than it had outside on the bridge. “That is your clock. You have until the sun rises. Time passes differently here than up above, so be mindful. Once you can see only the dark side of the moon, your time is up.”
Mulan looked up. The moon was round and bright, but a thin black rim already darkened its edge.
She pushed aside her fears. She had the rest of the night to rescue Shang. They’d battled thousands of Huns together and saved China. Finding him and escaping from the Underworld was just one more battle. She could do this.
King Yama clapped, and his lanterns floated away, illuminating a white stone archway behind his desk.
Mulan studied the archway as she approached it. Etched into the stones were the words ALL OF LIFE IS A DREAM WALKING, ALL OF DEATH IS A GOING HOME.
She recognized the proverb. It was one her schoolteachers had made her memorize and write over and over to practice her calligraphy. She’d never understood its meaning…but now, standing at the threshold of the Underworld, something in her throat tightened as she read the familiar words again.
As King Yama’s throne room disappeared behind them, Mulan lingered one last moment before the archway. The faint shape of a face—much like those demonic bronze medallions on the vermilion gates—glimmered under the arch, obscuring what lay on the other side. Thick arched brows, a wide nose, puffed cheeks, and angry red-yellow eyes—King Yama.
Mulan glanced at ShiShi and nodded. Then, with a deep breath, she took the first step through the archway. From the arch, Yama’s voice rumbled:
“WELCOME TO DIYU.”
Beyond the archway sprawled a dead bamboo forest. Mulan had seen bamboo stalks before: their stems were supposed to be green as grass, and straight and proud as arrows. Not gray and ashen. Not crooked like lightning bolts.
Mulan glanced back over her shoulder. The archway had disappeared; there was no way back to King Yama’s throne room.
“ShiShi, do you know how to find Shang?”
“Do I look like a map to Diyu?” ShiShi growled.
Mulan frowned, not sure why the lion was upset with her. “No, but you’re the great guardian. I thought you might know the way.”
ShiShi harrumphed, but he didn’t reply.
Mulan strode forward. A heavy fog misted the air, making it hard to find a clear path. The thick, crooked canes of dead bamboo were so dense she felt like she was tramping through a forest of wicker baskets. Not a cricket chirped, and not a bird sang.
Whenever Mulan looked up, she saw the stars blink above them—like eyes. Come to think of it, some of these plants—no, most of these plants had almost human shapes. In the eerie quiet she imagined she heard whispers emanating from their hollow arms.
She sighed. She had no idea where to even begin looking for Shang. From the Bridge of Helplessness, she’d seen hundreds of different areas within Diyu. Mirrors and fire and deserts and mountains. But here, in this desolate, gray forest—she only saw more and more…forest.
Had King Yama tricked her?
She had to keep moving. Or else despair would set in, and she’d lose hope.
But that was why she had ShiShi, wasn’t it? Surely, he had to know how to find Shang. Except the lion still wasn’t saying anything. He easily matched her pace, but he was being uncharacteristically quiet. Was he still in shock from being turned into stone?
“ShiShi,” Mulan tried again, “do you know where we are?”
The lion huffed.
“You’re angry with me. Why?”
“Because that was foolish of you,” ShiShi snapped, “agreeing to King Yama’s wager.”
Mulan didn’t stop walking. She pushed aside branches, clearing a path for the two of them. “Did you have any better ideas?”
“If you’d just let me talk to him—”
“He turned you into stone.”
“That’s beside the point! What would your family think of you, gambling away your life like that?” ShiShi scolded. “And your guardian? Do you even have a guardian?”
“I do,” Mulan countered. “But you whisked me down into Diyu before I got a chance to tell him.”
Besides, she thought, Mushu is asleep…and what he doesn’t know won’t hurt him.
Still, ShiShi was right about her family. She swallowed. Baba will never know what happened to me if I’m stuck here forever. He might think I deserted the army, or that I was killed in battle. That would break his heart. And Mama’s.
“Why are you so concerned, anyway?” she said, pushing her worries as far from her mind as she could. “You’re the great guardian of the Li family. Also, you should have