Lu Na took a deep breath. She put away the paper and her spirit wand, now useless to her. The reality was hard to swallow, but Lu Na knew what she had to do. Besides, it wasn’t as if she could charge her spirit and force her to give the technique back to her.

“Dear spirit of mine, please have mercy on your poor misguided summoner and allow me the opportunity to wield your technique?” Lu Na bowed her head toward Nugua.

“Why yes, of course. Why would I ever deny you anything while your mother holds my life in her hands?” Nugua waved her clawed hand.

Lu Na felt as if she had just remembered something she had forgotten a moment ago. It was the most disorienting feeling.

More importantly, Lu Na considered what her life would have been like if she forgot this technique or if Nugua never allowed her to use it again. Who would she be?

Another clueless Young Miss.

That would not happen. Lu Na wasn’t sure how or when, but she was going to force the technique from Nugua so that she would never have to depend on her again. And even if that wasn’t possible, she was going to develop a way to do it without her.

No way she was going to depend upon that fickle spirit.

“Thank you so much for helping us Jie,” Lu Na said. She bowed to the ghost.

Jie smiled and bowed back.

“Good luck.” With a small wave of her hand, she disappeared.

Lu Na felt bad for the ghost because she was trapped here, unable to move on. After a moment, she realized she’d be trapped here too if she wasted any more time.

Lu Na gathered all the sacks she could carry back to Sun Ren. They weren’t heavy so she carried them all herself instead of asking for Nugua’s help. Not that her spirit would help, anyway. The smug look on her face as she slithered behind her was enough to carry them out of spite.

For the first time, Lu Na wished she could send the spirit back into her spirit realm, hidden. Sure, she couldn’t block her from speaking to her, at least she didn’t have to see her.

“Na Na, everything alright? Jie didn’t play any tricks did she?” Sun Ren asked when Lu Na met up with her.

“No. She gave us food and a manual for me.” Lu Na passed the sacks over to Sun Ren. “If we make it out of here alive, I think I could recreate some of these devices.”

“You mean you could make your own labyrinth?” Sun Ren opened the sack to check the contents. She pulled out a stack of wrapped breads.

“Maybe. It will take me some years of study. Probably the rest of my life.”

“That’s nice.” Sun Ren smelled the bread and took a small nibble. “If this doesn’t kill me in an hour, I think we have enough food to last us for a week at least. Unless our spirits also need to eat.”

Baihu laughed.

“The only thing I could eat is meat if I were to eat. But luckily the spirit energy in here is so strong that I doubt any spirit would ever need to eat. It’s you humans that need it to survive.”

“That’s a relief then,” Lu Na said. “How’s Hen Li?”

“The monk woke up not too long ago and walked off, muttering,” Sun Ren said. She repacked everything back in the sack. “We should go while we’re relatively fresh. The last thing we need is for Jie’s spirit to rush out from the village to attack us.”

“Okay.” Lu Na took up her sack and followed Sun Ren.

They found Hen Li not too far away, walking in a circle, reciting the heart sutra. The ground had an indent from how many times he walked. His small five colored puppy trailed behind him, yipping away as if it was also reciting.

“Hen Li, we’re going.” Sun Ren threw a pack at him and kept walking.

Hen Li caught it and bowed. He swung it on his shoulder and followed.

Sun Ren took out a map from one sack and began walking as if she knew where to go.

Lu Na wasn’t sure how or why, but both Sun Ren and Hen Li were acting differently than before their visit to the village. She knew she should stop living in her mind so much and care more for her companions.

The group walked in silence.

Lu Na studied the manual as she walked. There were so many designs and schematics within. The problem was, although she knew how to create the same patterns to activate them, she had little clue about what they were supposed to do. There were some notes written on it over the years, but much of the original was in the ancient Xia script.

Lu Na glanced at Nugua. Her spirit was the only one that could read it, or at least she hoped. She hated she had to depend on her some more, but now was not the time.

“Nugua, can you read this script?”

Nugua slithered up beside her.

“Oh my, these are hard words. I can only read some of the simpler ones and guess at what the rest means.”

“Can you tell me?” Lu Na passed the book over to Nugua. She took out a small piece of charcoal and a piece of yellow paper.

Nugua stared at the words for a moment. She traced a few characters with her finger, making sure that her claws didn’t touch it. It reminded Lu Na of when she learned her characters. Sometimes writing it in the air reminded her of what they meant.

“This page is talking about how to move large amounts of spirit energy, I think.” Nugua traced the characters next to a diagram of a pipe. It looked like the one that Jie gave Lu Na. “If you copy this pattern onto the pipe and then copy this other pattern you’ll be able to regulate as much spirit energy as you want.”

Lu Na wrote it all down and copied the pattern onto her yellow paper. It wasn’t until she was done had she noticed that Nugua was holding onto the book for her to copy while smiling at her.

Lu Na bowed her head before taking the manual back and putting it into her chest pocket.

“Thank you.”

“No need, child. I’m glad to see that you’re so eager for learning something like this,” Nugua said. “Maybe you can get stronger without the need to practice summoner arts.”

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“That might be better, Na Na,” Sun Ren said. “I’m not sure how much the monk can teach you in his current state. Isn’t that right?”

Hen Li broke from his chanting to look around, as if he lost something.

“What’s going on?”

“Nothing monk. Fix yourself and be ready to fight. That’s the only thing you’re good for right now.” Sun Ren continued walking at a brisk pace, muttering something to herself.

Lu Na wanted to check in on her, but she looked angry. Both of her human companions looked like they were working through something.

“Anyway, child, you shouldn’t study from that monkey spirit’s scroll,” Nugua said. “It’s quite dangerous for you. Why don’t you give me it and I can hold on to it for you?”

Lu Na knew a con when she heard one. Why would her spirit be so kind to hold something like that for her? She patted the scroll in her chest pocket.

“No, I think I’ll hold on to it.”

“Suit yourself child. But should it morph into something that hurts you, don’t come crying to me. I’m not your mother.”

Lu Na grimaced. Her spirit wasn’t her mother, but she wore her face that one time. That was still giving her nightmares.

“Quiet,” Sun Ren said. She raised her hand up and crouched down. She found a collapsed wall to stand behind.

Hen Li crouched and looked around. He slowly scanned the surrounding area and walked over to Sun Ren’s side. It was almost as if he had done this many times before.

Only Lu Na and the spirits didn’t know what to do as they slowly followed suit. Lu Na waddled her way up to Sun Ren.

“What’s going on?” Lu Na asked in a whisper.

“Shhh.” Sun Ren pointed ahead.

Lu Na looked ahead and saw something she hadn’t seen in a while. It was a man wearing one of those yellow uniforms from Yang Deli’s army. He also held a spear in hand as he stood in front of a larger building.

“What—”

Sun Ren clasped her hand over Lu Na’s mouth. She pointed with her head to an area a little further away, back where they were walking.

As a group, they slowly waddled their way there, keeping as low as they could. Only Hen Li’s puppy spirit, Panhu, didn’t need to, as it ran to catch up to them.

When they were far enough away, Sun Ren stopped. They all stepped into a small building off the main path.

“You all wait here. I’m going to scout the area to see if we’re walking into a trap. Try not to talk in case they’re closer than we think.” Sun Ren unsheathed two of her daggers and ran along the wall out of sight.

Lu Na looked at them all. The spirits were unconcerned but they kept quiet. Nugua was buffing her claws on her tunic while Baihu sat upon her own tails like a chair.

Only Hen Li kept alert as he looked out from their hiding spot from time to time.

With nothing better to do, Lu Na took out her manual to study it some more. She was looking at the pipe design again and noticed that she could easily modify her bracelet to be more effective. The pattern she copied earlier was good, but it was missing two critical pieces to make it better.

If this worked, she could make her null metal bracelets hold enough energy to last for days instead of the few hours she’s had so far. And when she used it at full power, she wouldn’t have to worry about draining the energy right away.

The Xia inventors were brilliant.

But if they were so brilliant, why did their dynasty fall? Why did none of this technology get passed down the centuries?

Sun Ren came back as silent as she left. If Lu Na wasn’t watching for her return, she wouldn’t have noticed when Sun Ren entered the building.

“Good news is that there are no other soldiers from the rebel’s camp,” Sun Ren said. “The bad news is that they’re having a meeting inside that building the one soldier is guarding. It sounds like they are about to raid the village again for any remaining villagers.”

“We need to warn Jie,” Lu Na said. “If those guys go in there, they’re going to destroy all the devices and machines in there.”

Sun Ren shook her head.

“No, we shouldn’t.”

“Why not? Jie has given us food and other things. It’s the least we could do so that they can defend themselves.”

“It would take us hours to walk back to where Jie left us and even then, there’s no guarantee that she can hear or see us. Her spirit blocked the other tunnel, making it impossible to go back. Beyond that, this is a golden opportunity. As the rebels attack the village, we will slip around their forces to get to the next section of the labyrinth.”

“But that’s… evil.” Lu Na didn’t want to describe her friend that way, but her decision cannot be described any other way. She was going to use the village in order to further her own goals.

“I agree. This is the best course of action,” Baihu said. “The sooner we get out of this labyrinth, the sooner we go home. Your father will probably have an important mission for you.”

Before Lu Na could add anything, Nugua said, “Na Na, you don’t have to worry about Jie. She’s got that huge boar spirit that can take on these mortal men. They’re not bonded to their spirits right now so they’re only as strong as the brawny monk right now. They can’t do anything.”

“I agree with Sun Ren and her spirit,” Hen Li said. “The faster we solve the puzzle and get out of here the better.”

Even the life loving monk said that? What could Lu Na say?

“I’m sorry Na Na. As much as I love your opinions and your delicate heart, we have to focus on our mission. If we don’t get out of here, it doesn’t matter if the village is wiped out,” Sun Ren said. “Besides, I wasn’t asking for your opinion. I’m leading the group and we do as I say. So everyone, I hope you had enough rest because there’s a lot more walking after this and possibly some running.”

Everyone got up, ready to go again.

Lu Na still felt uneasy for leaving Jie and her village to face the rebel army, but there really wasn’t anything she could do. So she said a small prayer to Jie’s father, hoping that as the ancestor of the village that he will protect them.

Otherwise, Lu Na was going to come back to the stuff of nightmares. She had enough of those already.

Despite having some rest, Lu Na was exhausted. She didn’t sleep like the others and her fight with Jie’s spirit was finally catching up to her. And worse, she was walking again and this time her spirit wasn’t providing any relief.

Yet Lu Na didn’t complain because this time she knew Sun Ren and Hen Li didn’t have their spirits helping them either. And the spirits walked as if they had unlimited energy.

Nugua was even whistling.

Lu Na never thought she’d hate having her spirit outside of her spirit realm, but everything she does was annoying her.

“Why are you whistling? Sun Ren told us to be quiet,” Lu Na whispered.

“It’s because there is no one around us for many Li,” Nugua said.

“How do you know that?”

“It’s because I would have smelled fresh meat.” Nugua smiled, revealing her sharp fangs.

Lu Na didn’t have an answer to that. The last thing she needed was picturing her spirit eating people.

“Honored spirit, do you think we could rest, then?” Sun Ren asked.

Nugua sniffed the air while walking in a circle.

“The closest humans I can smell are at least an hour away if they ran toward us the whole way. But there are plenty of spirits all around, just waiting for us to show weakness.”

Sun Ren paused in front of a building. This one only had one opening in the front with two small windows.

“Baihu, think we can take a break here?”

Baihu turned into a white fox and sprinted toward the building. She disappeared around the back. After a few moments, she came back. She turned back into human form with nine tails.

“Yes, it has an exit in the back and a way to the roof.”

“Then everyone, we rest here for a few hours before we move again.” Sun Ren walked into the building as the others followed silently. “I’ll take the first shift while—”

“No, I’ll watch over you all,” Baihu said. “Spirits don’t need to rest, but you humans look like you’re about to collapse. Nugua and I will guard you if necessary.”

“Maybe you will. I’m going hunting,” Nugua said. She disappeared back out into the labyrinth.

“Either way, you all need rest. I’ll be here.” Baihu turned into a smaller white fox pup. A few moments later, she split into nine identical pups.

Lu Na gasped. That’s how Sun Ren looked that time they ran from the Wintersweet disciples. Now that she wasn’t in danger, she hadn’t realized how cute the fox pups were. If she weren’t so tired and if the pup wasn’t an ancient spirit, Lu Na would have cuddled with one.

But all Lu Na could really do now is sit down and take off her shoes. She rubbed her foot and toes, trying to soothe the pain that had been growing for the last few hours.

The white fox pups all disappeared outside of the building except one that sat in the doorway.

Lu Na laid her head back against the wall. Just like that, she fell asleep.