Simone’s friend Eva was waiting for Simone as we exited the meeting room, along with Sylvie the snake Shen and her dragon girlfriend, Precious. All three of them rushed to hold Simone’s hands and shoulders.
‘What’s the damage?’ Sylvie said, trying to sound unconcerned and failing.
‘I’m to be commended for protecting my honour,’ Simone said miserably.
The girls shared a look, then Precious said, ‘I keep forgetting that the Jade Emperor is so goddamn old.’
Simone’s mobile rang and she pulled it out of the pocket of her jeans.
‘How does that still work — it’s been in the water for hours,’ Eva said.
‘It’s a Celestial phone, works on both Planes. A variation on the network I built that rides Celestial Harmony,’ Gold said.
‘Sounds fascinating,’ Sylvie said. ‘You must show me one day, Lord Gold.’
‘My pleasure,’ Gold said.
Simone listened to the call for a while, then dropped the phone and bent double, sobbing. Her friends crowded round her again and held her as she cried.
‘That …’ Simone took a deep, gasping breath, struggling to get the words out. ‘That was Pinky … Bevan’s girlfriend. She just told me that she hates me forever … and she’s going to get someone to chop me. She cursed me and said she hopes I die because I’m a murderer.’
‘Just ignore her, Simone. She tried to drug you so he could rape you,’ I said.
‘She’s right,’ Simone wailed.
‘Simone …’ Eva bent to look into Simone’s eyes. ‘Simone, you need to get away. That’s why I’m here. Mom wants to lend you one of our nicest places — a villa in Phuket. All yours for a week. Go out to the Phi Phis, relax, sit by the pool, all on us.’ She patted Simone’s shoulder. ‘You can have it as long as you want it. Okay?’
Simone gasped without speaking and nodded.
‘Sound good?’
Simone nodded again.
‘Good. You can fly straight there, I can give you the details.’
‘I’ll fly commercial with Emma. We can go together,’ Simone said.
‘What about the private jet?’ Leo said.
‘We sold it,’ I said. ‘We don’t need it. It was just to keep John safe while he was weak, and it cost a fortune to keep running. Simone can carry herself and me short distances, and we fly commercial for long distances like London.’
‘Makes sense,’ Leo said.
‘No handbag, no tissues,’ I said to Simone.
She nodded, straightened and wiped her eyes. ‘Tell your mother thanks, Eva. Do you guys want to come along too? It’s a whole villa.’
Sylvie and Precious shared a meaningful look.
‘No way are you two using this as an excuse for a tryst,’ I said. ‘Different bedrooms and no funny business, just a straight-up girls’ fun holiday.’
‘So I’m not invited?’ Leo said, pretending to be hurt.
‘Of course, you’re one of the girls,’ I said.
He grinned. ‘Good.’
‘Nah, you guys go have some quiet time,’ Precious said. ‘We have school and shit. We’ll meet up with you when you start at CH, Simone.’
Simone nodded, her voice still thick from crying. ‘Okay.’
We could fly directly to Phuket from Hong Kong as it was such a major Hong Kong tourist destination. The airport was large, clean and modern, and even catered for Leo’s wheelchair with ramps throughout. A demon met us at the exit from Customs, and the Phoenix herself was waiting outside the terminal, next to a large bright red Mercedes van driven by a smiling demon appearing as a local man. The Phoenix was wearing a traditional Thai outfit of red silk shot through with orange and yellow highlights that appeared and disappeared as she moved. Her skirt was pencil-slim and reached to her feet, with a decorative gold border at the bottom. Her blouse had short sleeves and a round neck, with a similar decorative border along its bottom and a sash of matching red and gold silk over one shoulder.
She pressed her palms together and greeted us with a slight bow. ‘Sawatdee. Welcome to the gracious south, where the holy light of Buddhism was born, and the people are more gentle and civilised.’
‘Have you ever said that in front of the other three Winds?’ Simone said, amused.
‘All the time,’ the Phoenix said. She gestured towards the van. ‘The villas are at Bangtao Beach.’
It was a twenty-minute drive to the resort. We passed plantations of trees, all of them with large sloping scars on their trunks and cups at the base.
‘Oh, rubber trees,’ Simone said with interest. ‘Never seen them before.’
‘It is a minor source of income for the island, after tourism,’ the Phoenix said. ‘Here we are.’
The lobby was a series of pavilions with pyramid-shaped roofs spread around a large resort-style pool. The staff bowed their heads low, raising their hands to touch their faces. The Phoenix went to the desk and picked up our keys, then took us out to where the demons had loaded our luggage onto a golf buggy.
The villas were all constructed around a central lagoon. ‘So much water!’ Simone said as we were driven to our accommodation. ‘The main area has that big pool, and you have this lagoon …’ She stopped and realised. ‘Oh.’
‘Wait until you see your villa,’ the Phoenix said.
It had the traditional high-pitched Thai roof with flame-shaped decorations at the bottom of the arches, and a small sign outside: ‘Madam Emma Donohoe, Lord Leo Alexander and Princess Simone Chen’.
The entry hall opened into a large, high-ceilinged room lined with polished timber; the interior walls were smooth and white with dark wood surrounding frames. All of the soft furnishings were a rich dark red silk, and an ornamental table held an arrangement of bird-of-paradise flowers that was nearly two metres tall. The floor-to-ceiling windows were open and looked out onto the villa’s private pool, which had a glass-walled spa set into it. Its infinity-style edge meant that the far end appeared to merge with the lagoon. There were a couple of timber sun lounges set next to the pool.
Simone took a running leap and dived straight over the spa into the pool. She travelled underwater to the far end, kicked off without surfacing and swam underwater back to us. She surfaced, floated out of the pool, dried her clothes and landed lightly on the polished timber floor. She took a deep breath. ‘Okay, where are our bedrooms?’
The Phoenix gestured down a corridor. ‘Your bedroom is this way, miss.’
Simone gasped when she saw the room. It had its own pavilion, with a king-sized bed covered in plush cushions, floor-to-ceiling glass on three sides, and high courtyard walls two metres from the glass to give the room privacy. The entire area was surrounded by a blue wading pool, the water only half a metre deep; a pair of plastic chairs sat in the pool on either side of a table holding a decorative flower arrangement. Simone appeared to be contemplating diving into this water as well, then changed her mind. She turned back to the Phoenix. ‘Is this because your family stays here?’
The Phoenix nodded. ‘They can’t set fire to the neighbourhood when they’re surrounded by water like this.’
‘Good idea, I suppose,’ Simone said.
The bathroom was larger than the bedroom, with a door leading to a spa-sized outside bath.
A kind-faced man in the all-white of house staff appeared and clasped his hands in the Thai greeting.
‘This is Kwan,’ the Phoenix said. ‘He is your personal staff here. He will cook your breakfast to your liking. If you want a massage, just tell him.’ She gestured towards Kwan and he gave Simone a mobile phone. ‘Press redial and he’ll be here for you. There are a couple of bikes out the front for transport, and the beach is about five minutes down that way,’ she said, pointing. ‘The resort has several restaurants, and it’s part of a multi-resort complex as well. If you like, Kwan will take you in the boat across the lagoon to eat at the other hotels in the complex. If you want to go shopping or anything, Patong Beach is about twenty minutes away.’ She spread her arms and the red silk of her outfit shimmered. ‘Enjoy.’
Simone threw herself into the Phoenix’s arms and hugged her. ‘Thanks, Auntie Zhu.’ She pulled back and greeted the Phoenix the Thai way. ‘And sawatdee.’
‘Take some time to settle in,’ the Phoenix said. She turned to me. ‘Emma, a quick word before I leave you to it?’
I followed her back to the villa’s main area. ‘Just a word of caution,’ she said. ‘This is a tourist place in one of the world’s poorer nations. We do have some difficulty with maintenance of the resort as trained and capable technicians are hard to find. There is crime here, also some underworld activity. I do not interfere — it is not my place as a Celestial unless demons are involved — but be aware that there is a criminal element and they will try to rip you off if you go into town.’
She saw my face and smiled. ‘It’s not that bad. You and Simone can go into Patong and have a wonderful time and not realise any of it exists. It is a pain in the neck for me, however. Just avoid the bars — not that I think I need to tell you this — and be aware of pickpockets, thieves and rip-off artists who will see you as wealthy tourists and try to take advantage of you. Take Kwan with you; he is a senior member of my demon staff and well-known around town.’
‘Thanks, Phoenix,’ I said. ‘Um … you’ve shown us Simone’s bedroom; what about Leo and me?’
‘One of you will have to sleep on the daybed in the living room, it converts into a third bedroom. The other can take the second floating bedroom, identical to Simone’s, on the other side of the villa.’
‘By precedence rules, the Immortal Lord Leo should take the other bedroom,’ I said.
‘Yes, and good luck trying to make him,’ the Phoenix said. She nodded to Kwan. ‘Make it so.’
Kwan nodded and headed towards the living room area.
She raised her voice and called to Simone. ‘I’m coming back tomorrow and you and I are going to spar, young lady. I want to see how you’ve progressed.’
‘We’re going to the spa? Can I have a manicure and pedicure?’ Simone called back.
‘No, spar! With weapons!’
Simone poked her head around the wall. ‘I know, I heard you,’ she said cheekily. ‘But afterwards book me into the spa, I want everything.’
‘You are spoilt,’ I said.
She threw her arms up in the air and jumped. ‘I know, and I love it!’ She ran back into her bedroom.
‘There are DVDs, books and games in the central atrium,’ the Phoenix said. ‘Kwan will take good care of you; he’s probably lighting the incense and essential oils right now.’ She shrugged. ‘I’ll see you tomorrow.’
I sighed and looked around. ‘I think this is exactly what Simone needs — some time away from everything, with a large amount of water around her.’ I took the Phoenix’s hand. ‘Thanks, Zhu Que.’
She nodded. ‘You are most welcome.’ She disappeared.
The next morning I found Simone asleep in the bottom of her wading pool still in her pyjamas. Kwan came and made breakfast for us, leaving Simone’s under a serving cover. She slept until lunchtime, shaded from the sun by the courtyard walls.
Leo spent most of the morning doing physical therapy in the pool, trying to make his legs work without using his Celestial skills. In the end he gave up, pulled himself into the spa, turned it on and dozed in the warm bubbles.
Michael had stored the records we’d accessed in the Archives on five or six DVDs and I spent the morning running through them on my laptop, looking for something about my nature. The Archivist had also given me a login and password for the Archive reserves, and I occasionally followed a lead into the main library only to reach a dead end. There was absolutely nothing about the first European settlers in Australia. On Australia itself there was minimal information. There were a few minor mentions of Rainbow Serpents as holding similar characteristics to dragons with their weather and water skills, and some vague references to spirits that existed in the south. I’d learnt more about traditional Australian mythology in primary school. The Asian Shen seemed completely uninterested in the activities of Shen in the other Corners of the World, and it was disturbing to think about the demons making hybrids from the different Centres without the Shen doing much to stop them.
I cross-indexed the town that I had recurring dreams about: it sat on top of a hill, had traditional European-style, thatch-roofed cottages surrounded by low stone walls, hedges and flowering gardens; the other hills around it were steep and the valleys below it were invisible. The landscape reminded me of Wudang Mountain, but the curves were much softer and there was more grass and not as much rock. The cross-index search gave me the same information I’d found on the internet: Wales, Ireland, Spain, Italy. I needed to make another trip to Europe, and this time not indulge Simone by spending the whole time shopping in London, Paris and Milan.
I hadn’t mentioned to the Archivist my dream where I was climbing the hill as a snake, the knowledge that there was fresh blood at the top driving me on with a raw hunger. It sounded too much like a Druidic sacrifice ritual, which was very disturbing. Druids had been nature-loving tree-huggers, yes; but they’d also disembowelled people and used their own intestines to tie them, still alive, as sacrifices to the trees they worshipped.
I looked up the Serpent Concubine and watched with horror as the information came up. Well, thank you very much, Miss Concubine. Here I was, trying my best to give Celestial snakes a better reputation, and she’d done the exact opposite. She had been a harsh and merciless mistress, jealous of the Dark Lord and paranoid to the point of schizophrenia. She had beaten her maids, had many of the household demons executed for minor misdemeanours, and the final straw was when she’d eaten a couple of human staff who had gone to her to beg for more rest time as they were working seven days a week.
The Dark Lord hadn’t been aware of all this as he’d spent most of his time on Wudangshan and trying to deal with the falling Qing dynasty and the Boxer Rebellion — they’d worshipped him and he’d been desperately trying to sever his connection with it — and she had been left to sink deeper into loneliness, paranoia and insanity. He’d returned from Wudangshan after the Northern Council had intervened and had her incarcerated for the crime of eating the humans, and he had removed her head himself. After her execution he had her pavilion locked up and his visits to the Northern Heavens became more sporadic; he really only went there when there were serious cases to hear or the energy was low.
The case of the Serpent Concubine was cross-indexed with several similar cases of jealous, power-hungry or just plain insane consorts and concubines on the Celestial Plane. The Phoenix had changed to female after a similar situation had occurred to her male form: two of her wives had fought a duel and killed each other while one of them was pregnant. The Tiger had executed more than twenty of his own wives over the years for jealous palace intrigue. The Dragon hadn’t reported any cases to the Celestial administration, despite records of his concubines being executed for ‘crimes against Heaven’. I sat looking at the screen, trying to decide whether the fact that many of the other mad concubines had been raised human made the Serpent Concubine any less responsible for her crimes. I decided that it didn’t. Damn, I had a lot of PR work ahead of me.
Simone came out of her bathroom, towelling her hair. ‘Is there any food? I’m starving.’
I gestured towards the trolley. ‘Kwan made you a full English breakfast complete with three different types of muffin, tropical fruit, and scrambled eggs just the way you like them. The whole thing is probably a gluggy mess by now.’
She lifted the cover and wrinkled her nose. ‘You’re right.’ She grabbed a muffin and threw herself onto the couch while she munched on it. ‘Leo’s asleep in the spa.’ She looked over to see what I was doing and I quickly switched back to the European data. ‘Working again, Emma? Give it up.’
She went to find the tea-making facilities, shuffling through the different types of tea and putting the kettle on. ‘So what are we doing this morning?’
‘It’s already past midday,’ I said. ‘We can have some lunch if you like, then the Phoenix said she wanted to see you.’
‘What were you going to eat if I was still asleep?’ she said.
‘I was about to call Kwan and see what we could get delivered.’
‘Well, that’s not good enough,’ Simone said. She leaned towards the outer doors so that Leo could hear her. ‘What I really want is a big thick hamburger with lashings of melted cheese and bacon. I wonder if the café makes them.’
Leo turned to look at us and grinned. ‘They sure do, and I was just thinking the same thing.’
‘Let’s go!’ Simone said, dropping the teabags.
Leo changed into a black lion and pulled himself out of the spa, treading carefully across the stepping stones back to the villa. He stopped and shook himself, the water cascading everywhere. ‘Let me have a quick shower and find some shoes.’
‘No taking all day!’ Simone said, wagging her finger at him with mock severity.
‘That’s good coming from you, Miss Sleep-All-Day,’ he said.
She tossed back her damp, honey-coloured hair. ‘I’m a teenager. I’m allowed.’
He grinned his lion grin. ‘I suppose you are.’ He walked into the main bathroom and closed the door behind him with his nose.
‘Find anything?’ Simone said, sitting next to me to finish the muffin.
‘Nothing at all. I need to make another trip to Europe,’ I said.
Simone jiggled with glee. ‘Yay, shopping!’
‘Not for shopping.’
‘There’s always time for shopping.’
The villa phone rang and I answered it. It was the Phoenix. ‘Emma, Kwan tells me that Sleeping Beauty is awake. Have you eaten?’
‘Not yet,’ I said. ‘We’re going on a hamburger hunt as soon as Leo is in a form that won’t scare the other tourists.’
‘Emma,’ Simone said patiently, ‘in human form he’s six five, black and ugly as the devil. I really think his lion form is less scary.’
‘She has a point,’ Leo said, coming out of the bathroom in his wheelchair, wearing a designer polo shirt, trim pleated slacks and expensive loafers.
‘Well, after you guys have hunted down and devoured the poor innocent hamburgers, could you meet me at the front of the resort?’ the Phoenix said. ‘I was serious about sparring with Simone.’
‘Will do,’ I said, and hung up. ‘You heard, Simone?’
Simone grimaced. ‘I know what she’s going to say.’
‘That you’re the only human daughter of the God of Martial Arts and the most talented practitioner on any Plane?’ Leo said.
‘More like I need to go to Celestial High and learn properly,’ Simone said, resigned. ‘The Masters and the Tiger are always telling me how bad I am.’
‘Well, it doesn’t matter now because you’re going to CH anyway,’ I said. I rose. ‘Open season on hamburgers. Let’s get us a bag of ’em, pardners.’
‘Oh wow, you are so lame sometimes, Emma, it hurts.’
I bowed slightly to her. ‘I thank you, madam.’
‘More like mortal wounds,’ Leo said, and wheeled himself to the door. ‘Let’s go, I’m starving. Sitting in that spa all morning was damn hard work.’
We ate in the hotel’s café overlooking the main resort pool. Service was immaculate, right down to the tedious water-glass-and-napkin ceremony. The hamburgers were enormous and exactly the way Simone and Leo liked them, smothered in melted cheese and aioli and served with thick-cut French fries. I had a vegetarian omelette; I needed to watch my weight while I wasn’t working out as heavily as I did back home. If I wasn’t careful I could balloon out in only a week of slacking.
Leo and I shared a plunger of coffee, and Simone had a huge iced lemon tea.
‘I don’t know how you can drink something hot,’ she said. ‘It’s so warm and humid here, it’s like the middle of summer back home.’
‘You get used to drinking hot drinks in hot weather,’ I said.
‘Especially when you need your caffeine hit,’ Leo added.
After we’d let the food settle, the Phoenix met us at the front of the resort in a golf buggy, wearing a pair of red shorts and a yellow polo shirt. She took us around the lagoon and past the resort’s private beach. The two-hundred-metre strip of pristine white sand had teak deckchairs with umbrellas and side tables laid out in rows, the clear water of the Andaman Sea glittering in front of them.
‘No waves, clear water, I’m going in later,’ Simone said with enthusiasm. ‘What are the currents like around here?’
‘I have no idea,’ the Phoenix said. ‘I don’t like the water, I don’t go in.’
‘You don’t swim at all?’ Simone said, curious.
‘Not if I can help it,’ she said.
‘You’re not a bird, you’re a cat,’ Simone said.
‘The cat loves his water. I just … It doesn’t do anything for me,’ the Phoenix said. ‘On the other hand, take me back home to my volcano in Bali, let me swim in the lava and I’m a happy chicken.’
Simone stifled a laugh. ‘Roast chicken.’
The Phoenix laughed as well. ‘I suppose so.’
After the beach we came to what was obviously the maintenance area of the resort. The buildings were ugly and utilitarian, with ride-on mowers, workbenches and racks of tools under open-sided workshops with plain colourbond roofs. We stopped outside a large barn-type building, about fifty metres long and twenty wide and two storeys high. It had no windows, just a large roller door at the front, which was open.
Inside, the bare interior walls were swathed in silver insulation sheeting and the floor was plain concrete. Large ceiling fans turned above us, not so much cooling as moving the hot, humid air around. I wondered what the building was for, then saw the weapons racks at the far end and the burn marks all over the walls and floor. The insulation sheeting was dull and greenish-grey for the first four metres up from the floor, then the other two metres to the ceiling were as shiny as new.
‘I see the burn marks, but did someone flood this building as well?’ I said.
‘Oh, the staining — that’s from the tsunami,’ the Phoenix said.
Simone stopped and stared at the walls. ‘Oh my … Oh.’ She rested her hand against the wall. ‘So much water, so many fragile people …’
The Phoenix put her arm around Simone’s shoulder. ‘Nothing you could do about it, Simone. Do not for a minute blame yourself for this. Things like this happen anyway, that is the way nature is, and he is nature when it comes to things like this. So put it aside for now and spar with me.’ She squeezed Simone. ‘You are not responsible.’
Is she saying what I think she’s saying? Leo said into my head.
I nodded.
Maybe it wasn’t such a good idea bringing Simone here then. If we go into town, there’ll still be reminders of the people that died.
I tapped the stone.
What? I was sleeping! it said.
Tell Leo: I think John would want Simone to see what she’s capable of when she uses her water power, and how important the training is to help her to control it.
How many people did he kill with this thing? Leo said.
I don’t know.
Over 200,000, the stone said.
‘Choose a weapon,’ the Phoenix said, indicating the racks at the end of the building. ‘Or call your own.’
Simone held her hand out and Dark Heavens appeared in it.
‘Ah, the Xuan Tian itself, the Dark Lord’s most simple and elegant weapon,’ the Phoenix said. ‘No elaboration, minimal enhancements, a perfectly forged demon killer, the essence of simplicity and deadliness.’ She nodded once. ‘I am honoured that you choose to wield it here.’
She went to the weapons racks and selected two Malaysian-style kris. The daggers’ blades were fifteen centimetres long, and the handles and scabbards were gold and encrusted with precious stones. The blades were curved and obviously very sharp. The Phoenix moved to stand in front of Simone, a dagger in each hand.
Simone and the Phoenix saluted each other with their weapons, then moved into readiness stances. The Phoenix attacked first, moving with impressive speed and agility, pushing Simone back as she blocked the daggers with the sword.
Simone concentrated as she parried the blows, then turned on the Phoenix and attacked. She moved through a series that I recognised from one of the high-level Wudang sword katas and the Phoenix had no difficulty dealing with the blows. I shook my head. Moving through a kata wasn’t very clever, particularly when her opponent knew it already and easily blocked each move.
The Phoenix spun, blocked the sword down with one dagger and pressed the other to Simone’s throat. Simone quickly raised her hands and conceded defeat and they moved back again.
After the Phoenix had comprehensively bested Simone four times, she stopped and nodded. ‘What if I were to pull out a couple of level-seventy demons, Simone? Would you be able to handle them?’
Simone hesitated, then shrugged. ‘If I’m facing something really big, I don’t bother fighting them with the weapon, I just use a shen or chi blast of energy through the ground or the air, and if it gets really tough, I yin them.’
The Phoenix shook her head. ‘You really need more training, little one. I won’t even waste a high-level demon from my jar on that.’ She turned to me. ‘You wouldn’t consider replacing some of my stock, would you?’
I raised my hands. ‘I can’t, Phoenix, I don’t know for sure how big they are before they put me at risk. I can do up to about level twenty no problem, but bigger than that and it starts to bother me. I’ll learn more about it when the Dark Lord comes back; after all, he’s the only one, as far as I know, who can do it.’
The Phoenix gestured towards Leo. ‘Can you free yourself from that contraption long enough to spar with me?’
Leo held the arms of the wheelchair and raised himself on his hands, then collapsed back. ‘Not right now. I think I’m too full of hamburger.’
The Phoenix nodded. ‘Eating meat will reduce your Celestial abilities.’
‘If being comfy in my chair here is the price I have to pay for filling my belly with that excellent hamburger, then I think the price is fair,’ Leo said.
The Phoenix shook her head. ‘Americans.’ She smiled at Simone. ‘Would you like to try a different weapon?’
‘Can you do polearm?’ Simone said.
The Phoenix nodded. ‘That I can. But how about you use the polearm and I’ll use sword? That way you’ll have the advantage.’
They began sparring again, and again it wasn’t a fair match, with the Phoenix attacking Simone so effectively and pushing her back so hard that she was soon against the wall of the building.
‘Simone, lift that arm! You aren’t using both hands effectively to counterbalance each other — it should be effortless, with the pole resting balanced in your hands, rather than you clutching it like a drunken bus rider. This is dreadful!’ Xuan Wu the Turtle had appeared in the corner of the room. He looked around at us. ‘What’s going on?’
‘Daddy!’ Simone dropped the polearm and raced to him. She fell to her knees and clutched him around his neck.
Leo and I went to him as well, the Phoenix behind us.
John studied Simone with his wrinkled turtle eyes. ‘How old are you, Simone? You look nearly grown up. I’m missing far too much here.’
‘Sixteen,’ Simone said into his neck.
John saw me. ‘Emma. You don’t look a day older.’
‘And you’re a lying old turtle,’ I said.
‘What happened to you? Oh … I remember. One Two Two filled you with demon essence. Have you spoken to Nu Wa?’
‘I need a spacesuit to go visit her, John. You didn’t mention that she was in space.’
‘Not in space …’ He hesitated. ‘Well, effectively, yes, she is. A minor obstacle that I’m sure you will easily overcome.’ He turned to Leo. ‘A wheelchair? I vaguely remember a battle where your back was injured. It was permanent?’
Leo nodded, grinning hugely. ‘Yes, sir.’
‘Wait,’ John said. He took a couple of graceful turtle strides to Leo and studied him, his nose level with Leo’s knees. ‘Immortal.’ He ducked his head with triumph. ‘I knew it.’ He butted Leo’s knee. ‘Congratulations, Lion. I look forward to returning and giving you some training that you’ll never forget.’
Leo didn’t look away from John. ‘Simone, Emma, could I have a moment with the Dark Lord?’
‘I don’t know how long I’ll be able to keep my intelligence, so it had better be quick,’ John said.
‘Don’t bother then, just hug your ladies,’ Leo said. ‘It can wait.’
‘You can ask him silently, Leo,’ I said.
Leo concentrated, and John took a small step back. They focused on each other, obviously discussing, then Leo nodded once sharply, wheeled himself around and parked himself next to the wall. ‘Your turn, ladies.’
‘Simone, go get that polearm,’ John said. ‘Emma, find a sword, will you? That was disgraceful, Simone.’
I summoned the Murasame and it appeared in my hand.
‘I hope you didn’t spend any time with the Demon King,’ John said grimly. ‘He won that sword off me about two hundred years ago, and I don’t like the idea of you having it.’
‘Particularly since I’m part demon,’ I said.
‘That will just make it more powerful,’ John said. ‘Okay, let’s see a level three. Slowly! You always did that one too fast.’
I nearly bent double with the pain of hearing him say that; I’d completely forgotten that my inability to do the level-three set slowly enough had been one of the most frustrating things that both of us had dealt with when he’d been teaching me. He had constantly reminded me to slow it down.
‘Are you all right, Emma?’ he said gently.
‘Just a rush of memories. Things I’d forgotten, some of the most enjoyable parts of being with you — having you constantly remind me I was doing the level three too fast.’
‘We will have many more of those times together,’ he said. He nodded his turtle head. ‘Let’s see it, and slowly.’ He turned to Simone. ‘Level-three polearm.’
Simone looked from John to me. ‘Daddy, those are different sets, and both of them move all over the floor. We’ll crash into each other. We’ll be spending way too much time avoiding each other to concentrate on the sets.’
‘You never noticed,’ John said with amusement. ‘Simone, stand next to Emma, with her on your right. About a metre and a half apart. Good. Now, when I say the word, both of you start the level-three sets. Ready? Commence.’
We both stepped forward at the same time, sweeping our weapons in front of us. Then I turned right and Simone turned left and each of us moved three steps forward.
‘Slowly, Emma,’ John said, and I couldn’t control the huge grin.
We both turned right and were facing away from him. We each took two steps towards each other and we were as close as when we’d started. After ten more moves, it became obvious to both of us that the sets synchronised. We moved in a graceful pattern, sometimes crossing paths, sometimes at opposite ends of the floor, but always performing matching supplementary moves. As we realised, we synchronised our movements even more, sometimes falling into a dance rather than a martial arts set and being pulled up by John about it. We performed the final two moves of the sets, finished up exactly where we’d started, and saluted John.
His turtle mouth was open in a huge grin. ‘The two women I love most in the world in perfect deadly harmony. I cannot tell you what a happy turtle I am today.’ His voice became more severe. ‘Emma, you have been learning and practising, that is obvious. Simone, it is also obvious that you haven’t. I’ll bet anything you like that if you encounter something big you just shen it.’
Simone grimaced and shrugged.
‘Do you have yin?’
She nodded, still grimacing.
‘How good is your yin control?’
She dropped her voice, sounding unsure. ‘I don’t want to use yin; sometimes it gets out of control. They say I could destroy the world.’
‘I’m glad there’s still a planet here for me to come back to then,’ he said. ‘How much has the Dragon taught you?’
‘Nothing at all. He’s finally been ordered by the Jade Emperor to give me some training,’ Simone said.
‘Good. And while I am here, I will give you some too. I think that is more important than waving a weapon around.’
She was obviously delighted. ‘Thanks, Daddy.’
‘Emma, Leo,’ John said, ‘I would give anything to stay with you right now, but I don’t know how much time I have and the fate of the world depends on me teaching Simone as quickly as possible to control her yin. We will go somewhere where there is no chance of her harming anything, and I’m afraid neither of you can come.’ He dropped his voice. ‘I am so sorry, Emma, but this needs to be done.’
‘I understand, love,’ I said. ‘Go, teach her, and help her to control her greatest power.’
‘Come and touch my head, Simone,’ he said, and she went to him.
‘What if you lose control of your intelligence while you’re out there?’ I said. ‘How will Simone get back?’
‘I’ll show her. I love you,’ he said, and they disappeared.
I turned to Leo. ‘What did he say? Did he say yes?’
‘He said he doesn’t want to do it,’ Leo said. ‘When I pushed him, he said he’d think about it.’
‘We’ll get there,’ I said.