by P J Tierney
Mr Fan raised his eyebrows as if he was deeply impressed, then said, ‘Without any thought as to what would happen when the spirit was free to roam?’
Jamie felt a chill run through him. Whatever was about to happen to Jade, it was all his fault.
‘So tell me what happens at a Passing of the Gate ceremony,’ he said. He needed to know as much as possible before they got there.
‘It is how a young Warrior of the Way convinces Master Wu that they are ready to take their place in the world,’ Mr Fan said. ‘They must challenge and beat every student and sifu.’
‘Including Master Wu?’ Jamie asked eagerly. He knew Cheng could never beat the master.
‘Yes,’ Mr Fan said, and Jamie felt a little flutter of hope. ‘But really it is just a formality. Master Wu makes sure the Warrior knows all the basic techniques and weapons handling and then he steps aside.’
The little flutter inside Jamie died.
‘If every student had to beat Master Wu,’ Mr Fan continued, ‘no-one would ever graduate. Except maybe your mother.’
Jamie smiled despite himself. ‘But there’s hardly anyone at Chia Wu to challenge right now. Why would Master Wu let Cheng graduate today?’
Mr Fan gave a sad smile. ‘Because of you, Jamie.’
‘Me? What have I done?’
‘You are the Spirit Warrior, a role Cheng coveted for himself. Master Wu feels Cheng will have a better chance of fulfilling his purpose in life if he doesn’t have to watch you achieve yours.’
Jamie thought about the time Cheng could have shattered his knee but didn’t. Yet the memory was quickly chased away by a vision of Cheng attacking Jade, and her symbol lying buried beneath Chia Wu.
Suddenly the Lin Yao’s engines spluttered and she lurched forward. Lucy and Wing careened across the bridge, Jet was catapulted from his perch, landing on Mr Fan’s head, while Jamie slammed up against the control panel.
Mr Fan prised the little monkey off. ‘Is everyone okay?’ he asked.
The engines continued to splutter.
Jamie slammed his hand down on the control panel and yelled, ‘That low-down, cheating, good-for-nothing criminal sold me dirty fuel!’
He heard Wing whisper to Lucy, ‘I’m guessing that criminal would be his father.’
‘Hold on,’ Jamie said as he pulled the throttle back to zero. The boat wallowed. He rammed the throttle to full and the boat lurched. He did this twice more, throwing everyone around the bridge and making everything below deck clatter.
‘What are you doing?’ Lucy screamed as she braced herself between the wall and Jamie’s back.
‘I’m unclogging the line,’ he said. ‘The jerking will make the fuel swish around the tanks and clear the dirt from the filter.’
‘Oh, please stop,’ Lucy cried and she stumbled to the gantry. They heard the guttural sounds of heaving, followed by a huge splatter.
Jamie pushed the throttle up slowly and the boat responded gently.
‘Won’t it just clog up again?’ Wing asked.
‘Eventually,’ Jamie said.
He knew that the likelihood of it happening again increased substantially as the tank emptied. Their chances of making it back to Chia Wu in time had just got considerably lower.
Lucy came back inside the bridge, looking slightly green and smelling of vomit. She braced herself against the chart table and fanned her face with a folded-up newspaper. Jamie eased the throttle as far forward as he dared, trying to keep the boat level and the debris away from the filter.
‘Could you View Chia Wu, please,’ he asked Mr Fan, ‘so we know what we’re heading into?’
Mr Fan closed his eyes for a long time. Then he said, ‘Mrs Choo is in the kitchen making a meal with the little food she has left; Cheng is training; Edwin and Bruce are going through some practice routines; and Master Wu is laying out the circle for the competition.’
‘Where’s Jade?’ Jamie asked.
‘She’s at the lookout.’
‘On her own?’ Jamie asked.
Mr Fan nodded.
‘Wing,’ Jamie called, ‘take the wheel.’
Wing stepped up to steer and Jamie closed his eyes to let the sweeping sensation come. He had to tell her to hang on until he got there. He imagined himself on the lookout at Chia Wu and the scene came into View. He saw the clearing on the headland, the stone platform, the timber rail. He saw Jade wearing gold ceremonial robes, her hair hanging loosely over her shoulders. It caught in the wind and made a plume like the spray from the back of a wave. She rubbed the back of her neck as she stared out over the ocean; she knew she was being Viewed. She brought her fist and palm together and bowed, then she raised her hand in the smallest of waves and said, ‘Bye, Jamie.’
Jamie snapped back to his body. ‘No,’ he said, ‘it doesn’t end like this.’
Lucy tilted her head slightly. ‘If anyone can do it, you can,’ she said to him. Then she went to the control panel and patted the steel. ‘Come on, Little Lin. You’ve got to get us there.’
‘Little Lin?’ Wing said. ‘I thought you hated this boat?’
She shrugged. ‘It’s sort of growing on me.’
Wing leaned in close to Jamie and whispered, ‘She hasn’t seen the toilet yet, has she?’
Jamie kept his eye on the sun as it made its way closer to the horizon. The boat’s engines spluttered again and his stomach clenched. ‘Come on,’ he said, easing the throttle back and forth.
He turned to Wing. ‘What were Bohai’s exact words? What time does this all happen?’
Wing looked at the ceiling as he thought. ‘Tonight, that’s all he said.’
Jamie checked the chart and cross-referenced it with their position on the GPS.
‘We don’t have time to go round the island to the dock,’ he said, and pointed at the southern side of the island instead.
Wing shook his head. ‘We’ll never make it. The tide’s coming in — we’ll be smashed against the rocks.’
The Lin Yao’s engines spluttered again and Lucy patted the control panel as if she was soothing a flighty animal.
Jamie bit his bottom lip. ‘We don’t have to take her all the way in,’ he said to Wing. ‘Just close enough to drop me off.’
‘You’re going to swim ashore?’ Wing said. ‘Are you mad?’
‘It’s too dangerous,’ Mr Fan said. ‘We’ve lost Warriors to that headland before. We cannot afford to lose you too.’
‘Which Warriors?’ Jamie asked. ‘Who did you lose?’
Mr Fan sighed and seemed to deflate a little. ‘Two of our finest, I’m afraid.’
Jamie gripped the wheel and thought of the two skeletons pinned beneath the sunken boat. ‘Jade’s parents?’ he asked.
Mr Fan nodded.
‘I thought they were ravens,’ Jamie said.
Mr Fan nodded again. ‘Her father was by birth but neither of them were by nature. They worked for us all along, reporting back on Zheng’s activities, but then they had Jade. When she was just a toddler, it became apparent that she was a Recollector. Her parents knew the only place she would be safe was with Master Wu. They died bringing her to us.’
There was silence on the bridge for a long time after Mr Fan had finished speaking. Eventually Jamie said, ‘You tried to tell me, didn’t you? When you gave me the lotus flower, you said, “It comes out of the mire but is itself not sullied.” You were talking about Jade, weren’t you? I should never have doubted her.’
Jamie looked at the chart again. ‘If we come in close to the cove, the current should carry me in before I get to the rocks.’ He turned to Mr Fan. ‘I’ve got to do this, Sifu. It’s my fault Jade’s in this predicament. If I don’t at least try, I will always regret it.’
Mr Fan seemed to consider Jamie’s words.
Lucy spoke up. ‘You can’t let him do this, Sifu. It’s madness.’
‘It’s one of those moments,’ Jamie said to Mr Fan.
Mr Fan took a deep breath. ‘Just don’t turn it into a mome
nt I will regret for the rest of my life.’
Jamie smiled. ‘I don’t die tonight,’ he said. ‘The almanac would have mentioned it.’
Lucy huffed and opened a newspaper with a loud, snapping sound.
Wing looked nervous. ‘Um, Jamie, who’s going to take the boat through the straits?’
Jamie looked at him.
‘Oh,’ Wing said, then he added, ‘I’ve never taken a boat this big through. I’ve only ever done it on the sampan, and that was battered enough not to show how many times I hit the marker rock.’ He swallowed. ‘It’s a running tide — it’ll be white water between the islands.’
‘I’ve seen you handle a boat and I know you can read the water,’ Jamie said calmly. He paused and stared out into the choppy ocean. ‘And Wing, sometimes we’re brave because we’ve got no other choice.’
Wing took a deep breath. ‘In that case, you’d better tell me what that lever over there does.’
Jamie ran Wing through the controls. Wing paid close attention and repeated the important parts so he’d remember them. Lucy huffed and snapped every page of the newspaper as she turned it.
Jamie checked their position with the GPS and the chart. ‘Not far now,’ he said. He glanced at the sun, willing it to hang above the horizon a little while longer.
As he turned back to the others, he realised that they’d all fallen quiet and Lucy’s face wore a frozen expression.
‘Luce?’ he said gently. ‘Do you need to puke again?’
She shook her head and tapped the newspaper in front of her. ‘The kids,’ she said, ‘all the missing children — I told you there was a connection.’ Jamie saw she was looking at a photo of the young Kwok brothers who’d been lost at sea. She read the caption aloud: ‘Mrs Kwok, devastated by the loss of her sons, still mourns their father, killed in a workplace accident three years ago.’
Jamie shook his head sadly. ‘Poor woman,’ he said.
‘Yes,’ Lucy said. ‘But look in the background, on the dresser. What’s that draped across her husband’s portrait?’
Jamie leaned in to look and his mouth dropped open.
Lucy nodded. ‘It’s a Chia Wu belt.’
‘They’re connected to the Way?’
‘Just like Elizabeth and Hong,’ she said. ‘I bet if we looked into the history of each of the missing children we’d find they’re connected somehow, even if they don’t know it.’
Jamie looked out at the tinted sky. ‘I bet someone knows it. How many are there?’
Lucy said, ‘I’ve found four so far.’
‘Plus the ones who didn’t make it to the papers,’ Jamie added sadly.
Mr Fan stared out in the distance and said, ‘He’s building an army.’
‘Who?’ Wing said in a panic. ‘Who’s building an army?’
Mr Fan answered, ‘Zheng.’
Jamie leaned over till his head rested on the chart table. It felt like all the missing children had suddenly become his responsibility too.
Jamie took a deep breath and pushed himself up. He could see the hazy landmass of Chia Wu ahead. He squared up to face the waves. Jade first, then the children, he said to himself.
Mr Fan stood close beside him. He didn’t say anything, but his presence told Jamie that he wasn’t alone.
At last, the cliffs on the south side of the island loomed large. Wing moved the Lin Yao in close.
Jamie studied the swirling currents and the waves pounding the rocks. ‘We’ll count the sets,’ he said to Wing. ‘Bring her in behind the largest wave, and then when you hear me thump the side, turn forty-five degrees to starboard. Any more than forty-five degrees and you’ll drag me into the propellers. Wait till you see me surface, then complete the turn.’
Wing nodded.
‘Then head for the straits as fast as you can,’ Jamie added. ‘I might need you.’
The waves roared and smashed onto the rocks, sending great sheets of foam up into the air. Jamie saw in his mind the crushed hull of the raven boat and the skeletons pinned beneath it. He took a deep breath.
Jet screeched in his ear. He reached out to pat his monkey and his hand trembled.
‘No-one will think less of you for going around to the straits,’ Mr Fan said.
Jamie counted as the boat rose with the wave, then waited for the deafening crash as the wave broke. In the quiet afterwards Jamie said, ‘Someone will, Mr Fan. Me.’
Lucy flinched as sea spray coated the windscreen. She put her hands on her hips and blocked Jamie’s way. ‘I can’t let you do this!’ she shouted over the roar of the waves.
He gently moved her aside and squeezed her hand. ‘I know you’re just trying to protect me. But this is something I need to do.’
She made a gulping sound. ‘Or die trying?’
He grinned. ‘That’s the one thing I do know, Lucy. I don’t die tonight.’
She looked him in the eye. ‘But Jamie, once you change what happens to Jade, you change everything from that point on, including if you live or die.’
Jamie’s stomach clenched and he thought he might puke. She was right. Suddenly he didn’t feel so invincible.
He stood at the top of the gantry stairs, far more nervous than he’d been a few minutes ago. He counted the waves and tried to push Lucy’s words from his mind. The Lin Yao rose and fell with the swell, and the sun slipped below the horizon.
‘After the next one!’ he yelled with a tremor in his voice.
He felt the boat rise higher then fall further than the previous waves. He heard her engines roar as Wing chased the wave down. Jamie let the Lin Yao get as close to the land as he dared, then he thumped the side of the boat. He held fast as the tug turned sharply to port. The moment her port side became parallel to the shore, Jamie dived in.
Chapter 15
Jamie hit the swirling, churning foam face first and clawed through the water, putting as much distance as he could between himself and the propellers before he surfaced. He popped up to see the stern light of the Lin Yao slip over a wave and out of view.
He was alone in a sea far more treacherous than he’d imagined. The next wave grew in front of him and he turned and swam with it, feeling it lift him up and carry him along. But far too quickly he was slipping over the back of it and fighting against the swirling current that pulled him closer and closer to the rocks. He swam with the next wave, until he slipped off the back of that one too. He was making no headway and was being dragged closer and closer to the swirling eddy over the sharp and jagged rocks. It took all his strength just to keep from going under. He swam till he was exhausted, but got no closer to the beach. The water filled his mouth and he gasped for breath. He gulped and spat, and felt the pull of the inky depths on his sodden clothes.
As he battled to keep his head above the water and his body from being smashed on the rocks, he thought of Jade, of the Leung twins and the Kwok brothers. He thought of Elizabeth and Hong and felt overwhelmed. It would be so much easier to suck in one long saltwater breath and come to rest beside Jade’s parents.
He went under again, and felt the pressure of the water constrict around him. The surface was getting further and further away. Drowning was like falling asleep, he’d heard the fishermen say. Just one deep breath, then one long, peaceful sleep … and he was so very, very tired.
An icy current enveloped him. It constricted his torso, squashed his lungs and made it impossible for him to draw that final breath. The current formed into a freezing vortex that propelled him upwards. He shot through the ocean’s surface and breathed again. The vortex wasn’t finished with him yet — it pushed him through the waves towards the shore and all but threw him onto the sand.
Bewildered, Jamie jumped up and took a defensive stand against the waves. His arms tingled. He looked down at them and saw that every hair was standing on end; a spirit guide’s warning that a ghost was nearby.
A ghost cannot hurt you, Mr Fan had told Jamie that time he’d dived down to the reef and found the box with the rogue s
pirit in it. What Mr Fan hadn’t said was that a ghost could, in fact, help you. Jamie felt the ghost’s invisible hands on him, pushing him towards the wall.
‘Okay, okay, I’m going,’ he said, and eased the hands away. As he turned to race up the hill, he felt something very like a short, sharp kick in the backside. ‘All right!’ he said.
He scrambled to the wall and over the stones he’d put back in place, accidentally sending the top row tumbling. He clawed through the jungle on the other side, tripping on roots and vines in the dark. In his haste, he ran into a tree and slipped and fell, losing precious time.
Finally, he spotted the lights of the Grand Pagoda. Like a beacon they drew him on. As he approached the building, he slowed to a jog, then crept around its side towards a series of flickering lights on the training ground.
He crouched behind the verandah, hidden by a curtain of climbing jasmine, and peeked through its leaves. The training ground was lit by eight bamboo torches placed around a white painted circle; they burned bright orange against the night sky. The Warriors of the Way and Mrs Choo sat in an arc along one side of the sparring area. Jamie quickly found Jade: she was looking down at her hands in her lap.
To the side of the Warriors was a timber stand holding the weapons the students of Chia Wu were famous for: a long staff, a broadsword, a spear, and a long-handled fighting blade with a sweeping arc of steel at the bottom.
Master Wu was in the sparring circle with Cheng. Both were red-faced and breathing heavily, Cheng more so than the master. Master Wu bowed to Cheng and stepped back and out of the ring. He turned to the Warriors of the Way.
‘Who will challenge Cheng for his right to Pass the Gate?’ he called.
Jade flinched, then tilted her head like she’d heard something. She looked directly at Jamie. He froze, the breath caught in his throat.
Edwin looked at Bruce and nudged him. Bruce nudged back, harder. Edwin glared at him while Bruce looked innocently ahead.
Edwin called out, ‘Bruce does.’
Bruce whipped around to Edwin, who smirked.
Jade swallowed and leaned forward, as if she was about to stand.