Red Phoenix

  ‘Okay then,’ the teacher said briskly, ‘I’ll put you next to a little girl who already did a year here in the preparatory class, and she can help you. Is that okay?’

  Simone nodded, eyes still wide.

  ‘Do you remember about Simone?’ I said to the teacher.

  ‘No, what?’ the teacher said, obviously trying to recall any medical problems.

  I leaned over to speak quietly in her ear. ‘She has a guard stationed downstairs in the car park at all times. Either Leo, who’s outside waiting, or myself. She’s a kidnapping target; she’s already had a few attempts on her. Sorry.’ I grinned an apology. ‘But while we’re downstairs, she’ll be fine.’

  ‘I remember,’ the teacher said, studying me appraisingly. ‘Mrs Nelson told me about you.’ She smiled. ‘Well, I don’t need to worry about any terrorist attacks or anything while you’re downstairs. How did you get into the bodyguard business?’

  ‘I can honestly say that I had absolutely no intention of ever being one,’ I said. ‘I’m really just a nanny with some extra training. When your ward is a target, you learn quickly.’

  ‘I suppose you do.’ The teacher glanced down at Simone, who was talking quietly to the girl next to her. ‘Who’s the other bodyguard?’

  I opened my mouth to ask Simone to call Leo in, then stopped and mentally kicked myself. Damn, she was better at this normal stuff than I was.

  ‘You can’t miss him,’ I said. ‘He’s huge and black. Really nice guy. His name’s Leo. He’ll be downstairs in the car park. Simone knows who he is.’

  The teacher shrugged. ‘Lot of trouble to go to when she has all these kids around her. But if your boss wants to waste his money, that’s his business.’

  I laughed softly. ‘You’re exactly right.’ I watched Simone briefly. ‘I think I’m okay to go now. Can I leave you my mobile number just in case?’

  ‘Sure.’ The teacher gestured towards her desk, and I wrote my and Leo’s mobile numbers onto a piece of paper.

  ‘Call either of us if anything suspicious happens,’ I said, and she nodded.

  ‘You don’t look like a bodyguard. You armed?’ she said quietly.

  ‘No, and really, I’m just a nanny,’ I said and left it at that. If I mentioned the martial arts then I could be roped in to giving a demonstration, or, even worse, teaching children at the school, and I had quite enough of teaching at the Academy.

  ‘Bye,’ I said to the teacher, and she nodded and smiled a reply, then rushed to sort out a couple of kids who were arguing over a seat.

  Simone didn’t notice me; she was busy talking to her new friend about the meals provided by the school cafeteria. I knelt so that I was at her level. ‘I’m going now, sweetheart, okay?’

  ‘Okay, Emma,’ Simone said. ‘I’ll be fine.’

  ‘Both of us are downstairs today,’ I said softly. ‘And Michael is up on the fifth floor.’

  ‘I’ll be fine, Emma.’ Simone tilted her head and smiled cheekily at me. She waved me away. ‘You go.’ She turned back to her friend, ignoring me. I went out.

  The year tens were clustered around a set of lockers outside one of the classrooms. Inside the room, the teacher was allocating lockers and telling the kids how to open them. There was less chaos here, so all three of us approached.

  There was a stunned silence when we entered and everybody saw Leo, but it didn’t last long and the loud conversations recommenced.

  I took Michael to see the teacher.

  ‘This is Michael MacLaren, he’s new,’ I said. ‘Can you tell us what we need to do?’

  ‘I’m Jason Taylor, the Year Ten homeroom teacher,’ he said, shaking my hand strongly. He looked at Michael. ‘Weren’t you told about dyeing your hair?’

  I cut in before Michael needed to. ‘I can guarantee that his hair is its natural colour, Mr Taylor,’ I said. ‘Could you let the other teachers know, please?’

  The teacher smiled at me. ‘Sure. Are you his mother?’

  ‘No, I’m the nanny. And this is the driver.’ I gestured to Leo, and the teacher nodded to him, unfazed. ‘Could you sort Michael out for us, please? His little cousin is downstairs in the first grade—it’s her first day too and I want to make sure that she’s okay.’

  ‘Let me handle everything, I’ll have Michael here fixed up in a jiffy.’ The teacher gestured to Michael. ‘Come with me, young Michael, let’s get you organised. Are you half-Chinese?’

  Michael and the teacher went out to the lockers, chatting amiably. Leo and I shared a smile.

  I quickly checked on Simone again as we went back down to the car. She was with a group of little girls who were comparing pencil cases, and didn’t even see me. The teacher saw me, gave me a wave and a smile, and gestured that Simone was okay.

  Leo and I settled ourselves in the car. The children were all in school now and it was quiet. Nobody went in or out. The guards sat around the guard station and chatted in Cantonese and Tagalog.

  I opened the laptop on the back seat, pulled out the budgeting spreadsheets and started going through the figures. I had two sets: the real ones and the figures for my thesis. The real figures didn’t include salaries for most of the staff, who were demons.

  Leo sat comfortably in the driver’s seat and rustled the newspaper against the steering wheel.

  I felt it before I saw it. I jerked up from the spreadsheets and saw it come into the car park. High level, but alone. Not a prince. Looked like an ordinary Chinese workman, in dirty white trousers, a torn T-shirt and filthy canvas shoes.

  There’s a demon downstairs, Simone said into my ear.

  Neither of us could talk back to her. We both swung into action together. Leo threw the newspaper onto the seat next to him, pulled off his reading glasses and dropped them on top of the paper. We slammed the car doors behind us and walked quickly over to intercept the demon. Paul, the head guard, smiled at us. Then he saw us walking threateningly towards the demon and his smile disappeared.

  The demon saw us coming and stopped. It faced us. It watched us for a while.

  We stopped about two metres away from it. Both of us folded our arms and stood quietly, waiting for it to make a move.

  It smiled tightly at us, spun, and walked out of the school grounds.

  As we went back to the car, Leo held out his hand and I tapped it lightly with my fingertips.

  We returned to our spreadsheet and newspaper without saying a word.

  Demon’s gone, Simone said into my ear. There was nothing for a while, then, I’m sitting next to a really nice girl, her name is Helen. She has a new puppy and wants to invite me to her house to see it.

  Leo sighed gently, turned the page of the newspaper, and shook it flat over the steering wheel.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

  Two Saturdays later I was in my office at the Academy when there was a knock at the door. ‘Come in.’

  Leo came in, holding a piece of paper, his face rigid with emotion. He sat down across my desk from me. ‘What’s the matter?’

  He dropped the piece of paper in front of me. United States Internal Revenue. I turned it around so that I could read it, then glanced sharply at Leo.

  ‘Hasn’t Jade been handling this?’

  ‘Apparently she screwed up,’ Leo said miserably. ‘Look at it, Emma.’

  Leo was overdue with his taxes. Seriously overdue. US citizens had to pay taxes to the United States on any overseas earnings.

  ‘Why are you coming to me?’

  ‘Jade’s not around anywhere. Mr Chen is teaching.’ Leo sounded desperate. ‘I got a subpoena. They want me back in the States. I am in serious trouble. What am I going to do?’

  ‘Wait,’ I said, and pressed the intercom button.

  ‘Yes, my Lady?’

  ‘Get me the Golden Boy, please, Gamma.’

  ‘He’s on his way, ma’am.’ Gold came in and sat with us.

  ‘Look at this,’ I said, and slid the paper across the desk.

  Gold picked it up and stud
ied it. ‘Oh, my.’ ‘I got a subpoena,’ Leo said.

  Gold eyed Leo over the paper. ‘You are in serious trouble, my friend.’

  Leo put his head in his hands. ‘Oh my God.’

  Gold patted him on the shoulder. ‘I should be able to fix it so you get minimal jail time,’ he said. ‘Don’t worry.’ He smiled. ‘You should have no trouble in a US prison anyway, you can defend yourself.’

  Leo’s head shot up. ‘Prison?’ His face went blank when he saw the smile on Gold’s face. He turned to me.

  I couldn’t hold it any more. I tittered.

  Leo saw the broad grin on Gold’s face. He looked from one of us to the other for a while, speechless. Then he stormed out without saying a word.

  Both Gold and I collapsed over the desk laughing.

  ‘Thanks, Gold,’ I wheezed.

  ‘Not a problem, my Lady,’ Gold said. ‘But I’m not getting involved in this any more. I’ll end up in two pieces.’

  Later that evening John tapped on my bedroom door. ‘Emma.’

  It was quite late, and I wondered what he wanted. ‘Come on in.’

  John opened the door carefully, leaned around it, smiled and came in.

  ‘Simone really enjoyed her day at the Academy,’ he said. ‘That was a great idea to bring her down on Saturdays.’

  ‘It was Meredith’s idea,’ I said. ‘She wanted the chance to teach Simone some energy work, and now all of the Celestials are lining up. They said they don’t usually get the chance to teach someone so young and talented.’

  I glanced at the computer screen, and sighed.

  ‘You need to take a break from that thesis, Emma, and you need to decide that it’s finished. Otherwise you’ll be working on it for the rest of your life.’

  I ran my hands through my hair. ‘I’m not happy with the introduction, and the sheets could be better.’

  He sat on the sofa across from my desk. ‘Let me have a look at it. I might be able to help you.’

  ‘No way! I’m doing this myself!’

  He raised his hands. ‘Suit yourself.’

  I pushed the keyboard to one side and looked at him pointedly. He sat placidly without speaking.

  ‘Do you want something?’ I said. ‘Or did you just come in here to watch me work?’

  ‘Do you mind?’ he said serenely. ‘I like to watch others work.’

  I pulled the keyboard back to me. ‘Suit yourself.’

  He laughed gently and ran his hand over his face, then tied back his wayward hair. ‘Zhu Que would like to drop by with her chicks. Is Monday after school okay?’

  I pushed the keyboard away again with delight. ‘That’s wonderful! They hatched? How many did she have?’ I stopped and stared at him with horror. ‘Will they damage the apartment?’

  ‘I hope not,’ he said. ‘When she brought her last brood they only slightly singed the carpet.’

  ‘Have a fire extinguisher nearby just in case,’ I said grimly. I brightened; I was looking forward to seeing the babies. ‘Monday will be fine.’

  ‘Good.’ He pulled himself gracefully off the sofa and went to the door. He opened the door. ‘Oh, nearly forgot.’ He smiled slightly and reached into the pocket of his cotton pants. ‘Here.’ He tossed me a small video camera tape.

  He turned to the door, then turned back to me. ‘I didn’t know you could do that,’ he said, his voice full of wonder. Then he flung himself through the door and closed it quietly behind him.

  I looked at the tape. It had at least an hour of recording on it. Yes! Time to lock the door of my room and enjoy the company of my man the only way we could.

  ‘Is Aunty Zhu here yet?’ Simone yelled as we went through the front door and kicked off our shoes.

  ‘We’re in the training room,’ Leo shouted back.

  Simone raced down the hallway and into the training room. She squealed with delight. Michael and I shared an amused look and followed her.

  Zhu Que must have materialised the table and chairs that were set up in one corner of the room, covered in tea things. She and John sat there together. Leo sat cross-legged on the floor with the chicks. Simone was on her knees, looking at them with round-eyed delight.

  Each chick was as big as a medium-sized dog. All three had little round furry bodies without visible wings, rust-coloured with darker horizontal stripes across their backs. One of them rose to approach Simone, but the other two hung back near Leo.

  ‘Hello,’ Simone said softly to the chick.

  ‘Hello,’ the chick said, its little head bobbing sideways on its long neck. ‘What’s your name?’

  ‘Simone. What’s yours?’

  The chick glanced at Zhu Que. She smiled warmly. It turned back to Simone. ‘I’m the Biggest.’

  ‘I’m the Littlest,’ one of the other chicks quickly piped up.

  ‘I’m Middle. We get proper names later,’ the third chick announced proudly. It turned its head on its graceful neck to face Leo. ‘Finish the story, Uncle Leo.’

  The Biggest chick that had been talking to Simone returned to sit next to its siblings, bending its long legs underneath it. Simone followed it and sat with them.

  ‘I don’t remember where I was,’ Leo said with a gentle smile.

  ‘The Big Bad Wolf had just come up to the two little pigs in the House of Sticks,’ the Middle chick said. ‘What happened next, Uncle Leo?’

  I went to the table and sat with John and Zhu Que. John poured some tea for me. Michael hesitated at the doorway, unsure.

  ‘Go and do your homework if you like, Michael. Or you can stay with us if you want,’ I said.

  Michael nodded without saying a word, saluted us carefully, and went out.

  Zhu Que nodded respectfully to me. ‘My Lady.’

  I waved her down. ‘No need for that, Zhu Que, we’re all family here,’ I said. ‘It was a good idea bringing them in here; they won’t be able to do much damage if one of them goes off.’

  Zhu Que smiled affectionately at the babies. ‘This is a particularly good clutch. Not a single one of them has burst into flames at any of the places we have visited.’ Her smile disappeared. ‘Lord Xuan tells me that apart from a single isolated attack at the school, things have been relatively peaceful in the last few weeks.’

  I sighed. ‘It’s been absolutely wonderful.’

  John nodded agreement. ‘I just wish I knew what was up.’

  Zhu Que nodded as well. ‘Why did they attack you twice so far from their centre, and then stop when you returned? Even the King going so far from the Eastern Centre is remarkable. Did you request the Lady?’

  John shook his head, his face grim. ‘I can handle it,’ he said, a very fine, fierce edge to his voice.

  ‘We don’t want to put Kwan Yin in any sort of danger unless we absolutely have to,’ I said with a similar edge. I changed the subject, gesturing towards Simone where she sat with the chicks, listening to Leo with rapt attention. ‘Simone has started weapons. Her energy skills are remarkable. She’s only been doing weapons for a few weeks, and she can already use her little training sword to throw chi.’

  ‘She can destroy level ten demons with her Inner Eye, and level twenty with her bare hands. She’ll be ready for a real sword very soon,’ John said with satisfaction.

  Zhu Que studied Simone. ‘She is your first human child, my Lord, is that correct?’

  John nodded silently.

  Zhu Que appeared to get the message even though she wasn’t looking at him. She turned back to us. ‘You should have done this a long time ago. Her skills at such a young age rival those of the Third Prince.’

  ‘They exceed his. I remember. She will be more powerful than Na Zha when she is mature,’ he said.

  Zhu Que smiled. ‘Don’t mention his name too much, my Lord. You know how vain he is—he’ll be knocking on your front door demanding a test of skills with her.’

  ‘I agree,’ I said. ‘You know how I feel about the Third Prince.’

  ‘I don’t know why everybody has
such a problem with him,’ John said mildly, and both Zhu Que and I snorted with derision. ‘He is the best demon-destroyer on the Celestial short of me.’

  ‘Don’t forget the graffiti he sprayed on the roof of Hennessy Road,’ I said. ‘That took Jade ages to clean off. Has his own tag and everything, the little…’ I swallowed what I was about to say. ‘…Celestial Worthy.’

  Both John and the Phoenix laughed softly.

  ‘Now I know how some of that graffiti gets in such unusual places,’ Zhu Que said. ‘I thought that they would have to fly to spray it there, and now I know: they do.’

  ‘How old is he anyway?’ I said. ‘He always looks so young.’

  ‘He was present during the Shang-Zhou, was he not?’ Zhu Que said.

  ‘Yes,’ John said. ‘Probably about three thousand, give or take a century.’

  ‘Why does he look like a teenager then?’ I said.

  ‘His essence is youth,’ John said.

  ‘Will he ever grow up?’ I said. ‘He hasn’t pointlessly killed anything recently, he’s mostly stuck to demons. Why did he kill that Dragon Prince anyway?’

  ‘He was young. It was there. He could do it. Usually that’s enough for him,’ John said.

  We all paused to watch Leo finish telling the story. Simone and the chicks sat wide-eyed and rapt. Zhu Que sighed with contentment.

  ‘Can they take human form yet, Phoenix?’ I said.

  Zhu Que nodded. ‘For short periods. Biggest and Littlest are boys. Middle is a girl.’

  ‘I’ll go and find some Lego for them to play with when Leo finishes his story,’ I said. ‘If they can take human form, it will be easy for them to handle.’

  ‘Good idea,’ John said.

  I went into Simone’s room and selected some Lego pieces, then returned to the training room. The chicks had never seen Lego before and they studied it curiously. Simone showed them how to put the bricks together. Leo sat to one side, the fire extinguisher at hand just in case.

  The chicks transformed into little round Chinese children of about three years old, wearing old-fashioned cotton jackets and pants. They dug their chubby hands into the Lego and talked cheerfully with Simone as they made things together.