Meredith, Liu and Gold were waiting for us in John’s office.
‘Why do you have all this spray paint here anyway?’ John said as I pulled the box out of the cupboard.
‘Because I saw this coming,’ I said. ‘They’ve been harder and harder to identify. I thought that eventually only Immortals would be able to do it, and we’d have to mark them. Hopefully we can pull them out quietly without having to use it.’
‘You are extremely scary sometimes,’ John said.
‘Thank you, Dark Lord. Now tell us where the students are.’
‘First: in the mess hall; there are two eating together. Chinese girl and white girl, southwest corner.’
‘Got it,’ Meredith said. ‘Sending someone now.’
There was an explosion and everybody jumped.
‘They’re onto us!’ I said. ‘Gold, announce the spread procedure. Meredith, get Edwin down there; we’ll have injured students.’
All students into demon-defence spread formation immediately. We are under attack, Gold broadcasted. All students into demon-defence spread formation immediately. We are under attack.
I handed some spray paint to John. ‘Go and identify them.’
There was another explosion, closer this time, and the ground shook.
John grabbed a few more cans of paint. ‘Stay here.’ He raced out the door, followed by Meredith and Liu.
Gold changed to his battle form.
‘Continue the broadcast,’ I said.
‘Sorry,’ he said. ‘Just checking the babies.’ He restarted the announcement, then stopped and his eyes unfocused. ‘Done. The students and Masters are now so far apart across the Mountain that each explosion will only kill two or three of them.’
As if to punctuate his sentence, another blast went off.
‘Oh God, no,’ I said. ‘How’s John doing?’
‘He is moving through them quickly …’ He stopped for a moment. ‘They’ve given up on exploding, it doesn’t do enough damage. They’re attacking the students with physical … Oh no.’
‘What?’
He let his breath out in a long gasp. ‘The Dark Lord lost it again and returned to the Grotto.’
I jumped to my feet. ‘Gold with me. Leo and Simone — don’t argue, guys, just head down to the Earthly and I’ll let you know the minute you can come back up.’
‘You should go down too,’ Leo said, reaching for me.
I moved away. ‘No! We have to bring him back, and I’ll be needed.’ I scrabbled through the cupboard and found the cat food and bowl. ‘Now head down, and this time we’re bringing him back for good.’
‘Don’t do it, Emma,’ Simone said.
I stopped and looked into her eyes. ‘We don’t have a choice. Now go.’
‘Come on, sweetheart, she’s right,’ Leo said gruffly, and Simone didn’t protest.
‘Gold, see if we’re the only Bastion under attack.’
‘We are.’
‘Summon Ma and Yang Biao and Gao Yuan. It’s time to pay the price.’
‘Done, ma’am. They’re on their way.’
‘Is the way to the Grotto clear?’
‘No.’
‘We’ll have to fight our way through then. Ready?’
‘Ma’am.’
I opened the door of the office and looked out. A few students were moving through the courtyard, taking their positions in the spread formation, which kept them a good five metres apart.
‘Stay put,’ I said to the terrified students standing in the spread formation. ‘We’re handling this. Whatever you do, don’t group together. The minute you do, you’ll be a bomb target. Understood?’
They nodded, but their faces were full of fear. One of the girls, Rachel, from my junior energy-work class was hugging herself desperately and crying uncontrollably. She fell to sit on the ground, rocking and weeping.
A boy nearby strode towards her and raised his hand to slap her out of it. I ran to catch up with him and blocked him.
‘Don’t even think about it,’ I said.
‘But she’s hysterical!’ he said, trying to pull his arm away.
‘Is she more talented than you?’
‘No …’
‘Did she attack you?’
‘That’s beside the point.’
I pushed him away. ‘You would strike someone weaker than you who has made no move towards you? I don’t care what the situation is, that’s completely without honour. See me later. It’s obvious you haven’t understood the lecture about the power rush from dominating someone weaker than you. Now move back to your place.’
His face reddened, but he said ‘Ma’am’, and returned to position.
‘Time’s moving,’ Gold said.
I bent to speak to Rachel. ‘I know you’re scared and you can’t control the crying. But I need you to stand up and be brave. Keep crying if you can’t do anything about it, but stand up and be ready to run if you need to. All right?’
She sat for a moment, still sobbing, then nodded. I reached down and pulled her to her feet and then into a hug.
‘Be brave, Rachel. I’m bringing Lord Xuan back and we’ll make sure our Mountain is safe. Okay?’
She nodded into my shoulder, then pushed me away and stood proud and brave and still gasping with huge sobs.
Stay in the allocated spaces, Liu said to everybody. Do not group together.
‘Let’s go,’ I said to Gold.
As we ran through the Mountain gardens towards the Grotto, we heard the occasional explosion and sounds of battle. We passed through the administrative complex towards the Armoury, where we encountered two girls fighting in one of the small paved courtyards between the buildings. One had a dagger, and they were circling each other with menace.
‘Disengage,’ I said.
‘I can’t, ma’am,’ said the girl with the dagger, Melissa. ‘She attacked me.’
‘She attacked me! I’m just defending myself,’ the other girl, Lydia, said.
They continued to circle one another.
‘Disengage!’ I said. ‘Let us handle it.’
A boy strode out of one of the breezeways. ‘Lydia, honey, come and stand with me; I’ll defend you. She has a knife and you don’t.’
Lydia didn’t look away from the other girl. ‘The minute I take my attention off her, she’ll try to kill me again. She’s armed and way stronger than me — she’ll kill me for sure.’
‘Drop your weapon, Melissa,’ I said.
The boy, Steven, took a couple of steps towards them and Melissa took advantage of the distraction to slash at Lydia. Lydia dodged the attack, spun and performed an almost perfect roundhouse kick into Melissa’s head. Melissa fell hard and limp, her neck obviously broken. The knife dropped to the ground. Lydia picked it up and stared at it.
Steven rushed to Lydia and held her. ‘Are you okay? You’re not injured?’ His expression filled with shock. ‘Why? What?’
He grunted and fell — she’d stabbed him. She turned towards us and her face went bright red in the seconds before she exploded.
Gold spread himself to shield me from the blast, then returned to his battle form. ‘Are you all right, Emma?’
‘I’m fine. Some essence on me, but not injured.’ I knelt to check the students.
‘They’re all dead,’ Gold said. ‘Let’s get down there and bring the Dark Lord back.’
I stood and looked down at myself. I was covered in slimy demon essence, but it was a dark rich red colour instead of black, and looked unpleasantly like coagulating blood. I focused on what needed to be done. This could wait. ‘What’s the damage so far?’
‘Twelve have exploded. Another fifty-odd are fighting. It appears that the rest are biding their time and haven’t been activated yet.’
‘Not the demons! How many students have we lost?’
‘More than forty already.’
That hit me like a physical blow. I took a deep breath and grabbed that thought again; focus on what needed to be done. We continued towards the Grotto, passing terrified students, all still standing rigid in the spread formation. Some of them saw me and their faces filled with even more horror.
‘No chance of doing something about the state I’m in?’ I asked Gold. ‘It’s starting to burn.’
‘Sorry, ma’am, not a dragon,’ he said without stopping.
I changed to snake, quickly changed back again, and sighed with relief. The gore was gone.
Ma, Gao Yuan in brown robes and Yang Biao gently glowing in his silver robes were waiting at the entrance for us, with the two platoons of demon soldiers. We all ducked when another explosion rocked the Mountain, and the soldiers moved into a defensive formation around us.
‘Send the soldiers out and put them on guard,’ I said. ‘Destroy anyone who attacks without provocation. If there are students already fighting, they’re to do their best to separate them without hurting them. We don’t know which is which.’
The demon soldiers moved off to spread out among the students.
I put my hand out and opened the Grotto. We raced down the stairs.
‘How do we make the Turtle come up?’ Gold said, standing at the edge of the water.
‘Dammit, I lost the cat bowl and food when I changed to snake.’ I sighed with resignation. ‘Call Simone. She can carry him up here.’
Martin appeared next to us. ‘No need. Give me a moment.’
He ran towards the water and dived in.
‘Rock, paper, scissors?’ Yang Biao said.
Gao Yuan and Yang Biao faced each other.
‘Ma, call it,’ Gao said.
‘On three. One, two, three,’ Ma said.
Gao won, and Yang turned away, frustrated. He turned back. ‘Best of three?’
‘Nope, I’m the one who cuts the chains of the Wheel,’ Gao said. ‘If you want it that bad, ask him later.’
‘I believe I will,’ Yang said. ‘I was completely ready.’
Martin surfaced, holding John’s Turtle by the front of its shell. It must have been four metres long, too big for him to carry in his arms. He floated to the ledge and lowered the Turtle gently onto it.
The Turtle spun to return to the water, moving with unnatural speed, and Martin stopped it. His expression filled with effort and he fell to one knee, holding the Turtle’s shell with both hands. Another explosion went off and the ground shook.
‘I can’t hold it for long, it’s extremely strong,’ Martin said. ‘Do what you were planning to do.’
Leo charged down the stairs in black lion form, stopped halfway and took a huge leap towards the Turtle.
Gao grabbed him in midair with one hand and slammed him into the ground. ‘No, you don’t, this is my job.’
Leo changed back to human form, jumped up and pushed Gao away. ‘Let me do it!’
‘With all due respect, sir,’ Gao said, ‘I have the power of a burning star and even that will not bring him to one-tenth of his full strength — but it will bring him back. What you have to give is nothing compared to that.’
Leo tried to shove past him. Gao reached towards Leo and touched him in the middle of the forehead with his index finger. Leo stopped, staring at Gao, and Gao effortlessly pushed him down onto his knees.
‘Stay there,’ Gao said, and Leo knelt unmoving, his eyes wide.
‘Hurry,’ Martin said, his voice strained with effort.
‘Shut your eyes, ma’am,’ Gao said, and exploded in a searing flash of brilliant light that sent everything around us into black and white relief. He became a glowing white-hot sun a metre across with arcs of burning fluorescence shooting from him. I reeled back, shading my eyes; the heat coming off him was immense.
He moved towards the Turtle and it turned to stare at him, transfixed.
‘Can John refuse the energy?’ I said.
‘No,’ Gao said, his voice crackling from the interior of the star. ‘Say hello to him for me — and goodbye.’
He shot into John’s shell and the Turtle lit up from within. There was another brilliant flash and John stood on the ledge in front of us in female human form, dazed and naked. She staggered back then regained her balance. A tiny ball of light, ten centimetres across, appeared from her abdomen and floated at waist height. It hovered for a moment, then shot straight up through the roof of the cavern and disappeared.
‘Oh my God,’ I said softly.
‘This is new,’ Ma said.
If John had a sister, this was how she would look: very tall, with a strong, muscular build, small breasts and generous hips, her long black hair floating in a tangle around her.
John concentrated for a moment and conjured a black Mountain uniform. ‘That was totally unnecessary and the needless sacrifice of a good man!’ she shouted.
‘Definitely still him,’ Gold said softly.
‘Yell at us about it later,’ I said. ‘Right now, there are demons exploding on the Mountain above us and you’re the only one who can identify them.’
‘Right, I remember,’ she said. She came to me and quickly bent to kiss me. ‘I’ll grab those spray cans and start marking them.’ She looked around. ‘Ma, with me. Grab a platoon of demons and help take them out as I identify them. Gold, go up and coordinate. Emma.’ She smiled into my eyes. ‘Stay beautiful, and stay here where it’s safe. I’ll be right back when this has all been handled.’
She trotted gracefully up the stairs barefoot and disappeared into the darkness.
‘Oh, my,’ Ma said. ‘He doesn’t know.’
‘He’ll retake male form as soon as he realises. Don’t worry, Emma,’ Gold said.
‘I’m sure he will.’
He glanced at me. ‘You don’t seem to care that much.’
I shrugged. ‘What’s important is that he’s back and our students are protected.’
‘She, now,’ he said.
‘Just get up there and make the damn announcements,’ I said.
He inhaled sharply. ‘Kitty Kwok and the Death Mother just landed on the forecourt outside Dragon Tiger.’
We have Michael’s woman, and we’ll kill her if you don’t come to us right now, the Death Mother said.
I didn’t say anything, I just ran.
When we reached the top of the stairs another explosion went off nearby, making the ground shake. I staggered and Gold caught me.
‘Lord Xuan’s taking them down one at a time,’ he said.
Keep them busy until I finish up here, John said, her voice male in my head.
I ran at full pelt towards the main court. I stopped when I saw Kitty and the Death Mother standing at the northern end, holding a terrified Clarissa between them.
‘Do what we say and the girl is yours,’ Kitty said.
‘We just want to make a trade,’ the Death Mother said.
I walked up to them and Clarissa shrieked.
‘That’s close enough,’ Kitty said. ‘Any closer and the little girl gets cut.’
Nearly done, keep them talking, John said.
Another explosion went off.
Michael appeared next to me. ‘Are you okay, Clarissa?’
‘Just a bit scared,’ Clarissa said. ‘I’m glad you’re here, Michael.’
‘Try anything and she’ll be more than scared,’ Kitty said.
‘Don’t try to intimidate me, Kitty,’ Michael said. ‘I’ve known you far too long for that.’ He summoned his sword and strode towards them.
The Death Mother raised her hands and slammed Michael with a blast of black energy. He was knocked off his feet and skidded three metres, hitting me and nearly knocking me over. I helped him up; neither of us had taken any damage.
The Death Mother raised her hand and summoned a pale blue aura of crackling energy around it. ‘Try that again and it’ll be a lethal blow.’
‘Tell me what you want,’ I said.
‘Anything you want, you can have it,’ Michael said. ‘Just for God’s sake don’t hurt her. Don’t worry, Clarissa, we’ll sort this out.’
‘Emma, come with me and she’s all yours,’ Kitty said. ‘A fair swap: Emma for this one.’
‘Not going to happen,’ I said.
Clarissa shrieked and struggled in Kitty’s grasp. Kitty grabbed the back of her head by her hair and pulled it so far back, Clarissa’s neck was in danger of snapping.
‘Don’t hurt her!’ I shouted. ‘I’ll come with you. Just let me say goodbye to Simone and we can trade. Me for her.’
‘Good. You have two minutes,’ Kitty said.
‘Where’s the Dark Lord?’ Michael said under his breath.
The Death Mother grinned with malice. ‘No turtles to help you right now.’
John appeared next to us, still in female form. ‘Really?’
‘You aren’t supposed to be back yet,’ Kitty said.
‘We killed a star and fed it to her,’ I said.
Michael stared at John. ‘Emma …’
‘This is Lord Xuan.’
‘Okay.’ Michael turned his attention back to Clarissa. ‘We’ll sort this out now, honey, don’t worry.’
‘Things must be really bad if you’re calling me pet names,’ Clarissa said through her teeth, her head still pulled painfully back.
‘Who is this?’ John said.
‘Kitty Kwok,’ I said. ‘You remember?’
‘I know that one. Human woman. Hurts children. Who are the other two?’
‘The Mother is Number Forty-Four, the Death Mother. The one that’s been making the demon copies.’
‘And the other demon?’
‘That’s not a demon,’ Michael said. ‘That’s my fiancée.’
‘Dammit, you said they wouldn’t be able to detect her!’ Kitty shouted with rage at the Death Mother. ‘You said even the Third Prince didn’t know! Leave it and get us out of here. This has all been for nothing!’
They pushed Clarissa towards us and disappeared.
‘Clarissa’s not a demon,’ Michael said, moving towards Clarissa, who had fallen to the ground.
‘Hold, Michael,’ John said. ‘That’s not human.’
Clarissa pulled herself to her feet. ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about. Michael, can we go home now?’
Michael stopped and studied Clarissa. ‘I think you must be confused, my Lord. That’s Clarissa, and she’s an ordinary human. Her stone will vouch for her.’
‘Ordinary human, my Lord,’ Zara said.
‘See?’ Michael said. He went to her and held her. ‘I’m so glad you’re all right.’
‘I can’t bind her,’ John said. ‘I’m too weak!’
I tried to run to Michael but John held me back. ‘Michael,’ I yelled, ‘she’s a —’ But it was too late.
‘That’s right,’ Clarissa said. She smiled up at Michael, her face went bright red and she exploded.
The force of the blast knocked me off my feet, then I was blinded by shen energy. I staggered upright again to see Michael floating above the ground in a cloud of brilliant white light. He glowed from within and his face was full of serenity.
John fell to one knee and lowered her head.
‘What’s happening?’ Michael said. ‘Clarissa?’ Then he shot up into the air and disappeared.
John pulled herself to her feet. ‘Raised. One of the youngest I’ve ever seen.’
I desperately needed a hug from John, but I couldn’t bring myself to feel happy at her return after so much loss. I rubbed my eyes; they were full of tears.
John turned to study me. ‘I know this is a shock for you,’ she said. ‘I don’t seem able to make the form male at the moment.’ She stood in front of me, hesitant, her dark eyes full of doubt. ‘It is me, though, Emma, and I will be male for you as soon as I can.’
I threw myself into her arms and spoke into her shoulder. ‘It’s not that, John. So many of our students died today. Michael lost the love of his life and now he’s down in Hell being judged. It breaks my heart.’
‘Mine too,’ she said.
I pulled back and wiped my eyes again. ‘We have a big and unpleasant job to do now. How many have we lost?’
‘Gold will know.’ She put her arm around my shoulders and I leaned into her as we headed back to the administrative centre. ‘You’ve been doing far too much, Emma, you’re terribly weak. I would never have put you in charge if I’d known it would be so draining for you.’
‘It’s not that,’ I said. ‘Look closer.’
She stopped and turned to study me, her ice-cold consciousness searing through me. ‘How did this happen?’
‘I drank Leo’s blood and caught the virus from him a long time ago. When the demon essence was burnt out of me, the virus was activated.’
She put her arm around me again. ‘I see. I definitely need to find my Serpent then.’
I put my arm around her waist and we walked on together. ‘I’m just so damn glad to have you back, Xuan Wu.’
‘I’m glad to be back,’ she said, squeezing me around the shoulders. ‘They’re holding off to give us room to talk. Even Simone is waiting for us to sort this out.’
‘Nothing to sort out,’ I said. ‘You’re back. That’s all that matters.’
‘I feel the same way.’