I shrugged. ‘Sorry, no idea where I know you from. Can I help you? What’s this about?’
She had no difficulty entering through the seals without being invited, and stopped in the living room to look around as I closed the front door. ‘Nice.’
‘I’m Emma Donahoe, lovely to meet you …’ I let my voice trail off to encourage her to give me her name.
She pointed at the stone in my ring; the stones had returned after dinner. ‘Is that little asshole giving you any trouble?’
The stone in my ring yelped, then said into my head, Kneel, Emma, kneel — it’s HER!
‘Too late for kneeling, little asshole,’ I said to the stone, and I grinned at the Grandmother of All the Rocks. ‘Sorry I didn’t recognise you, Grandmother Uluru …’ My voice trailed off as I placed where I knew her from. ‘Holy shit, you’re a professor of comparative literature at Brisbane Tech! I attended one of your lectures while I was doing my undergrad degree.’
She clasped her hands together and sat on the couch. ‘Then I have met you before.’ She patted the cushion next to her. ‘Come and sit. I think we have a few things to talk about. One of them being an Eastern demon that’s been messing with my kids.’
Gold entered from the kitchen, accompanied by his child who was floating at eye level. Gold froze when he saw the Grandmother. He quickly changed to stone form, zipped into the living room and settled onto the floor. ‘My Lady Grandmother.’
‘Nanna!’ Gold’s child shrieked, and shot to the Grandmother, hitting her in the stomach with an audible thump. It settled into her lap with a delighted squeal and jumped up and down. ‘Nanna, Nanna, Nanna, Nanna, Nanna!’
The Grandmother touched Gold’s baby. ‘It’s good to see you too, little one,’ she said with affection. She waved one hand at Gold. ‘Up you get, Trouble, and take your proper form. You’re not done with your punishment yet.’
Gold took human form, and fell to one knee, bowing his head to the Grandmother. ‘I look forward to completing my sentence and rejoining you.’
‘I hear you have something for me,’ the Grandmother said to me.
‘Gold, go and get them,’ I said.
‘Ma’am,’ Gold said, and went into my office.
‘I’m glad you stopped this demon,’ the Grandmother said. ‘My children were living in fear because of it. I was hoping someone would stand up and assist us; the stones have been fighting a losing battle against it.’
‘I didn’t finish it,’ I said with remorse. ‘It’s still out there, and it probably joined up with the rest of its little friends. But I will track it down and destroy it.’
Gold came in with a carved camphorwood box that we’d moved the dead stones into. He knelt in front of the sitting Grandmother and lowered his head. ‘I am glad that we could return them to you, Mother.’
She took the box, opened it, and her face went grim when she saw how many dead stones were inside. She closed the box again and wiped her eyes. ‘So many. So many.’
She held the box in her lap, and Gold’s baby floated to sit on top of it. She turned to study me. ‘So you’re the famous Emma Donahoe. There’s something of a ruckus around the traps at the moment — seems you turned into a great big black snake right in front of everybody.’
‘I’ve been a snake for a while; nobody seems to know why,’ I said. ‘Only just went public with it yesterday. The Jade Emperor said that it might have something to do with my Australian nature. Do I look like a Rainbow Serpent?’
The Grandmother took my face in both her hands and concentrated on me, then released me. ‘Nope. I vaguely remember seeing something like you a couple of hundred years ago, among the first waves of white settlers, but you’re definitely not one of ours.’
‘Well, that’s a start,’ I said. ‘My father’s tracking down my family tree; he may find out who this first settler was, and where they came from, and we can trace it back from there.’
‘Any other members of the family snakes?’ the Grandmother said.
‘No,’ I said. ‘But I have to admit I’m in a unique situation …’
‘Sleeping with one, I understand,’ she said.
‘Also, if they could turn into snakes, I don’t think they’d want to anyway.’
‘Perfectly understandable,’ she said. She rose, holding the box, and Gold’s child floated away from her. ‘I suppose I’d better take these poor dead things home.’
‘Do you mind if I come and visit you sometime?’ I said.
She touched my arm. ‘Dearie, I would like that more than you could possibly know. Just come to Uluru, and touch me. I will take this form and show you around the nurseries, and make you a really nice cuppa and some lamingtons.’
I gasped with pleasure. ‘I have not had a halfway decent lamington since I left home.’
‘Yeah, all this Chinese muck they eat here, pig’s snouts and chicken’s feet, don’t understand any of it,’ she said, and winked at me. ‘But I do like their Chinese veggies.’
‘Me too,’ I said. I went to the door to show her out. ‘I can’t tell you what an honour it is to meet you, Grandmother.’
‘Likewise,’ she said. ‘You’re an Aussie girl who’s gone out and made the world your home, and that always makes me proud. I see the students at the uni working so hard, and it pleases me when they take their studies and go out and do great things.’
‘Thanks,’ I said, feeling my face redden.
‘Oh, look, now I’ve gone and made you blush,’ she said, delighted. ‘Typical young people — talk about sex like it’s nothing, but you hand them a compliment and they’re lost for words.’
‘I’m not that young any more — I’ll be forty soon,’ I said.
She leaned closer. ‘You’re young compared to one of us,’ she said confidentially. She went out the door and stood in the lobby. ‘Come and talk to me soon. I’ll see if I can find out more about that snake with the first settlers for you.’
‘I will!’ I said, and she disappeared.
CHAPTER 33
I was woken that night by a touch — then by someone strangling me. I grasped the hands around my neck and tried to pull them away, but they were way too strong for me. I opened my eyes and saw Leo, his face blank, his hands around my throat. His thumbs pressed against my voice box; if he broke it I was dead.
I used a lock break move and freed myself, then attempted to Push him into paralysis by touching the side of his throat. He slid to the side and I missed him, but felt a large lump on the back of his neck, just at the bottom of his hairline. Usually he had a fold of skin there on his bald head, but this was more.
I changed to a snake of natural size, less than a metre long, and wriggled away, sliding across the floor to the other side of the room. I changed back to human form and readied myself as he came at me. One chance at this, Emma, be fast. I pointed the first two fingers of my right hand at him, as if I was pretending to hold a gun, and hit the right spot. He fell like a dead tree face-down in front of me.
I knelt to check the back of his neck. Yes, there was a lump about two centimetres across just at the base of his skull. It wasn’t very noticeable because of the folds of skin. I touched it and he didn’t move. I changed to serpent form and touched it with my tongue, then pulled back with revulsion. It tasted of death and talcum powder.
I reverted to human form and summoned the Murasame. I had never attempted anything like this before and hoped I could do it. I carefully placed the sword horizontally over the lump and ran it lightly along his skin. The sword fought me, trying to make more than a shallow cut, but I managed to keep control of it. His black skin parted easily, revealing a layer of fat that quickly began to ooze blood. The stone was visible, shiny black and smooth. I took a deep breath, reached in and pulled it out, bringing some blood with it. I rose to put it on the other side of the room.
I turned back to Leo and stopped. He was shrinking, losing weight all over his body, his muscles becoming smaller. Hair sprouted from his head, grey over the
black, but only around the base of his skull, leaving the top bald. He’d aged from late-thirties to late-forties. He turned his head to see me, groggy, and he had grown a salt and pepper beard.
I knelt next to him. ‘Don’t move, I still need to heal up this wound on your neck. It’s bleeding.’
‘What happened?’
‘You had a stone planted in there. It was controlling you, I think. But now that it’s gone, you’ve aged eight years.’
He dropped his head on the carpet. ‘I feel like it.’ He raised his head again. ‘I can’t feel my legs. I can’t move them.’
I flopped to sit next to him. ‘Oh dear Lord, no.’
‘No, Emma, it’s a good thing,’ he said. ‘It means that those demons aren’t controlling me any more, and that you’re safe.’
‘Let me change back to a snake and see what I can heal.’
‘Don’t you bring that reptile anywhere near me, lady,’ he growled into the carpet.
‘Okay, you’re definitely back,’ I said, and changed to a snake. I touched my nose to the back of his neck and healed the wound, then checked his spine — the bones were crushed and the spinal column completely destroyed. Perhaps another snake with greater healing abilities than me could do it, but I couldn’t.
I changed back to human and the ground hit me hard.
I came around with Simone’s concerned face above me. ‘How many times did you change back and forth?’ she said.
‘About three,’ I said. ‘I needed to be human to cut him open. Then I needed to be the snake to heal him.’
Leo was next to her. He was very much older, and in a wheelchair. ‘Changing too much wears you out?’
‘Yeah,’ I said. I rose so I was sitting upright. ‘And you had a stone embedded in the back of your neck. I pulled it out and put it on my desk.’
‘I saw it,’ Simone said. ‘I’ve never seen anything quite so evil before. The Tiger said that he wants to have a look at it in his lab in the West.’
‘Tell him he can,’ I said.
‘I already did. He came and took it about half an hour ago, and left us a wheelchair for Leo.’
‘Okay.’ I rotated so that my legs were over the side of the bed. I was still wearing my pyjamas. ‘Now I have to change to the snake again and you have to take me to the Northern Heavens, Simone. I think there may be a similar stone embedded in Yue Gui.’
‘Who is Yue Gui?’ Leo said.
‘Our older sister,’ Simone said.
‘Our?’
‘Me and Martin.’
‘That bastard betrayed you; you should not be trusting him,’ Leo said.
‘Some of your memory is gone,’ I said. ‘I think the stone in your neck was messing with your head.’
‘It was messing with a lot of things,’ Leo said. ‘Look at me. Eight years older and a paraplegic.’
‘You’re still our Leo,’ I said.
‘I’m not taking you up to the Northern Heavens at 3 am,’ Simone said. ‘I’m taking Leo back to his bed, and then I’m going back to bed myself. We can do it in the morning.’
‘We should do it now,’ I said.
Simone took the handles of Leo’s chair and moved to wheel him out. ‘That’s nice for you, Emma, but I won’t take you till you’ve had a decent night’s sleep. So go back to bed, and I’ll take you after breakfast.’ She opened the door to my room. ‘And, stone, don’t let her call anyone else to help, ’cause she needs her rest.’
‘Don’t worry, Princess, I do too,’ the stone said. ‘Emma, go back to bed.’
‘They’re right, Emma, deal with it in the morning,’ Leo said as she wheeled him out.
I took the ring off my finger and put it on the side table, then pulled myself out of bed.
Simone stopped halfway through the door and glared at me. ‘Go back to bed!’
‘I need to go to the bathroom first, Miss Bossy Pants,’ I said. ‘It’s the middle of the night and I just woke up.’
Simone smiled slightly, embarrassed. ‘Oh, okay, sorry. Night, Emma. Tomorrow morning, okay? First thing.’
‘Okay,’ I said, and she went out, closing the door behind her.
I went into the bathroom and closed the door. I changed into a snake and concentrated on the Northern Heavens. I focused all my thoughts on the grassy lawn next to the lake where we’d encountered Yue Gui.
Nope, couldn’t do it.
I changed back, did what I’d said I was going to do, and went back to bed.
‘Didn’t work, eh?’ the stone said from the side table.
‘Shut up,’ I said, and turned off the light.
We usually had breakfast at the small four-seater table in the kitchen, just Simone and me, but when I went out the next morning Ah Yat indicated that we were eating in the dining room. Leo had his usual huge mug of black coffee in front of him but wasn’t eating the breakfast Ah Yat had made for him. Simone was sitting with white coffee and scrambled eggs but also wasn’t eating. Both of them looked miserable.
I sat down to my tea and toast and opened the peanut butter jar. ‘What?’ I said.
‘Leo still wants to die,’ Simone said.
‘I’m HIV positive. I have AIDS. I’m a danger to all of you. I don’t want to live. How about letting me go?’ Leo said. ‘I want to go back to Chicago, see my family one last time, and then disappear for good.’
‘After all the trouble these two went through to get you out, you want to die,’ the stone said. ‘Fine way to thank them.’
‘Stone, he has a point. If I was in his situation I’d probably want the same thing,’ Simone said.
‘As far as your family is concerned, you’re dead,’ I said.
Leo’s face went grim. ‘I’ll be dead in a year anyway.’
‘If you take the Elixir of Immortality you will be cleared of the AIDS,’ I said.
‘You want to commit me to an eternity of pining …’ Leo didn’t finish.
‘For something you can’t have. Yes,’ I said.
‘Emma, you said something to the Leo copy in Hell that changed his mind. What was it?’ Simone said.
‘Something extremely personal that you probably don’t want to hear.’
Simone stared at me, silent for a moment. She hesitated, then said, ‘I thought Daddy was straight.’
‘Are you sure you want to explore this, Simone?’ Leo said.
‘No, no, I’m fine with it,’ Simone said. ‘Did you offer him the chance of sharing Daddy with him? ’Cause Leo’s like a father to me, and having two dads is okay.’ She shrugged. ‘Two dads, two moms, a sister who’s a turtle, a gay emo brother — I’ll fit right in with most of the kids at school.’
‘I think I need to give you a gold coin,’ I said.
‘Your father is the straightest man I have ever met,’ Leo said. ‘It’s probably why I fell for him so hard.’
‘Leo has no chance whatsoever in that direction,’ I said. ‘What I offered was for your dad to drain him when he returns.’
‘Oh,’ Leo said softly. ‘That makes it different.’ He stared at the table, thinking. ‘That makes it all different.’
‘Don’t you even consider it!’ Simone said.
‘I’m sorry, sweetheart, but it sounds too good to be true,’ Leo said.
She rose and leaned on the table with one hand. ‘Oh, thank you very much. So when I get one father back, I’ll lose the other?’
‘You won’t lose Leo, he’ll merge with your dad. They’ll be one,’ I said.
‘I’ll lose him!’ She rounded on Leo. ‘Haven’t I lost enough people I love already?’ She swept the air with her hand. ‘Am I such a bad daughter that you want to die to be away from me?’ She glared at him. ‘All right. When Daddy comes back, he can drain you, and good riddance.’ She stormed out, slamming the door behind her.
‘She has no trouble with the idea of us being in a threesome, but when she hears about this she panics,’ I said.
‘He wouldn’t do it,’ Leo said.
‘He would i
f I asked him to.’
‘God, Emma, that would be a dream come true.’
‘I know. I want it too.’ I smiled wryly. ‘Déjà vu. I said that to your demon copy in Hell.’
‘You’re absolutely certain I’m not a copy?’ Leo held up his wrist with the number four tattooed on it. ‘That’s the death number.’
‘That’s why I’m sure you’re the real one,’ I said. ‘You’re the one we were supposed to kill.’ I pointed at his wrist. ‘You’re marked for death.’
‘But a demon told you where I was.’
‘If we find a stone in Yue Gui’s neck, then I know who that demon was,’ I said. ‘I think it was Six himself. He gave us Yue Gui to put into the lake at the Northern Heavens and spy for him. He cleared out his nest in Sham Shui Po and left you there ready for us to collect. We were supposed to think you were a demon copy and bring you back here for examination. Then you’d kill me with the strength of a demon from that stone inside you. Then Simone or someone would kill you, and she’d be left with nobody. Six would do the hands-off-our-gangsters deal with a heartbroken Simone and give her one of the other Leo copies, telling her that it was the real Leo — which would be another spy controlled by them.’
‘But I didn’t try to kill you,’ he said. ‘I wasn’t controlled until Six turned up at the front door.’
‘You had your hands around my throat, then you said you couldn’t hurt me and changed it into a kiss,’ I said. ‘You were confused, but you still wouldn’t hurt me — your will was stronger than they expected. Six needed to get you back to make sure that you did the job right, so he made the desperate move of kidnapping me and pretending to make the deal — just to get you back.’
‘And when you found me in Hell …’
‘They were putting the stone in the back of your neck — and into the back of the neck of the Leo they were going to give us after we destroyed you. You tried to kill me last night. But they didn’t know I’m a snake. My human form wouldn’t have been able to stand against you with that stone in you — you were way too strong — but my snake form could do it.’