Water Ghosts, by Linda Collison
Water Ghosts is a nautical adventure, a story of the supernatural, and a trip into imperial China of long ago. James, a 15-year-old with a troubled past, must survive a disastrous voyage on a junk which he believes is under the control of malicious forces. Yu, the ghost of a young eunuch who drowned at sea centuries earlier, finds his way inside James’ head. When the ship is becalmed, communications fail. One by one the adults aboard come to a bad end. Yu, intent on trading places with James, tells him of his own short, tragic life. As James tries to save his shipmate Ming, an Asian-American girl, so Yu tried to rescue the beautiful concubine Lotus from being buried alive in the emperor’s tomb, more than seven hundred years before. With St. Elmo’s fire flickering over the ill-fated junk Good Fortune, the ghosts of Yu and Lotus strive to live again through James and his shipmates.
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