Andrew fell to sit on the couch and my mother held him. Andrew looked catatonic. Mark and David had collapsed in the corner and my father was talking to them.
WHAT? the Demon King said.
Colin changed and they killed him.
He changed to snake?
Yes. He’s dead. I rubbed it in. They want to take him outside and photograph him for Facebook.
FUCK FUCK FUCK . . . His voice disappeared.
My mother was sobbing as she tried to rouse Andrew. The soldiers didn’t seem to notice my family’s grief; they were prising Colin’s mouth open with the ends of their rifles and discussing how they’d remove his fangs and skin to sell.
‘Greg!’ Andrew looked up at his stepfather, his face twisted with grief. ‘Go down there and find him. You can go. You’re one of them. Go and bring him out!’
‘It doesn’t work like that,’ Greg said gently.
‘Emma, he’s your nephew. Go!’ my mother said.
‘Greg’s right, Mum, it doesn’t work like that.’
‘Why not?’ Andrew demanded. ‘You’re famous for breaking the rules. Do it!’
The Demon King stormed in, accompanied by a couple of big black-armoured demons. He stopped when he saw the soldiers examining Colin.
Mark made a high-pitched sound of terror, and my mother rose to stand in front of him and Andrew.
‘You fuckers!’ the King roared, and waved one hand at the soldiers.
The armoured demons grabbed them and lifted them by their throats, their legs dangling as they choked. The demons pulled their guns off them, one of them yanking so hard that the soldier’s arm audibly cracked and he screamed.
Greg stood in front of my family, and I faced the King.
‘What were you thinking, working with humans?’ I said. ‘What a stupid thing to do! You know how much this is stressing my family — it was inevitable!’
‘I never ordered this,’ he said. He looked around. ‘Are the other boys okay?’
‘They’ll be fine as long as you leave them alone. Don’t go near them. They remember what you did to them,’ I said as I waved one hand at my hysterical family.
‘All right. Leave this with me. These human shits will suffer,’ the King said, and moved to leave.
‘Bring him back!’ Andrew yelled, and the King turned to look at him. Andrew was standing, rigid with fury, and glaring at the King. ‘Go to that place — Hell. Go to Hell and bring him back. I know you can do it.’ He swiped one hand through the air. ‘Trade me for him. Anything. I’ll do anything for you. Just bring. Him. Back!’
‘If you change as well, I might think about it,’ the King said. He nodded to the demons. ‘Bring them.’
Andrew gave a wordless scream of anguish and lunged at the door. Greg held him and Andrew punched him. He only stopped struggling when three more armoured demons entered. One took Colin’s body out, and the other two stationed themselves on either side of the door.
‘Don’t let them take him,’ Andrew said, forlorn. ‘That’s my brother. Don’t let them take him!’
‘We don’t have a choice,’ Greg said, and pulled him down onto the couch next to him.
Send the guards outside and let us mourn our dead, I said to the King. The sight of them standing there might make one of the other boys change.
There was no reply.
I sighed and moved to sit on the couch across from my family and put my head in my hands. I heard movement behind me, and turned to see the two guards leaving.
‘They’re stationed outside the door,’ Greg said.
‘What do we do?’ my mother moaned. ‘What do we do, what do we do?’
‘We survive,’ my father said into her hair as he held her. ‘And we care for the family we have left.’ He raised his head. ‘Andrew?’
‘Andrew needs some time,’ Greg said. He put his arm around Andrew, who was unresponsive again. ‘Come on, son, I’ll take you to your room.’
Simone appeared next to me.
‘I’ll take you two at a time,’ she said, and looked around. ‘Where’s Colin?’
‘Run, Simone. The Demon King was just here, and he’ll be looking for you,’ my mother said.
‘Go. Take Emma,’ Greg said. ‘I’ll change to Emma’s form and stay with them.’
‘I’ll take the rest of you,’ Simone said. ‘I can hide you somewhere.’
‘You can’t take the boys without their mothers, so we’re all staying here,’ my mother said. ‘We talked about this, Simone, so do what we planned. You’re our last hope.’
‘Go,’ my father said.
‘Are you sure, Poppy? I can take —’
‘Just go!’ my mother said.
Simone grabbed my shoulder and everything disappeared. We reappeared in front of the Peak apartment block.
‘Take me back, my family need me,’ I said. ‘Colin —’
‘Leo and Buffy are under attack,’ Simone said. ‘We’ll go up the stairs and ambush them.’ She saw me hesitate. ‘Leo’s down and they’ll take Buffy. Come on!’
I summoned Dark Heavens and we went up the stairs, dodging the buckets of household rubbish. We charged out of the stairwell on the top floor into the backs of half-a-dozen big humanoids. Leo was down, slumped in the doorway, but still fending them off with his blade. The humanoids were clustered around him, attempting to break through into the apartment.
Simone threw shen into three of them, I took the head off one, and she finished the final two with her blades. Leo dropped his sword and panted, his face ashen.
‘Simone,’ I said, but she ignored me. She knelt next to Leo and put her hand on his face, then her eyes widened.
‘How long have you been fighting them?’ she said.
‘Seems like a day,’ he said, still panting, ‘but probably less than half an hour.’ He looked up at her. ‘What happened? Did we win?’
‘Simone, take me back,’ I said.
‘Emma, help me,’ she said, taking one of Leo’s arms.
I shook my head, then took his other arm and we helped him onto the couch in the apartment.
‘Don’t put me here. I’ll bleed on the upholstery,’ he said.
‘Wouldn’t be the first time,’ Simone said. ‘Is it mortal?’
‘No. I’ve lost a lot of blood, but I’ll be fine. It’s mostly exhaustion and lacerations from their blades.’ He gazed up at her, desperate. ‘Where’s Ming? Did we win?’
‘The Heavens have fallen,’ I said, and Leo slumped on the sofa and wiped his hand over his face. ‘We need to get out of here, more will be coming. Simone, take me back.’
‘Don’t worry about your family, the soldiers won’t hurt them.’
‘They already killed Colin!’ I said.
Her expression went blank. ‘What?’
‘He changed into a big snake and they killed him. Colin’s dead.’
She put her hand over her mouth and turned away. Her shoulders shuddered as she fought the emotion.
‘So what happens now?’ Leo said.
‘Now you and Buffy go into hiding while the Demon King’s occupied with his new conquest,’ I said. ‘You bought the plane tickets, didn’t you?’
‘I didn’t believe you,’ he moaned. ‘I trusted the Jade Emperor. I was so sure we’d win.’ He looked around. ‘Where’s my goddamn wheelchair?’
‘Simone, can you take them onto an airplane and change their faces as well?’ I said.
‘I can’t leave you here,’ she said.
‘Take me back to Persimmon Tree, then take Leo and Buffy to America.’
‘No,’ Leo said. ‘Take Buffy. She’ll be fine with my sister. I have to stay here and help.’
‘Leo, we lost,’ I said. ‘The King will be after you. He’s after all of us. You have to run!’
‘Martin needs me. He’s in Hell alone and it will break him.’
‘He’s not in Hell, he’s in the Northern Heavens and still alive,’ Simone said. ‘He’ll never forgive you if you leave Buffy alone. I
’ll never forgive you either. Stay with her.’
‘Er Hao!’ I called, and she came out of the hallway.
‘Is it finished?’ she said. ‘We won?’
‘Pack for Buffy and yourself,’ I said. ‘She’s staying at her aunt’s house in America.’
‘No!’ Buffy shouted, and ran around Er Hao to her father. ‘I don’t want to go. Aunty Elise is mean.’
‘Buffy, honey,’ Leo said, taking her hands and gazing into her eyes, ‘it’s not safe here any more. You saw all those bad people at the doorway?’
‘Demons,’ she said. ‘You killed them. We’re fine now.’
‘More are coming,’ I said. ‘Lots more. More than all of us can fight. Stay with Aunty Elise while we kill them, then you can come back.’
‘I’ll help,’ she said, determined.
‘You can help by staying with Aunty Elise for a while,’ Leo said. ‘Er Hao, pack bags for all of us. We’re all going.’
‘Good.’ I rose and put my hand out. ‘Quickly, Simone, take me back to the Mountain.’
‘No,’ Simone said. ‘Go to America with Leo, Buffy and Er Hao.’
‘Don’t be ridiculous. I need to be with my family to protect them. Take me up, Simone.’
‘Er Hao, pack for them while I guard the door,’ Simone said, then rose and turned to face the front door.
‘Er Hao, where’s my wheelchair?’ Leo said.
‘I’ll find it for you, sir,’ Er Hao said. ‘I’ll be right back.’
‘Simone, I need to be up at Persimmon Tree right now!’ I shouted at her back. ‘The Demon King will torture my family!’
‘Here’s your wheelchair, sir,’ Er Hao said.
Leo pulled himself into it, wincing from the pain of his injuries. ‘Simone, bring Emma’s family down. They can come too.’
‘I already did,’ Simone said. ‘I put Matthew and Aunty Jen and Aunty Amanda on a plane to London.’
‘Take me back up,’ I said. ‘The rest of my family need me. The whole Mountain needs me.’
‘I can’t,’ she said. She resummoned her blades. ‘I promised Pop that I’d take you out if we lost and keep you somewhere safe.’
‘I’m not a thing to be kept safe. I’m a human being and I need to protect my family.’
‘I gave my word, Emma,’ she said, her voice mild.
‘You promised to leave them there?’ I said, horrified.
She pulled her phone out of her jeans’ pocket, speed-dialled, and looked at the screen. My father appeared on it.
‘Talk to her, she’s being stupid,’ she said, and handed the phone to me.
‘Did anything happen?’ I asked him.
‘No. The Demon King hasn’t come back and the guards haven’t moved. From what we’re hearing, he’s busy in the Celestial Palace, putting human soldiers everywhere, rounding up the population, and executing every Immortal he finds.’
‘Has he found Martin?’ Leo said.
My father hesitated, then said, ‘I’m sorry, Leo.’
‘No,’ Leo said, and wheeled himself away.
‘It’ll be a while before he bothers with us. He’s busy consolidating his control and killing all the Immortals,’ my father said. ‘The Mountain students are too junior for him to worry about.’
‘I must be there when the King discovers that Jen and Amanda are gone,’ I said.
‘You are here,’ he said. ‘Well, you were. Greg made himself look like you, and a demon with a really weird face came through, took Greg, and they cut his head off. The King thinks you’re in Hell, so stay away and start organising the Resistance. Don’t you dare go down without a fight. Gather as many people as you can and start harassing the Demon King so we can win the Heavens back.’
‘Fight him, Emma,’ my mother said from behind my father. ‘There aren’t many Immortals left who are free agents, and you and Simone are two of them.’
Mark came up behind her and nodded into the screen.
‘So use your brains and Simone’s muscles and start working on a way to win this back for us,’ my mother finished.
‘I have an agreement with the King —’
My father cut me off. ‘I don’t care if he owns your soul. He won’t kill us; he wants us for our genetic material. He won’t torture us if we cooperate. He thinks you’re in Hell; and he’s stuck here consolidating his rule in Heaven, so he won’t know for a while that it’s really Greg. So stay away and start looking for ways to fight back. You were somehow mentally joined with John, so use his experience and start fighting back.’
‘We love you, sweetheart,’ my mother said. ‘Now go and fight that bastard and win the Heavens back.’
‘Get him,’ David growled, and the screen cut off.
Leo wheeled himself into the room with a duffel bag on his lap. Er Hao stood next to him, holding Buffy’s hand.
Simone took her phone back and quickly flipped through it. She studied a variety of things for nearly five minutes and I grew impatient.
‘What —’
‘I’m not checking my Facebook, if that’s what you think,’ she said. ‘Found one.’ She looked up at Leo. ‘I’ll be right back.’ She disappeared.
‘Oh, she’s finding a flight for you,’ I said, and summoned Dark Heavens. I turned to the door to defend it.
‘Ma’am,’ Er Hao said quietly as she came up behind me.
‘Did you pack for yourself? It will be cold in Chicago,’ I said.
‘I cannot go. It is too far from my Centre,’ she said. ‘I am too small, so leave me here and I will slow them down.’
‘Not happening,’ I said.
‘Please.’ She lowered her voice. ‘I cannot go with the family. I beg you, destroy me now so that they will not find me.’
‘We’ll hide you somewhere else,’ I said.
‘Ma’am,’ she began, but Simone’s reappearance cut her off.
‘All three of you to the centre of the room,’ Simone said. Freddo appeared next to the windows. ‘Buffy on Freddo, and Leo and Er Hao with me.’
‘I cannot go, Princess,’ Er Hao said. ‘It is too far from my Centre.’ She closed her eyes. ‘Destroy me now so they cannot take me.’
‘Come back and take Er Hao somewhere else,’ Freddo said. He tossed his head. ‘More demons coming, Simmony.’
Er Hao faced the door. ‘I will hold them off. You go.’
Simone took my shoulder and the Peak apartment disappeared.
* * *
We reappeared on the second floor of a mouldy deserted concrete building with the wind whistling through it. The ceiling had fallen in, and a dead dog lay on a rotting couch nearby, its corpse so desiccated it no longer smelled. Large smashed windows overlooked a dry overgrown swimming pool and a tennis court, then a narrow beach and the flat ocean on the other side of a high chain-link fence.
‘Sea Ranch?’ I said.
‘I’ll be right back.’ She disappeared.
I picked my way through the fallen masonry to sit on the ground next to the broken windows, wrapping my hands around my knees.
Only accessible by boat from the rest of Hong Kong, Sea Ranch had been an attempt to build a millionaires’ enclave, with a luxurious clubhouse and low-rise buildings with spacious apartments facing the ocean. But the project had died, and most of the apartments were now used for weekend rentals to kids who came to play mah jongg, make barbecues on the beach and indulge in the rare chance to have sex in privacy. During the week the mouldering development was deserted, except for a few diehard original investors who refused to leave their expensive tumbledown condominiums.
I pulled my phone out and checked my messages. None.
I opened my social media pages and everybody was sharing questions about the status of the Heavens, until a post by Gold that read:
Gold McGolderson: Everybody go dark. Get off social media and throw away your phones. You can be tracked through your posts, and even if your GPS is off, your location is easily triangulated through the cellular network. They’re
breaking into my Celestial network as well. I’m trying to keep them out but it’s only a matter of time. Every post you put up here will be a marker to where you are. Once they’re into the network they’ll be able to hack into your phone’s GPS and find you. If you’re free, throw your phone away, disconnect all your electronics, and stay very quiet.
The social media pages after that were deserted.
I hesitated, looking at my phone, then placed it on the ground next to me and blasted it with energy. When the heat hit the battery it exploded, producing a cloud of foul-smelling smoke.
Simone reappeared and sat on the ground next to me. ‘Leo and Buffy will be in America tomorrow.’ She saw the remains of my phone. ‘What did you do?’
‘Blew my phone up. Gold says we can be tracked by them and we need to get rid of them.’
‘Even his specials?’
‘They’re taking over his network,’ I said.
Simone pulled her phone out and stared at it. ‘How will we contact each other in an emergency?’ she said as she put it on the carpet.
‘Telepathy.’
‘Yours isn’t terribly reliable.’
She blasted the phone with shen energy and it burst into a blinding white flame.
‘What did you do about Er Hao?’ I said. ‘Is she safe?’
‘I parked her in one of the tunnels in Western, where Martin hid me all that time ago. She’s dormant. I don’t think anyone except me and Martin know where they are.’
‘Thank you,’ I said with relief. ‘Now what do we do?’
‘Do you have any ideas?’
‘Take me back to the Mountain,’ I said.
‘I can’t. I promised. We need to find a place here on the Earthly to set up a centre of operations and do what your family said — start the Resistance. So where can we go? Do you have any ideas?’
‘The Mountain,’ I said.
‘Emma, I promised.’
I turned away to look out the window.
‘We can’t stay here. If they tracked our phones, this was our last location,’ Simone said. She rose. ‘I’ll go find a deserted village. We can start from there.’
‘It won’t be sealed,’ I said. ‘The Earthly is infested with demons and they’ll be able to come straight in. We need to find somewhere sealed so we can sleep at night.’