Kylie Chan - Blue Dragon

‘It is the Silver Serpent.’

‘You’re joking. The sword’s name is the Serpent ?’

‘That is the Serpent?’ the stone said.

‘Yes,’ he said to both of us. ‘Begin recording again.’

‘My Lord,’ the stone said.

John looked down at his hands. ‘To make Seven Stars resonate, Simone must be able to take a Celestial Form. Then she needs to light all the cauldrons and open all the gates. Do you know what a chakra is, Emma?’

‘I know. But that’s an Indian thing, not Chinese at all. You have dan tian, cauldrons and gates, not chakras.’

‘Same thing,’ John said. ‘Three cauldrons, the three dan tian. Three gates. One Inner Eye. Each corresponds to a chakra, there are seven altogether. There are seven cavities on the sword. One for each star, one for each chakra. She will need to load the sword with her own chakras for it to shine.’

‘That will be an incredibly difficult process to master,’ the stone said with awe. ‘One wrong step and she could destroy herself.’

‘I am well aware of that,’ John said. ‘I think she will be able to do it.’

‘She’ll be projecting her own dan tian into the sword?’ I said softly.

‘Yes. The sword will become perfectly aligned with her. She and the sword will protect each other. Part of her consciousness will enter the sword.’ His eyes turned inwards and he smiled. ‘The experience is incredibly euphoric when you do it right. The destructive power of the loaded weapon is immeasurable.’

‘Under what circumstances would she need to use it, though? There probably won’t be any demons that she’ll need to fear anyway, once she’s all the way there.’

‘You are quite right, Emma,’ John said. ‘She will only need to use it if faced by an overwhelming force.’ He leaned back. ‘Now, go and talk to your parents.’

‘How long do we have, Xuan Wu?’

His face went rigid. ‘Not long.’

Iwent back with my tea and sat at the kitchen table. Simone was amusing my parents with stories of Zhu Que’s chicks.

‘The birds talk?’ my mother said.

‘They’re not really birds—’ I began.

‘Yes, they are, silly Emma,’ Simone said. ‘They’re really birds . Not really children at all.’

‘They look like baby emus,’ I said.

‘What’s an emu?’ Simone said.

‘I should take you to Australia again.’

‘That would be fun,’ Simone said. ‘Maybe after Daddy has gone, and we don’t have to worry about the demons so much. After he’s killed One Two Two.’

My mother made a small sound and I glanced at her. Her face was unreadable.

I turned back to Simone. ‘It’s a deal. Maybe next Christmas. Even if he’s still here, we’ll go and take him for a swim in the sea.’

‘What would you like to do today, Mrs Donahoe?’ Simone said. ‘Where would you like us to take you?’

‘Any suggestions, Emma?’ my father said through his cornflakes.

‘It’s difficult on a Sunday,’ I said.

‘Why, nothing open?’ my mother said.

Simone giggled at that. My mother looked at her with bewilderment.

‘Everything’ll be open, Mum, that’s not the problem,’ I said. ‘Hong Kong is very densely populated, and for many people Sunday is the only day off. So the shopping centres, the streets, everywhere, will be packed.’

‘You can’t move in the middle of Causeway Bay,’ Simone said, still delighted. ‘The ground floor of Sogo is packed. You can’t even get in.’

‘Sogo is a big Japanese department store in Causeway Bay,’ I said. ‘I don’t know why, but everyone agrees to meet at the entrance on a Sunday. It’s absolutely packed to the rafters with people.’

‘Want to go yum cha ?’ Simone said. ‘There’s a couple of places that know Daddy, and we don’t have to take a number.’

‘Oh no, please , Simone,’ I moaned, ‘you know I can’t eat anything there. Hardly any of it’s vegetarian.’

‘What?’ my father said, still through the cornflakes.

I ran my hands through my hair. ‘I’m mostly vegetarian now, guys. Sorry.’

‘It’s because Emma’s becoming Immortal,’ Simone said with relish. ‘Human Immortals are vegetarian. Like Kwan Yin.’

The phone rang. I rose to get it, but John answered it in the study.

‘Tell us about this Immortal stuff, Emma,’ my mother said as I sat back down.

I was silent. I didn’t want to go into detail about it.

‘If a human being attains the Tao, then they become Immortal,’ Simone said, her eyes sparkling. ‘That’s what Emma’s doing.’

‘Tao?’ my father said.

‘The Way,’ I said. ‘It’s complicated. I’d prefer not to talk about it.’

‘You are no fun at all sometimes, Emma,’ Simone said, sounding much more mature than her six years.

John appeared in the doorway and leaned in to speak to us, one hand on either side of the frame. ‘Emma, we have problems.’

My heart sank. ‘Already?’

‘Leo called from the dojo he teaches at on Sundays. It’s in Causeway Bay. Michael’s there. About fifty low-level demons have turned up at the front door seeking sanctuary.’

He stopped and went rigid, his eyes unfocused. Then he snapped back and smiled gently. ‘More have turned up at Turtle’s Folly. And about a hundred appeared outside the car park of Hennessy Road. Altogether, about two hundred demons, all over Hong Kong, all pleading for protection.’

The intercom next to the front door buzzed.

‘Oh my God, no,’ I said.

John answered it.

‘Yes, Barnabas?’ he said. ‘How many? Okay. I’ll be right down.’

He came back to the doorway, leaned in and smiled. ‘About twenty downstairs. We have a busy day ahead of us.’

‘What’s going on, Emma?’ my mother said weakly.

‘What are we going to do?’ I said. ‘I wanted to show my parents around.’

‘We can do that at the same time,’ he said. ‘You finish your breakfast; I’ll go downstairs and sort out the demons here. Then we’ll go to the Folly, then the dojo, then to Hennessy Road.’

‘Do the dojo first,’ I said. ‘It doesn’t belong to us. The owner will be upset if the demons don’t disappear in a hurry. Does he know who you are?’

‘No, you’re quite right. He has no idea who I am, only that I’m one of the best there is. He knows I taught Li. I’ll do downstairs first, and then we can go to Causeway Bay.’

‘Damn,’ I said. ‘What the hell will we do with two hundred demons?’

‘I have no idea,’ John said. ‘All suggestions welcome.’

‘What is this all about, Emma?’ my father demanded.

‘Explain while I go downstairs and sort them out,’ John said.

‘Can’t a Master do this?’ I wailed.

‘Nope. Only a Celestial, and I’m the only one around today. Oh,’ his face cleared, ‘what a good idea. Simone.’

‘Yes, Daddy?’ Simone said through her noodles without turning around.

‘Want to come and have a lesson in demon taming?’

‘ Cool !’ Simone squealed. She jumped up and threw her chopsticks onto the table.

‘I wonder if you can do it too,’ John said, eyeing me appraisingly. ‘Considering what you are. Stone.’

The stone didn’t reply and I tapped it.

‘Yes, my Lady?’

‘Have a look at Emma. Do you think she can tame demons directly now?’

The stone was silent for a moment. ‘Not right now. On the inside she appears to be a perfectly normal human being.’

‘What about the Serpent?’

‘Damn,’ I said softly.

‘Probably,’ the stone said. ‘But right now it’s not there.’

‘Okay,’ John said. ‘Just me and Simone then. Emma, you stay up here and keep your parents company. This will take about half an hour, then we’ll all go down to Causeway Bay. Come on, Simone.’