My chest felt heavy as my eyes became lidded. Breathing felt so much harder, but it wasn't impossible. I forced my eyes open and gasped. We are on the moon, I thought excitedly. Stars were above us like an angel's halo.

"This is insane!" Ushi screamed next to me, jumping up and down. As she did, it took longer for her feet to touch the ground again. "I can float!" Ushi kept leaping, twirling.

"Is that the Guanghan Palace?" Abahai gasped, pointing to a palace in front of us. It looked like the royal grand palaces that are in Māmā's TV shows. Next to the palace, there was a towering cassia tree. There was a man, a woodcutter, in fact, trying to hack the tree.

"That tree is giant!" Ushi whispered in my ear. "How will he cut it down?"

"That's Wu Gang," Xiong explained. Wu Gang wore light robes and had a straw hat hung around his neck. He wore big boots and a large axe. "He committed a crime so the Chinese gods ordered him to be punished. He must cut that cassia tree every day, except the tree will endlessly grow. Wu Gang has been doing this for hundreds of years."

We walked up to the door, but not before the woodcutter waved at us. "Greetings, Xiong Lee. Who are these visitors with you? For Chang'e?" Wu Gang gave us a grim, but toothy smile. He looked exhausted and I felt slightly bad for him.

"Yes, we have the Elixir of Immortality for Chang'e. Change is happening, Wu Gang," Xiong said, nodding. The front doors suddenly opened as if on cue. "Oh, good, Chang'e knows we're here. Let's go to the Throne Room."

We headed inside and were shocked at how lavish the Moon Palace's interior was. The walls there were filled with old Chinese artworks, and not coped prints. "I'm afraid I'll break something," Ushi squeaked in Cantonese.

"Same," Abahai agreed, his eyes wide. At the end of the hallway, there was a throne. It had jade and other jewels adorning it. A tall lady sat on the throne, looking like royalty. Chang'e.

She had pale skin and black pinned up, her red robes flowing. Her face was soft and feminine, but also sharp and cold. Abahai brushed my hands with me and I tried my best to ignore it.

"Xiong Lee."

"Chang'e." Xiong knelt down, bowing. Abahai, Ushi, and I quickly dropped to the floor, also messily kneeling. Next to Chang'e was a white hare with beady red eyes. The Moon Hare, I thought.

Suddenly, I looked at Xiong. Something's not right, I thought. Xiong stood up, producing the Elixir of Immortality from his pockets, walking towards the throne. "Abahai, Ushi!" I hissed under my breath as their heads snapped towards me. "Something isn't right!"

Ushi widened her eyes. "Huh?"

"How did Wu Gang know Xiong's name?" I demanded as Abahai looked like he had the same question. "He couldn't have known if Xiong didn't visit the Moon Palace before. He said he was hired by Chang'e, but why Xiong specifically?"

Before Abahai or Ushi could protest, I jumped to my feet. "Wait! Stop! Stop!" I shouted and Xiong paused, startled. All eyes were on me now. Chang'e glared at me, curling up her fists. "I-I—"

"You speak when I say you can speak, girl."

I have a name, Chang'e. "What are you going to use the elixir for?"

Chang'e scowled, shifting her glare to Xiong. "I was not expecting guests, Xiong Lee. Now, give me the elixir."

He nodded. "Yes—"

"Answer me!" I yelled angrily, surprising myself at the tone of my voice.

Chang'e stood up from her throne, walking towards us. She swiftly snatched the elixir from Xiong's hands and Xiong followed after her. I backed away, stumbling. Ushi and Abahai stood up, coming to my side to support me.

"I'll tell you what I'm going to use the Elixir of Immortality for—the Moon Hare will make me a new elixir to descend back to the mortal world. Afterwards, I will arrive at Hēi'àn De Mìmì and take back my estate, the entire village."

"You can't take our village!" Ushi protested.

"My husband is dead, yet I am not, I am immortal. His inheritance of the land goes to me, not some spirit manifestations," Chang'e said threateningly. "That is all that Hēi'àn De Mìmì is—a bundle of spirit manifestation folks."

I looked into Chang'e's eyes, narrowing my own. "You took the Elixir of Immortality for yourself, didn't you? You wanted to live forever, Chang'e, you weren't safekeeping the elixir—you stole it from Hou Yi and drank it. But you didn't expect to float up to the moon, right?"

Chang'e's pale face turned pink. "I did love my husband, but—"

"You wanted power instead," Abahai answered for me. Suddenly, Chang'e struck Abahai across the face. He stumbled back, falling on the tiled floor. I shrieked, crouching to his side.

She snarled. "I will put an end to you children!"

"Xiong, help us!" Ushi cried out and the brooding boy stood still. Next to Chang'e. Realization slowly crept in as Abahai groaned, sitting up. A bruise swelled on his cheekbone.

"How did you know my name, Xiong, when you first met me in the Soontornvats' gift shop? I was too consumed in the past few days to remember you seemed to know everything about me before Nǜshì Lian paired us together."

Out of everything Xiong could have done, he grinned. It was childish and foolish, but also terrifying. A sense of betrayal stabbed my gut. "X-Xiong, how did you know my name—"

"You're a very easy target, Xiran. Like I said, I'm a son of Zhung Kui, king of ghosts. If you did some homework, you would have known that Nǜshì Lian is actually dead, she died in a car crash in Iran." Nǜshì Lian is dead? "She was my puppet, acting like some kind of heartfelt oracle of matchmaking. She was not my first puppet."

"Puppet?" Abahai spat, his bruise now purpling.

"Xiran, did you ever wonder why your auntie, Ponyo, went to your bàba and told him she had a vision that you were cursed and that no one would fall in love with you? You were never cursed." Xiong crossed his arms and Abahai stared blankly at me. You never told me that, he mouthed.

I spluttered. "Auntie Ponyo is not part of this—"

"Was a part of this, your auntie's dead. She died a few weeks before you were born," Xiong replied causally. My blood went cold. Auntie Ponyo's gone? "Of course, I controlled her—puppets after all. You've been talking to her corpse all this time."

A sickening feeling rose to my stomach. "You're sick."

"It was me who controlled what Ponyo had been saying to the Shens. Tough luck, Xiran."

Ushi was horrified. "That means—"

"I'm not immortal, but I have eternal youth. I'm only slightly older than what I look," the son of Zhung Kui gave a shrug. Chang'e looked rather tired by this shocking turn of truth.

"Throw them in the cellar and lock them in."

"As you wish, Chang'e."

Xiong yanked us and uttered some words, the familiar blinding light flashing in our eyes. I blinked, realizing we were in a cell, probably something in the basement of the Moon Palace. Ushi and Abahai were on the floor, their eyes closed. I was the first to recover, standing up to face Xiong Lee.

In the dark, I could now see how Xiong could be so mysteriously charming and dangerous. Pure rage fuelled me. "You traitor!" I screamed, jabbing my finger in his chest. He didn't flinch and shook his head. "How could you? I trusted you!"

"You only trusted me because I revealed the secrets of your village and its folks."

"You only needed me because I'm a direct descendant of Hou Yi! You used me for my jade necklace to get the Elixir o-of Immortality!" My voice was shaky. "Auntie P-Ponyo gave me that necklace, why didn't you just steal it for yourself?"

"Because ghosts still have some form of control and she gave you that jade necklace out of my control! Your stupid Auntie Ponyo made things much more difficult for me and Chang'e—"

"Don't call my auntie stupid!" I hollered, tears running down my cheeks. How could I be fooled by Xiong's charm? Small interactions are enough to make me feel flustered. Why did I picture him and me together? Better yet, why did I picture Xiong actually loving me?

He fooled us all.

"I warned you, didn't I?" Xiong's voice was dangerously low. "This merely is a courtship of convenience. Nothing else, Xiran."

Then he was gone in a flash.