Chapter 15 Yue
Other cultures have their own names for the nine-tailed fox, as well as their own tales.
The main similarity between them is that they are signs of ill-boding.
Just as they did with Sooah and Wen, the illusions before us vanish into little more than dust. It makes sense that a man so stubborn and steadfast wouldn’t fall for such a trick. Sonam turns and blinks at us incredulously.
“I’m glad to see you’re well,” he says evenly.
“You think a maze would get the better of me?” I reply.
Sonam sneers as he walks past, shoving my shoulder with his own. “I wasn’t talking to you.”
Ha. I should have known better.
Sooah signs something with her hands, frantic and quick. Wen wears a similar look of worry. Sonam is the only one with an air of calm—though I can detect his expertly veiled nerves from at least a li away. That maddeningly sweet mango scent he carries with him is noticeably sour now.
“I’m unharmed, Sooah, there’s no need to worry,” Sonam says, his tone firm, but not unkind. It’s certainly a far cry from the bluntness he normally reserves for me. “How did you two fare? I assume you both met your own temptations.”
“And succeeded,” Wen boasts. “Getting through Hell is going to be a cinch if these’re the sort of obstacles we’re looking at.”
Sooah puts her hands on her hips. Even I know what she means: Curb your overconfidence.
They speak to one another in hushed whispers, making no effort to check on me.
Not that I expect them to. I take the opportunity to investigate our surroundings more thoroughly.
Surely there has to be an easier way to get through this maze to the next Court of Hell.
If we wander for too long, I fear the hedges may claim us as it’s done to all the unfortunate souls who’ve come before.
The humans have passed their test—so why is the way through not yet clear?
“The demon didn’t give you any trouble, did it?” Sonam asks his guards, loud enough for me to hear. On purpose, no doubt.
“Said it’d eaten you,” Wen grumbles. “Let me kill it. It’ll save us all the trouble.”
I glare at them over my shoulder, every muscle in my body tense. To lash out now would be a guaranteed death sentence, but I can’t stand idly by and listen to Wen plot my murder—and all within earshot, no less.
Hate churns in the pit of my stomach. These humans will likely keep me alive only so long as I prove useful to them. I’m going to have to play along until an opportunity to escape presents itself. Then I’ll flee and leave these wretches behind.
I sniff the air. “The exit is this way.”
Wen glares at me. “It’s lying. Mark my words, it’s going to eat us when we least expect.”
“If I wanted to eat you, I would have done it while you were busy writhing in that pit of sirens,” I snap. Much to my delight, Wen’s face turns bright scarlet. “The air smells different down this way. Fresher. If it isn’t the way out, I’ll let you strike me down where I—”
The sound of a young woman’s giggle interrupts us.
It’s soft and sweet like a springtime morning, radiating an almost welcoming sort of warmth.
Sonam and I look ahead and find not just one woman, but eight.
Sisters. They share the same pointed noses and alluring foxlike eyes, dressed in pretty white robes adorned with silky bits of silver ribbon.
There’s something familiar about them. I’m not sure how I hadn’t noticed them before.
It isn’t until I take a few steps forward and look upon them that I realize why my heart aches so.
Qin, Mihan, Ahn, Lu, Nuying, Chunhua, Jiayi, and Su.
My most beloved sisters, here in the flesh.
This is my trial. I thought myself above it all. Without a soul to tempt, I was convinced that the Court of Temptation would have no sway over me.
Su spots me first. “Yue!”
My heart races at the sound of her voice.
Her joy is contagious, the butterflies in my stomach fluttering up a storm.
My sisters rush over to me, bombarding me with hugs and kisses.
Qin lovingly runs her fingers through my hair while Lu holds my hand tight.
They talk all at once, laughing and teasing the way they always used to.
I bask in their love, the threat of tears stinging my eyes as I’m caught between joy and heartbreak.
They’ve been dead for so long, and yet here they are, alive and well.
And I’m…
Confused.
My thoughts are overcome with a warm and persistent haze. This blasted magic. It twists at my mind, curling its fingers into the deepest recesses of my skull. It plucks at my consciousness like the strings of a zither, changing my tune to something that suits its vile intentions all the better.
“How are you here?” I ask. I can’t… seem to remember anything.
“Have you been well?” Mihan asks, ignoring my question outright.
“Oh, how we’ve missed you!” Nuying cries while embracing me tight.
“My! Look how grown up you’ve become,” Chunhua says, pinching at my cheeks.
I happily drown in their attention, my nerves both frazzled and somehow soothed.
All those years I spent mourning and wallowing in my grief…
None of that matters now. I don’t understand how any of this is possible, or even how I wound up in this curious place, but I also don’t question it.
I have my family back. What more could I want?
“How are you all here?” I ask. “I thought when demons die, they—”
“Never mind that,” Ahn interjects. “Tell us about you! What adventures have you been on without us?”
My brows pinch slightly. I can’t shake the strange churn in the pit of my stomach. “I’ve been…”
I search my mind, but for some reason I find it blank.
I scarcely recall anything that’s happened in the last three decades, let alone the past five minutes.
A heavy fog fills my head. The harder I reach for my memories, the more I try to grip them tight, they slip through my fingers like nothing more than smoke.
“The captain,” I mumble under my breath, turning slowly to glance over my shoulder. He’s the only one I can remember. Just the outline of him, the anger and distress he invokes whenever I look his way. But I find no one. Could I have hallucinated it all?
“Captain?” Jiayi giggles lightly. “There she goes again, making up her silly little stories.”
“But I could have sworn—”
“Are you hungry, little sister?” Mihan asks. “We found something to eat. He’s a big one, so there’s plenty to share.”
When I turn around again, we’ve been transported.
I don’t see a clearing, but the lush foliage of our old jungle den.
The smell of the soil mixes with refreshing petrichor, the sound of distant songbirds chirping with glee.
My sisters gather together and remove their masks, stretching out their tails and pawing the earth beneath sharpened claws.
Feeling at home, I, too, remove my own. There’s no need to hide what I am now that I’m with my family.
I no longer remember how I got here, but I can’t bring myself to care.
For the first time in years, I’m finally at peace.
Qin nuzzles up beside me, inspecting my scars. “Your poor face!” she exclaims. “Does it hurt?”
“Sometimes,” I reply quietly. “Not so much anymore.”
“I’ll go foraging for some gingerroot,” Su offers. “Maybe I can make a salve for you.”
I allow my sisters to fawn over me as we crawl into our den together. It’s cozy, just big enough for the nine of us, the narrow tunnel connecting our home to the outside world wide enough to allow for an inch of space on either side. It’s exactly how I remember it, not even a stone out of place.
“Come eat,” Ahn calls, turning toward a wriggling mass in the center of our den.
A human male in mulberry red robes with beaten leather armor pulled over the top.
They’ve bound and gagged him, so he can neither move nor plead for his life.
The longer I study his face, the more I feel like I recognize him.
There’s something about the sharp line of his jaw and proud nose that’s familiar to me.
Or perhaps it’s the scent of cinnamon, star anise, and mangoes that pulls at the strand of a memory tucked into the deepest part of my mind.
I think I had a travel companion once, one who looked and smelled exactly like him, but for the life of me I cannot recall his name. He tries screaming something against his gag, but his words are an incoherent jumble.
“Go on, little sister,” Su urges. “You’re nothing but skin and bones. Eat as much as you want.”
I smack my lips, eyeing the human with great interest. Where to start? I could devour his whole left arm in three bites. Maybe I should put him out of his misery and eat his head so he doesn’t endure any pain.
But those eyes… those honest axinite eyes. Why does the thought of eating this man bother me so? It isn’t like me to pity my food, so why—
“Go on,” Chunhua urges impatiently. “Don’t you want a bite?”
I swallow hard, nearly succumbing to my hunger. “Yes, but—”
“Eat him,” my eldest sister says firmly. “Eat him and we can be together again.”
I stare at her in confusion, saliva nearly dripping from the corners of my lips. “ ‘Together again’?”
“That’s our question for you,” Su says. “Do you want to stay with us forever?”
“Everything can go back to the way it was,” Ahn adds. “All you have to do is eat him.”
There’s a pounding ache behind my eyes, the pressure threatening to make my skull shatter. Why wouldn’t I want to be with my sisters?
The soldier screams something around his gag, managing to shove it partially out of the way with the tip of his tongue.
“—temptation! Don’t fall for it, Fox!” His voice sounds strange, not quite synced with the movement of his lips.
It sounds as though someone is calling to me from behind, not from the soldier himself.
I stare at him, dazed. Temptation? What is he on about?
“Don’t you want to stay with us forever?” my sisters ask again, this time in chorus. “Please say you’ll stay.”