Red Phoenix

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

Jennifer sat on one of the couches in the living room, looking out the bay window towards the street. She had another tissue in her hand. She wasn’t crying; she just stared out the window.

I went in and sat across from her. We watched each other silently for quite some time. ‘I’m sorry, Jen, I should have told you,’ I said softly. ‘But the whole thing is so weird…’

‘When’s the wedding?’ she snapped. ‘I have no idea,’ I said. ‘There may not even be one, ever.’

‘And he’s a king, is he?’

‘No.’

She glanced sharply at me.

I sighed. ‘Yes. No. To tell the truth, he’s more like a god.’

She turned away. ‘I suppose I should be glad for you.’

‘You know what, Jen? I don’t care if you’re glad for me or not. Frankly, I don’t think there’s much to be glad about. But I am glad for you. You have a wonderful husband who adores you, two healthy little boys of your own, and a fabulous life here in England. I would give anything to have what you do,’ I sighed at the stab of pain that went through me, ‘because I will probably never have anything as good as this.’

‘Oh come on, Emma,’ she said. ‘What did Leonard call you? Dark Empress? And that’s not better than this? You’ll be leading this jet-set lifestyle, rubbing shoulders with anyone you want, as much money as you want—’

‘You know what it’s really like for me right now?’ I let it all out. All of the pain. All of the frustration. All of the anger at the situation that I found myself in. ‘All right, let me tell you. I love that man,’ I pointed towards the back door, ‘and we can’t touch each other at all, because he could kill me.’

Jennifer opened her mouth to say something but I cut her off. My voice went fierce. ‘It’s because he’s not a human being. He can’t touch me. He’s going to leave both Simone and me in about two years. He’ll be gone for a very long time. Maybe more than a lifetime. He’s promised to come back for me but there are no guarantees. Even if he does come back, it will be years from now.’

I dropped my head. It felt good to be letting it out.

‘There is a constant stream of monsters attacking us, all the damn time. That fireball stuff? That wasn’t for fun. I use it all the time to kill the monsters that want to hurt that delightful little girl.’

I looked at my hands, then back up to glare into her eyes. ‘The black guy, Leo? The one you don’t like the look of? He’s my best friend. The monsters got him the other day and cut his tongue in half. That’s why he doesn’t talk much. He’ll die soon anyway, you know? He’s terminally ill. He’ll leave us all alone as well.’

My throat thickened. I didn’t want to be left alone; I wanted those wonderful men with me.

Jennifer’s expression started to change from anger to anguish.

‘Jet-set lifestyle? I spend most of my time teaching, looking after Simone, and doing budgets on damn spreadsheets that I hate the sight of. And all of this, Jennifer, for the love of a man who can’t even touch me, and will leave me in a couple of years, perhaps never to return.’

I slapped my hands on my knees and turned away. The street was deserted. I pulled myself together. I didn’t have time for this. I looked at Jennifer. I don’t know why I’m wasting my time on you, I thought. And then I felt a pang: yes, I do.

I moved to sit next to her and put my arm around her. ‘Jen, you’re family. You’re the most important thing in the world to me. Please forgive me. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you.’

‘Why can’t he touch you, Emma?’ she said quietly, her face expressionless.

‘It’s a very long story. That energy stuff I threw around? He’s drained. He’ll suck it all out of me and kill me if he touches me, because of the love between us.’

She snorted. ‘Yeah, right. You sure that isn’t a story he’s spun?’

‘It’s true, we have to be very careful.’ I ran my hands through my hair. ‘Do you have any idea how lucky you are?’

She didn’t say anything. She put it together in her head. She smiled slightly. I breathed a quiet internal sigh of relief. I’d done it.

‘I’ll tell you what, Jen. When his palace is rebuilt, I’ll see if we can arrange for you to see it. I haven’t even seen it myself. The monsters broke into it at the beginning of the year and destroyed most of it. Burnt to the ground. Come over to Hong Kong some time—I’ll take you shopping, go around to see the sights, take your boys out with Simone. Would you like that? We could go to some social things, charity functions. I could introduce you to some of the big names in the movie industry, things like that. We could have fun, and now you know about John—Lord Xuan, I mean—I can let my hair down. I can take you places that I wouldn’t take ordinary members of the family, like our Academy, where we teach kung fu.’

‘I haven’t really had much of a chance to talk to him,’ she said. ‘I really should get to know him better. What’s he king of?’

‘The entire Northern Celestial Heavens of China. He’s also the Chinese God of Martial Arts—that’s why we teach kung fu. He also has a Mountain in China that belongs to him, that used to hold the Academy before it burnt down.’ I decided not to mention the fact that he was a Wind and a Turtle without its Serpent. One thing at a time. I rose and held out my hand. ‘Come and meet him, he’s a terrific guy.’

‘I heard about the kung fu from Mum and Dad,’ Jennifer said as we went back outside. ‘They said it wasn’t anything too exciting.’

‘I didn’t show them any real stuff,’ I said.

‘Can you show us?’

I laughed. ‘If you want, I sure can. And Leo has my stupid singing sword out as well, I’d better show that to Leonard.’

‘The sword sings?’

I laughed even more. ‘More like it whines. It’s really annoying. Everybody hates it.’

We went through the back door. Leonard was listening to John, rapt.

‘And then she told him to piss off!’ John finished with delight. ‘I don’t think anybody in a thousand years has said that to the King. You should have seen the look on his face.’

They both turned to us as we went out. Jennifer approached John and studied him closely. He rose, took her hand and smiled kindly down at her. ‘Are you okay? You’re all right with this? I’m sorry we didn’t tell you straightaway, but generally it’s better if people don’t know about it.’

Jennifer looked from Leonard to John. ‘You’re really a god?’

He nodded. ‘I really am.’ He patted her hand. ‘Sit down. I think Emma had better show Leonard the sword before he explodes with impatience.’

‘All right…Lord Chun?’

‘Xuan. But just call me John. You too, Leonard. We are all family.’

‘You are really most gracious,’ Leonard said.

John grinned broadly. ‘This is a perfect opportunity. I would like to teach Emma something that can only be taught outdoors, and our apartment building in Hong Kong is too public. Can I use your yard to teach her? I’ll ensure that nobody sees her, but this is the ideal location.’

‘What sort of thing?’ Jennifer said.

‘A wushu technique,’ John said.

‘Kung fu. What technique?’ I said.

‘Wall running. Roof running. We may even have you flying for short distances.’

‘No way!’ I exclaimed with delight. ‘You think so?’

‘Flying?’ Jennifer said with wonder.

Before we did anything, I took Simone to one side and explained. ‘You did really well, Simone, they had no idea we were any different. But my sister’s husband knows your dad, and knows who he is, so we don’t need to pretend any more.’

Simone let out a huge sigh and her little shoulders sagged. ‘Did I do okay?’

‘You did really well. You did better than me.’ I crouched to hug her. ‘You’ll be fine at school, I’m sure.’

‘What are we going to do now? Can we go back to the house?’

‘Your dad wants to teach me wall running and roof running on this house, and I have to show…’ I hesitated, but what the hell. ‘…Uncle Leonard my singing sword and some other energy stuff. Do you want to show them some energy work and physical stuff as well? They’d like that.’

‘Emma, is it okay if I keep practising while we’re here? Pretend to be normal? I need to practise.’

I hugged her again. ‘You are very special. That’s a great idea.’ I pulled away to smile at her. ‘Go and play on the swings.’

Colin stayed with his father, but little Andrew went and talked to Simone. Michael rose and joined them to ensure that Simone wouldn’t be hurt.

I returned to the table. ‘How will you stop us from being seen, John?’ Although the neighbours didn’t seem to be home, there was a chance that I’d be spotted on the wall of the house.

‘Gold,’ John said loudly.

‘My Lord?’ Gold said from somewhere in the sunshine.

Leonard and Jennifer looked around for the source of the voice.

‘I will be extremely generous and permit you to stay in True Form if you can hide us,’ John said. ‘My Lord,’ Gold said.

Everything around us went completely silent, as it had when the Demon King had appeared.

‘Done,’ Gold said. ‘Most appreciated,’ he added softly.

‘How long do we have?’ John said to the air.

‘About an hour, my Lord, that’s all I can manage,’ Gold said.

‘Should be enough,’ John said. ‘But we’ll need a safety net, just in case Emma falls.’ He turned to Jennifer and Leonard. ‘Don’t be concerned, but I need the help of somebody who can catch Emma if she falls off your roof, and she just happens to be a dragon.’

Jennifer’s eyes went wide, but Leonard grinned broadly. Little Colin shifted closer to his mother.

‘Don’t worry, Jen, her name is Jade, she’s the family accountant, and she’s really nice,’ I said. ‘Don’t think of her as a dragon, she’s just a person. John, tell her to arrive in human form and transform after.’

Jade appeared in human form and Jennifer shot to her feet with a gasp. Colin clutched his mother. Leonard’s grin didn’t shift.

Andrew and Simone were busy talking near the swings and didn’t notice.

Jade fell to one knee and saluted John, then did the same to me. She bowed from the waist to salute Jennifer and then Leonard.

Jennifer stared at me, eyes wide, then gave Jade a similar look.

‘Jen, would you be okay if Jade turns into a dragon?’ I said. ‘She’s only three metres long, and I can assure you that she’s perfectly harmless.’

Jade fell to one knee in front of Jennifer. ‘I swear I will not hurt any member of your family, my Lady. I am a sworn servant of Lord Xuan and Lady Emma. By your leave, Lady Jennifer.’

John smiled quickly at me. I shot a fleeting smile back: he had her picked; that was exactly the right thing to do.

‘Go ahead,’ Jennifer said.

Jade nodded and rose.

‘I’ll do the sword first, then we can work on the technique,’ I said.

‘Yes, let us see, Emma,’ Leonard said. ‘I’ve heard about this sword of yours. I want to hear what it sounds like.’

‘You’ll want to throw it in the garbage after you’ve heard it.’

I went to Leo, and he handed me the sword, hilt first. I pulled it from its scabbard, held it in front of me and made it sing. I ran it through a slow scale. Fortunately no dogs started to howl, but Jennifer put her hands over her ears and winced.

I pulled the chi out of the sword and it went quiet.

‘And that will blow up demons?’ Leonard said.

‘Low-level ones, yes,’ John said. ‘Higher-level ones are unaffected.’

Please don’t do that again, Emma, Simone said straight into my ear and I laughed.

‘Don’t worry, sweetheart, I won’t,’ I called, and she nodded. She and Andrew were playing on the swings together. Looked like she may have made a friend after all. Without his big brother to egg him on, Andrew seemed to be a nice kid.

Jennifer glanced from me to Simone. ‘What was that about?’

‘She can talk to me silently, right into my ear,’ I said as I put my sword back into its scabbard. I gestured towards John as I returned the sword to the table. ‘Both of them can. It’s a pain in the neck.’

‘Telepathy?’ Leonard said with wonder.

I stopped at that. ‘I suppose it is.’

‘Of course it is,’ John said. ‘That’s what it’s called, anyway. The Monkey King once went to the CIA in America and told them he could do it. He demonstrated it to them. They were sure they had a new secret weapon. The little bastard played along with them, pretending to be American and patriotic, the whole works. When they started field testing, he destroyed the entire testing centre and left the place in a complete shambles.’

‘Next time he challenges me I will take him up on it,’ Leo lisped softly, almost to himself.

‘I would like to be there. I think you could take him, if he didn’t have that blasted staff of his. Enough storytelling. Emma,’ John said more briskly, ‘let’s get you wall running.’

He gracefully pulled himself to his feet and gestured for me to accompany him to the house.

Leonard, Jennifer, Colin and Jade all followed at a respectful distance.

John stood back from the house about three metres, then ran to it, took three steps up the wall, leapt off somersaulting, and landed on his feet where he’d started, facing the house. He gestured to me. ‘Now you.’

‘You told me that was the most useless move in the entire suite,’ I said. ‘While you’re in the air, your opponent has plenty of time to set themselves up to hit you hard when you land.’

‘It’s not a practical move by itself,’ John said, tying his hair back. ‘It’s a base for working with more complicated stuff.’

‘Oh, okay.’ I did the same thing; I stood a couple of metres away, ran to the wall, took a couple of strides up the wall, flipped, and landed on my feet.

Jennifer’s family all stared at me with awe.

‘Spectacular but useless,’ I said with a shrug.

John waved for me to move back. He turned so that he was nearly parallel to the house. He readied himself, then ran to it, took a few steps along the side of the house, and flipped off.

‘Harder,’ he said. ‘You have to remain sideways on the house. More than that I can’t do right now; you’ll have to do the rest without demonstration. Give it a try.’ He raised his hand. ‘Wait. Jade, move away from the Blacks and transform, we may need you.’

‘My Lord.’ Jade moved away from Jennifer and Leonard. ‘Don’t worry, I’m perfectly harmless,’ she said with a small smile.

She transformed into her dragon form: three metres long, gleaming green, with gold claws and fins behind her legs, and a gleaming gold fin on her tail.

Jennifer gasped and her eyes went wide. She went completely stiff. Jade stood very still and waited for her to get over it, her green eyes glowing.

‘Are you okay, Jen?’ I said.

Leonard moved closer to Jennifer and put his arm around her. He spoke quietly in her ear. She nodded.

‘Okay, let’s see you do it, Emma,’ Leonard said.

Jade positioned herself under me. I was glad that she was there.

I ran as fast as I could at the wall and attempted similar momentum to the flip. I managed about two steps along the house, but I was losing it. I was falling off. The ground somersaulted to meet me and I readied myself to hit, but Jade was there and she caught me easily with her front legs.

She tipped me gently onto my feet and I nodded to her. She smiled her dragon smile, all gleaming gold teeth.

‘You have more gold teeth than a little old Chinese lady,’ I said quietly.

‘I am a little old Chinese lady,’ she said.

I turned back to the wall and faced it appraisingly. ‘What did I do wrong, John? Not enough momentum?’

‘That’s right,’ he said, sounding pleased. ‘Give it a little more of a push. Hit the house hard. Try to push it over.’

‘Please don’t push my house over, Emma,’ Leonard said.

I laughed. ‘I’ll try not to.’

I made another run at it, really pushing myself. I hit the house very hard; I could feel the force through my feet, enough to crack the brickwork. I took three strides along the side of the house. When I felt myself coming away I flung myself off it, somersaulted, and landed lightly on my feet. I quickly checked the brickwork to make sure that I hadn’t damaged the wall but it seemed to be all right.

‘Perfect,’ John said. ‘Now let’s add energy.’ He gestured for me to approach him. Jade came as well.

‘That was really cool, Daddy,’ Simone said behind me. ‘Can I try that too?’

Simone and Andrew were watching me with Michael behind them.

‘You can’t do things like that yet, Simone,’ John said. ‘Your bones are too soft, you’d hurt them. You can do this sort of stuff when you’re bigger.’

‘Oh, okay,’ Simone said. ‘Can we go to Andrew’s room to look at his cars?’

‘I wanna show Simone my cars,’ Andrew said.

‘Sure, go.’ I nodded to Michael and he followed.

Leo rose to go with them.

‘Stay, Leo. Rest,’ I said.

He grimaced impatiently. He actually opened his mouth to argue with me, speech impediment or not.

‘You need to rest, Leo,’ John said gently. ‘You are still recovering.’

Leo looked from John to me and then nodded sadly and sat. He was still very weak from the blood loss.

‘Why does the other boy follow her around everywhere?’ Jennifer said.

‘He’s guarding her, Jen,’ I said. ‘She could be attacked any time. She needs someone next to her to defend her every minute of the day.’

Jennifer watched them go back to the house. ‘The front door’s locked, Emma. Nothing can get in.’

‘They won’t come in the front door,’ I said. ‘Remember how Jade came here?’

Jennifer’s face was unreadable.

‘Right,’ John said briskly, ‘we only have a limited time, let’s have you doing this. Adding energy. Focus on the three dan tian. You will need to lift the energy and raise all three of them at the same time. That will raise the rest of you. You need to be moving already, with good momentum, otherwise you won’t be able to pull it off.’

‘Will I injure myself if I fail?’ I said.

He understood; I wasn’t talking about hitting the ground. ‘If you fail spectacularly you may explode,’ he said cheerfully, and Jennifer gasped. ‘But I don’t think you are that much of a novice. You have good control. You should be able to pull it off. If you lose control of the energy centres, then just let go and fall off, and recentre them. Try to run up the wall, using the energy centres to pull you. Got it?’

I nodded. I faced the wall and concentrated. This was extremely difficult. I needed to have enough physical momentum and focus on moving the energy centres at the same time.

‘Try running halfway up and then letting go,’ John said. ‘We really need to find a place in Hong Kong where the Disciples can practise these skills. There’s not a single place I can think of where we can do it.’

‘Field trips to Guangzhou,’ I said, still concentrating.

‘Good idea,’ he said. ‘Getting there?’

I nodded. I just about had it. I focused. I went very still as I concentrated.

Then I launched myself at the wall as fast as I could. My feet hit the wall very hard. I used the momentum to push me the first few steps, then grabbed my energy centres and lifted them.

‘Evenly,’ John called, and I heard him, but he didn’t need to tell me. If I did it unevenly I would become unbalanced and lose control of my energy. All three types. The results could be disastrous if they all moved around too much at once.

The energy centres moved and lifted me from the inside out. It was spectacularly euphoric; I was carried from the inside by my own energy. I managed a couple more steps up the wall, lifted by the energy.

The energy began to get away from me, so I immediately dropped it. I let go of all the energy centres, centred the energy, and fell off the wall. The ground spun to meet me. Jade caught me in mid-air.

‘Well done, my Lady,’ Jade said quietly as she tipped me back onto my feet.

‘Thanks, Jade.’

John shrugged. ‘You have it. You just need to practise the skill now. See if you can have yourself on the roof before Gold’s charm wears off.’ He returned to the table. ‘Come and sit and watch, Leonard, Jennifer. This should be fun.’

‘Would you like a beer, my Lord?’ Leonard said.

‘Off the hard stuff right now, Leonard, but if you have some tea that would be tremendous,’ John said, falling into a very English accent.

‘You sound like my ring,’ I said as I leaned forward and concentrated on the wall, readying myself.

‘Heaven forbid,’ John said.

‘Ewe wan may tah sun Strine?’ the stone said.

Both Jennifer and I laughed.

‘I do not sound like that,’ I huffed.

‘Who said that anyway?’ Jennifer was still giggling. ‘That was the worst fake Australian accent I’ve heard in ages, and you definitely find some here in England.’

‘You will be in serious trouble with the Grandmother of All the Rocks if she hears you sound like that, Dad,’ Gold said.

I gestured behind me without turning. ‘I’m busy. Explain for them.’ I concentrated on the wall. Then I stopped and straightened. ‘Who’s the Grandmother of All the Rocks?’ I understood. ‘Uluru. Of course.’ I readied myself and concentrated.

‘Remember the stone I put on the table, then Leo put on the grass?’ John said as I focused on the wall and ignored them.

‘Emma said it was your lawyer in Hong Kong,’ Jennifer said.

I launched myself at the wall. I took three huge strides, then lifted myself with the energy. I managed another four strides up the house before I lost it. Jade plucked me out of the air and lowered me gently.

I concentrated on centring the energy.

‘Good,’ John called. ‘You should be on the roof next one.’ His voice went quieter. ‘Anyway, the stone in the ring woke up, and it’s been sending Emma berserk with its cryptic comments since then. And it has an English accent that drives her nuts.’ His voice changed slightly. ‘Couldn’t have thought of a better gift.’

He would definitely keep. When I was able to touch him again, I really would beat the living crap out of him. I faced the wall and concentrated.

I launched myself at the wall, took three strides up, and used the energy to lift me. I managed a few more strides and felt a shot of delight: I had it. The energy moved evenly through me and I was still going up the wall. I heard yelling but ignored it, I was concentrating too hard. As I passed one of the windows I glanced in and saw a demon materialise in the room. Simone and Michael had put Andrew behind them and stood ready to face it.

‘Jade, come and get me!’ I screamed as I allowed myself to drop off the wall. ‘Demon! In the room with the children! For God’s sake, get up there!’ I yelled down to John and Leo, but they were already inside the house.

Jade flew up and caught me. ‘That window,’ I said, and she nodded and carried me to it. She flipped me out of her arms through the window and I raced towards the demon. Jade flew in the window behind me.

Simone, Andrew and Michael faced it with their backs to me. Michael had pushed Simone behind him as well as Andrew, and stood ready.

‘Let me handle it,’ I said to Michael as I rushed past him. I stopped and studied the demon. It was a small red humanoid in True Form, about level fifteen.

I generated a ball of chi and blew it up. The door flew open just as it exploded and poor Leo was covered with black stuff.

John was behind him. He spun and raced straight back out, his feet thumping on the landing. Leo stood motionless in the doorway.

‘There’s more coming. They’re downstairs, Emma,’ Simone said breathlessly. She froze, her eyes wide. ‘Everywhere.’

‘Leo.’ Jade gestured with one gold-taloned claw. ‘Come with me, I’ll clean you up. We’ll take them on downstairs.’ She dashed past us through the door and Leo followed.

‘Leo,’ I called, and he turned back. ‘I’ll make a stand here with the children.’ My voice changed as my throat filled. ‘For God’s sake, don’t let them hurt my sister or her family.’

Leo nodded then charged down the hallway.