training barracks and somehow gotten into a fight with every other recruit. Shang had arrived to break up the scuffle, and there she was curled up on the ground like a turtle, covering her head so the other soldiers wouldn’t batter it. The sight of him had taken her breath away—not because he was tall and imposing and handsome, but because she’d been out of shape and jumped too quickly to her feet.
“I was so afraid of you I didn’t even remember my own name,” Mulan confessed. It was mostly the truth. Honestly, she hadn’t even come up with a male name yet. But she had been terrified of him. Terrified. And curious.
After all, the expression Shang had worn when they first met—she couldn’t tell whether he’d been angry or perplexed. Or both.
What an idiot he must have thought she was.
She was better at reading his expressions now. The crook in his neck—he was listening. The slight bend in his arm when he spoke to her—he was cautious. The parting of his lips now as he waited for her to speak—he was hopeful. Doubt still lingered in his eyes, but he wanted to believe her.
“Are you still afraid of me?” asked Shang. “Especially now that I’m like—this?” He held up his pale blue arms.
“No,” said Mulan. “Now I’m just afraid I’ll lose my friend. And Yao and Ling and Chien-Po—we’re worried that we’ll lose our captain. Who else would work us so hard? You have to fight, Shang. It’s what you taught us to do.”
The hardness in his eyes softened. “Is it really you, Ping?”
“I know it’s hard to believe. But it is.”
“And my father…my father truly sent you here—to bring me back.”
“He guessed you’d be skeptical. He knows you well.” Mulan paused. “He asked me to tell you a story from when you were a child in case you didn’t believe me.”
“What story?”
“He said when you were six, you sneaked into his trunk and tried to follow him to battle. He caught you, and he promised that one day, you would fight together.” Mulan hesitated. “He said he’s sorry that never got to happen.”
The flinch in Shang’s brow was brief, but Mulan caught it. His shoulders tensed and drew up. “Is he here…in Diyu? Can I speak to him?”
“I don’t know where he is. He said he was to go to Heaven.”
Shang’s shoulders dropped. He looked relieved, yet sad. “I see.”
“He wants you to live, Shang,” Mulan went on. “Your family guardian brought me here to take you home. He’s downstairs, waiting for us.”
Shang lowered his gaze to study her. His eyes wavered as they searched her face—she could tell he wanted to believe her. “You can’t be real.”
“I am,” she said. “Shang, you have to believe me. You have to live.”
“Why?”
Why, she repeated to herself. Her mind scrambled for an answer. “My father used to tell me about the ancient heroes who protected China against demons. How the gods gave them magical stones or lanterns or swords to help them on their quests. But even then, the heroes weren’t invincible. They knew fear and loss, yet they fought anyway, because they knew it was the right thing to do. Because in their hearts, they were brave and true.”
She bit her lip, reflecting on her father’s stories. The heroes had always inspired her, even if none of them had been girls.
That’s not the point now, she reminded herself. I’ve got to make Shang want to live.
“We’re just men, Shang. We have no magic, but we have our courage and we have our strength. China needs us. You might have guessed that I was a disappointment to my parents. I was clumsy, and stubborn—and unhappy with myself. I didn’t know what I lived for. I didn’t know who I was. Sometimes, I still don’t.” She paused, feeling a lump rise in her throat. “But it isn’t always about me. It’s about China. My family. My friends.
“I chose to come to Diyu and take you home. You need to make that choice now, too. If you think your path ends here, I’ll go. But if you want to keep going, come with me.”
She waited for Shang to absorb her words.
“That sounds more like the real Ping,” he said finally, peeling himself from the window. He sounded calm, the way he always had been when he commanded his troops, but his next words carried a note of urgency. “So, how do we get out of here?”
Mulan smiled. That was the Shang she