‘I wonder where my ancestors came from,’ I said.
‘If they didn’t come from the same place I will be very surprised indeed,’ Ronnie said. ‘I’d love to come along if you go. I’ve never been that far from my Centre and I’d like to see how long I could handle it.’
‘Deal,’ I said.
‘Me too,’ LK said, underlining a couple of points on his notes, then peering at Tom. ‘If there’s any new demons there, I want to see.’
‘I’ll take you,’ Ben said. ‘There are so many strange things on that island — ancient ruins, mystical stones — I’d love to show them to you.’
‘Stone, find a week to clear in my diary,’ I said. ‘I have to go.’
‘Give me some time to rearrange your appointments,’ the stone said. ‘Might be best to do it during term break.’
‘Is there a village there? High up on a hill, with thatched cottages and lawns with low walls and flower gardens?’ I said.
‘No,’ Ben said. ‘There is a small group of houses high up on Holy Mountain, but no thatching any more, it’s too expensive to maintain.’
‘There really is a group of houses up on the mountain?’ I said, incredulous.
‘Yes. It’s called Mountain,’ Ben said.
‘The village is called Mountain?’
‘Welcome to Wudang Mountain,’ LK said with humour, still taking notes. ‘Which is also known as the Mountain.’
‘So many coincidences,’ Tom said.
‘No such thing,’ I said. ‘Are you done yet, LK?’
‘Nearly. This has been most interesting,’ LK said, scribbling a few final points on the notepad.
Tom stared at LK. ‘You’ve been examining me this whole time?’
‘That I have,’ LK said. He pushed the pad away and focused on Tom. ‘You are fascinating, sir. If you don’t mind, I’d like to have a brief look inside as well.’
‘Inside?’ Tom said.
‘Inside your head,’ I said. ‘He’ll flip through your thoughts and memories. It’s an excellent way to see exactly what makes someone tick, but an unfortunate side effect is that they see everything else as well. You can’t hide anything from them. You can trust LK to keep everything in confidence, but it’s still up to you.’
‘Dad?’ Tom said.
Ben nodded. ‘They might as well, son.’
‘They’ll see, Dad.’
Ben’s expression darkened. ‘And I don’t think they’ll be surprised. I’m not surprised myself any more. It’s worth it if they can help you.’
Tom turned to LK. ‘If you promise you won’t share anything you see in me, you can do it.’
‘I’ll only share things that are directly related to your demon nature,’ LK said. ‘Other than that, you can trust me.’
He rose and moved to stand behind Tom. Tom stood up, but LK stopped him with a hand on his shoulder. ‘Sit, relax. This won’t hurt a bit.’
Tom sat back down and LK put his hands on either side of Tom’s head, then raised his own face and closed his eyes, concentrating. Tom stiffened then relaxed. They remained silent for a while, then both grimaced at the same time.
‘Sorry,’ LK said. He released Tom’s head, sat back down and scribbled some more notes.
Ben and Tom shared a look, and Tom shrugged.
What do you think they’re hiding? the stone said. I asked LK and he wouldn’t tell me.
Of course he won’t, I said. He gave his word. My guess is that she abused them and Ben’s ashamed that he didn’t protect his child from her.
I see, the stone said. What a horrible situation.
LK pushed the notepad away. ‘Go back to the apartment you rented in Hong Kong,’ he said to Ben and Tom. He turned to me. ‘Ma’am, provide them with an escort. It’s quite likely that Kitty knows what’s happened and may have an ambush set up for them.’ He turned back to Ben and Tom. ‘Gather all your belongings; you won’t be going back there ever again. Then I suggest we find you a safe house somewhere on the Earthly, but well hidden. The Celestial is too dangerous for Tom. If he loses control over his demon nature he would be destroyed.’ He shrugged. ‘Perhaps one of the Follies?’
‘The Follies are deserted, and human residents are returning; it would be too risky,’ I said. ‘How about one of the Twelve Villages?’
‘Put them with the Rats,’ LK said. ‘They’d love to study Tom; it will open a whole new area of exploration for them.’
‘Yeah,’ I said. ‘It might even inspire them to extend their intelligence beyond China’s borders.’
‘Rats?’ Ben said.
‘We have twelve villages in different parts of Asia, named for the twelve animals of the Chinese zodiac,’ I said. ‘They aren’t real rats, they’re just people, and they specialise in intelligence gathering.’
‘They’re our spies,’ LK said. ‘They’re based in Macau, in an urban area even though we call it a village. You’ll be safe amongst the Rats; they have advanced security measures.’
Tell LK I’m hoping he’s absolutely sure this kid isn’t a plant, I said to the stone.
That’s why I’m putting him with the Rats, LK said. They’ll handle him if he is. They’ll be on their guard and actually hoping that he’s one of these advanced copies.
‘Very well,’ I said. ‘LK, arrange the escort for the trip to the apartment, and I’ll contact Rat Village and make the arrangements from this end.’ I gestured towards the plates of Chinese vegetarian food that the demons had made for us, which had gone cold while we’d been talking. ‘I’ll have someone warm this up for us.’
A demon entered, bowed to us, and took a few of the plates off the table. Another demon took the teapot to fill it with fresh hot water.
‘No chance of anything non-vegetarian, ma’am?’ Ronnie said wistfully.
‘Not on the Mountain, sorry,’ I said.
‘Do you mind sharing the info you just gathered?’ Ronnie asked LK.
‘Link up, I’ll tell you,’ LK said. They concentrated on each other and went quiet.
‘So, tell me what kind of work you were doing while you were living here in Asia,’ I said to Ben.
‘I’m an engineer, aircraft systems,’ he said. ‘So I never had difficulty finding work anywhere we went —’
Simone appeared at the end of the room holding a large, black, flapping tortoise that sprayed muddy water in a wide arc with every movement.
‘Emma, come up to the compound,’ she said. ‘I’ve found Daddy!’
‘John?’ I asked the turtle.
Simone was having trouble holding the struggling creature. ‘It doesn’t have any intelligence, it’s just the animal.’
‘Are you sure —’
‘I know my own father!’ she said. ‘Now what do I do with him?’
‘Meet me at the entrance to the Grotto,’ I said.
‘Oh, good idea,’ she said, and disappeared.
‘That was her father?’ Ben said. ‘I thought my wife was strange.’
‘It gets better, I’m engaged to it.’ I rose. ‘I’d better head back up, she’ll be waiting for me. Wait here for your escort, and I’ll see you later when things have settled down.’
‘I’ll take it from here,’ LK said. He picked up his chopsticks. ‘Now, let’s eat!’
‘If you don’t mind, Emma,’ Ronnie said, ‘I’ll go find something a little more —’
‘Carnivorous,’ I said. ‘I’ll see you later.’
He saluted me and disappeared.
‘Later, guys,’ I said, and went out to jog up the winding trail that led back into the Mountain.
CHAPTER 4
Simone was standing outside the entrance to the Grotto, still holding the struggling turtle. ‘I forgot you can’t travel. His panic is easing but he’s still fighting me.’
The Grotto entrance was a rock face on the hillside behind the Armoury, a plain grey wall of stone.
‘Have you tried talking to him?’ I said, putting my hand on the latch to make the wall disappear. The
stone stairs down into the Grotto became visible as the rock faded.
‘Yes, he’s not replying. All that stuff with you and the Demon King and the demon essence must have really taken it out of him,’ she said.
We started carefully down the steep stairs into the darkness.
‘Where was he?’ I said.
‘Hanoi. There were reports of a giant tortoise that used to live in a lake there centuries ago — that it had returned. I had a free period so I wandered down there. God, it stinks — it’s so polluted — but there he was, large as life. I couldn’t believe it.’
‘Can you do a light while you hold him?’ I said.
She struggled to hold the tortoise with one arm around its shell, then made a ball of chi energy that floated to light the tunnel around us. ‘Sorry, forgot you can’t see in the dark.’
She hefted the tortoise in both arms again and we continued down. As we headed deeper into the Grotto, the air became colder. Condensation ran down the walls, making the steps slippery.
After two hundred metres, our breath formed fog and the air was still and bitterly cold. I jumped down the steps, trying to move faster to warm myself up. The tunnel opened into the cavern of the Grotto, so huge its walls and ceiling were invisible in the distance. The water before us shimmered in Simone’s light. We stood on a ten-metre-wide ledge that jutted five metres into the underground lake. The lake itself was a kilometre long, two kilometres across and two kilometres deep, plunging into the core of the Mountain and making its centre water — fitting for the Xuan Wu.
The lake’s fish came to the ledge, curious. They were three metres long, with white bodies and pink, lilac and blue fins, glowing with bioluminescence. One of them stuck its head out of the water and made gasping movements with its mouth, then spoke telepathically to us.
It’s not feeding time, what’s going on?
‘This is Xuan Wu. I found him,’ Simone said.
More fish appeared around the ledge, sticking their eyes out of the water with curiosity.
Put him in here with us, we’ll look after him, the fish said. Do you think he’s hungry?
‘I’ll be right back with some cat food for him,’ Simone said. She lowered the tortoise carefully onto the wet black rock. ‘Don’t go anywhere, Daddy, this is your Mountain.’ She put her hand on the back of his shell. ‘Please stay here and come back to me.’
The tortoise walked clumsily to the edge of the water. He was sixty centimetres from nose to tail and, apart from his complete blackness and his feet instead of flippers, appeared to be an ordinary amphibious tortoise. He carefully slid into the water then poked his head out. The fish quickly moved back out of his reach. He ducked his head under the water and dived beneath the surface.
The fish that had spoken to us went under too, then came back up half a minute later. He appears to be heading right to the bottom. We can’t follow that deep.
Simone dived into the water. I’ll see what he does.
I sat cross-legged on the rock and waited.
Martin and Yue Gui, Simone’s older brother and sister, came down the stairs and I stood.
‘Yes, it’s him,’ Martin said. ‘Can we go down and see?’
‘Go right ahead,’ I said.
They changed to tortoises, walked to the edge and slid into the water.
‘Can you hear me?’ I asked the fish.
Yes, it replied. He’s sitting right on the bottom, and the Princess is sitting with him. The other two are heading down as well; goodness, but they move fast.
He’s just sitting here with his eyes closed, Simone said.
Nothing happened for a couple of minutes.
They’re coming back up, the fish said.
‘Thanks,’ I said.
No problem, ma’am.
‘Do I know you?’ I said. ‘You sound familiar.’
The fish’s voice sounded horrified. Can’t you tell who I am?
‘Sorry, no.’
I’ve been in your energy work classes since the school returned to the Mountain — that’s a good six months now. You should know my voice; I’ve even spoken telepathically to you before. Its voice filled with humour. I am mortally wounded.
‘If the wounds are mortal then please die quietly.’
The fish surged out of the water onto the rock and flopped around, splashing water everywhere. It opened and closed its mouth and its eyes rolled in agony.
‘I said quietly.’
The fish stopped flapping, lay still for a moment, then rolled back into the water. It resurfaced and floated belly up without moving.
Simone, Martin and Yue Gui rose out of the water so that their feet were clear of it. The water ran out of their clothes, and they floated towards me, drifting to lightly land on the stone.
Simone glanced back at the fish. ‘What happened? Is everything okay?’
The fish quickly flipped back upright and dived under the water.
‘Is John still down there?’ I said.
Simone nodded. ‘He seems to have gone to sleep.’
‘We can leave him there, bring him food; the fish will tell us if anything happens,’ Martin said.
‘Where did you find him?’ Yue Gui said.
‘There was this news report,’ Simone said, ‘about this lake in Hanoi that had a mystical giant tortoise living in it. The tortoise disappeared from the lake hundreds of years ago, but people claimed to have seen it in the last year — it seemed to have returned.’
‘Ooooh,’ Martin said, a drawn-out sound of understanding. ‘I remember! Father got in so much trouble with the Jade Emperor, he was nearly thrown from Heaven.’
‘What did he do?’ I said.
‘The Ming of China were planning to invade the Kingdom of the Viets — what is today Vietnam. Father didn’t agree with their plans, so he took the form of a giant tortoise, and when the King of Vietnam was rowing for pleasure on the lake, Father surfaced and gave the King an enchanted sword that helped him to defeat the invading force.’
‘Good Lord, he’s the Lady of the Lake,’ I said.
‘Straight up,’ Simone said.
‘Did the King throw the sword back into the lake when the battle was done?’ I said.
‘Yes,’ Martin said. ‘It was Dark Heavens — of course Father wanted it back.’
‘The parallels are crazy,’ Simone said.
‘No wonder he did his PhD thesis on Arthurian legends compared to his own,’ I said. I shivered; the damp was seeping through my clothes and the long period of inactivity wasn’t helping. ‘Can we go back up? Do any of you want to stay here with him?’
‘We can leave him; if he wakes the fish will tell us,’ Yue Gui said. She linked arms with me. ‘I hear you’ve had a busy day. Since we’re here, we will definitely take you up on your generous offer of a Wudang Mountain luncheon.’
‘How many times has Daddy nearly been thrown from Heaven anyway?’ Simone said as we made our way back up the stairs. ‘It seems to happen every ten years or so.’
‘Sounds about right,’ Martin said.
‘Come to the Northern Heavens later this evening,’ Yue Gui said over lunch in our private room attached to the officers’ mess. ‘Allow us to reciprocate by providing you with dinner, and you can inspect the rebuilding work on the Serpent Concubine Pavilion.’
‘I can’t tonight,’ I said. ‘Simone and I have a charity art auction on the Earthly. But I’ll come in the next few days to have a look at the work on the Pavilion.’
‘The Pavilion is gone and the gardeners have already moved in,’ Yue Gui said.
‘Do you have space for another gardener?’ I said.
Martin unfocused, talking to the staff of the Palace, then snapped back. ‘If he is strong and talented, then yes we do.’
‘I have a Buddhist monk, a full Shaolin master — he fell from grace and worked as an assassin for a demon for a while,’ I said. ‘He’s trying to return to the Path and needs employment.’
‘Then the garden in the Pal
ace is perfect,’ Martin said.
‘An assassin?’ Yue Gui said with disdain. ‘He should be incarcerated.’
‘Kwan Yin has favoured him,’ I said.
‘Oh,’ she said. ‘Very well then.’
‘He is sincere about redeeming himself,’ I said. ‘I can just see him attaining Enlightenment and then doing what they all do — coming straight back down to help the sorry rest of us, raking the gravel in the garden and imparting really cryptic koans.’
‘How many Buddhas are there anyway?’ Simone said.
‘You have not studied the different Ages and their Buddhas?’ Yue Gui said with surprise. ‘Perhaps you should talk to Kwan Yin … No, perhaps not.’
‘Exactly. She says that numbers aren’t meaningful and that I should find the Universe within myself,’ Simone said. ‘And that once I have embraced Unity, I will achieve Oneness with all of them.’
‘They are pure thought when they are not assisting us,’ Martin said. ‘And thoughts cannot be numbered. They exist outside of this reality and are uncountable. So the answer to your question as to the number of Buddhas is: the answer is not meaningful.’
‘I became more interested in the whole thing when Emma came back and told us about the Second Platform,’ Simone said. ‘But right now, I think coming to terms with the Tao is more important anyway.’
‘You are lucky. You have Grand Masters on the Mountain who can teach you in the ways of alchemy, internal energy work and self-cultivation to achieve Immortality. All of the different paths are laid out before you.’
Simone looked down at her food. ‘The path I most want to travel is the one with my whole family waiting for me at the end of it.’
‘We’re nearly there,’ I said. ‘We’re all here on the Mountain. It won’t be long.’
‘Why are you returning to the Earthly tonight?’ Martin said. ‘You are established here now, Emma, you don’t need to sully yourself with Earthly activities.’
‘And we just talked about Buddhas from the higher plane coming down to help us,’ Simone said. ‘As long as there are children being abandoned in China because they’re either girls or disabled, I’ll be down there helping them.’