Su Yi placed her hand on the white marble pillar and with her fingers traced the intricate carving of a goddess, feeling every undulating curve of the figure, so cool to the touch. The entire pillar was carved with figures of dancing damsels from the ground all the way up to the soaring dome. Su Yi looked around the space and saw that she was surrounded in every direction by thousands of white pillars, so many of them that it was impossible to count.*1 And every one of them had been sculpted with deities, animals, love scenes, war scenes—each one so painstakingly carved it looked more like lacework than stone. She could hardly believe how exquisite it was.
Su Yi felt so grateful that the maharani had arranged this trip for her to the Adinatha Temple, hidden in the remote Aravalli Range between Jodhpur and Udaipur. As she followed the marble passageway, she felt as though she were walking into a dream, and around another corner of the temple she came upon a beautiful tree growing in the middle of a serene stone courtyard. Underneath the tree was a young man in a simple saffron-colored robe, picking up stray leaves. He glanced up for a moment and smiled at her. Su Yi smiled shyly back at him before walking into yet another breathtakingly carved vestibule, this one depicting a deity entwined with hundreds of snakes.
“Excuse me, do you speak English?” a voice behind her suddenly asked. Su Yi turned around and saw that it was the young man. This time, she could see a faint gold dot painted in the middle of his forehead.
“I do,” she replied.
“Are you from China?”
“No, I am from the island of Singapore. It is in the Straits Settlements—”
“Ah, yes, on the tip of Malaya. There are a few Jains in Singapore. Please allow me to introduce myself: My name is Jai, and I am a priest here. My grandfather is the high priest of this temple, and one day my father shall be high priest, and then it will pass on to me. But not for a long time.”
“You are very fortunate. This is the most beautiful temple I have ever been to,” Su Yi said.
“May I offer you a blessing?”
“I would be honored.”
The priest guided her along to a quiet corner of the temple that was open to the view. They sat on the steps of a marble altar and looked out at the undulating hills as a cool breeze blew into the chamber. The monk smiled at her again. “We do not often get visitors from Singapore at the temple. I noticed you when you first entered the temple with your chaperone, because you were so beautifully dressed, but when you smiled at me, I sensed a great sadness in you.”
Su Yi nodded, lowering her eyes. “I am away from my family, and my island is at war.”
“Yes, I have heard about the war spreading through southern Asia. I do not understand this war. But I sense that your sadness comes from a deeper place…” He gazed intently at her, and Su Yi noticed for the first time that his irises had an almost bluish gray tint to them. Suddenly she found her eyes welling uncontrollably with tears.
“My brother,” Su Yi said almost inaudibly, her throat choking up. “My elder brother has been missing for some time.” She had told no one about this, and she wasn’t sure why she was telling him now. She was about to reach into her purse for her handkerchief when the monk produced one, seemingly out of nowhere. It was a silk scarf with a deep-blue-and-purple paisley pattern, and it seemed incongruous with the rest of his austere appearance. Su Yi wiped away her tears and looked up at the priest, who suddenly appeared to be wearing wire-frame glasses just like the ones her brother wore.
“Yes, your brother Alexander wants to tell you something. Would you like to hear his message?”
Su Yi looked at him, not comprehending what he meant at first. Before she could answer, the priest began to unleash a torrent of Hokkien: Seven. Eight. Nine. Coming ashore. Bloody hell, there’s too many of them. This won’t work. This won’t work at all.
A chill ran down her spine. This was her brother’s voice coming out of the priest’s mouth, and he was muttering the same nonsensical things he had said when he had been deliriously ill.
“What won’t work? Ah Jit, tell me, what won’t work?” Su Yi asked urgently.
“I can’t take that many. It’s too dangerous. We have to move very quickly, and we can’t fight back?”
“Ah Jit, slow down, who’s fighting back?” Su Yi wrung her hands in frustration, feeling them get sticky. When she looked down at the silk paisley handkerchief, she saw that it was covered in a strange weblike mucus mixed with blood. Suddenly her brother stopped his incoherent ranting and spoke to her in a clear, lucid tone. “I think you know what to do now, Su Yi. Trust your instincts. This is the only way we can atone for all that our ancestors have done. You can never tell anyone, especially not Father.”
In an instant, she knew what her brother meant. “How am I going to do all this by myself?”
“I have no doubt in you, sister. You are the last hope now…are you awake? Mummy, are you awake?”
Su Yi felt a hand on her shoulder, and suddenly she was no longer in that exquisite temple in Ranakpur, and the priest with the bluish eyes was gone. She found herself waking up in her bedroom at Tyersall Park, the morning sun glaring into her eyes.
“Mummy, are you awake? I’ve brought Bishop See to see you,” Victoria said chirpily.
Su Yi let out a low groan.
“I think she may be in pain,” Bishop See said.
Su Yi groaned again. This irritating daughter just interrupted me from one of the most vivid moments in my life. Ah Jit was speaking to me, Ah Jit was trying to tell me something, and now he’s gone.
“Let me call in the nurse,” Victoria said in a worried tone. “She’s pumped so full of hydrocodone, she really shouldn’t be feeling anything. They said there might be hallucinations, that’s all.”
“I’m not in pain, you just woke me up so suddenly,” Su Yi muttered in frustration.
“Well, Bishop See is here to say a prayer for you—”
“Please, some water…” Su Yi said, her throat as usual feeling so parched in the morning.
“Oh yes, water. Now, let me see. Bishop See, could you do me a favor and go into my mother’s dressing room? There are some Venetian glasses on a tray beside her dressing table, lovely handblown glasses with dolphin stems from a wonderful shop near the Danieli. Just bring me one of those.”
“Aiyah, there’s a plastic cup right here.” Su Yi gestured to the bedside table.
“Oh, silly me, I didn’t see that. Ah, Bishop See, do you see a water carafe by that table behind you? There should be an insulated silver carafe, with an art nouveau motif of stephanotis flowers carved along the handle.”
“Just get me the goddamn cup,” Su Yi said.
“Oh dear, Mummy, language. Bishop See is in the room,” Victoria said, trying to hand over the cup.
“Do you not see that my hands are tangled up in tubes? You need to help me sip the water from the straw!” Su Yi said in frustration.
“Here, do allow me.” The bishop stepped in and took the cup from a frazzled Victoria.
“Thank you,” Su Yi said gratefully after she had taken a few precious sips.
“Now Mummy, Bishop See and I were speaking earlier over breakfast, and I was reminded that you’ve never been baptized. The bishop has kindly brought with him a little vessel of holy water from the River Jordan, and I’m wondering if we might do a ritual baptism right here in this room.”
“No, I don’t want to be baptized,” Su Yi said flatly.