My brother glared up at us. As he drew closer, I appreciated just how eerily similar Alex was to the version of himself I’d seen back in the Chamber of Mirrors. He was definitely taller, his muscles more defined than before. There was a steeliness in his expression that hadn’t always been there, and his eyes made him seem much older than his true age.
“Give it up and come to our side, Alex.” I tried to keep my voice stern but big sisterly, even though my non-big-sisterly instincts were telling me to strangle him. “Think logically. Your warriors are down. You can’t win this battle.”
Alex’s expression scrunched up, as though he were actually giving thought to my words. Yes. At long last, I was getting through to him.
“Please, Alex. Please do the right thing,” I coaxed softly. I held out the memory elixir in the palm of my hand. “Just one piece of your hair will finish the elixir and restore Ba’s memories.”
“Ba’s memories …” Alex raised a hand up to his hair—but then paused. “Why would my hair have the power to restore Ba’s memories if I’m not even related to him?”
“You’re Liu Bo’s son,” I said simply. “And you are my brother, blood-related or not.”
Alex’s cold expression crumbled. I held my breath. Please, Alex. Please do this for Ba. For our family. For me.
I almost sighed in relief when my brother pulled a piece of hair from his head, reached out, and dropped it into the elixir. The liquid fizzed white and shook the whole vial, but I held on to it tightly. When the liquid settled, it had turned a brilliant red color.
“It worked,” Alex marveled. His eyes filled with wonder—and tears. “I … didn’t really believe it would work.”
My own eyes were suddenly a lot wetter than before. Tucking the elixir into my backpack, I stepped closer to Alex and held out my arms for a hug. “Of course it worked. Like I said—you’re my brother. My dì di.”
Alex inched forward and hesitantly opened his arms, as though about to accept my hug.
Sun Wukong barked out a laugh that startled us both.
“Atta boy. Now you know not to behave in such a foolhardy manner around the gods. You have a millennium to go before you can stand on equal footing with the likes of me, pathetic warrior.” Sun Wukong sniffed. “Best that you give up your foolish thoughts now, before you hurt yourself.”
Alex’s eyes snapped from Sun Wukong to me, and his shoulders stiffened. He dropped his arms.
“Wait, Alex—” I blurted out.
“You’re wrong. You’re both wrong. I will never give up,” Alex growled. “The Jade Emperor asked me to punish you both—and I plan to obey. I have to obey,” he added in a quieter voice, almost to himself, “if I ever want to meet my true parents.”
No. I’d come so close to convincing Alex to rejoin our side.
But a twisted, conflicted part of me understood Alex’s reasoning. He wanted to find his family. Just like I did. How could I fault my brother for that?
Now all I could do was defend myself against Alex’s inevitable attack. I clenched my hands around the Ruyi Jingu Bang, ready to strike as soon as my brother did.
In normal hand-to-hand combat, I could probably beat Alex eight out of ten times. The rules were different when it came to our weapons, though. Plus, there was the tiny matter of Alex having an entire army of dragons at his disposal. I had … monkeys. Didn’t take a genius to imagine how that battle would turn out.
“The Jade Emperor isn’t here, Alex,” I pointed out in a last-ditch effort to get him to change his mind. My brother had to listen to me. When we were little, Alex always listened to me. “You can make your own decisions.”
“Don’t treat me like a baby, Faryn. I am making my own decisions. And who said the Jade Emperor isn’t here?”
A sudden chill ran down my back. Unless I was imagining it, the sky darkened.
“The Jade Emperor and Xi Wangmu are always, always watching, Faryn.” Alex’s words sounded robotic and rehearsed. “You need to be careful about what you say.”
I wanted to retort that the Jade Emperor and Xi Wangmu should join the battle themselves if they really wanted to make their point, but the small, logical part of my brain told me that was a bad idea.
My fingers tightened around my weapon. “I’m sorry it has to be this way, Alex.” I refused to let myself appear weak in this moment. I wanted my brother to see me exactly how he’d always seen me when we were younger—as the strong, protective older sister, who’d fight off anyone to protect those I loved.
Only now, it meant fighting against those I loved.
Alex’s cold expression morphed into one of pure anger. He raised the gleaming golden spear into the air, high above his head. “I’m sorry it has to be this way too, jiě jie.”
Older sister. Hearing the honorific at this moment stung me with worse pain than any weapon could have delivered. The air between us crackled with electricity—maybe lightning from the darkening, stormy clouds; maybe magic from Fenghuang; maybe both.
The black dragons soared through the air. Those dragons had been my allies just six months ago.
Dragons, I thought, more out of desperation than anything else. Remember me? It’s your old Heaven Breaker pal. It’s Faryn. Yeah, the wiser, better-looking Heaven Breaker.
At first, only silence answered. My concentration broke when a green-skinned Heavenly warrior charged at me with his spear. I blocked his blow with the Ruyi Jingu Bang, sending him soaring away through the clouds.
Old Heaven Breaker? came a deep rumble in my head. The two nearest dragons stopped in midair. They turned their massive heads toward me, and their bright-yellow eyes met mine.
Yes, I urged. Relief flooded through me. Please help your old master.
But the Heaven Breaker … he would not like this. The dragon on the left turned back toward where the other dragons were fighting the rebel gods and monkeys.
If you care about this world and want to protect it from destruction, you’ll help me instead. Now, by all the power that remains in me, I command that you help me, your true master!
Somehow, my shouting worked. Both dragons flew over at once and bowed low toward me.
Trying not to let my giddy relief ruin my composure, I added, Fight off the Heavenly warriors. Aim to injure, not kill. Understood?
Understood.
The dragons took off in unison. I turned my attention back to the battle at hand. Alex fought off several monkeys, but they were more of a nuisance to him than a real threat. Any moment now, he’d turn back to me—and I’d have to face my brother and the mighty Fenghuang once and for all.
But technically there were two of us against one. And for all his faults, Sun Wukong was one of the most powerful figures who’d ever lived. He was fighting alongside me, not Alex. I had nothing to fear.
Without waiting for Sun Wukong to make a move, I launched myself toward Alex. He didn’t hesitate before lunging toward me. A bolt of lightning jolted down from the sky and traveled into the tip of Fenghuang. Spear slammed into staff. The resulting clash sent jolts up my arm. I clenched my teeth and glared into Alex’s eyes, which crackled with the light reflecting from our weapons. It took every last drop of my strength to push back up against Alex, to keep him from knocking me out of the sky and down to the ground.