Kylie Chan: Red Phoenix

I laughed, but Gold was obviously horrified and made weird choking noises.

‘Go and start the arrangements,’ John said to Gold. ‘Tell the Tiger we’ll have those Disciples out of his fur in no time. Come back when you’ve started the process and we’ll commence the rebuilding. It’ll be much easier without any staff or students present, just a skeleton crew of guards. Oh. Emma.’

‘My Lord.’ Gold disappeared. ‘What, John?’

‘I can finally have you teaching. You and Leo. We are fearfully short of junior Masters. You and Leo will be perfect. He can start them on hand-to-hand and weapons, and you can start them on energy work. The senior Masters are wasted teaching the basic stuff. This is excellent.’

‘Don’t be ridiculous. I’ve been learning less than a year myself, and I have to look after Simone.’

‘No, after Simone goes to school, you’ll have plenty of time, and by September this year you’ll be as good as any junior Master on the Mountain.’ John leapt up, obviously excited.

‘Wait a second!’ I shouted. ‘You didn’t even bother to ask me! Who the hell do you think you are?’

John stopped halfway to the door and didn’t move.

‘Well?’

He spoke softly without turning towards me. ‘For thousands of years others have been obeying my orders without question. I have precedence over nearly everybody in Creation. I’ve developed a bad habit of expecting to be obeyed.’ He dropped his head and shook it, still turned away. ‘I am so sorry, love.’

‘You have precedence over nearly everybody? Don’t you have any friends who are equal to you in precedence?’

He turned back to me. ‘The truth? No. The Jade Emperor is my master, I serve him. Apart from that, nobody.’

‘All your friends have to obey you if you tell them to do something?’

He gazed into my eyes. ‘Yes. Even the other three Winds must obey me. I am their Sovereign. The White Tiger is my friend, but there is still a line there, and both of us are aware of it.’

My heart twisted. ‘It must be very lonely for you.’

He snapped out of it and spoke with forced cheerfulness. ‘My number is one, Emma. It is my nature to be alone.’ He went to the doorway and bellowed, ‘ Leo !’

I winced. ‘Can’t you call him silently, John? Do you have to yell like that?’

Leo immediately appeared in the doorway; he must have been in the hall. ‘Keeps me on my toes, my Lady.’ He leaned against the doorframe with his arms folded across his chest. ‘ She’s your equal,’ he said to John. ‘She’s more than a match for you.’ He gestured, palm-up, towards me. ‘And she won’t obey you if she chooses not to. Why don’t you just ask her if she wants to teach?’

John turned back to me. ‘Will you join my Academy as Master and teach energy work for me?’

‘I’d be delighted.’

Leo didn’t move from the doorframe. ‘See? That wasn’t hard, was it? Now feel free to ask me.’

‘Leo, when the Academy is up and running, you will teach the juniors weapons and hand-to-hand, and that is an order,’ John said with force.

Leo saluted with a huge grin. ‘My Lord. I’ve been teaching on my days off for a while already. It would be great to teach students who are good enough for the Mountain.’

‘I didn’t know that, Leo,’ I said, impressed.

‘I didn’t either. Well done, Leo, true initiative. Come and sit, and I’ll tell you all about it.’ John returned to the table.

Leo sat and leaned his arms on the table, listening attentively. ‘My Lord? My Lady?’

‘Oh, will you cut that out, Leo?’ I said. ‘We’ve been friends far too long for this.’

‘Keeps you on your toes as well, my Lady,’ he said with a grin.

‘Leo, if I promise never to give you a direct order, will you promise to stop using the honorific?’

Leo’s grin widened. ‘Nope.’

‘Bastard,’ I hissed under my breath.

‘I heard that, my Lady,’ Leo said loudly with relish.

‘You two can have this out later in the training room with weapons of choice,’ John said. ‘But no chi. One hole in the wall is quite enough.’

He saw my reaction and waved me down. ‘And that is an order, as Master to student, Emma. Take it into the training room. Leo.’

‘My Lord?’

‘I don’t know how much you heard while you were eavesdropping in the hallway…’

Leo opened his mouth to protest, and John continued, ignoring him.

‘…but we are moving the Celestial Wudangshan Academy here to Hong Kong while we rebuild. The Disciples will live in my building in Happy Valley, and training will take place in the building on Hennessy Road.’

‘That’s a brilliant solution, sir,’ Leo said with admiration.

‘It was Emma’s idea.’

Leo glanced sharply at me. I shrugged.

‘How old are the students you’ve been teaching?’ John said.

‘Kids,’ Leo said. ‘Some of them don’t have much of a home life. I teach them the Arts, it gives them some direction and discipline. I feel I’m giving something back, I’ve gained so much here.’

‘Are any of your students suitable to replace you?’ John said. ‘A young man or woman with strength and integrity, who has the talent to go far? I could take them as a student here and bring them on, and they could be ready to help guard Simone after both you and I are dead.’

‘Geez,’ I said softly.

‘The students on the Mountain are quite old, Emma,’ John said. ‘They must be at least sixteen, and I prefer them to be either eighteen or twenty-one, whatever the majority is in their home state, when I take them. Having a younger student come here to learn directly from me would be ideal.’

‘I’ve had a young man in mind for a while,’ Leo said. ‘Very young, very talented. American like me, half-Chinese, but his Chinese father took off and left him and his mother alone. Been drifting, a bit lost, if you know what I mean. I think he’d be perfect.’

‘Is he free to take up duties with us and live-in?’ John said. ‘Would his mother mind?’

‘I think his mother would be thrilled to have him off the streets.’

‘Straight?’ I said.

Both of them stiffened. ‘What does that have to do with anything?’ Leo said sharply.

‘Nothing at all. I’d just like to know.’

‘Straight,’ Leo said suspiciously.

‘How old is he?’ I said pointedly, and now they could see where I was going. John glanced at Leo.

‘Fifteen,’ Leo said. ‘I hadn’t thought of that. Maybe I should ask around my other friends instead.’

‘No, bring him in,’ John said. ‘Let me see him anyway. First impressions are important. If he’s your first choice, then he is worth looking at.’

The ceiling was very low in the dim bathroom. I wiped my hands on the towel and turned around.

An enormous black snake, at least half a metre across, writhed across the shower cubicle and down the wall towards me. I couldn’t see the head, but I didn’t bother looking for it. I didn’t scream. I just ran.

I threw the door open, charged out, and slammed it shut again. There was a jade bolt on the door and I pushed it into the frame. But jade was really brittle, and if the snake wanted to come out it could.

I ran out of my room and tore down the dark hallway.

I woke up gasping.

John poked his head around my bedroom door. ‘Simone’s asleep. Want to come with me to check the work at Hennessy Road?’

I pulled away from my computer. ‘Sure.’ I gestured towards the book in his hand. ‘How far did you get?’

He opened the book and held it at arm’s length to read it. ‘Eeyore losing his tail.’