by Kylie Chan
He pulled back, smiled at me and his eyes wrinkled up. ‘You have to breathe sometime, Emma.’
‘No, I don’t,’ I said, and I kissed him again. He loosened his hold on me so I slid down him to touch the floor, but we didn’t let go of each other.
He looked into my eyes, his own eyes intense. This woman next to me is Nu Wa. You need to show her a great deal of respect.
I quickly fell to one knee in front of Nu Wa and bowed my head. ‘I thank you for your generous hospitality in our time of need, my Lady.’
She took my hand and raised me. ‘You are more than welcome, Dark Lady.’
I smiled up into John’s face but his severe expression didn’t change.
I know what you’re thinking, because I’m thinking the same thing. Yes, this is a honeymoon suite, but no, we can’t do anything. This is Nu Wa’s palace and we must show the lady proper respect. She would not like it. What’s the expression? Not under my roof. So no more kissing in front of her; that spontaneous demonstration was amusing but if we continue she’ll become extremely upset with us. He smiled slightly. Decorum, my Lady, hard as it is. Treat her like your elderly and old-fashioned grandmother.
I lost my balance and stumbled backwards. He caught me, lifted me easily and carried me gently back to the bed. ‘You’re very weak. You need to rest. All of you nearly died.’
‘The Tiger and Leo did die,’ Simone said. ‘Daddy and Kwan Yin were too late.’
The bed was gently spinning, the top of the canopy whirling above me, and I watched it with interest until it went dark.
I had a moment of disorientation as I saw the silk curtains, then remembered where I was and pulled myself upright. I took a huge drink from the glass beside the table and immediately felt better. My own jeans, T-shirt and my underwear — or very good copies of them all, down to the holes — were on the chair next to the bed.
Simone tapped on the door. ‘Can I come in?’
‘Can you wait till I’m dressed?’ I said.
‘Might be better if I come in and talk before you go anywhere, if you don’t mind.’
‘Come on in then,’ I said.
She sat on the chair, moving the clothes onto the bed out of the way. ‘Daddy and Nu Wa are talking about your case. He asked me to warn you about a few things before you come out.’
I settled more comfortably onto the bed. ‘Go right ahead.’
‘First, don’t kill any insect demons. All her servants are insects.’
I stared at her. ‘Her servants are insect demons?’
‘She says they’re the only things that could make it up this high. Second, Daddy asks if you remember his warning from before.’
‘I do.’
‘Okay. Phew, I don’t have to tell you that — you have no idea what a relief that is. Third, take very special care with drinking this stuff she gives you; it’s horribly addictive.’
I picked up the empty glass and studied it. ‘It’s some sort of drug?’
‘No. Not a drug, not alcohol; it’s addictive because it’s just so good. Daddy says, if you can, choose to drink water or tea instead.’
‘I understand. What’s she like?’
‘She’s absolutely lovely. Sad and lonely though. Apparently, last night was the first time she’s left her pavilion and come into her palace since the Shang/Zhou wars. Can you tell me the story? Daddy says to ask you, because you’re better at this sort of thing than he is.’
‘What sort of thing?’
‘Storytelling.’
‘Oh, I see.’ I put the story together in my head. ‘The Shang king came to Nu Wa’s palace, saw her, was mesmerised by her beauty and wrote a pornographic poem about what a hottie she was on the wall of her temple. She got mightily pissed with him and sent one of her servants, a fox spirit called Daji, to take over his favourite concubine and distract him into neglecting his kingdom. Instead of running the country, he spent all his time with her making out, and anyone who drew his attention to this was chained to a hollow pillar of iron with a fire lit inside it and tortured to death.’
Simone winced.
‘A few brave generals who didn’t agree with this went off, raised an army and brought him down, but not before the entire empire was torn apart by civil war.’
‘That explains everything,’ she said. ‘Thanks.’
‘You’re welcome. Anything else?’
‘No, just come on out when you’re ready.’
‘Any special protocols?’
‘Daddy says just treat her like a grandmother.’
I bent to speak softly to her. ‘Where’s the bathroom?’
‘Out the door, turn left, first on the right,’ she said. ‘There’s a little pile of toiletries and stuff on the long bench for you. Go for your life.’
‘You have no idea how much I need to.’ I waved her away. ‘Out.’
I stepped out of the bathroom, unsure of where to go. The hallway had a polished dark wooden floor, and the walls were wood panelling along the bottom with lighter plaster on the top half bordered by more dark wood — just like a traditional Chinese house. A couple of doors stood further along the corridor; probably other guest rooms. The bathroom’s window was frosted so I hadn’t been able see out, but the traditional red silk lanterns hanging from the ceiling weren’t illuminated and I assumed it must be daytime.
A cockroach demon, about a metre long with a thick brown carapace, came down the hallway towards me and stopped, its feelers moving uncertainly.
‘Can you tell me the way to the Lady Nu Wa?’ I said.
It spun on its six legs and scurried back the way it had come. I sighed. Great, this place could be huge and I had to find my own way.
The cockroach stopped at the end of the corridor, turned back to see me and waved its feelers. Oh.
‘Sorry, I’m coming,’ I said, and followed it.
The corridor ended in a pair of double doors. The cockroach raised itself on its four hindmost legs and used the front two to open the doors for me, then stood back to one side to let me through.
‘Thank you,’ I said.
I walked through the doors and stopped. I was standing on bare, snowy ground, with a simple wooden pavilion ahead of me in the darkness, light shining from its windows. John, Nu Wa and Simone were sitting on cushions on the pavilion floor, and John gestured for me to join them. I walked across the snow, shivering as a blast of impossibly cold air hit me. The sky was completely black and the stars blazed bright without twinkling; no atmosphere up there. A ring of black, jagged mountain peaks circled the snow-filled valley.
I entered the pavilion to find the temperature only a few degrees warmer. The pavilion was small, about three metres by four, and had tatami-style woven rice mats on the floor along with cushions to sit on. There was a low coffee table set with tea things, and a large statue of the Buddha with incense burning in front of it.
I fell to one knee in front of Nu Wa and bowed my head. ‘My Lady. I thank you for the comfort of your hospitality and the warmth of your home. Your care has eased my body and raised my spirit.’
Nu Wa smiled a grandmotherly smile and raised one hand, gesturing for me to approach. I went to her and she took my hand.
‘Move back, Simone,’ John said, and Simone spun on her cushion out of the way.
‘Why does she need to make room?’ I said, and was flattened. I hit the floor hard, only just managing to fall correctly and not injure my head. A cold, dark emptiness rushed through me like a flood of water, sweeping my consciousness with it. I drowned, my awareness submerged, tossed and beaten, with nothing to cling to.
The rushing water stopped and I took a huge breath, then gasped a few times.
Nu Wa took my other hand, holding both. ‘I am sorry, child, I did not expect my examination to have such an effect on you. If you were Shen, demon or human, that would not have happened.’
‘I’m not any of them?’ I said.
‘Nothing I have seen before,’ she said.
I str
uggled to sit upright, nodded to Nu Wa and she released me.
‘John, you knew that would happen. You told Simone to move back,’ I said.
‘I suspected,’ he said. ‘Drink some tea, and take some deep breaths. Ground and centre, cycle your energy.’
I did as he said, taking a few sips of tea and centring the energy at the same time.
‘Oh, you are well trained, the Dark Lord has taught you well,’ Nu Wa said. She touched my arm. ‘Again, I apologise. I did not expect such a reaction.’
‘Do you know why that happened?’ John said.
‘No.’ Nu Wa kept her hand on my arm and her eyes unfocused. ‘This one is full of riddles! So many layers, so much buried. So much potential for preservation and for destruction, for love and hate, and so much that isn’t even there.’ Her voice became fierce and full of command. ‘Jade Building Block.’
‘I am here to serve, my Lady,’ the stone said, full of deference.
‘Wow,’ Simone said softly.
‘What say you?’ Nu Wa asked the stone.
‘What you have said yourself already, Goddess. Layers, some buried, and love, and hate, and much of it not even there. And power, my Lady, dark power that roils at the heart of her. Dark, destructive power that she keeps firmly in check.’
Nu Wa came back. ‘Go to the home of your ancestors,’ she told me. ‘Follow your family’s history back to whence they came. That is the key.’
‘My dad’s doing that right now,’ I said.
She nodded once. ‘Good.’
‘She has been filled with demon essence by a Prince of Demons,’ John said.
‘Nobody should be able to do that,’ Nu Wa said. ‘Nobody should have that done to them. And nobody should survive having that done to them.’
‘I was the only one who survived it,’ I said.
‘Find your ancestors,’ Nu Wa said. ‘Your heritage betrays you.’
Simone inhaled sharply.
‘Can you clear it, Honoured Lady?’ I said.
‘No,’ Nu Wa said. ‘I suspect that the Dark Lord was aware of this, and brought you anyway in the hope that even if I could not clear it I could identify what you are.’
‘And you can do neither,’ I said. I dropped my head. ‘I killed two of my friends and nearly killed a third coming up here for nothing.’
‘I’m sure Nu Wa has tried her best, Emma,’ John began.
‘No, I don’t mean it like that,’ I said, interrupting. ‘I don’t blame you, my Lady. I blame myself for the vanity of forcing others to make this journey when there was very little chance of a positive outcome. I’ve made them suffer for nothing.’
‘It was my idea, Emma,’ John said softly.
‘He’s right. Do not blame yourself; blame the silly turtle for this extremely bad idea,’ Nu Wa said with amusement. ‘If you wish to clear this demon essence from you, there are two paths you may take. First, talk to the Three Pure Ones. If they cannot help, then talk to the King of the Demons. I know he is a last resort, but it is within his power to aid you in this. If one more demon explodes on you, it will be the end.’
‘I do not negotiate with demons,’ I said.
‘Why does she sound so much like Daddy sometimes?’ Simone said.
‘It is up to your father to explain his demonic side to you, little one,’ Nu Wa said, ‘and how that makes it possible for him to possess the bodies of others.’
‘He’s possessed someone?’ Simone said.
‘Me,’ I said.
‘It won’t happen again. I am so sorry, Emma,’ John said. ‘You were losing it and the Turtle just wanted to help. I think, more than anything, I was desperate to find my Serpent and you just happened to be there.’
‘When did this happen?’ Simone said.
‘A couple of days ago in the Western Palace,’ I said.
‘Just how much demon are you, Xuan Wu?’ Simone said fiercely.
John stared at her, his face rigid and his dark eyes full of conflict.
‘That much?’ she said.
He nodded once sharply.
‘I’m half demon?’
John gestured towards me. ‘Do you love Emma?’
Simone glanced at me, then back at her father. ‘Like my own mother.’
‘She is more than half demon.’
‘But she controls it …’ Simone stopped and looked down. ‘I see.’ She looked back up at him. ‘What if I lose control?’
‘There is no control for you to lose,’ he said. ‘I fathered you as Shen, not demon.’
‘So I’m half-Shen, not half-demon at all,’ she said.
He hesitated, then said, ‘You have a heritage, just as Emma does. Yours is known, hers is not. If you chose, Simone, you could take your place in Hell amongst the mightiest of the demon horde. You could, if you wished, be Queen.’
‘Not right now; you took my yin.’
‘Even with your yin locked, you could still destroy the King.’ He swept his hand towards us. ‘Both of you could destroy him: Simone with your shen; Emma with your Destroyer. Either of you could be Queen.’
‘Like either of us would want that,’ I said.
He leaned back and put his hands on his knees. ‘Which is why I love you both.’
‘Were you ever Demon King?’ Simone said.
‘No,’ John said. ‘I am too much a force of chaos to hunger for power. Even now I have no wish to rule, but the Celestial chooses me because I am skilled.’
‘And the Celestial feels your loss,’ I said. ‘The demons move against us all the more, the spirits leak from the gates of Hell, and evil walks the world because its greatest protector destroyed himself for the love of a woman.’
He nodded, solemn.
‘He should join me in penitence,’ Nu Wa said.
‘You have atoned,’ John said. ‘Do not continue to punish yourself, Lady. It was an aeon ago and long forgotten. Remember some of the evil that I am responsible for; the Celestial will forgive and welcome you back, just as it has me.’
‘I do not seek the Celestial’s forgiveness,’ Nu Wa said sadly. ‘I seek my own. And it is not yet forthcoming.’ She raised both hands, palms up. ‘Now return to the palace and say your farewells, and I will send you back down to the Earthly Plane no wiser than you are now, with my apologies.’
Back inside the palace, Simone, John and I shared a vegetarian meal prepared and served by cockroaches and weevils. Nu Wa had refused to join us and stayed in her pavilion.
‘Can’t we just stay here?’ Simone said. ‘All three of us together, a family?’
‘She wouldn’t let us, even if that was what we truly wished,’ John said. ‘She has given us this time to share and talk and be a family as a gift.’
I touched his arm. ‘The best gift in the world.’
He smiled back, took my hand and held it tight.
‘So what next, Emma?’ Simone said.
‘We have a day, then we’re Geek hunting,’ I said.
‘Geek?’ John said.
Simone concentrated on him and they shared the information.
‘God, I wish I could do that,’ I said softly.
‘You will be able to eventually,’ Simone said. ‘It’s just a skill.’
They snapped out of it, and John nodded. ‘These demons need to be taken down.’ He looked from Simone to me. ‘But you should take some time and rest before facing them.’
‘We can’t afford to,’ I said, running my hands through my hair and retying my ponytail. ‘He’s one step ahead of us. Every time we hit a nest, he’s already cleared it out and set a bundle of lovely traps for us. Last one destroyed the car and killed all three stones.’
‘When are the stones back?’ John said.
‘Should be today, if my watch is right,’ I said.
He dropped his head. ‘I wish I could be there to help you. With me there, they would not be able to stand against us.’
Simone leaned over the table and held his arm. ‘What’s happening with you? I’m just gett
ing glimpses.’ She choked on the words. ‘When will you be back, Daddy?’
He raised his head to see into her eyes, his own full of misery. She took a deep, shuddering breath and pulled back. ‘I see.’
‘What?’ I said.
Simone glanced at me, her eyes full of tears. ‘He has no idea. He’s in little pieces all over the place, a scattered consciousness, brought together for a short time by the power of the Goddess.’ She looked from him to me. ‘And it hurts, Emma. It hurts him so much!’ She broke down and ran out of the room.
‘And I did this,’ I said.
‘I did it to myself,’ he said. He took my hand again and held it tight. ‘Just remember my promise to you: I will find you.’
‘You shouldn’t have to find me! I’ll always be here waiting for you. Does that mean I’ll be lost?’
He released my hand, leaned on the table and put his hand on his forehead.
‘I see,’ I said. I took a deep breath and sat up straighter. ‘Well, whatever happens, we know how it ends, so we just have to survive until we get there.’
He didn’t reply and I was back at home in my room.
I was about halfway around the Lugard Road Peak walk a couple of hours later when my phone rang in my pocket. For a moment I considered not answering it, but too many people relied on me. I flipped it open. ‘Emma.’
It was Chang. ‘Red box, ma’am. They said if one appears you have to be informed immediately.’
I wanted to punch something. ‘Dammit!’
‘Ma’am?’
I took a deep breath. ‘Sorry, Chang. Bring it up to the Peak for me, please. I’ll look at it in the apartment.’
‘Uh …’ He hesitated. ‘What is it, ma’am? Why is it so important?’
‘It’s an edict from the Jade Emperor.’
He inhaled sharply. ‘Seriously?’
‘Yes. That’s why I have to be informed immediately. It’ll be either from His JEness himself or one of the other Real Higher-Ups.’
‘His JEness? Does he know you call him that, ma’am?’
‘Probably. Anything else?’
‘No, ma’am. Everything here is reasonably under control. About ten people want to talk to you about assorted non-urgent things but I told them to wait until tomorrow.’