Kylie Chan - Earth to Hell

The Horseman visibly relaxed. ‘So you do know what it means.’

‘Damn straight I do.’

‘What is it?’ I said.

‘He’s promoted me to Number Three,’ Michael said.

‘An honour,’ I said.

Both Michael and the Horseman grimaced.

‘Only if I can defend the title,’ Michael said. ‘Anyone who wants to can challenge me for the right to be Number Three.’

‘Normally a son of that level of precedence would be Immortal,’ the Horseman explained. ‘The current Number Three is an Immortal. Dad could be deliberately trying to stir up trouble for Michael, or he could be sincere and really want to promote him, because he thinks he’s that good. Actually I think he’s genuine, because he wants to patch things up with you, Michael.’

‘Why, Ron?’ Michael said.

The Horseman fell to one knee and saluted me. ‘Lady Emma, Regent of the Dark Northern Heavens. I have a message for you as well, and I think this will explain it.’

‘If it’s about him wanting to come back here, that’s up to Simone,’ I said. ‘She was right about the swearing. He keeps forgetting that she’s only fourteen and it’s really not appropriate to talk like that in front of her.’

‘No, ma’am, I have an invitation.’ He rose and passed me a large white card embossed with gold lettering. There was a red ‘double happiness’ marriage character at the top and gilt around the edges.

I glanced at the card. Rhonda was remarrying the Tiger, and would be Raised at the wedding ceremony and crowned Empress of the Western Heavens. I was invited to the ceremony, to be held in February of next year, just before the Chinese New Year holiday.

‘Thank you,’ I said. ‘Tell the Tiger I’ll send him an RSVP as soon as I’m back from Hell.’

‘Good luck in Hell, ma’am,’ the Horseman said. He nodded to Michael and disappeared.

‘What?’ Michael said.

I passed him the card. He looked at it and his face went grim. He threw it onto the desk. ‘Terrific. To hell with my mother — I’m going with you.’

‘You should talk to her first, Michael.’

He ran one hand over his blond buzz cut. ‘No, I shouldn’t. She’s made her decision, and I’ve made mine. To hell with it.’ He smiled grimly. ‘And to Hell with me. I’d better go and put my weapons in order.’ He saluted me, shaking his hands in front of his face. ‘Lady Emma.’ He disappeared.

Meredith smiled slightly. ‘This is very strange.’

‘What?’

‘He is very big, Emma. Bigger than any half-Shen I have ever seen, short of Simone herself. I would like to examine Rhonda some time soon; she really must be something special. He is bigger than any son of the Tiger should be.’

‘If she was a Shen she would have told us,’ I said.

‘Not necessarily. Many dragons keep their natures a secret from even their closest families. Look at Amy’s father — he was typical. Never told her until she found out she was a dragon by herself.’

‘You think we may have found one of these pure Western dragons that are so elusive?’

‘If she was a Western Shen she would not be able to live in the East for such a long time,’ Meredith said.

‘Unless she’s really big, that is. Michael’s big enough to live in the West.’

‘If Michael is a cross between an Eastern and a Western Shen, then he is something completely new and may be more powerful than anything we have ever seen.’

‘Never happened before?’ I said.

‘Not as far as I know.’ Meredith leaned on the desk and crossed her arms. ‘Actually, it’s good he’s going with you. He’s extremely talented, well trained and completely devoted to Leo. Leo loves him like a son. If anybody can talk Leo into coming out, it’s Michael.’

‘Thanks for coming along too, by the way. I’m glad you’ll be there to back us up.’

‘I’m bound by the rules though, Emma. I can harm no one while I’m there.’

I picked up the invitation card and turned it around in my hands without looking at it. ‘I think I should go unarmed, just in case.’

‘That might be a good idea. You’re there for your brains and your maturity, not your fighting skills. Simone’s not bound by the Celestial rules like I am, and she can destroy anything that we may face in there.’

I glanced into her eyes and spoke softly. ‘But can she destroy me ?’

‘Do you want me to talk to her?’

I threw the card back onto the table. ‘Yes.’

‘I’ll talk to Michael as well. That’s another good reason to take him. If Simone can’t do it, then he can.’

‘He can’t, Meredith.’

‘I think he’d be able to. It would be hard, but he could bring himself to do it if it was absolutely necessary.’

‘You don’t understand, Meredith. I’ve sparred with him, and even when I’m in human form he can’t take me. My Mother form would tear him to bits.’

She hesitated a moment, then spoke softly. ‘You should let us look at it so we can work out what level it is, Emma. We need to know.’

‘Every time I take the form, it controls me a little more. Every time, it’s harder to change back. One day I won’t be able to. I’ll be a Mother, Meredith. I won’t be me any more. I have to avoid taking the form as much as I can. Even if it means not being able to touch Simone.’ I quirked a smile. ‘I’m accustomed to not touching the ones I love. When he comes back, I’ll find it hard to change.’

‘Emma.’ I looked up at her. She gazed into my eyes. ‘Remember his oath?’

I shrugged. ‘Yes, and I know where you’re heading.’

We were both silent for a while.

It was me who finally said it. ‘He vowed to find me. And that means I’ll be lost.’

‘Through the tunnel or around Pok Fu Lam, ma’am?’ Marcus asked. He was driving us to Aberdeen, where we would take the boat to Hell.

I checked my watch: 10 am, Sunday. ‘Aberdeen Tunnel, please,’ I said.

Marcus nodded and pulled away from the kerb.

‘You thought about that one for a while,’ Michael said with amusement.

‘You aren’t limited to regular travel,’ I said. ‘During office rush hour, or race meetings, it can take up to two hours to get through that tunnel. It’s quicker to go all the way around the island through Pok Fu Lam.’

Marcus eased out of the cramped Wan Chai streets around the Academy’s nondescript building and turned left onto Gloucester Road, the main four-lane traffic snarl from Central to Causeway Bay. He carefully negotiated past speeding minibuses and taxis, then did a U-turn under the massive Harcourt Road overpass to take us back in the opposite direction.

As we neared Causeway Bay, the traffic started to negotiate the complicated lanes system that diverted people to different destinations from the most densely occupied part of the island. Marcus stayed in the second lane from the right; if he drifted into a left lane he would be forced to cross the harbour using the Cross-Harbour Tunnel, and the traffic in that lane was already banked back about a kilometre. If he went into the rightmost lane, he would miss the Aberdeen tunnel turn-off and be diverted through Causeway Bay. I smiled slightly as I remembered many lost hours trying to make my way through Hong Kong’s unforgiving traffic system. If you found yourself in the wrong lane too early, you would be locked in by a single line and other drivers would become extremely aggravated if you tried to escape it. Once I’d missed the Aberdeen tunnel turn-off and found myself halfway up the side of the island in Tai Koo Shing before I could make a U-turn and come back again, only to be in the wrong lane when the Aberdeen tunnel sign came up the other way.