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The door to the training room was ajar and I stopped to peer in without being seen. Leo and Mr Chen were there together. Only glimpses of them were visible as they moved around the room, but their reflections appeared in the mirrored wall as well.
Leo had a sword, and he fiercely attacked Mr Chen with it. Mr Chen was unarmed and I felt a jolt of concern for him, then saw with relief after a couple of minutes that he had no difficulty at all evading Leo’s attacks; he even managed to strike Leo a few times.
Leo moved with the grace of a cat. He was extremely fast and flexible for such a big guy.
But Mr Chen would have made a cat look clumsy. He was magnificent. He moved so fast he was a blur. His long hair flew behind him as he spun and kicked Leo in the abdomen, knocking him flat and spinning the sword out of his hand.
Leo pulled himself to his feet. ‘What level would that have been equivalent to?’
‘Forty,’ Mr Chen said.
‘Damn.’ Leo retrieved the sword. ‘I need to be able to take at least up to sixty. What if a Mother comes after her?’
‘You are human, Leo,’ Mr Chen said. ‘You have human limitations.’ He saw me watching through the gap in the doorway and his face went rigid. He came to the door and closed it with a click.
I wandered back towards my room, deep in thought. Leo was human?
About two weeks later, two teenagers turned up to learn from Mr Chen. They were about sixteen years old, a Chinese boy and a European girl. I didn’t see them arrive; it was as if they’d always been there. I couldn’t get a single word out of either of them when I tried to talk to them; they both pointedly ignored me.
After they’d been there a couple of days, sharing meals with us and still not talking to me, Leo pulled me aside. ‘Stop talking to them.’
‘I was just being friendly.’
He grimaced. ‘They’ve given up a lot to learn off Mr Chen. It’s the most important thing in the world for them. And they’ve been told that if they talk to you, they’re out.’
‘What?’
‘They’re here to learn, Emma. Leave them alone. If either of them says a single word to you, they’ll lose it all.’
‘That’s not fair.’
‘That’s the way it is. Stop trying to talk to them; you’ll only get them into trouble. Okay?’
I shrugged. ‘I don’t think it’s very fair, but okay, if that’s what everybody wants.’
‘It is.’
‘Going to tell me how they fit into the big secret?’
‘Nope,’ he said, and gestured down the hallway. ‘Simone’s waiting for you to bath her and read her a story.’
I poked him in the chest with my finger. ‘You will tell me what’s going on here, Mr Alexander.’
‘Yes, I will, Miss Donahoe, but not right now.’
I snorted with exasperation and stomped off to Simone’s room.
‘Can you tell me anything at all about what your dad does, Simone?’ I said as I tucked her in and pulled out her favourite storybook. ‘When he’s at home, he’s either locked in the training room or in his office. I hardly see him to ask him. And Leo won’t tell me.’
‘I promised them I wouldn’t,’ Simone said, snuggling further under the quilt. ‘You have to ask them.’
I sighed. ‘I want to know what’s going on.’
‘I want you to know too. None of the aunties and uncles can come over ’cause you don’t know about them. I miss Uncle Bai. We can’t do any of the special fun stuff. Daddy even had a big argument with Leo about getting the students in ’cause Leo said they’d do something special and you’d see it.’
‘What sort of special stuff can they do?’
She shook her head with a small smile. ‘I promised.’
When Simone was sleeping I went up the hallway to the kitchen and stopped. The door to the training room was glowing; a golden light leaked around it.
Mr Chen charged out of the dining room, threw open the door of the training room and slammed it shut behind him.
The light blinked off and I heard excited voices inside, but couldn’t understand what they were saying.
Mr Chen came back out, and stopped when he saw me. ‘Is Simone all right, Miss Donahoe?’
‘I just put her to bed. I was going to the kitchen for a cup of tea.’
He nodded and continued up the hall towards the dining room.
The two teenagers came out of the training room. The girl was helping the boy; he was leaning heavily on her. His face was ashen. They moved away from me, not noticing my presence behind them.
‘Go and rest,’ she said.
‘I can’t believe I did it,’ he said. ‘After trying for so long. Finally.’
‘You must recentre it.’ She helped him to the end of the hall. ‘Don’t want to kill yourself now that you’ve finally gained the skill.’
‘Did you hear what the Dark Lord said?’
‘Which part?’ She was obviously amused. ‘The part about trying it alone again and he’ll throw you out, or the part about being one of the best energy students he’s had in a while?’
They turned to go into the student rooms, saw me and clammed up completely.
I stood speechless, wondering. She’d called him the Dark Lord. One of the titles for Xuan Tian Shang Di was the Dark Lord of the Northern Heavens.
I returned to my room and flipped open the book. I referred to another one. Yep, definitely Dark Lord.
No way.
CHAPTER FIVE (#ud15e178b-55da-58d7-83d3-070620fa7604)
Over the next few months the weather grew hotter and the Hong Kong summer arrived. I had to keep my air conditioner on day and night to stay comfortable. Monica replaced my traditional silk bed quilt with a lighter polyester-filled ‘air-con’ quilt.
I was still enjoying Mr Chen’s and Simone’s company, although I didn’t see as much of him as I would have liked. Leo’s promise of telling me about Mr Chen’s ‘secret’ in three weeks had stretched into a vague ‘later’, and eventually I gave up.
I didn’t really mind not knowing. Simone was a delight to be with – creative and good-natured. And Mr Chen was a caring and considerate employer, always concerned that I spent too much time with Simone and didn’t take enough breaks. Eventually I had to explain to him that I didn’t consider being with Simone as work.
His dark eyes wrinkled up when he smiled, and sparkled with intelligence and good humour. He was always interesting to talk to over the dinner table, and I occasionally skipped dinner with the girls to spend time with him.
I often found myself wondering what it would be like to have his strong arms around me, but he was older than me and he was my employer. Not going to happen, I was way too professional for that.
But he really did have very lovely eyes.
By the middle of August I was sick to death of staying inside in the air conditioning. Most of the time it was too hot and humid to go out, but the continued confinement wore me down and eventually I gave up.
‘Can someone escort us to the beach tomorrow?’ I asked over the dinner table.
‘I’ll do it,’ Leo said.
‘I’ll come too,’ Mr Chen said. ‘Some time beside the sea would be good.’
Simone jiggled with happiness so much that she fell off her chair and took her apple juice with her.
‘“Did a Simone”,’ Leo said.
Simone’s face popped up over the edge of the table. ‘I’m okay. Can you dry it up, Daddy?’
‘Not here, sweetheart, you know that.’
‘All right.’ Simone went into the kitchen and returned with Monica, who wiped the spill up for her.
‘If she keeps doing this, the carpet will be ruined. Take it out,’ Leo said.
‘No,’ Mr Chen said. ‘She’ll grow out of it.’
‘It’s not too bad,’ Monica said. She rose and smiled around the table. ‘Are you finished?’
‘Thank you, Monica,’ Mr Chen said, and Monica cleared the dishes. ‘Which beach would you like to go to, Miss Donahoe?’
‘How about Repulse Bay? We can look at the statues.’
Leo’s head snapped around and he studied me carefully.
Mr Chen smiled. ‘Do you know anything about the statues? Some of the Chinese deities are very interesting.’
Leo looked from me to Mr Chen and back to me.
‘Absolutely nothing at all,’ I said. ‘You’ll have to tell us all about them.’
His smile widened and his eyes wrinkled up. Delightful. ‘It would be my pleasure,’ he said.
• • •
Leo parked the car and we all piled out. The minute we were on the sand Mr Chen pulled his shoes off. He wore a pair of tatty black shorts and a faded black T-shirt. Simone raced towards the water with her bucket and spade.
It was a weekday, so the beach wasn’t too busy. On the weekend it was often so packed that the sand was hardly visible.
Leo followed Simone down to the water and watched her as she fell into the sand and dug a hole, spraying sand everywhere. He shook it off his smart polo shirt and moved away slightly.
I unfolded the bamboo beach mat and lay it on the sand. Mr Chen and I sat on the mat together.
Simone jumped up, took her bucket to the water and filled it. The bay had no waves at all; the water was completely flat. A line of buoys marked the swimming area and the location of the shark net.
I looked back towards the hills behind the bay. Luxurious low- and highrise apartment buildings clung to the hillside. This was one of the most exclusive residential areas in Hong Kong. And then I realised: I lived in one of the other exclusive areas, up on the Peak. It felt strange.
Mr Chen stretched his long legs out in front of him and leaned back on his hands. His legs were much whiter than his arms; he obviously spent most of his time in long pants.
He saw me watching him and smiled.
‘You know, I’ve been working full-time for you for nearly six months now,’ I said.
He seemed surprised. ‘Is it that long already?’
‘Yes. I started at the beginning of the year, right after Chinese New Year.’
He sat up, pulled his hair from its tie and shook it. I watched, fascinated, as the shining black curtain flew around him. He tied it back and leaned on his hands again.
‘So you can tell me what you do for a living now,’ I said.
‘I suppose I should.’
‘Well?’
He moved to sit cross-legged, put his elbow on his knee and his chin in his hand. He appeared to think about it. ‘You’ve seen the students come in, and you’ve seen me teaching Leo.’
‘I don’t know how you can afford your lifestyle just by teaching martial arts.’
He smiled sideways at me. ‘That’s just a small part of my job.’
‘What is your job?’
He put both elbows on his knees and looked down. ‘I do government work. Some administration, some management. Occasionally fieldwork, but not since Simone was born.’
I stared at him. What an idiot I’d been, thinking the secret was something supernatural, that he might be more than human. He was a secret agent. That explained everything: I worked for a spy.
And then I couldn’t control my huge grin. I worked for a spy.
‘Which government? China or Hong Kong?’
‘Same thing now. Truth is, neither. A much higher government than both.’
An agent for the UN! ‘Wicked! Tell me more.’
He glanced sharply at me. ‘No. That’s all I can say about it.’
‘Oh, come on. I’m in the household, I need to know.’
