Blue Dragon (20 page)

‘What’s your phone number?’ I said.

April’s face was completely blank. ‘I don’t know. What’s yours?’

Don’t give it to her. They’ll know it’s you and probably try to use it to get to you. She’ll be safer if they aren’t aware that you’ve talked to her.
John stiffened.
We have to get out of here right now.

‘Bye, April,’ he said, and gestured for me to follow him.

‘Bye,’ April said, her face still blank.

I glanced back as we raced away. She stood on the pavement with people flowing around her. She seemed completely lost. Some burly men appeared behind her and spoke to her. She turned, one of them took her elbow, and they led her away. She glanced back, looking for me. She didn’t see me.

Back at the sushi bar I threw myself onto my stool and put my head in my hands. ‘I will get that bitch one day,’ I whispered, so softly that Simone couldn’t hear me. ‘April trusted Kitty. Look where it got her.’

They are taking a huge risk by not killing her immediately,
John said.
Why didn’t they kill her the minute they had the baby? They had no problem with killing her entire family. Why have they kept her and wiped her memory
?

‘Even worse, what have they done with the baby?’ I whispered.

‘Hurry up and finish your sushi, Simone,’ John said. ‘We’re going home and having another energy session.’

‘Oh, come
on
, Daddy,’ Simone whined. ‘We spent the whole morning on sword. I want to rest.’

John dropped his head. ‘Okay, sweetheart. Tell me if I tire you out too much.’

‘Lately it seems to be all we do,’ Simone grumbled. ‘Just wushu. Nothing fun.’

‘It’s not fun any more, sweetheart?’ I said, my heart breaking. ‘It’s never been not fun before. You’ve always enjoyed it a lot.’

‘Too much,’ Simone said, still grumbling. ‘I want to spend a whole day having
fun
instead.’

‘Right,’ John said, putting his hands on either side of the stack of plates in front of him. ‘Tomorrow, we will have fun. No wushu at all. What would you like to do?’

‘Tomorrow’s a school day, John,’ I said softly.

‘We’re skipping school for a day and having some fun, Emma,’ John said. ‘Simone can go anywhere she likes.’

Simone squeaked with delight. ‘Anywhere?’

‘Anywhere.’

Simone jiggled. ‘I don’t know where I want to go. What I want to do. Can I think about it?’

‘You sure can,’ John said. ‘You can tell me later. Okay. Are we finished?’

Simone and I both nodded.

‘Both of you ate more than me,’ John said, waving his hand at the stacks of plates on the counter in front of us.

‘Simone ate the most,’ I said. ‘So she has to pay.’

John levered himself off the stool and took Simone’s hand to help her down. ‘That’s right. I’m not paying for you to eat all this food when I can’t have anything.’

Simone glanced at me, her face cheeky. ‘Next time we come without Daddy.’

I was about to open my mouth to say something cheeky back when I saw John’s face. It was completely rigid.

Next time we
would
be coming without Daddy, and Daddy knew it.

When we arrived home, Simone went straight into the television room and sat in front of the TV, zoning out. We left her and went into John’s office together.

‘Andy didn’t want to stay married to April. He wanted her to have an abortion,’ I said.

‘He asked her for a divorce?’

I suddenly remembered. ‘No, he didn’t. He wanted her to stay married to him, just out of the way. But he did want her to have an abortion.’

‘Why wouldn’t they want the baby? The baby was probably the whole point of the exercise.’

I ran my hands through my hair. ‘It was a
boy
, John. The ultrasounds showed it was a boy. April told me so herself.’

He was obviously confused. ‘But if you’re traditional, a boy is better. Why would he want her to abort a boy?’

‘Because they wanted a girl.’

He suddenly understood. ‘Simone.’

‘Or me.’

‘The copy of you in the dumpster.’

‘But I’m thirty years old, John. They couldn’t make a baby into a copy of me. It’s just not possible.’

‘You know that demons are hatched fully grown, Emma.’

‘But this one is at least half human! How could it be hatched?’

He rubbed his hands over his face and tied back his hair. ‘I don’t know. I have never encountered anything like this before. I have no idea how they are making these copies. I suspect that April’s baby boy was used in the experimentation and they let her keep the baby when they realised it could be useful. But that is just an educated guess.’

‘We have to go in and get her out,’ I said fiercely. ‘She’s my
friend
.’

‘We have no idea where she is.’

‘She’s in Causeway Bay. Somewhere. With a lot of big demons.’

‘You will go in and face that many powerful demons?’

‘Yes,’ I said firmly. ‘To help my friend, I will.’

‘Simone needs you, Emma,’ John said. ‘Simone needs both of us. They have not harmed April. She does not appear to be in any danger; in fact, she said that Kitty is caring for her.’

I couldn’t believe it. ‘You don’t think we should go in?’

‘I would love to go in and clean out that nest. But right now we are unable. We must protect Simone.’ His voice softened. ‘We have no choice, Emma. Our first duty is to Simone. She is the one who is in real, immediate danger here.’

‘Send in some Disciples.’

‘No.’

I glared at him.

‘I will not send my Dark Disciples against a powerful demon on its own turf. That would be a useless waste of life.’

‘Send in some Celestials.’

‘The Celestials are protecting the human Disciples, Emma.’ He sighed and leaned his elbows on the table. ‘Face it. Right now, there’s nothing we can do.’

I crossed my arms on the table and dropped my head onto them. He was right.

T
he next day, while John and Simone were at the theme park in China, I saw Louise for lunch. We met at the atrium that connected Sha Tin station with the shopping mall. Having the baby had made her softer and rounder. She held the baby in a sling strapped in front of her, and was accompanied by a demon, who appeared as a middle-aged Filipina domestic helper, carrying an enormous baby accessories bag. A hefty young bodyguard—one of the Tiger’s sons—stood behind her watching the crowd carefully.

Louise raced to me and hugged me around the baby, who squirmed at the pressure. Then she stepped back to see me. She studied me carefully, looking me right in the eyes, then smiled broadly.

I cooed at the baby and took her hand. She grasped my finger, her little rosebud mouth nearly forming a sweet smile, and my heart melted.

‘What’s her name?’ I said.

‘Four—’ Louise said, then stopped. ‘Oh, her
name
. Kimberley. Kimmy.’

‘She’s gorgeous,’ I said, brushing my hand over the baby’s downy white hair.

Louise grinned with pride, her bright blue eyes sparkling under her spiky blonde hair. ‘Come on, let’s get some lunch. Let’s go to the Japanese place the Tiger owns. We won’t have to wait, and we can have a private room.’

She turned and we headed past the fountain, the bodyguard hovering and alert, the demon servant trailing after us lugging the huge bag.

‘Lady Emma,’ the bodyguard said, nodding.

‘Hi,’ I said. ‘What’s your name?’

‘Two Eight Five.’

‘Matt,’ Louise said, and the bodyguard nodded again.

‘You haven’t changed a bit, Louise,’ I said as Matt cleared our way through the Monday lunchtime crowd in the centre of the mall.

‘Yeah, right,’ Louise said with a grin. ‘Put a lot of weight on, but the Tiger’s dietician and personal trainer are working with me. I’ll be back in shape in no time.’ She looked me up and down. ‘You need to see them too, Emma.’

I sighed. ‘Yeah, I know. Need to do more physical stuff. I do too much energy work.’

Louise laughed softly. ‘I heard about that. You have to show me.’

‘Not in public, but you can come over to the Academy and see,’ I said.

‘But you look amazingly healthy,’ Louise said, glancing sideways at me. ‘You actually look younger than you did last year.’

That completely floored me. ‘What?’

‘You only look about twenty-five.’

I was bewildered. ‘I’ll be thirty-one in October, in four months,’ I said. ‘I can’t look that young, don’t be ridiculous.’

‘You do.’

We arrived at the Japanese restaurant. There were about twenty people waiting outside, and five more at the reception desk collecting numbers to wait. When we reached the desk, the receptionist scowled at the baby. Louise wasn’t fazed. She reached around the baby into her shirt, pulled out a platinum tiger that she wore on a chain around her neck, and dangled it in front of the receptionist.

The receptionist’s face immediately went blank, then she smiled warmly and gestured for us to follow her, bobbing her head.

‘Oh my God; that bastard,’ I said softly.

‘What?’ Louise said as we were led into the private room.

‘He tried to trick me into taking one of them.’

‘One of what?’

‘One of those little platinum tigers,’ I said.

Louise grinned, then burst out laughing. She pulled her shoes off and went into the room. The demon servant followed her and sat quietly in the corner on the tatami mats.

‘I’ll wait outside, ma’am,’ the bodyguard said. ‘I’ll be right outside the door.’

‘Okay, Matt,’ Louise said. She undid the straps holding the baby and gently lowered her as we sat. ‘You want to hold her?’

I nodded and carefully took the baby. She squeaked and waved her little hands. I held her close and tried to control my reaction.

‘What?’ Louise said. ‘What’s the matter?’

I couldn’t say anything. I just held the baby close and watched her.

‘What’s the problem, Emma?’ Louise said.

‘I’ll never have one of my own,’ I said, my voice thick. ‘Never.’

‘Why not?’ Louise said softly. ‘He’s promised to come back for you, hasn’t he?’

I carefully passed the baby back. ‘It will take him years to come back, Louise. I’ll probably be too old.’

Louise leaned forward over the table, holding the baby in front of her. ‘Human Immortals can have children, Emma. The Jade Emperor has dozens.’

I silently shook my head. Then I snapped myself out of it and grabbed a menu. ‘I hope there’s something vegetarian for me.’

‘See?’ Louise said. ‘Vegetarian, looks young, not worried by anything. Immortal.’

‘Oh, cut it out.’

The baby started to squall and Louise handed her to the maid. ‘Beanie, I think she needs changing.’

‘Ma’am,’ the maid said, and took the baby into the corner of the tatami mats. ‘I’ll feed her as well, ma’am, I think she’s due.’

‘
Beanie
?’ I said.

‘Ma’am?’ the maid said, turning back to me.

‘Go and change her, Beanie,’ Louise said, and the maid turned away again. ‘It’s great I can put her onto the bottle now—I have a lot more freedom. The Tiger likes all the wives to feed the babies themselves for at least the first four months. That reminds me.’ She pulled out a notebook and flipped it open.

‘What the hell are you doing?’ I said. ‘We haven’t done that in ages.’

‘I have a bet with wife number One One Six and wife number One Two Zero,’ Louise said. ‘I have some questions for you, and you have to answer them truthfully for me.’

The waitress turned up and Louise dropped the notebook and grabbed the menu. ‘But let’s eat first, I’m starving.’

‘Why is the demon called Beanie?’ I said after we’d ordered.

‘What demon?’ Louise said.

I gestured towards the maid who was busy preparing a bottle. ‘Demon.’

Louise glanced sharply at her. ‘Are you a demon, Beanie?’

The maid bobbed her head. ‘Yes, ma’am, tamed by Lord Bai Hu’s Number One son himself.’

Louise turned back to me, grinning. ‘I didn’t know that; I thought she was a domestic helper. How about that? You could see she’s a demon?’

‘Of course I could,’ I said. ‘Why is her name Beanie?’

‘No idea,’ Louise said. ‘Beanie?’

‘I don’t know, ma’am,’ Beanie said. ‘When I was tamed, they opened a large book, crossed out a dark word and said that was my name.’

I collapsed forward over my knees laughing.

‘What?’ Louise said, bewildered.

‘Dictionary,’ I said. ‘They go through the words and use them as demon names.’

Louise’s face lit up with delight and she laughed as well.

A waitress passing our room closed the door to keep the noise level down. Matt opened it again slightly so that he could keep an eye on us.

‘How old are you, Beanie?’ I said.

‘About twenty years, ma’am,’ the demon said.

‘What?’ Louise said. ‘Only twenty years old? She looks mid-forties.’

‘They hatch as adults and don’t age,’ I said.

‘That’s incredible.’ Louise studied Beanie then turned back to me. ‘How come you know all this stuff? No, wait.’ She lifted the notebook and raised her hand. ‘I need a pen, Beanie.’

‘I’m sorry, ma’am, I don’t have one,’ the maid said.

I scrabbled through the mess in my bag and passed Louise a pen.

‘Okay,’ Louise said, flipping the notebook open again. ‘You have to answer these questions truthfully, okay?’

I shrugged. ‘Only if they’re not too personal.’

Louise grinned broadly. ‘What’s he like in bed?’

I reached over the table and pushed her. Her grin didn’t shift.

‘Okay.’ She looked down at the notebook then back at me. ‘Can you pick demons from a distance?’

‘Yes,’ I said.

‘How far?’

‘About twenty metres.’

She made a tick in the notebook. ‘Next. How much chi can you generate?’

‘A ball of about two metres across, at the moment, but I’m working on it,’ I said.

‘Whoa.’ She made another tick and glanced up at me. ‘Can you take out level forty demons with your bare hands?’

‘Yes,’ I said, pouring some green tea.

‘Wow,’ Louise said; another tick. ‘Can you take down Leo Alexander hand-to-hand?’

‘Yep,’ I said, sipping the tea. ‘I can take down both Leo and Michael at hand-to-hand.’

‘Whoa,
really
?’ Her eyes were wide. ‘That’s Michael, the Tiger’s son? The good one? Really? You can take him down as well?’

‘The
good
one?’ I said, grinning. ‘I can take them down
together
.’ This was beginning to be fun.

‘Crikey, Emma,’ Louise said, and I giggled. ‘Can you generate black chi?’

‘How the hell do you know about that?’ I demanded loudly.

‘Oh, word gets around,’ she said. ‘Can I see?’

I held my hand out, generated a small ball of black chi, and reabsorbed it. Louise’s eyes were huge.

‘Your hand went black. Do that again.’

I did it again for her and she put down her tea and scribbled furiously in the notebook. ‘I’m going double or nothing on that one,’ she said. ‘I should have brought a video camera.’ She glanced up at me. ‘Can you tame demons?’

‘Yep,’ I said, and she ticked the book.

‘Oh, wait,’ I said. ‘I can’t complete the process; Xuan Wu needs to do it for me.’

‘Not important,’ she said. ‘Can you use your Inner Eye?’

‘Yep.’

‘What colour bra am I wearing?’ she said.

‘You’re not wearing one,’ I shot back, and we both laughed.

‘Can you do telepathy?’

‘No.’

‘Damn,’ she said, and made a cross in the notebook. She picked up her teacup and sighed.

‘Can you fly, Emma?’

‘No.’

‘Damn,’ she said, shaking her head. ‘There was a lot riding on that one too. They said you can run and then lift yourself and float, and I believed them.’

‘Oh, I can do
that
,’ I said. ‘But I can’t fly like superman, that’s what I meant.’

‘
Yes
,’ Louise hissed, scribbling in the notebook. ‘Excellent.’ Her face changed and she looked at me more seriously. ‘Do you turn into a snake, Emma?’

I hesitated.

‘Tell me,’ she said softly.

I ran my hands through my hair and looked down. ‘Yes,’ I whispered.

‘Good,’ Louise said loudly, and put another tick in the notebook. ‘Really?’

‘Really,’ I said quietly.

There was a tap on the door and it opened.

‘Okay,’ she said. She handed the baby sling to the demon. ‘Beanie, take the baby out for a walk, please.’

‘Oh shit, Louise, don’t do this to me, please,’ I said. ‘I won’t hurt your baby, I swear.’

Louise grinned. ‘I just want to eat in peace, Emma. The food’s here.’

‘Really?’ I said.

She reached across the table and gave
me
a push. ‘Sure. I’m not worried.’

‘I am.’

‘Don’t be, you’ll be fine.’

She waited until the plates had been placed on the table and the waitress and Beanie had gone, Beanie carefully closing the door behind her.

‘Matt, go with her,’ Louise called at the door. ‘I’ll be safe with the Dark Lady.’

‘Ma’am,’ Matt said from the other side of the door.

‘Does the ring talk?’ Louise said.

‘Yep.’

‘Show me.’

‘Oh, no, Louise, it’s asleep right now. Don’t wake it up, it’s a pain in the neck.’

‘The stone
sleeps
?’

‘It’s a Building Block of the World. It’s really old. Like an old man, it sleeps a lot.’

‘It’s a what?’

I sighed. ‘You know the story of the Dark Goddess?’

‘Nope,’ she said, shaking her head over the udon.

‘Okay,’ I said, and took a deep breath. I tapped the stone.

‘Yes, Emma?’

‘Say hello to Louise,’ I said.

The stone didn’t say anything.

‘It’s really rude sometimes, don’t worry about it,’ I said. ‘Okay. Anyway, a long time ago there was a battle
between two elementals, or between a demon and an elemental.’

‘Two elementals,’ the stone said. ‘Thunder and water.’

‘Was that it?’ Louise said.

‘Yep.’

‘It sounds English.’

‘I know. Anyway, one of them knocked down one of the Four Pillars holding up the Heavens, so the Dark Goddess, Nu Wa, had to build it again. She collected stones, made a new pillar, destroyed all the monsters that had entered the world and were terrorising her children—’

‘Her children were humanity. She created humanity,’ the stone said. ‘She fashioned the human race from clay. But she became tired, and after a while simply dipped a rope in the mud and threw the clay to make people. Noble people are those she created directly. Common people are those from the rope.’

‘It’s hard to tell what’s true and what isn’t with this stuff,’ I said. ‘And there are so many different versions—’

‘She also started the Shang-Zhou wars because the Shang King insulted her,’ the stone said. ‘She was mortally offended by his disgraceful behaviour, and sent a fox spirit to take over the body of his favourite concubine and lead him into performing such atrocities that his own generals rebelled and toppled him. It led to a civil war so vast that the whole country was plunged into anarchy. Many, many people died. At the end of the war, the mightiest and most courageous warriors were all Raised.’

‘Xuan Wu was one of them, wasn’t he,’ I said.

‘Yep,’ the stone said. ‘In human form. The White Tiger too. A lot of them had their human forms Raised because of their noble deeds.’

‘Was the fox spirit called Daji?’ I said quickly.

‘Yes, she was. But back to me, I’m the important one,’ the stone said, and Louise snorted.

‘Anyway,’ I said, ‘when the sky fell down, the Dark Goddess built a pillar to hold it up. She had some stones left over from building the pillar, and they are old and powerful and
extremely annoying
.’

‘How did you come by this one?’ Louise said.

‘I think Xuan Wu’s had it for a very long time,’ I said.

‘Yes,’ the stone said. ‘A very, very long time.’

‘Go back to sleep,’ I said.

‘I certainly will,’ the stone said. ‘I was in the middle of a lovely dream: I was a mighty snow-capped peak with the frozen corpses of failed mountaineers adorning my slopes.’