away, she distinctly flipped the tail of a fish.

CHAPTER

64

He only shrieked now when he woke. The ache of his lost dreams would pierce him, and the dazzling gold mocked him.

How he longed for his serene blackness! How he longed for his clean, clear waves of water! The weight on his back was nothing compared with the weight of his longing.

When he was finally free, how he would race back! He would trample anything in his way, toss aside anyone in his path. Nothing would slow him—no mountain or immortal, no building or beast.

Not even the human who had captured him.

For he found he did not care about his power, his strength, or his greatness. He did not care about finding his captor, repaying insults, or inflicting eternal punishments.

Vindication, vengeance, revenge. He no longer wished for those things.

He wished for tranquil darkness patterned with gentle ripples and delicate lights. He wished for his limbs to swim in cold, deep wetness. He wished for the sound of clear wind, free and boundless.

His only wish was to return home.

CHAPTER

65

“So we’ll save Amah when we find the Iron Rod,” Yishan said, “and free the tortoise.”

“We wouldn’t have to do anything with the tortoise if you hadn’t pretended we were the people the Sea King had called!” Pinmei said, scowling, her anger returning. “Were you even pretending? Why did you act that way?”

They were at an inn, the steam from the warm tea in their hands drifting with the drafts from the window. They had gotten a room as well as dinner, though the innkeeper had raised his eyebrows as the children had entered. However, his face settled back into businesslike detachment when Yishan reached into his bag and waved a gold coin. “Just a present from the House of Wu,” Yishan had told Pinmei when she looked at him, her own eyebrows lifted.

“Listen,” Yishan said, ignoring Pinmei’s questions, “we know that the emperor has captured the tortoise with the Iron Rod…”

“So that he can be invincible,” Pinmei put in, “which usually means impossible to beat.”

“He’d want to keep the tortoise close to him,” continued Yishan, as if Pinmei hadn’t spoken. “I can’t imagine anything being able to hold in the tortoise forever. Even with the Iron Rod, the emperor must know that the tortoise might be able to break free at any time. What kind of cage could hold the Black Tortoise of Winter, though?”

“Maybe it’s made of mountains,” Pinmei said with bitterness. “The emperor probably had some built in his throne room.”

Yishan’s eyes widened, and he stared out the window at the dimming sky as if suddenly seeing the sun.

“Of course,” he said. “That’s why he’s building the wall! It’s to keep the tortoise in, if he should ever break free. He’s probably reinforcing it with…”

“Yishan!” Pinmei almost screamed, her frustration finally bursting. “Just tell me what’s really going on! You’re hiding things from me.”

“I’m not!” Yishan said, smiling innocently. “At least not anything important.”

Pinmei looked at him with narrowed eyes, suspicious as well as angry. How could he smile like that? Couldn’t he see how impossible he had made things? Find the Iron Rod! Free the Black Tortoise! Was it for a secret reason of his own that he went to Sea Bottom? And he and Lady Meng had always acted a bit strange with each other. Maybe there had been hidden reasons for him to find the stone too! Had he even wanted to save Amah in the first place? Pinmei’s eyes burned with tears, and the wind shrieked as the night darkened the sky, the paper of the window flapping.

“Pinmei,” Yishan said again, but this time his voice was no longer pleading, but deep and clear with unexpected gravity. “Trust me.”

Remember, you can always trust Yishan, Amah had said. Pinmei bowed her head, remembering Amah’s gentle but firm voice. Her frustrated tears transformed into tears of yearning as she pictured Amah’s face looking at her steadily, like the light of the clear moon. Would she ever see her again? Pinmei let the tears fall down her cheeks before opening her eyes. She looked at Yishan and saw the boy who had pulled her out of a fiery hut and away from the hands of a cruel soldier. No matter what, he was her true friend. She let out a slow breath and nodded. He could keep his secrets if he wanted.

“So, the Iron Rod, the tortoise, Amah,” Pinmei said slowly, wiping her face with her hand. “The emperor has them all. They must all be in the palace. That means we have to get in there. How are we going to do that?”

Yishan grinned and took his handkerchief out of his sleeve, holding it out to her as he had to Lady Meng so long ago. “We’ll think of something,” he said. “You always—”

“Yishan!” Pinmei gasped. “Your handkerchief… Look!”

“What?” Yishan stared at Pinmei. Her face had turned white and her black eyes burned. Both her eyes and her hand, frozen in pointing, were fixed on Yishan’s outstretched handkerchief.

“What is it?” Yishan started, but stopped as he followed Pinmei’s gaze. In his humble handkerchief lay a small, round stone. Exquisite in its size, perfect in its shape, the stone was lovelier than the finest pearl and more gorgeous than the costliest jewel.

“You let Lady Meng use that handkerchief,” Pinmei whispered, “when she cried…”