Up close, Sun Wukong looked even more intimidating, with razor-sharp teeth. Those black eyes were definitely trying to see if I was a demon or not. I closed my eyes and struggled to keep myself from trembling or looking like a demon, which was ridiculous because I wasn’t a demon.
“I didn’t lose anything,” Sun Wukong continued. “One of the Demon Kings stole my Ruyi Jingu Bang. He lured me away from it by ambushing my monkeys. I would’ve chased that lowlife to the pits of Diyu, where he fled, but …” Sun Wukong cast a mournful look up at the monkeys who hung in the trees. “I needed to stay behind to protect my monkeys. The demons are stirring strongly now that it’s the Hungry Ghost Festival, you see.”
“Yeah,” I said with a sigh. “We know.”
Sun Wukong gave us a hard look. “That’s why I can’t help you even if I wanted to. Not only am I missing the Ruyi Jingu Bang, but I’ve also got to stay behind to protect Huā Guǒ Shān.” He folded his arms across his chest and turned his back to us. “Now, leave.”
Had Ye Ye’s compass led us to the wrong place after all? Had the others trusted a “Jade Society warrior” just to have their suspicions confirmed—to know that we really were that useless?
Ashley and Jordan exchanged a quick, unreadable look—like the ones Alex and I had exchanged so many times, before he … No. I shook my head. No thinking about Alex, remember? Concentrate on the mission.
“Let’s leave.” Ashley turned and stormed back in the direction we’d come from. “This whole detour was a mistake. Like I said before, we’re supposed to go to the Grand Canyon. The real hero, Xuanwu, is waiting for us.”
“Xuanwu?” Sun Wukong echoed, sneering. “What about that lunkhead?”
“N-nothing,” I interrupted. “We were just, um—”
“On our way to find the hero this world really needs—Xuanwu,” Ashley interrupted.
I groaned inwardly. Why hadn’t Ashley stayed unconscious? Now she was going to get all of us killed.
For a long, tense moment as we backed away from Sun Wukong, the god drew himself to his admittedly unimpressive full height. But the light that flared in his eyes was more than intimidating enough.
“I don’t fight with mortals,” Sun Wukong said in a dangerously calm voice, “but not every god is as benevolent and generous as I, warriors. You’ll do well to remember that.” He turned around once more in a dismissive motion. “If you can bring me the Ruyi Jingu Bang, I might reconsider my decision to help you.”
“The Ruyi Jingu Bang?” I repeated. “But … you just said it’s in Diyu, in the possession of a Demon King.”
“It is,” Sun Wukong confirmed. He cocked an eyebrow at us, his tail sweeping across the ground from side to side. “So?”
“N-nothing.” But I could see in Ashley’s eyes what she really meant to say. This would be a near-impossible task to complete, and Sun Wukong hadn’t even guaranteed his help after we retrieved his weapon.
“Don’t look so stricken, warriors. I know I’m asking for the impossible. Only the most powerful, clever, and handsome of gods could even have the strength to lift the Ruyi Jingu Bang.”
I was pretty sure being clever and handsome didn’t have any bearing on how strong someone could be, but I decided not to point that out.
“That would be me,” Sun Wukong clarified, as though we hadn’t understood his meaning. “I am the most powerful, clever, and handsome of gods. And unfortunately, there is only one of me.”
“You can’t just pluck one of your hairs, blow on it, and create a copy of yourself to stay behind and guard the mountain?” Jordan blurted out. “Unless that’s just something made up in the cartoons.”
Sun Wukong hung his head. “No, that’s real. I used to be able to create an army of powerful, identical copies of myself using just the hairs on my back, but …” A shadow crossed the Monkey King’s face. “I’m not as powerful as before. None of us gods is. So, warriors, unless you can find me a couple of gods to babysit my monkeys, I won’t be joining you on your quest.”
I gritted my teeth. There was no way Sun Wukong didn’t know that what he was asking for was next to impossible. With powerful gods rallying against us and the few on our side stretched thin enough as it was trying to protect the humans, we didn’t exactly have any powerful gods to spare.
“Forget it,” Jordan whispered. “Sun Wukong is a trickster god. He can’t be trusted.”
“I heard that,” Sun Wukong called.
I knew the Monkey King was a slippery fellow a little too fond of causing mass mayhem and panic. But on the other hand, Sun Wukong was also the most powerful of gods. I mean, he’d nearly brought down all of Heaven by himself, and he was half the size of a normal god. We needed the power of the Ruyi Jingu Bang—and Sun Wukong’s help.
I stepped forward. “If we go to Diyu to retrieve your Ruyi Jingu Bang for you, will you join our side in the upcoming war?”
“Are you serious?” Ashley’s eyes bulged as though I’d suggested we all leap off the side of the mountain. “You think we can bring back the Ruyi Jingu Bang? That thing weighs, like, eleventy billion pounds!”
Trying to look braver and more impressive than I was, I stood my ground.
Sun Wukong stopped in his tracks, a thunderous expression on his face. I couldn’t help but shrivel back.
“Are you suggesting that I, the Great Sage, Equal of Heaven, need to rely on a handful of mere mortals to retrieve my Ruyi Jingu Bang?” Sun Wukong roared.
“N-no, of course not, dà shèng,” Ashley said quickly. “We were just leaving.”
I never liked quitting, but leaving sounded like a pretty good plan. Especially because the monkeys were shaking the trees as though they, too, could feel their master’s wrath and were preparing to attack.
“I would normally smite you three for even daring to suggest that you puny warriors are more suited to the task than I,” Sun Wukong continued. “However, my sworn brother, the Bull Demon King, wouldn’t be too happy if I did that.”
“The—the Bull Demon King?” Jordan stammered, mouth hanging slightly open.
Sun Wukong arched an eyebrow. “Of course. The Bull Demon King. Or should I say—your father?”
CHAPTER
13
Silence filled the Water Curtain Cave. Even the monkeys went still.
“Wh-what?” Ashley gasped. She exchanged a dumbstruck look with her brother before turning back to Sun Wukong. “The Bull Demon King? Our father?”
“Hold up.” I stared at the siblings. “Am I hearing this right? You guys are the offspring of a Demon King?” The Bull Demon King. If I remembered my mythology correctly, then the Bull Demon King was the father of the Red Prince, a powerful fire demon we’d fought back in D.C.’s Chinatown. That meant the spoiled, evil little Red Prince was Ashley and Jordan’s half brother. I shuddered. Could definitely see some family resemblance.
It all made sense now. I recalled what Ashley had done during the Ninety-Sixth Duels—defeating her opponent with magical abilities she’d developed out of nowhere. Jordan had displayed that mysterious white power to keep the chariot, and us, from plunging to our doom.