I nodded, inspecting the cuts from the dragonflies crisscrossing my skin in a bloodied web. Tao, beside me, nursed a deep gash across his arm, blood still dripping from his ear.

“Does it hurt?” I asked.

“No.” There was a slight tremor in his voice.

“Let me imagine your wound,” I offered, wondering if it went deeper than it appeared.

He shook his head. “It’s not severe.”

“Do you have the elixirs?” I was already imagining my father’s face alight with pride. My mother’s joy when I brought him home.

Tao slipped his hand between the panels of his robe, drawing out a small bottle the size of my thumb. It was crafted in translucent white jade, with delicate gold filigree adorning its stopper. A glowing liquid swirled within, its honeyed scent almost drowning my senses.

I smiled, reaching out for it—but then Tao’s shoulders slumped as the air around him shimmered, his face and body blurring like he was shrouded in mist.

“What’s the matter? Are you all right?” I reached for his arm to steady him, but my fingers passed through his flesh like smoke.

“I … I’m sorry. There was only one.” His face crumpled, his voice cracking with remorse as it melded into the rushing wind.

I stared numbly back at him, dread crashing over me. To have risked so much and come this far! Anger blazed as I sprang at him, clawing at the shadow of the bottle in his hand, but it was like trying to grasp a shred of sky.

It was too late; he had gone. I had been played for a fool, risked myself for nothing—and worst of all, I had failed my father.

Chapter 10

Dawn streaked across the skies as the last flickers of light dwindled from the moon lanterns. I almost longed for the return of night, as dark as my thoughts. I had come so close to bringing my father home, and now … the elixir was gone. My fingers curled as I cursed Tao and his sister, and myself for trusting them. Yet Tao’s distraught expression as he had vanished tugged at me. Had he expected two elixirs, only to find one? Would I have chosen differently—sacrificed my father’s life, my mother’s happiness, for a stranger’s? Regardless, if I ever found him again, I would repay his selfishness in kind. I had risked my life as he had; the elixir was no less mine, and his theft had nullified all claim he once had upon it.