“All … at … once …?” Jordan repeated in a faint voice. His face had drained of color.
“Yes, but don’t panic,” Moli said.
“What do you mean, ‘don’t panic’? There are, like, a hundred demons! Charging right at us!” Jordan yelled.
“They must’ve gotten loose, but the guards will catch them. And they’ll listen to me. They have to.” Moli stood up tall and called out in an authoritative voice, “I’m one of King Yama’s assistants.” Her eyes flashed. Like, literally flashed with golden light. “Back off, demons. The warriors are with me.”
I guess Moli wasn’t as popular in the Underworld as she thought, because the demons kept charging. There were still no guards in sight. The demons were so close that I could make out their features—there were red-skinned demons, blue-skinned demons, green-skinned demons shaped like lizards. Creatures straight out of a warrior’s worst nightmares, all charging toward us.
I gulped, steadying my grip on my sword handle. Looked like we’d have to fight this one out. I’d defeated demons in the past. I could do it again, no problem. Right?
“Run!” Moli yelled.
If we were facing twenty demons, I probably would’ve insisted that we stand our ground and fight. Warrior’s honor. Except we weren’t facing twenty demons. More like two hundred. There was no way I—or any warrior, for that matter—could take that many down. With Fenghuang, maybe, but not with just a regular sword.
So I ran.
“This way!” Moli pointed off to the left, toward a huge black mountain in the distance that spurted bright red-orange lava.
“You want us to go there?” Ashley demanded. “Toward that volcano thingy?”
“If you don’t want to turn into demon lunch, then our best bet is to head to the volcano thingy—I mean, the Mountain of Flames!”
That was enough to convince me to follow Moli. We sprinted across the moonlit grass. My heart hammered. I tried to focus on the path ahead of me, not the demons on my heels. As we leapt over rocks and dodged tree branches, I was immensely grateful for the New Order insisting on those torturous five AM jogs. They’d really raised my stamina to “fleeing at top speed from bloodthirsty demons” levels.
When we reached the end of the forest, the sounds of demons shrieking and crashing through undergrowth disappeared. I chanced a glance behind me. There were no demons in sight.
“Think we … lost them …?” Ashley panted, wiping a sheen of sweat off her forehead.
Moli was the only one not bent over, wheezing and out of breath. “That’s strange.” She sounded almost disappointed. “Why did they stop chasing us?”
“I’m not complaining,” Jordan said with a shudder.
As I straightened, I saw a flash of white. Demon. “They’re still here!”
I swung my sword in an arc—but instead of slicing through demon flesh, my sword clashed against steel. Another sword.
“Faryn?” came the sound of a startled but familiar voice.
I almost dropped my sword in shock. White hair, one green eye, and one black eye. I couldn’t believe it. He was actually here. “R … Ren?”
We’d been apart for only five days, yet it felt like several months. I’d missed him. Judging by the smile that rose to Ren’s face, he felt the same.
I threw my arms around Ren. “You didn’t die in the Dragon Kings’ realm!”
“I did not,” he agreed.
“How did you escape?”
Ren winced. “Long story. I’ll tell you later. We should focus on getting out of Diyu first.”
Moli cleared her throat. “All right, break it up, you lovebirds. We’re on a tight deadline, remember?”
Suddenly self-conscious, I stopped hugging Ren and stepped back. Ren shuffled his feet, a red flush rising up his neck. Diyu felt too hot—and we weren’t even at the Mountain of Flames yet.
“What the heck are you doing here?” Moli asked Ren.
“Good to see you, too.”
“Yeah, yeah.” Moli rolled her eyes. “Glad to see you, punk. Now, answer the question.”
“It’s … complicated.” Ren sighed. “I’m just glad I managed to find you all.”
“And how exactly did you find us?” I asked.
“I dunno. When I was at the Dragon Kings’ palace, I saw this vision of you guys in the Underworld. Someone must’ve showed it to me in my dreams. Anyway, I just had a feeling in my gut that I should be here, too. Plus, I didn’t know where else to go to avoid the Dragon Kings.” Ren shrugged, his expression morphing into one of slight confusion. “Strange that I dreamed about you, right?”
My sword handle grew warm, as though in agreement. “Huh. Yeah. Strange.”
“More importantly, Moli—you’re a-alive?” Ren spluttered, no doubt taking in the fact that she was glowing. “Wait, no, you’re not quite …”
“I’m still dead, thank you,” Moli said shortly. “Very, very dead.” She’d steered away from the jagged black rocks that made up the base of the Mountain of Flames. “If you two don’t want to die as well, save all your lovey-dovey talk for after we’re in the clear. Those demons might still be behind us!”
Ren’s ears turned bright red. “Th-there’s nothing lovey-dovey about this!”
My own face was flaming, but Moli was right, at least about the demons. This wasn’t the spot to be catching up with old friends, even if old friends had popped up like daisies out of nowhere in the middle of the Underworld.
We needed to finish this as quickly as possible. Find the Ruyi Jingu Bang, find my ancestors and the memory-restoring elixir, get out of Diyu, and return to Sun Wukong before the end of the Hungry Ghost Festival.
“Hey,” Ashley greeted Ren. “Haven’t seen you since before we left the New Order. Where ya been?”
“Uh … here and there,” Ren said evasively.
“You missed a lot of cool stuff,” Jordan informed him. “We almost died a couple of times, I ate some orange chicken, and look—I grew my first bit of stubble!” He rubbed his chin and grinned at Ren.
Ren squinted. “I don’t see anything.”
“You gotta take a closer look than that, dude,” Jordan grumbled.
“Where’re we headed now?” I called to Moli over the others’ chatter.
“Youdu,” she shouted without turning back to look at me. “That’s the capital of Diyu. It’s this huge walled city where the Ruyi Jingu Bang is being held. I’ve seen it. Once we get to Youdu, we need to find the Last Glance to Home Tower.”
A huge walled city and a giant, ominous-sounding tower. That would be pretty hard to miss. In theory. “How do we get there?”
“Um … not sure. Youdu’s location changes, but as long as we keep following the moon, we’ll be able to find it.” Moli pointed toward where the moon hung high above us, looking like it wasn’t in any particular direction.
Of course. Nothing would ever be that easy for a warrior on a quest, especially not in the Underworld’s mazelike setup.
We approached another mountain. This one appeared to be filled not with lava but with sharp silver objects.