Page 76 of The Blood Orchid

“Are you her friends who went to Penglai?” I clarified.

“Yes,” the man said, the word so quiet that I felt it more than heard it, a cold breeze stinging my eyes.

“So much for the EightImmortals,” Zheng Sili said. “Two of them are already dead.”

“Four of us,” the man said, grimacing. “The Silver Alchemist made sure of that.”

“Four?” I echoed, my heart racing. There were only eight immortals, four were dead, and we’d met three of the living ones. That meant there was only one left we had yet to meet, and I prayed they had one of the stones we needed.

“Why did she kill you?” I said. “And who else is alive?”

The man opened his mouth to speak, but flinched at the sound of footsteps in the hallway.

“We don’t have much time,” he said. “You need to take her ring away. The red one.”

“Easier said than done,” I mumbled, readying a few firestones.

“She has many types of ghosts trapped here,” the female ghost said. “They can do awful things. Be careful.”

The footsteps drew to a stop just outside the door.

“Zilan?” Wenshu called from the hallway. “Where are you?”

“Let’s go,” I said to Zheng Sili, who nodded quickly and hurried from the room. I hesitated just before leaving, looking back at the ghosts of the two immortals standing pale in the darkness.

“She can’t control you with alchemy like the others?” I said.

The man shook his head, smiling sadly. “Her alchemy can trap souls, but not control, them,” he said. “Love does that.”

I fished three firestones from my pocket. I didn’t have many to spare, but I supposed I could make do without these ones.

“No reason to keep you here, then,” I said, pressing the firestones to the yingbì. It burst into wood scraps at my touch, my fingernails cracking from the sudden surge of alchemy. I heard Zheng Sili swearing outside at the sudden spray of wood chips.

The ghosts stood stunned for a moment, then turned to each other and smiled.

“Thank you,” the woman said, reaching for the man’s hand. I nodded as they hurried into the hallway and stepped into the bright patch of sunlight that the window cast on the tiled floor. Their skin began to glow, as if drinking in the light, then their features grew softer until they faded into the glow, nothing but sunbeams and falling dust where they had once stood.

Wenshu and Zheng Sili stood gaping at the square of sunlight, hair covered in wood chips.

“Yes, go on and unleash strange ghosts on the world, that’sa great idea,” Wenshu said after a moment, crossing his arms.

“I’ve unleashed far worse than that before,” I said. “Where’s the Silver Alchemist?”

“I don’t know,” Wenshu said, glancing around uneasily, “but let’s not stick around to find out.”

We moved quietly down the hallway, peering around every corner, but the Silver Alchemist seemed to have vanished just like the ghosts. After a few minutes, we reached a door beside a window that looked out across the courtyard. Wenshu peered through it, checking for signs of danger.

“I think this is our best bet,” Wenshu whispered, waving for me to go first.

I moved to go through, but hesitated on the threshold. “Where’s Durian?”

“What?” Wenshu frowned. He shook his head. “Come on, we have to go.”

“Not if Durian is still inside,” I said. “Where did you put him?”

Wenshu paused, his eyes bright the way they always were when he was thinking very hard. Zheng Sili stepped in front of him and elbowed him back.

“Zilan, we have to go,” Zheng Sili said, grabbing my arm.