by Kylie Chan
‘Yes, they would. But I can’t give them a big house of their own. They may have to share with someone.’
‘That’s the payment.’
‘Okay. I’ll have Simone manage the move up…’ I raised my eyebrows at her and she stared at me, shocked. ‘I’m flat out doing other things. She’ll be in touch shortly. It might be best to hold off moving them until we know we’re going into battle.’
‘Can she manage it?’ he said, sounding unsure.
‘Absolutely. She’s extremely capable and has had extensive managerial training in her role as Celestial Princess. Leave it with us; she’ll call you soon.’
He sounded relieved. ‘I really appreciate this.’
‘I appreciate it too. That steel will be a lifesaver.’
I put the phone down and turned to face Martin and Simone.
‘You’re giving me jobs to do?’ Simone said, stunned.
‘I need your help.’ I turned to Martin. ‘Is this private?’
‘Not so private Simone can’t hear.’
‘Okay. Simone, if you can help out, I really do need you. Not just arranging the evacuation of David’s family, but to take over my job liaising with the Hong Kong police. Cheung’s in serious trouble; his arrested gangsters are disappearing from the lockup.’
Simone’s eyes went wide. ‘You want me to do your spy act thing?’
‘Only until this business in Hell is sorted. Just keep him off my back until this is over.’
‘I can’t get away with it, I’m too young!’
‘Make yourself older.’
She paused for a moment, then said, ‘Okay. Give me the info and I’ll take it over from you. Is there anything else you need me to manage?’
‘At the moment, no, but I appreciate your help. Go ask Yi Hao for the details, and call David.’
She smiled slightly. ‘Okay, I’ll call him.’
She rose and I stopped her. ‘Wait, you didn’t tell me what you wanted.’
‘It’s nothing. Talk to Ge Ge. I’ll go ring David.’ She went out.
‘What’s the big disaster this time?’ I asked Martin.
He shook his hands in front of his face. ‘Both the Lion and I sincerely apologise for our recent negligent behaviour. We would like to show you the reason for our distraction.’
‘It had better be a good one. I hope it isn’t what I think it is.’
‘What do you think it is? Never mind, it’s the very best. We need you to come down to Dragon Village in Sha Tin and see for yourself.’
‘Just tell me.’
‘I cannot. We promised each other we wouldn’t divulge the information to anyone. I have to show you.’
I sighed and pushed my chair back. ‘I’m supposed to minimise my travelling. I’ll never be a hundred per cent if I don’t stop plane-shifting like this.’
He smiled slightly. ‘We’d show my father but we’re … not really sure how he’ll react.’
‘If it’s what I think it is, my reaction may be similar.’
11
‘Is this security new? It doesn’t look it,’ I said as Leo drove us through the main gate of Dragon Village and past the gatehouse staffed with two uniformed security guards.
The small estate high on the hill above Sha Tin was a circle of brown houses jammed next to each other around a central open area. It had a spiked perimeter fence four metres high, topped with razor wire and motion detectors.
‘This is standard for this part of the New Territories,’ Martin said in the back seat next to me. ‘It’s identical to every other estate on top of the hill here.’
‘Shame you can’t see Sha Tin from here,’ I said, studying the tree-covered hillsides around us. ‘The view from the top must be really good.’
‘The dragons used to go up to the top to launch themselves to fly, but strategically it’s too exposed up there,’ Leo said. He made a soft sound of amusement. ‘Gross, too. All the taxi and minibus drivers stop at the lookout and toss their urine bottles out. The ground is covered with them.’
‘Lovely,’ I said. ‘Is that an English school on the other side of the road outside the estate?’
‘Yeah, the dragon kids go there; they all speak excellent English,’ Leo said. ‘One of the reasons why kids from Dragon Village are so damn up themselves.’
‘Apart from being dragons,’ Martin said.
Leo wound around the narrow four-storey brown-tiled houses and down a ramp into an underground car park that was deserted except for one other car.
‘I’ve never been to Dragon Village before,’ I said. ‘Very classy. How are they finding it up at the Celestial Palace? There isn’t nearly as much room there.’
‘They didn’t want to go,’ Martin said. ‘The Jade Emperor had the Dragon King himself send one of his emissaries to move them along. They argued for a long time.’
‘I’m not surprised.’
Leo parked the car and we went up the stairs to the central plaza of the estate. A communal clubhouse and pool sat in the centre with a small dragon fountain. The tall narrow houses had only one room on each floor, covering the full three-metre width; and a couple of three-storey apartment blocks stood at the end. The silence was eerie. All of the houses were obviously empty, even though furniture was visible through some of the windows. The entire estate seemed deserted.
‘They’ll be up in the playground,’ Martin said, and patted Leo on the shoulder as he walked around him towards the far end of the estate.
‘The orphans live in the apartment block,’ Leo said. ‘Chang took the whole building, since the dragons lived in the larger houses. He considered moving them to the houses after the evacuation, but they seemed happy in the apartment dorms so he left them there. Some of the other orphanages were moved around after the villages were evacuated.’
We rounded the corner to where the gardens stood at the back of the estate and the playing children came into view.
A little girl of about four years ran to throw herself into Leo’s arms. He hoisted her up and she kissed him on the cheek, then leaned away from him and reached to be held by Martin. Her intelligent dark brown eyes sparkled under her close-cropped dark frizz; she was obviously half-black and half-Chinese.
She hugged Martin around the neck. ‘I missed you, Ba Ba! Where have you been?’
I sighed with dismay. ‘Oh no. No way. Do not do this to us. We need you up there.’
Leo came to stand next to Martin and put his hand on Martin’s shoulder. ‘Too late. The adoption papers have nearly gone through.’
Chang came and saluted us all. ‘Ma’am. My Lords. It’s gone through. She’s all yours, Master Leo.’
‘Yay!’ the little girl yelled, then burst into tears and hugged Martin fiercely around his neck. He spoke softly in her ear, reassuring her, and she nodded into his shoulder.
Leo spoke silently to me. Her mother gave a false ID and walked out of the hospital without her when she was less than twenty-four hours old. We think her father was African but we really have no idea. She was bullied by the other kids at the old place she was at; they were only too happy to let us take her.
Martin handed the child to Leo, and he held her tight and changed to speaking out loud. ‘She already has Hong Kong residency, and if she wants, she can have American citizenship from me. She can choose to live anywhere she pleases when she grows up.’ He spoke into her hair. ‘I’m your real Daddy now, it’s all legal and everything. They can never take you away from us.’
‘I want Ba Ba to be my real Daddy too,’ she said into his chest.
‘The names on the papers don’t matter, Butterfly. He’s as much your real Daddy as I am, and we’ll always be here for you.’ Leo shrugged as he spoke to me. ‘The legals won’t be important when we move up in ten years or so. It’s a small price to pay to have …’ He tickled her, making her wriggle and giggle. ‘This little bundle of terror all our own.’
‘All ours,’ Martin said with wonder, and Butterfly turned in Leo’s arms and reach
ed for Martin to take her again.
‘She’ll be his first daughter,’ Leo said with a sad smile. ‘Four thousand years and he’s never fathered a child.’
‘I thought I’d never have a child of my own,’ Martin said. He spoke to Butterfly. ‘We will have a home, and you will have your own bedroom, and we will be a family.’
She sniffled and ran the back of her hand across her nose, then threw her arms around Martin’s neck again. ‘I love you, Ba Ba.’
He closed his eyes and his face went fierce as he rested his cheek on the top of her head. ‘I love you too, my Butterfly,’ he said, his voice hoarse.
‘So can we have the Peak apartment?’ Leo said.
‘John will be furious,’ I said.
‘Like I said, a good word from you would make all the difference,’ Leo said.
‘How long have you two been planning this?’
‘It wasn’t planned,’ Martin said, holding Butterfly close. ‘About three months ago, Leo helped Chang set up the orphanage here in Dragon Village. There was some extra space, so he scouted to see if we could take some children that needed a good home from other places.’
‘And from there it just happened,’ Leo said.
‘It’s more like she adopted us, actually,’ Martin said. ‘When she saw Leo for the first time she was hysterical. She’d never seen a black man before; she’d always thought she was some sort of deformed freak. When Leo explained that being black is perfectly ordinary and normal, she cried for a long time.’
‘I’m normal!’ Butterfly said with triumph, her head on Martin’s chest.
‘No, you’re special,’ I said. ‘And smart and lovely and very lucky to have these two great men for your fathers.’
‘I know,’ Butterfly said, turning her head on Martin’s chest to see Leo. ‘So lucky.’
‘Does she know?’ I said.
‘Of course she does,’ Martin said.
‘Do I know what?’ Butterfly asked me without moving her head from Martin’s chest.
‘That Daddy and Ba Ba love each other and want to get married together.’
‘Oh, I know that,’ she said dismissively, waving one tiny hand through the air. She dropped her voice. ‘They are so cute and mushy sometimes.’
‘Does she know the full situation?’
‘Yep!’ Butterfly said.
‘As much as we can explain to one so small,’ Martin said. ‘The real me may be an issue. But we’ll deal with that later.’
‘I don’t think it’ll be an issue. She’s seen the real me and thinks I’m awesome,’ Leo said with pride. He turned back to me. ‘So … apartment? If you say no, we’ll just buy or rent something. But the Peak apartment has the best seals anywhere and nobody’s living there right now. Can you ask him?’
‘I don’t need to, I’m in charge of that.’ I sighed with resignation. ‘I suppose you might as well start moving in. But please try to spend as much time as you can helping out with the …’ I skipped the word, ‘effort. Martin, you particularly are needed in the Northern Heavens and they will make another try for … the place below.’
‘We know this is very bad timing,’ Martin said. ‘And if we could take her up with us, we would. We also need to work out a strategy for defending the orphanages. Every single child is in the same situation as Butterfly — without their mother, they cannot travel to a safer place — so we must defend them here.’
‘I’d appreciate Lord Leo’s help,’ Chang said as he passed us with a ball he’d retrieved from the roof of the apartment building. ‘I can’t be everywhere at once, and you know we’re a target.’
‘I’ll be spending most of my time arranging the defence of the orphanages now recruitment’s been halted,’ Leo said. ‘I might as well be living down here. It’s easier to travel around the Earthly when I’m already on it.’
Chang went to join the children in an impromptu game of soccer.
A skinny fourteen-year-old boy raced up to us. ‘Mr Alexander, the truck is here with the TV people.’
‘What?’ Leo checked his watch. ‘They’re early? Unheard of.’
‘TV people?’ I said with horror.
‘Martin, explain. I’ll show them where to park,’ Leo said, and walked off with the boy.
‘We’ve been liaising with UNICEF about caring for kids all over Asia.’ Martin shrugged. ‘Chang’s foundation has become somewhat famous, and the UN wants to do a documentary on us as a fundraising vehicle.’
I dropped my head and ran my hands through my hair. ‘Dear Lord, what a bad idea.’ I looked up at him. ‘Our entire operation and every location will be identified. The foundation will become a huge target. Why on earth did you agree to this?’
‘We’ve taken precautions, don’t worry. We won’t identify specific locations, only the country; and adults won’t be shown in enough detail to be identified.’ He turned to watch the children playing. ‘Only the happy kids will be shown, and our efforts to find them good homes if we can and remedial help if they need it. Besides, demons can’t harm humans: it’s in the agreement that my father made with them all that time ago. Not a single human has been harmed on the Earthly since Father returned.’
‘If you were where you should have been during the most recent debriefing, you’d know that the demons have been harming humans all over the West,’ I said grimly.
‘No,’ he said, pulling Butterfly closer.
‘What, Ba Ba?’ Butterfly said.
‘We need to move you to the Peak as quickly as we can,’ he said. He turned back to me. ‘Do you have Monica’s phone number? Leo was wondering if she’d be willing to return and help us.’
‘Monica’s nearly sixty years old,’ I said. ‘And … um …’ I tried to word it so that it wouldn’t scare Butterfly. ‘Carcinoma.’
‘Oh, that’s terrible. Does Leo know?’
‘No.’
‘She should move up to the Heavenly Plane. The disease won’t spread there.’
‘She’s too ill to travel. She let it go too far before seeing a doctor.’
‘What did Simone say when she found out?’
I hesitated. ‘I’ve known about it for a while, but you’re the first one I’ve told. And I request that you respect Monica’s wishes and don’t tell anyone else. She doesn’t want to be remembered as she is now, but as she was. She’s not alone, she’s surrounded by loving family, and it’s her choice.’
‘Simone will be heartbroken.’
‘Simone’s heart has been broken so many times that there aren’t many pieces left to break. All of us have left her at one point or another, Martin.’
‘I will never leave you,’ he said to Butterfly, and kissed the top of her head. ‘I have something to show you,’ he said to me. ‘Will you come with me upstairs? I think you will like it.’
‘If it’s a particular baby in the orphanage then don’t bother.’
His eyes widened. ‘How did you know?’
I dropped my head and kicked at the ground. ‘The Jade Emperor has strictly forbidden us from adopting a child.’
‘He knew?’
I looked up at him and tried to keep my voice even. ‘It seems so, and he’s right. We’re at war, Martin. We don’t need this sort of distraction.’
‘A child would bring you both so much joy, and there’s this little half-European girl who could be a little sister for Simone …’
I turned away and gazed up at the apartment building, not really seeing it. ‘Stop there. I don’t want to know. Look after them and guard them but don’t let me see them.’
‘I’m sorry,’ he said softly behind me.
‘Just keep them safe,’ I said. ‘I’ll take a taxi back to the gateway. You take Butterfly upstairs and pack for her. I’m sure you’re eager to set up house and be a family.’
‘One of the staff can drive you down.’ He stopped and concentrated. ‘One of the dragons stayed on to help — he’s bringing the spare car around. Meet him at the car park exit.’ He spoke to Butterfly,
still in his arms. ‘We can move you to our new home now, then we need to go shopping for furniture for you.’
‘Furniture?’ she said, wide-eyed and breathless. ‘Can I choose?’
‘Of course you can. There’s the car,’ Martin said. He put his free arm around my shoulders and pulled me in to kiss the top of my head. ‘Thanks, Mom.’
I squeezed him around the waist and let go. ‘You’re as bad as Leo.’ I waved to them both as I headed down to the car. ‘And I can’t be your Mom, John is,’ I called back as I opened the car door.
Shh, nobody’s supposed to know!
I climbed into the car’s front passenger seat.
‘Where to, ma’am?’ asked the slim young driver.
I turned and stared at him; I knew that voice. He saw me looking and grinned.
‘Lok?’
His smile widened.
‘Oh my god, Lok — where have you been? How come you’re human? What happened to you? We searched everywhere!’
He put the car in gear and eased us down the narrow lane between the houses and the high brick perimeter wall. ‘I’ll tell you everything, but you have to let me know where I’m dropping you.’
‘Celestial gateway in Wan Chai. Now where the hell have you been?’ I gasped. ‘Not Hell?’
‘No, not Hell.’ He sighed and patted the steering wheel as we waited for the guards to open the electric gate for us. ‘I miss everybody at the Academy. I must come up and say hello.’
‘Lucy Chen would love to have you back. She’s run off her feet trying to manage the armoury, and I’m having a good few hundred new weapons made. So what happened to you? You broke the curse?’
‘The bitch that cursed me died. I was suddenly a dragon again and I was free.’ He winced. ‘I took off — I’m sorry, ma’am, but I was free and I could fly and swim and …’ He smiled slightly. ‘Well. I’d been a dog for a long time and it was a truly wonderful feeling.’
We headed down the steep road that led from the hilltop estates to the industrial area of Fo Tan, which was packed with multistorey factory buildings. Sha Tin Racecourse complex, more than a kilometre from one end to the other, spread out next to the artificially constrained concrete banks of the Shing Mun River. It was a long time since I’d lived in Sha Tin New Town, in a tiny flat with Louise, and I felt a pang of grief at her loss. Then I pushed it aside. I missed her terribly, but there were many people relying on me and I had to stay strong and focused.
