Page 116 of The Blood Orchid

“If you understood alchemy, you would have known that this was inevitable,” Taizong said, jaw clenched.

The Sandstone Alchemist’s expression slid into a frown. “I understand alchemy.”

Taizong shook his head, taking a thundering step closer. “You think of alchemy as pretty lights and party tricks and sparkles, but that is not alchemy’s heart. Alchemy is for destroying the world and rebuilding it all over again. It’s dirty, and cruel, and unfair.”

The Sandstone Alchemist looked like he wanted to argue, but his gaze drifted to the top of the mountain, his eyes glossing over once more.What had he seen there?

“What did you think we would find on Penglai Island?” the Silver Alchemist said, crossing her arms. “You want the power of alchemy, but you don’t want to pay for it? You just want to look away while other people pay the cost for you?”

“They were my friends!” the Sandstone Alchemist shouted, whirling around. For the first time, he sounded as enraged aswhen I’d met him in the desert.

“They wereourfriends!” the Silver Alchemist said, tears cutting through the bloodstains on her face. “That’s the only reason this works. It’s not a sacrifice without love.”

“You love alchemy more than you ever loved them,” the Sandstone Alchemist said.

“And, apparently, so do you,” the Arcane Alchemist said, nodding to the river.

The Sandstone Alchemist shook his head. “That’s not why I did this.”

The river began to glow, changing from a murky red brown to a color like liquid sunlight.

“It’s now or never,” Taizong said, pulling a clear stone from his pocket. The Silver Alchemist and Arcane Alchemist did the same, and the three of them stepped down into the golden river, turning back to look at the Sandstone Alchemist.

“Are you coming?” the Arcane Alchemist said.

After a moment, the Sandstone Alchemist nodded and stepped into the water.

It hadn’t seemed that deep before, but the alchemists quickly sank down to their chests, their faces blurred from the brightness of the river.

The Silver Alchemist held her hand above the water, ribbons of starry gold wrapping gently around her wrists, spinning in comet tails across her thin fingers. The stone in her hand glowed pure white, the color slowly fading into red zircon, the ring that I had cut off her hand.

Taizong’s ring glowed scarlet, while the Arcane Alchemist’s ring glowed pearly white. A silver haze enveloped the four corpses, dragging them under the surface. They rose again as glowing bones that floated toward the sea.

“What is he doing?” the Arcane Alchemist whispered to Taizong, frowning at the Sandstone Alchemist.

He was standing in the water, staring at his reflection in the brilliant gold, unmoving.

“Well?” said Taizong, his booming voice jolting the Sandstone Alchemist out of his reverie. “What power are you going to ask it for?”

“I don’t know,” the Sandstone Alchemist whispered.

“Didn’t you think about it beforehand?” the Silver Alchemist said.

“I did,” the Sandstone Alchemist said, “but now I’m not so sure.” The river beneath him rippled, his tears diamond bright as they fell from his face into the golden glow of the river.

“Are you actuallycrying?” the Arcane Alchemist said, reeling back.

The Sandstone Alchemist didn’t answer. His next tear turned black as it hit the water, the darkness spreading fast as the current carried it downstream. The other alchemists scrambled out as the river rapidly turned the color of a starless night.

“What did youdo?” the Silver Alchemist said. “Are you trying to ruin this place?”

“No,” the Sandstone Alchemist said. “I’m keeping it safe from people like you.”

The world began to tremble, the ocean churning in the distance. Then the black waters rose and wrapped around the other alchemists, dragging them back out to sea. They screamed and clawed at the grass, but the unrelenting pull of water was too strong, and eventually the ocean silenced their cries.

The Sandstone Alchemist took a deep breath, and when he exhaled, he was standing on a shore of pale sand and cloudy skies, a port city murmuring behind him, lanterns lighting oneby one as darkness fell. He was no longer standing on Penglai Island, but somewhere real and sharp and imperfect, nothing at all like the impossible beauty of Penglai. He looked out across the horizon as if searching for something, but there was nothing but an unbroken expanse of sea.

I reeled back, my hands wet and freezing cold, Wenshu and Yufei each gripping one of my arms as they pulled me back from the river.

---