‘I’m that big?’ Michael said.
‘Short answer: yes. And well on the way.’ She released his shoulders and smiled down at him. ‘The fact that you can stay in the US for such a long time is a dead giveaway, my friend. You are very big indeed. If I didn’t know Rhonda personally, I would say that your mother was definitely something very special.’
‘She is,’ Michael and I said in unison, and shared a smile.
‘Leave now, please, Michael, I need to speak to Lady Emma alone,’ Meredith said. ‘Wait outside.’
‘That means I’m big enough to go to Hell and come back out, and you want to tell Emma that it’s a bad idea to take me,’ Michael said. ‘If that’s the case, then I’m coming anyway.’
Meredith watched him, expressionless.
‘Good,’ Michael added.
‘You are about as intelligent as Lady Emma,’ Meredith said.
‘Oh, I sincerely hope that he’s smarter than me. Look at the number of stupid mistakes I’ve made,’ I said.
‘That’s true, Meredith,’ Michael said. ‘If she has me along she may not make as many stupid mistakes.’
‘You are very cheeky,’ I said. ‘And probably right.’ I sighed. ‘The Tiger will go ballistic when he hears.’
‘No need to tell him, it’s nothing to do with him,’ Michael said. ‘Keep him out of it.’
‘What about your mother, dear?’ Meredith said.
Michael’s face went expressionless.
‘You could be going there to get yourself killed,’ she went on. ‘I think your mother has the right to know.’
The intercom on my desk beeped and I pressed the button.
‘Celestial Messenger for you and Master Michael both, ma’am,’ Yi Hao said. ‘Do I tell him to wait?’
‘Don’t make him wait,’ I said. ‘Send him in.’
The door opened and a tiger stood in the doorway. He wasn’t white, like Bai Hu, but the standard deep orange with black stripes. He changed into a man in his mid-thirties wearing the white and gold livery of the Horsemen.
‘Great, a message from Dad,’ Michael said.
The messenger looked from me to Michael to Meredith. ‘I have a message for Lady Emma, and also a message for son number Three One Five.’
‘My name,’ Michael said pointedly, ‘is Michael MacLaren, Ronald, and you know it.’
The Horseman smiled slightly, and handed Michael a white scroll tied with a gold ribbon. Michael unrolled it without moving from his chair. The Horseman waited, watching.
Michael glanced up at the Horseman, his face rigid. ‘Do you know what this says?’
‘Yes, lad,’ the Horseman said. ‘Even more, though, do you know what it means?’
Michael tossed the scroll onto the desk. He rose gracefully and leaned on the desk with one hand. ‘Tell my father.’ He hesitated, then spoke with force. ‘Notice that I am not going to use a single word of bad language here. Tell my father that I am going to Hell. And that as far as I am concerned, so can he.’ He gestured dismissively towards the scroll. ‘This is either a tremendous honour or a huge insult. Either way, I don’t accept.’
The Horseman visibly relaxed. ‘So you do know what it means.’
‘Damn straight I do.’
‘What is it?’ I said.
‘He’s promoted me to Number Three,’ Michael said.
‘An honour,’ I said.
Both Michael and the Horseman grimaced.
‘Only if I can defend the title,’ Michael said. ‘Anyone who wants to can challenge me for the right to be Number Three.’
‘Normally a son of that level of precedence would be Immortal,’ the Horseman explained. ‘The current Number Three is an Immortal. Dad could be deliberately trying to stir up trouble for Michael, or he could be sincere and really want to promote him, because he thinks he’s that good. Actually I think he’s genuine, because he wants to patch things up with you, Michael.’
‘Why, Ron?’ Michael said.
The Horseman fell to one knee and saluted me. ‘Lady Emma, Regent of the Dark Northern Heavens. I have a message for you as well, and I think this will explain it.’
‘If it’s about him wanting to come back here, that’s up to Simone,’ I said. ‘She was right about the swearing. He keeps forgetting that she’s only fourteen and it’s really not appropriate to talk like that in front of her.’
‘No, ma’am, I have an invitation.’ He rose and passed me a large white card embossed with gold lettering. There was a red ‘double happiness’ marriage character at the top and gilt around the edges.
I glanced at the card. Rhonda was remarrying the Tiger, and would be Raised at the wedding ceremony and crowned Empress of the Western Heavens. I was invited to the ceremony, to be held in February of next year, just before the Chinese New Year holiday.
‘Thank you,’ I said. ‘Tell the Tiger I’ll send him an RSVP as soon as I’m back from Hell.’
‘Good luck in Hell, ma’am,’ the Horseman said. He nodded to Michael and disappeared.
‘What?’ Michael said.
I passed him the card. He looked at it and his face went grim. He threw it onto the desk. ‘Terrific. To hell with my mother—I’m going with you.’
‘You should talk to her first, Michael.’
He ran one hand over his blond buzz cut. ‘No, I shouldn’t. She’s made her decision, and I’ve made mine. To hell with it.’ He smiled grimly. ‘And to Hell with me. I’d better go and put my weapons in order.’ He saluted me, shaking his hands in front of his face. ‘Lady Emma.’ He disappeared.
Meredith smiled slightly. ‘This is very strange.’
‘What?’
‘He is very big, Emma. Bigger than any half-Shen I have ever seen, short of Simone herself. I would like to examine Rhonda some time soon; she really must be something special. He is bigger than any son of the Tiger should be.’
‘If she was a Shen she would have told us,’ I said.
‘Not necessarily. Many dragons keep their natures a secret from even their closest families. Look at Amy’s father—he was typical. Never told her until she found out she was a dragon by herself.’
‘You think we may have found one of these pure Western dragons that are so elusive?’
‘If she was a Western Shen she would not be able to live in the East for such a long time,’ Meredith said.
‘Unless she’s really big, that is. Michael’s big enough to live in the West.’
‘If Michael is a cross between an Eastern and a Western Shen, then he is something completely new and may be more powerful than anything we have ever seen.’
‘Never happened before?’ I said.
‘Not as far as I know.’ Meredith leaned on the desk and crossed her arms. ‘Actually, it’s good he’s going with you. He’s extremely talented, well trained and completely devoted to Leo. Leo loves him like a son. If anybody can talk Leo into coming out, it’s Michael.’
‘Thanks for coming along too, by the way. I’m glad you’ll be there to back us up.’
‘I’m bound by the rules though, Emma. I can harm no one while I’m there.’
I picked up the invitation card and turned it around in my hands without looking at it. ‘I think I should go unarmed, just in case.’
‘That might be a good idea. You’re there for your brains and your maturity, not your fighting skills. Simone’s not bound by the Celestial rules like I am, and she can destroy anything that we may face in there.’
I glanced into her eyes and spoke softly. ‘But can she destroy me?’
‘Do you want me to talk to her?’
I threw the card back onto the table. ‘Yes.’
‘I’ll talk to Michael as well. That’s another good reason to take him. If Simone can’t do it, then he can.’
‘He can’t, Meredith.’
‘I think he’d be able to. It would be hard, but he could bring himself to do it if it was absolutely necessary.’
‘You don’t understand, Meredith. I’v
e sparred with him, and even when I’m in human form he can’t take me. My Mother form would tear him to bits.’
She hesitated a moment, then spoke softly. ‘You should let us look at it so we can work out what level it is, Emma. We need to know.’
‘Every time I take the form, it controls me a little more. Every time, it’s harder to change back. One day I won’t be able to. I’ll be a Mother, Meredith. I won’t be me any more. I have to avoid taking the form as much as I can. Even if it means not being able to touch Simone.’ I quirked a smile. ‘I’m accustomed to not touching the ones I love. When he comes back, I’ll find it hard to change.’
‘Emma.’ I looked up at her. She gazed into my eyes. ‘Remember his oath?’
I shrugged. ‘Yes, and I know where you’re heading.’
We were both silent for a while.
It was me who finally said it. ‘He vowed to find me. And that means I’ll be lost.’
CHAPTER 9
‘Through the tunnel or around Pok Fu Lam, ma’am?’ Marcus asked. He was driving us to Aberdeen, where we would take the boat to Hell.
I checked my watch: 10 am, Sunday. ‘Aberdeen Tunnel, please,’ I said.
Marcus nodded and pulled away from the kerb.
‘You thought about that one for a while,’ Michael said with amusement.
‘You aren’t limited to regular travel,’ I said. ‘During office rush hour, or race meetings, it can take up to two hours to get through that tunnel. It’s quicker to go all the way around the island through Pok Fu Lam.’
Marcus eased out of the cramped Wan Chai streets around the Academy’s nondescript building and turned left onto Gloucester Road, the main four-lane traffic snarl from Central to Causeway Bay. He carefully negotiated past speeding minibuses and taxis, then did a U-turn under the massive Harcourt Road overpass to take us back in the opposite direction.
As we neared Causeway Bay, the traffic started to negotiate the complicated lanes system that diverted people to different destinations from the most densely occupied part of the island. Marcus stayed in the second lane from the right; if he drifted into a left lane he would be forced to cross the harbour using the Cross-Harbour Tunnel, and the traffic in that lane was already banked back about a kilometre. If he went into the rightmost lane, he would miss the Aberdeen tunnel turn-off and be diverted through Causeway Bay. I smiled slightly as I remembered many lost hours trying to make my way through Hong Kong’s unforgiving traffic system. If you found yourself in the wrong lane too early, you would be locked in by a single line and other drivers would become extremely aggravated if you tried to escape it. Once I’d missed the Aberdeen tunnel turn-off and found myself halfway up the side of the island in Tai Koo Shing before I could make a U-turn and come back again, only to be in the wrong lane when the Aberdeen tunnel sign came up the other way.
Marcus had been driving us since Leo had gone, and he was familiar with the roads, particularly between Happy Valley and Wan Chai where he transported the students between the Academy and the Follies. He took us now up a narrow, steep ramp and onto Aberdeen Tunnel Road. The road was at second-storey height and we could clearly see into some of the older flats on either side; bare concrete walls, iron bunk beds, and dusty door and window frames.
Just before we entered the tunnel we passed behind the Happy Valley racecourse. The stands looked like massive five-storey buildings with a complicated series of stairs and escalators running through them. On the other side, the open stands had layer upon layer of seating and indoor restaurant viewing areas for the race day visitors. Hong Kong’s race season was limited to the cooler months, and races only took place on Wednesday evenings in Happy Valley and on Saturdays at Sha Tin. There were no other race meetings in the Territory at all. The Hong Kong Jockey Club provided accommodation and transport for all the horses in the Territory; and at each race meeting—the only legal gambling allowed in Hong Kong except for the Mark Six Lottery—the entire GDP of a small country would be wagered.
We whisked quickly through the Aberdeen Tunnel. On the other side, the view opened out; we were no longer in the dense urban high rises of Happy Valley. On the left were the prestigious large low-rise apartments of Shouson Hill, mostly occupied by expatriates who didn’t mind being a little further away from the action of the centre of the city. Directly in front of us, the hillside above Ocean Park was decorated with an enormous garden in the shape of a sea horse, the logo of the park.
We continued through Wong Chuk Hang industrial area. Factory buildings in Hong Kong usually towered up to fifteen or twenty storeys, with each floor occupied by a manufacturing enterprise. Elevators large enough to hold the trucks that were Hong Kong’s transport life blood serviced each floor.
Before we reached the ‘fishing village’ of Aberdeen, which was actually a tightly packed district of high-rise apartment buildings, we turned off and headed towards the Aberdeen Boat Club. Marcus wound through the back of the international schools and apartment buildings, eventually arriving at Shum Wan pier. A walkway with a traditional, upward-sweeping tiled roof meandered along the side of the long lay-by area, which was occupied by at least six large tourist buses. This was where the tourists were brought to have yum cha at the floating restaurants. They were ferried across from the two piers, one for each restaurant—the Jumbo and the Tai Pak. The Sea Palace restaurant, which had been moored next to the Jumbo on the other side, was long gone, towed away to become a tourist attraction in Manila.
‘Is the yum cha here still awful?’ Michael asked as we walked down to the old Sea Palace pier, now unused.
‘Couldn’t tell you. I stay well away from the tourist traps,’ Simone said.
‘The restaurants have been renovated recently, they’re much nicer inside now,’ I said.
‘You still pay tourist prices though,’ Simone said.
I shrugged. ‘You pay extra for the “experience”.’
Michael peered at the Jumbo restaurant across the water. ‘You’re kidding. A theme park on the sea?’
‘If you’re going to have tourists, you have to give them an “experience”,’ I said.
‘And something to buy,’ Simone said. ‘They put shops in there too!’
No one seemed to notice us as we stepped over the chain blocking off the third pier and walked down towards the water. A number of noisy mainland tourists were on the pier next to us, shouting with excitement as the boat approached them.
Michael chuckled. ‘Typical, going over to a huge restaurant for a banquet and they all have food in their hands.’
He was right. Most mainland tourists carried bags of food around with them, usually small snacks such as dried fish or nuts.
‘Oh, give it up, Michael, they’re enjoying themselves,’ Simone said. She gestured with her head. ‘That looks like our boat, it’s completely non-tourist.’
A five-metre motor launch was docked at the pier, its white sides gleaming. It had no registration or name. When the deckhand saw us approach, he pushed a gangway out to the edge of the pier for us.
We boarded, Simone leading and Michael guarding the rear. As the deckhand prepared to release the rope, a middle-rank demon appearing as a young Chinese man dressed in a smart black business suit came out from the main cabin. He quickly saluted all of us.
‘Passage is payment of a black jade coin,’ he said.
I handed him the scroll tied with vermillion ribbon that contained the Jade Emperor’s edict to let us into Hell. He perused it quickly; this part of the proceedings was just a formality. He returned it to me and nodded. ‘Your passage has been confirmed. Please come with me. There is tea and soda inside if you wish.’
As he spoke, the boat and the sky both went black and the surge of waves beneath the boat ceased. The sound of the noisy tourists on the next pier was cut off, as was the noise from the myriad boats moored in the typhoon shelter. The air echoed with the eerie sound of the inside of a huge cavern and darkness surrounded us. The water was completely still and black as ice
, and the temperature dropped.
‘Come inside,’ the demon said. ‘It’s about an hour’s journey and it’s freezing out here. And I’m very honoured to make your acquaintance.’
‘Yes, I’m well aware of the similarities to the Western legend of the River Styx,’ the demon said as he poured the tea. ‘I’ve studied the mythology and I’m interested in the way that theirs—or yours—matches up with ours. I’d love to travel to the West and see for myself, but of course I’m much too small to travel that far from my Centre.’
‘Has the King ever said anything about it?’ I said.
The demon made a soft sound of amusement. ‘I have been lucky enough in my long life to avoid attracting the attention of the King. It is not something I would do by choice.’
He nodded to Simone. ‘I remember when you came through as a child, Princess. You scared me to death with the amount of shen energy you were radiating. You threatened to destroy me if I didn’t take you across. Of course, I couldn’t take you without the payment of a coin and I readied myself to die.’
‘I remember now, it’s all coming back to me,’ Simone said. ‘At the time I was so upset it was just a blur. I was going to destroy you but then I decided not to waste the time.’
‘You rose on your shen energy and floated across the water. You were a thing of terrifying beauty, making the water beneath you ripple as you drifted above it.’ He smiled slightly and shook his head. ‘You should have been destroyed—the water is full of the power of yin itself; one touch is destruction. Being in the centre of the river is like being in a vortex of yin and therefore should annihilate anything except this specially constructed boat. Yet you were completely unharmed. Later I learnt that you had summoned yin, and I understood. You could probably manipulate this water if you wished to control it.’
Simone smiled back tightly. ‘I don’t think I’ll bother. I’m just here to find my Retainer.’
‘As you wish, ma’am,’ he said, and we continued in silence.
The landing on the other side was a rough-hewn alcove cut out of the dark grey rock with a smooth stone floor. The only break in the wall of rock was a modern black-doored elevator with a single black smoked-glass button next to it. The demon pressed the button and the light went on.