Dark_Serpent

12




Two weeks later, I was doing a Tai Chi set under the tree outside what used to be my office when John sent a broadcast message to the entire Mountain.

I’m closing the pool. I believe some of you wanted to see this. If so, come now.

There were shouts and a rush of people coming out of training rooms and residences. I joined the crowd heading towards the eastern wall. As we went, students called to each other to let those who’d missed the broadcast know, and the group became even larger. Eventually, there were nearly a hundred students crowded around the pool.

Simone saw me and waved. She was standing next to Michael, and the students had left a respectful space around her.

‘How are you feeling?’ she said when I joined them.

‘Nearly back to a hundred per cent,’ I said. ‘Everything’s healed up nicely.’

‘That’s good to hear,’ Michael said. He glanced up at the pool. ‘This is very impressive. I’d like to know how he does it.’

The pool was a block of water fifty metres long, twenty wide and five deep, standing on four slender pillars of what appeared to be ice that thrust from the base of the gorge on the eastern side of the Mountain. Crystalline stairs led from the wall to the top of the block of water, but there were no other barriers around the pool.

‘The bottom and sides are solid, but you can’t see it,’ Simone said.

‘What, they’re ice?’ Michael said. ‘Doesn’t that make the water cold?’

‘Not ice, solid water. It’s like ice, but at room temperature,’ Simone said. ‘Most frightening thing I’ve ever seen in my entire life. He’s the only one in the whole Celestial Plane — which basically means anywhere — who can make it. He’s teaching me how to do it.’

‘Why’s it scary?’ Michael said, then dropped his voice. ‘Holy shit.’

‘Exactly,’ Simone said. ‘If he were to change the water in your body to a solid, your blood would stop flowing and you’re dead. If all the world’s water was changed to this, every living thing would die.’

Michael floated into the air to hover above the wall, then went to one side of the pool and touched it. He ran his hand over its surface, then shook his head and returned to us.

‘This puts my abilities with metal firmly in their place.’

‘Which is an exceptional place,’ Simone said. ‘I’ve heard what your dad says about you.’

Michael shrugged. ‘This is the first time since I was made Number One that I’ve gone for more than a week without losing a duel.’

‘Judge Pao must be sick of the sight of you,’ I said.

‘Every time I go down there, he makes my court hearing exactly one minute longer than the last one,’ Michael said. ‘I didn’t realise at first, it’s so subtle. The guy’s OCD in the way he makes me suffer.’

‘Sounds about right,’ Simone said. ‘One of the advantages of being mortal is that I don’t have to deal with him.’

He gazed down at her. ‘Hurry up and learn to dance the stars and ride the wind, Simone. I worry about you.’

Their eyes locked for a long moment.

I shuffled my feet and coughed, but didn’t need to interrupt. John floated up to the top of the wall, his long hair twining around him. The students all went silent and fell to one knee in unison.

‘Show-off,’ Simone said softly.

‘It’s not showing off if you’re just being your awesome self,’ Michael said with quiet amusement.

Simone gave a soft sigh of pleasure. ‘I am so glad to have him back with us.’

‘All of Heaven is,’ Michael said.

John changed into a giant black sea turtle swimming through the air, and the students made chorusing sounds of wonder. He soared over us and dived into the swimming pool. He was a dark shape in the water for a long moment, then the block of water collapsed and fell into the gorge, the Turtle falling above it.

‘Is he supposed —’ I began, but Simone was ahead of me.

‘Daddy!’ she screamed, and jumped off the wall after him.

He tumbled through the air, his eyes half-open. Simone hit the water at the same time he did and they disappeared into it.

Michael peered over the edge of the wall, moving left and right to try to get a better view. ‘I can’t breathe underwater,’ he said. ‘Damn, it’s a long way down!’

He climbed onto the wall and jumped off. There was a long, horrified silence, then Simone and Michael floated back up out of the gorge and landed on the wall. She fell into his arms and sobbed.

‘He’s dead; he hit the bottom,’ Michael said to me. He spoke to the top of Simone’s head. ‘Come on, we need to check what happened to him. I’m sure he’ll be fine, Simone. He took the body with him, so that probably means he knew where he was going.’

Simone nodded into his chest. They turned and jumped off the wall into the compound, still with their arms around each other’s shoulders, and headed for the administration section.

I couldn’t order the students to return to their quarters, so I just followed Simone and Michael on foot, full of dread. If John had been unaware of his surroundings when he hit, he could have rejoined the Serpent and the Demon King could have both of them.

When I arrived at John’s office, Meredith and Liu were there too, with Michael and Simone, all looking concerned. Zara had taken the androgynous human form that she normally used when working as John’s assistant. Her face was full of concentration, and then she came back, smiling broadly. ‘He’s in Court Ten. He didn’t rejoin.’

‘Oh, thank god,’ Simone said, and leaned on John’s desk. ‘How long do you think … Never mind, I know the answer to that.’

‘Leave it to us,’ Meredith said. ‘We can manage things for a few days while he’s away.’ She nodded to Zara. ‘Was he lined up for anything urgent?’

‘There’s a court session in the Northern Heavens tomorrow, but Ming Gui and Yue Gui can handle that,’ Zara said. She shrugged. ‘Apart from that, nothing terribly urgent.’

‘We had a charity thing tonight. He was planning to introduce his new persona to everybody in Hong Kong,’ I said.

‘That’s right. He’s using his old identity papers, which means he has to pretend to be my grandfather,’ Simone said.

‘We had David Hawkes lined up to be there and confirm his legitimacy,’ I said. ‘We’ll just have to do it another day.’

Michael stopped me as we left the office. ‘When you have a moment, Emma, could you come to the Western Palace and talk to Clarissa for me? We’d both appreciate it.’

From the corner of my eye, I saw Simone scowl; then just as quickly the expression was gone and she composed her face.

‘Go, Emma,’ she said. ‘See if you can bring Clarissa out of it. I really hate to hear about her like this.’

‘Now is good,’ I said. ‘I have nothing on right now. I’ll pop back to the Residence and get some better shoes,’ I indicated my canvas boat shoes, ‘and meet you back here, okay?’

‘Those shoes are fine, Emma,’ Simone said.

‘Last time I wore them to the Western Palace, the Tiger called me so many offensive terms for low-grade workers that I vowed to wear stilettos every time after that,’ I said. ‘Shame I don’t own any.’

I headed back to the Residence, pulled off the boat shoes and opened the shoe cupboard. ‘Er Hao!’ I yelled, staring at the shoes with shock.

‘Yes, Miss Emma?’ Er Hao said, coming out of the kitchen. She stopped when she saw the shoes. ‘You bought new shoes?’

I pulled out my loafers; they’d been changed from dark brown to brilliant violet. Leo had changed all my shoes and arranged them in colour order so that they formed a rainbow along the cupboard shelves. I pulled out my pumps; he’d changed them from tan to fluorescent orange. My kung fu shoes were no longer black, they were lime green.

I sighed. ‘Never mind. It’s good to know Leo’s back to his old self.’

I pulled on the violet loafers, which clashed with my jeans and black T-shirt.

‘It’s very pretty,’ Er Hao said diplomatically. ‘Maybe he can do your clothes to match?’

I shut the cupboard door. ‘That man is not to get anywhere near my clothes, do you understand? If he comes in here again when I’m not around, let me know.’

‘I didn’t know he was here when he did these shoes,’ Er Hao said. ‘I’m sorry, Miss.’

‘Then he had help from Martin,’ I said under my breath, and stormed back to meet Michael.

Simone came with us to the Western Palace; she wanted to pass on her good wishes to Clarissa as well. She and Michael waited outside Clarissa’s private room in the Tiger’s medical centre while I went in.

Clarissa was sitting up in bed reading an ebook. The television was running softly in the corner, showing one of the news channels. She smiled when she saw me and turned the television off with the remote. Her hands were no longer rigid claws, but she obviously had some difficulty closing the cover of the ereader and placing it beside her.

I sat next to the bed. ‘You’re looking way better, Clarissa.’

She smiled gently and brushed one hand over her thin hair. She hadn’t put on much weight and her skin was sallow and transparent. ‘I know I still look awful.’

‘At least you look halfway alive,’ I said.

She touched my hand. ‘That’s what I always liked about you, Emma, you tell the truth when it’s needed.’

‘And sometimes when it’s not,’ I said. ‘Have you decided what you want to do with yourself? The doctors told me that with physical therapy you can probably regain the use of your hands, and might even be able to run and ride your bike again.’

‘Did you ask the psychiatrist about the ongoing mental damage?’ she said, curious.

‘No, your mental health is your own business.’ I paused, and shrugged. ‘Funny, isn’t it? I didn’t hesitate to ask about your physical state, but your mental state is hands-off.’

‘You probably have more of an idea of what I’m going through than anybody else around here,’ she said. ‘I hear you have some problems of your own.’

I nodded. ‘Flashbacks, mostly.’

‘I understand.’ She looked down at her hands. ‘That’s why I wanted to talk to you — you’re always willing to tell the truth, however painful it might be.’ She looked up into my eyes. ‘Michael and I have been talking. After everything we’ve been through, we still feel the same way about each other. Stronger, if anything. I think we can build a future together, but there’s some things I need to know. If I ask you a couple of questions, will you answer them truthfully for me?’

I didn’t shift my gaze from hers. ‘I promise.’

She looked down again. ‘First question is: How does Michael feel about Simone? What do those two have together? Tell me the truth.’

‘That’s two questions, and I’ll answer them both truthfully for you,’ I said. I took a deep breath and she winced. ‘Don’t worry, Clarissa, Michael sees Simone as a little sister. Nothing more.’

‘And Simone?’

‘She has the biggest schoolgirl crush in the world on him. She’s madly in love with him.’

‘Does he know?’

‘Yes, he does.’

‘And? ’

‘He thinks it’s adorable.’

‘What, like little sister adorable?’

‘Precisely. She’s a lot younger than him, and although she’s experienced more of life than any girl her age should, he still sees her as a little girl.’

She frowned. ‘I should let them be together. They’re Immortal, I’m not. They have more in common than I do.’

‘Simone’s not Immortal, Clarissa. And you have more in common with Michael than she does.’

She glanced up, full of hope. ‘Really? She’s not Immortal? I thought it came with the territory.’

‘Nope, and it’ll probably take her a while to get there as well.’

‘Okay, that’s a relief.’ She raised her face slightly and closed her eyes. ‘If that’s the case, then I don’t have anything to worry about, do I?’

‘I sincerely believe that you don’t. Simone loves you like a sister; she honestly wants you and Michael to be happy together.’

‘Really?’

‘Really.’

She took a deep breath and gazed into my eyes again. ‘Next question. This one’s very personal, but I have to know.’

‘Oh dear,’ I said.

‘You’ve made love with Lord Xuan, haven’t you, even though you’re not married?’

‘Uh … yeah,’ I said, wondering where this was going. ‘Animal spirits like Lord Xuan — and Michael’s father — tend to think human social rules don’t apply to them.’

‘Michael changes to a tiger when he’s really excited or stressed. When you’re together, and things get … that way, does Lord Xuan … Does he … change?’ Her voice petered out.

I couldn’t help myself; I laughed. ‘Absolutely not.’ I bent closer to speak conspiratorially to her. ‘I don’t know how I’d do it with the Turtle form anyway; that thing is massive. He’d probably squash me flat.’

She giggled, her hand over her mouth, and shook her head. ‘I heard stories about the Tiger’s wives — apparently some of them like it.’

‘If they don’t like it, he definitely doesn’t force them,’ I said.

She stared at me for a moment, then said, ‘Uh … how do you know that?’

‘One of my best friends is wife number ninety-seven. She’s never been backward about boasting. I think she’s as bad as he is.’

She nodded once, her dark hair bobbing with the movement. ‘Thanks, Emma. Can you send Michael in?’

I quickly hugged her and kissed her on the cheek. ‘Simone is here too. She’d love to say hello.’

She hesitated for a moment, then said, ‘I don’t think so. That would just be rubbing it in. It might be kindest to let it be for now, and talk to her later.’

‘That makes sense.’

‘And can you ask the doctor to contact my parents? I think I’ll be wanting to talk to them soon as well.’

I took her hand and squeezed it. ‘I can’t tell you how glad I am to hear that.’

‘Oh, and Emma?’ she said as I was halfway to the door. ‘Thanks.’

I nodded to her and went out.

Michael was sitting alone in the waiting room, elbows resting on his knees, his expression grim.

‘Clarissa would like to speak to you,’ I said.

He took a deep breath and stood. ‘Time to face the music.’

I touched his arm. ‘Don’t worry, the news is good.’ I looked around. ‘Is Simone still here? I need a lift home.’

‘She’s outside somewhere, chasing butterflies or dragons or something.’ He concentrated for a moment. ‘She’s on her way to take you home.’

‘Do you know what Clarissa’s going to do?’ Simone asked as we rode her cloud back to the Mountain.

‘She’s much better, and feeling confident about her relationship with Michael. I think she wants to get back together with him.’

‘That’s great,’ she said, sounding distracted. ‘Michael talked to me while we were waiting for you two. He has big plans if they get back together. He wants to nurse Clarissa back to health so they can buy a house on the Earthly Plane together, settle down and have lots of babies.’

She said the last word with so much distaste that I had to laugh.

‘What?’ she said.

‘When you see the babies, you’ll change your mind.’

‘Ew.’ She shuddered. ‘Milk-puking poo machines. I am so glad that Little Jade and Richie are out of nappies. Have you ever changed a nappy? Oh. My. God.’

I looked for the Mountain to appear in the distance. ‘You say that now, but wait until it’s your turn.’

‘Not for a long time,’ she said with emphasis.

‘Good.’

‘I took Emma to see Clarissa,’ she said.

‘What?’

‘Sorry, spoke out loud. Daddy’s back already; he’s in the mess with Master Liu.’

‘Already? That was quick. Wait — Master Liu? Which Master Liu?’

‘Cheng Rong.’

‘Oh, no.’

The cloud rose in the air slightly and picked up speed.