As Lu Na passed through the curtain of darkness, the other side became better lit. She crashed into Sun Ren before taking her down to the ground with her. When Lu Na got up, she gasped.

  Lu Na stood in the imperial palace. She had never been to the imperial palace, but she recognized it from paintings. There were people walking everywhere and servants carrying a lot of food. Somehow, the sun shone overhead.

  How was this possible?

  “Sun Ren, are you okay?” Lu Na picked up the woman and realized it wasn’t Sun Ren. She had jumped into a servant girl that was carrying a large tray of buns. “Oh my, I’m so sorry! I thought you were my friend. Let me help you.”

  The servant girl slapped Lu Na’s hand.

  “No. Don’t touch the Emperor’s food.” She picked up the buns one at a time, dusting off as much of the dirt as possible.

  “It’s been on the floor. I doubt the Emperor would want to eat that.”

  “No. I can’t let the head servant know I dropped them. So don’t touch. They need to look a certain way or they will kill me.”

  Lu Na stood by and watched as the servant girl picked up every bun and placed them in a particular pattern. She cried as she walked away.

  What was going on? There was no way she was in the imperial palace. Lu Na used her spirit sight to see if it was a technique that was fooling her. She saw nothing.

  “What are you doing Lu Na? Why are you standing there like an idiot?” a man yelled.

  Lu Na turned to find a man wearing official court robes underneath a thick, brown jacket. He stalked toward her with such speed and anger that reminded Lu Na of her father. She didn’t recognize him at all.

  “You idiot girl. Ji Ling summoned you. He doesn’t like when newcomers make him wait. Come.” The man walked forward.

  Lu Na raised her hand to get him to wait, but then realized she was wearing different clothes. She was also wearing a thick brown jacket over official court robes. What was going on?

  The man stalked back and got in Lu Na’s face.

  “You know who else hates waiting? Me? I don’t care how special you think you are, but if you don’t follow me right now, I’ll get servants to carry you if I have to. I don’t want Ji Ling’s anger on your account. So let’s go!” The man turned again and stalked away.

  Lu Na took a step forward, but then the servant girl from before stopped her. She tried to walk around her, but the girl wouldn’t let her.

  “Can I help you? I’m sorry for knocking over your tray of buns, okay? Please let me go. Apparently I have to report to Ji Ling.”

  The servant girl said nothing and stared at Lu Na. Yet every time Lu Na tried to move around her, she would get in her way.

  “Please, move.”

  The man stopped to glare at Lu Na. She wasn’t sure why, but she felt the need to not anger the man.

  Lu Na reached out to the servant girl and tried to push her aside. Only then did she feel a hand on her own arm, pulling her back. When she turned around, the entire bright world of the imperial palace disappeared.

  All she saw was Hen Li standing in front of Lu Na, palms pressed, and reciting the heart sutra. He was so close that she could smell him. Behind her was Sun Ren, pulling her back. She let her pull her and stepped away from Hen Li.

  “Amituofo. Thank goodness you pulled her back. One more step and we both would have fallen into the pit,” Hen Li said. He stepped forward away from the dark hole behind him.

  “What happened?” Lu Na asked.

  “A ghost possessed your senses and put you in a living dream. Whatever you saw wasn’t real. The ghost wanted to make you walk to your death like the naga boy.” Sun Ren let Lu Na go.

  “Amituofo, when I came over, I saw my former sect leader threatening to kill children. The ghost wanted me to move forward to stop him, impaling myself on a spike further into the room. But luckily, my clear eyes allowed me to see the truth and I banished the dream. That’s when I helped pull Sun Ren out of hers.”

  Sun Ren looked away, biting her lip.

  “Mine was worse. It was the first time my Sifu ordered me to murder the children of an official. Even Baihu was there, encouraging me to go through with it.”

  “But you didn’t do it right? That’s why you broke free so easily?” Lu Na asked.

  Sun Ren sank to her knees. Tears streamed down her face.

  “No, I broke free so easily because it was a nightmare that I have lived over and over. I can never forget their faces.”

  Lu Na got down to Lu Na and held her as she cried.

  “My Sifu and Baihu both pushed and pushed. I don’t know how I could keep going on like nothing happened.” Sun Ren cried into Lu Na’s shoulder.

  “Amituofo. Please let the sins pass. I know what you’re going through. It’s hard to live with.” Hen Li sat on the floor by them, reciting the heart sutra quietly.

  Lu Na wasn’t sure what to do here. She did not know the type of life Sun Ren has lived. Was it because of her desire to be like her brothers? Was it because of her mother’s encouragement? Or was it simply growing up in the home of the Marquis?

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  For a moment, she took back everything she ever said against her own father. Lu Na’s father might have been stern, but he left her alone and allowed her to pursue her own hobbies. It was always the former that irritated Lu Na, but she learned to live with it. She never had to suffer or deal with any of the consequences like her companions.

  “You guys are so boring,” a ghost said. A breeze brushed past them and the area warmed up.

  “Amituofo. I think it’s safe to continue.” Hen Li got up and shook his head. “That ghost has been attacking us every chance it got, hoping to drive us to hurt ourselves.”

  “See, it’s fine now, Sun Ren. You don’t have to think about what you don’t want anymore,” Lu Na said. She took out her handkerchief and wiped her friend’s face.

  “I hate feeling like this. I miss my Baihu,” Sun Ren said. “She made everything feel fine, no matter what happened.”

  “Wait, your spirit changed the way you felt? Lu Na had never heard of a spirit doing that before. “Hen Li, does your spirit do the same?”

  “Amituofo. As much as I would like to blame Bifang Niao for pushing me to kill my former sect leader, our bonded spirits can only reflect what we want to feel or think.”

  “Like a mirror, it shows us what we want to see or feel?” Lu Na asked.

  Hen Li nodded.

  “Which is why I had to walk the path of a Buddhist to rise above the need to engage with human affairs. Yet, my sifu said that I wasn’t ready yet as I still had some unfinished business. I’m still looking for the answer to that.”

  Lu Na felt uneasy. If what these two were saying was true, then wouldn’t that mean that all Nugua’s thoughts reflected her own? That can’t be true, right? She’s not a pervert like that naga spirit.

  “I think I’m okay now, Na Na. Let’s keep moving before another ghost tries to attack us.” Sun Ren got up, wiped her face on the sleeve of her tunic, and took a deep breath. Her face became like a mask, draining away all her emotions.

  The trio walked out into the narrow hallways. They all followed Hen Li carefully as he led them around a few traps they couldn’t see. Apparently, the ghosts weren’t done trying to hurt or maim them.

  “Amituofo, I wonder why the ghosts are so angry and vengeful. They’ve only tried to hurt us without giving us a reason.”

  “They’re ghosts. They’re dead and they can’t leave this labyrinth. I think that’s reason enough. I know what type of ghost I would be if I were stuck here,” Sun Ren said.

  Lu Na took out her map.

  “Well, at least it looks like we’re getting close to the inner sanctum as the naga boy said. Then we won’t have to worry about the ghosts here. Just a few turns from here and we’re free.”

  The trio stopped at a fork. There was a water fountain right in the middle that was still working. It looked like the one from Jie’s village.

  Lu Na used her spirit sight and saw that it functioned the same way. It pulled the water spirit energy from the air around it and condensed it into the water.

  “It should be safe to drink. It’s the same one we saw before in Jie’s village.”

  “Monk, do you see any ghost trickery here?” Sun Ren asked.

  Hen Li looked the fountain up and down and shook his head.

  “Then I’m going to test it first.” Sun Ren took out a small wooden disk from her chest pocket. She dipped it into the fountain, scooping up a small amount of water. Then she took out a silver pin she used before to test the food back in the village to test the water.

  The pin came out clean.

  Next Sun Ren smelled the water before finally tasting it.

  “Is it safe?” Lu Na asked.

  “Not sure yet. Let’s wait half an hour to see if I get sick. If I do, then it’s not good water.” Sun Ren took out her empty water skins and filled the water.

  “I thought you said to wait,” Lu Na said.

  “Why waste time? If it’s safe, then we will have water. We never know what else the labyrinth will throw at us. But if it’s not safe, we can always use it for other purposes.”

  Lu Na looked away. She had always suspected that her friend was not like other Young Misses and even knew that she would go to any length to protect herself. Yet, knowing that she could also be ruthless made Lu Na really think about the person Sun Ren was.

  A woman screamed, shattering their peace.

  “Was that another trick from the ghosts?” Lu Na asked.

  “No, I see nothing coming from that direction,” Hen Li said.

  “Do we go help her?”

  “No. That’s not the way we’re going. If we get trapped there, then we might suffer the same fate as whoever screamed.” Sun Ren closed the water skins. “Let’s be on our way before whatever it is comes this way.”

  “Amituofo. What happened to your compassion, Young Miss Sun?” Hen Li asked. “We should go help them.”

  Sun Ren closed her eyes.

  “I didn’t enjoy that nightmare we had earlier, but it reminded me of something important. We’re not here on a vacation. We’re trying to survive in a hostile environment. We have to do what we need to do to get out of here alive.”

  “I’m going to help her.” Lu Na didn’t bother waiting for a reply before she walked toward the scream. The last thing she needed was to turn into someone like Sun Ren who believed that no one but herself was worth saving. She knew her friend wasn’t like that with her, but Lu Na wouldn’t be able to live with herself if she allowed someone else to die or suffer. Neither would her mother.

  “Fine. Let’s all walk into another trap. I’m sure our luck will keep holding until we save Lu Na’s mother and solve the labyrinth puzzle.” Sun Ren followed behind Lu Na and Hen Li.

  Lu Na smiled. She knew she could depend on Sun Ren to do the right thing, even if it meant throwing herself at it to force her to do so.

  But wait, wouldn’t that mean she’s changing too? This was something she never would have done before she met Sun Ren. What was this labyrinth doing to her?

  The trio followed the other fork, walking through a narrow tunnel until it opened to a bigger section. This room was the size of a main hall. There were only a few differences. The ceiling reached to the sky and there were pillars every few feet apart. It was hard to see into the dark room as no lights were lit.

  “What do we do?” Hen Li asked.

  “I could use the light ward on my bracelet. But it wouldn’t show too far,” Lu Na said.

  Sun Ren raised her finger to her lips.

  Lu Na couldn’t hear anything. There wasn’t even a slight breeze of any kind and for once, it didn’t feel as cold as it did before with the ghosts. So she wasn’t sure what they were looking at.

  Sun Ren pointed toward one pillar on the right. There was a person leaning against the pillar. His clothes looked familiar. It was the dark blue of the Wintersweet Sect.

  “Is that?” Lu Na whispered.

  Sun Ren turned around back into the tunnel. When they were inside, she stopped.

  “That might be the Wintersweet Sect. Not sure how they got here, but let’s not have another group of people after us. If they’re having trouble with the labyrinth, then that’s one less worry for us.” Sun Ren took a few steps back to the fork.

  That’s when they heard another woman screaming.

  “Please, someone, anyone, help us!”

  “No, Na Na, we can’t help everyone. We have to help ourselves.”

  Lu Na smiled.

  “No, for once I agree with you. That voice, I recognize it.”

  “Who is it?” Sun Ren asked.

  “Senior Wong.”