Red Phoenix

CHAPTER TWENTY

‘I didn’t know you were capable of something so cruel,’ John’s voice said in the darkness. Of course I was capable of something that cruel. I felt a stab of pain. Goodbye, love. Heaven and Earth didn’t move for us.

‘It needed to be done,’ Ms Kwan said. ‘She needed to face her fear, and realise that it is simply not possible.’

I may have been able to speak to them. It was worth a try.

‘Is Simone okay?’ I surprised myself; my voice was just a dry croak, but it was there.

A cool, callused hand held mine.

‘Open your eyes, Emma,’ John said.

I opened them but I couldn’t see very much. Then two figures swam into view. John on my left, holding my hand. That proved it: definitely dead, otherwise he wouldn’t have been able to touch me. Ms Kwan on my right, holding my other hand, with the most anguished expression I had ever seen on her face.

John helped me to sit up, and I had a moment of dizziness. I expected the sword to twist inside me again, but it seemed to be gone. Thank heaven for small mercies. John’s hand came around the back of my head to lift me. They both watched me, concerned.

‘Simone,’ I said. ‘Simone.’ I tried to get more words out. My throat was too dry to speak properly. ‘Is okay? Alive?’

‘Simone is fine, my love,’ John said. ‘We all are. Mercy just showed you how wrong you are. Look at you. Even now. You think we are all dead, and your first thought goes to Simone.’ His voice thickened. ‘You truly love her as if she were your own.’

I didn’t really hear him. ‘Where’s Simone? Is she all right?’ I jerked my hands free. ‘Oh my God! Leo! No. No! Leo. Michael. John.’ I peered up at him. ‘John?’

Kwan Yin put her hand on my forehead. ‘I am so sorry, little one, but it needed to be done. Sleep.’

‘Contact the Hall of Records,’ Ms Kwan was saying. ‘There may be a lost Shen, and it may be her. The stone is right: there is something there.’ Her voice softened. ‘But it was wrong of the stone to frighten her so. She does not deserve that sort of treatment. You will be dealt with appropriately when the time comes, I can assure you, stone.’

‘Do you think I should take the stone back and give her something slightly less troublesome?’ John said.

‘I vow to cause you less trouble, my Lord,’ the stone said. ‘I apologise. I told only the truth. I beg you, do not take me back. I am profoundly honoured by my role. Please leave me here. I promise to behave.’

‘See what Emma has to say about it,’ Ms Kwan said. ‘She may still want to flush it down the toilet.’

‘I do.’ I opened my eyes. There they were.

‘Please tell me Simone’s okay.’ My voice sounded really strange, hardly anything at all, just a hoarse whisper.

John dropped his head and shook it with wonder. He looked back up and gazed into my eyes with an expression of such adoration that my throat tightened. ‘Everybody is absolutely fine,’ he said.

‘Can you sit up, Emma?’ Ms Kwan said.

‘I can try,’ I said, but it came out a whisper.

Both of them pulled me up and I managed to stay there. I looked around. I was on the couch in the study of Ms Kwan’s imaginary house. I had no recollection of arriving there. The last thing I remembered was coming home after taking Simone to the Obelisk, then slipping out to buy a few things at a pharmacy down the street.

‘How come you can touch me?’ I said.

He raised his other hand, which was holding Ms Kwan’s. I understood; she shielded me.

‘Did you do that to me?’ I whispered. ‘Ms Kwan? You made me live through that?’

‘I’m sorry, Emma, but it had to be done,’ she said. ‘Do you understand now?’

A great many unpleasant words hit the back of my throat. I swallowed them all.

I thought back. I did that. I threw myself onto Wong’s sword to save Simone. There was nothing inside me he could control. I was just being paranoid. Of course I would never hurt Simone. John was right: I did love her as if she was my own. Nothing else mattered; not John, not Leo, not me. As long as Simone was okay, everything else was just detail.

‘Lady Kwan Yin,’ I whispered, ‘thank you so very much.’

Both of them sighed with relief. They probably thought I was about to leap up and chop their heads off.

‘Did you say I could be a lost Shen, Ms Kwan?’ I said.

‘I think that is a remote possibility,’ Ms Kwan said. ‘But I think it is more likely that you are just a very talented human being who is in love with her Dark Lord and is learning from him in many more ways than one. You have shared your minds and your bodies. Of course you are becoming more alike all the time.’

‘That actually makes sense,’ I said. ‘That’s the most sensible thing anyone’s said to me in quite a while.’

‘Do you understand now that you could never hurt any of us?’ John said.

‘Of course I could never hurt anybody. I can’t believe I thought that.’ I should have looked into my heart straightaway and seen the truth, instead of letting the stone make me so worried. Dark heartless monster.

‘Humph,’ I said. ‘Of course I’m a dark heartless monster with hidden depths. I’m your Lady. I’m rapidly turning into a smaller version of you.’

He smiled intensely into my eyes. ‘You say that as if it were a bad thing.’

‘You’re damn right it’s a bad thing. I’m my own woman here and the last thing I want to be is another you. I’m me.’

‘You are quite extraordinary,’ Ms Kwan whispered.

‘I’m going to make you pay me money every time you say that,’ I snapped. ‘I’ll be very wealthy indeed.’

She smiled, reached into the pocket of her white silk pantsuit, and gave me a gold coin in the traditional round shape with a square hole in the middle. ‘Here, but I think it is a drop in the ocean compared to the riches you already possess.’

‘I think you are quite right, Lady.’

John dropped his head to kiss me and I stopped him with my hand on his chest. ‘John, please. I need to see them. Can we go out and see them right now? I need to prove to myself that they’re still here. I need to see Simone and give her a big hug, right now. Just to make sure.’

He smiled. ‘Let me help you up.’ He carefully didn’t let go of Ms Kwan’s hand.

The next morning, our last in Paris, Simone dragged Leo along the Champs-Élysées from the Jardin des Tuileries. I followed, with Michael next to me.

Michael stopped. We continued walking, but he didn’t catch up. I turned back to see what his problem was. He was staring into the park at the side of the road, his face rigid with emotion.

I looked in the same direction, and Leo stiffened beside me.

The Tiger sat on a park bench, smiling and talking to a blonde woman, holding her hand. He put his arm around her shoulders and she leaned into him. She turned and rested her head on his chest, bringing her face into view.

It was Rhonda.

Michael stormed towards them.

The Tiger saw him and grinned, then they both disappeared.

Michael stood and glared at the park bench, then shook himself and returned to us. ‘Let’s go.’

‘You wanna talk about it?’ Leo said softly.

‘No,’ Michael said. ‘Let’s get out of here.’

He called her later that evening, after dinner. We left him alone, but everybody could hear him shouting at her. He still refused to talk about it afterwards.

After we’d shown the London real estate agent out, John called Michael and Leo to bring Simone down from the top-floor nursery.

‘Are we going to the Science Museum now?’ Simone yelled as she clattered down the stairs.

‘Yes, we can have lunch there,’ I said.

‘Good!’ She threw herself at John. ‘I want the chicken.’

John lifted her and sat her on his hip. ‘Michael, with us. Leo, you have things to do. Take the rest of the day.’

Leo was tremendously relieved. ‘My Lord. Where’s the list?’

‘On my desk.’

‘Buy him some more like this,’ I said, pointing to the black straight-cut jeans and black T-shirt Leo had picked up for John in Paris. ‘He looks like a Chinese rock star on holiday.’

‘You like it?’ Leo said, grinning.

‘Buy Emma some matching ones,’ John said.

‘Oh no. No way. I buy my own clothes.’

‘You’ll have to wait until we’re in Paris again for jeans,’ Leo said. ‘I buy the more formal stuff here.’

‘Buy anything for me and you are in serious trouble,’ I said.

John focused on Leo and spoke silently to him.

‘No, you don’t! Out loud!’ I shouted.

Leo nodded to John, then touched Michael on the arm. ‘Michael, stay close to them and guard them well. I want a good report when I see you later.’

‘Don’t you dare buy me anything,’ I growled.

‘Come on, Emma, hurry up,’ Simone said. She wriggled out of John’s arms and took my hand. ‘I wanna go to the Science Museum.’