The room fell silent. Sienna was reeling at this information. Surely this must mean that Gege and her mother had been together when they disappeared. Somehow it was comforting to think her mum hadn’t been alone.
Rufus was the first one to break the silence. ‘Why don’t you look in the box? There might be something you’ve missed, given this new information? Or the boy might spot something?’
Sienna looked down at her hands. She realized she hadn’t let go of the tin box since she’d run out of the flat. Wordlessly she opened the box and laid the contents on the floor. The three of them looked at Sienna’s treasures. She showed Feng the picture of the driver in the brown car. ‘Is that your brother?’
He nodded, his eyes dampening. ‘That’s him, that’s Gege.’
Rufus peered at the picture in Feng’s hands. ‘And that’s Ling in the back! I should have known,’ he growled crossly. ‘First this woman is swanning around Henan with your mother, and now she’s here, keeping an eye on you! That’s no coincidence.’
Sienna’s mum must have trusted Ling, told her about Sienna and her dad, about the flat in Shanghai. She felt a stab of anger at Ling’s betrayal.
Taking a deep breath, she asked, ‘Feng, do you think Gege is still alive?’
Feng glanced at the door, then turned to face Sienna. He looked defiant. ‘I know he’s alive. I’d feel it if he wasn’t, wouldn’t I? He’s my brother.’
Sienna’s head was swimming. Feng was right. Deep down, in spite of her dad and the counsellor and everyone else telling her to accept her mother’s death and move on, she’d never really felt that her mum was dead.
Busy with her own thoughts, she didn’t notice someone climbing quietly through the open window into the house. The new visitor had already made herself comfortable on the windowsill and was observing proceedings. With an air of disdain she washed her face with her dainty paws.
It was only when she heard the tinkling of a bell that Sienna looked up. There sat a pretty white cat, a little bell hanging from her blue collar. Sienna knew immediately who she was: Minka, her mother’s invisible friend.
6 Guaiwu – Monster
‘Rufus Archibald Henry. I might have known you’d be causing trouble again.’ The cat’s voice was deeper than Sienna had expected.
Sienna looked at Rufus. She heard him growl softly. ‘Minka Drusilba. It’s been a long time since I chased a cat up a tree.’
Minka blinked once and the tip of her tail twitched, just a little.
‘You two know each other?’ asked Sienna.
‘Yes, we do,’ said Rufus. ‘As a rule I have nothing to do with animals of her kind. In this case the contact couldn’t be avoided, though; we lived in the same house, so to speak.’
‘Oh, Rufus, I haven’t got time for your nonsense,’ Minka spat. She lowered herself gracefully from the windowsill and stalked across the room towards Sienna. She jumped on to the table. Rufus watched her suspiciously.
Feng was staring at Sienna. ‘More invisible animals?’ he asked.
The boy’s tone reminded Sienna of how her dad spoke about Rufus. She hoped Feng didn’t think she was making it up, or being silly. ‘Yes, just one more,’ she said, defensively.
The boy stared hard at Sienna, blinked, and dropped his eyes. He probably felt left out, Sienna thought, feeling sorry. He continued to search through the contents of Sienna’s box.
‘Who’s the boy?’ asked Minka, her ears pricking in Feng’s direction.
‘He’s Feng. He can’t see you or Rufus,’ Sienna explained.
‘Oh, I see.’ Minka yawned and washed her whiskers. She scrutinized Sienna. ‘Uncanny, the similarity – her eyes are the only thing you didn’t inherit. Do you know who I am, or has she kept me a secret?’
Sienna looked at the cat’s pale blue eyes. ‘You’re Minka. My mother told me about you. You were her cat when she was little. You’re invisible, like Rufus.’
Minka’s fur bristled slightly and her tail twitched. ‘What do you mean, “were”? I am your mother’s cat, even if your mother has decided to shut me out of her life. You humans are strange. As if friends could just dissolve into thin air!’
Sienna was about to respond, but Rufus was quicker. ‘Minka,’ he said. ‘You can’t blame Sienna for her mother’s mistakes. And seeing as you place so much value on old friendships … I take it you know what’s happened to Sienna’s mother?’
Minka bowed her head a little. ‘I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to offend anyone. It’s just a little hurtful. Anyway, Kate and I haven’t had any contact in such a long time – not my fault, naturally – and then suddenly about a week ago—’ The cat paused and began to lick her paws.
‘WHAT?’ cried Sienna. ‘What happened a week ago?’
‘Well,’ continued Minka, ‘I had the feeling that she was calling me, that she needed my help. And yet I can’t seem to find her. Strange, isn’t it?’ She looked at Sienna questioningly.
‘Well.’ Rufus cleared his throat. ‘I’m sorry to have to tell you this, but Sienna’s mother has disappeared without a trace. She was last seen months ago here in China, in Henan Province. To be honest, we don’t even know if she’s still alive.’
Sienna expected a reaction from Minka to this news. But Minka just lay down, her tail flicking. ‘Rufus, you nitwit, do you seriously think I wouldn’t know if she was dead? We special animals have a sixth sense – especially when it comes to our friends.’ She turned to Sienna. ‘Your mother is alive. Nevertheless, I think she’s in danger.’
A surge of hope and happiness rushed through Sienna, so strong she could barely breathe. ‘We’ve got to help her!’ she cried. ‘Where is she?’
‘What’s happening?’ Feng asked Sienna, pushing the photos and printouts aside. ‘Is my brother all right?’
‘I don’t know about your friend’s brother,’ said Minka. ‘Kate’s too weak to call me, and I can’t find her on my own. We have to work together. There’s no time to lose.’
Sienna sat down on the floor and rested her head on her hands. Was there really a chance of finding Mum?
‘What’s happening?’ Feng repeated quietly. ‘Are you OK?’
Sienna tried to explain, in a mixture of English and Mandarin.
He still looked a bit confused, but the boy clearly trusted Sienna … and believed her about the invisible animals, despite his misgivings. Sienna felt a rush of gratitude.
‘I’d love an invisible friend,’ Feng sighed. ‘I used to have dreams when I was much younger, that I had a little dragon. Xiaolong was his name …’ His smile faded. ‘He was my very best friend. But when my mother died and Gege and I lived on the streets, those dreams stopped.’
Sienna saw such sadness in Feng’s face as he spoke, but Rufus seemed unmoved. ‘We need a plan,’ the little spaniel said. ‘Sienna, perhaps we should try to contact your father and tell him about what Ling was up to with your mother’s jewellery?’
Sienna didn’t bother asking Rufus how he knew about the incident with the jewellery, when he hadn’t even been there! Invisible friends could be very mysterious … Pulling her mobile phone from her pocket, she dialled the only number in her contact list – Dad’s. Again, the same recorded message as she’d heard earlier in the flat. It was no good: she couldn’t get through.
Feng picked up a photograph from the pile on the floor. It showed a Chinese pagoda, painted in red and gold. ‘This is the Fragrant Mountain Temple. Our temple. This is where your mother worked, and where she met Gege.’
‘Oh! That’s where Kate called me from – I know it is.’ Minka said.
‘How do you know she called you from there?’ asked Sienna. ‘Could you be mistaken?’
‘You know how I always manage to find you when you need me the most? I can feel where you are,’ said Rufus.
‘Then why doesn’t Minka know exactly where my mother is now?’ Sienna cried.
‘Calm down, princess. Your mother and Minka hadn’t had any contact in a long time,’ Rufus explained.
Then he smirked. ‘Besides, cats naturally don’t have such a distinct sense of place as dogs.’
Minka hissed. ‘Nonsense. Anyway, enough talking. It’s high time we were on our way.’
‘This temple is in Henan, and that’s hundreds of kilometres away. How will we get there?’ asked Sienna, feeling dizzy at the speed at which things were happening.
Feng stood up. ‘We can get the night train,’ he exclaimed. ‘But Ling will be looking for you. You’ll have to be disguised.’
Sienna felt the crumpled money in her jeans pocket. A few notes – enough for cheap clothes from a street stall, perhaps, but not for two train tickets. Her face fell.
‘Don’t worry,’ said Feng. ‘I’ve saved my wages from the cookshop. Between us, we’ll have enough.’
Rufus sighed. ‘If I’m going to travel by train in this country, it’d better be first class,’ he muttered darkly.
Sienna snorted. ‘As if!’ She turned to Feng, deliberately ignoring Rufus’s grumpy growl. ‘OK, we’ll do it.’ Looking at him standing right next to Minka and Rufus, she sighed suddenly. ‘Oh, I wish you could see Rufus and Minka. It would make things so much easier!’
Rufus looked thoughtful. ‘Well, it’s interesting this one can’t see me. I’m not trying to conceal myself from him.’
Minka twitched her tail. ‘I’m not hiding myself from him either. Perhaps this one is older than his years – so even though we show ourselves, he really doesn’t seem to see us.’
Rufus and Minka exchanged knowing glances. Sienna didn’t understand a word they were saying! ‘What does that mean? You want him to see you, but he can’t? Should he be able to?’
‘Yes, if we let him – he’s only a child, after all,’ muttered Rufus. He looked thoughtful, studying Feng with his head tilted to one side. ‘He’s had a tough life, this one. Nevertheless, he does still have a special friend – I caught a glimpse of him when the boy was daydreaming outside of the restaurant. But his friend isn’t with him all the time, and he isn’t here right now.’
Sienna looked over at Feng. She wanted to tell him what Rufus had just said, that he did have an invisible friend, just like he’d dreamt. But as she struggled to find the right words, Feng pointed to the clock on the wall. ‘We must go. The night train leaves soon!’
The sky above them had turned black, but it wasn’t only the dusk that shrouded the little alley in darkness. A storm was brewing. Sienna had bought some cheap clothes from a stall near the house, and was wearing a long dark skirt, a floral blouse and a headscarf. The unfamiliar material felt strange on her body.
She and Feng each carried a small, battered holdall containing some water and spare clothes. Feng had packed an extra bag with food, which he had gone out to buy while Sienna had been changing. Rufus and Minka had made themselves comfortable on the bags, both of them grumbling quietly: ‘Stop that jolting. Hey, careful on the bends!’
As they emerged from the narrow alleys and back on to one of the main streets, the first drops of rain started to fall.
Minka miaowed indignantly, as though someone had trodden on her tail. ‘Rain! Put the umbrella up now. NOW! My fur’s getting wet!’
Sienna opened the umbrella that Minka had insisted they bring. Feng watched her with a puzzled smile on his face – the rain didn’t seem to bother him at all.
The pavement was crowded with people trying impatiently to get to the other side of the main road. Sienna took care to balance the umbrella and the bags. The little group now found themselves surrounded by people, all hurrying at a fast pace towards the station. The roads were jammed with cars, taxis pulled up at the kerb and motorcycles squeezed their way through the heavy traffic. Sienna felt overwhelmed by the noise and the heat.
A loud bang sounded overhead. Everybody looked up, startled. Then there was a blinding flash in the sky, and rain poured down on the city as if someone had turned a shower on at full strength. Umbrellas bowed under the weight of the water.
‘Quickly!’ cried Feng, and they dashed the last few metres towards the station.
‘Made it!’ gasped Sienna as they burst into the huge, brightly lit building.
Feng left Sienna and went to buy two train tickets. ‘These were the cheapest ones,’ he explained when he returned. ‘Now I have no more money. But at least we will be on our way to find Gege and your mother.’
The friends forced their way slowly through the crowds. The air was warm and moist, and the scent of fried food hung in the air.
Suddenly all of the children and babies on the platform began to scream and cry. Sienna looked in amazement at the children, whose parents were trying desperately to calm them down.
As one, Rufus and Minka leapt from the holdalls, fur standing on end and staring wildly back towards the entrance to the station.
Feng was looking around uneasily at the crying children. ‘What’s going on?’ he asked.
‘I don’t know,’ Sienna replied. But then she saw it. At first she only glimpsed a head, which towered above the crowd, and her breath caught in her throat.
‘What can you see?’ said Feng, noticing the change in her expression.
It was a crocodile – or some sort of crocodile beast. Its eyes shone a poisonous yellow, and sharp white teeth flashed in its cavernous mouth. It was behind them, moving at a leisurely pace towards the train, and it was walking upright on two legs, like a person.
Sienna knew that this beast was invisible. Not to her – or to the babies and children, or the other invisible animals – but to the crowds that were now streaming through the train’s open doors. Feng was staring at her face, eyes wide with confusion and fear.
The crocodile monster was getting closer and closer …
Sienna’s legs felt weak, and she had to force herself to move. ‘Feng, we have to run! We have to get on to the train!’
‘Why, what is it?’ he shouted, hurrying after her.
Sienna and Feng pushed through the crowd and eventually reached the train door. The monster had stopped some distance away and Sienna felt the tension in her chest relax a little as they climbed up into the carriage. She took a deep breath.
But where were Rufus and Minka? To Sienna’s horror, she saw the invisible friends standing right in front of the monster, as if to protect her and Feng. The monster’s mouth opened wide, its eyes glinting, a grating noise filling the air, and Sienna realized it was laughing. As if it had sensed her thought, the crocodile monster turned its head and fixed Sienna with narrowed, yellow eyes. She stumbled against Feng, who steadied her. And something else was suddenly clear to Sienna, though she didn’t know how she knew: the creature had come for her.
‘It’s after me, Rufus!’ Sienna screamed from the open train doorway, regaining her senses. ‘Run away! Minka, Rufus, run!’ But if they heard her, they ignored the command. Other passengers stared and muttered, but Sienna barely noticed.
The train’s engine rumbled to life. Sienna clutched the bar beside the door and stared as the two brave creatures moved in for the attack: Minka’s back was arched and she was hissing wildly. Rufus was snarling, his body tensed. Both animals looked so small in comparison to the crocodile monster.
Suddenly Rufus launched himself at the crocodile’s leg, teeth bared. In one oddly elegant movement, the monster swept the little dog aside and knocked him across the ground, whimpering.
‘Rufus!’ Sienna cried.
Minka lashed out with her sharp claws, quick as lightning, but the crocodile was even quicker, a well-aimed punch sending the white cat tumbling in a ball of snarling fur. The crocodile fixed its eyes on Sienna again, as if in triumph, and her heart stopped.
At that moment, the train door closed. Sienna lost sight of Rufus and Minka for a moment. When she looked desperately back through the window as the train pulled away, the crocodile monster was still staring right at her.
And in its claws, held by the scruff of their necks, were Rufus and Minka.
7 Daifu – Doctor
Feng pulled
her back into the train compartment. Although he hadn’t been able to see the crocodile beast, or the fight with Minka and Rufus, he understood that something terrible had happened. He stuffed the two bags under the seat and pushed Sienna gently on to the bench beside him. Then he took her cold, trembling hand and whispered softly to her, ‘It’s OK, it’s OK.’
The other people in the compartment openly studied the strange pair, but Sienna couldn’t care less! Could invisible creatures die? If so, she was sure Rufus’s and Minka’s lives were in danger. And if anything happened to them … she couldn’t think straight.
Besides, if anyone could find her mother, Minka could.
Sienna felt Feng’s warm hand on hers and finally met his questioning gaze. Using a mixture of English and Mandarin, she explained what had happened as best she could. Feng looked wordlessly at her, the colour draining from his face.
The rain pattered against the window. The train moved slowly and squeakily along the tracks. Sienna looked out of the window, the tears that were welling up in her eyes blurring her vision. She blinked and they started rolling down her cheeks.
‘Shoupa, yao bu yao – would you like a handkerchief?’ An old man sitting opposite them held a neatly folded white handkerchief out to her.
‘Bu yao – no, thanks,’ she mumbled quietly.
The man leant across to her. ‘You know, sometimes one thinks one has lost everything and cannot go on, but you must have faith. Perhaps this train is taking you to the right place.’
They travelled on through the night. Luggage was crammed into the racks above their heads, and the passengers sitting underneath were squashed together just as closely. Some were already asleep, others were absorbed in books or newspapers, and lots of them were eating. The smell of dried meat and fish reminded Sienna of breakfast with Ling that morning. It felt like years ago that she had been sitting with her in the kitchen.
Moon Princess Page 4