I came around to find a huge, grinning, brightly lit face right above me. I realised what it was with a bolt of panic: a hospital examination light. I was strapped to a hospital bed, and the light was above me, and someone was talking — a male voice, high-pitched with fear.
‘Isn’t that enough?’ he said. ‘More than that and you’ll kill her.’
‘I want to see how far I can go,’ a female voice said, and I recognised it — Kitty Kwok.
My vision cleared but I couldn’t see much. Each eye saw something different; one of the disadvantages of being a snake with an eye either side of my head. The Geek was tied down on another hospital bed to my left, a tube coming out of his arm. To my right, I could just make out Kitty’s pink cashmere twin set and the end of her arm and hand next to my head. I flicked my tongue, tasting the air, and immediately regretted it. It tasted of demon.
Kitty’s face moved into view of my right eye. ‘Don’t change to human or you’ll die. Stay snake. Let’s see how far we can go.’
‘You’re killing me!’ the Geek said.
‘And?’ Kitty said.
‘You need me!’
‘Your pretty machines are gone. The elementals did what I wanted them to do — they got us into here, and I have all the information I was looking for. I don’t need you any more — except to do this.’
‘Bitch!’
‘Oh, whatever.’ Her hands moved and the IV tube swayed. ‘Your snake is much harder to fill up, Emma, you know that? It’ll take Thirty-three forever to die at this rate.’ Her voice filled with satisfaction. ‘So much more fun.’
My Inner Eye still worked; she hadn’t filled me with enough demon essence to block it yet. I used it to check around me. I was in the Tiger’s demon laboratory; they hadn’t taken me far. I quickly looked for Simone and Michael, and saw them at the bottom of the complex in the snow: unconscious but okay.
‘So how does it feel not being able to walk the Earth?’ I said. ‘Stuck in Hell?’
‘I quite like Hell,’ Kitty said. ‘No laws, no rules, you can do what you like. Simon had the right idea — but he went through his toys much too fast. I prefer to take my time with them. I come out occasionally, you know. I go shopping, kidnap some prostitutes — it’s all good.’
‘Do you know what I am?’ I said.
‘No. The King keeps boasting that he knows, and that he’ll use you one day. But he’s always boasting about all kinds of stupid shit.’
‘Use me for what?’
She put her hand on my head; my crown containing the stone was gone. ‘Hush. It won’t be long before I’ll be using you, not him.’
‘Kitty …’ the Geek moaned.
‘I wish I could see how much has gone into you,’ Kitty said. ‘A direct transfusion like this is so inaccurate. It’s like breastfeeding instead of the bottle — the bottle is so much better, you can see how much the baby has had.’ She patted my head. ‘My baby.’
‘Are you sure you’ll be able to control her once she’s converted?’ another voice said.
‘No,’ Kitty said. ‘If we can’t control her, I’m counting on you to take her out. Can you do it?’
There was a wet slithering sound that I recognised: a Snake Mother. Probably the Death Mother. ‘What level Mother is she?’
‘I think about eighty-five from the intel,’ Kitty said.
The Death Mother hissed. ‘Easy. I’m at least five levels above that.’
‘It’s dark,’ the Geek said. ‘It’s so dark. It’s cold.’
‘She’s not even feeling it,’ Kitty said. ‘We may have to pull in some smaller stuff and top her up.’
Power grew inside me, full of rage and hate and destruction.
‘Something’s happening,’ the Mother said. ‘She smells different.’
Kitty took her hand off my head. ‘What does she smell like?’
‘Demon.’
The change was coming upon me. Fighting it would only make it stronger. I remained calm, touching my serpent yang, thinking of the ones I loved. I had to remain in touch with the deep well of tranquillity within me, because the anger would destroy me. I had to concentrate on the love, not the hate.
‘She’s fighting it,’ the Death Mother said.
‘Let her fight,’ Kitty said. ‘The more she fights it, the stronger it’ll get.’
‘She’s fighting it by not fighting it,’ the Mother said.
‘You creatures and your mystical bullshit,’ Kitty said. ‘Whatever. She won’t be able to do anything once her blood’s full of demon essence. Either it’ll kill her or convert her.’
I didn’t really hear them; I concentrated on my family, my little girl, my turtle, my lion friend. The feeling eased.
I heard a pinging sound, like a ceramic vase being hit.
‘Hey, he’s empty,’ the Death Mother said. ‘Whoops.’ The ceramic shattered and she laughed. ‘Nothing but a shell left. We should have videoed that, it was great.’
‘Go find some others to put into her,’ Kitty said. ‘How big was he?’
‘Tiny. Level sixty-something. Couldn’t even sire spawn on the smallest Mother.’
‘We need another couple to top her up. She’s not converted, and we need to get her there.’
‘Come and give me a hand then. You open the cage, I’ll hold the demon.’
‘Bah.’ Kitty slapped my bed and left.
I checked the Geek. His essence had been drained completely and his shell had cracked. He looked like a smashed Easter egg.
A green sleeve and white hand appeared on my right. The drip was pulled out of my back with a lance of pain.
Quiet, the stone said. I’m unhooking you, then I want you to hide. I’ll hold them off as long as I can.
‘How?’ I whispered.
I said, quiet!
Screams erupted at the top of the complex as Kitty and the Death Mother grabbed another demon.
The bonds slid from me and I slithered off the table. I looked around. The lab was completely trashed; only the two beds holding me and the Geek were still in one piece, and his only had three legs. The walls were covered with scorch marks from the fire elementals. The only way out was the lift back up to where Kitty and the Mother were. I was trapped.
I’ll distract them, the stone said. Wait behind a cabinet close to the lift, and as soon as they’re out make a run for it. You have to get into the lift before the doors close. Hurry, Emma, I can’t hold this form for long; you only have a couple of minutes at the most.
I nodded my serpent head. There were cabinets for holding surgical tools and monitoring equipment lined up against the wall, most of them dented and hanging open. I slithered behind the one closest to the lift, pressing myself between its back and the wall. I peered out of the gap; the stone had taken my serpent form and was hiding underneath a cabinet on the other side of the room, its tail hanging out.
If you can make yourself smaller it would be a very good thing, the stone said.
I did my best.
The lift doors opened and the room filled with the screams and wails of the captured demon.
‘Shit, she’s loose!’ the Death Mother said. ‘Hold this!’ She threw the demon at Kitty, who held it with difficulty, and raced towards the stone.
‘Get away from me, you bitch!’ the stone shouted in my voice, slithering further under the cabinet. It made itself smaller and moved lightning fast, the Mother trying to grab it.
Kitty was wrestling with the demon, which had nearly got away from her. She held it with difficulty as it dragged her across the room.
Now, the stone said.
I made myself as small as possible, moved as fast as I could, and slithered to the lift. I made it just before the doors closed by themselves — and they hadn’t seen me. I pressed the button for the top floor, and moved backwards and forwards in the lift as it carried me. When the doors opened again, I headed through the cell block to the rooms on the other side.
I heard the demon screaming down below and Kitty yelling at the Death Mother to catch me.
They still think I’m you, the stone said. Get out. I can’t hold it.
When I arrived back at the forecourt of the hotel, Simone ran to me and grabbed me around the neck. ‘Oh God, Emma, I thought I’d lost you. What happened to you? I came around and only a couple of guards were left, and Michael couldn’t remember anything. Where’s Leo?’
‘Leo died,’ I said.
‘What was that explosion thing? Did you use the jade? Why didn’t it kill you?’
‘The Demon King wants me alive,’ I said. ‘Probably to do his dirty work. He took the demon essence out of me so I could use the jade without being destroyed. Are the tame demons okay?’
‘They were out of range, they’re fine. Those other demons exploded?’
‘Yes. We have to warn the Celestial.’ I looked around. ‘Right now, I need a lift home.’
‘Emma.’ She touched my head. ‘You said the Demon King took the essence out of you. He lied.’
‘No, he didn’t,’ I said. ‘Kitty and the Death Mother took me to the Tiger’s lab and filled me up again.’
‘What about the Geek?’
‘That’s what they filled me up with. Look at me.’
She inhaled sharply. ‘No way. It’s worse than ever. You’re so on the edge — Emma, that’s scary. How did you get away? I didn’t even know where you were.’
‘My stone helped me. I have no idea where it is.’
‘Everybody’s in the Courts; there’s just you, me and Michael left, and Michael’s got a bump on his head the size of a grapefruit,’ she said. ‘Just what he needed after that last injury. He’s on the bus being taken back down.’ She fell to sit in the snow. ‘I’m wrecked. Give me a couple of minutes to get my breath, then we’ll go inside and finish them off.’
‘Leave them,’ I said. ‘We’ll chase them down later.’
‘We have them right here!’ she protested.
‘And nobody else but us,’ I said. ‘And you’re, as you say, wrecked. Let’s leave the stone to do its job and find out where they’re going.’
‘You sure it’ll do that for us?’
‘It’ll do its best. That’s all we can ask for.’
She bent her head over her legs, wrapped her arms around her knees and held them tight, rocking backwards and forwards. ‘I nearly lost, Emma. I’m not supposed to lose!’ She looked up at me, her face streaked with tears, and I moved closer to put my head on her shoulder. ‘I’m not supposed to lose!’
Her head shot up. ‘The Tiger’s Number One is coming. Let me go, Emma, I have to fix myself up.’
She wiped her eyes and I moved back. She stood, concentrated and a dark glow blossomed around her. Her Wudang uniform changed to her Celestial robes and the redness disappeared from her eyes. She took a deep breath and shook herself out.
The Tiger’s Number One Son in Celestial Form, wearing a white silk robe embossed with gold tiger stripes, appeared in front of us and saluted. ‘Regent. Princess.’
‘Hi, Greg,’ Simone said.
He waved. ‘Hi. We need you out; I’m going to yang the whole thing. Right down to bedrock.’
‘Emma’s stone is down there!’ Simone said.
‘It can’t be destroyed by anything as mundane as yang,’ I said. ‘In fact, I don’t think there’s anything that can destroy it at all.’
‘Time,’ Greg said. ‘Which is something you guys don’t have. You need to go down to the palace; the other sons will be there providing protection from the radiation. I have to do this now, and it’ll be hot.’
‘Can you take me, Simone?’ I said.
‘As far as the palace, sure,’ she said. ‘After that I’ll need a break before I can take you home.’
‘That’s fine,’ I said.
She put her hand on my head and we were in the gardens of the palace, next to a stream flowing through a series of stepped channels.
‘Look away from the mountains,’ Simone said, and covered my eyes just as a blinding flash filled the air. There was nothing for ten seconds, then the ground shook beneath us with a shockwave that felt like it lifted us and dropped us again.
‘Two in one day; we’re doing well,’ Simone said. ‘At least this one didn’t knock us out.’
‘Are you all right?’ my mother said, clutching both of us when we arrived at their villa. ‘I heard there was a fight, some demons — something happened. And there was a huge explosion — someone just blew up the ski resort.’
‘We’re okay, just kinda exhausted,’ Simone said. ‘Do you mind if I use your shower?’
‘I’ll get Jen to bring you something to wear,’ my mother said. ‘All your clothes are scorched, sweetheart — what happened?’
‘I’d prefer not to go into it,’ Simone said, and headed for the bathroom.
‘Will she eat something when she comes out?’ my father said.
‘It would probably be a good idea,’ I said. ‘Some tea too. I think it’s shock.’
‘You have to wonder how all of this builds up in her,’ my mother said as she checked the fridge. ‘I don’t have anything, we’ll send out.’ She turned to me and leaned on the fridge. ‘It has to have an effect on her after a while, Emma. All she does is fight.’
‘Yeah, hamburger,’ my father said into the phone. ‘It’s for Princess Simone. Yes, thick-cut. Extra aioli. Strawberry.’ He put the phone down. ‘I wish you’d eat something too, Emma.’
Louise tapped on the door, then opened it and poked her head through to talk to me. ‘Come out here into the garden.’
‘What for?’ I said suspiciously.
‘Just come on out. I have something for you. Where’s Simone?’
‘Having a shower.’
‘Hey, that’s a good question,’ she said. ‘When you’re snake, do you still take baths and stuff?’
‘Yeah,’ I said. ‘I can’t tolerate soap or chlorine, and if I bathe too much I get a horrible scale rot — God, that’s a bitch to get rid of. But I like lying in warm water now and then.’
‘Sounds more like swimming than washing,’ she said.
‘Well, I’m not a greasy, stinky, fur-covered mammal,’ I said, ‘all matted and oily and covered in shit. I never really get that dirty.’ I raised my head. ‘Damn, where did that come from?’
‘You sound like Daddy again; he used to be rude about mammals sometimes,’ Simone said. She pulled the fluffy bathrobe she was wearing tighter around her. ‘Could you stop doing that?’ She leaned against the wall and her voice broke. ‘Just … stop it?’
My mother ran to her and bundled her into a huge hug. She led her to sit on the couch and held her, letting her cry.
‘I’m sorry, Nanna,’ Simone said into my mother’s shoulder.
‘That’s what nannas are for, sweetheart,’ my mother said, rocking Simone. ‘Let it out.’
I went to Simone and curled up next to her. She pulled me in and held me as my mother rocked her.
‘Come out to the garden,’ Louise said to me. ‘I’ve been wanting to see if this will work.’
‘Go away,’ I said. ‘We’re having a family crisis.’
There was the sound of frantic flapping outside. ‘Shit!’ Louise said. ‘It nearly got away. Come on, Emma, it’s a present for you.’
‘What do you have there?’ I said.
‘Come and see.’
‘Just tell me.’
‘No, come and have a look.’
I pushed the door open with my snout to see what she was talking about. Louise stood in my parents’ tiny garden holding a live, flapping chicken upside down by its legs.
She held it out to me. ‘Takeaway.’
‘Thank you. Take it away,’ I said.
‘Come on, I want to see you eating. Do it for me.’
I turned away. ‘No.’
‘Whoops!’ she said, and I turned back. She’d dropped the chicken and it ran away from her. It ran. It moved. It ran away.
I pursued it with relish, moving faster than it did and pinning it in a corner of the garden against the high wall. It stared at me with its mindless eyes and I lunged towards it, grabbed it in my mouth and wrapped my coils around it. I squeezed it, enjoying the feeling of its struggles becoming weaker. When it stopped moving, I released my coils and started to eat it whole, using my throat to crush it as I swallowed. I wiggled my mouth from side to side, pushing it further in, relishing the sensation of feathers filling my mouth and juices running down my throat.
‘What does it taste like?’ Louise said, wide-eyed and fascinated.
‘Just blood,’ I said. ‘It’s the textures that are the fun part. That and the twitches. Add the taste of the warm blood and the whole thing is raw enjoyment.’
She crouched to watch. ‘Way cool.’
I stopped. ‘Oh my God, what am I doing?’
My father came out and closed the door behind him. ‘You’re eating. This is a good thing, Emma. Don’t worry, Simone didn’t see. Louise, honey, go to the front gate and make sure nobody else comes into the garden while she finishes up, please?’
‘Oh look, it moved again,’ Louise said.
‘You are a little ghoul,’ my father said.
‘I’m sorry, Dad. Please don’t watch.’
‘I’m not talking to you, Emma. You need to eat, and if this is what you have to do, it’s what you have to do. I’m talking to that little ghoul Louise. She said she’d do this and I didn’t believe her.’
‘Oh! I forgot.’ Louise pulled out a mobile phone and held it up in front of me. ‘I need to take a video.’
My father snatched the phone out of her hand. ‘I thought you were Emma’s friend. Watch the gate.’
Louise hesitated, then turned and walked to the front gate. ‘What you said though. She needed to eat.’
‘Finish it, Emma,’ my father said. ‘Don’t think about it, just eat.’
I worked my mouth around the chicken, trying not to enjoy the feeling and failing. The texture, the taste and the movement — all worked together in a harmony of sensation that was unlike anything I’d experienced before. I closed my mouth; the chicken was down. I writhed a few times, pushing it further into me, the bones in my throat crushing its body and squeezing out its goodness.
‘You’re done,’ my father said. ‘Let’s go back inside.’
‘At least let me take a photo of the lump!’ Louise said.
I raised my head. ‘There’s a lump?’
‘Don’t worry about it, Emma, just come inside,’ my father said.
‘I need to sleep and digest now,’ I said ruefully.
‘Stay here overnight and rest,’ my father said. ‘You and Simone.’
I felt a jolt of dismay. ‘I can’t, Dad, I have an evaluation tomorrow. I have to be there.’
‘Let them do it without you,’ he said as we went inside.
‘You ate something,’ Simone said, still in my mother’s arms. ‘About time.’ She glanced up at my mother. ‘Any chance of me getting something? Just some ramen would be okay if you have some.’
The doorbell rang, and a second later Louise came in with a steaming plate of hamburger and chips in one hand and a strawberry milkshake in the other. ‘How about this?’ she said.
Simone grinned and jumped up. ‘That’s perfect. Thanks, everybody.’
She grabbed the food off Louise and sat at the table. My mother turned the kettle on in the kitchen, and she and Louise sat to join her.
‘I have to be there,’ I said. ‘It’s an evaluation.’
‘Sounds like just a test,’ Louise said, munching on one of Simone’s chips. ‘You don’t really have to be there, do you? Just tell them. Damn, Emma, you have freaking gods and Immortals and the whole shebang working for you — can’t they look after it themselves?’
‘It’s Er Lang,’ I said.
Her eyes went wide. ‘Oh. That weirdo. I heard about him. He has it in for you.’
‘As soon as Simone is strong enough, she has to take me back down,’ I said. ‘I’m sorry.’
‘It’s okay, Emma,’ Simone said, waving a chip at me. ‘I’ll take you first thing tomorrow morning, is that all right? Can I come back up and stay here for a while though? It’s kinda relaxing with Nan and Pop.’
My mother threw her arm around Simone’s shoulders. ‘That sounds like a great idea.’
‘Sure,’ I said.
‘So tell me, Simone,’ Louise said, stealing another chip. ‘Can you beat Emma up?’
Simone stopped with the hamburger halfway to her mouth. ‘Uh …’ She looked from Louise to me, then shook her head. ‘Fact is, I’ve been slacking off on the martial arts, and she’s way better than me. Hand to hand or weapons, straight up with no special abilities, and Emma’s got me down cold.’
‘What sort of special abilities?’ Louise said eagerly. She pointed at Simone with the chip. ‘Like, what can you do?’
‘Well, up until about two weeks ago, destroy the world,’ Simone said softly. ‘I could pull out raw yin and make everything cease to exist.’
‘Really?’ Louise said. She grinned. ‘Cool.’
‘You are such a nut, Auntie Louise,’ Simone said, dipping a chip in the aioli. ‘Have another chip; you might as well steal them all.’
I went to the fireplace, which had a small, comforting fire burning in it, and curled up to digest the chicken. I tried not to think about the consequences of having all this raw meat inside me when we went back down to the Earthly Plane the next morning and I returned to human form.
Something touched my head and I heard a soft male voice say, ‘Emma.’
I raised my head, still drowsy from the warmth and the food. It was the stone, crouched in human form in front of me. It sat down cross-legged in front of the fire.
‘Where’d they go?’ I said.
‘I couldn’t follow them all the way,’ it said. ‘South. A long way south. But if they went in a straight line, then it was east of Thailand, in Cambodia, Laos or Vietnam.’
‘That can’t be right; Six said Thailand.’
‘And who did he say that to?’
I hesitated. ‘Me.’
‘Your crown was yanged,’ the stone said sadly. It touched the top of my head. ‘We need to get you a new one.’
My father came out of the bedroom in pyjamas, pulling on a scruffy dark blue dressing gown. ‘Is everything all right, Emma?’ He saw the stone. ‘Who is this?’
The stone rose and bowed slightly, saluting my father. ‘Sir. I’m the Jade Building Block.’
‘You’re the stone?’
The stone nodded.
My father shrugged. ‘Okay, then. Keep it down, you two, you’ll wake Barbie.’ He returned to the bedroom then turned at the doorway. ‘And let Emma sleep, she’s got a belly full of chicken.’
The stone sat cross-legged again and I curled up next to it. It folded up into its stone form. ‘Sorry, I’m drained from taking human form again. I can’t hold it.’
‘How is everybody in the Courts?’ I said.
‘Let me check,’ the stone said. ‘They’re shut down for the night. You pissed off Judge Pao, ma’am, he’s going to make you wait before he lets them out.’
I dropped my head on the floor again. I wanted to sigh but reptiles don’t.
‘You have a couple of demons you need to sort out,’ the stone said.
‘Who?’
‘Yi Hao and Er Hao. They survived.’
I raised my head again and smiled with delight, not caring how it looked. ‘They didn’t explode?’
‘No; they got far enough away before you used the jade. They weren’t the same thing as the copies either; you were right. They want to go home, ma’am. And Er Hao requests a position closer to you again.’
‘That’s wonderful news,’ I said. ‘But I still don’t trust them. I’ll put them to work in Wudangshan until I’m sure that they’re clear. These copies have been very sneaky.’
‘Good idea.’
‘I wish John was here.’
‘So do I.’
We sat in silence until I went back to sleep.