Kylie Chan - Red Phoenix

‘Very quickly. The demons work day and night. Only noise restrictions are holding us back.’

‘This really is working out very well.’

Four weeks later we met in the new conference room on the ninth floor of Hennessy Road.

‘Happy Valley,’ Gold said without any preliminary meeting nonsense. ‘The residents are complaining about the noise of the renovations. They are cancelling their leases and moving out.’

‘Good,’ I said. ‘Offer the remaining residents a reward to leave.’

‘I already did,’ Gold said. ‘The building should be ours by September.’

‘That fits perfectly,’ I said.

‘We need to employ people to look after the units,’ Gold said. ‘Cook, clean, things like that. I thought at first the Disciples could do it themselves—’

‘Of course they can’t,’ John said. ‘They’re exhausted at the end of the day. And some of them are studying as well. We can’t expect them to cook and clean for themselves on top of that.’

‘The Dark Lord is quite correct,’ Gold said. ‘So we need to hire people to help out.’

‘You can’t employ domestic helpers,’ I said. ‘It wouldn’t work.’

‘Why not?’ John said.

‘Have you seen those women on a Sunday in Central? They all meet there. There must be thousands of them—’

‘About eighty thousand, last time I counted,’ Gold said.

‘You were there on a quiet day,’ John said.

I continued, ignoring them. ‘And they’re all discussing their employers. They’d find out in no time flat—’

‘About the unusual nature of the residents of Turtle’s Folly,’ John said. ‘And how everybody seems able to speak Tagalog, regardless of where they’re from, because of the language charm Gold put in.’

Gold and I stared at him, speechless.

Eventually I found my voice. ‘How the hell did you know I call it that?’

John took his glasses off and leaned over the table to glare at me. ‘I know everything that happens on my Mountain.’ He leaned back. ‘I think it’s a good name for Bright Mansions. Very bad move, buying it at the top of the market like that. I’m doing a nice piece of calligraphy. Took me a long time to find a correct translation for the word “folly”.’

‘You’re not.’

‘I am. I’ll have it done in brass and put it over the door.’

‘You’re joking,’ I said.

‘Deadly serious. I’ll buy a couple of stone tortoises and put them on either side of the entrance as well, just to make the point.’

Gold’s mouth flopped open.

‘The Chinese Disciples will refuse to live there,’ I said.

‘They won’t have a choice.’

‘Xuan Wu Xuan Tian Shang Di,’ I said very severely, ‘Celestial Highness, Dark Emperor of the Northern Heavens, if you do this stupid thing your shell is in very serious trouble.’ I glared at him. ‘Simone will have to go in there sometimes, and I do not want to have to explain this to her, particularly about how it relates to your true nature.’

‘My true nature as the egg of a turtle, or my true nature as a motherless bastard?’

Gold made a quiet choking sound.

‘Both!’

‘Oh, all right.’ He leaned back, slipped his glasses on and gave it up. ‘But only for Simone. And I will definitely do it when I come back and she’s old enough to understand.’

‘You will be the one to explain it to her then. Which are you anyway? Turtle or tortoise?’

Gold sounded like he was strangling.

‘Same thing, same essence,’ John said without looking up. ‘Turtle in water, tortoise on land. The Tiger is the essence of all the great cats.’

‘And the Phoenix is bird essence. I understand. What about the Dragon?’

‘Essence of arrogant bastard.’ John gestured with one hand. ‘Gold.’

Gold flipped frantically through his notes. ‘Where were we?’

‘Staff for Turtle’s Folly,’ John said. ‘Emma’s right. Overseas or local domestic helpers are out of the question—they’d find out too much about us. I’ll send some of the Masters out demon-hunting and see what they come up with. Should be okay to put newly tamed low-level demons in there with so many senior Disciples and the Masters to keep an eye on them.’

‘Very good, my Lord,’ Gold said, taking notes.

‘We need to buy a couple of buses to carry the students between Wan Chai and the Valley,’ I said.

‘Easily done, my Lady.’ Gold looked up and shrugged. ‘I have nothing else to do.’

‘I’ll talk to the Masters about a demon-hunting expedition,’ John said. ‘And I’ll need to put that calligraphy in a safe place so you won’t find it and destroy it before I come back.’

‘The Disciples will be out of the building and back on the Mountain by the time you come back,’ I said. ‘There won’t be any place to put it.’

John took his glasses off and put them in their case. ‘I’ll find somewhere.’

About ten o’clock Saturday morning I put the finishing touches to the first draft of my assignment and set it to print in John’s office. I jumped when he spoke into my ear.

I’m going to call you on your mobile. Ready? I put my hand on the phone and picked it up when it rang. ‘Yeah?’

‘Do you have time to come down to Hennessy Road with Leo and Simone? There’s something we all need to do together.’

‘Sure. I need a break from this anyway. Give us twenty minutes.’

‘You’ll need longer than that, I have the car. Gold will drive it up for you. Leo can bring you down.’

‘Okay.’ I hesitated, then changed my mind about mentioning the transport situation. Maybe when Simone started school. ‘See you soon.’

‘You forgot to put your hands on the wheel again,’ Leo said as Gold pulled up in the car.

Gold just grinned and disappeared.

At Hennessy Road, Leo and I took Simone up to the large training room on the fifth floor. Mirrors covered one of the long walls, and vertical blinds shaded the windows on the short wall. John and Gold were waiting for us.

The room was prepared for demon training. The Academy’s demon jar sat in the corner, full of large black beads. Black hand towels were stacked neatly on shelves under the windows.

‘Simone, go with Gold to the top-floor conference room and wait for us there,’ John said.

‘Okay, Daddy.’ Simone took Gold’s hand to leave the room.

‘Now.’ John linked his hands behind his back. ‘Have either of you warmed up?’

Leo and I shared a look, then turned back to John and shook our heads.

‘Good. You are to do this cold, without any preparation. We’ll start at level ten.’ John pulled a black bead out of the jar and threw it onto the floor under the mirrors. ‘Leo.’

The demon grew into human form: a Chinese man in his early twenties, wearing jeans and a plain T-shirt.

Leo moved to the middle of the room, faced the demon and readied himself. He nodded without looking away.

The demon threw itself at Leo. He ducked under it, turned, twisted, and threw it over his shoulder onto its back. He rammed his fist through its face and it dissipated into feathery black streamers.

‘Good,’ John said. ‘Towels on the side.’

Leo collected a towel from the shelves and wiped his hands. He tossed the towel into the wicker laundry basket next to the shelves, then returned to stand next to me.

John pulled another demon out. ‘Emma.’

‘Am I limited to physical?’ I said. ‘If I am, hold off releasing it. I’ll take my ring off.’

‘No limit on what you do,’ John said. ‘Energy, physical, anything. Just take it out.’

I raised my hand and transferred my ring from my finger to the chain around my neck anyway. Then I readied myself in the centre of the room and nodded.