by Kylie Chan
‘Karma’s a bitch, eh?’ he said in their general direction.
We headed up the hill towards the Wellington Street building, passing a couple of noodle shops and a temporary clearance store with piles of socks and underwear tossed into laundry baskets with prices stuck on the front.
Leo stopped first and whistled as he looked up at the building. I looked up too and took a step back.
‘Holy shit,’ Clarissa said quietly.
The entire side of the building, all eleven storeys, was covered in a black spray painted depiction of a snake striking. A circle with a flame rising from it — the fire wheel — was painted in at the bottom right corner.
I pointed at the fire wheel. ‘Na Zha did this. I will take his head off.’
‘Who’s Na Zha?’ Clarissa said.
‘Demigod,’ I said. ‘Spirit of youth. Looks and acts like a teen. He used to be good friends with Michael, but I think Michael outgrew him and they stopped hanging out.’ I stomped to the entrance of the building. ‘And a royal pain in the ass.’
We took the lift up to the first floor.
‘Needs refurbishing,’ Clarissa said.
‘Go right ahead. Ask Jade for the list of preferred contractors,’ I said. The lift doors opened and we went out. I dropped my voice so those inside the lift behind us couldn’t hear. ‘We mostly deal with Earth-based Shen, helping them to keep their cover and make a living here.’
‘There are Shen who live on the Earthly? Why would anyone want to do that?’ Clarissa said as we went down the corridor towards the management office.
‘Some have committed crimes and are in hiding from Celestial justice — we generally don’t deal with them. Others are in hiding from other Shen who have a vendetta against them because of a romantic entanglement. Others are keeping a very low profile because they’ve pissed off a senior Celestial. There’s any number of reasons.’
‘I thought the Celestial Plane was supposed to be perfect, filled with wise and enlightened spirits living in loving harmony,’ she said.
‘That’s the Second Platform,’ I said.
‘You’re not supposed to talk about that,’ Leo said.
I pressed the button to request that the glass office door be unlocked. ‘Yes, sir, Mr Shen, sir, I won’t talk about it at all.’ I smiled at Clarissa as I opened the door. ‘The Second Platform is the higher level of Heaven where the Buddhas live. The Heaven of Perfection and Enlightenment. Our Celestial Plane, where the Immortals and Shen live, is nearly as prone to bad behaviour as the Earthly is.’
‘Is there a book or something about this?’ she said, moving out of the way so Leo could wheel himself into the cramped management office.
‘I’ll see what I can find for you,’ I said. ‘But the answer to your question is: not really.’
‘Stop it,’ Leo said.
‘Sorry,’ I said.
‘Stop what?’ Clarissa said.
‘Sounding like John,’ I said. I leaned on the reception desk to talk to Citrus. ‘Hi, Citrus. I saw the graffiti. This is Clarissa, she’ll be doing the property management and can arrange for it to be removed.’
‘Already arranging,’ Citrus said, glaring at Clarissa. ‘Police are here to talk to you, Emma.’
I straightened. ‘What?’
She gestured with her head towards the tiny meeting room. ‘Policeman in there, wants to talk to you about the snake painting.’
‘Oh, I see,’ I said. ‘They probably want to know if we have a security video of it being done. Clarissa, introduce yourself to Citrus and Feena and get them to show you the files.’ I touched Citrus’s arm. ‘Clarissa’s very good, Citrus, she’s Michael MacLaren’s girlfriend and part of the family.’
‘Michael’s girlfriend?’ Citrus said.
‘That’s right,’ Clarissa said.
Citrus moved closer to Clarissa and spoke softly. ‘You’re lucky.’ Her expression softened to a smile. ‘Let me show you the files.’
‘I’ll hang around out here,’ Leo said.
‘Okay,’ I said, and went into the meeting room. I felt a jolt of dismay when I saw who the policeman was, and tapped the stone in my ring, then held my hand out for the policeman to shake. ‘Hello, Lieutenant Cheung.’
‘Miss Donahoe.’ He gestured towards the other seat at the meeting table and sat himself. ‘Please sit and tell me what happened.’
‘I have no idea,’ I said. ‘I just saw this myself.’
He flipped open a file containing photographs of graffiti from all over town. ‘There is a suggestion that this may be a Triad territorial mark.’ He snapped the folder shut. ‘Tell me, Miss Donahoe, why would the Triads be marking your building in such a large and obvious manner? And why didn’t anyone notice it being done?’
Think quickly, Emma. ‘I don’t think it’s a Triad mark, Lieutenant. I actually have a pretty good idea who did it — his tag is on the bottom. It’s a kid called …’ I furiously tried to think of a name. ‘A kid called Neil; he used to be a friend of the family, and he’s been in trouble a few times.’
‘Neil who?’
‘Uh … Neil Zhou. He —’
He didn’t let me finish. ‘Address?’
‘I have no idea.’
‘But you say he was a friend of the family? You don’t know where he lives? How about a phone number?’
‘We stopped being friends with him about four years ago, mostly because he was so much trouble,’ I said.
‘If you give me a previous address or phone number, we can find him and you can press charges. We take defacement of property seriously, ma’am, and this is particularly bad. We’d very much like to talk to him, and I’m sure you want to help. This will be expensive to remove, and you don’t want it to happen again.’
‘I’m sure it won’t happen again,’ I said.
‘And why is that? Have you spoken to someone? How do you know for sure it won’t happen again?’
I wiped my forehead. I was sweating, even though this wasn’t something I needed to worry about. I had much more pressing business on the Celestial Plane and didn’t really have time to deal with this.
‘I know this kid and he’s a one-off prankster,’ I said.
‘Do you have a security camera?’
‘Yes, but it’s facing outwards in the lobby.’
‘It may show him walking past.’
I deliberately made myself look happier. ‘Yes, it may! What a good idea. How about I get my staff to go through the tapes and see if there’s any of him last night?’
‘Your staff?’
I made my voice deliberately mechanical. ‘Staff employed by the Chen Corporation acting in trust for Miss Simone Chen. It’s easier to just say “my”.’
He glanced down at his folder. ‘You have a really bad attitude, you know that?’
I nearly exploded but bit my tongue. ‘I’ll have the staff go through the tapes, and if we see any video of the young man who did it, I will be in touch. I’ll also go through my records and try to find anything on Neil that we have, an old address or phone number. Michael might know.’
‘Who is Michael?’
I nearly thumped the table with frustration, annoyed at myself. The last thing Michael needed was the police digging up his old Triad involvement.
‘Another friend of the family. One of Simone’s friends from when she was at school. I’ll go through her old school records.’ I rose. ‘Is there anything else I can help you with, sir?’ I didn’t wait for him to reply. ‘Leo, come show the gentleman out, please.’
Leo wheeled himself into the doorway. ‘If you’ll come with me, sir.’
Cheung hesitated for a moment, his face rigid, then followed Leo out the door.
I waited until I saw him safely in the lift through the office’s glass doors before I spoke to Citrus and Clarissa again. ‘Don’t worry about having the graffiti cleaned off. I’m getting the person who did it to clean it for us.’
‘Can you do that?’ Clarissa said.
&nbs
p; ‘Just watch me,’ I growled, and opened the office door. ‘I’m going up to the roof to see how we can arrange this. Stay down here, Clarissa, but call me if anything happens.’
‘I’ll start checking the files,’ Clarissa said.
I waited until we were out in the corridor with the office door shut behind us before I spoke to Leo. ‘Can you talk to Liu?’
Leo’s eyes turned inwards for a moment, then he nodded.
‘Tell Liu that I summon the Third Prince, and he has to get his ass to the top of 15 Wellington Street, Central, in less than five minutes. And that’s an order, as First Heavenly General.’
Leo relayed the message as we walked to the lift.
‘I added that you were on the warpath,’ Leo said.
‘Won’t make any difference to that little asshole,’ I said.
‘Then he’s unique,’ Leo said.
We took the lift up to the top floor, then I unlocked the stairway to the roof. The rooftop was bare concrete stained with mould, the lift mechanism and the large concrete water tank the only features.
Leo looked around. ‘Not even a window-cleaning cradle.’
Na Zha appeared, flying towards us, clouds of mist forming and disappearing around him as he broke the sound barrier. He halted three metres away from the roof, standing on his fire wheels over the road. He was wearing a pair of black skinny jeans and a black tank top, and didn’t even salute me.
I pointed towards the ground. ‘Clean that off. Now.’
‘What?’
I jabbed my finger. ‘That. Get rid of it. The police were here, accusing me of being a Triad member because they thought that was a Triad mark.’
He leaned over to see and grinned broadly. ‘Really? Cool. I wish I’d done it.’
‘They’re on my case constantly because of this bullshit. They may even look Michael up now because I mentioned him. If they go after him, Na Zha, it’s your fault.’
He shrugged. ‘Not my fault, I didn’t do it.’
I stomped to the edge of the roof. ‘I’m giving you an order as First Heavenly General, asshole. Make that go away.’
He grew irate. ‘I didn’t do it — don’t blame me!’ he said, then his face went blank with shock.
Leo shouted, ‘Watch out!’
I was struck from behind and propelled over the edge of the roof. My legs hit the waist-high concrete wall as I went over with a shock of pain in my shins. I tried to concentrate on the energy centres as I fell, my shins screaming with pain. I slowed my fall, but it wasn’t enough: I was going to land on a car going up Wellington Street.
Na Zha caught me with a blow that knocked the wind out of me. He carried me back up to the rooftop, hoisted me over the edge and dropped me next to Leo’s empty wheelchair. I lay helpless for a few long moments, trying to get my breath back.
Na Zha landed and immediately joined Leo in fighting the demons that had attacked us. There were three of them: big red humanoids carrying swords. I checked them and they were at least level eighty: really big ones. A challenge for Leo but Na Zha shouldn’t have a problem.
I hauled myself to my feet, my shins still sharp with pain. One felt like a fracture and was already starting to swell. I did my best to stand on it but when the adrenaline wore off I’d be in trouble. My vision blurred, and I took deep breaths and dropped my head. The last thing I needed was to pass out.
I leaned against the wall and watched. The two Shen had changed to Celestial Form: Leo in his larger form, wearing the Mountain uniform; Na Zha in his more adult form, wearing pale blue Tang robes. Na Zha had no difficulty with the two demons he was facing, and Leo was more than a match for his. I sat down on the concrete with the wall at my back, still trying to suck in air.
Na Zha seemed to be enjoying himself, blocking the blows from weapons on both sides with his whip and wheel without doing any damage to the demons in return. Leo wasn’t wasting energy, though; as I watched, he broke through the demon’s guard and sliced it from midriff to shoulder and out, making it dissipate. He turned and took the head off one of the demons fighting Na Zha, then dismissed his sword and came to check on me. He knelt in front of me and put his hands on my head, feeling for lumps, then pulled my eyelids open, checking my pupils.
‘I’m okay,’ I said. ‘Just winded.’
‘Did you hit your head?’
‘No.’
‘Lion!’ Na Zha yelled, and Leo turned, then jumped back up and recalled his sword.
Na Zha had finished the humanoid he was facing and had taken a couple of steps back. A flock of flyers approached us, more than twenty of them.
‘These are really big ones,’ Na Zha said. He glanced back at me. ‘Run, Emma. Take off over the rooftops and wait for us.’
I shook my head; I wouldn’t leave them.
‘A stray could get through us with this many,’ Na Zha said. ‘We’ll keep them busy; just move so we don’t have to worry about you.’
The flyers landed on the roof between us and the stairs. I couldn’t go back inside now.
Leo patted me on the shoulder, then helped me up. ‘He’s right. Head along a few roofs to the end of the street and wait for us there.’
‘Let me help you,’ I said. ‘Let me fight.’ I summoned the Murasame and it came to me without difficulty. I raised it. ‘I can do it.’
Na Zha backed up slightly as the flyers moved menacingly towards him. ‘Remind me to get you to sign a waiver next time I see you, so that black bastard doesn’t blame me if something happens to you.’
Leo stood in front of me and faced them. ‘I won’t blame you, because nothing will happen to her.’
‘I didn’t mean you.’
‘Call Simone,’ I said to the stone.
‘I’m blocked,’ it said.
‘Absolutely bloody useless in a crisis,’ I grumbled.
‘Stay behind us,’ Leo said, and moved next to Na Zha.
‘They’re scared of you,’ I said, watching the flyers hesitate. None of them wanted to be first to attack. I gathered the energy within me, generated a ball of chi and blew up a couple of them that were trying to ease their way around Na Zha and Leo to me. The energy return bolstered me and I stood straighter and stronger.
That was enough to set them off. The demons attacked.
Leo and Na Zha had no difficulty with them, the flyers never made it through their guard. Leo worked with elegant precision, close on the skill he’d had before he’d gone to Hell all that time ago. It wouldn’t be long before he exceeded any human warrior.
A flyer leapt over Na Zha’s head and he missed it on the way through. I destroyed it with chi and enjoyed the sensation of its energy returning to me — it’d been a long time since I’d felt that rush.
A couple more made it round Na Zha, and I destroyed them with the Murasame before they even hit me.
I scanned around, watching for anything bigger that could possibly ambush us. These were too easy; there had to be something else.
The rooftop door opened and Clarissa appeared behind the flyers. She looked around and her face filled with fear.
I took a huge leap over the top of the flyers to Clarissa and pushed her behind me into the top of the stairwell. The demons turned to face me, and Leo and Na Zha took advantage of their distraction to hit them from behind.
‘Stay there, don’t move,’ I said to Clarissa, and stepped forward.
The stairwell was in the corner of the roof and only a couple of them could try for me at a time. They were slower than me and, although bigger and stronger, also clumsy. The one in front of me swiped with its front leg and I stepped back to avoid it. It swung its head to grab me in its mouth, and I rolled under its chin and shoved my sword into its belly.
‘That is very bad technique!’ Leo shouted as I ducked to avoid the spray of demon essence then jumped back.
‘You can talk!’ I shouted back as I used my backwards momentum to avoid another flyer’s foreleg, bounced off the wall of the stairwell and sliced its head off, som
ersaulting over it.
I stuck my sword into the forehead of the next one, turned sideways to avoid the attack behind me, and sliced off the head of the one behind. I continued the stroke to take both the front legs off the one to the right of me, and ducked to avoid the head of the one to the left. I rolled backwards and righted myself, leaning against the wall of the stairwell.
Leo’s face went rigid and he sent a blast of chi from his sword into one of the three remaining demons. He stepped forward and took the head off another; and Na Zha’s ring weapon sliced the third into two pieces.
The three of us stood there panting. Now that the adrenaline and chi rush had worn off I felt like I’d run a marathon, and that shin really did feel cracked.
I caught my breath then checked on Clarissa. She was huddled in a corner of the stairs with her arm over her eyes. I knelt next to her and put my arms around her. She let go into my shoulder, her whole body shaking with sobs.
‘Humans,’ Na Zha said with distaste. ‘Always making a fuss.’
I spoke to him over Clarissa’s head. ‘Get rid of that goddamn graffiti before I haul you before the Courts of the Northern Heavens. And never do that to any of the Dark Lord’s property again.’
He shrugged and turned his back on me.
‘Leo,’ I said, and he came to sit with Clarissa for me.
I limped to Na Zha and spoke to his back. ‘I am ordering you as First Heavenly General, asshole. Get rid of it and never do it again.’
Na Zha jumped a metre off the roof and his fire wheels materialised beneath his feet. ‘It’s already gone.’ He spun on his wheels to face me. ‘I don’t appreciate being called an asshole, madam. Particularly for something I didn’t do. Next time you’re attacked, I won’t be there. Hey!’ He shouted to Clarissa. ‘Human!’
Clarissa looked up at him from the floor, her face swollen and terrified.
Na Zha took full True Form; his head had four faces, one in each direction. He sprouted six more arms, stretching his torso to fit them. He leaned towards Clarissa, still on his fire wheels, and she cringed into Leo.
