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‘We should bring on another three hundred to guard the Mountain when the demons have returned to strength,’ Gold said, ‘but we don’t have room for them. Bright Mansions is full. There’s plenty of room in Wan Chai to train them, but nowhere for them to live.’
‘We could buy another residential building in Happy Valley,’ John said.
‘Good idea, my Lord,’ Gold said. ‘The market is down, there are some good buys. We could buy an older building, demolish it, and construct something purpose-built. We could even do that with the North Point building, put up something with more space.’
‘At the current rate of construction, Gold, how long before we can start moving students back to the Mountain?’ I said.
Gold’s boyish face went pensive. ‘I think about five years, my Lady.’ His face cleared. ‘I see your point.’
‘Yes,’ John said. ‘It will take that long to build to purpose anyway. Forget it. We’ll buy something in the Valley and put them there. See to it. Dismissed.’
‘My Lord,’ Gold said, and disappeared.
John turned to me. ‘I don’t know how I managed without you, Emma.’
‘Neither do I.’ I glared at him. ‘It’s August already.’
He leaned back and put his hands behind his head. ‘I don’t have time, Emma.’ He threw himself forward again and rubbed his hands over his face, then tied back his hair.
‘You’ll have all the time in the world if you fade out and leave us. But we won’t be able to defend Simone.’
‘Simone can call a Celestial Master now. You don’t really need me any more. I could go now.’
I shot to my feet, horrified. ‘Don’t you dare leave us, Xuan Wu!’ I shouted. ‘We need you! You can’t go!’
He sat unmoving, his face expressionless.
‘Don’t go, please, John.’ I fell to sit. No. He was right. He could go. Simone would be safe if she could call a Celestial Master.
‘You wouldn’t be safe though, Emma. I need to stay near you.’
‘My safety is beside the point. Simone’s the one we need to protect.’
‘I need to protect both of you.’
I crossed my arms on the pile of papers in front of me and put my chin on them. ‘We need you here. Please don’t go yet. Wait until you can’t stay any longer. We need you. I need you.’
He smiled gently. ‘If I’m going to stay around then I’d better see Mercy.’
I leaned back and sighed with relief. ‘You gave me a terrible fright just then, John. Please don’t do that again. Promise you’ll stay absolutely as long as you can.’
‘I promise you, Emma. Of course I will stay as long as I possibly can. I want to be with you. I want to be with both of you. I was just teasing.’
‘You’ll be teasing on the other side of your shell next time,’ I growled. ‘I’ll clear our diaries for the week after next and we can all go to Paris. We’ll need to have it done before Simone starts school. Michael should come as well; some travel will open his mind, and he can meet Kwan Yin. We can return Charlie to London while we’re in Paris. How’s that?’
He spread his hands across the table. ‘Whatever you organise is fine with me. I am in your capable hands.’
‘I wish,’ I said with feeling, and he went expressionless again. ‘Call Kwan Yin and tell her you’re coming.’
He remained unmoving.
‘Do it right now, Xuan Wu.’
He pulled himself upright. ‘Is that an order?’
‘Damn straight it is.’
He leaned across the table and glared at me. I leaned forward as well and glowered back. We faced off across the table. I was about to shout at him when Ms Kwan appeared next to me. ‘Don’t worry, Emma, he called me. I will be waiting for you, Ah Wu. Look after yourself and your family.’
He nodded to her but she had already disappeared.
‘Happy?’ he growled.
‘Not until I have you in Paris and locked up with her,’ I growled back. ‘Go and meditate. Guard your energy. You’re probably running on empty.’
He grinned and pushed his chair away from the table. He was.
A week later Charlie came in to clear the dishes from the family dinner.
‘Sit, Charlie, Monica can do that,’ I said. ‘Meeting time. I’ve arranged for us to go to Paris next week.’
Simone wriggled in her seat. ‘I want to go to the Eiffel Tower!’
‘You always want to go to the Eiffel Tower,’ John and I said in unison, then shared an indulgent smile.
‘I’ve made the arrangements,’ I said. ‘Out of Macau, as usual . . .’ I hesitated, then shook my head. ‘It feels very strange to be the one saying this.’
‘Get used to it,’ Leo said softly.
I ignored him. ‘Out of Macau, as usual, next week. When we arrive in Paris, we’ll pop you on the train to London, Charlie, and you can organise the house in Kensington for us.’
‘My Lady.’
‘Oh, come on, Charlie, please,’ I said, exasperated. ‘There’s really no need for that.’
She just smiled.
‘We’re going to London too?’ Simone squeaked, eyes wide. ‘I want to go to —’
‘The Science Museum,’ Leo finished for her.
‘Well I do, silly Leo.’
Michael sat quietly. I understood: he was listening carefully and didn’t want to mess up. At least he knew the situation. When I went to Paris, I hadn’t even known why we were there until we’d been attacked by demons. Then I realised that Michael didn’t know why we were going to Paris either.
‘Stay here after everybody’s gone, and I’ll explain for you, Michael.’
He nodded appreciation.
‘We’ll be staying in Paris for five days . . .’ I turned to John. ‘Are you sure five days is enough? We can spend the whole week in Paris if we have to. You needed a good ten days after the Attack.’
‘Five days is sufficient.’
‘Okay. Five days in Paris, then two days in London, then back here to prepare these young people for school.’
Leo and Michael scowled and I glared both of them down.
‘Everybody happy?’
Charlie opened her mouth, then closed it again.
‘Go on, Charlie, this is family.’
‘My Lady.’ I sighed, but she continued anyway. ‘My Lady. Before we go, may I take some time to shop for my relatives? I’d like to go to the markets, Stanley and maybe Temple Street, to buy gifts for them.’
‘Temple Street!’ Simone said, excited again.
‘You want to come too, Princess?’
‘Ooh, yes please, Charlie, I love Stanley and Temple Street. Can I go with Charlie, Daddy?’ She stopped and thought. ‘I have some money I can spend too.’
‘You can go, Simone. When is a good time, Emma?’
‘How about Saturday?’ I said. ‘Temple Street will be really buzzing. I don’t have anything on at the Academy.’
‘That would be perfect, my Lady,’ Charlie said.
‘I’m teaching all day Saturday, Emma, I won’t finish until six,’ Leo said. ‘I can’t come to Stanley during the day, but Temple Street night market I can do.’
I considered the options. Both locations were extremely busy and full of people. Demons usually preferred to attack us when we were isolated. ‘I should be able to guard Simone with Michael as backup in Stanley. We’ll have dinner here, pick you up and go to Temple Street. Can you come as well, John?’
‘I have some of the Generals coming on Saturday, looks like it’ll be a long one. Leo, yourself, Michael — I think that’s sufficient.’
Simone scowled; she didn’t want Michael along.
‘Give it up, Simone,’ I said. ‘I think you’re right, John, the three of us will be plenty.’
Everybody went out, leaving me to talk to Michael. Monica brought in some tea.
Michael’s face was intense. ‘Why does he have to go to Paris, Miss Donahoe? What’s the big deal with this?’
I sighed. This was hard.
‘Mr Chen has to retain human form to stay and guard Simone. It’s a tremendous drain on his energy to stay in human form for such a long time; normally Shen like him shuttle between a number of different forms. What he’s doing in staying with us is extremely difficult.’
‘How many forms does he have?’
‘Three that I know of, including the human form that he has now. We’ll probably never see the True Form.’
‘True Form?’
‘Animal. I’ve never seen it. I think Leo has. If he changes to the animal form, then he’ll be gone for a long time; he won’t have the strength to return to human form.’
‘What animal is he?’ Michael paused, thinking. ‘North Wind. I know that the East is a Dragon, and of course the West is a Tiger. But I don’t remember. What animal is Mr Chen?’
I nearly choked on it. ‘A Turtle.’
His jaw dropped and his eyes went wide. Then he lit up into a huge delighted grin. ‘You know that calling someone a turtle is slang for calling them a —’
‘Michael.’ I cut him off. ‘I understand every single insult attached to the turtle. I’ve heard them all. I know what the poor beast’s head and neck resemble. I know that the Ancients thought that the male turtle had no sex organs. I know that turtles are notorious for their . . .’ I hesitated, searching for the right word. ‘Behaviour. I know about the egg business. I know it all. So does Mr Chen. So watch your mouth. Okay?’
His mouth snapped shut and he nodded. He could see that he’d pushed it too far.
‘Mr Chen’s True Form is even stranger than that. He’s a combination of two animals, a snake and a turtle. He claims that right now he’s lost the Serpent part of him and doesn’t know where it is.’
‘He’s lost part of himself? How could that happen?’
‘Even he doesn’t know how it happened. He really is extremely weird. Compared to him, your father is almost normal.’
‘What about my father?’ Michael said. ‘He has different forms too?’
‘Yep. Simone likes to have rides on his True Form, his tiger form. It’s enormous.’
‘He’s really a tiger?’
‘He really is. Anyway, back to Mr Chen. He’s constantly draining his energy by staying in human form. He’s really weak while he’s like this. He goes to Paris and meets Kwan Yin. She helps him by feeding him energy for a few days — tops him up, so to speak — so that he can retain the form and stay with us.’
Michael nodded silently, listening carefully.
‘You have to understand something.’ I ran my hands through my hair. This was very tough. ‘As soon as Simone is able to defend herself, Mr Chen will revert to True Form and leave us. He’ll be very drained. It will take him a long time to come back. Maybe more than a lifetime. Ms Kwan, Kwan Yin, says something between ten and a hundred years. I’ll look after Simone, and all the other stuff, when he’s gone.’
Michael’s face didn’t shift. ‘How long before he goes?’
I swallowed it. ‘He thinks probably when Simone’s about eight years old.’
‘She’s nearly six now, Miss Donahoe.’
‘I know. I know every minute of the day. We have to keep him here until she’s able to defend herself.’
‘I understand. Is that why you two never married? Because he has such a short time left?’
‘No, it’s not, Michael.’ Something inside me really began to hurt. ‘The fact that he’ll only be around for a short time makes no difference to either of us at all.’ He opened his mouth but I cut him off. ‘You notice that we never touch each other?’
‘Yeah.’ He grinned. ‘You two are really old-fashioned.’
‘No, we’re not.’ I smiled through the misery. ‘Exactly the opposite, in fact. Which is funny, considering how old he is. The reason we never touch is because if he touches me, he could kill me.’
He went completely still.
