‘Third … Let me see.’ John stopped and rubbed his hand over his forehead. ‘This is hard.’ He started walking again, but slower. ‘Third: there’s a human teaching … Get Gold here immediately. I thought we’d fixed this issue of disguised demons being promoted to teaching here … Obviously a junior Master, teaching a basic energy-work class.’
‘That’s Roderick,’ I said. ‘He’s a demon? No way. He generates chi like a pro.’
‘The nature of these demons is extremely complex and disturbing. I’ve never seen anything like them before. They seem to be not of this region.’ John stopped to put his head in his hands, then brushed his hands through his long tangle of hair, mirroring one of Simone’s gestures. ‘Fourth: extremely junior student in the form of a small human girl, in a very basic hand-to-hand class over near True Way. I like what you’ve done with the buildings, Emma, the fung shui is even more auspicious, if that is possible.’ He sat on a low wall and bent forward. ‘This is very hard.’
Meredith crouched in front of him. ‘Let me feed you some energy. We need to know them all.’
He nodded, and took some deep breaths. They linked hands and both of them glowed with shen energy, a luminous silver halo that shimmered around them. Meredith’s face filled with horror, and Liu took a few long strides to them, grabbed Meredith and pulled her away from John. John disappeared.
Liu stroked Meredith’s hair. ‘Nearly did it.’
‘He nearly drained you?’ I said. ‘I thought he’d stopped doing that.’
‘He was right,’ Meredith said. ‘Identifying those demons was draining the life out of him. He’s still very weak, and it will take him a while to fully return. I’m actually surprised he can manage human form for such a long duration.’
‘We need to withdraw and hold those students, and move them away from the rest of the Academy without attracting attention,’ I said.
‘One of them is a Master, as well,’ Meredith said.
‘If any of the copies realises we know about them, they’ll probably all explode,’ I said. ‘We have to keep things as normal as possible until we can deal with them.’
‘Taoist meditation retreat. I’ll identify them as candidates and take them to one of the distant mountaintops,’ Liu said.
‘Take some non-demons as well, so they’re not singled out,’ I said. ‘While you have them, we’ll have to get all the Celestials to try to identify what makes them different. Stone, quietly summon Gold, please.’
Gold appeared in front of me wearing red silk boxers with white hearts on them and a matching red silk robe, his sandy hair sticking straight up. He quickly changed to his normal tan polo shirt and slacks, and ran his hands through his hair. ‘Babies gave us a bad night, but Dad says something’s up.’ His face went blank, then grim as the stone filled him in. ‘I’ll go through the records and identify all students who’ve never been vetted by the Dark Lord. Unfortunately, that’s a good three-quarters of them. I’ll have the list for you in ten minutes.’ He disappeared.
‘The very junior student sounds like Emily,’ I said. ‘Emily Fang from Malaysia. Let’s do something special with her; let’s send her home, put a tail on her and see where she goes. If she’s a demon, she’ll head to the nest.’
‘Good idea,’ Liu said. ‘I’ll drop Meredith off in our quarters and meet you in the office in ten minutes.’
Before going to my office, I went to my quarters to find the pearl to summon Kwan Yin, but she was already there. I fell to one knee and saluted her, and she pulled me up into a hug.
She released me and smiled her sad smile. ‘Yes. You may use my Garden to talk to the Winds.’ She handed me three sets of Buddhist prayer beads. ‘Give these to each of them and tell them to recite the Lotus Sutra, and they will be in the Garden. When they are there, I will take you and yours there too.’
‘Can you identify the demons for me, Lady?’
‘They may be demons, but they have within them the potential to be divine. I cannot betray my nature and identify them for you to destroy.’
‘Is that why you walk the Halls assisting the Snake Mothers to produce more like themselves?’
‘Such an accusation is beneath you, Emma. You have seen the Second and know of our nature. All demons have within them the power to be divine, no matter what they are. If I do not aid the lowest of the low and the cruellest of the cruel to find the right path, then who will? All you practise on the Third is destruction.’
I knelt before her again. ‘Truly your nature is Mercy, Lady.’
‘Heaven’s greatest champion was once the cruellest of the cruel, little one. Destruction is sometimes a necessary path that must be taken, but it is far better to teach understanding, serenity and enlightenment.’
I rose. ‘What of me?’ I said, taking advantage of her unusual openness.
‘You are another example, nearly as great as his, of overcoming your nature and seeking enlightenment.’
‘What is my nature?’
‘Send out your agents, and hurry. You must meet quickly and tell the Winds of this infiltration,’ she said, and disappeared.
CHAPTER 15
Liu, Meredith and Gold were already in the conference room near my office when I arrived.
I went to Gold and held out the beads to him. ‘Send three stones out to the other three Winds, tell them to recite the Lotus Sutra over these beads right away. Tell them that’s an order.’
Gold took the beads and raised them in front of his face. ‘Are they all the same?’
‘Yes,’ I said. ‘Hurry.’
‘What do they do?’
‘You’re wasting time,’ I said. ‘Just do it. It is important that these sutras are said immediately; and you don’t question Kwan Yin.’
He saluted me with the beads in his hand and disappeared.
‘In the meantime,’ I said, ‘it’s time to share a special secret with one of our high-ranking students. Let’s get Roderick and take him down to the Grotto and show him the lake. As an initiation.’
Liu picked up my intent immediately. He rose and pushed his chair back, saying for the benefit of anyone eavesdropping: ‘I’ll go get him. It’s an important part of the retreat preparation.’
Liu and Roderick were already standing on the ledge next to the water when I arrived in the Grotto.
Roderick gestured towards what I was carrying. ‘What’s that? Is it part of the initiation?’
‘Sort of,’ I said.
‘It looks like a dish for dog food.’
‘Cat,’ I said, and placed the dish on the ground. I peeled open a can of pilchards and tipped them into the bowl, then slid it to the edge of the water.
Nothing happened, so I took a small amount out of the bowl and threw it into the water, wincing at the slimy feeling.
What’s going on? the fish said.
‘Don’t eat it, it’s not for you,’ I said.
Wouldn’t eat that disgusting stuff anyway, we’re not cannibals, the fish said with dignity.
The Turtle surfaced and raised its head slightly above the water, peering at me. It slid gracefully to the edge, then hauled itself out of the water and took a few steps. It was around two metres long, significantly bigger than when Simone had first brought it down to the Grotto. It buried its beak in the cat food, then raised its snout and half-closed its eyes with bliss, eating with loud smacking sounds.
‘Do you feel anything special here?’ Liu asked Roderick.
‘Nothing,’ Roderick said. ‘Is that the Dark Lord’s Turtle?’
I nodded. ‘Come and touch its head and receive its blessing for your retreat. Hopefully you will attain greater understanding in your search for the Tao.’
‘I am blessed already to be on Wudang,’ Roderick said. He walked quietly to the Turtle, crouched and touched its head. The Turtle paid no attention to him, concentrating on the cat food. ‘It’s all animal right now, isn’t it?’
Liu, standing behind Roderick, scowled with frustration.
‘Yes, it’s terribly drained by all that’s happened recently,’ I said. ‘But he comes and goes, and is with us for longer periods all the time.’
Roderick rose again and saluted the Turtle. ‘I feel blessed. To have touched the Dark Lord, even when he is beast, is truly wonderful.’
‘Won’t be long before you’ll be taught by him,’ Liu said, composing his expression again. He gestured towards the stairs. ‘Let’s go back up. I’m sure you still have some packing to do.’
‘Why didn’t you bring the others who are coming to the retreat down here?’ Roderick said. ‘Why just me?’
‘You’ve been teaching; they’re still just students,’ I said. ‘It’s part of the transition from student to Master.’
‘I see.’ Roderick took a few steps towards the stairs then turned back. ‘Is it very difficult to come down here?’
‘Yes,’ I said. ‘You have to be attuned to the gate, otherwise it will just be rock to you. It’s something we teach the more senior Masters when there’s a need for it. Most of the time, though, there isn’t.’
Roderick bobbed his head. ‘I should like to learn so I can help with the care of the Turtle.’ He smiled slightly. ‘I used to have a cat; it would bring back fond memories.’
Liu shot me a concerned glance behind Roderick’s back.
I nodded to Roderick. ‘We’ll see what happens when you come back from retreat.’
Roderick saluted me and proceeded up the stairs. Liu and I followed.
Gold met me back at my office. ‘We gave them the beads and received the usual shit from them — sorry for the expression but that’s what it was. They’ll do it immediately.’
‘Good. Be ready for transport,’ I said, and the world around us disappeared.
We arrived on a pavilion in the middle of a lake so huge that its edges weren’t visible. The water was flat and black — frozen. Scattered snowflakes floated through the air, but the temperature was brisk without being cold. Mountains surrounded the lake, dark grey in the distance.
The pavilion was fifty metres to a side, with no walls and a gold-tiled roof held up by red pillars and beams. The roof rose in three tiers, and each tier had windows beneath the roof line. The three Winds sat at a large table that held steaming tea and bamboo baskets of small white buns.
Gold, Liu and Meredith materialised next to me.
The Dragon waved us impatiently towards them. ‘Come and tell us what’s so important that you had to drag us all the way here.’
We entered the pavilion and sat at the table. As the most junior Immortal there, Meredith reached for the teapot and poured for all of us, the Winds nodding their thanks without tapping the table.
‘Now what’s all this about?’ the Tiger said, pulling out a bun and breaking it open. He grimaced and put it back when he saw it had vegetarian stuffing.
The Phoenix glared at him, took the bun he’d discarded, delicately pulled the bread from the filling and popped it into her mouth. She passed the filling to the Dragon and he ate it without a word.
I gestured for Liu to explain.
‘Wudang has been infiltrated by a hundred demons that are such good copies they are undetectable by anybody except the Dark Lord himself,’ Liu said. ‘He took human form for a brief moment, identified four of them, then returned to animal in the lake at the core of the Mountain. We have no way of knowing who the others are. He said the copies all appeared as human, but not Immortal or Shen. Every human is suspect.’
‘We need to see these copies,’ the Tiger said.
‘As soon as we are done here, we’ll show them to you. They don’t know we’re onto them; we’ve separated three of them out for a Taoist meditation retreat.’
‘Good,’ the Phoenix said. ‘The second they know you’re onto them, all hundred will attack.’
‘Explode, actually,’ I said with resignation, and they became even more concerned.
‘What about the fourth?’ the Dragon said.
‘We sent her home with a tail on her,’ Liu said. ‘Reports so far are that she has returned to her home town in Sarawak, Malaysian Borneo.’
‘We need an excuse for visiting the retreat,’ the Phoenix said to Liu.
‘Go and yell at him about something,’ I said. ‘That way they won’t suspect you’re working together.’
‘All three of us?’ the Tiger said. He leaned his elbow on the table and his chin in his hand. ‘What could we possibly have to yell at Old Liu about?’
‘I taught your kids something wrong?’ Liu said. He shook his head. ‘That wouldn’t work.’
‘Drag races,’ I said.
Liu leaned back and glared at me. ‘Nobody was supposed to know about that.’
I stared at him. ‘You have been drag racing with their kids?’
Liu’s face fell. ‘Uh-oh.’
Gold spluttered with amusement.
‘Where is this retreat?’ the Phoenix said, suddenly stern.
‘Blue Star Peak,’ Liu said, wincing.
‘I will be there in thirty minutes. Be ready,’ she said, and disappeared in a swirl of red.
Liu spread his hands. ‘It’s perfectly safe, I swear, and all of them have their licences …’
‘I want a list when I get there,’ the Tiger growled, and disappeared as well.
‘I don’t care what they’re up to, but if they’ve used one of my cars there will be hell to pay,’ the Dragon said. ‘I’m checking the odometers now, and if any of them shows unusual mileage your ass is mine.’ He rose, saluted me, and disappeared.
Liu’s misery deepened. ‘The Dragon has a splendid collection of supercars. Loves them more than he loves his children.’
‘Wow, you are in serious trouble,’ Gold said.
‘Good,’ I said. ‘They won’t be acting.’
Liu reported back to me later that morning. ‘The other Winds can’t find anything different about them,’ he said. ‘Emily is with her family in Malaysia; one of our stone Shen is keeping watch on her.’
‘She wasn’t suspicious about being sent home?’
‘It isn’t that unusual to be sent home for a while,’ he said. ‘She has been struggling with the energy work, so I told her to take a break and see her family.’
‘Maybe we should isolate the other juniors who are having trouble with energy.’
‘That’s most of them, Emma. You know how hard it is.’
‘We should send them all home.’
‘You know how well that works out.’ He rubbed his hands over his face. ‘We need him back right now, dammit.’
‘Keep Leo away from the Turtle,’ I said.
‘All the energy from Leo wouldn’t be nearly enough to bring him back fully.’
‘Just make sure he doesn’t try to make the sacrifice.’
‘Any sign of the Serpent?’
‘No.’
Liu’s head shot up and he unfocused, listening. ‘Emily has disappeared. The tail lost her. They have no idea where she is.’
I was waiting for Simone in her living room, reading a book, when she arrived home from school in the middle of the afternoon.
‘You’re not stalking me?’ she said, incredulous.
I held up a piece of paper. It said: Don’t ask any questions. Don’t say anything. Just take me down to the Peak right now.
At the same time, I said, ‘No, I just needed to be sure that you’d be home on time. Now let’s go down to the Peak and pick up your books.’
She looked from the paper to me, opened her mouth to speak, then thought better of it. She came to me and held out her hand and took me down to the Peak.
We landed in the living room, which had been returned to its original configuration, except with a darker shade of cream for the carpet.
Simone put her hands on her hips. ‘What’s this about?’
I sat on one of the sofas and gestured for her to join me. ‘Your dad came around, took human form and told us there are a hundred demon copies on the Mountain right now. He didn’t hav
e time to identify them all before he lost it.’
‘So why aren’t we up there destroying them?’ she said.
‘Because we don’t know which ones they are, and the minute we start taking them down, they’ll all activate and either explode or attack the students.’
She opened and closed her mouth a few times. ‘I didn’t know.’
‘He told us while you were with Freddo. We can’t do anything even slightly different, because that will tip them off. We have to keep everything absolutely as normal as possible until John comes back and identifies them.’ I sighed. ‘Either way, you have to stay down here, where it’s safe, until this whole business is sorted.’
‘Did he identify any of them?’
‘Yes. Four. Three of them are on retreat at Blue Star Peak with Liu —’
She disappeared.
I threw myself back in the chair. ‘Great. There goes my ride.’
‘Do you want to wait for her to return or head back up now?’ the stone asked.
‘I’ll wait for her.’
I turned on the television. Although we had cable in the Peak apartment, there was only one English channel, which targeted the Middle Eastern market and cycled a constant stream of Baywatch reruns. I turned it off again and headed to the training room to do sword katas until Simone returned.
John appeared after I’d been practising for about half an hour. ‘Why are you here alone and unguarded?’
‘It’s a long story.’
‘I have all of eternity.’
‘I don’t.’
He smiled slightly. ‘Yes, you do.’
He summoned Dark Heavens and pointed at the floor in front of him. I didn’t move.
‘We need you back,’ I said. ‘A hundred demons on the Mountain.’
‘I remember.’ He raised one hand, dismissed the sword, and his eyes unfocused. ‘They really are very well hidden. I can’t see them from here; I have to be on the Mountain.’
I went to him and put my hand on his arm, relishing the ability to touch him without hesitation. ‘I put a couple of boxes of brightly coloured spray paint in your office on the Mountain. If the demons attack, grab the paint and mark the demons so we can identify them.’