Chapter 5

ZHEN

As Zhen walked toward a bridge, he glanced up at the evening sky, which was streaked with brushstrokes of vermilion and violet.

The sunset was the same as other days, and yet it felt different. Standing on two legs gave him a new perspective on everything.

He passed an old man near the riverbank, but when he caught sight of what the man was holding, he stopped in his tracks.

In the man's hand was a bright green snake—it wasn't struggling, only twitching spasmodically. A full-bodied jolt of horror

went through Zhen as he realized why.

The man had sliced the snake's belly wide open.

"What are you doing to that snake?" Zhen called out.

The old man looked up and flashed a rotted-toothed grin.

"Have you ever seen a snake's gallbladder?" Between his thumb and forefinger, he held a bloody sac about the size of a grape. "I'm going to make snake-bile wine. It helps my arthritic knees and hemorrhoids. I'll sell the snake skin to one of the merchants in the morning." He thrust the half-dead snake in Zhen's face. "Such an unusual shade of green, isn't it? Almost like jade. It'll fetch a nice coin."

The snake's beady eyes met Zhen's. A sour taste rose in Zhen's throat.

"Stop! I'll pay you for this snake." He knelt and pretended to dig into his boot as he surreptitiously plucked a blade of

grass. When he straightened and extended his palm, in place of the blade of grass was a silver coin. "This should be enough."

The old man seemed suspicious. "Why do you want a snake, young fellow?"

Zhen recalled what a vendor selling musical instruments had told him. "I play the èr hú , which is made with snakeskin. That snake you have is young, and the elastic skin will help me achieve the perfect resonance."

"Ah, a musician!" The old man took the coin and handed over the limp snake. "Very well. My catch will have a noble purpose.

May your èr hú sing to the wind!"

Zhen's heart pounded as he waited for the old man to disappear. Then he hurriedly brought the dying snake to an obscured spot

under the bridge and laid her on the ground. Blood seeped under his fingernails as he tried to pull together the serrated

cut down the length of her belly, although he knew his efforts were futile. Even if he'd had a needle and thread to stitch

her up, she was too badly injured to survive.

The green snake's eyes were like dying embers, but she still fought to keep them open. Her tongue flicked out. "Thank you."

"No," Zhen said fiercely. "I need you to hold on. I won't let you die."

He placed his hands on the snake's eviscerated body. Then he squeezed his eyes shut and concentrated. The spirit pearl's energy stirred within him. He had never used its power in this way or pushed it to such limits—but he just had to try.

He reached into himself, straining hard until he felt something deep within his core cracking wide open. Suddenly every part

of him was ablaze, and his skin felt like it was burning off his flesh, his flesh off his bones. His ears exploded with his

own anguished screams. Blood spewed from his mouth as he stumbled backward and collapsed.

He had no idea how long he lay there, convulsing with agony. Tears and sweat mingled, briny and metallic on his lips. He felt

as if his own organs had been ripped out.

Through the blistering haze, he felt a lesser pain twist through him—he was transforming back into a snake. The sun had set,

and the sky was dark. The silver coin he'd given the old man could hold its transmuted form for only a couple of hours; it

would've already turned back into a blade of grass.

The green snake lay a distance away. She wasn't moving. With excruciating effort, he slithered to her side, his scaly white

body undulating over the uneven ground.

"Are you all right?" He prodded the other snake with his snout. Her open eyes were glassy, unseeing—but all that remained

of the horrific gouge on her belly was a raw scar. "Can you hear me?"

Her tail twitched. She feebly raised her head and turned it from side to side. "Where am I? Who—who are you?"

His body uncoiled in relief. He flicked his tongue in greeting. "My name is Zhen. What's yours?"

The green snake's tongue darted out. "My mother used to call me Qing."

The iron manacles bit into Zhen's wrists and ankles, tethering him to the stone wall. The hard floor of the jail cell was

covered with a scattering of hay.

Zhen turned to Qing, who was shackled next to him.

"You shouldn't have used your spirit powers on that man at the tavern," he told her.

"He came at you with a dagger! What was I supposed to do?" Qing shot him a mutinous look. "You're the one who didn't want

to ask for directions."

"I should've noticed that your tongue hadn't fully changed." Zhen reached out his cuffed wrist, took Qing's chin in his hand,

and pulled her jaw open. "Your fangs must've still been folded in their sheaths."

Qing was a pit viper, a breed known to be short-tempered and combative. In contrast, pythons like Zhen would curl up in a

ball rather than lash out when they felt threatened.

She swatted his hand away. "Just our luck that a bunch of constables were in the private room of the tavern. How convenient

that they didn't intervene when that brute first attacked you."

Zhen sighed. "I know you were trying to protect me, but you mustn't lose control like that again, Qing. You already don't

have your gallbladder. You can't afford to put unnecessary strain on your body before we reach Mount Emei."

Qing made a frustrated sound as she tugged at her restraints. "Can't we find our way to Mount Emei as snakes? You said traveling on the roads as humans would be faster and less dangerous, but..." She gestured around the cell. "Look where we are now."

The first snake spirits had cultivated their powers on Mount Emei. When they gained immortality after a thousand years and

ascended to heaven, the bodies they left behind made a special kind of milfoil bloom on the mountain slopes every summer that

could give healing to other snakes. That was where he and Qing were headed.

"Hopefully we'll be far from here by the time they discover we're gone." Zhen estimated that about an hour had passed since

they had been thrown into the cell in the basement of the constables' station. "I'll go upstairs first to make sure it's safe

to leave."

Zhen shut his eyes and focused. A familiar tug on his spine, a sudden twinge, a cross between a shudder and a spasm—his body

lengthened, and his limbs retracted like a turtle drawing its flippers back into its shell. His tunic and pants pooled in

a heap, and the iron cuffs hit the floor with a dull clang.

Zhen turned to Qing, flicking his tongue. His words, in the language of snakes, emerged in a hiss. "Wait here. Don't follow

until I give the signal."

His dorsal scales gleamed with pearly translucence as he slid between the bars, then glided across the basement floor and

up a narrow flight of stairs to the constables' station. The front door was locked from the outside, but the back door was

bolted from the inside. That would be their way out.

Zhen raised his head and listened intently. As a snake, he didn't have ears, but he was far from deaf. Bones and membranes inside his head could pick up sounds and vibrations that the human ear couldn't: The faint scurry of rats prowling through a rubbish mound in the back alley. The flutter of a moth's wings as it settled on the rafters above. The distant howl of foxes.

No sign of human movement. This was their chance to escape.

He made his way back to the top of the stairs. "Pssst. You can come up now."

Silence.

"Qing?" he called. "Can you hear me?"

Her choked cry pierced the air.

Zhen slithered down the steps faster than he'd ever moved in his life. He reared up, poised to attack whoever or whatever

was stealthy enough to have evaded his senses—

Qing was alone in the cell. Her face was flushed, her hands clenched into fists as she let out another strangled scream.

"I can't transform!" she wailed. She hurled herself at the bars, but the chains around her wrists and ankles restrained her.

She clawed at her face, raking angry red lines down her cheeks. "What's wrong with me? Why can't I turn back? I'm scared,

Zhen—don't go without me!"

Using her spirit powers on that man at the tavern must've weakened her more than she'd expected, even affecting her ability

to transform.

Zhen slipped through the bars. Within a few heartbeats, his scales had morphed into skin. He quickly put on his pants before wrapping his arms around Qing. She clung to him, sobbing against his chest. A patch of scales on her arm flared crystal green, like an angry chameleon at midday.

"Don't be silly." Zhen stroked a comforting hand over the back of her head. "You know me better than this. I would never leave

you behind."

"We're stuck here because of me, and I'm the one who can't get out." Qing's voice was choked. "I don't want you to stay, but

I don't want you to go without me."

Zhen pulled back. "There's always another way."

Qing sniffled, wiping the back of her cuffed hand over her tear-streaked cheeks. "What do you mean?"

Zhen's fingers found a rusted nail buried in the hay, and he showed it to Qing.

She frowned. "We can't pry open the lock with this. It's too small and blunt."

Zhen's hand closed around the nail, and when his fingers unfurled, a plain iron key lay in its place.

Qing's eyes went wide. "How did you—"

"It's a skeleton key." Zhen inserted it in the keyhole in Qing's cuff and turned it; there was a click and the cuffs loosened.

"It'll open any locks."

Qing stared at her liberated wrist. She shoved Zhen's shoulder. "I can't believe you didn't do this earlier instead of making

me have a breakdown!"

Zhen shook his head. "Remember what I told you about using your powers? The stronger the emotion, the stronger your powers, but using them will drain you to almost the same degree. You know what dài jià means, don't you?"

"What something costs?"

"It's the cost of something," Zhen replied. "We have to pay a price each time we use our powers. That's how everything stays in balance."

Qing's gaze slid down to a smooth, silvery weal on the left side of Zhen's torso, just above his waistband. "I never noticed

your scar. It was hidden by your scales before. What happened?"

"I got careless around a snake trap. A lesson I'll never forget." Zhen put on his tunic, covering the scar. A faint noise

caught his attention, and he stiffened. "Did you hear that?"

"Um, that was me." Qing's hand went to her stomach, which let out another rumble. "I'm starving. This must be another side

effect of our transformation."

"You're hungry all the time, whether snake or human," Zhen said. "Let's get out of here."

He unlocked the cell, and together they crept upstairs. Zhen pushed open the back door leading out of the constables' station;

the stench of rotting garbage had never smelled more like freedom.

They slunk along the shadows of back alleys and small lanes, staying off the main streets. Zhen hadn't been in this part of

town before, but he let the sounds of nature guide him toward the forest.

He breathed easier once they ducked under the canopy of trees. As a human, he did not hear the soft hoot of an owl as a warning to take cover; the rustle of rodents in the brush wasn't a hint that supper was close by. Still, he was driven by urgency to keep moving. Not until Qing stumbled, her face pale with exhaustion, did Zhen stop by a stream to rest.

While Qing cupped her palms and gulped the water thirstily, Zhen foraged nearby. He returned with his hands full of small,

rounded fruits with a rough pinkish-red exterior.

"Lychees." He gave Qing some, and they sat side by side against a rock and ate the sweet and tangy fruit, peeling off the

coarse skin and spitting out the seed in the center.

Qing frowned and turned to him. "You said using our powers will drain us to almost the same degree." Realization dawned in

her eyes. "Saving my life was what weakened you, wasn't it? That's why you need to go to Mount Emei for healing as well."

At first, Zhen had wanted only to stop the old man from stripping Qing's skin and selling it. He'd just hoped to let her die

with dignity. But when he gazed into her dying eyes and saw the fire in them, he knew he had to give her something better

than a merciful death. She deserved more. So much more.

Zhen had summoned the pearl's powers to revive her, turning her into a snake spirit, the same thing that had happened to him

when he swallowed the pearl all those years ago. But the immense toll of healing her hadn't just weakened him. It had taken

a part of him, altered him forever. Still, he didn't want Qing to bear the burden of knowing that. She shouldn't have to feel

guilty about the price he'd paid to save her. The choice had been his. It was his dài jià .

"Why?" Qing's voice was thick with emotion. "Why did you do it?"

"Because I couldn't let you go," Zhen replied. "And I would do it all over again if I had to. Don't worry. Once we get to

Mount Emei, the milfoil will replenish my strength and cure the deficiency caused by your missing gallbladder."

Qing sighed. "My mother used to say I was more mischievous than all my siblings combined. She would've been so mad if she

knew how much trouble I got us into tonight. Probably given me a dozen lashes with her tail."

She sounded as if she would gladly accept the punishment if only her mother were around to mete it out. Among snakes, pit

vipers were the only breed that cared for their young. Mothers would fiercely guard their babies until their first shed. The

only thing talkative Qing had been taciturn about was her family, and Zhen hadn't pressed her for details. He stayed quiet

now, and silence settled between them until Qing finally spoke.

"We lived in a bamboo forest, and I loved to explore the groves and streams around our burrow. One day, my mother warned us

that a thunderstorm was coming and told us to stay home. But I refused to listen and went out to play." Qing's voice frayed

a little. "The storm hit before I could get back. I hid up in a tree as the rain poured for days and the forest flooded. When

the waters receded, I made my way home. Our burrow was destroyed. My mother and siblings weren't inside, so they must've escaped

in time."

Now Zhen understood why Qing had broken down in the cell. She'd thought Zhen had no choice but to leave her behind, like her mother had, and once more, she had only herself to blame.

Zhen took her hand and gave it a comforting squeeze. "I believe your mother stayed for as long as she could. She waited for

you to come home until she had to take your brothers and sisters to safety."

Qing's eyes glimmered in the darkness. "I was the one who wanted to go inside that tavern. You tried to stop me, but I wouldn't

listen. Everything that happened was my fault."

"Hey," Zhen said. "If your mother had seen the fearless little snake you were tonight—how loyal and brave her daughter had

grown up to be—she would've been so proud."

Qing blinked. Tears ran down her cheeks. She let out an embarrassed sound. "Crying still feels so weird."

As snakes, they couldn't blink or shed tears. Zhen put his palms on the sides of Qing's face and brushed away the wetness

with his thumbs.

"Another reason why humans have these," he said, wiggling his fingers.

Qing gave a teary chuckle. Above their heads, the moon had passed its zenith. There wasn't much time before the first light

of dawn.

"We have to keep moving." Zhen got to his feet. "They'll be even more convinced we're devils when they discover we broke out

of jail."

Qing brushed off the dirt and grass that clung to her green skirt. "Where will we go?"

"They know we were planning to travel west to Mount Emei, so they'll probably search in that direction first," Zhen said. "We'll head north instead. We don't have enough money for the rest of the journey, so we need to stop for a while and find some work to feed ourselves. Our best chance of doing that will be in the capital, Changle."