Kylie Chan - Heaven to Wudang

‘George Wilson is telling everybody that you’re a lesbian,’ David said with humour. ‘Just thought you’d like to know.’

I shrugged. ‘I’m not surprised. I turned him down.’

‘I wanted to ask you about Taoist philosophy. If all that stuff is real, then it’s worth pursuing.’ He gestured with his chin towards Leo. ‘Taoist Immortal. Who would have believed it? Everybody’s asking who his plastic surgeon is.’

‘Leo didn’t attain the Tao, though, he was Raised by the Jade Emperor.’

David let his breath out in a long gasp. ‘Damn. The Jade Emperor. And I thought meeting the President of the United States was cool. So tell me about pine nuts and spring water.’

‘You’ve been doing some research?’

‘There isn’t much in English. You have the word straight from the source — so, how do you do it?’

I shrugged. ‘I haven’t done it so I don’t know.’

‘Is there anyone I can ask?’

‘Do what?’ Bridget said from where she’d approached behind us.

David turned and smiled at her. ‘Emma’s an expert on Taoist philosophy. I was asking her about it.’

She studied him carefully, her expression severe, then relaxed, and I did too.

‘I noticed you’ve been reading up on Taoism — you bought a lot of books,’ she said. ‘Are you thinking of converting?’

‘You don’t convert to Taoism, it’s not really a religion …’ I began, then changed tack. ‘It’s not an exclusive religion, anyway. Many Taoists are also Buddhists; it’s more like a spiritual philosophy than a religion. Taoists want to achieve Immortality, but once they’ve done that, they’ll go on to try to attain Enlightenment and become a Buddha. They don’t have a god as such …’ I changed direction again. ‘Or a single, all-powerful jealous god that doesn’t like you worshipping anyone else. It’s more about finding yourself and where you fit in the universe. Because when you know who you are, and where you are, and what you are, the rest of Reality just slots into place and you find yourself attuned to it — able to see it and affect it as much as it affects you.’

‘I have good reason to believe that what Taoists teach — about achieving Immortality — is true,’ David said to Bridget.

She studied him for a long moment. ‘As long as it doesn’t interfere with anything else, I suppose.’

‘I take it that means I’m not allowed to go to the top of a mountain and exist on pine nuts and spring water any time soon,’ he said with a grin.

She tapped him on the shoulder. ‘Don’t you dare. I need help taking the boys to soccer on the weekend.’

David rose. ‘I’ll ask you more about it later, Emma.’

‘It’s traditional for a Taoist to fulfil his or her duty, then pursue the Tao,’ I said. ‘Raise a family, see to their wellbeing, then take themselves off, as you said, to the top of a mountain.’

‘I was thinking Spain for our retirement, actually,’ Bridget said. ‘I don’t think there are any mountains there.’

‘Pyrenees darling, best skiing on the Continent,’ he said. ‘You can retire to caring for our visiting grandchildren, and I’ll study Taoist philosophy.’

She grimaced theatrically. ‘Grandchildren? Don’t wish that on me yet, Phillip’s only fourteen.’ She gestured towards the podium. ‘The bidding starts soon, honey, better get up there and do your stuff.’

David nodded to me and straightened his suit. ‘Duty calls, Emma, let’s see some money raised for these kids.’ He held his hand out and I shook it.

Bridget smiled. ‘Go do your thing, Mr Hawkes, and Ms Donahoe and I will discuss the best places to retire.’

He bent and kissed her on the cheek. ‘Don’t bother asking her, I don’t think she’ll share hers.’ He winked at me and strode away.

‘Please don’t set him on a path that will ruin his family,’ Bridget said mildly without looking away from David, who was loping up onto the dais. ‘I need him.’

‘Don’t worry, Bridget, I have too much respect for you to do anything like that,’ I said, also watching David as he introduced the auctioneer. ‘I’ll give him the information he asks for, but I know that his family needs him.’

She turned, quickly hugged me and kissed my cheek. ‘Thanks, Emma.’

The auctioneer moved up to the lectern and David returned to the floor to sit in front of the bidders.

‘We’re up,’ I said to Bridget. ‘Time to spend some money.’

When the auction was over, most of the guests hung around chatting, but Simone had spent a long day in school and we decided to head home to the Peak. We’d return to the Mountain in the morning after she’d rested. We paid for the parking at the shroff office under the Convention Centre and made our way to the car. Our footsteps echoed eerily in the car park; there weren’t many other people around.

A loud bang reverberated around the concrete walls. There was a horrible wet splat sound and Michael staggered. Someone was shooting at us.

I quickly raised my arms and summoned chi armour, which snapped into existence around me. Then I grabbed Michael and headed for the car. Leo threw himself out of the wheelchair, wrapped himself around Simone and pushed her towards the car as well.

‘Get low and run alongside the wall!’ Leo shouted.

A bullet hit my chi armour in the middle of my back and I staggered at the impact. There was a metallic ping as the bullet hit the concrete, its energy spent. Another bullet hit the floor behind us and shards of concrete sprayed across the back of my legs.

I half-pushed, half-dragged Michael towards the car, squeezing between the backs of parked cars and the wall. When we got there, I dragged him to the side and propped him against the concrete. My chi armour disintegrated; it would only hold for a minute at most and I’d done well to keep it around me that long.

‘Come on, Simone!’ Leo said, his voice full of urgency. ‘Disable that thing.’

‘What?’ Simone said.

‘Someone’s shooting at us,’ Michael said through his teeth. ‘I’m hit, I can’t … I’m sorry.’

He slid down the wall of the car park to sit, pulling me down with him. I pulled his jacket away and wrenched open his dress shirt; he’d been hit in the abdomen just below his ribs. Leo took off his tuxedo jacket and held it out to me. I wadded it into a rough pad and shoved it into Michael’s shirt.

‘Oh, shit, I didn’t realise,’ Simone said. ‘Give me a second …’ She hissed a long breath. ‘There are four enormous Snake Mothers out there, and they’re headed straight for us.’

‘Stop talking and disable that gun!’ Leo said.

‘I can’t see it,’ Simone said. ‘Michael …’ She knelt next to us and peered into his face. ‘How bad is it?’

‘I can’t heal it,’ Michael said, gasping. ‘There’s a lot of damage.’

One of the Mothers called from the centre of the car park lane: ‘Come out and play, little humans. We want to see what you can do.’

‘You take Emma, I’ll take Michael,’ Leo told Simone. ‘Let’s get them out of here.’

Simone put her hand on my arm and concentrated again. ‘Blocked,’ she said. She moved her head from side to side. ‘I think one of Six’s stones is in here somewhere.’

David Hawkes’s voice called out from the edge of the car park. ‘Emma, are you here? Emma, they say there’s a gas leak —’

The gun went off again and Bridget shrieked. I crawled towards the end of the car to see: David was lying on the ground, and he looked dead. Bridget stood over him, mouth open, frozen and screaming. Then they shot her too and she fell next to him, whimpering with pain.

‘They killed humans,’ Leo said.

‘What do you want?’ I called. ‘Don’t kill anybody. Let’s do a deal.’