Dark Serpent

  The lolis crowded closer to me, wide-eyed.

  ‘Find them and I will find you,’ John said.

  The Mother glanced from the lolis to John. Her eyes widened as she realised who he was and she stepped back.

  The other Mother wasn’t as intimidated. ‘You can’t be there all the time.’

  ‘Beside the point,’ John said. ‘If you hurt them, I will find you and destroy you. They are not worth the price. Go find something easier to kill. The soccer pitch at Southorn Playground is full of small demons.’

  The Mothers shared a look, and one of them shrugged. They stuck their noses in the air and sauntered away, heading towards the Southorn sports centre in the centre of busy Wan Chai.

  ‘Don’t worry, we’ll protect you,’ I said.

  John was gruff. ‘Return to the house in the lane, you’ll be safe there.’

  The two demons were obviously still frightened, but they moved away from me and pulled themselves together.

  One of them nodded to John. ‘It was a bad idea to dress up and come out. We thought it would be fun.’

  ‘If you want to do it again, let me know and I’ll come with you,’ Simone said, patting one of them on the shoulder. ‘I’ll look after you, and I think you look so cute!’

  ‘Really?’ the strawberry loli said, smiling shyly and tilting her head to one side. ‘You would do that for us?’

  Simone leaned in close. ‘Only if I can find a dress too. Where did you buy them?’

  ‘I make them,’ the goth loli said.

  ‘That is not going to happen, Simone,’ John said, his voice stern. He spoke to the demons. ‘Bring a guard next time if you must do this stupid thing. Jade, escort them back to the house.’ He gestured towards the lolis. ‘Go.’

  ‘Hey, I was talking to them,’ Simone said.

  ‘No, the Lord is right,’ the strawberry loli said. ‘You shouldn’t be seen with people like us. You’re a Princess.’ She nodded to John. ‘We’ll return to our shop. Our apologies, my Lord.’

  ‘What?’ Simone said, confused. She glared at her father. ‘If I want to spend some time with them, that’s my choice, Daddy. They’re just tame demons. It’s not as if they’re bad or anything.’

  ‘Jade,’ John said.

  ‘My Lord,’ Jade said with obvious distaste as she guided the girls away.

  They held hands and walked with her, looking behind them as they went, then they turned into a side alley, heading towards Spring Garden Lane.

  ‘You will not seek them out again,’ John said.

  Simone put her hands on her hips. ‘Why not?’

  ‘We will explain later.’ He turned to the lanterns. ‘So the rectangular yellow person for Richie?’

  Simone spun and headed up the street, in the same direction as Jade and the demons. She stopped and shook her head — John was obviously talking to her — then headed off again. He must have finally told her what they were, because she stopped dead about ten metres away, stood for a long moment looking after them, then returned to us, her face expressionless.

  ‘Why do we have tame demons working as hookers in the House of the North?’ she said softly and fiercely.

  ‘We will discuss this later,’ he said.

  ‘No, we’ll discuss it now,’ Simone said.

  Everything around us went still. There was complete silence.

  ‘Impressive. I didn’t know you could do that,’ he said.

  ‘I didn’t either.’ She poked him on the arm. ‘You have prostitutes making money for you? I cannot believe this.’

  He stood silently and I could see his mind working furiously.

  ‘It’s their choice, Simone. It’s what they did before they were tamed,’ I said. ‘They like having plenty of money to buy cute stuff, and doing what they’re doing is about as lucrative as you can get.’

  ‘Convert it to a hostess bar, something less demeaning for them,’ Simone said.

  John spread his hands. ‘That’s the same thing. Everybody just pretends it isn’t.’

  Simone rounded on me. ‘And you’re in on this?’

  ‘If the demons want to do it, then having us protect them is way better than working any other way,’ I said. ‘They’re actually all very happy doing it, and they keep most of the proceeds. Some of them will retire before they’re thirty years old.’

  ‘That’s very young for a demon,’ she said more softly.

  ‘Most of them tire of the work and come to the Mountain. Many of the nuns in the temple used to work here,’ John said.

  ‘There aren’t any humans, are there?’ Simone said.

  I didn’t reply.

  ‘That’s just wrong.’

  ‘Same thing: they want to do it,’ I said.

  ‘Then they’re stupid,’ Simone said, and disappeared.

  The market came back to life around us.

  ‘Why does she have this big thing about sex?’ John said, confused. ‘Just the mention of it sets her completely off. She’s old enough to be interested, not afraid.’

  ‘You are so strange sometimes,’ I said. ‘It’s because of what happened on that boat.’

  ‘Which boat?’

  ‘The one where a kid from her school before CH tried to drug and rape her, and she blew the boat up, killing him.’

  ‘It affected her that badly?’

  ‘You really have no idea sometimes.’

  He took his hair out of its tie and retied it, exasperated. ‘I know. She’s my first human child. Help me.’

  ‘I’m doing my best.’

  John and I stayed at the market and bought two of every lantern. It was quite common for cheap novelties like this to have faulty parts, and even buying two was sometimes insufficient insurance to ensure a working set. It was a waste of time taking them back if they didn’t work; the stallholder would accuse us of breaking them and trying to cheat her.

  It was late evening when we returned to the Mountain. We retreated to one of the pagodas high on a peak with a pot of tea. It was much cooler on the Mountain. The lights of the Academy below us shone from the doors and windows, lighting up the ground and trees with a golden glow; and the stars above blazed in the clear autumn sky. The constellations were the same as on the Earthly; they just seemed bigger, magnified by the clarity. John’s symbol of power, the Big Dipper, was particularly magnificent in the centre of the sky.

  For the hundredth time I made a quiet vow to myself to ask an expert about the physics of the Celestial Plane, and then realised that, once again, I would probably never get around to it.

  ‘What?’ John said, seeing me smile and shake my head.

  I gestured towards the Big Dipper. ‘That constellation never moves.’

  ‘Don’t ask me, I don’t know how it works,’ he said, wiggling down into his chair to sit more comfortably and hanging one arm over the side. ‘I’m just here and the stars do their stuff.’ He gazed into the sky. ‘Isn’t that the essence of being alive?’

  ‘I guess it is.’

  ‘What happened in the market?’

  ‘Just a flashback,’ I said. ‘I saw arms instead of pork hanging from the hooks.’

  He was silent for a long moment, looking at the sky. ‘You are too small to be forced to deal with this.’

  ‘I’m ten metres long.’

  He shook his head and gazed at me over the rim of his teacup. ‘Very small.’

  ‘Screw you.’

  He smiled slightly. ‘What, up here? Isn’t it a little cold?’

  ‘Yeah, let’s wait till we’re back home.’

  He sighed gently. ‘Thank you.’

  ‘What for?’

  He poured both of us more tea. ‘You and Simone have brought me so much joy. The past twenty years have been full of more happiness for me than the previous four thousand.’ He raised his cup to me. ‘Thank you.’

  He put his arm around my shoulders as we walked through the garden on the ground floor back at the Imperial Residence, then stopped. ‘Simone isn’t home,’ he s
aid. ‘It’s nearly midnight, she should be here.’ He went completely still for a moment, and when he spoke again his voice had an edge of urgency. ‘She’s not answering!’

  He released me and turned to run out of the Residence.

  I put my hand on his arm to stop him. ‘Before you panic, let’s try something low-tech.’ I pulled my mobile out of my pocket and texted her. You okay? You’re not home and your father is frantic.

  John paced in small circles. ‘Those Mothers have her. She has no yin because I took it from her, she won’t let me make a weapon for her, her skills are horribly rusty because she refuses to train … I knew this would happen!’ He stopped and concentrated. ‘I’m pulling in Leo and Ming, they can start searching for her.’ He paced in circles again. ‘A geomancer may be able to find her, but it could take hours. Where’s my copy of the I Ching? I can use that … I cannot believe she went off by herself like this.’ He spun to stare at me, horrified. ‘What if she went down to Hell to face the King?’ He shook his head and paced again. ‘Without her yin she doesn’t have a chance. I should have given it back to her when she asked for it … Where the hell are Leo and Martin?’

  My mobile pinged and I checked it. ‘It’s a message from her.’

  He ran to my side and watched the phone as I brought the message up.

  I’m fine. Tell him not to worry, and they’re not prostitutes, they run the tea house on the ground floor! They’re so sweet. I’ll be home in half an hour or so, I’m helping them to close up.

  ‘She’s working at the building in Spring Garden Lane?’ John said. ‘I don’t know which is a worse idea.’

  ‘What, that or her going to Hell?’ I said, amused, as I put the phone away.

  Leo and Martin appeared next to the turtle fountain and ran to us.

  ‘Where do you want us to start looking?’ Leo said.

  ‘We found her,’ I said. ‘False alarm.’

  ‘Go down to Eighty-Eight Spring Garden Lane and escort her home,’ John said.

  ‘What the hell is she doing there?’ Martin said.

  ‘Helping the two demons who run the tea shop on the ground floor to close up,’ I said.

  ‘Why?’ Leo said. ‘Is this some sort of “I want to be normal so I’ll take a part-time job” thing?’

  John focused on Martin, who nodded. ‘I’ll explain on the way,’ he said, and took Leo’s hand. Both of them disappeared.

  ‘Come sit with me,’ John said, leading me to the ceramic outdoor table and stools next to the fountain. ‘I won’t be able to sleep until I’m sure she’s home and safe.’

  ‘What will you do when she goes to university?’

  He put his head in his hand. ‘I don’t know.’

  ‘I’d better find something to distract you with, then.’

  ‘I don’t think anything will stop me from worrying about her.’

  ‘Oh,’ I said, raising my teacup, ‘I’ll think of something.’

  He glanced at me, his expression full of hope. ‘Are you …?’

  I shook my head and touched his arm. ‘No. But it’s just a matter of time. I started a course of fertility drugs.’

  ‘Then I’ll have two of them to worry about,’ he said.

  ‘Michael’s right. Teach her to dance the stars and ride the wind. If she can reach Immortality on her own through internal alchemy, you won’t have to worry about her.’

  ‘I’ve been trying, but she doesn’t have the patience to learn,’ he said. ‘I’d give her the Elixir, but only enough for one person can be made at one time.’

  ‘Make hers first,’ I said.

  ‘You’re older and more fragile.’ His voice dropped with misery. ‘Humans age so quickly.’

  ‘Is my life speeding past while you watch?’

  He nodded. ‘It’s like that for all of you.’ He glanced at me. ‘You should be offended at me calling you old.’

  ‘Sometimes I feel old.’

  ‘Your mastery of energy makes you look much younger than you are, believe me.’

  ‘How much longer before the Elixir is ready?’

  ‘We finally found enough cinnabar to make the recipe. The Dragon had it in his strongroom, and was mortified that he’d been slowing things down by not offering it.’ He spoke with more enthusiasm. ‘We’ll be in Britain when it’s ready. I’d give it to you there, but it’s impossible to drink the Elixir outside the Centre it’s made in. We’ll have to wait until we’ve returned. I can hardly wait to see the effect it will have on you. After you’ve taken it, your serpent nature will emerge more strongly and you will be able to work with shen and learn some really advanced stuff.’

  ‘I’m reminded of what happened to Rhonda …’ I said, my voice trailing off.

  ‘You’re worried that the Elixir might destroy you like it did her.’

  ‘It’s just that Rhonda … her last name was MacLaren, John. The judge who exiled my ancestors from Wales was called MacLaren.’

  ‘You are linked. I wonder if she was something similar to you.’

  ‘Whatever she was, drinking the Elixir killed her.’

  ‘Did it smell good or bad to her?’

  ‘Oh, I remember that very clearly. It obviously smelled bad: she made a face before she drank it.’

  ‘Very interesting. The judge, MacLaren, was somehow demonkind and able to sentence the serpent people to exile in Australia. And Rhonda was descended from this judge, as you are descended from the serpent people. I wonder what else we will find there.’

  I took a deep breath. ‘Kwan Yin said I was like Rhonda — an example of overcoming my nature.’

  ‘I know about that,’ he said with amusement.

  ‘She also said that if the demon essence was removed, the Elixir wouldn’t kill me. Are you sure she’d never lie?’

  ‘Then we have nothing to worry about. She will always tell the truth.’

  I sighed with feeling. ‘Okay.’

  Simone appeared on the other side of the courtyard and stormed up to us. She leaned over her father, furious. ‘You sent Leo and Martin to bring me home? I am not a child!’

  ‘You’re behaving like one,’ he said, perfectly calm. ‘You have duties and a standard of behaviour to uphold as Princess of the House, Xuan Si Min. You will not consort with prostitutes, you will not be seen in public in ridiculous costumes, and you will on no account ever work in a tea house for demons. All of this is totally unacceptable.’

  ‘You know what? I’m nearly eighteen, and when I turn eighteen I’m an adult and I can do what I like,’ she said. ‘They aren’t prostitutes. If they were, they wouldn’t dress like that. Lolis get enough shit from people who think they’re dressed up as sex dolls, when they really dress that way to make themselves feel pretty and special. God.’ She rolled her eyes. ‘A girl dresses up and all the men think it’s about sex. It’s not; it’s about being pretty!’

  ‘It doesn’t matter what it’s about, it’s not appropriate for you.’

  She swiped one hand through the air. ‘I know that, I know what’s expected of me. I understand my position. I know I have to set an example. But they’re not prostitutes! Is there any way we could work around this so that I can spend time with them? I won’t wear a costume, I understand about that. I just think they’re sweet.’

  John thought about it for a moment. ‘As long as it’s in Number Eighty-Eight, I don’t think so.’

  ‘Can we move the tea house to another of our buildings?’

  ‘Of course.’

  ‘Could I visit with them then?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Emma?’

  ‘They may not want to move,’ I said. ‘They might be friends with the other girls and boys there.’

  Simone thought for a moment. ‘If that’s the case, it would be unfair for me to ask them to move away from their friends just so I can see them.’ She took a step back. ‘Could you ask them if they’d move?’

  I shrugged. ‘They’d immediately say yes, they’re demons.’

  ‘
Don’t tell them it’s for me. Just ask them if they’d like to move from Eighty-Eight.’

  ‘Deal.’

  ‘Thanks.’ She turned to head up the stairs.

  ‘Simone?’ John said.

  She stopped and turned back to us. ‘Hmm?’

  ‘The other Winds have an abundance of children to help manage their realms. I don’t, and I appreciate your …’ he searched for the word, ‘willingness to be what the North needs you to be. It’s a big responsibility for one so young, and you’ve taken it on without complaint.’

  She gestured towards me. ‘All my life, Emma’s explained what it means to be born into royalty. It’s not a privilege, it’s a lifetime job that you don’t have a choice about. A lot of people need us to be strong and set an example.’ She straightened. ‘And I intend to help those people as much as I can.’

  ‘You are a credit to both of us,’ he said.

  She bowed slightly. ‘I thank you, Highness. Now if you don’t mind, I’m going to bed.’

  Her huge grin of delight was visible as she turned away and trotted up the stairs.

  I yawned and stretched. ‘Me too.’

  ‘You go,’ he said. ‘I’ll be along after I’ve walked the battlements.’

  I patted him on the shoulder and followed Simone up the stairs. As I went around the balcony towards our bedroom, I saw him sitting in the garden, still drinking his tea.

  15

  Mid-Autumn Festival was celebrated on the day of the largest full moon in autumn, when the sky was at its clearest. The Mountain’s staff and students all gathered on the large forecourt in front of the Hall of Purple Mist. The demon staff laid picnic blankets and silk brocade cushions on the ground, and provided the groups with tea and moon cakes.

  The sun set in an autumnal flare of orange, pink and purple through the few horizontal banner-like clouds. As dusk fell, the children lit their lanterns and ran around the groups of adults, laughing. People used hot wax to attach candles to the lids of their moon cake tins and lit them, making the square merry with lights.

  As the sun dropped below the tops of the western mountains, its last rays lit up the clouds, then gradually faded to blue then lilac, and the stars began to appear. Everybody turned towards the east, where the moon behind the mountains made the peaks shine with a halo of burning silver.