I sagged with relief. ‘Oh, they saw the
snake
. I thought they saw
me
.’
‘That would cause mass panic as well,’ Leo said dryly, putting his arm on my back to guide me out. ‘Come and have a look. You’re a celebrity. You were even on the television, but we weren’t quick enough to tape it for you.’
‘Are you okay, Leo?’ I whispered as he closed the door behind us on John and the Tiger. ‘You’re not too freaked?’
‘About you being a snake?’ Leo said. ‘Or about this demon thing?’
‘Everything.’
‘Simone is okay,’ Leo said.
I understood.
I parked the car at a meter near the vacant lot. I walked up to the fence and studied it. I looked around. Nobody nearby.
‘Try walking right through,’ the stone said. ‘Don’t go over. Concentrate. Make yourself permeable. I will supervise. When I give the word, gently push your hand through the fence.’
I concentrated on making myself, as the stone had said,
permeable
.
‘Try,’ the stone whispered. ‘Just your hand.’
I retained my concentration and put my hand on the fence. I could feel the fence, but I could easily push my hand through the wire.
It was agony. The pain was indescribable. I did my best to retain my concentration and slowly pulled my hand back out.
‘You are not there yet,’ the stone said. ‘Well done. Many others would have lost their concentration at the pain and lost their hand in the fence.’
‘You just nearly cost me my hand,’ I said. ‘There are no energy healers left at the Academy, just me, and I don’t think I’d be capable of fixing something as major as that.’
‘You are quite correct, Lady Emma. Please accept my apologies,’ the stone said. ‘I will, in future, be more careful.’
‘Good,’ I said, took three steps back and jumped over the fence, somersaulting at the top and floating down the other side to land lightly on my feet. My snake track was visible in the soft dirt and I followed it to the back of the lot. The King’s phone was on the ground in the tall grass. I jammed it into my pocket.
‘You were hoping I wouldn’t remember it, weren’t you?’ I said as I walked back to the fence. A Chinese couple strolled past on the other side of the street but didn’t see me. I waited for them to go.
I do not like to think of what would happen to you if you were to use that phone,
the stone said silently into my ear.
The King obviously has plans for you, and they may not be pleasant or honourable. I hate to think what he could do to you if you went to him.
‘That is totally unimportant,’ I whispered. ‘What is important is that Simone is safe. And it’s looking more and more like I may have to use it.’
Please be warned, Emma, you should only use it as a last resort,
the stone said.
For you, death may be a preferable option to Hell.
That stopped me. ‘Same thing, isn’t it?’
The stone didn’t say anything.
I took three steps back and jumped over the fence again. I returned to my car.
‘What happens to me if I go to Hell is of no importance whatsoever,’ I said. ‘If I go, Simone will be
safe, and the King will free me when Xuan Wu returns. That’s what matters.’
The stone remained silent. I pulled myself into the car to go home. I checked the clock. Dinnertime.
‘Does he know I came to get the phone?’ I said.
‘Yes,’ the stone said. ‘He’s as worried as I am.’
I sighed and turned the key. I pulled away from the kerb and headed home.
N
a Zha wanted to see the new demons as well. The Tiger came too, and brought Michael.
Na Zha was obviously intimidated by John’s presence. He’d toned down his appearance and appeared as a Chinese of about seventeen, wearing a plain T-shirt and a pair of cargo shorts.
Leo took Simone out to a playground slightly higher on the Peak, and the rest of us sat around the dining table together.
I put the ring on the table and the room expanded and contracted. We were in the living room. Simone and I were playing a board game on the coffee table with Helen.
‘Were you awake when Kitty collected Helen from the school?’ I said.
The scene shifted and we were on the long outdoor corridor outside the classrooms at the school.
‘This where you go to school?’ the Tiger said.
‘Yep,’ Michael said.
Na Zha made some derisive noises but didn’t say anything.
Kitty was there, holding Helen’s hand. Michael and I were standing in front of them, studying Helen.
John approached Kitty and touched her hand. ‘Human. All the way through. He hasn’t done anything at all to her.’
‘On the plane she bossed One Two Two around,’ I said. ‘It sounded like he actually took orders from her.’
‘She doesn’t know any other way of talking to people except to give orders,’ John said, crouching to study little Helen. ‘It’s probably more like a partnership of equals. I’d say that they detest each other, but stay together because it’s a beneficial union for both of them.’
‘Wonder if he screws her,’ the Tiger said, and I thumped him on the arm. ‘What?’
‘Is that all you ever think about, Ah Bai?’ John said with resignation as he touched Helen’s head.
‘Good coming from you,’ the Tiger said.
‘Cut it out, you two,’ I said. ‘Helen. Well?’
‘Human,’ John said. ‘Slightly larger than a normal human inside, because she is half fox spirit, but that is all. Have a look.’
The others all touched Helen’s head then stepped back.
‘Would you like to go back to the apartment?’ the stone said. It had appeared behind us again in its European human form.
‘So that’s what you look like,’ Michael said.
‘No, I’m square and green,’ the stone said, and the scene shifted back to Simone, myself and Helen playing Monopoly in the living room.
‘Take it forward to the demon and the Snake Mother,’ John said, lightly touching Helen’s head. ‘We’ve already seen inside Helen.
No
!
Wait
!’
The scene had started to shift and it snapped back.
‘This is not the same little girl,’ John said. ‘This is a demon copy.’
The other Immortals moved forward to study Helen.
John’s eyes burned. ‘I had this creature in my house for half a day. It walked right in through my seals. And I was absolutely unaware.’
‘You never touched her, or came close to her,’ I said.
‘We must show this to Simone when she returns, so that she can recognise them as well,’ John said.
‘This is getting really heavy,’ the Tiger said softly.
‘Is that why Kitty made such a performance at the school?’ I said. ‘To make us have Helen over so they could check if we could sense that she was a copy?’
‘Obviously,’ John said. ‘The stone turtle was probably a diversion, to make us think that it was the point of the exercise.’
‘We signed a death sentence for her mother when we paid her a visit,’ I said. ‘I wonder where Helen is now.’
‘It’s obvious where she is now,’ John said. ‘I am appalled by this demon’s behaviour towards children. I have never seen its like before. It must be destroyed. I’ve half a mind to call the King and talk to him about it, negotiate something.’
‘The King offered to swap me for Wong,’ I said softly. ‘How about I use the phone and call him? With Wong out of the picture you won’t have to worry about Simone.’
John gazed at me, his face expressionless. ‘You said that you would only use the phone if I went down, or if Simone was in real danger.’
‘Yes, I did. But we were under attack when I said it.’
His face didn’t shift. ‘I hold you to your word, as a woman of honour, Emma Donahoe.’
‘You could release me from my word,’ I said.
He was silent.
‘Okay,’ I said, turning away. ‘April.’
The scene shifted again. We were inside the training room. I was facing the Mother.
‘Backtrack to when she was April,’ I said.
I was facing April. ‘Let me see.’ I touched her head. ‘As far as I can see, this is my human friend.’
John came next to me and touched April’s head. He concentrated. ‘Fascinating. Ah Bai, Michael, Ah Na Zha, come and look at this.’
The other three came, and John moved so that they could touch April. All of them concentrated intensely.
‘I see her as human,’ Michael said.
‘So do I,’ the Tiger said.
‘Nothing demonic about her,’ Na Zha said, sounding bewildered. ‘And she changed into a
Mother
?’
‘Show us,’ John said.
Wong appeared, kissed her; April went rigid, then changed.
‘Holy shit,’ I said softly. ‘The taste of the blood makes her change.’ I suddenly found it extremely difficult to breathe and I grabbed John’s arm. ‘Oh my God.’
John wrapped his arm around me and gave me a squeeze.
‘But you said it’s not April, stone,’ I said.
‘I have seen your friend before and this is not her,’ the stone said. ‘This is not the same person that you stopped on the street in Causeway Bay.’
‘The stone is quite correct, Emma,’ John said. ‘Two entirely different creatures.’ He gave me another squeeze.
‘Let’s see the one on the street then,’ I said. ‘Wait, let me look at this one first.’
‘We should all look at this interesting creature,’ John said, and moved forward to touch the April Mother. Everybody crowded around and studied it. Then they shared a look and backed away.
‘I thought they could only come in one at a time,’ I said.
‘That is correct,’ John said.
‘Well?’
‘It appears human. As far as the seals were concerned, only one demon came in. This is extremely disturbing.’ John nodded without turning.
The scene shifted. We were with April on the street. There was such a crowd of people on the pavement that we had trouble finding places to stand.
The Immortals and Michael moved to touch April. I did too. We crowded around her.
‘This is a normal human being,’ Na Zha said. ‘This is all mixed up. Copies, and demons, and humans, it’s all a big mess. Shit.’
‘Take us out,’ John said.
We sat around the table and studied each other in silence.
‘So. He has access to a half fox child, Helen, and he’s made a demon copy of her that is almost undetectable,’ I said, recapping to get the facts straight in my head. ‘He hasn’t done anything to Kitty Kwok. My friend April: he has her baby. And he’s made a copy of her that turns into a Mother when it tastes blood.’ I took a deep breath. ‘The same way I turn into a snake when
I
taste blood.’
‘You’re gonna be ordered in, Xuan Tian,’ Na Zha said with grim certainty. ‘If the Demon King’s not doing anything about it, the Celestial’s gonna want somebody to make a move, and you’ve got the army to take the bastard down. It’s obvious where this is headed, and we can’t let it go for much longer. Look at these things. Demons and humans mixed together. It’s just not right.’
‘No,’ John said with finality. ‘I will not leave Simone.’
‘He won’t send his Elite Guard in after what happened on the Mountain,’ Na Zha said. ‘That was the Demon King’s army we faced on the Mountain, and
the Guard were cut to pieces. It’ll be you and the Thirty-Six.’
‘What’ll you do if he orders you in, Ah Wu?’ the Tiger said softly.
John didn’t say anything. He studied his hands. His eyes blazed.
‘Disobeying an order like that
will
get you thrown,’ the Tiger said.
‘If the Celestial can provide someone who can guard Simone and Emma I will consider it,’ John said. ‘I will not leave them undefended.’
‘You know exactly what he’ll say, Ah Wu,’ the Tiger said.
‘
The soft and weak overcomes the hard and strong
,’ John said. ‘That’s all very well to say, but this is my daughter and my Lady that we’re talking about here.’
‘Whoa,’ Na Zha said.
‘Holy shit,’ the Tiger said. ‘Have
you
been spending altogether too much goddamn time human. I cannot believe you just said that.’
‘I will not leave them undefended,’ John said. ‘Dismissed. Ah Bai, report. Ah Na Zha, I’d appreciate your cooperation in not travelling too far.’
I shot to my feet. ‘No! Wait.’
Everybody hesitated. I pushed my chair back and moved away from the table. ‘Na Zha, Tiger, please come here.’
Neither of them moved.
‘Please come and look at me.’
They remained unmoving.
‘Tell them, John.’
‘Do it,’ John said wearily. ‘She won’t rest until she’s sure that she’s not the same thing.’
‘I’ve seen inside you before, Emma, and you are not the same thing,’ the Tiger said gently. ‘You are something completely different.’
I returned to the table and leaned on it. ‘Are you absolutely sure?’
‘Yes.’
‘The Dragon saw a heart of pure monstrous darkness in me,’ I said.
‘Then in that respect you are a perfectly normal human female,’ the Tiger said. He saluted John. ‘My Lord. By your leave.’ He disappeared.
‘Dude,’ Na Zha said, and disappeared.
‘What did he call me?’ John said, turning to Michael and me.
‘Equivalent to “most honoured old and dear friend”,’ Michael said.
‘I think you are stretching the truth slightly, Michael,’ John said. ‘But right now we don’t have time to worry about it. Let’s get Leo and Simone back, and show the demon to Simone. I would also like to ask you, Emma, to reconsider your position on leaving Simone in school. There is only one capable Celestial remaining to defend her if necessary.’
‘I’ll talk to Simone about it anyway,’ I said. ‘I’m beginning to wonder myself. This is getting very bad.’
We made the announcement to the students first thing the next morning. They waited for me in the training room, sober and sad. First years, second years, third years—as many as I could fit in one room.
‘Are you okay, ma’am?’ Monique said.
I waved her down. ‘I’m fine. You know what happened?’
They all nodded, very serious.
‘Okay. Please take a seat on the mats, the Dark Lord has something to say to you about this.’
I checked my watch; he would be starting. I fell to sit cross-legged as well.
Just waiting for one more group to be ready. Okay.
The students all stiffened as John spoke into their heads.
You all know that we lost a great many of the Masters in the last attack. We also lost ten of the best seniors, eight of whom were ready to be promoted. Frankly, we have nobody left to teach you, save myself, Emma, Leo and the three remaining Celestials. Six of us can’t teach six hundred students.
Sofie sobbed once quietly.
We have to close the school, Disciples. This is as difficult for me as it is for you. The Arts are more than my life; they are my existence, my essence, my reason for being.
Monique handed Sofie a tissue and the girls hugged each other.
We will arrange for all of you to be sent home. I know that some of the seniors have nowhere else to go, so can stay if they wish—
There was silence for a while.
Okay, okay, calm down, not all at once. Those seniors who have nowhere else to go can definitely stay. We will provide for you; don’t be concerned about that. This isn’t about funds; this is about your safety. Without the Celestials we cannot guarantee it.
There was complete silence.
But rest assured that after the Celestials have returned, and this demon has been removed from the picture, the Academy will restart. Emma can handle it—I have complete faith in her. The Masters will return, and you will too.
‘How long?’ Joe whispered.
Somebody here in my senior class just asked me how long. I am not supposed to tell you this, but I will anyway. It is August now. It will take three to four months for the Celestials to return; do not ask where they are or what they are doing. So by the end of this
year, or early next year, we will be restarting. Take a break. Have a holiday with your families. Perhaps the more senior Disciples can return to your homes and teach. We will have you back when the situation has improved—
Okay, okay, seniors can stay if they have to…Sakamoto, if you don’t shut up I
will
send you home…Good.
There was complete silence.
I was just asked how long I have.
I dropped my head into my hands. Somebody came and put their arm around me. I looked up; it was Kathy, one of the American juniors. She smiled weakly at me. A few other students gathered around to comfort me.
As soon as you are all safe at home I will see the Lady. After that I will probably have three or four months myself, no more.
‘Oh my God, I didn’t know that,’ I whispered. ‘He’s due already. No.’
Kathy gave me a squeeze and one of the other students patted my shoulder.
Sorry, Emma. I should have told you. But the needs of the students always come first, you know that, and they have the right to know.
Monique and Sofie clutched each other and wept silently together.
The seniors will arrange the transportation. It is best that you leave as soon as possible—it simply isn’t safe for you here. Go home. We will bring you back when it is safe for you to return.
That is all. Dismissed.
I gently shook Kathy off, squeezed her hand, and rose. I didn’t look behind me as I went out and called the lift. The entire Academy was eerily silent.
I took the lift to the top floor, went into my office
and sat behind my desk. I moved a few papers around and absently checked my email. I felt completely empty.
Then it was as if a circus arrived outside my door. There was a huge commotion in the hall; people shouting. I raced to the door and threw it open; the entire lobby was full of clamouring students.