‘Oh my God, you are such a guy sometimes,’ I said. ‘Louise and I were friends.’ I leaned over the desk and looked him right in the eye. ‘Is the Turtle female? It’s yin.’
He avoided the question and gestured towards Gold, his grin not shifting. ‘Kitty Kwok investigation.’
‘I do not understand the animal preoccupation with gender,’ the stone in my ring said. ‘It’s more of a nuisance than anything else. And Gold, I am extremely disappointed that you would become involved with one of these…’ It hesitated, then said with emphasis, ‘Fleshies.’
Gold’s eyes widened.
‘Ignore it,’ John said. ‘It is being offensive because it craves attention.’
‘Yeah, it’s a troll,’ I said.
Gold’s mouth flopped open. John grinned broadly. The stone made a weird squeaking sound, like someone rubbing glass with a damp cloth, but didn’t say anything.
Gold shook himself out of it. ‘The police are bewildered by the nature of the laboratories producing the hybrids. Police in Europe, Australia and the US are investigating the other business interests, but at this stage it’s just the kindergartens that seem to be involved in the underworld activity. Tautech, the biotech company, hasn’t been doing anything that they can nail it on. Only the kindergartens have been used to generate funds and launder money for One Two Two’s network.’
‘So they won’t stop the biotech labs,’ I said.
‘No,’ John said. ‘And it appears that the Demon King is letting it go too.’
‘Damn,’ I said. ‘What about the thefts from the stone circles in Europe? Have they put that together?’
‘No,’ Gold said, his face rigid. ‘But every single stone Shen, both Eastern and Western, is out for demon blood on this.’
‘The Grandmother of All the Rocks herself has put a price on One Two Two’s head,’ the stone in my ring said. ‘That demon will pay.’
‘Do you think Wong has more stone elementals than those he threw at us the other night?’ I said.
‘Hard to tell, my Lady,’ Gold said.
‘He probably threw everything he had at us,’ John said. ‘That was his big final thrust. And he failed.’
‘One thing I forgot to mention,’ Gold said. ‘The police are keeping this very quiet—if it gets out there will be mass panic.’
‘What?’ I said.
‘They found large refrigerators full of blood and tissue samples,’ Gold said. ‘In the kindergartens.’
‘Oh my God,’ I whispered. ‘She was harvesting from the kids.’
‘I cannot conceive of the sort of creature that would carry out such atrocities,’ John said.
‘You sure she’s not a demon?’ I said.
‘Only a human would be capable of something like this, Emma,’ John said. ‘Demons do not possess that sort of depth.’
‘Wouldn’t the kids go home and tell their parents or the domestic helpers?’ I said.
‘Not if they’ve had their memories wiped,’ John said grimly. ‘Quite common for children to come home from kindergarten with a small wound, plastered over, treated with disinfectant, and say that they fell in the playground. The staff apologise and claim that it is a minor scrape. Perfectly normal.’
‘You’re right,’ I whispered. ‘I cannot believe this.’ I had a sudden horrible thought. ‘You knew Kitty well, John. Did Simone ever go to the kindergarten here on the Peak?’
‘Yes, for a while,’ John said. ‘Leo posted himself inside, guarding. I had to make a special arrangement with Kitty, but provided I paid her extra she would let me do anything. Simone didn’t like the regimentation and Leo was a nervous wreck, so after two weeks I gave up and took her out. That was about six months before you arrived.’
‘So Leo was guarding her,’ I said. ‘She never sustained any minor injuries. They never took a sample off her.’
John’s face said it all.
I put my head in my hands. ‘No.’ I looked back up at John. ‘Did she remember?’
‘No,’ he said, his face rigid. His eyes unfocused. ‘Your parents are outside the door. They’ve gone into the kitchen.’
‘Anything else?’ I said.
‘We need to discuss the new Disciples,’ Gold said.
‘Let me go and say good morning and I’ll be right back.’
‘I can handle it. Go with your parents,’ John said.
‘No. I need to know what’s happening. Don’t do anything without me.’ I rose to leave.
‘You know?’ Gold said.
I stopped dead, halfway out of my chair. I sat back down. They saw my face.
‘Sorry, my Lord,’ Gold said.
‘For a creature with no mouth, Gold, you have an extremely big one,’ John said, then he sighed and his shoulders sagged. ‘While you were out with your parents yesterday, I had a visit from the Lady. She confirmed what I already knew.’
‘What?’
‘Two more.’
‘The Dark Lord is rather like a rechargeable battery,’ Gold said.
‘Winding down,’ I said. ‘Won’t hold the charge.’
Neither of them said anything.
‘I’ll get the school calendar and we’ll work something out,’ I said.
‘Not now,’ John said. ‘We need to discuss the new Disciples, and you need to spend time with your parents. We’ll organise something later.’
‘Okay,’ I said. ‘But I need to be involved in every single meeting from now on.’
‘Especially the ones with the Generals,’ John said.
‘Oh, damn.’
‘Can’t avoid them any longer, my Lady,’ Gold said with grim humour. ‘You don’t have any excuses left. Your thesis is finished, you attained your degree. Time to start taking part in the running of the Northern Heavens.’
I ran my hands through my hair. ‘Damn!’
‘Go and have something to eat,’ John said. ‘Then come back and we’ll talk about the Disciples. We won’t get very far without you anyway.’
I threw myself out of my chair and left the office without saying a word. Halfway down the hallway I stopped still. Then I turned and went back into the office without knocking.
John and Gold watched silently as I sat down.
They waited for me. I didn’t say anything.
Eventually Gold said, ‘You too?’
I nodded.
‘Do you remember how many times they took samples from you?’ John said.
‘I worked at her kindergarten for about a year. I must have used two boxes of Band-Aids,’ I said. ‘At the time I never remembered using a single one of them. I wasn’t even worried about not remembering using them.’
‘Sore arms?’ John said.
I nodded. ‘I went to the doctor for iron tablets because I was slightly anaemic. I wondered why he looked at my arms so strangely, but he didn’t say anything. Probably thought I was an addict.’ I ran my hands through my hair again. ‘I had needle tracks! I saw them! But I just didn’t worry about it. That bitch messed with my head!’
‘You noticed very few of the unusual things here for the first few months you worked full-time,’ John said. ‘While you were here part-time you didn’t seem to notice anything. You had an astonishing lack of curiosity.’
‘I never even saw your sword on the wall. It took me months to notice Dark Heavens in its clips, and even then only when Simone pointed it out to me,’ I said. ‘Oh God. How much did I miss when I was working at the kindergarten?’
‘The samples are in the hands of the police now,’ Gold said.
‘It’s too late to be concerned,’ John said. ‘Go and talk to your parents.’
‘What if they used me the other way around?’ I said. ‘Put the demon stuff into me, instead of just taking the samples out?’
‘Then they failed, because they have given me a powerful ally,’ John said. ‘Go and talk to your parents.’
‘If the demons know about this then the odds on me being a hybrid have just become much shorter,’ I sai
d.
‘Probably not worth putting money on,’ Gold said.
‘Go,’ John said.
‘And talk to my parents. Yes, I know.’ I rose and went.
The scrabbling of one of the eggs woke me and I pulled myself up on my black coils. Yep; one of the eggs had cracked. It was the oldest nestling, the first one I’d laid.
I put my skinless hands on the shell and felt the vibration, a tingle of anticipation moving through me.
I had a sudden horrible thought. I wouldn’t eat it when it hatched, would I?
No. Of course not.
The egg cracked open and I pulled the pieces of shell away, but the nestling would have to climb out itself. Its little hands appeared at the edge of the opening, then it pulled itself up and tumbled out onto the floor of the nest. It lay panting, its little pale sides heaving.
I lifted it carefully and put it into the centre of my coils. It was exhausted, poor little thing. Its tawny hair was plastered to its head with the liquid from the egg, but it would dry quickly. I held it as it rested, a little human child of about four years old.
A while later it stirred and touched my face. ‘Hello, Mummy.’
‘Hello, my beautiful,’ I whispered. ‘You feel okay?’
‘I’m fine.’ The nestling pulled itself upright in the centre of my black coils and stroked my scales. I shivered with pleasure.
The nestling looked around, its little blue eyes focusing for the first time. It saw the other two eggs. ‘What are they?’
‘They are your little friends. Their names are Simone and Michael. They will be hatching soon too, and then the three of you can play.’
But only good games. Not grown-up games.
‘Oh, okay.’ The nestling curled up in the centre of my coils and nuzzled into me. ‘I love you, Mummy.’
I held it close. ‘I love you too, Emma.’
I shot upright, gasping. The air conditioner whispered high on the wall. The lights of the city glowed through my curtains.
Just a dream. Just a dream. I banged my head on the pillow and rolled over. Just a dream!
CHAPTER FIVE
After a few days of tourist activities, my parents were tired but more relaxed about the whole thing. They seemed to be unwinding and enjoying themselves. Both John and Simone worked hard to win them over. My mother, particularly, was becoming very fond of Simone.
December weather was usually fine and clear, despite the cold, so we took them along the Lugard Road walk. The road was more like a pedestrian path, and wound all the way around the top of the Peak, giving a spectacular view of both sides of Hong Kong Island, Kowloon and the Outlying Islands.
My mother was hesitant about the height, but was okay when I held her hand. Simone and John came with us and the five of us enjoyed each other’s company. Simone held my mother’s other hand.
My father and John seemed to have hit it off; John liked my father’s gruff honesty and my father enjoyed John’s relaxed easy-going nature.
‘And this trail goes all the way around the top of the island?’ my mother said.
‘Yep,’ I said. ‘About an hour’s walk all the way.’
‘If your artificial hip worries you, let me know. I can arrange for you to be transported back,’ John said.
My mother stared at him, her face expressionless.
‘He can see inside you,’ I said.
‘That’s very rude, Daddy, you shouldn’t have done that,’ Simone scolded.
‘She’s quite right,’ I said. ‘Do it again and you are in big trouble.’
‘This is the Western part of the island,’ John said, ignoring us. He stopped at the railing and showed my parents. ‘Below us, all those tall buildings, is Kennedy Town. One of the oldest parts of Hong Kong. Then across the harbour you can see West Kowloon. It’s a good clear day today, you can see the Tsing Ma Bridge—that’s the bridge you came across when Emma brought you back from the airport. And over there,’ he gestured towards the left, ‘is Lantau Island. The airport is off the north side of that. Lantau is actually bigger than Hong Kong Island, but mostly uninhabited; people like to live near the centre of things.’
‘It’s incredible,’ my father said. ‘All the buildings are tall buildings. Everywhere. Where are the suburbs?’
‘Suburbs?’ Simone said.
‘There aren’t any,’ I said. ‘It’s like this from one end of the Territory to the other. Even out in the New Territories, people live in packed high rises in “New Towns”. There are villages of village houses all crammed together as well, but the vast majority of the population live in tiny high-rise apartments.’
‘I should arrange for someone to take you to see a government housing estate,’ John said, almost to himself.
‘Good idea,’ I said, and then saw the look on my mother’s face. ‘You okay, Mum?’
My mother was staring at the path in front of us, her face ashen. I turned away from the railing and froze.
‘Don’t anybody move,’ John said.
An enormous Chinese cobra lay motionless on the path. It was shining black and more than two metres long, a really big one.
‘Is it dead?’ I said.
‘No,’ John said. ‘It’s watching us.’
‘Is it a demon?’ I whispered.
‘No,’ Simone said.
‘Natural snake,’ John said.
The snake raised its head. About a third of its body came off the ground. It was nearly as tall as me.
‘Don’t move,’ John said, very quietly. ‘Stay very still.’
My mother made a soft sobbing sound of terror.
‘Don’t worry, I don’t think it will hurt us,’ John said. ‘Everybody, stay very still. I may be able to talk to it.’
John carefully moved around us and eased himself towards the snake. It followed his movements with its head, watching him. When he was about a metre away he stopped to crouch and study it. He was slightly side on to us and his face went rigid with concentration.
The snake glanced at me, then turned back to John.
Then everything suddenly happened at once.
John’s eyes went black and he reached out to touch the snake.
Simone screamed, ‘No, Daddy!’ and flew around me to tackle her father before he could touch it. She took him completely by surprise and knocked him to the ground.
The snake snapped back, lowered its head, and quickly disappeared into the undergrowth at the side of the path.
Simone beat her father on the chest with her tiny fists and screamed, ‘You don’t leave me. I need you!’ She shouted at the bushes where the snake had gone. ‘You go away and leave my Daddy alone!’ Then she threw herself on him and sobbed.
John sat up and put her head on his shoulder. He squeezed his eyes shut and buried his face in her hair.
‘Go away, go away, go away!’ Simone sobbed into his shoulder.
‘I’m here,’ he said gently. ‘I’m not going.’
‘Don’t you ever do that again!’ she gasped.
‘I’ll do it eventually, sweetheart,’ he said. ‘I won’t be able to stop it.’
I went to them. John’s face was full of misery. I held my hand out and he took it.
‘That was it, wasn’t it?’ I said.
He nodded into Simone’s hair.
‘Tell it to go away,’ Simone said into his shoulder.
John used my hand as a lever and pulled himself to his feet, still holding Simone. He released my hand and gently lowered Simone. She held his hand and both of them watched the bushes where the snake had gone.
‘What was all that about?’ my mother said softly behind me.
‘That was his Serpent,’ I said without turning. ‘The other half of him. If he rejoins with it then he’ll be gone for a very long time.’
Simone sobbed again loudly. I reached into my bag, pulled out a packet of tissues and passed it to her. She took one out and sniffled into it.
‘It’s gone,’ John said. ‘It’s still very weak. It har
dly knows what it is. It won’t be back for a long time—’
‘Good,’ Simone said.
‘I wonder what happened to it,’ John said. ‘It’s nearly as weak, nearly as drained as I am.’
‘Do you remember what happened when you lost it? At all?’ I said.
‘Not a bit,’ John said without emotion. ‘I have absolutely no recollection of being divided.’ His tone didn’t change, his voice was still very mild. ‘If somebody has done this to me then they will pay very dearly.’
He turned and spoke to my parents as if nothing had happened. ‘Let’s go further around and look at Pokfulam. You can see Cheung Chau from there. Would you like to see the temple dedicated to me on Cheung Chau? It’s not very exciting, but you may be interested to see some of the stories and rituals that surround me.’
My parents just watched him silently.
‘Would you like us to take you home, guys?’ I said gently.
My father nodded. My mother didn’t move.
‘I’ll call Jade and Gold to carry you,’ John said.
My mother flinched.
‘No, thanks,’ my father said weakly. ‘We’d just like to walk back, if you don’t mind.’
‘You are perfectly safe as long as you are with me,’ John said.
My parents turned and walked back along the path without seeming to notice whether we followed them.
They are not taking this very well, Emma.
‘You can’t blame them, John.’
Back at the apartment we all sat at the dining table. My parents had glasses of scotch in front of them. The Serpent had pushed them over the edge. They’d had enough. Neither of them had shouted at us, they’d just gone very quiet. I didn’t blame them.
‘I can give you a choice,’ John said. ‘You can either go to the Western Palace, where you will be absolutely safe, or you can go back to your own home and I will post guards there for you.’
‘Where’s the Western Palace?’ my mother said.
‘It’s the Tiger’s palace,’ I said. ‘It’s on the Celestial Plane. It’s a beautiful place with gardens and fountains in the Western Desert.’
‘Heaven?’ my mother said.
‘Sometimes called that,’ John said. ‘But not really. More like a higher level of reality. If you go there, you will be perfectly safe. But it will be quite boring for you. You won’t be able to continue with your normal lives.’