Kylie Chan - Red Phoenix

Leo sat back down, his eyes not shifting from the Tiger.

‘What, Emma?’ my mother leaned over to whisper. ‘I get the Suzie Wong thing, but the turtle thing?’

‘I’ll explain later,’ I said. ‘Or maybe the Tiger will,’ I added pointedly.

‘Sorry, Emma,’ the Tiger said without a hint of remorse. ‘Too good a chance to miss.’

I looked the Tiger right in the eye. ‘You have offended the honour of myself and my Lord, and if my parents weren’t here I would call you out, Tiger.’

‘Damn,’ the Tiger said softly, his eyes wide with admiration.

‘I’d like to see some temples, if I could,’ my mother said, changing the subject. ‘I’d like to see more of the Hong Kong Harbour too—I’ve heard about it. Some of those handicrafts you brought back last time were wonderful, Emma, I’d like to see more. I’m very interested in Chinese culture, you can show me while we’re here. Things like that.’

‘There aren’t many temples in Hong Kong,’ the Tiger said. ‘Not many at all.’

‘That’s something people say all the time,’ I said. ‘But there are temples everywhere. You just don’t notice them because they’re part of the scenery. How many temples on the Island?’

‘None at all,’ the Tiger said with a grin. ‘There’s a couple in Kowloon, and a couple in the New Territories, that’s all.’

‘There’s the Man Mo temple in Hollywood Road, and the Tin Hau temple in Tin Hau,’ I said. ‘And that’s just the big ones.’

‘How about the Pak Tai on Kennedy Road?’ John said.

The Tiger roared with laughter. My parents were bewildered.

‘Oh my God,’ I said with a huge grin. ‘I completely forgot. I go past that all the time.’ I explained for my parents. ‘It’s a temple in Wan Chai. Very pretty. The temple is dedicated to the Dark Lord of the North, the god who can control the water and keeps the fishermen safe.’ I gestured towards John. ‘Him.’

My parents stared at John, eyes wide.

‘Hey, I’m in there too,’ the Tiger said.

‘One more crack like that last one and I’ll have you taken out,’ I said.

The Tiger didn’t say anything, he just grinned and saluted, shaking his hands in front of his face.

‘It’s a lovely clear night,’ John said. ‘How about we go down to the Peak Tower and have a look?’

‘If you don’t mind, John,’ my father said, sounding weary, ‘I think we’d just like to settle in, talk to our daughter, and work out what we’ll do.’

‘I understand completely,’ John said. ‘We’ll need to rearrange the schedules so that Emma can spend time with you. I can do that, don’t worry about it. Leo and I will work something out. Go. Spend time with Emma. You probably have questions. She can tell you the whole ridiculous story.’

‘Come on, guys,’ I said, rising to lead my parents out. ‘Let him mess up my schedule, I’ll fix it tomorrow.’

‘She’s right, my Lord,’ Leo said softly.

‘My Lord, by your leave,’ the Tiger said, and disappeared.

‘His tail is in serious trouble,’ John said. ‘Unacceptable level of insubordination.’ He sat quietly, musing. ‘I think

I may order him to clean out the basement of Wellington Street. Far too many rats in there, despite the best efforts of the pest-control people.’

My parents stood frozen, staring at where the Tiger had disappeared.

‘Come on, I’ll explain everything. That’s a great idea,’ I said over my shoulder to John. ‘You know he hates the taste of rat.’

‘Don’t know why,’ John said with a grin. ‘My Serpent really likes live rat. I used to spend hours in the basement gorging on them. Since the Serpent left we’ve really had a problem in there.’

‘If I start dreaming about eating rats, your shell is in very serious trouble,’ I said quietly to myself as I took my parents out.

The graduation was being held in a large hall in the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, right next to the entrance to the Central Harbour Tunnel on Kowloon side. It was a huge squatting mass of brown-tiled buildings beside the five-lane entrance to the tunnel.

There was no parking on the grounds of the university for us; instead, we parked in the enormous ten-storey affair right next to the Hung Hom KCR railway interchange and the Hong Kong Coliseum. The Coliseum was a towering upside-down pyramid used for canto-pop concerts.

We took the pedestrian overpass from the car park, walking over the entrance to the Central Harbour Tunnel to the university on the other side. The centre of the campus was open space with the buildings flanking us on all sides. John glanced around appraisingly as we walked through the gardens to the auditorium. I knew what he was thinking.

‘Just remember,’ John said as we parted outside the changing room, ‘we’ll be able to sense anything coming in, and will send either Jade or Gold right to you.’

‘I’ll be fine,’ I said. ‘Go back to the auditorium. Look after my parents. They’re the ones that they’re after.’

‘We are all the ones that they’re after,’ he said. He smiled into my eyes. ‘I am so proud of you.’

‘Just go,’ I said impatiently.

The changing room was packed with people talking loudly and getting ready. I stopped inside the door and checked carefully. As far as I could tell, everybody was an ordinary human. I lined up, received my robes, and then found a corner to drop my gear.

‘Once you are robed, please take your place in the line for the procession. The ceremony will commence shortly,’ Jan said loudly from near the door.

I was right after the Chows. There were about a dozen of them collecting awards. Everybody stopped and carefully smiled for the camera as they received their certificate. I made sure that I did too; John had demanded that I stop so that he could take a photo.

When the ceremony was finished, everybody met and mingled in a reception room. John took photos of me with all the members of our family, even Jade and Gold. Leo gave me a huge hug. Simone was overexcited and starting to tire. My parents couldn’t stop grinning.

‘Time to go home,’ I said to everybody. ‘Enough. Let me return my robes, and we’ll head off.’

I made a quick detour to thank Jan, then went back to the changing room to return the robes. Jade went with me, just in case. Absolutely nothing happened.

We threaded our way back through the gardens to the overpass that would take us back to the Hung Hom car park. There was nobody for miles.

‘Stay alert,’ John said quietly.

‘Can you sense anything?’ I said.

‘No,’ John said, looking around. ‘Anybody else?’

‘Nothing,’ Simone said. Jade and Gold shook their heads silently as they walked beside us, guarding the flanks.

We walked over the Cross-Harbour Tunnel. There were a few people on the overpass, and some hawkers selling fake CDs and designer handbags.

‘Nothing,’ John said softly.

The other end of the overpass turned left into a long, enclosed walkway lit with glaring neon. There weren’t many people there. I began to feel extremely nervous. Our footsteps echoed eerily through the tunnel. It was unusual for the underpass to have so few people. It was normally very busy with people walking from the Polytechnic and Tsim Sha Tsui East to the Hung Hom station.

‘Anything?’ Leo said under his breath. ‘Something doesn’t feel right.’

‘If anything happens,’ John said, ‘Jade, take Simone, Gold, take Mrs Donahoe. Get them out of it.’

Jade and Gold were silent.

‘What?’ I said.

‘Simone is already too big for either of us to carry,’ Jade said, miserable.

‘I suppose I should be pleased,’ John growled. ‘But this is not exactly the best time for you to tell me this.’