by Kylie Chan
‘You’re not being weak, you’re being human,’ I said.
He smiled slightly. ‘Same thing.’
‘Wasn’t there mention of vegetarian sushi?’ John said.
The Tree dropped her head for a moment, and the branches that were integral to the ceiling separated from it and writhed down to us, carrying black lacquer trays bearing a collection of vegetarian sushi: rice and cucumber, pickles, and bean curd rolled in dried seaweed.
‘Thank you,’ I said as a pair of pointed Japanese chopsticks appeared in front of me.
John didn’t bother with chopsticks. He ate the sushi the traditional way, by hand, and with obvious enjoyment.
The Dragon ate one roll delicately, then bent his head without looking away from the table. ‘How is Jade?’
‘Living the quiet life, working hard, watching her children grow,’ I said. ‘She has been providing you with visiting rights, hasn’t she?’
‘Exactly as negotiated.’ His expression became wistful. ‘That’s the only chance I have to see her.’
‘It would help a great deal if she knew your true nature, Ah Qing,’ I said.
The Dragon fingered his chopsticks, then put them down and placed his palm on the table. ‘She does, Emma.’
‘But you fathered the babies as your public persona — you said it was a meaningless fling on both your parts, a typical Dragon pairing. Does she prefer your public face? Some women just like assholes.’
‘No,’ he said. ‘She won’t marry someone as duplicitous as me.’
‘Does she love you, Ah Qing?’ John said.
The Dragon tilted his head and smiled slightly at the table.
‘Do you love her?’
The Dragon looked up into John’s eyes, and John’s expression darkened. ‘You stupid reptile.’
‘I could say the very same thing to you, my brother.’
‘Have you spoken to her father of this?’ John said. ‘I’m sure he would put your case to her.’
‘Yes,’ the Dragon said. ‘The Dragon King ordered her to accept my proposal and she defied him. He’s disowned her: she’s no longer his eighty-second daughter.’
‘What does the Phoenix think?’ I said.
The Dragon gestured dismissively. ‘She has nothing to do with this. If I choose another wife, that is my business. She only has input after the new bride has been brought into the Tree.’
‘No, I mean that maybe the Phoenix could talk to Jade,’ I said.
His head shot up and he stared at me. ‘What a good idea. But better yet — you are like a sister to her, Emma, and like a sister to me. Would you talk to her?’
‘Emma Donahoe, Celestial matchmaker,’ John said.
‘I don’t know if I can morally justify encouraging a friend to marry someone who already has multiple wives.’
The Dragon shrugged. ‘You know we do things differently. And dragons do things extremely differently. It’s actually unusual for us to be monogamous.’ His expression became wistful again. ‘But I would for Jade.’
‘You’d give up all the others for her?’
He nodded, his eyes dreamy.
‘What about the Phoenix? Would you give her up?’
‘Nothing to give up; that’s a business partnership more than anything. As I said before, it’s a marriage of politics, ordered by the Celestial. Jade would understand.’
I leaned over the table to speak intensely to him. ‘Would you give up your arrogant façade for her? Would you be your real sweet self in public, if all that’s stopping her is your duplicity?’
He leaned back and stared at me for a long time. ‘I have cultivated this persona for centuries. If I were to reveal now that it is an act, I would be completely humiliated.’
‘You’re too proud to give that up for Jade?’ I said.
He bent his head. ‘I am ashamed to say that I am.’
‘Then I don’t think I have anything to talk to Jade about.’ I turned to John. ‘West next?’
John didn’t reply; he was gazing with sympathy at the Dragon.
‘Thank you for understanding,’ Qing Long said.
I rose. ‘You break my heart, Ah Qing, you really do.’
John rose as well. ‘Talk to her when she brings the little ones. Maybe she can understand too.’
‘I live in hope,’ the Dragon said.
He rose and embraced us both, and John summoned a cloud to take us to the West.
The Tiger was subdued when he met us at the arched, red-stone entrance to the Western Palace.
‘Your parents and sisters would like to see you,’ he said to me. ‘I should warn you — it’s not good.’
John took my hand. ‘I’ll come along.’
‘No,’ the Tiger said. ‘Go look for demons. Give us ten or fifteen minutes.’
He looked into John’s eyes and shared some information.
John released my hand and his face filled with pain. ‘I will return for you shortly, Emma, and I will always love you and understand, no matter what you decide.’
‘What’s going on?’ I said. ‘Are they that mad with me?’
‘They’re not angry with you at all,’ the Tiger said. He gestured for me to enter. ‘Come and talk to them.’
‘If they’re not mad with me, then what’s the problem?’ I asked as the Tiger led me towards my parents’ villa.
‘They want to be the ones to talk this out with you,’ the Tiger said. ‘I’ve been told to take you to their house and then leave.’
I dropped my head. ‘They must be so done with all this Celestial business.’
‘That is exactly the problem.’ He opened the gate to the villa’s little garden and stopped. ‘I’ll leave you here. As the Turtle said, whatever choice you make, we will support you.’ He turned and walked away without looking back.
I steeled myself and went into the villa.
My parents and my sisters, Jennifer and Amanda, were all waiting in the living room for me. When I entered, they clustered around me, hugging me and holding my hands. They led me to the couch, and my mother went to the kitchen, fussing about with tea and coffee for everybody. Finally, they couldn’t postpone it any longer and sat uncomfortably, looking at me.
‘Is it really that bad?’ I said.
‘Yes, it is,’ my father said. He took a deep breath. ‘We’re all tired of being here. We’re sick to death of being afraid that someone will attack us, or kill the rest of the kids. It’s all right for you, you can defend yourself. He’s found you now, like in his oath, so he’ll Raise you —’
‘He didn’t find me,’ I said. ‘Cheung did.’
‘Well, you’ll be made into one of these Immortals and you won’t have to worry about anything. It’s not the same for us, honey.’ He shared a look with my mother and sisters. ‘We all live in constant fear. Any time, a demon could come and attack us just because we’re your family.’
‘I’m so tired of having a guard on me twenty-four hours a day,’ Amanda said. ‘I just want some privacy!’
‘Come and live on the Mountain, all of you,’ I said. ‘You’d be safe there.’
‘You just lost a hundred people!’ my father said.
That silenced me.
‘We’ve decided to do something like witness protection,’ my father said. ‘The Tiger offered it to us — actually, we asked. We’re all moving to Perth, all our families. We’ll take new identities and disconnect ourselves from all of this Celestial bullshit.’
‘That won’t help,’ I said. ‘They’ll find you.’
‘I don’t think so, dear,’ my mother said. ‘Without you to lead them to us, they won’t know who or where we are. The Tiger says that he’s done it before: there are a few people living on the Earthly in hiding and they’ve never been bothered.’
‘Are you sure that’s what you want?’ I said, looking around at them.
‘Dead certain,’ Jennifer said. ‘Greg is coming too. He’s giving up everything Celestial and changing his appearance. He’ll be an ordi
nary human, like the rest of us.’
‘What about me?’ I said. ‘Can’t I come and visit?’
‘No,’ my father said.
‘We love you very much, Emma,’ my mother said. ‘But we want a clean break from all of this, and frankly you’re right in the middle of it. If you want to come down with us and be with your family and be normal, we’d love you to. But if you stay here … then please, don’t come down to visit, because you scare us to death.’
‘She doesn’t scare us, Barbara, don’t be silly,’ my father said.
‘Yes, she does,’ Jennifer said. She broke down and ran out.
‘I’m sorry, love, I didn’t mean it that way,’ my mother said, touching my hand. ‘Everything around you scares us to death. John, and the demons, and the fighting — you just take it all for granted. We want to be away from it, to be safe and normal again. We’ve had enough.’ She peered into my eyes, sounding desperate. ‘If you come down to visit after we’ve hidden ourselves away, you’ll put us at risk again. They’re always after you. Do you understand? Please understand.’
‘Come down and join us, Em,’ Amanda said. ‘Let’s all be a normal family again. Wouldn’t that be good? Shopping, and camping, and barbecues.’ She smiled slightly. ‘I’m even giving this opal away to the Tiger.’
‘I can’t come with you,’ I said, my voice thick. ‘This is my life.’
‘Then I suppose this is goodbye,’ my father said.
‘What? You’re going now?’
‘Tomorrow. We didn’t have much to pack, and we’ll have the rest sent along by an ordinary moving firm when we find somewhere to live.’ My father glanced around at the family. ‘I think it’s best for all.’
My mother put her arm around me. ‘Let’s have a family dinner, all of us together, eh? Allan has the barbecue going in Jennifer’s garden; all the kids — well, the rest of the kids — are there. We can have one last dinner in Heaven as a family.’
‘Won’t you miss the Celestial Plane?’
‘What I won’t miss is living in fear,’ Amanda said with feeling.
I tried to control my voice, but my throat was too thick. ‘Please, send me photos, email me updates.’ I hugged my mother and held her close, burying my face in her shoulder. ‘Keep in touch, Mum, let me know how you are.’
‘Don’t worry, I will,’ she said, her voice as full of tears as mine was. She pulled back and wiped her hand over her eyes. ‘No tears, eh? There’s a chance the boys are still alive, isn’t there?’
I didn’t reply; John had said no.
‘I live in hope,’ Amanda said with forced brightness.
There was a tap at the door and my mother went to open it. It was John. She embraced him and he hugged her back, then came in and shook my father’s hand.
‘Sit, John, sit,’ my father said, gesturing for him to join me on the couch.
He sat next to me and took my hand. ‘What have you decided?’
‘I’m staying here,’ I said.
He exhaled with relief.
‘Will they be safe?’ I said.
‘Yes,’ John said. ‘With Greg along, they will be. If you or I never visit them, there’ll be nothing to link them to us. The demons will have nothing to go on.’
‘That means Simone can’t visit you either,’ I said to my father.
‘I know.’
John straightened. ‘They think they’ve found the entrance to the nest, Emma.’
I opened my mouth to say ‘Let’s go’ but changed my mind. ‘You go. I’m having dinner here with my family; they’re leaving tomorrow.’
‘Is this the one that did … that killed the boys?’ my father said.
John and I both nodded.
‘I’d come with you myself if I was worth a damn,’ my father said.
‘John and the Generals can handle it. I’ll stay here and keep you updated,’ I said.
‘How?’ John said.
‘Give me Zara.’
‘Good idea.’ He concentrated for a moment, then turned to my father. ‘I’m sorry, Brendan, but I’m needed. This Mother is very strong and they want me there to direct.’
‘You go, mate,’ my father said. He dropped his voice. ‘And give them a little extra from me while you’re at it.’
John quickly kissed me. ‘Gold can relay for me. Zara will let you know what’s happening.’ He squeezed my hand and was gone.
There was a tap on the door and I let Zara in.
Can I come say goodbye? Simone said into my head.
‘Dad, Simone wants to come and have dinner and say goodbye as well,’ I said.
‘She’s most welcome,’ my mother said. ‘Let’s go over to Jennifer’s, forget our troubles, and just be a family.’
CHAPTER 26
The dinner was subdued; almost painful. On the one hand, I couldn’t wait for it to be over; on the other, I never wanted it to finish.
‘They’ve landed, ma’am,’ Zara said as my mother was serving ice-cream.
‘Do you mind?’ I asked my parents.
‘We want to see too,’ Amanda said. ‘There’s a chance Andrew and Mark are in there.’
‘It could get ugly,’ I said.
‘Give me a minute and I’ll send the boys to bed,’ Jennifer said, rising to escort Colin and David out.
‘I can stay, right?’ Simone said.
‘If Simone can stay, we can stay,’ Colin said.
‘You can stay,’ Amanda said. ‘David’s too little.’ She took David’s hand and guided him to the bedroom he was sharing with Colin. He had refused to spend the night in Andrew’s room.
‘Zara, can you show all of us?’ my father said.
Zara’s expression went blank and suddenly we were skydiving over Singapore. The house around us disappeared and a three-dimensional image from Gold’s viewpoint was projected into the air around us.
‘You’re seeing through Gold’s eyes,’ Zara said. ‘He’s been notified.’
‘Damn,’ my father said.
‘If it becomes difficult or unpleasant, let me know,’ Zara said. ‘I will disconnect you.’
‘Wow, this is just like Covert Ops,’ Colin said.
There was even sound with the transmission: the wind whistled past Gold’s ears as he, John and the two Generals with them flew down towards Singapore. The land was greener and more open than Hong Kong, with more one- and two-storey buildings, and wide roads bordered by lush grass verges dotted with trees.
‘It’s near Aljunied,’ Gold said. ‘Across the freeway from the housing estate, in Kallang.’
‘Figures,’ I said.
‘Why is that, Emma?’ Jennifer said.
‘That’s the red-light district. Aljunied is famous for prostitutes — and temples. There’s a mass of temples in that whole area. Kallang is the industrial estate nearby.’
‘Coming in. The Dark Lord is guiding us,’ Gold said.
They were dropping more than flying, arms spread. John was the lowest, leading the way in Celestial Form, his hair and black robes streaming out behind him. He slid from side to side, then stopped in midair and floated two hundred metres above the ground.
‘Zhu,’ he said, gesturing without looking back.
‘That’s Zhu Bei Niang, the Lady of the Shadow Sword,’ I said, explaining for my family. Zhu was wearing a black Mountain uniform with armour over the top and her Shadow sword, an unfocused shape of grey, was clipped to her back. Her black hair was tied in a simple ponytail. ‘The other guy is General Ma, John’s right hand.’ Ma’s robes and armour had a shifting pattern of flame on them, and his red hair was in a topknot and fell to his waist.
Zhu moved to float next to John, and pulled an ancient-looking, circular mirror out of her sword clip. She held it in front of her and swung it around.
‘That’s the Thunder Mirror,’ I said. ‘It sees the truth. It’ll show them if there are any demons groundside.’
‘It didn’t detect the copies?’ my father said.
‘It saw them a
s human as well,’ I said. ‘John suspects that the copies are East-West hybrids and that’s why they’re undetectable.’
‘Like young Tom,’ my father said.
‘Exactly.’
Zhu spoke. ‘Nothing, my Lord. I suggest landing on one of the high rises and checking closer to the ground.’
‘The one with the pool on the roof, on the corner nearest to the shophouses,’ John said, and leapt from a floating position to freefall again, the Generals and Gold following him.
‘Just the four of them?’ my father said.
‘Each General has a cohort of demon soldiers that they can summon,’ I said. ‘Until they’re sure, they’re keeping a low profile.’
John slowed, changed to vertical feet-first, and landed on a white high rise with a swimming pool on the roof. He strode to the edge and crouched, studying the shophouses across the road. Gold’s viewpoint followed him, shaky now that Gold was walking, and the view swept over the buildings below.
The shophouses lined the narrow street, pushing hard against each other, their identical pitched roofs making them look like Monopoly houses. Each shophouse was a different colour, but all were two storeys, with an open workshop on the ground floor and a small apartment on the first. Most of them were auto-mechanical workshops, with a couple of metal-fabrication businesses and a tyre retailer. Cars lined the street on both sides, parked under the tired-looking trees.
John stiffened and sniffed the air. Zhu pulled the mirror out again, scanning the shophouses.
‘I am relaying for Lady Emma’s family,’ Gold said softly.
‘Hi, Emma,’ Ma said behind Gold, sounding as if he was behind me.
John rose and went to the other side of the roof, and again crouched to study the shophouses across the road on the other side. On this side, it was the rear of the buildings on view; most of them had been extended with corrugated iron and tarpaulins, with piles of junk cluttering their concreted drives.
Zhu raised the mirror again and studied it. She went back to the other side of the building and turned the mirror.
‘I smell them,’ John said without moving. He raised one gloved hand towards the back of the shophouses. ‘Down there.’
Zhu quickly joined him and turned the mirror towards the shophouses. ‘I can’t see anything!’ she said, and shook it. ‘Batteries must be flat.’
