‘You’ll be fine,’ the stone said. ‘Rest.’
‘Am I in Lady Emma’s bed?’ Gold said.
‘Yep, quite a coup,’ I said. ‘Something to tell your friends. Rest now. Whatever the problem is, we can handle it.’
‘Go quietly into the living room, Emma,’ the stone said, very softly. ‘Let’s not wake it up just yet.’
As I entered the living room, John was kneeling in front of Amanda and smiling kindly at her.
‘Hello, Amanda,’ he said, very gently. ‘My name is John Chen and I’m the one that’s promised to marry Emma. I’m a Shen, a spirit. The closest word you have in English is “god”. Please stay very still. It is vitally important that you don’t move or speak.’
Amanda’s eyes went wide, but she didn’t move. Little David sat quietly on her lap.
‘Is Amanda a Shen? Or something like me?’ I whispered as I approached them.
‘No,’ John said, without turning away from Amanda. ‘Where did she get her pendant, Alan?’
‘I gave it to her,’ Alan said. ‘I found it in an antique shop. It was ridiculously cheap for such a large opal, so I thought it must be a fake or something. But it looked good so I bought it for her anyway.’
‘Her opal is a Shen?’ I whispered.
John nodded without turning away from Amanda. ‘Southern Shen.’
‘It will be beyond pissed when it wakes up and finds that we’ve moved it so far from its Centre,’ the stone in my ring said softly.
‘Can you take it back without waking it?’ I said.
‘Nope,’ the stone said. ‘And I know this one too. It has a temper to rival yours, my Lady.’
John concentrated and Leo came out from the hallway.
‘Don’t move, Amanda,’ John said quickly when he saw her reaction. ‘This is Leo, our guard. He can take your boys and care for them while we sort this out.’
Amanda shook her head without speaking.
‘Let him, Mandy,’ I whispered. ‘He’s great with kids, he looks after John’s daughter, Simone. They’ll be safe with him.’
‘Alan, I think it would be a good idea if you were to go too,’ John said.
Alan hesitated. ‘Will the boys be safe with him?’
‘Perfectly,’ Leo lisped. ‘I swear I will guard them with my life. They can come into Simone’s room, she has a lot of toys. They’ll be fine.’
‘He’s right, Alan,’ I said.
‘Brendan?’ Alan said.
‘Leo’s good,’ my father said. My mother nodded.
‘If the boys will be safe with him, then I’m staying here with Amanda,’ Alan said firmly. ‘Is it okay with you if he takes the boys, Mandy?’
Okay
, Amanda mouthed silently.
‘Boys, go with the big man, he’ll look after you,’ Alan said.
David looked as if he was about to cry and Mark’s little face screwed up with terror.
The Tiger concentrated and their faces went blank. They both rose and placidly took Leo’s hands, allowing him to lead them down the hall towards Simone’s room.
‘All suggestions welcome, stone,’ John said, still crouched in front of Amanda.
‘We don’t have a choice, we’ll have to wake the damn thing,’ the stone said. ‘Everybody move back, I’ll do it. Don’t move, Miss Amanda, I’ll handle this.’
The ring drifted off my finger and floated in front of Amanda. She watched it with wonder.
‘Lord Xuan, Lady Emma, back you go,’ the stone said.
‘Brendan, Barbara, you’d be safer with the children and Leo,’ John said as both he and I rose and moved back.
‘We’re staying here with Amanda,’ my father said. My mother nodded silently.
‘I’m waking it up,’ the stone said.
Nothing happened.
‘Hi, Opal,’ the stone said softly. ‘Sorry about this. Didn’t know you were there.’
Complete silence.
‘Please permit us to return you immediately,’ the stone said.
Again, nothing.
‘This was entirely unintentional,’ the stone whispered.
‘Dickhead,’ the opal said loudly with a very strong Australian accent. It sounded like a middle-aged Australian man. ‘Where the hell am I?’
‘Sorry,’ the stone said ruefully. ‘Hong Kong.’
‘That’s a bloody enormous Dark Spirit over there. What is it?’ the opal said.
‘I’m the North Wind,’ John said. ‘Good day to you, Opal. Thanks for not hurting the lady.’
‘I’d never hurt my lovely Amanda in a million years,’ the opal said, and everybody breathed a sigh of relief. ‘But this ugly green bastard floating in front of me, and that pretentious little prick who thinks he’s made of gold, are both in serious trouble.’
‘I’ve been wearing a stone that can talk for more than ten years?’ Amanda said with disbelief.
‘Remember when your car suddenly swerved out of the way of that runaway truck?’ the opal said. ‘And the time you fell off the ladder but weren’t hurt at all? And the car accident in Adelaide, where the car was a wreck but nobody was injured?’
‘I thought I was just lucky,’ Amanda said.
‘Lucky my arse,’ the opal said. ‘You and your lovely little family wouldn’t be around right now if it weren’t for me.’
‘Can I say thank you now?’ Alan said.
‘You are more than welcome, mate,’ the opal said. ‘You lot are the most delightful family it has ever been my pleasure to adorn. But why the hell are you in Hong Kong? And how come you know about these spirits? You’re just ordinary humans. How come you’re mixed up in this? That’s an enormous tiger over there behind the North Wind, you know that? And what the hell is
this
?’
‘What?’ Amanda said.
‘This snake thing. No, wait, it’s an ordinary human. Is that your sister, Mandy? Why the hell is she…Good God, but she’s a bloody great black snake, you know that? A human and a big snake at the same time. Never seen her like before. Hey, Emma, is that you?’
‘Yes,’ I said.
‘Geez, have
you
changed. What have you been doing to yourself?’ the opal said. ‘Come and pay a visit to the Grandmother with me one day, pet. I’m sure she’d love to have a look at you.’
I took the opportunity. ‘Am I a Rainbow Serpent?’
‘Mandy, dear,’ the opal said. ‘Do me a favour, love? Take me off and hand me to your little sister?’
Mandy removed the chain from her neck and passed it to me, the opal dangling from its links.
‘Hold me in your hand, I want to look at you,’ the opal said.
I dropped the stone into my hand and held it. It was warm and seemed to be pulsing with energy.
‘Nope,’ it said.
‘Damn,’ I said under my breath. ‘Any idea what I am? None of us knows,’ I said more loudly.
‘No idea,’ the opal said. ‘Pass me back. I feel lost without my little Mandy.’
I opened my hand to see the stone. It was quite large, about three centimetres long and two wide, a rough
rectangular shape. It was almost jet black with flashes of midnight blue and fiery red through it.
‘You are absolutely spectacular, you know that?’ I said.
‘Yep,’ the stone said. ‘Pass me back, and then this geological mistake can tell me how I got here and what the story is.’
‘Humph,’ the stone in my ring said. ‘You always were a rude bastard.’
‘Shut the hell up and tell me what’s going on,’ the opal said.
The stone in the ring returned to my finger. Amanda put the opal back around her neck.
‘You can talk, I’ll just tell the opal what’s happening,’ the stone said. ‘Don’t mind us, we’ll have a little stone-to-stone talk.’
‘Dickhead,’ the opal said, and went quiet.
I
burst into John’s office without knocking. ‘We need some more pillows. Can I send—’ I stopped dead. A young Chinese woman I’d never seen before was sitting across the desk from John.
‘Whoops, sorry,’ I said, and moved to go out.
‘Wait,’ John said. ‘Obsidian here would like to apologise. This is Emma.’
Obsidian fell to her knees and saluted. ‘My profoundest apologies, my Lady. I have failed both you and the Dark Lord.’
‘She was your sister’s guard stone,’ John said. ‘She never told us that the opal was sentient.’
‘Why not?’ the stone in my ring snapped.
Obsidian didn’t move from her knees on the floor. She didn’t look up.
‘I do not believe this,’ the stone said softly. ‘A daughter of mine sleeping with one of
them
.’
‘It is the most spectacularly beautiful stone I have ever laid eyes on,’ Obsidian said, then she glared at my ring. ‘And it’s an absolutely
fantastic
lover,’ she added defiantly, ‘both stone and human. If you knew it was already protecting them, I wouldn’t be needed, and you’d assign me somewhere else. I wanted to be with it.’
‘Why didn’t you tell the Shen when they went to pick up my family, Obsidian?’ I said. ‘You should have warned them about the opal.’
Obsidian looked down, still on her knees. ‘I was at the post-Christmas sales in Brisbane,’ she said miserably. ‘Opal was looking after them, he said I could go. Obviously he—’
‘Fell asleep on the job,’ the stone said cuttingly. ‘Fine pair of guards
you
are. I’ve half a mind to reassign you anyway. This is the family of the
Dark Lady
we’re talking about here.’
‘Obsidian is reassigned regardless,’ John said severely. ‘And the punishment will be appropriate.’
Obsidian collapsed over her knees.
‘Good,’ the stone snapped. ‘Give her to the Dragon.’
‘No,’ Obsidian whispered.
I stayed quiet.
‘Report to Lord Qing Long,’ John said.
‘My Lord,’ Obsidian choked, saluted without looking up, and disappeared.
‘No attempt to defend her?’ John said softly.
‘She deserved it,’ I said. ‘Both of them should be sent to the Dragon. I take it you’ve sent her there because he’s Wood and Stone is weak against Wood.’
‘Yes. But mostly I sent her to the Dragon because he’s a complete bastard to all his staff,’ John said. He smiled slightly. ‘You are more and more cold-blooded all the time.’
‘You’re right,’ I said, miserable. ‘I can’t believe I just stood by and let you do that to her.’
‘You will make an exceptional Regent, Emma,’ John said. ‘And I am sincerely looking forward to taking up my Celestial duties again with you by my side. Together we will be the greatest team the Celestial has ever seen.’
I turned to open the door. ‘I’m sure they’ll be glad to have your warm heart to counter my cold blood.’
‘We will,’ the stone in my ring said softly.
‘I still can’t believe this stuff was all around us and we never even knew,’ Alan said as we sat at the dinner table. Simone, Mark and David sat with Leo and giggled together.
‘Some of the Celestials here in China have never been to the Earthly Plane since they were Raised,’ John said. ‘I don’t think the Celestial himself has been more than two or three times.’
‘Who?’ Amanda said.
‘Their Jade Emperor,’ the opal said. ‘Their biggest boss.’
Simone piped up. ‘Can you give us rides after dinner, Uncle Bai?’
The Tiger glowered at her, then grinned. ‘Sure. You eat your vegetables like good children, and you can all have rides.’
David and Simone put their heads together and whispered with excitement. Mark didn’t seem so sure.
‘You don’t have to if you don’t want to, Mark,’ I said.
He nodded, serious.
‘Why are you vegetarian, John?’ my mother said.
‘It’s a long story,’ John said. ‘All human Immortals are vegetarian.’
‘But you’re a Shen, Daddy, not a human Immortal,’ Simone said. ‘So why? Uncle Bai isn’t vegetarian.’
I made my voice very deep. ‘That is not for one such as you to know.’
Leo did an excellent imitation of John, Cantonese accent and all. ‘That information is not for mortal ears.’
The Tiger’s mouth opened with astonishment, then he banged his palm on the table and roared with laughter.
‘Directly after dinner, twenty-five level one sword katas, both of you,’ John snapped, but his eyes sparkled.
‘Yes, my Lord!’ Leo and I both shot back, saluting.
‘You’re a fool to have human staff, Ah Wu,’ the Tiger said, still chuckling.
‘Neither of them are staff, they are family,’ John said. ‘I love both of them dearly, and they know it.’
A swift expression of pain swept across Leo’s face, so quick that it was almost unnoticeable. Neither John nor I missed it though, and we both decided to change the subject.
‘The Dragon says they will be here with your sister’s family in about an hour,’ John said. ‘Jade is bringing the bags.’
‘Will she be okay? Gold was followed and attacked,’ I said.
‘With the Dragon and Phoenix carrying them, your family will be protected, Emma,’ the Tiger said. ‘Jade can outrun just about anything; dragons are much faster than stones. Don’t worry about her.’
‘Was Jennifer okay about coming?’ I said.
John didn’t reply.
‘Damn,’ I said quietly.
‘What’s a sword kata?’ Amanda said.
‘You’ve already seen me do it,’ I said. ‘A sword set. What I did for you in the yard back home.’
‘Wanna see some real stuff?’ Leo said.
‘Show Amanda how you can take Leo down,’ my father said to me.
I glanced at my father. His face was full of pride. I grinned with delight; my father was
proud
of me.
‘Let’s just rub it in,’ Leo growled, but his small brown eyes sparkled as well.
‘You want to see?’ I asked Amanda and Alan.
‘We’re here, we might as well have a look,’ Alan said.
‘Yes, I want to see,’ Amanda said. ‘Mum’s been
telling me some of the stuff you can do, and I find it difficult to believe.’
‘Okay,’ I said. ‘After Jennifer’s here and settled in, Leo and I will give you a small demonstration. The sword katas can wait.’
‘I ordered you to do them directly after dinner,’ John said.
‘Yes, my Lord,’ I shot back, saluting again. ‘Like I said, the sword katas can wait.’
The Tiger roared with laughter again.
The Tiger was giving both Mark and David a ride in the living room when the Phoenix and the Dragon turned up with Jennifer and her kids. Leonard had legal business to tidy up in London and would follow in a week.
The Dragon placed Jennifer gently on the couch, and the Phoenix lowered her boys next to her.
The Tiger quickly dropped to his belly and guided Mark and David off, then changed back to human form.
‘I still want to ride,’ David whined.
‘If I’m a tiger when your cousins wake up they’ll be scared to death,’ the Tiger said.
John and I went to Jennifer. Amanda pushed John out of the way and she and I hovered above Jennifer, waiting for her to wake.
She came around slowly, rubbing her hand over her face. She saw us, her sisters, then cast around for the boys. She reached out to hold both of them and glared at John. ‘Stay away from us,’ she hissed.
John and I shared a look and he silently moved away.
Amanda dropped to crouch in front of Jennifer. ‘Hi, Jen.’
Jennifer didn’t say anything. She hugged Colin, still unconscious, to her and pulled Andrew closer on the sofa.
‘What’s her problem?’ the opal said.
‘Stop it!’ Jennifer whispered ferociously. ‘Go away!’
The boys began to come around. Colin whimpered and Jennifer held him tighter. Andrew’s eyes opened and he looked around, then buried his face in his mother’s sweater.
‘I think it would be a good idea if you people were to leave us alone for a while,’ my father said grimly, moving around the couch to sit next to Jennifer.
John nodded without saying a word, and all the Shen disappeared. John turned and went down the hall to his study. Leo took Simone’s hand and led her out as well.
‘Well, here we are, all three sisters in one place—first time in years,’ I said with forced cheerfulness.
Everybody ignored me.
‘I’m in Hong Kong?’ Jennifer said.
Everybody nodded.
‘The Tiger will take you to the Western Palace tomorrow,’ I said. ‘You’ll need some time to rest from this trip before he does. How do you feel?’
Jennifer stared at me and didn’t say anything.
‘Okay,’ I whispered.
‘This is all your fault,’ she finally said, glaring at me.
‘I know,’ I said, running my hands through my hair. ‘I’m so sorry, guys. I’ve completely screwed up your lives.’
‘Stupid bitch,’ Jennifer said and turned away.
I didn’t know what to say.
Amanda’s son Mark threw himself at me. ‘Teach me some kung fu! I wanna learn!’
Everybody was completely silent.
‘I don’t think that’s a good idea right now, sweetheart,’ I whispered.
Jade appeared in True Form on the other side of the room with the bags, and collapsed. I ran to her, ignoring the shrieks of fear from my nephews; she was bleeding, her scales ripped in many places. One of her front legs was obviously broken.
She attempted to rise, looking around. ‘I
did
make it,’
she said. ‘I thought I’d made it. They were so fast…’ Her voice trailed off and she fell heavily.
‘John!’ I screamed.
John and Leo raced into the room, Simone hurrying behind them. John crouched to examine Jade. My parents hovered behind him.
‘Is this Jade? The girl?’ my mother said.
‘Yes,’ John said, placing his hand on Jade’s head. He concentrated, and the Blue Dragon appeared next to him in his usual human form.
‘Out of the way,’ the Dragon said, quickly moving to Jade’s side and putting both hands on her head. Everybody retreated to give him room.
The Dragon concentrated, and his long turquoise hair floated around his head. ‘I’m taking her home,’ he said softly. ‘She needs to be under the water. This will take a while. My Lord?’
‘How long?’ John said.
‘I’ll still be able to return tomorrow to take the Lady’s family West,’ the Dragon said. ‘Jade will need to recuperate for a few weeks. She has massive internal injuries, far too much for any energy worker to handle. Leave her with me.’
‘Go,’ John said, and both Jade and the Dragon disappeared.
I flopped to sit next to the bloodstains on the carpet. I lowered my head and shook it. ‘Damn.’
‘This is all your fault,’ Jennifer said loudly from the couch.
I jumped up and stormed to the spare room where I was staying. Gold was still in the bed, his boyish face peaceful as he slept. I sat on the floor next to his head with my back against the wall and buried my face in my knees.
About five minutes later, John came in and sat cross-legged on the floor on the other side of the room. He
rubbed his hand over his face, sighed, and tied his hair back.
‘No one should be suffering like this for me,’ I said into my knees. ‘I’m dragging my entire family away from their homes. Gold and Jade nearly died. I can’t do this to them any more.’
‘Gold, you are released,’ John said loudly. ‘You have your freedom. Go.’
‘You can’t release him,’ I said. ‘He told me only the Jade Emperor can release him.’
‘I am the First Officer, Highest Celestial General,’ John said. ‘In precedence I am second only to the Celestial himself. If I say Gold is free, then he’s free.’
Right Hand of the Jade Emperor. I inhaled sharply as I understood. ‘But you said that as your chosen, after you’ve gone I’ll be accepted as…’
‘Precisely,’ John said. ‘As my equal. Over everybody.’ He spoke firmly. ‘You’re free, Gold. Go.’
Gold didn’t move. ‘No.’
‘Why not,’ John said, and it wasn’t a question.
‘Because I love serving you,’ Gold whispered. ‘I will go if you order me, but I beg you, please, let me stay.’
My father came in and closed the door softly behind him. He hesitated.
‘Brendan,’ John said, still seated on the floor, ‘do you blame Emma for all of the troubles we are having right now?’
‘No,’ my father said. ‘I blame you.’
‘Good,’ John said. ‘You’ve laid the blame in the right place. Does it make any difference, now that the blame has been laid?’
‘Not a bit,’ my father said. ‘We’re still in the same situation, and we’ll all make it through somehow.’ He leaned on the wall. ‘Don’t mind Jen, Emma, she’ll survive. Right now her kids are fighting with Amanda’s
for rides on the Tiger. They’re having a great time. Don’t worry about them.’
‘Jade nearly died,’ I whispered.
‘And if I attempted to free her, she would stay as well,’ John said.
‘We all love you, my Lady,’ Gold said, still without moving. ‘We are profoundly honoured to serve you and the Dark Lord. I would rather be here with you than anywhere else in the world, and so would Jade.’
‘We do what we have to,’ my father said. ‘And we survive.’
‘Your father is a very wise man, and I can see where you gained much of your own wisdom.’ John looked up at my father. ‘No snake spirits in the family tree?’
My father shrugged. ‘How would I know? Until a couple of weeks ago, I didn’t even know that snake spirits existed. What does that have to do with it?’
‘Snake spirits are renowned for their wisdom,’ I said into my knees.
‘Are they renowned for falling in love with the wrong guy?’ my father said.
‘Nope,’ I said, smiling despite myself, ‘that’s definitely a female thing. All women are renowned for falling in love with the wrong guy.’
‘Your mother didn’t,’ John said.
‘I don’t think you did either, pet,’ my father said. ‘This man is about as good as you can get. It’s just the situation that’s difficult.’
‘Thanks,’ John said softly.
‘Come and help with the kids,’ my father said. ‘Are all the sleeping arrangements organised?’
‘You should take my room,’ John said to me.
‘We’ve had that discussion, and you need your rest,’ I said, looking up from my knees. ‘And the boys
want
to share the same room. They’ll have a ball.’