Hell to Heaven

by Kylie Chan

  Simone took a big drink from a sports bottle, then slipped the bottle into the side of her pack. She grimaced as she pulled herself to her feet and hitched her pack onto her back. ‘Onwards and upwards.’

  ‘That’s damn steep,’ I said. ‘You handling it okay?’

  ‘I told you it would be fucking steep,’ the Tiger said. ‘No way could the Snakemobile handle this.’

  ‘Let’s go,’ Michael said, staggering slightly as he adjusted to my weight. ‘My paws are already killing me.’

  ‘Soft, soft, soft, you need to spend way more time like this,’ the Tiger said, changing to True Form and waiting as Simone fitted him with the spare gas bottle harness. ‘Go down as quickly as you can, Emma, save your oxygen.’

  ‘Okay.’

  I was jarred awake by them moving me again. The Tiger rapped the top of the pod and I tapped it once in reply.

  Your stone seems to have fallen asleep, the Tiger said.

  ‘No, I’m here, I’m here,’ the stone said. ‘Sorry, just…dozing.’

  The sides of the pod disappeared again and I saw the Tiger’s hand in front of my face. He was lifting me off Michael, who collapsed onto the ground as soon as I was pulled free. The Tiger carefully tilted my pod and lowered it onto the snow. I looked around: we were on a snowy ledge with a rock overhang above us. Simone was sitting on the ground again, but she’d changed to Celestial Form, her tawny hair flowing around her and her brown eyes huge. Instead of her usual robes of dark space and glittering stars, she wore a black Mountain uniform, cotton jacket and pants; nevertheless, her hands were blue with cold.

  She jerked as someone spoke to her, and nodded. She came to me and lifted my pod, struggling to get it onto the Tiger’s back.

  They’re tiring more than they expected, the stone said. It’s hard doing this in zero oxygen. They can manage without it by burning energy, but it’s not ideal.

  Simone tightened the straps around the Tiger, patted him on the shoulder, then turned and put her own pack on. She smiled at me as if she could see me, then gestured with her head. The Tiger turned the way we were going and the almost vertical black stone mountainside became visible, with a narrow path passing around a steep gorge.

  Go down, Emma, the stone said, and I did.

  I hit the ground with a jar that went right through my body.

  Sorry, Simone said.

  The pod is slippery with ice, the stone said.

  It made the walls of the pod disappear again and the view was breathtaking. We were impossibly high, on the ridge of one of the peaks, the black rock jagged and steep below us on both sides. The sky was as dark as night, with stars visible. I could see the curve of the Earth and the faint outline of the Western Heavens below, the red desert faded to a dusty brown. The horizon had a glowing blue aura—the atmosphere.

  Let all your breath out, I need to change your bottle, Simone said.

  I exhaled as hard as I could while the oxygen escaped from the pod; it gave me a strange feeling of bloatedness. Simone hooked up another bottle and the pod filled with air again.

  Tap once to say you’re okay, she said.

  I tapped the top of the pod with my head.

  We have some small issues, the Tiger said.

  That sounds like major problems to me, I said to the stone.

  Leo is dying, and Michael can’t make it much further, the Tiger said. Simone can’t carry you, so it’s just me. We’ll have to slow down, but we’re fine; we have four bottles left and we’re about three-quarters of the way there.

  Leo’s dying?

  He’s absolutely no fucking good in zero oxygen, has no training whatsoever, the Tiger said. Neither has Missy Princess here, but she’s so powerful it doesn’t make any difference. Michael has the training, but he’s only a mortal and we’ll probably have to make him go back real soon.

  Send him back now, I said.

  No, no, I can do at least another hour, I’m good, Michael said.

  Don’t you dare kill yourself for this! I said. Tiger, keep an eye on him!

  Don’t worry, babe, I am.

  Simone tapped the top of the pod and the walls went opaque. Downtime, Emma. Save your oxygen.

  How did the Shang king make this journey all those years ago? I asked the stone. He was just an ordinary human.

  Nu Wa was on the Earthly Plane then, in the Kun Lun Mountains, the stone said. After the Shang/Zhou thing she moved up here and hasn’t spoken to anybody since.

  Down, Emma, Simone said again.

  I took a deep breath of the sweet, ice-cold oxygen and went down.

  I hit the ground upside down and skidded down a hill for a long, terrifying moment until I stopped with a crack against the fibreglass skin of the pod.

  ‘Stone?’ I said. The stone didn’t reply so I tapped my crown on the lid of the pod. ‘Stone! Wake up!’

  ‘Sorry, Emma, it’s just so damn cold. We stones like it much warmer,’ the stone said.

  ‘So do we reptiles, I’m struggling to stay awake,’ I said. ‘What happened? I’m upside down.’

  The walls of the pod disappeared and I tried to look around. Simone was holding my pod with one hand and gripping onto rock with the other, her blue hands lined with white and red from the effort. I had a moment of vertigo as I realised we were both hanging over a ledge, Simone’s hand the only thing stopping my pod from falling. Her face was rigid with concentration.

  The world spun as I was lifted free, and then I was jarred again as the pod hit the ground the right way up. My field of vision was limited to black rock in front of me.

  ‘Don’t disturb them, he’s pulling her up,’ the stone said. ‘She fumbled while she was freeing you from the harness to give him a break and you slid down the side of the mountain. She flew after you, threw herself over the edge and stopped you from falling off.’

  ‘Tell them I want to stop this now,’ I said. ‘Where are Leo and Michael?’

  ‘Let them get somewhere safe before we ask them,’ the stone said.

  I was roughly lifted again, and the world became white and gold as the Tiger, in human form, held me close to his chest and took a couple of huge strides. He fell onto his knees, dropping me onto the rock, and changed back to True Form. Simone fell to sit beside him, her face as blue as her hands. She closed her eyes and raised one hand, seeming to be taking deep breaths of the non-existent air.

  Her voice gasped in my head. The Tiger sent Michael back—God, I hope he makes it back down okay. Leo died about ten minutes ago. I have one of your gas bottles in my pack, it’s all I can carry, so you have the two on you and one on me. We’ll be fine, we’re very close now, I can see the summit. Don’t worry, Emma, we’ll get you there!

  ‘I have one and a half on the pod, if I’ve been awake through all the transfers,’ I said. ‘Simone has one. I’ve already used two and half bottles to get up here, and we still have some way to go…’

  ‘You’ll make it back down, don’t worry,’ the stone said. ‘Leo had one on him, and it’s still there on the way back.’

  We’ll get you there! the Tiger said. If it kills us!

  Not if it kills Simone, I said.

  It’s too far to go back now, Emma, Simone said.

  ‘This was such a bad idea,’ I said.

  ‘Whose idea was it?’ the stone said.

  ‘Mine,’ I said, full of misery.

  No, it wasn’t, it was Daddy’s! Simone said. Trust him. Take a deep breath and go down. We’re only about another hour from the very top. Oh! Take a look around first.

  The rocks fell away as Simone lifted the pod to put me onto the Tiger’s back. She struggled with the straps and had to stop, panting, every couple of minutes to rest. When she was done, the Tiger walked to the edge of the rocky platform to show me the view.

  Highest point in the Western Heavens, he said.

  The red desert was invisible; all I could see was the blue haze of the atmosphere and the curve of the Earth even more pronounced. The stars blazed in the nig
ht sky.

  Simone stood next to us, still in her Wudang uniform, but her Celestial Form had grown and she was nearly three metres tall. So beautiful, she said, well worth the trip. I should have taken Uncle Bai up on his offer to come into space a long time ago.

  Still have to make a field trip to the Apollo landing sites, the Tiger said. We can take Emma along with us in her little spacesuit here.

  I hope all the tourists aren’t disturbing it too much, Simone said.

  Not too many of us can make that trip, the Tiger said. Only the very, very largest Shen. Like me and you—the best of them. He turned left onto a small ledge leading down off the platform. We head down from here, along that ledge, through the pass. So close. We’ll get you there, babe!

  I fell asleep without going down; it was just too damn cold.

  We stopped moving but I didn’t really notice. It was just so cold.

  ‘Stone?’ I said.

  No reply.

  Stone? Tiger? Simone?

  Nothing.

  I tapped my head on the top of the pod. Nothing happened.

  I tapped twice. I was in trouble: it was unbelievably cold and we weren’t moving.

  Simone?

  Nothing.

  John?

  I’m sorry, Emma, someone said. I tried to move my head but it was stuck. I was enclosed; the walls were all around me, holding me in, and I panicked. I tried to free myself but I was held tight. It was difficult to breathe. I was stuck in a freezing, airless container of some sort and I was dying. I tried to concentrate but it was cold and I couldn’t clear my mind.

  Stone? I said.

  No reply.

  I made myself larger, trying to free myself, but the enclosure didn’t break. The air was stale. I panted, trying to get enough into me. It was obvious that I was suffocating, and if I didn’t free myself soon I would die.

  Don’t, the stone said.

  I’ll die if I don’t, I said. I can’t breathe!

  I concentrated, made a huge effort and expanded, pushing myself against the walls of the container. I hoped I could break it; if I couldn’t, it would break me. The pressure was enormous—but not as bad as the suffocation. I used my last scraps of energy, made myself suddenly huge and the container broke. I was free. I raised my head and tried to take a breath, but nothing happened. There was nothing to breathe in.

  Simone lay on the ground in the snow next to me, her eyes wide and glazed, her hand touching the broken wall of my container. The Tiger was behind her, in True Form, open-mouthed and panting.

  Oh, now you’ve done it, babe, the Tiger said. He made some feeble, scrabbling attempts to move, his paws making small piles in the snow, then stopped. He moved his head so he could see me better. You were right. We should have done a dry run.

  This suffocation was even worse; the heat drained out of me and the silence was complete. I thought I saw Simone’s eye flicker for a moment, then there was a blinding white flash and nothing else.

  CHAPTER 25

  ‘She’s coming around,’ the stone said, its accent making it sound like a doctor in a British soap opera.

  ‘Emma, don’t panic, you’re safe,’ Simone said.

  I raised my head slightly; my vision was blurred. I shifted under the silken sheets and had a moment of panic—I had legs; I was in human form; I’d die. I tried to change to snake but couldn’t do it.

  ‘Help me!’ I said. ‘I need to be snake!’

  ‘You’re safe, you can stay human,’ Simone said, clasping my hand.

  I ripped my hand away. ‘Don’t touch me!’

  ‘I can touch you. You can be human. This is a special place,’ Simone said. Her voice filled with amusement. ‘We all nearly died because we listened to the Tiger. Last time we do that, eh?’

  ‘Should have known better,’ I said. I rubbed my eyes; I felt hot and ached all over. ‘Where are we?’

  ‘Oh, she said the line and I never even asked for it,’ the stone said. ‘She’s dehydrated, give her a drink. Here, Emma, let me lift you.’

  The stone was sitting next to the bed in human form. It wore a dark green Chinese robe but still retained its European appearance. It slipped one arm behind my back and helped me upright.

  I was in a traditional Chinese rosewood four-poster bed hung with translucent embroidered pink silk curtains on three sides and open on the fourth. I couldn’t see much of the room but it appeared to be full of rosewood furniture and flowers, all the fabric and fittings in variations of pink and red. I was wearing pink silk pyjamas to match.

  ‘This looks like a wedding suite,’ I said.

  ‘I think it is,’ Simone said. ‘But it isn’t the sort of thing you go into detail about.’

  The stone handed me a tall glass glistening with condensation. ‘Drink it slowly, you’re very weak.’

  I took a sip and nearly choked. The stone helped me, holding the glass still so I didn’t spill it.

  ‘I had the same reaction the first time,’ Simone said.

  I took a couple of deep breaths, then another sip. The drink was ice-cold and tasted like a mountain spring, full of sparkling minerals, but at the same time lightly sweet and fresh, full of the flavours of mown grass and sunshine, with the bite of alcohol but somehow not. I took a huge gulp and it rang through me like crystal vibrating. I pulled the glass away from my face and stared at it.

  A woman appeared in the doorway. She was small and round, with a matronly figure and a kind, plain face. She wore a traditional Tang-style robe of floating pink sheer silk with an apron over it in a darker pink held with a wide, elaborately embroidered pink and gold belt. Her hair was styled in twisted raised braids decorated with gold and cloisonné pins, some of them with pearls hanging from them. She smiled and somehow I felt a million times better.

  John, in human form, was standing next to her, smiling his turtle smile. I shoved the glass at the stone, leapt out of bed and charged to him. I came to a halt in front of him, hesitating. Could I touch him?

  He answered my question by scooping me up, holding me tight and kissing me so hard it hurt. I lost myself in him, unable to let him go, wanting to climb inside him and hold him, and this moment, forever.

  He pulled back, smiled at me and his eyes wrinkled up. ‘You have to breathe sometime, Emma.’

  ‘No, I don’t,’ I said, and I kissed him again. He loosened his hold on me so I slid down him to touch the floor, but we didn’t let go of each other.

  He looked into my eyes, his own eyes intense. This woman next to me is Nu Wa. You need to show her a great deal of respect.

  I quickly fell to one knee in front of Nu Wa and bowed my head. ‘I thank you for your generous hospitality in our time of need, my Lady.’

  She took my hand and raised me. ‘You are more than welcome, Dark Lady.’

  I smiled up into John’s face but his severe expression didn’t change.

  I know what you’re thinking, because I’m thinking the same thing. Yes, this is a honeymoon suite, but no, we can’t do anything. This is Nu Wa’s palace and we must show the lady proper respect. She would not like it. What’s the expression? Not under my roof. So no more kissing in front of her; that spontaneous demonstration was amusing but if we continue she’ll become extremely upset with us. He smiled slightly. Decorum, my Lady, hard as it is. Treat her like your elderly and old-fashioned grandmother.

  I lost my balance and stumbled backwards. He caught me, lifted me easily and carried me gently back to the bed. ‘You’re very weak. You need to rest. All of you nearly died.’

  ‘The Tiger and Leo did die,’ Simone said. ‘Daddy and Kwan Yin were too late.’

  The bed was gently spinning, the top of the canopy whirling above me, and I watched it with interest until it went dark.

  I had a moment of disorientation as I saw the silk curtains, then remembered where I was and pulled myself upright. I took a huge drink from the glass beside the table and immediately felt better. My own jeans, T-shirt and my underwear—or very good copies
of them all, down to the holes—were on the chair next to the bed.

  Simone tapped on the door. ‘Can I come in?’

  ‘Can you wait till I’m dressed?’ I said.

  ‘Might be better if I come in and talk before you go anywhere, if you don’t mind.’

  ‘Come on in then,’ I said.

  She sat on the chair, moving the clothes onto the bed out of the way. ‘Daddy and Nu Wa are talking about your case. He asked me to warn you about a few things before you come out.’

  I settled more comfortably onto the bed. ‘Go right ahead.’

  ‘First, don’t kill any insect demons. All her servants are insects.’

  I stared at her. ‘Her servants are insect demons?’

  ‘She says they’re the only things that could make it up this high. Second, Daddy asks if you remember his warning from before.’

  ‘I do.’

  ‘Okay. Phew, I don’t have to tell you that—you have no idea what a relief that is. Third, take very special care with drinking this stuff she gives you; it’s horribly addictive.’

  I picked up the empty glass and studied it. ‘It’s some sort of drug?’

  ‘No. Not a drug, not alcohol; it’s addictive because it’s just so good. Daddy says, if you can, choose to drink water or tea instead.’

  ‘I understand. What’s she like?’

  ‘She’s absolutely lovely. Sad and lonely though. Apparently, last night was the first time she’s left her pavilion and come into her palace since the Shang/Zhou wars. Can you tell me the story? Daddy says to ask you, because you’re better at this sort of thing than he is.’

  ‘What sort of thing?’

  ‘Storytelling.’

  ‘Oh, I see.’ I put the story together in my head. ‘The Shang king came to Nu Wa’s palace, saw her, was mesmerised by her beauty and wrote a pornographic poem about what a hottie she was on the wall of her temple. She got mightily pissed with him and sent one of her servants, a fox spirit called Daji, to take over his favourite concubine and distract him into neglecting his kingdom. Instead of running the country, he spent all his time with her making out, and anyone who drew his attention to this was chained to a hollow pillar of iron with a fire lit inside it and tortured to death.’