When the hallway dead-ended at the wall, the lion flared bright. A low groan emanated from behind the right hand door. Jin knew that voice. Auntie Bai Wei.
Frustration coursed through her. She'd asked the guardian to lead her to Yao, not Bai Wei. Still, she was here. She would do what she could.
She tried the door, but, as she expected, it was locked. Once more, she went to work with the pick. Auntie's voice went silent.
After several long moments, the lock clicked open and Jin pulled the door wide.
Auntie Bai Wei stood with her back to the wall, crouched in a fighting stance. When the figurine lit the room, Bai Wei squinted. "Stay back, demon," she growled. "You surprised me once. Never again."
"Auntie Bai Wei, it's me, Jin."
Bai Wei's arms drooped to her sides. "Jin?" She blinked and rubbed her eyes.
"It's me, Auntie. Liu sent me."
Auntie Bai Wei's gaze settled on the figurine clutched in Jin's hand. A look of wonder spread across her face. "Is that. the guardian?"
"Yes. At least, that's what Liu said."
Auntie Bai Wei straightened and she clasped a hand against her chest. "Spirits be blessed," she breathed. "We may yet get out of this alive."
The coin nestled beneath Jin's shirt throbbed, in time with the building's strange pulse. "Auntie," she said. "They have Yao."
Bai Wei looked down, piercing Jin with her dark gaze. "They took your brother?"
"I tried to stop them, but they hit me over the head and threw me in a cell. I don't know where they took him."
Bai Wei stalked forward, looming over Jin. "Those fiends are fools to have left you in possession of the guardian. It must have been Yao's presence that protected you. His spirit guest is powerful, though meek. They couldn't see past it to your own strength."
"Yao's a spirit host?"
"Of course, foolish girl. Why else do you think I pulled the two of you from the orphanage? His spirit guest and your innate sensitivity shine like beacons to those who have eyes to see."
"Please," Jin said, "I need my brother back."
"I'll help you," said Auntie Bai Wei, "but you'll need the guardian as well."
"It didn't help when I attacked the men who had Yao."
Bai Wei stepped out of her cell and into the darkness.
Jin scurried out behind her, holding the jade lion high.
"That's because they were men," Bai Wei said. "Against men, the guardian can do nothing. Against spirits, though, it will be your best hope. Ask it to find your brother."
"I already did," Jin said, shadowing Bai Wei along the corridor. "It brought me to you."
"You need me, girl." Bai Wei's voice hid grim laughter behind it. "The guardian isn't stupid."
"All right." Jin closed her eyes and drew Yao's image on the back of her eyelids, his slight frame and intelligent gaze. "Find him," she said, "before it's too late."
Back into the stairwell, then once more down. The building's pulse hammered at Jin's eardrums. Auntie Bai Wei didn't seem to notice, or she was better at ignoring. Neither spoke another word while they descended into the prison's depths. They were deep enough now that Jin wondered if they were beneath even the river's floor.
At last, they reached the bottom. The guardian flared, but there was no need. Only one way remained. A black door painted with red calligraphy, in an old style Jin couldn't read.
The building's pulse drowned out her own. Sweat slicked her hands and her legs trembled. Her bravery fled in the face of that door and its incomprehensible scrawl.
Auntie Bai Wei clapped a hand to her shoulder. Jin looked up. Bai Wei gave her a lopsided grin. It heartened her. She smiled back.
Bai Wei put her hand to the doorknob and pushed. It made no sound. Nothing stirred on the other side. Jin followed Bai Wei through. The lights on this level looked like the fluorescent tubes above, but they were as red as the calligraphy on the door, reminding Jin far too much of blood.
Together, Jin and Bai Wei crossed the room, the guardian once again within Jin's closed fist. The disturbing lights were enough to see by. There was no reason to announce their presence.
A piercing shriek echoed down the hallway. Jin sucked in a harsh breath. Yao.
She would have rushed forward, but Auntie Bai Wei wrapped a strong hand around her wrist.
"Carefully," Bai Wei whispered.
The wail died off. Jin squeezed her eyes shut, trying to ignore it. Impossible. She opened her eyes and pressed forward.
As they followed the blood-red corridor, a heavy, moist scent wafted towards them. The painted concrete walls gave way to natural stone that arced away to either side, opening into a vast cavern. Jin and Bai Wei hugged the wall, circling towards a brilliant, scarlet light that brightened and dimmed in time with the overwhelming pulse.
When they drew closer, it resolved itself into a massive garnet, the size of the noodle seller's cart, throbbing red to black and back again.
Four men in suits stood beside a metal surgical table where Yao's small form lay prone. Two were the men who had kidnapped him.
Wires and tubes led from Yao's body into a bank of machinery and from there lines of pure scarlet energy lanced into the beating garnet.
Bai Wei sucked in a breath. "So that's the answer. They're stealing spirit life-energy to feed that. thing." Her hand squeezed hard into Jin's wrist. "Wait here," she breathed, so low Jin could hardly hear her. "If I can do this alone, then let me."
Auntie didn't wait for a response. She picked up a stone from the cavern floor and raced forward. With a howl, she launched it. The rock crashed into the machinery. Sparks geysered in a sizzling shower. The men turned away from Yao and found Auntie Bai Wei nearly on them. She fell among them in a dizzying whirl of kicks and punches. Two men slumped to the ground and lay there motionless. The others quickly realized their danger and dropped low, sliding to either side of Bai Wei.
Jin grasped her lock pick and inched forward. The nearest man had his back to her. Moving soundlessly, she advanced when Bai Wei feinted towards him, keeping him distracted, before spinning to keep an eye on her other opponent.
Yao shrieked again, the sound echoing off the cavern's high ceiling.
Distracted, Jin stumbled over an upthrust of rock. A cry leapt from her lips before she could pull it back.
The man turned and advanced. His eyes glowed as red as the garnet.
Jin regained her balance and held the lock pick on its knife handle in front of her, trying to mimic Bai Wei's fighting stance. "You want me?" she cried. "Come and get me!"
He lunged, swinging with powerful blows. Jin ducked low and stabbed up with the pick. It gouged into his gut with a sickening squelch. Lurching to the side, he wrenched away and Jin lost her grip on the pick. He staggered back, the makeshift weapon protruding from his belly.
His hand wrapped around it and he pulled it free, wiping it clean on his immaculate suit pants. Jin stumbled away. What kind of monster was this? His wound didn't so much as slow his advance, and now he brandished her own weapon against her.
The man feinted with a punch. Jin tried to dodge, but she was too slow. The pick sank into her shoulder in a burning blossom of pain. Once more he plunged it downward, aiming for her throat. She spun away, but tripped over her own feet and fell forward to the ground. She rolled to her back, trembling.
"Get up, little girl," the man goaded, ignoring the blood staining his shirt.
Jin staggered to her feet.
"Go ahead," he said, a maniacal look in his ruby-red eyes. "Hit me."
Her left shoulder throbbed so badly, she could hardly think for the pain. Gritting her teeth, she drew back her right arm and swung for his jaw. He danced away, laughing, until he gave a sudden grunt and collapsed, twitching, to the ground.
Auntie Bai Wei stood behind him, breathing hard, a bloodied stone in her fist. "Go," she gasped. "Get your brother."