Page 78 of A Forgery of Fate

My head rang with memories from the past:We’ve done our best to look for him. If theyhaven’t found his ship bynow…

After all these years, I still remembered how Mama’s eyes had welled with tears, and how she’d turned away to wipe at her face. For months there’d been a damp spot on her collar.

“Mailoh’s out there,” I said firmly. “I know she is. We can’t give up.”

Shani flapped her fins, straining against the undertow. It was clear she wanted to go back.

“Come on,” I persisted. “You’re the fiercest, strongest demon in Ai’long. What are a few bad tides to you? Show the Eight Immortals what a mistake they made, overlookingyou.”

“Just shut up,” Shani said. “We’ll go back when I say so.”

That was as much as I could ask for.

We dipped into a canyon, skimming the turbulent waters below. Tiny rocks pelted my eyes, but I didn’t dare blink lest I miss a clue. I trained my attention to every crack and crevice, trying to find Mailoh’s dark green shell, the yolky spots along its rim.

But there was nothing. The storm had washed the canyons clean, sweeping even the barnacles away. Plains of gravelly sediment lapped the seafloor, seemingly without end.

It grew colder the farther we drifted from Yonsar. Goose bumps prickled my skin, and as I buttoned my collar to keep warm, I looked down the sides of Shani’s fins, searching for signs of frost. But I saw nothing.

Look harder, Tru,I told myself.What happened to those infamous powers of observation? There’s got to be something.

“What about that?” I pointed at a series of black cliffs jutting out of the sand, like teeth engraved into the earth. “Those cliffs were in my vision. Can we get closer to look?”

“It’s too dangerous,” said Shani sharply. “Look how fast the currents are moving. It’s a trap.”

“I’m not afraid,” I said. “Ifyouare, then you can stay here. I’ll take a look—”

Shani grabbed me by the ankle. “I’m not afraid of anything,” she hissed. “It’s your pathetic spine I’m looking after. You swim slower than a seahorse, and you want to dive down alone?”

She let out an exasperated grunt, the only signal she gave before she swooped, plunging into the dark expanse below.

Itwasa trap. The moment we dove between the cliffs, we were caught, sucked into a rush of eddying streams. Shani struggled and batted her fins, furiously trying to regain control, but the water was moving too fast. We sped forward, careening in every direction. Faster and faster, with no end in sight.

Then the seafloor began to quake, and I heard a terrible crashing sound, seemingly without end.

Just ahead was a dark and fearsome slat, a narrow gorge between two cliffs, with white sheets of water rushing off either side.

The Fold.

My heart clenched with panic. I kicked harder, fighting against the currents in any way I could, but they were strong, like an unrelenting wind. My jar of chilis tumbled out of my pocket, the extra dumplings I’d brought for Elang too. They were sucked into the Fold, where they vanished amid the torrents of water. Soon we’d be next.

“Shani!” I shouted, trying to stake my umbrella into the seabed for purchase. We were skidding for the edge of the cliff. “Shani, do something!”

It was the oddest comfort, seeing the demon’s red eyes glimmer with annoyance. In a beat, she changed into a squid and clung to the rock bed with her tentacles.

“Any more good ideas?” she hissed. “We’re stuck. If wetry to go back up, those cataracts will crash down on our heads. I’d survive, obviously, but you? Sea foam.”

I pressed my face to her back, too winded for words. Beneath my feet, the sea poured down into an unfathomable abyss. What could we do?

Let’s go down there,I thought.Into the abyss.

The demon didn’t hear me, which was probably for thebest.

It sounded mad, yet it made sense. There was no frost where we were, it wasn’t cold enough. This wasn’t where we were meant to be. But down there…

I craned my neck. I spotted a flash of green that had landed below—on what looked like a narrow ledge. I squinted. “Shani, do you see that? Could it be…” I gasped. “Mailoh.”

Shani saw too, her body starting to shift back into its usual form. “Hold on.”

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