by Kylie Chan
‘I know I’m alive without being stabbed, thank you very much,’ she said.
He nodded. ‘Good point. Has Leo had much training?’
‘He hasn’t had any, he’s refused it,’ I said. ‘That’s why I made the sword for him, to try and get him to do some training with it.’
‘Tell him that I order him to take the training, just as I order Simone to attend CH and learn as well,’ John said. ‘Both of them should be going to CH together.’
‘That’s the weirdest idea I’ve ever heard,’ Simone said with wonder.
John bowed his head. ‘Thank you. Now.’ He turned to the water. ‘I wanted to show you two lovely ladies something. Emma, we’ll go down to the edge of the water and you can get on my back there; Simone, just follow along.’
He trundled down to where the perfectly clear water hit the smooth sand. The beach was completely wave-free, and the sandy floor made the water appear pale blue-green, transparent and glittering. John seemed only to have two speeds: he could pick his shell up and move lightning-fast, graceful and menacing; or he could lower his shell and move more slowly, appearing clumsy. His slow speed was deceptively comical.
‘I wonder why the demon attacked Leo,’ Simone said, almost to herself.
‘He’s Immortal. That’s enough for them,’ John said. ‘What I want to know is why it was up here and not in Hell. It didn’t have a master ordering it; it seemed to be on its own. That shouldn’t be happening.’
I didn’t reply and John looked at me. ‘I can hear your brain working, Emma, tell me what’s going on.’
‘You can hear what I’m thinking?’ I said.
‘No, but I can hear your brain clicking like a high-speed clockwork machine. There’s something you should tell me but you haven’t.’
I used the formal tone of an underling reporting to a general. ‘The Gates of Hell are not as heavily guarded without you here. Sometimes the Thirty-Six require assistance and the Guards of the Gates are called into battle. When this happens, individual demons escape.’
John was silent for a moment. Then he asked, ‘What’s it like on Hungry Ghosts Festival?’
‘Awful,’ Simone said softly. ‘It’s not just the hungry ghosts that leave Hell and walk the Earth, it’s the spirits in Hell as well, the ones that don’t have permission to leave, plus thousands more demons. So far the demons have held to the treaty and not harmed anyone, but their presence causes widespread destruction amongst the humans — car accidents, family quarrels, theft, murder.’
‘I wish I had never negotiated that,’ John said, shaking his turtle head. ‘It was such a mistake.’
‘At least it’s only one day a year,’ I said. ‘And I’m sure it was worth the price.’
‘Sometimes I wonder,’ John said. He shook himself. ‘All right, hop on, Emma, let’s go and have a look.’
He moved into thigh-deep water and I clambered on top of his shell, carefully avoiding the spiked areas.
‘When we get into the water, lie across the top and close your eyes; we’ll be moving very quickly,’ he said. ‘You ready, Simone?’
Simone dived into the water ahead of us in reply.
John pulled himself a couple more steps and his feet changed to flippers, his shell turning greener and growing smooth. He’d changed from a land tortoise to a sea turtle. He ducked his head, we lurched under the water and we were off.
I inhaled water and panicked. I coughed and inhaled more, and nearly let go of his shell.
His voice came into my head, reassuring. Breathe the water, Emma; remember that time in the Japanese bath at the Tiger’s palace? One of my fondest memories. You could do it then, it’s just a little more pressure now. Relax … good.
This was different to being carried by the Blue Dragon at Kota Kinabalu; his movement had been smooth and I hadn’t felt the water moving past me. John lurched as he thrust with his flippers, and we were moving as fast as a speedboat beneath the water. I could feel the water’s drag; the pressure meant that I couldn’t open my eyes, and it felt like trying to breathe in a tornado.
I can feel from the way you’re holding me that you’re finding this uncomfortable, he said. It’s not far, and I assure you that it will be worth it. Just relax, you will not suffocate or be hurt, I promise. Just think of the water that is flowing past you … as me.
I nodded, although he probably didn’t feel it. I kept my eyes closed and concentrated on holding onto his shell.
The light disappeared from the inside of my eyelids; we were in the shade. The temperature of the water dropped slightly. We travelled like this for a short time then we were in sunlight again. John surfaced and I took a deep breath then coughed up a ridiculous amount of water, nearly vomiting onto the back of his shell as it pumped out of me.
‘Don’t worry, that’s a normal reaction,’ John said. ‘When I’m able to take human form again, travelling with me underwater will be much easier.’
‘I’m glad,’ I choked, still coughing up water.
‘Wow, this is great,’ Simone said with wonder.
I coughed a few more times and managed to look up and around. We were in a natural, hollow limestone chimney; probably the remains of a hundred-metre-wide volcanic plug. The walls were covered in creeping plants and the sky was visible through the top of the rock formation, about fifty metres above us. The sun shone down onto the water, and a small, perfect beach had been created by the current on one side.
John took me to the beach, but didn’t climb out of the water. He stayed a sea turtle and lay in the shallows, his eyes closed with bliss. I rolled off him into the water and lay on my back next to him, enjoying the sunshine.
‘Go take a look,’ he said. ‘The cave that leads back outside has glow-worms in the ceiling.’
‘Cool,’ Simone said, and dived into the water.
The two of us sat together watching the reflections of the ripples on the walls of the chimney, and the tiny blue and yellow glittering fish that flashed past us in schools. The gentle sound of the water hitting the rock echoed around us.
‘There are so many things I need to tell you and ask you now you’re back,’ I said.
‘I’m not back for good. As long as I can’t take human form, I’ll lose my intelligence again,’ he said, interrupting. ‘I don’t know how long I have.’
‘I know, I understand. All these things I need to say … and I can’t think of a single one of them.’
‘That’s all right,’ he said. ‘You know that words aren’t —’
I finished it for him with delight. ‘Words aren’t necessary! Do you know, Simone teases me mercilessly about that? She makes this serious face and looks me in the eye and says, “Words aren’t necessary, Emma, because I love you so much! You are the only one for me!” And then she pretends to put her finger down her throat and makes gagging noises. She says, “Promise me you won’t be that mushy when Daddy comes back. I couldn’t stand it!”’
‘And what do you tell her?’
‘To deal.’
He chuckled, the noise vibrating through his shell.
‘Do that again,’ I said.
‘What?’
‘That little laugh.’ I put my hand on his shell.
He hesitated a moment, then laughed quietly. The vibration ran through my hand and I gasped.
‘What, Emma? Are you okay?’
‘Uh … that is …’ I didn’t know what to say. ‘Your shell vibrates.’
He was quiet for a moment, then said, ‘Oh my. I didn’t know that.’ He glanced at me. ‘If I know my Emma, you are thinking very evil thoughts right now — and that is one of the reasons I love you.’
I started to laugh and he joined me. We laughed together, and I flopped back to lie on the sand, looking up at the fading blue sky.
‘One day, when Simone isn’t around …’ he said, then, ‘Never mind. I don’t want to freak you out.’
‘How long before you can take human form?’ I said. ‘I really want that back, John.’
He hesitated. ‘There may be an issue when I retake human form, because I am so weak. I hope this doesn’t freak you out, but when I become human again …’ He stopped for a moment, gazing at the reflections on the rock face.
‘Yes, John?’
He jerked his head slightly. ‘Emma?’
I moved closer to him and touched his head. ‘You’re fading. Call Simone back.’
He nodded, turned away and concentrated.
‘What were you going to say about becoming human again?’ I said.
Simone surfaced, swam underwater to us, then pulled herself out to lie on the sand on her back.
‘Your tummy is very white,’ John said. ‘You’re so fair compared to me. You inherited a lot from your mother.’
Simone grinned. ‘I don’t get the sun on my tummy much. When I swim … used to swim in school I wore a one-piece.’
‘And stop getting the sun on your face,’ he said sternly. ‘Treasure your pale complexion, Simone, it shows how noble and refined you are.’
She hissed with derision and rolled onto her stomach.
‘What?’ he said.
‘Welcome to the twenty-first century,’ I said. ‘Some of her friends go in to have spray-tans.’
‘Chinese girls get artificial tans?’ he said in horror.
‘Some do,’ Simone said. ‘Others get skin bleaching instead, to go in the opposite direction. And artificial nails, and hair extensions, and eyelash extensions, and nose and eye and boob jobs … Emma wouldn’t let me have anything done, even if I asked.’
‘You are perfect exactly the way you are,’ he said. ‘That is so against the essence of the Tao it is scary. The essence of the Tao is to be exactly who you are.’
‘Oh, I think they’re being exactly who they are,’ I said. ‘Completely artificial and shallow, focused only on looking good on the outside no matter how hollow they are inside.’
He dropped his head and shook it. ‘That is so wrong.’
‘What about you becoming human, John?’ I asked him again. ‘There was something you wanted to say.’
‘Was there?’ He shook his head again. ‘I don’t remember. I am fading, I don’t know how long I have …’
He disappeared.
Simone sighed and turned away. ‘He didn’t even say goodbye.’
‘He didn’t need to,’ I said, ‘because it wasn’t goodbye; he’s coming back.’
‘Uh, Emma …’ Simone looked around. ‘I can’t get you out of here. I can’t touch you, and that’s a good fifty-metre swim under the rock there through the cave.’
‘We have a problem,’ I said.
She concentrated. ‘The Phoenix is sending a long-tail boat for us, but we have to work out a way to get you through the cave. She wanted to know if you had an open-water licence, and I said no, but she said it’s irrelevant anyway because it’s not open water. So she’ll send a diver here with extra equipment for you, and all you have to do is breathe with the gear and they’ll take you through.’
‘Before I met your father I thought about getting my licence, but the course was too expensive for me on my kindergarten salary,’ I said.
‘You should; you could come out with me,’ she said.
‘I think I’d just slow you down.’
‘It would be fun to share that with someone,’ she said. ‘And I wouldn’t ask Leo.’
‘Did he ever tell you what happened to make him so terrified of water?’ I said.
‘No. He never told you?’
‘Never. Nobody knows.’
‘I hope he comes back soon,’ she said wistfully.
The truck engine that propelled the long-tail boat was too loud for us to have any sort of decent conversation, so we sat in silence as it took us back to the resort beach. The boat looked like every other long-tail in the area, with a long spar rising from the bow, decorated with a few brightly coloured silk scarves, and the engine set on top of a long metal pole on the back with a propeller on the end. It was a noisy and uncomfortable way to travel, but also the most traditional way.
The Phoenix met us at the beach. The human diver who had guided me out through the cave lifted us off the boat so that we could wade in to meet her.
‘That was such a theme-park ride,’ I said as we walked up the beach to where her golf buggy was waiting.
‘Was it that exciting?’ the Phoenix said.
‘No,’ I said. ‘That fake. We were just talking about fake things, and there we go, riding on a fake long-tail boat.’
‘I don’t know what you’re talking about,’ the Phoenix said, confused.
‘It’s made of fibreglass,’ I said. ‘The real ones are made of beautiful teak, and the older and more loved they are, the more the wood shines. I’ve seen them. That one,’ I waved dismissively at the boat, ‘was a fake.’
She shook her head as we boarded the golf buggy. ‘You’re right. They are passed down from generation to generation, and some of the boats on Phuket have been passed down through many generations. But when the tsunami came, hundreds of the boats were destroyed. We worked out how much timber we would need to rebuild them and it was more forest than the country even owns. So I imported some experts from overseas to build replacement boats for the fishermen and water taxi operators out of fibreglass instead of timber. They’re cheaper to build, just as robust, and they have the bonus of not destroying any of our precious forests. The only disadvantage is they do not have the polished beauty of the originals.’
‘You’re helping replace them?’ Simone said.
The Phoenix nodded. ‘Nearly all of them are done. In some cases, they were able to salvage the timber off the old boat and rebuild, but many lost their boats altogether. You are right, Emma, they do look like plastic. But they are giving the people of the island their livelihoods back.’
‘I don’t know how I can apologise enough,’ I said. ‘I guess I see too much artificiality in Hong Kong, and now see it everywhere.’
‘Reality is an illusion anyway,’ the Phoenix said. ‘All is artificial, all is perception. The truth is a lie. Each of us exists in our own universe.’
‘Whoa,’ Simone said. ‘Zen.’
‘Small Wheel, not Zen,’ the Phoenix said. ‘We follow a more traditional teaching, without the pretentious navel-gazing of the Eastern sects.’
‘I can just see the Dragon doing that,’ I said.
‘Oh, the Dragon is more Zen than anyone,’ the Phoenix said. ‘He can spend four or five hours performing an elaborate tea ceremony and in the end pass you an exquisitely hand-produced cup full of tea that is cold, extremely bitter and quite revolting — usually with a dead fly in the bottom that he never noticed.’
As we headed back to our villa, the staff were setting up tables and stringing lights along the roofline of the central area of the resort.
‘That’s for the night market,’ the Phoenix said. ‘We have one once a week. The locals come in and display their ridiculously overpriced wares for the tourists.’
‘Where should we go for wares that aren’t ridiculously overpriced?’ Simone said.
‘Patong — ask Kwan to take you,’ the Phoenix said. ‘But there are some items in our market that are only available here. There are some craftsmen on the island who are more like studio artists, and I encourage them to display their work here and charge a premium for it. People will be coming from other resorts in the complex to see what’s up for sale; it will be fun.’
‘What time?’ I said.
‘Six till nine.’
‘Let’s have some dinner now — I’m starving — and then go have a look,’ Simone said, her face bright with pleasure.
‘Would you like to join me for dinner?’ the Phoenix said.
‘We’d be delighted,’ I said.
‘Good. Go shower and change, then ask Kwan to bring you to the main lobby. We’ll eat in my private room, then have a look at what’s happening at the market.’
The tropical sunset flared flaming red and oran
ge in the sky above us, the dark silhouettes of the palm trees providing a colourful contrast. The warm, humid breeze picked up slightly just as the Phoenix dropped us at the front of our villa. It was filled with the fragrance of jasmine and frangipani from the scented candles that Kwan had lit for us. He had turned down each bed, and a colourful sarong wrapped with a ribbon and an orchid lay on each of our pillows.
Simone stopped for a moment to gaze at the spectacular sky, then grinned at me and disappeared into her bathroom.
CHAPTER 15
Simone and I chose to walk back through the gardens together to the central complex, admiring the bobbing purple orchids, birds-of-paradise and hibiscus flowers. Above, the sky faded from its brilliant hues to a pale lilac and then to a dark blue, and stars began to appear.
‘The Tiger asked Michael to come and help while Leo’s in Hell,’ Simone said. ‘He’ll meet us at the restaurant.’
‘We don’t really need him, we have you …’ I started, then shrugged. ‘Okay, if you’re busy in the water or something, he’ll come in handy if I’m attacked.’
The lights of the lobby lit up the gardens around it. Michael was waiting there for us, in a pair of expensive pre-ripped jeans and a white-and-yellow horizontal-striped polo shirt. He fell to one knee and saluted us, the movement incongruous in his modern clothing.
‘Pity I missed seeing the Dark Lord,’ he said. He nodded to us. ‘Hope you don’t mind me tagging along? My father sent word when he found out Leo got killed. Was he all right? It didn’t hurt him too much, did it?’
‘It almost took off one of his legs before it killed him,’ Simone said, obviously upset. ‘I should have moved sooner.’
Michael stepped back and gestured for us to go first. ‘That would not be doing him a favour, Princess. You’d wound his pride, and that would hurt more than having a leg taken off. Oh, Emma.’ He turned to me. ‘Your snake spacesuit is ready — Dad says any time you want to give it a try, hop on up. He’ll take you on a ride into the stratosphere so you can see how it goes.’
‘I need to be able to move in it, I can’t just be carried,’ I said.
