Page 75 of The Blood Orchid

She set the jar down next to the teapot, then grabbed another from the shelf, twisting the lid off. This time, we didn’t wait around to see what would appear.

Zheng Sili grabbed my arm and yanked me around the spirit screen and into the hallway. The Silver Alchemist’s footsteps grew farther away as we wound deeper into the labyrinth of her mansion.

“We need to find Wenshu Ge and get out of here,” I said.

“You told him to get out, so if he has half a brain, he should already be outside,” Zheng Sili said.

“And which way is out?” I said.

Zheng Sili grimaced, sliding to a stop as we reached the end of a hallway. “Back the way we came,” he said.

“Wonderful,” I said, flinching at the sound of approaching footsteps. The room to our left had a spirit screen painted with summer constellations, while the screen to our right was a dark and lightless forest.

“We’re finding another way out,” I said, stepping around the yingbì covered in stars and into the room.

This room had no windows, no source of light save for what spilled past the edges of the spirit screen. Just like the room where we’d had tea, the walls in this room were packed full of glass jars. I’d hoped for a door to an adjoining room, but of course we could never be that lucky.

Zheng Sili huddled closer to me and stepped on my skirts.

“Watch it!” I whispered, shoving him away. He tried to step back but tripped over a low table, falling against a shelf.

All of the jars rattled, tilting dangerously as he tried to right the shelf. I hurried over to help, but it was too late—two jars tumbled off the edge and burst on the floor.

“Shit,” Zheng Sili and I whispered at the same time, backing quickly away from the shattered glass. After a few moments with no sudden surge of mist or rotting apparitions, I dared to relax my shoulders.

“Maybe she keeps her empty jars in this room?” I said.

“Either way, she probably heard that,” Zheng Sili said. “We should go.”

I nodded and took another step back, but instead of touching the yingbì behind me, I pressed against something soft and cold.

“Wait,” a man’s voice said, a hand closing around my wrist.

I tensed up, prepared for my flesh to start decaying and slough off, for holes to gnaw through my bones. But my skin only felt cold and numb, like my hand had fallen asleep.

I turned around and faced a young man, half translucent in the dark. Unlike the other ghost, he looked whole and human, save for his translucent skin. A young woman stood in the shattered glass a few paces behind him, gaze darting between me and Zheng Sili, her skin the same hazy tinge, as if both of them had stepped out of a dream.

I glanced at Zheng Sili, who was backed against the shelf, his face white.

“Where is the Silver Alchemist?” the man gripping my arm whispered.

I tried to pull my wrist away, and to my surprise, he released me easily.

“Please,” the man said. “She’ll kill you and keep you in one of her jars.”

Zheng Sili laughed incredulously. “Yes, I think we’ve figured that part out already.”

I glared at him, then turned back to the ghost. “Who are you?” I said.

The man pressed his lips together, looking mournfully over his shoulder at the woman, who was staring sadly at the ground.

“We don’t remember our names anymore,” the man said quietly.

I thought of Hong, slowly losing his memory in the river plane. Would he forget his own name one day? An ache bloomed in my chest at the thought.

“We were her friends once,” the woman in the corner said. “A long time ago.”

“How long are we talking?” Zheng Sili said, arms crossed.