Irene looked at Hu and Kai: they both had the same expression of grave concern, as though an unmentioned line had been crossed. But it was Hu who spoke. ‘That was my lord Qing Song. He’s begun to call the earth to aid him.’
She didn’t want to think what would happen to New York if the tremors became any worse. ‘Is there anything you can do?’ she demanded of Hu. ‘I apologize if it’s rude to ask, but is there anything you can summon?’
Hu’s face was such a perfect mask that Irene realized she must have touched a very deep nerve. ‘Sadly, a person of lesser ability like myself cannot command such power,’ he said, with the sort of forced politeness that came from extreme personal bitterness. ‘I could not possibly challenge the higher nobility on that level.’
Irene pondered the taste of foot in mouth, and decided that apologizing further would only make it worse. Instead she turned to their escort. ‘Where are George and Lily?’
‘Looks like that’s them now,’ he said. She turned to see a cavalcade of oncoming traffic rumbling in their direction, a limousine with an escort of police cars.
‘Right.’ She gestured for the others to join her. ‘Once Lily’s in position for the shot, then we’re good to go. Kai, are you ready?’
‘Yes,’ Kai said. ‘At least they won’t be bothering you. They’ll be focusing on me.’ He glanced up at the skies. It wasn’t quite nervousness. It was more the controlled readiness of a man preparing for a fight, where he knew the ground and his enemies, even if the odds were against him.
Irene touched his wrist. ‘Be careful.’
‘While getting between two of my kind who might be fighting to the death?’ Kai was almost laughing. He caught her in an unexpected embrace. ‘Be careful yourself,’ he muttered into her hair. ‘If George thinks he doesn’t need you any longer—’
‘I know,’ she murmured back. ‘And you know what to do. Be ready.’ For a moment she didn’t try to pull out of his arms. His presence, his safety, was reassuring. It was far easier for her to handle risks to herself than to be putting him in danger yet again. I am hopelessly compromised, she thought. Just as much as Evariste.
She occasionally daydreamed about being the sort of character in a story who could faint and leave everyone else to sort things out.
But that wasn’t going to happen.
‘When we make a break for it,’ she continued, ‘you take Evariste and Qing Song – once he’s in human form. Hu can’t retaliate if you’ve taken his master hostage.’
‘I’d rather be carrying you,’ he murmured in her ear.
‘We have to get everyone out and make sure Hu doesn’t pull a fast one. Trust me.’ It was like one of those logic problems where the narrator had a single boat and had to get a fox and a rabbit and a bunch of carrots across the river, without having any of them eat the others. How else were they all supposed to get out of this world without leaving someone behind, or having Hu fly off with Irene or Evariste at his mercy? Kai could only carry a couple of people, and this was the best she could come up with. ‘Think of somewhere safe to take us, so we can finish negotiating. You’ll be the one navigating, after all.’
She gave him a last squeeze and let him go.
‘Not interrupting anything, am I?’ George enquired as he came strolling up with Lily behind him. Lily was now carrying an oddly-shaped large rifle with an oversized barrel slung openly across her back.
‘Getting ready to go,’ Irene said firmly. ‘Where will Lily be wanting to take the shot?’
‘Behind those trucks should do nicely for cover,’ Lily said, without the slightest betraying flicker of expression. ‘You and the other Librarian can come across with me and set yourselves up.’
They followed Lily, with Kai and Hu a few paces behind. Lily unslung her rifle and broke it open, demonstrating the cartridges.
‘How come you found something like this so quickly?’ Evariste said. He was developing a rabbit-in-the-headlights look again.
Lily gave him the sort of smile that would have suited a fox. ‘I’m a Girl Scout at heart, Mr Jones. I’m always prepared. You should see my merit-badge collection.’
Irene was taking the opportunity to check the trucks. They were full of crates, which were laden with unlabelled clear-glass bottles. ‘What’s in here?’ Irene asked, checking that she had what she needed.
One of the gangsters shrugged. ‘Gin,’ he said. ‘Straight from Holland—’
Another rumble drifted through the ground beneath their feet.
‘Distilled downtown in a bathtub, you mean,’ Captain Venner said with a snort. His cops were spreading out to secure the perimeter, but he’d joined what was technically, Irene supposed, the command group for this operation.
‘I’m greatly disappointed in you, Captain,’ George said. ‘It’s a proper high-class operation, even if there’s a possibility it’s not from Holland.’
Irene took a deep breath and nodded. ‘Gin. Right. Very well, gentlemen. Please will everyone stand well clear of blast range. And stay back when things get messy.’
Kai nodded to Irene and Evariste and stepped into the empty space between the trucks. The air around him began to glow. There were gasps from the assembled gangsters and cops, and they drew further back towards the perimeter.
Irene could hear the sound of guns being cocked. ‘Stand down!’ she called. ‘He’s on our side.’
And in a flash of light it wasn’t a human standing there any longer: it was a dragon, perhaps ten yards long, horned and serpentine, like something out of a classical painting. He carried himself with a natural pride that made the humans around him look unfinished and pitiful. The street lamplight gleamed on Kai’s dark blue scales, turning them into sapphires that glittered as he flexed his wings. Behind him the waters of the river seemed to flow faster for a moment, as if encouraged by his presence.
Irene raised her hand in assent, and with a single leap Kai swept up into the night sky, ignoring gravity and mass, moving like a calligraphic streak of ink across a scroll.
Captain Venner was staring in shock at where Kai had been. ‘Don’t tell me he’s one of them too.’
‘What did you think he was?’ Irene demanded. ‘Given what we’d said he was going to do?’
‘I didn’t know,’ Captain Venner muttered. ‘I am not used to people in my city here who can turn off the lights by talking, or who can turn into giant flying lizards!’
‘Are there more of you?’ George asked. His tone was casual, but Irene didn’t need warning signs to imagine the sort of thing he might be planning. ‘Are you all over the place?’