by P J Tierney
‘He’s a master, Jamie,’ Wing said. ‘He’ll be all right. He’s probably just chasing Zheng down.’
But Jamie wasn’t so sure. ‘If he could have, he would have helped me on Castel Rock. I think something has happened to him.’
Wing shrugged. ‘But you didn’t need help, Jamie. You were fine without him.’
Jamie stopped stirring, and although he couldn’t say it to Wing or to anyone, he knew deep down that he wasn’t fine at all.
Wing watched him over the top of his heavily laden bowl of congee. ‘You know, Jamie, I’ve been wondering … If Jade wasn’t trying to kill you, then who do you think your mother was warning you about?’
At that moment, Aliyah glared across the table and Jamie’s head filled with her voice. Who, Jamie? Who was your mother warning you about?
Jamie dropped his spoon, sending great blobs of thick rice porridge flying. Aliyah giggled. It made him lose what little appetite he had.
Jamie picked up his bowl and gave Mrs Choo an apologetic smile as he returned it half-full. He turned to leave when a deep, resonating gong sounded from beyond the walls. The Warriors of the Way around the table all looked at each other quizzically.
Lucy asked Mr Fan, ‘Do you know about this?’ He shook his head as he stood up.
Wing and Lucy rose too. Wing said, ‘Everyone’s here except —’ His eyebrows shot up. He grinned and added, ‘Well, this could be interesting.’
Jamie hovered near the serving table. ‘What? What could be interesting?’
The Warriors of the Way formed a line in front of the dining table, Mr Fan beside Edwin, then Bruce. Wing was beside him, then Lucy and Jade. Aliyah, like Jamie, hung back, uncertain. Jade grabbed Jamie by the shirt collar and dragged him into the line. She shuffled him to Lucy, who pushed him to Wing, who pushed him back and in the line between Wing and Lucy.
‘What’s going on?’ Jamie asked.
There was a cacophony of shushes.
Jamie waited, shooting quick glances about for a clue. The other Warriors all stood with their right fists in their left palms. Jamie copied them.
The doors of the dining pavilion swung open, revealing Cheng on the other side. He swept into the room, striding purposefully towards the line of Warriors. His hands were positioned as if to bow and a length of golden cloth draped from his right fist. He walked straight up to Jamie. He lowered his knees to the stone floor and kowtowed before the Spirit Warrior. Jamie took a small step away in surprise. Wing nudged him back into position. Jamie dared a quick look towards his friend, who gestured with his hands that he should bow.
Jamie bowed to Cheng.
Cheng stood up, leaving the shimmering belt at Jamie’s feet.
His stomach fluttered. Lucy whispered, ‘Go on.’
Jamie bent down and picked up his Chia Wu belt. It was so soft it was almost fluid, silky and cool to the touch. However, the belt wasn’t new; it was worn and starting to fray at the corners. He looked questioningly at Cheng.
‘Master Wu showed it to me a long time ago,’ Cheng said, ‘back when he thought it might have been mine.’ He gestured towards the symbol embroidered into the silk, a circular pattern of dragons chasing each other around a glowing central orb: the mark of the Spirit Warrior. ‘It’s yours,’ Cheng added.
Jamie held his first Chia Wu belt and looked around at his friends. He wished his mother could be here to see this. He wished Master Wu was as well.
Applause erupted around him and he was swamped by well wishes. Beyond the cheering crowd, he saw Mr Fan pat Cheng on the back and then bow deeply to him.
The general good cheer continued through the dining pavilion, particularly when the Penglai fishermen delivered a fresh supply of food and with that, a pile of newspapers. Every front page showed Mr Leung and the rescued children. There were photos of tearful family reunions and reports on how Mr Leung was a hero. Mr Leung was humble as he accepted the praise, and was careful to say that he couldn’t take all the credit. Jamie was glad that Mr Leung was being praised in his place; he deserved it. Besides, Jamie couldn’t accept the praise or the awards. He was, after all, a hidden dragon.
That night when the Warriors of the Way were all sleeping, Jamie stole silently through the grounds of Chia Wu and out beyond the granite wall. In the darkness on the edge of the bay, he held his palm towards the night sky and willed a tendril of light to Conjure before him. No matter how much he concentrated, nor how desperately he called on his guide, all that he could produce was a faint smoky stream that dissipated as soon as it appeared.
He took a long, shuddering breath and looked out to the northeast. His spirit was out there somewhere, and without it, he couldn’t Conjure, he couldn’t Summon, he couldn’t even Remote View. Without his soul, he was useless.
Acknowledgments
My thanks is in three parts:
To my publisher Lisa Berryman, agent Catherine Drayton, mentor Kathryn Heyman, and editors Kate Burnitt and Nicola O’Shea, for teaching me more than I care to admit.
To Dominique Cavanagh, Lauren Allen, Joy Aimee, Margaret Rowe, Verity Blair, Margarette French, Kerry Comerford, Milan Ring and Carolyn Panuccio, for slogging through those early drafts.
And to my family, James, Jesse and Asha.
Check out Jamie Reign’s
earlier adventure!
Jamie Reign can’t read a word, but he can handle a tugboat better than most. All his life he has dreamed of becoming a kung fu expert, like the legendary Master Wu. But that sort of kung fu, the sort that draws on the mystical force called the Way, is only for the Chinese boys and Jamie isn’t Chinese enough for that.
While diving on an uncharted reef, Jamie discovers a terrible force that exposes his connection to the Warriors of the Way, and to the warlord intent on destroying them all. He must quickly learn kung fu, guided by Jade, who seems intent on making him fail, and Wing, who is even worse than Jamie is at kung fu.
About the Author
P.J. Tierney obtained a bachelor’s degree in creative writing, then headed backstage, working on shows for Madonna and U2, and was on set for The Matrix. Invited to Hong Kong to work on the Handover Celebrations, it was there, among the history and mystery of the city, on the barges and tugs of Victoria Harbour, that the Jamie Reign series took form. P.J. lives and works in Sydney, surrounded by Chinese food and kung fu films — all for research purposes, of course.
Books by P.J. Tierney
Jamie Reign: The Last Spirit Warrior
Jamie Reign: The Hidden Dragon
Jamie Reign: The Lost Soul
Copyright
Angus&Robertson
An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers, Australia
First published in Australia in 2014
This edition published in 2014
by HarperCollinsPublishers Australia Pty Limited
ABN 36 009 913 517
harpercollins.com.au
Copyright © Paula Tierney 2014
The right of Paula Tierney to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her under the Copyright Amendment (Moral Rights) Act 2000.
This work is copyright. Apart from any use as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, no part may be reproduced, copied, scanned, stored in a retrieval system, recorded, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
HarperCollinsPublishers
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National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication data:
Tierney, P.J., author.
The hidden dragon / P.J. Tierney.
ISBN: 978 0 7322 9520 2 (pbk)
ISBN: 978 1 7430 9565 2 (ePub)
Jamie reign; 2.
For children.
Kung fu—Juvenile fiction.
A823.4
Cover design by Darren Holt, HarperCollins Design Studio
Cover photography by Stuart Scott; models: Nelson Clifton, Yasmine
Tong, Samuel Xu from Bambini Talent Group Australia; all other images by shutterstock.com