Page 63 of The Blood Orchid

I huddled closer to the window and its pale light, quietly unfurling the Sandstone Alchemist’s scroll. I read the second line even though I knew it by heart, fingers tracing over the characters that were supposed to save us all:

Song of silver, the serpent’s bite

I had no idea what it meant. All I knew was that the first line had pointed me to a stone held by one of the immortals, so the second line was likely pointing me to a different one. Perhapssong of silverwas a stone, andthe serpent’s bitewas the person holding it? Silver was a metalstone that I’d often used in transformations, but that felt a bit too obvious for such an esoteric transformation.

I drifted off to sleep for what felt like only a brief moment, but the next time I opened my eyes, the light had shifted sharply in the room. Zheng Sili was gone, and the door was cracked open.

I sat up, checked that Wenshu was still breathing, and took the opportunity to change now that Zheng Sili was gone. I’d been sleeping less and less lately, but it hardly seemed to matter, my body running on pure, glorious hope, the delirious dream of Penglai.

I reached into my bag for Durian, but my hands only brushed across dry scroll paper.

“Durian?” I said, sitting up sharply. When he didn’t appear, I tossed back my bedding, then forced Wenshu onto his side to check that he hadn’t squished Durian in his sleep. He made a grumbling sound of protest and flopped over, but Durian was still nowhere in sight. My gaze snapped back to the open door.

Zheng Sili left the door open, and Durian got out.

What if someone found him and decided to eat him for dinner? My heart raced. I threw my shoe at Wenshu, who groaned in protest.

“Durian’s gone,” I said, already tugging on my robes.

I didn’t stay long enough to hear his answer, shoving open the door and running out into the street. I hesitated at the door of the inn, staring out at the quiet street, the morning tranquility that didn’t match my panic at all. I couldn’t just run down the street calling out the name of a fruit that smelled like corpses. People would think I’d lost my mind.

I hurried down the street as quickly as I could without drawing too much attention to myself. I paused to ask a clay merchant if he’d seen a duck, and he gave me directions to the butcher, which only made me want to cry. I couldn’t imagine telling Hong that I’d somehow lost Durian, that he was probably on someone’s dinner plate.

A sandstorm must have passed through the city, because the air was thick and hazy, stinging my eyes and leaving a metallic taste on my tongue. I squinted, bumping into people in the market as I kept my gaze locked on the ground for a duck caught underfoot.

At last, I spotted Zheng Sili at the end of the street, squatting on the ground in front of an armory.

“Zheng Sili!” I shouted. My voice must have sounded too panicked, because half the street looked up at the sharp tone. ZhengSili glanced over his shoulder and stood up, a piece of twine in his hand tethered to... Durian’s foot.

I came to a stop a few feet away. Zheng Sili held one end of the leash in his left hand and a couple of marinated quail eggs in his right. A few more peeled eggs sat on the ground, where Durian pecked at them. I looked between the two of them, Zheng Sili’s face bright red as he fidgeted with the string.

“Were youwalkingDurian?” I said at last.

He crossed his arms, leaning back against the wall of the armory. “It’s not my fault your stupid duck is so spoiled! He was so noisy I couldn’t sleep anyway. And if he stopped you two from sleeping, your brother would just collapse more often, which is already hugely inconvenient—”

“You made him aleash?” I said.

“Well, I couldn’t use your bag! It smells like a wet cow!”

“He’s a duck! You just pick him up!” I said, resisting the urge to slam my head against the wall. I bent down in front of Durian and scooped him up with one hand under his belly.

Zheng Sili looked down at Durian, eyes burning with resentment. “Pardon me, but they don’t teach us duck handling in alchemy school.”

I rolled my eyes, tucking Durian under my arm. “Let’s go back before Wenshu Ge comes running out here in his pajamas.”

“Fine,” Zheng Sili said, uncrossing his arms and pushing away from the wall. He moved away one second before the window exploded.

A slab of steel crashed through the window from the inside, punching both the paper and lattice frame out with a suddencrunch. Wood chips flew in every direction, the scent of fire and molten metal wafting over us. Zheng Sili yelped and leaped back before the steel could crush his toes. Inside, men were shoutingover each other, the whole building trembling as more metal hit the ground.

Zheng Sili scowled and moved in front of the now-empty window.

“You could have killed me!” he shouted. “Have you lost your mind?”

No one inside acknowledged him, except to toss an iron hilt out the window, which Zheng Sili barely dodged.

“Okay, that’s it,” he said, storming toward the door.

“Haveyoulost your mind?” I said, grabbing his sleeve. “Isn’t it a bit early to pick a fight?”

---