I moved my face right into his. ‘A turtle egg.’
He rolled onto his back again and shook with silent laughter. I pulled myself on top and straddled him. He brushed his hands over my back and drifted them over my shoulders.
‘I wanted to see how long I could hold out,’ he said. ‘I think I lasted about twice as long that time. But you were no help at all. You like pushing me over the edge, despite my best efforts to retain control.’
I leaned my arms on his chest and put my nose right next to his. ‘Don’t bother.’
He kissed me. I closed my eyes and drifted into him, and then suddenly I knew. I snapped open my eyes and jerked back. He didn’t move; he watched me silently, his face expressionless.
Neither of us said anything.
I threw myself on top of him and held him tight. I kissed him frantically, and he returned it just as frantically, because we knew. We both knew. It was perfectly clear. The truth was obvious.
This was our last chance.
I jerked awake. I’d been half asleep in his strong arms, my own wrapped around him, our bare skin touching wherever it could. I had a sudden inspiration. I carefully looked up at him: he was dozing, his noble face serene. I gave him a tremendous push and completely launched him out of the bed, his long hair flying. He woke before he hit the floor, landed on one hand, somersaulted, and touched down lightly on his feet into a long defensive position.
I didn’t give him a chance to do anything. I threw myself at him, both feet aimed straight at his chest.
His face didn’t move. He caught my feet and turned me over. I somersaulted with the movement, landed back on the bed, and jumped right over the top of his head. He spun to face me.
I went for him with a series of roundhouse kicks, one after the other, as fast as I could. He easily blocked them all. On about the fifth one he was close to the wall, so he grabbed my foot again and attempted to flip me over.
I wrapped my other foot around his hand and used the energy centres to twist him, trying to take him off his feet. It didn’t work; he moved with the force, rolled, flew back upright, and threw my foot away.
I used the energy centres again and this time, instead of moving away, I moved closer to him. I landed in front of him, spun, grabbed his arm, pushed, twisted and threw him onto his back.
‘That,’ he said, holding out one hand for me to help him up, ‘was absolutely pathetic. I’ve seen first years do better.’
I reached down, took his hand and jerked him right into me.
He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me close. I put my hands on his back and pulled myself into him. He smiled down at me. ‘I made you a promise a long time ago. Want to try?’
‘No, of course not,’ I said. ‘Don’t waste your energy. We should take the chance to do some hand-to-hand instead.’
He shrugged. ‘Not a problem. Won’t take too much energy down here.’
‘You sure?’ I said, eyeing him suspiciously.
He squeezed me briefly. ‘Of course. Move back, give me room.’
I released him and moved away. He lowered his head, concentrated and took Celestial Form.
He was nearly four metres tall, his hair a wild tangle around his head. His face was square and dark and ugly, with a long thin black beard. He wasn’t wearing armour; his traditional black robes flowed around him, held at the waist by a wide black belt.
He held his arms out. ‘Try.’ His voice sounded exactly as it always did.
‘This is weird,’ I said. ‘I’ve never touched the Celestial Form.’ I hesitated. ‘It doesn’t feel like you.’
He bent so that his face was level with mine. He looked me in the eye and his eyes crinkled up.
‘Okay, it’s you,’ I said. I spun, grabbed his arm and threw him onto his back, the robes flying everywhere as he hit. I didn’t give him time to rise; I quickly moved to sit on his chest. It was like sitting on a horse, he was so big.
‘Freud would have a field day,’ I said, then moved my face into his and kissed him. It wasn’t as good with something so huge; he was far too big and the beard felt strange.
He put his enormous hands onto my back and then circled my waist. He gently pushed me so that I slid down his body, moving easily on the silk robes. He raised himself on his elbows to see my reaction, his expression full of amusement.
I’d wondered about that, and now I knew. The Celestial Form was complete and he was huge
everywhere
.
I grinned wickedly and climbed back up to his face. This was interesting.
‘Can you shrink down to about three metres tall?’ I whispered.
He became smaller beneath me. Now it was
very
interesting.
‘Tell me if it’s too much,’ he whispered. ‘I can change my size.’
‘I wonder if Louise knows about the Tiger’s Celestial Form,’ I wondered out loud.
‘They all do,’ he said. ‘But his Celestial Form requires more than one.’
‘One what?’
He smiled gently. ‘Wife.’
‘What about you?’ I said, running my hand through the wild tangle of silken hair around his head.
‘I’m sure one of you is more than sufficient,’ he said, brushing his hands up and down my back.
I leaned closer. ‘How do I get you out of these robes?’ I said, fingering the black silk at his neck.
‘You don’t,’ he said, and the robes were gone. The skin of his Celestial Form was dark all over. Not completely black, like Leo; more a dark silken mahogany colour. It still felt smooth and fine, stretched over the toned muscles, same as his human form. The Celestial Form was as magnificent as the human form, but on a grander scale.
Everything
was on a grander scale.
I traced my finger over the muscles of his chest, enjoying the silken feeling, then sat back and admired him. He watched me with amusement.
‘John Chen Wu,’ I said, throwing my arms around his neck, ‘you never cease to amaze me.’
He sat up and towered over me, then bent so that his mouth was next to my ear, his beard tickling my throat. His voice was very soft as he put his hands under my thighs and lifted me. ‘Good.’
I cuddled into him and he pulled his arm tighter around my shoulder. I brushed my hand over his chest. He was easier to hold in human form.
‘Promise me you’ll come back for me,’ I said.
‘I promise.’
‘I wish I knew how long it will take.’
‘So do I.’ His voice was a low rumble through his chest, and I could feel his heart beating, strong and slow. ‘I will return for you.’
‘I have a feeling,’ I said.
‘So do I.’
‘What’s the line? “I have a very bad feeling about this.”’
He laughed softly, his chest moving beneath my head. ‘It never ceases to astonish me how perfectly innocent expressions quickly become clichéd. With
modern media the way it is, very soon all of language will become one huge cliché.’
‘There’s a lot of stuff waiting for us just around the corner.’
He shifted slightly to look down at me. I twisted my head to see his face. I could tell from his expression that I was right.
He squeezed my shoulders. ‘We will make it through this. The greatest prizes require the greatest effort. And I will find you, and Raise you, and marry you, and take you to live on my Mountain. I promise.’
I lowered my head into the side of his chest. ‘I want to see the Mountain.’
‘I know,’ he said with a sigh. ‘It is very hard not being able to take you there, not being able to see it myself. The photographs that Gold brings do not capture the true essence of the Celestial Mountain.’ He wriggled down to make himself more comfortable and pulled me tighter. ‘It drains the household Shen far too much to take humans backwards and forwards. Jade nearly killed herself when the Celestials moved the students to the Western Palace; and, of course, being a dragon all she did was take herself away and hide without telling anybody.’
‘Is that what happened to her,’ I said. ‘I wondered where she’d gone; she was away for a couple of weeks. It must be a very long way.’
‘It is about as far as anywhere,’ John said. ‘It is further than any part of the Celestial. It is a very, very long way so that it is difficult for demons to get there.’ He squeezed me. ‘You are already too big inside for any but the largest Shen to take you. I doubt if even the Tiger or the Dragon could take you now.’
‘You’re joking,’ I whispered.
‘You are the finest human student it has ever been my privilege to teach.’
‘You’re just saying that because you want to get into my pants,’ I said, twisting my fingers in his hair where it fell in a wild tangle over both of us. ‘Unethical, you know, student–teacher relationships.’
‘Happens all the time on the Mountain,’ he said, amused. ‘Both the students and the Masters have the wisdom and discipline to keep professional and personal completely separate, otherwise they would not be on the Mountain in the first place.’
‘I noticed,’ I said. ‘But Leo would never touch any student.’
‘Leo is the wisest of us all.’ He pulled me in again and sighed. ‘We have to go soon.’
‘I’d like to return here some day.’
He rolled over to face me and ran his hand along my arm. ‘You will. I promise you. And you will one day be presented to the King of the Dragons as my Empress, and you will see the finest undersea palace in existence.’
‘Do you have one?’ I said. ‘You’re Water.’
‘I have a small holiday place under the North Pole, only about ten rooms,’ he said. ‘Cold and dark, the way I like it. I use it to get away sometimes, to have time alone. I don’t need anything bigger. I spend most of my time on my Mountain and in the Northern Heavens. When I have a choice, that is.’
‘Holy shit, you have a
Fortress of Solitude
at the North Pole,’ I said, barely controlling the giggles.
‘I don’t understand,’ he said, bemused.
I pulled myself into him. He put his arms around me and buried his face in my hair.
‘You have one last chance if you wish,’ he said into my hair. ‘We have time, and you know that I have the ability.’
I didn’t look up at him. I left my cheek against his chest. ‘Can we just stay here like this?’
‘It is what I would prefer as well.’
We held each other close.
He sat upright and levered his long legs over the edge of the bed. He tapped me on the shoulder. ‘The Dragon’s here to take us back.’ He rose and pulled on his pyjama pants. I giggled. ‘What?’ he said.
‘I don’t have any pants,’ I said, sitting cross-legged on the bed and lifting the remains of my shorts. ‘After we’re married I’ll have my entire wardrobe made with Velcro fastenings, otherwise I’ll spend my whole time buying new clothes.’
‘Good idea,’ he said, turning away and concentrating. ‘Michelle…’ He stopped.
‘Michelle what?’ I said gently.
He hesitated and looked down.
‘It’s okay, tell me.’
He looked back up at me and smiled. ‘Michelle enjoyed having new clothes made. But she’d shoot me anyway.’
‘I wish I could have met her.’
A light cotton robe appeared on the bed next to me. ‘Wear that,’ he said.
‘No way am I riding the Dragon wearing that,’ I said fiercely.
‘Put it on anyway,’ he said. ‘They’ll have something else for us.’
I rose and slipped on the robe. He approached to help me, pressing himself into me from behind while he wrapped the belt around my waist. He pushed his face into my neck, then shoved his hand inside the front of the robe and ran it over me, making me gasp. My skin burned in trails where his fingers touched me. He gently drew the top of the robe down over my shoulders and ran kisses over my skin, making me writhe with need.
Both of us breathed heavily as he pushed into me from behind. I felt him hard against my back. He ran his hands under the hem of the robe and drifted his fingertips up my thighs and further. My knees went weak and I sagged as he held me.
‘To hell with it,’ he said, yanking the robe up and pushing me forward to bend me over the bed. ‘They can wait.’
I didn’t have the breath to say anything. But I still hoped they didn’t hear me.
O
nce again Leo couldn’t meditate on the boat back to Hong Kong from Macau. I sat next to him on the couch in the lounge and moved to take his hand, but he pulled it away.
‘Tell me what happened,’ I said.
He closed his eyes and pretended to meditate, his dark face rigid with concentration.
‘They found out, didn’t they.’
He didn’t move.
‘What did they do to you?’
He remained completely still.
‘One of the Celestials could help you, you know. Meredith could clear it all up for you.’
‘Not an issue,’ he said, then threw himself up and stalked down the stairs into the cabin at the front of the boat.
I moved to sit near John, and he looked at me over the top of his book. ‘Do you know what happened?’ I said.
‘No. He’s never told anybody. Most of them think that somebody sabotaged the seatbelt in the helicopter rescue simulation.’
That was too horrible to be true. ‘I know about that,’ I said. ‘They put you in a mock helicopter, strapped in,
high above a big pool. Then they tip it upside down and drop it into the water. You have to release your own seatbelt and swim out after you’re submerged, still unsure about which way is up. Sounds terrifying.’
‘Imagine what it would be like if the seatbelt wouldn’t unfasten,’ John said, turning back to his book. ‘And the safety crew were hanging back, enjoying the sight of watching you drown, only rescuing you when it was obvious you were in serious trouble.’
‘No. They’re much too professional to do something like that.’
‘That’s where the money is. Some of the Celestials agree with you, that the crews are more professional than that. There’s also money on a Nitrox accident at very extreme depth.’
‘They have a book running on it?’
‘Since Leo arrived and it became obvious.’
‘That is so wrong.’
He shrugged almost imperceptibly. ‘Most of my staff are Chinese, Emma.’
‘You don’t have money on it, do you?’
‘I’m running the book.’
‘Oh my God, you
bastard
!’ I hissed. ‘Does Leo know?’
‘Yep. He finds it highly amusing. I think he asked Gold to wipe the records in the States so that nobody will ever know.’
‘Good.’ I jumped up and went to talk to Simone and Michael at the back of the boat.
I stood against the long wall of the training room back at the Peak, unsure. We hadn’t invited the Dragon along; we wanted to see what would happen first, just the two of us.
‘Let’s try it on a little one,’ John said. He reached into the jar. ‘Level five.’ He glanced up at me, eyes
sparkling. ‘It was a level three that nearly broke your nose that first time. Now you can handle a whole battalion of these with one hand.’
He threw the demon under the mirrors, and it formed: a normal-looking Chinese female. He released it and it went for me.
I generated black chi and threw it at the demon. The demon imploded completely, taking my chi with it—a visible suction into a shrinking black hole that quickly disappeared. The chi was gone.
John didn’t move at all. Then he pulled another demon out of the jar. ‘Do that again.’
He threw the demon onto the floor. It was a level ten, a small humanoid in True Form.
‘Can you lose that much chi without draining yourself?’ he said.
‘Yep,’ I said. ‘Not a problem at all. Let it go.’
He released the demon, it went for me, and I threw black chi at it.
It melted like a wax sculpture, losing its form slowly, the black stuff oozing into a puddle on the ground. The puddle moved towards me and I realised with a jolt of horror that the demon was still alive.
‘Black again,’ John said.
I threw another bolt of black chi at it and it reformed and shook its head.
‘Again,’ John said. ‘Stop if you become too drained.’
I threw black chi at the demon and it imploded, disappearing completely. But this time the chi returned to me.
‘This is ridiculous!’ I said. ‘It’s different every time.’
‘Fascinating,’ John said. ‘Want to try something bigger? How’s your energy level?’
‘Let’s try a level twenty,’ I said. ‘I’ll hit it with ordinary chi to top myself up if I’m too drained.’ I stopped dead as I understood. ‘If I can use both types of
chi alternately, I’ll never drain myself or explode from absorbing too much. If I balance it out correctly, I’ll be able to use energy for as long as I like.’
‘Precisely,’ John said, and reached into the jar. He pulled out a bead, threw it under the mirrors, and it formed. It was a small cockroach, about a third of a metre long.
‘Oh God, you hate me, Xuan Wu,’ I said, running my hands through my hair.
‘Let’s see what the black chi does to one of these,’ he said. He released the insect and it waved its feelers at me.
‘Don’t you dare turn,’ I said softly. ‘I hate you things.’
It raced towards me and I hit it with a big ball of black chi. Nothing happened. Damn, now I had to take it out hand-to-hand; my weapon was too far away.
‘Shit!’ I shouted. ‘I don’t want bug goo all over my hands!’ I hit it with a huge ball of gold chi instead and it exploded into feathery streamers of black stuff. Some of it hit my pants, but not enough to worry me.
‘You okay?’ John said.
‘Fine. Let’s try that again. Another level twenty.’
‘Another bug?’
‘Yeah, I think so, then we’ll try a humanoid.’
‘Okay.’ John shuffled around inside the jar. ‘Here we are.’ He threw the bug demon onto the mat under the mirror and it formed. He released it and it went straight for me.
I hit it with black chi and the bug changed into a miniature Mother, only about a metre tall. It slithered towards me.
‘Again,’ John said.
I hit it with black chi again, and it exploded exactly as if it had been hit with gold chi, returning the energy to me.
‘Different every time,’ I said with exasperation. ‘This is ridiculous.’
John shuffled in the jar and pulled out a humanoid. He tossed it in front of the mirrors and it formed. He released it and it went for me. I hit it with black chi and it changed into a young human Chinese female of about sixteen years old.
She fell to her knees. ‘I plead! I swear allegiance! I am yours!’
‘Get up,’ John said.
The demon didn’t move.
‘Rise,’ I said, and the demon shot to its feet. ‘Go and take the Dark Lord’s hand.’
John waited patiently with his hand out. The demon winced. It sidled towards him and took his hand. Nothing happened.
John’s eyes widened. ‘Emma, what have you done?’
I moved to John and the demon. The demon still held John’s hand, its face rigid with awe.
‘Has it definitely turned?’ I said. ‘It didn’t change to True Form.’
‘This is its True Form,’ John said softly. ‘Release my hand, dear.’
The demon dropped John’s hand, burst into tears and fell to her knees. He stood over the demon, seemingly unable to decide what to do.
‘What’s the problem?’ I said. ‘Where will we put her?’
‘I don’t know,’ John said. His face was as full of awe as the demon’s was. ‘I’ve never seen anybody do anything like that before.’
I was thoroughly confused. ‘Like what? I just tamed her, that’s all.’
‘Emma, you changed her into a
human
. She’s not a demon any more, she’s a perfectly normal human female.’
The demon fell over her knees and sobbed more loudly.
‘Holy shit,’ I said softly, studying her. I was speechless. I dropped to crouch so I could face the demon…the girl. ‘Are you okay?’
She glanced up at me and wiped her eyes, still gasping. Then she threw herself into my arms and held me tight. ‘Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much.’ She pulled away and tried to say something more, but the words wouldn’t come.
I moved back to sit on the floor and John did too.
‘Nobody’s ever done that before?’ I said.
‘Nope,’ John said, beginning to smile. He glanced at me, about to say something, then turned back to the girl. ‘You have your freedom now, little one. What will you do with it?’
The girl looked helplessly at both of us. ‘I don’t know.’ She shook her head. ‘This is all so sudden. I have no idea. It will take me a while to become accustomed to having a mind and a will of my own.’
‘You can stay with us until you’ve worked out what you want to do,’ I said, my heart going out to the poor thing. ‘We’ll look after you.’
She threw herself into my arms again and clutched me. ‘I think I would like to serve you, if you will let me.’
‘You can’t,’ I said, holding her. ‘You’re free. You’re not tamed. You’re your own woman.’
‘Would you like a job with us?’ John said.
The girl fell back from me and smiled through the tears. ‘A
job
? Earning money, like a human?’ The smile broadened. ‘It’s true. It’s all true. You
are
the most generous creature on the Plane.’ She shook her head, her face still alight with the beautiful smile. ‘Yes, I’d love a job, thank you, Dark Lord.’
John pulled himself to his feet and held his hand out to the girl, who took it, still smiling.
‘I can’t believe this is happening,’ she said softly.
‘You’ll need to find yourself a name, pet,’ I said.
‘Set her up in the other student room,’ John said. ‘Then I think you’d better take her shopping—she was extremely lucky she was able to conjure the clothes the way she did. I’ll put the jar away, I’ve seen enough. If that happens again, I’ll have to take back the unit downstairs.’
‘Come on, sweetheart,’ I said, taking the girl’s hand. ‘I think you need some very speedy lessons on being human.’ I turned back to John without letting go of her. ‘Call Ah Yat, tell her to come into the room and help us. I think she’ll understand.’
The girl clutched my arm as I took her out, obviously wobbly on her legs. Whether it was from the shock or the change in form it was hard to tell.
I was sitting cross-legged on the couch watching a DVD in my room when there was a tap on the door. ‘Ma’am, it’s me.’
‘Come on in, Ah Yat. What do you want?’
Ah Yat opened the door and smiled at me.
‘Is the human girl okay?’ I said.
‘She is fine, ma’am,’ Ah Yat said. ‘She’s learning quickly. She has chosen the human name of Sonia, but she is trying to work out a family name. I had to explain to her that Donahoe wasn’t appropriate.’ She hesitated, obviously uncomfortable about whatever was coming next.
‘You want me to teach her the facts of life?’ I said.
‘She knows about that already, ma’am,’ Ah Yat said. She looked down, still uncomfortable.
‘Okay, ask me, Ah Yat. What do you want to know?’
‘She says that you did it to her.’
I sighed. ‘Yes, I did.’
Ah Yat fell to her knees in front of me. ‘Please do it for me, ma’am. Can you? I will stay with you, I swear,
I will not leave your service. But I would give anything,’ she took a huge gasping breath, ‘
anything
to be human.’
‘You’re nearly there anyway, Ah Yat, the Dark Lord said so himself.’
‘You could do it
now
, my Lady.’
I turned off the television with the remote and turned to face her, leaning over my knees. ‘Get up, Ah Yat, I can’t talk to you like that.’
She pulled herself up from the floor and stood twisting her hands together.
‘She doesn’t know the rest of what happened before I changed her,’ I said.
Ah Yat was silent.
‘We were testing out an unusual type of energy that apparently only I can generate. It destroyed about half the demons I used it on. Others, it changed. It turned a humanoid into black goo, but it was still alive.’
Ah Yat winced.
‘It turned a bug into a tiny Mother. And then it changed Sonia into a human. About one in ten, I think.’
‘The others were destroyed or changed?’ Ah Yat whispered.
‘Yes. Except for one, which was undamaged.’
‘Can I see the energy?’
‘It’s black, Ah Yat.’
‘Can I see, ma’am?’
I held my hand out and generated a ball of black chi about the size of a tennis ball.
Ah Yat inhaled sharply. ‘I have seen that before.’
I reabsorbed the chi and shot to my feet. ‘Where? Who?’
‘It was during the Trouble Times, ma’am, just over a thousand years ago. The King had been destroyed by his Number One son. The son could produce that.’ She pointed at my hands.
‘But that would be the current King,’ I said.
She bowed slightly. ‘That is correct, ma’am.’
‘Did his black chi produce similar results? Just random effectiveness?’
‘No, ma’am, it just destroyed things. It destroyed everything. It was very scary.’
‘And you want me to use it on you? I don’t think so.’
‘I have one chance in ten?’
‘I think so. Maybe more, maybe less. I’m not trying it out on anything else, the results are too unpredictable.’
She fell to her knees and touched her head to the floor. ‘Please, ma’am.
Ngoh kow nei
. I beg you.’
‘If you continue to serve us as you have, how long before you attain perfection?’
‘Not more than twenty years, ma’am.’
‘You would give that up for a one in ten chance?’
‘I could be human
now
, ma’am.’
I went to her and held out my hand. ‘Up you get, Ah Yat.’
She took my hand and rose, then bowed slightly.
‘Ah Yat,’ I said, patting her shoulder, ‘as far as all of us are concerned, you’re already human. Would you like a salary? We could pay you. You could have a job, exactly like Sonia. The difference at the moment is purely academic. To us, you’re human.’
‘If you give me an order I am forced to obey, ma’am,’ she said softly, head bowed. ‘If I were human I would have free will.’
‘Ah Yat, I want you to consider something. Say you were human and were still working for us. If the Dark Lord gave you an order, would you obey him?’
‘Of course, ma’am,’ she replied.
‘Well then,’ I said, patting her hand, ‘there you go. No difference whatsoever. I won’t do this to you, Ah Yat, the risks are too high. Stay and attain perfection, and be glad for Sonia. Will it be the same for you when you get there?’