by Kylie Chan
Leo’s expression didn’t shift. ‘When you get mad, you are extremely scary.’
I glared at him, then I couldn’t help it. I collapsed over my knees, laughing. The four-thousand-year-old God of the Arts of War was scared of me!
‘You are more and more scary every day.’
When I returned to the Peak I stormed straight into Mr Chen’s office without knocking. I leaned on the mess on his desk and glowered at him.
‘Don’t tell me—you were attacked,’ he said.
‘No,’ I said, ‘I was followed. Why didn’t you tell me?’
He just watched me silently.
‘You are scared of me.’
He smiled slightly.
‘You’re a god, John,’ I said, exasperated. ‘What the hell can I possibly do that you could be so scared of?’ He didn’t say a word. I spun and opened the door. ‘You could leave us,’ he said softly as I went out.
The next day at noon I didn’t see Jade arrive; it was as if she had been there all the time. She smiled and quickly embraced me. ‘Where would you like to go for lunch?’
‘How about yum cha?’ I said. ‘I haven’t had any in a long time. Mr Chen doesn’t go; nothing vegetarian. Are you vegetarian?’
‘Absolutely not,’ she said. ‘I know a good place nearby, excellent yum cha. Come with me.’
After lunch we dodged through the taxis and cars and went into the Landmark.
‘I bought that gold dress here,’ I said. ‘It cost a fortune. Since we’re doing these charity things all the time now, having something more comfortable would be good.’
Jade stopped and looked at me. ‘You go out with him all the time?’
I stopped as well. It had never occurred to me that she might be jealous. ‘As friends. That’s all.’
‘Good.’
She walked to the escalators and we rode them past the enormous Christmas tree that had been set up in the atrium.
‘What do you do for Christmas?’ I said. ‘What does Mr Chen do?’
‘Christmas?’ Jade looked at me blankly. ‘Christmas is about the same time as Winter Solstice, so we get together with family. But for Christmas?’ She shook her head as we stepped off the escalator at the top. ‘No. Nothing.’
‘It’s a big thing in Australia. It’s different, because it’s in the middle of summer, but we have a lot of traditions.’
‘It is a big festival?’
That stopped me dead. I’d never thought of Christmas as a festival. ‘I guess you’re right. It would be fun to share it with you.’
‘You are very generous, Emma—willing to share your family time with me.’
‘We’re all family. You, Gold, Mr Chen, Monica, Simone, Leo, everybody. We’re all family.’
She took my hand and squeezed it. ‘You’re right.’
She stopped in front of a tiny tailor’s shop with a couple of faded mannequins wearing tuxedos in the window. ‘This is it.’
She led me inside. The shop had bolts of cloth along the walls and a desk against the back corner. A door next to the desk opened and a tiny wizened old Chinese man came out. He grinned broadly and approached us. ‘Princess Jade. Welcome.’
‘Princess?’ I said, glancing at Jade.
She smiled and waved him down. ‘I am very low in precedence, Mr Li. Just Jade.’ ‘How is your father?’
‘My father is well, thank you.’ Jade touched my arm. ‘This is my friend, Emma. Cheongsam, please.’
‘May I have your hand, please, miss?’
I held my hand out and Mr Li took it. He turned it over so that it was palm up and stroked it with the other hand. He didn’t stop grinning at me the entire time. It began to feel creepy, him holding my hand like that.
‘No need, Mr Li, Emma is human,’ Jade said. ‘The Dark Lord’s human nanny.’
‘I see,’ Mr Li said, the grin not shifting. ‘But she is trained. She has been trained by the Dark Lord himself.’ He gave me my hand back and gestured towards the back of the shop.
‘That’s right, she asked to learn,’ Jade said, smiling sideways at me.
‘Excellent,’ Mr Li said, grinning over his shoulder. ‘This way.’
He led us through the door at the back of the shop and I stopped dead.
We were in an enormous factory room. The far wall was so far away it was almost invisible. Rows and rows of young women worked on old-fashioned industrial sewing machines. Sunlight streamed in from windows set high on the walls. Outside, it had been a grey and miserable day.
‘Jade, this room is bigger than the whole shopping centre. Where the hell are we?’
‘This is the back room,’ Jade said. ‘Come. The silk is at the end.’
Some of the girls smiled up at us as we passed them. When we reached the far wall Mr Li sat us at a large high work table covered with books of fabric. He gestured towards the bolts of silk covering the entire wall behind us. ‘I will let you take your time and choose. Tea?’
‘Bo lei,’ Jade said. ‘We just had yum cha.’
Mr Li barked orders to the staff in Cantonese.
Jade sat next to me and pulled the fabric books closer. There must have been at least twenty of them.
‘God, there are so many,’ I said, overwhelmed.
‘No, it’s easy,’ Jade said. She flipped one of the books open. ‘This is embossed, not embroidered. Longevity.’ She studied me. ‘Do you know what that is?’
I shook my head, flipping through the pages of different-coloured silk, all embossed with stylised circular patterns.
‘Each pattern is a character for longevity.’ She pulled another book out and flipped it open. ‘Flower brocade.’ Another. ‘Dragons.’ She held the book up at the green dragon brocade. ‘I like this. I may have one made as well.’
‘Feel free to take a sample if you wish to make your own, Princess,’ Mr Li said as he passed behind us. ‘You know you do not require my services.’
‘Are you sure?’
Mr Li stopped and gestured towards the rows of busy young women. ‘I have quite enough work as it is.’
‘Is the Dark Lord’s suit finished?’
Mr Li’s face lit up. ‘Of course. I forgot. Let me fetch it for you.’ He chuckled. ‘Who would have thought of such a thing. The Dark Lord Xuan Wu himself requiring the services of a tailor. I must have a plaque made.’
‘You should see what he wears at home,’ I said, studying the silk in front of me.
‘He is the scruffiest Immortal on any plane,’ Jade said, and we giggled together.
Mr Li tutted and raced away to fetch the suit.
Jade turned to look at me. ‘We should choose a colour that suits your complexion first, and then you can select the design. You have beautiful white skin, Emma, what do you use to whiten it?’
‘Whiten it?’
‘You know, make it a lighter colour.’ She smiled and touched my arm. ‘Of course. I forgot. You’re European.’
‘You forgot for a moment that I’m not Chinese?’ She nodded, still smiling.
I threw my arm around her shoulder and gave her a quick friendly squeeze, making her smile widen. ‘I am absolutely delighted. I’ll take it as a compliment. Now…’ I flipped through the book. ‘How about this white silk? It’s beautiful.’
Jade’s face went strange.
‘Oh, of course, white is for funerals.’
‘Tai chi chuan uniform,’ Mr Li said as he charged past. ‘Suit coming.’
‘He is quite correct.’ Jade raised her voice. ‘And the suit had better hurry, we are nearly ready to choose.’ She lifted a book of silk and flipped it in front of me. ‘Dark blue suits you. Pink is lovely.’ She raised another book and opened it. ‘This.’
I looked down. She held a sample of black silk with large golden chrysanthemums against me. ‘The gold flowers bring out the highlights in your hair.’
‘And the black brings up her pale complexion.’ Mr Li dropped a linen bag onto the table next to us. ‘Lord Xuan’s suit.’ He nodded at the book of silk. ‘Lo
rd Xuan’s colour. His livery. Most fitting.’
I hesitated.
‘Oh, black is for mourning in the West,’ Jade said, pulling the book away.
‘No, we wear it all the time anyway,’ I said. She put it against me again. ‘It really is perfect.’
Mr Li turned and barked some orders in Cantonese, and a whole bolt of the black silk floated off the shelves towards me. I backed away; the bolt was easily big enough to crush me
‘Stay still, it won’t hurt you, I have it,’ Mr Li said. He guided the silk to wrap itself around me, then waved one hand. A mirror appeared, floating next to the work table. It had no frame; it was as if the air itself was suddenly reflective.
‘Look, Emma,’ Jade said, and I turned to see.
They were right. The black silk suited me perfectly. The golden chrysanthemums shimmered against me, making my hair glow.
But it was Xuan Wu’s…John’s colour. I realised then, there was nothing I wanted more in the world than to stand side by side with him, wearing the black silk. Both of us in black. And have him smile down at me.
I wanted it so much it hurt.
‘I’ll have blue embroidered with small flowers, and pink embossed longevity,’ I said, pulling the black silk away. The silk unwrapped and floated from me.
‘You should take the black, it’s perfect,’ Mr Li said.
‘No. No black.’
‘Are you sure, Emma?’ Jade said, disappointed. I sat at the work table and opened the books I’d chosen. ‘This. And this. No black.’
‘The black is lovely on you,’ Jade said. ‘Maybe next time.’
‘Would you like a lift home, Emma?’ Jade said as we walked back through Central.
‘Leo is collecting me from Theatre Lane,’ I said. ‘I didn’t know you had a car.’
‘I don’t, I can’t even drive.’ Jade stopped at one of the designer shopfronts. ‘That jacket is beautiful.’
‘Oh my God, that’s real fur!’
‘The shoes are beautiful too.’
‘Animals had to die for that coat, Jade.’
Her eyes widened. ‘I never thought of it like that. Of course. And the shoes are snakeskin.’ She shook her head. ‘I didn’t even think of it.’
‘Some of my other Chinese friends are like that too,’ I said. ‘They didn’t connect the leopard-skin coat that pop star wore at those awards with—’
‘I saw that,’ Jade said. ‘Stunning.’
‘—with the fact that the pop star was wearing a dead protected animal. That was so wrong.’
‘You Westerners eat your pre-packaged cuts of meat, all clean and tidy, without thinking of the dead animal behind them.’
‘I suppose you’re right.’
‘It’s a cultural thing.’
‘I guess. Still like the coat?’
‘I adore it, but I wouldn’t buy it now.’ Her eyes turned inwards. ‘Leo is at Theatre Lane to collect you.’ My mobile phone rang. ‘How do you do that?’ ‘Do what?’
I shook my head and flipped my phone open. It was Leo.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Ipulled away from the computer and stretched. I rose and went into my bedroom to look out the window. The low grey clouds roiled across the sky; it was probably only about eight degrees outside. It never dropped below freezing in Hong Kong, but in mid-January the wind could become bitter. Although Hong Kong was nearly in the tropics, sometimes it was colder than my home in southern Queensland. There was a tap on the door. ‘Emma?’ I opened it and let Mr Chen in. His black cotton pants seemed to be more shredded every time he wore them.
He took a seat on the couch. I leaned on the desk next to my computer.
‘You spend a lot of your free time in front of your computer,’ he said. I shrugged.
‘The weather’s going to be fine, clear and quite warm tomorrow. I’ll take Simone for a hack around the hills at the club. We’ll be longer than we usually are. Do you still want to come?’
I glanced at the grey cloudy day outside my window. He smiled slightly.
I sat on the couch next to him. ‘Sure.’
He moved a short distance away from me on the couch. ‘Good.’
‘Why do you do that?’ ‘What?’
I gestured towards him. ‘You never want to be too close to me.’ I shifted closer and he quickly stood and went to the door.
‘Is it that unpleasant being close to me?’
He hesitated with his hand on the doorknob. Then he shook his head. ‘The problem is exactly the opposite.’ He opened the door. ‘Early tomorrow, Emma.’ He went out and closed the door.
I sighed loudly and returned to the computer. His freaking choice. I changed my mind, threw myself out of my chair and stomped into the training room to hit something for a while.
Of course he was right. The breeze had shifted and it was warm and mild as the sunshine streamed through the bauhinia trees on either side of the trail.
After half an hour of riding I broke the silence. ‘It’s nearly six months since we went to Paris, Mr Chen. We need to go back.’
He pushed Star to walk slightly ahead of me.
‘I wanna go to the Science Museum!’ Simone called at his back.
‘You need to see Ms Kwan,’ I said.
He ignored us. Simone and I shared an exasperated glance and trotted our horses to catch up.
Mr Chen stopped his horse. His eyes turned inwards and his face went rigid. Star danced sideways, but he paid no attention.
‘What, Daddy?’ Simone said.
He raised his hand to hush her.
He listened for a while, then snapped back to the here. He held Star with his knees and the horse stopped, his ears flicking backwards and forwards. Mr Chen ripped his mobile phone out of his pocket and quickly dialled.
‘I need you here now,’ he said. ‘I don’t care if you have to steal a car or hijack a taxi. Nobody can carry you, you’ll have to make your own way here, but I need you here within twenty minutes. I’ll meet you outside the stables.’ He closed the phone and grimaced.
‘Are you okay?’ I said, but he raised his hand again. He listened for a long time, his face becoming more and more intense.
He snapped back and grabbed Simone’s reins. ‘We need to go back to the stables right away.’
He turned Star and trotted along the path, then slowed to a walk because Simone’s pony couldn’t keep up with Star’s long strides.
‘What happened?’ I said.
‘My Mountain is under attack.’
‘How bad?’
‘Very bad. An army of demons. My Dark Disciples are holding them off, but it is an extremely large force and they need me there.’
‘Can you go? Without losing your human form?’
He hesitated, still leading Simone’s pony. He didn’t look at me. ‘I hope so, Emma.’
‘Go now,’ I said. ‘I’ll mind Simone.’
He turned but didn’t really see me. ‘No. This may be a diversion so they can grab Simone. I need to see her safely with Leo before I go.’
I nodded, understanding. If anything really big came after us I didn’t have the skill to hold it off. We needed Leo.
When we returned to the stables the grooms for Simone and me were already waiting. Mr Chen threw himself off Star and cast around; his groom was nowhere to be seen. He hissed with frustration and gently led the horse into its stall. Then he took us out to wait at the entrance to the stables.
His eyes unfocused again. He listened for a long time. ‘They’ve broken through the wall. My Palace is on fire,’ he whispered, stricken. ‘They are desecrating my halls and pavilions. They need me there now to make some rain to put out the fires.’ He refocused. ‘Where the hell is Leo?’
‘There he is, Daddy!’ Simone shouted, and ran to Leo who was charging down the drive towards us.
Mr Chen turned to go, but I stopped him with a hand on his arm. ‘John.’
He hesitated.
‘John. This could be goodbye.’ I swallo
wed. ‘I just want to say…’ I struggled to find the words. ‘I just wanted to say…’
He took my hands, raised them to his face and kissed them. He gazed into my eyes, full of pain. ‘You don’t need to say anything. I know.’ He released my hands and ran into the stables.
Leo approached me with Simone on his hip, carrying her easily.
‘—and Daddy said there’s a lot of demons up there and he’s going there now and we have to stay here and we’ll be just fine with you, Leo,’ Simone finished without taking a breath.
‘Let’s get her home and safe, Emma,’ Leo said grimly. ‘How bad is it?’
We turned and walked back up the drive towards the car. ‘Very bad.’
‘Damn.’ We reached the car and he unlocked it with the remote. He gently dropped Simone into the back seat. ‘This may be it, Emma.’
‘I know,’ I said softly. I buckled Simone in and Leo pulled himself into the driver’s seat.
‘It? What, Leo?’ Simone said. ‘Lunchtime.’
‘Oh, yeah. Daddy will be hungry after killing all the demons. We should make him some tea. I wonder if he’d like some bean curd? Or some noodles?’
‘I’m sure he would,’ Leo said. He choked and tried to turn it into a cough.
When we arrived home Leo pulled down Dark Heavens, the sword in the hallway. He turned to me and spoke softly. ‘Emma, take off now. They don’t want you, they want her. Get yourself out of this now; as long as you’re not here you’ll be completely safe.’
‘Don’t be ridiculous.’
‘Go, Emma.’
I moved closer and glared up into his face. ‘No! I’m staying here with Simone!’
He bent and studied me carefully. ‘Are you sure?’
‘Of course I’m sure!’ I took Simone’s hand. ‘Where’s the safest place?’
Leo shook his head. ‘You are amazingly stupid sometimes.’
‘I know. Where?’
‘Training room. Monica!’
Monica came out of the kitchen wiping her hands on a towel. She saw the sword in Leo’s hand and her eyes widened.
‘Monica,’ Leo said, ‘Mr Chen won’t be needing you for the rest of the day. Take the afternoon off.’ He hesitated, then spoke with force. ‘Out.’