‘Wong.’
‘Ronnie, it’s Emma. I need you here right now if you could. We’re not detecting them.’
He inhaled sharply. ‘When did this happen?’
I stopped walking and turned on the spot, frustrated at my own stupidity. ‘We had our latest intake two weeks ago and there were no copies. I never noticed. How soon can you be up here?’
He was silent for a moment, then said, ‘Let me close up shop and I’ll be right there. Can you provide an escort for me at your gates?’
‘Done,’ I said, and snapped the phone shut. ‘Stone, get a Celestial to meet him.’
LK Pak and Meredith appeared in front of me and I nearly walked into them.
‘Wudang Mountain wins first prize in a stupidity contest,’ I said. ‘Have you ordered a sweep?’
‘We’ve been sweeping regularly, Emma, the last one was this morning,’ Meredith said. ‘Ma asked me not to tip you off. He was concerned you’d order them not to make the sacrifice.’
‘LK, Ronnie’s on his way, can you meet him at the gates, please? Meredith, with me,’ I said, and headed towards the admin centre.
‘Stop spending time in the Grotto,’ Meredith said.
‘Would spending time down there make it easier for him to possess me?’ I said.
She stopped walking and I bent to catch my breath, panting at the effort.
‘How long have you known that’s what it is?’ she said.
‘I’m going to formally reprimand every single Celestial who’s been keeping stuff from me,’ I said, and moved off again. ‘Call Simone back from school. She might be able to see the copies.’
‘Good idea,’ she said, and unfocused as she walked beside me.
CHAPTER 11
LK brought Ronnie up to my office and we closed the door.
‘Let me see the list of the latest recruits,’ Ronnie said, sitting across the desk from me. LK parked himself next to the wall and watched.
I pulled up the student database, then rotated the screen so Ronnie could see. ‘Last intake was two weeks ago. No demons were identified.’ I pulled up the timetable. ‘They’re having a basic hand-to-hand class right now.’
Ronnie pulled himself to his feet. ‘Let’s go.’
‘How do you want to do this?’ I said as the three of us walked towards the junior training rooms.
‘Simone has arrived,’ the stone said. ‘She’ll meet you there.’
‘Enthusiastic weird parent,’ Ronnie said, and changed his form so that he appeared as an older Chinese man with a dreadful comb-over and a poorly fitting navy polyester suit.
‘Warn Simone,’ I said.
‘Done,’ the stone said. ‘She’s going to wait out of sight to see if Ronnie can identify any among the students. If he doesn’t spot any, she’ll go through them herself.’
We arrived at the training room and Ronnie started talking loudly with a thick Cantonese accent. ‘But then he told me, I am learning from a god, and I said, is that better than doctor or lawyer, and he said, yes! He said it is what he wants to do. So.’
We stopped at the doorway, and the class halted and saluted.
‘I’m good father,’ Ronnie said loudly to everybody present. ‘I say, even if it’s not doctor or lawyer, you be happy, I be happy. Just study hard, be good student, marry good girl and have lots of grandsons for me.’
Some of the students sniggered at his rampant Hong Kong parent stereotype.
Ronnie spread his arms expansively and spoke even louder. ‘These are his colleagues? So fine and strong!’ He turned to me and spoke in a stage whisper loud enough for everybody to hear. ‘So many pretty girls!’
A couple of the girls turned away, covering their grins.
‘This is Peter’s father. He would only give Peter permission to come if he saw what it was like here,’ I said.
A few of the students looked confused, trying to work out who Peter was. Thankfully, nobody showed any recognition. I was almost positive there wasn’t a Peter in their year but I wasn’t completely sure.
Ronnie raced to the students and shook their hands with enthusiasm, even grabbing the girls’ hands when they shyly didn’t put them out. ‘I’m Peter’s father, he tells me so much about you! He loves being here, he is so happy, so I say, okay, stay, but I must see what it is like.’
‘Have you seen enough?’ I said. ‘We can move on to Peter’s dorm.’
Ronnie spread his arms and turned on the spot, grinning like an idiot. ‘I am in Heaven where my son is learning from gods.’ He nodded to me, his grin still wide. ‘I have seen enough pretty girls. Now to see if his room is clean.’
‘This way then, sir,’ I said.
The students burst into laughter and scornful chatter after we’d left.
We walked about twenty metres and Ronnie took his normal mid-thirties human form. He removed the glasses and wiped them on the hem of his shirt. ‘One of them is strange. I can’t put my finger on it. She’s completely human, but somehow she looks … different. The tamed demon is obvious: the Fire Essence Pill glows like a beacon inside her; she’s not a problem. But that one …’ He turned back to the training room and put his glasses back on. ‘That one feels weird.’ He faced me again. ‘Do you take blood from them when they come in?’
‘No. Haven’t needed to.’
‘Well, you do now, and make sure you do it under controlled conditions, because if they see demon essence in the syringe they’ll probably self-destruct,’ Ronnie said. ‘Pull this one out and do a blood test now.’
‘Which student was it?’ the stone said. ‘Send me an image. I’ll have her sent up to the infirmary.’
Ronnie focused on the stone for a moment, then snapped back.
‘The students will finish in ten minutes,’ the stone said. ‘Head to the infirmary and I’ll have her sent to you.’
The student arrived at the infirmary ten minutes later. Her face filled with shock when she saw all of us there.
I ignored her and spoke loudly to Edwin. ‘Just order some more, I’ll have the budget extended. I understand that with more students you’re going to need more supplies. Just give me a rough idea and I’ll fix it up.’ I touched Simone on the arm. ‘Come on, you can get the ingredients for the assignment off him when the supplies come in.’
Simone picked up on it straightaway. ‘But it’s due Tuesday,’ she whined. ‘The supplies won’t be here in time and I’ll fail.’
‘I’ll see if I can find some iodine for you in one of the first-aid kits,’ Edwin said, playing along.
Simone hugged him. ‘Thanks, Edwin, you’re the best.’
Edwin turned to Ronnie and LK. ‘Can you wait until after I’ve seen this student, Master Pak? It won’t take a second.’
‘Of course,’ LK said. He sat on one of the chairs and gestured for Ronnie to sit next to him.
Simone and I went out, walked about ten metres, and watched proceedings with our Inner Eyes, light enough to not be detected.
‘You didn’t provide a blood sample, Ellie,’ Edwin said, opening a folder. ‘We need your blood type, just in case. Do you mind giving one now before you go back to class?’
‘Sure,’ Ellie said, unfazed. She sat on the couch and held her arm out. ‘I haven’t had one of these in forever. When I was little, my father had us tested for bird flu, and then a couple of years later when the SARS went through. Since then I haven’t needed it.’ She smiled up at Edwin as he fixed the tourniquet on her upper arm. ‘I think the martial arts help you to stay healthy. And, of course, being on the Mountain … it’s great, isn’t it?’
‘Truly wonderful,’ Edwin said, raising the syringe. He pushed it into her arm and she winced, then relaxed.
Ronnie shot to his feet and yelled, ‘Everybody out! Edwin, out!’ He grabbed Edwin and threw him out the door.
Edwin landed on his back a good five metres away. LK ran out, grabbed him and ran with him towards me and Simone.
Ronnie appeared in the doorway just as Ellie expl
oded. He was thrown towards us by the blast. I ducked and protected my head as all the glass blew out of the infirmary windows. All I could hear then was dull thumping.
I ran to Ronnie. He was lying on his stomach so I turned him over onto his back and looked him up and down, unsure. I wasn’t even confident that he had a pulse. LK pushed me away and ran his hands down Ronnie’s face and neck. He said something, but his voice was muffled by the thumping.
‘I’m deafened by the blast,’ I said, but even my own voice sounded strange in my head.
Someone grabbed me, pulled me up and turned me around. Edwin was in my face, checking my eyes.
‘I’m not injured, just deafened,’ I said.
He nodded and said something in return that appeared to be, ‘I am too.’
You need to go somewhere quiet and get over this, both of you, the stone said, its voice clear in my head. The deafness may be permanent; you will need to be examined.
‘How’s Ronnie?’ I shouted.
Ronnie pushed LK away, pulled himself to his feet and staggered slightly, his hand on his face. He said something, his unusually deep voice throbbing in the background noise.
He says he’ll live, the stone said. Remember, demons are much tougher than humans. Now he, Simone and LK have a job to do. You and Edwin go up to your office, close the door and stay put.
Please do as the stone says, Simone said.
‘Come on, Edwin,’ I said. From his expression, he didn’t get a word of it.
Meredith appeared next to us and shooed us to the office.
The sound of Ronnie and Simone entering my office jerked me awake and I drowsily raised my head off my desk. Meredith was still healing Edwin’s ears, one hand on either side of his head.
Simone came to me and put her hand on my back. ‘How do you feel?’
‘She’ll be fine,’ Meredith said. ‘She’ll have some residual ringing in her ears and she probably has the headache from hell right now. Emma, you’re still weak. You need to slow down.’
‘How many demons did you find?’ I asked Simone.
‘Only three. The first one exploded the minute Ronnie singled it out, and the blast killed two of the students in its class.’ Simone’s expression was rigid with restraint. ‘We were more careful taking out the other two; they never knew what hit them.’
I dropped my head on my desk again. ‘Which students?’
‘Died or demon?’
‘Both.’
She was silent a moment, then said, her voice soft, ‘I don’t know their names, Emma.’
‘That’s understandable. They’ve only been here two weeks and you’ve hardly seen them,’ I said.
‘I’m responsible here while Daddy’s incapacitated,’ she said.
‘No, you aren’t,’ I said. ‘I am. Your responsibility is to go to school and gather all the skills and training you need to decide what you want to do with your life.’
She sighed loudly and leaned on the desk. ‘You know, I was supposed to go shopping with a couple of friends from school this afternoon.’
‘Then go.’
‘All I want to do is curl up in a corner with a DVD that’s just mindless fun. Disney even. Something really cute and harmless and safe.’
‘Sounds like the perfect prescription to me,’ Meredith said.
‘Come on,’ I said, and rose. I staggered slightly and Simone took my arm to make sure I didn’t fall over. ‘Let’s go watch The Lion King.’
She released me and brushed her hand through her honey-coloured hair. ‘Right now The Lion King sounds a bit too grim.’
‘We’ll find something suitably silly for you then,’ I said. I put my arm around her waist. ‘Let’s go eat some chocolate and watch Toy Story.’
‘Actually …’ Meredith said, releasing Edwin’s head, ‘can I join you? That sounds like the best use of an afternoon I’ve heard in a while.’
‘Is this for women only?’ Edwin said.
I pointed at him and glared. ‘You come, you bring extra chocolate.’
He grinned wryly. ‘I’ll have to pop down to the Earthly to get some. Will you wait?’
‘No,’ I said. ‘We’ll send a demon or one of the senior Celestial Masters. It’s about time they were used for something worthwhile.’
‘It’ll have to be Swiss chocolate to do this properly,’ Meredith said. ‘I’ll be right back. Don’t start the video without me.’
The next morning I still had the headache from hell, even with painkillers. I was trying to do some paperwork, with limited success, when Yi Hao tapped on the door.
‘There’s a horse here to see you, ma’am.’
I looked up at her, unsure of what I’d heard through the ringing in my ears. ‘A what?’
She opened the door wider. ‘A man and a horse. You have to come out, ma’am, they won’t fit in your office.’
I went out to find Simone’s demon horse, Freddo, standing under the tree outside the office, a man beside him. Freddo was eight months old now and turning into a fine young stallion. His hide was a bright, rich gold and his immaculately groomed white mane and tail hung long over his neck and hind legs. He appeared full-grown, only his slightly too-big head and gangly legs indicating that he still had some growing to do before he could carry a rider. He was tall as well: the top of his shoulder was level with the top of my head, and his ears were well above me.
He lowered himself on one foreleg and the man saluted me. I nodded back.
‘Can I help you, guys?’
Freddo took a step forward and spoke, his voice sounding like that of a strong young man. ‘This is Ah Cheung, my mafoo at Lord Bai Hu’s stables. He looks after me, does my feed and whatnot. He helped me come here so I could talk to you.’
‘What’s the problem?’
He looked back at Ah Cheung. ‘Can we walk, Lady Emma? This is kind of personal.’
‘I will wait here, ma’am,’ the groom said.
I gestured towards the path and Freddo fell into step beside me. His head bobbed as he walked; he was holding it low as a sign of respect.
‘I really want to be everything that Simone wants in a horse, Lady Emma. I can’t wait until I can carry her and be the best steed possible for her.’ He glanced at me. ‘I love her so much.’
I put my hand on the solid crest of his neck. ‘I’m glad to hear it. She loves you too.’
He looked away, his expression pained. ‘I haven’t seen her in ages. She doesn’t like me any more.’
‘She’s been awfully busy, Freddo, she doesn’t have a lot of time to spend with you —’ I began.
He cut me off and moved out of reach. ‘No, it’s not that. I’m embarrassing her.’ He lowered his head slightly. ‘I’m embarrassing myself.’
I stopped at the edge of a gorge and we stood together facing the spectacular view of the heavenly mountains below. ‘What’s happening?’
He reached to put his nose on my hand. ‘I asked my mafoo about it, and he talked to the Lord Bai Hu about it, and he came and talked to me about it, and they talked to Simone about it. They can fix me, but she won’t let them.’
‘It’s not that bad, is it? I mean, you don’t attack her, do you?’
He dropped his head so his nose was nearly on the ground, his voice soft with misery. ‘I tried to mount her.’
‘I didn’t know. She’s never mentioned it.’
‘She was so embarrassed, she cried and ran away. I didn’t know what I’d done wrong.’
‘You’ve had all that explained, though?’
‘Yes, the Tiger came and talked to me after it happened.’ His voice broke. ‘I made her cry.’ He shook his head. ‘I never want to make her cry!’
‘So it won’t happen again, right?’
‘No, I would never dream of hurting her like that again.’ His voice became softer. ‘Emma, I love her so much — I get a huge erection every time I see her. And I’m a horse. Not the sort of thing you can hide.’
‘That would embarrass her. No wonde
r she’s staying away.’
He tossed his head. ‘I have no control over it! It’s so stupid! There’s another thing too. If Simone’s with me and someone approaches — anyone — I’ll attack them before I have time to think. Sometimes my mafoo will come into the stall and I’ll try to bite him before I even know what I’m doing. He’s scared of me, and I don’t blame him.’
‘Have they tried anything to help you with this?’ I said. ‘Have you talked to anyone about it?’
‘The Lord Bai Hu suggested a few things, stuff they use to control natural stallions. Nothing works. Apparently I’m … what’s the term? Very hormonal. Very horsy.’ He laughed in his throat, a cross between a human laugh and a nicker. ‘I have aggressive urges, and I’m extremely territorial, and I have absolutely no control over any of it.’ He looked into my eyes, his own brown eyes full of desperation. ‘Please talk Simone into letting me be castrated. I’d be a much better companion for her as a gelding.’
I put my hand on his shoulder. ‘That’s a huge decision to make, Freddo.’
‘No, it isn’t. There’s only one thing I want from life and that’s to be Simone’s horse. Lord Bai Hu explained everything: because I’m half demon, I’ll never sire anything anyway. It’s the best course all around.’
‘What about chemical castration?’
He dropped his head. ‘They tried that. For three marvellous weeks, I was everything that Simone would want from me. Lord Bai Hu said that when I was sane, I was the most talented horse he’d ever seen, demon or natural. I memorised and completed a medium-level dressage test by myself; Lord Bai Hu said he’d never seen any horse do that before, that I was unique. It was wonderful.’
‘But?’
‘But it wore off. And then they had to raise the dose to keep it working. Over the long term it would have killed me.’ He gazed out over the mountains. ‘I would love to be that horse again, ma’am. To be able to concentrate and see the world clearly without the haze of hormones making my brain a mess of stupidness.’ He looked at me. ‘A tiny operation, under local anaesthetic, and I’ll be everything that I want to be. But she won’t let them do it.’