Kylie Chan - Earth to Hell

I turned to see, his hand still behind my neck. The Serpent raised its head in the water out past the breakers. It was enormous; it must have been more than twenty metres long, a black shadow against the darkening sky.

He smiled down at me again. ‘I think I know you.’

‘Emma.’

He tasted the name. ‘Emma.’

‘Xuan Wu,’ I said. ‘John.’

Something changed in his eyes. ‘Hello, Emma.’

I ran my fingers over his face. I floated my fingertips along his throat, revelling in the silken skin. ‘Hello, John.’

‘How long have I been gone?’

‘Eight years.’

‘You haven’t changed at all.’

‘Are you ready to return, John?’

He looked out at the surf. ‘My Serpent is there.’

‘You haven’t rejoined,’ I said. ‘You’re still in two pieces.’

He sagged so slightly it was almost undetectable. ‘It hurts.’

‘I know it hurts, love. Go to it.’

He glanced down at me. ‘But then I would leave you alone. You and …’ His face went strange.

‘Simone,’ I said.

He jerked as if he had been hit, grimacing with pain. He spun and ran to the surf. When he reached the water he changed into the Turtle and pulled himself into the waves.

I watched him go without moving.

Then I woke up.

I shook my hands with frustration as I tried to push them into the voluminous sleeves of the Tang-style robe. Mr Li had made it out of black silk with gold chrysanthemums, which somehow seemed to have become my signature fabric. The sleeves were wider than they were long, probably about a metre wide, and designed to hide a noblewoman’s hands as she never needed to use them; servants should do everything for her. Maybe I should have let Jade come into the changing room with me to help after all. I finally found the openings, then quietly cursed as I drew the belt around the robe.

Gold’s child appeared at eye level next to the mirror. ‘Aunty Jade says hurry up.’

‘You should not be in here,’ I said. ‘This is a changing room.’

The stone grew two long appendages and pretended to cover its nonexistent eyes. ‘Can’t see anything, Lady Emma.’

‘I’m done,’ I said, and raised my arms to the sides. Now that I had the robe on, the sleeves added to the volume of the kimono-style dress, making it elegant and flowing. Unfortunately the style didn’t suit me at all and I looked ridiculous. My more generous Western shape made me appear fat and my breasts made the front opening bulge out. I looked awful.

I sighed and walked out of the change room. Jade and her three children were waiting for me next to the cushioned seats. The children were in dragon form, chasing each other around the waiting area, but Jade was in human form and wearing a robe similar to mine with willowy elegance.

I raised my arms. ‘I look completely ridiculous.’ I could see from Jade’s and Mr Li’s faces that they agreed with me.

Jade grimaced delicately. ‘Perhaps a different colour?’

Simone came out of her change room. She wore a robe of dark shining indigo silk with twining golden flowers over a gold under robe and closed with a wide elaborately embroidered gold belt. The gold brought out the hues of her tawny hair. Wide silk ribbons of a brighter shade of blue, embroidered with golden chrysanthemums, decorated the neckline either side of her throat and fell as panels down the front of the robe; similar ribbons edged the enormously full sleeves.

She looked spectacular. She sighed when she saw me. ‘Oh dear, Emma.’

Mr Li raised one hand and my robe changed to the same dark blue as Simone’s. Jade winced. The robe changed to red and Simone said, ‘Ick.’

The robe rotated through a variety of colours and patterns.

‘Doesn’t work,’ Jade said with resignation.

‘Well, that’s the last acceptable style,’ Mr Li said. ‘We have to choose one of them. I think the Qing may have worked slightly better than this but it still made her look fat. She is approaching middle age now, and even though she is fit her figure reflects this. Her breasts are too large —’

I snorted with derision and opened my mouth to say something about late thirties not being middle-aged, but he continued unfazed.

‘Nothing seems to suit her and I don’t have time to adapt a style for her. We should have tried this earlier, I would never have expected this problem.’

I turned away. ‘Forget it then. I’m wearing my jeans and a shirt and the Jade Emperor can deal with it. Or better yet,’ I turned back and grinned at them, ‘I’ll wear my armour and carry my sword and let him deal with that .’

Jade and Mr Li both lit up.

‘Can she do that?’ Simone said quickly.

‘Even more appropriate,’ Jade said. ‘Much more suitable than a Tang robe. Lady Emma is a warrior.’

Mr Li eyed the bolts of silk on the wall appraisingly. ‘Take that one off. We’ll make a lighter under robe for the armour. It’ll still need to be Tang style, but I think we can get away …’ He wandered off, talking to himself.

‘Brilliant, Emma, you’ll look magnificent,’ Simone said.

‘I’ll put your hair up in a simple spike, same as the Dark Lord would wear into battle,’ Jade said. ‘Not —’

‘Tortoiseshell,’ I finished for her.

‘No, ebony, I think,’ she said, and we shared a smile. ‘When the Dark Lord returns, you two will be a matched set. Dark Lord and Dark Lady, both warriors together.’

I felt a shot of pain and sighed.

‘Don’t worry, Emma, he’ll come back,’ Simone said.

‘Any sign of him?’ I asked.

She unfocused, snapped back and shook her head.

‘I’ll fetch your armour, ma’am,’ Jade said, then called to the baby dragons, ‘You kids behave.’ She nodded to me. ‘Be right back.’ She disappeared.

Simone and I sat on the cushioned benches and waited for them to return.

‘He visited me in a dream last night,’ I said.

Simone sighed and put her chin on her hand without replying.

‘What’s the matter, Simone?’ I said. ‘You’ve been quiet ever since we found out we were going to see the Jade Emperor.’

Simone didn’t move or look at me, her chin still in her hand. Her eyes turned inward, remembering. ‘When I was very little, Daddy took me and Mummy to Heaven. He thought I’d enjoy seeing him at “work”. Mummy stayed in our apartment in the Palace, she hated it. Daddy changed …’ She ran her hand over her face. ‘Daddy changed into his Celestial Form, and picked me up and carried me to the Grand Audience Hall. You have no idea what it was like, Emma.’ She turned to gaze into my eyes. ‘You’ve seen it, you know how big his Celestial Form is. He carried me so far from the ground, and I didn’t know him as Daddy. He was so huge ! And black, and he didn’t look like Daddy, he was just a giant carrying me so high up that I was afraid, and he walked with these huge strides — it was incredibly scary. I cried, and he did something to me to make me quiet, but I was still …’ She took a deep breath. ‘I was still terrified. Then he took me into the Grand Audience Hall and it was full of dragons and other Shen — animals and nature spirits, all sorts were there to see me, staring at me — and then we went up to the Jade Emperor, and he was in Celestial Form too, and Daddy handed me over to him.’ She smiled wryly. ‘Apparently, the Jade Emperor thought I was adorable. I was bound by Daddy, so I couldn’t move or speak, or cry. I just looked at the Jade Emperor as he held me. He was bigger than Daddy and way scarier.’ She shook her head. ‘It took me a long time to get over that. Even now, I think if I saw Daddy’s Celestial Form, I wouldn’t see it as him, just as this monster that bound me and carried me away.’