Heaven to Wudang (23 page)

‘How much will you change when you regain your Serpent?' I said.

She was silent for a moment, her arm around me, then she squeezed me gently. ‘I honestly don't know.'

‘I see.'

‘This is a problem?'

I nodded without speaking.

‘Then I must find it in a hurry so that it ceases to be one. In the meantime, your noodles are getting cold and it's nearly dinnertime. How about we bring Leo and Simone in and share the meal together?'

‘Pass on to Martin and Yue that I'll keep his secret,' I said. ‘You're right: nobody needs to know.' I turned to face John. ‘And there's a secret about me that you need to know.'

‘And that is?' Her voice was sharp with concern.

‘Not that serious. I haven't told Leo that I have AIDS from drinking his blood. When you regain your Serpent, the issue is academic anyway, so there's no need for him to know and beat himself up over it. I've told everybody that I'm weak from having the demon essence burnt out of me and I need to take some time out and rest.'

She was silent for a moment, then said, ‘See? Sometimes there is a very good reason for keeping a secret.'

‘Oh, shut up,' I said, turning away.

She kept her arm around my shoulders, I put mine around her waist, and we walked together back to the Imperial Residence.

I
excused myself shortly after dinner and left them to chat, heading straight to bed. John planned to gather the Celestial Masters in the War Room and have a strategy meeting while the rest of the Mountain slept. Sleep was a luxury for the Celestials, not a necessity.

I hesitated outside the Emperor's room and then decided against it; John was female and may not want to find me in her bed. I went into my little room in the servants' quarters, took a shower, then slid into my single bed and smiled at the scroll on the wall with the character
si
on it that he'd given to me for my birthday so long ago. More memories to make now.

I turned over and was asleep before I knew it.

‘Emma.' She touched me on the cheek and I woke. She was sitting on my bed wearing nothing but a pair of black pyjama pants. ‘What are you doing here?'

I sat up. ‘John, you're a girl now. You need to cover the top half too.'

She looked down at herself and smiled ruefully. ‘Oh yes, you're right.' She concentrated and winced. ‘I have no energy left to summon anything; I closed the meeting because I need to sleep. Do you have something that would fit me?'

‘Nothing of mine would fit you, John. Even female you're way bigger than me.'

I went to the tiny closet and searched through its mess, eventually handing her a T-shirt that had once belonged to her.

‘You kept one of mine?' she said, pulling it on.

‘It smelled of you,' I said.

She put her hand on my face. ‘I understand.'

I put my own hand over hers.

‘Why are you in here?' she asked again.

‘I wasn't sure if you wanted me in your room,' I said. ‘But it really feels good to sleep here knowing that you're finally back in your own room.'

‘It would be better with you in there with me,' she said.

‘Was the human form originally female?'

‘I don't know, Emma. It was thousands of years ago. I hardly remember anything more than about three thousand years ago.'

‘How long until you can be male?' I said.

‘I have no idea. Will you come and join me anyway?'

I moved close and looked her right in the eyes. ‘There is nothing I would rather do more.'

She took my hand and we padded through the empty dining room and past the central garden, up the stairs and to the back of the courtyard house and the Imperial bedroom. John had made a fire in the fireplace and it cast a warm glow over the room and filled it with the comforting scent of burning wood.

I stopped at the bed. ‘Which side do you prefer? We've known each other years and you've never told me.'

‘You go in first, next to the wall; I will take the outside.'

‘You'll regret that when I'm human and need to use the bathroom in the middle of the night.'

‘I would regret it more if the Demon King raided and I was not between him and you.'

I pulled the covers back and sat on the side next to the wall.

She gracefully lowered herself onto the bed and pulled me down beside her. I cuddled into her and she wrapped her arms around me. I leaned on her shoulder and she kissed the top of my head. Both of us heaved a huge sigh of bliss.

The lights dimmed and the room filled with the warm glow of the fireplace. Crickets chirped outside the window and the autumn breeze sang through the pines.

‘I have returned,' she whispered. ‘We have waited so long, and I have returned, and I am something that you cannot love.'

‘I love you whatever shape you take,' I said. ‘But I understand if what you want is different now.'

She shifted so that she could see into my eyes, her own lit by the fire's glow. ‘You.' She put her hand on the side of my face. ‘I just want you. Do you still want me?'

I touched my mouth to hers, then pushed the kiss deeper and lost myself in her as she responded. Our hands roamed each other, and eventually we pulled the intrusive clothes off and stretched side by side, skin to skin.

She ran her fingertips down the side of my face. ‘Ever made love with a woman before, Emma?'

‘No,' I said, sliding my hand over her thigh and watching her reaction. ‘Ever made love to a woman as a woman, Xuan Wu?'

‘No,' she said, her touch gliding down my shoulder.

I slid my hand up the back of her leg and traced her curves. ‘Let me show you the good parts.'

‘Oh, a lesson,' she said, her dark eyes glittering. Her voice softened. ‘Do I need it?'

‘Meet me after class and we'll discuss it,' I said, pushing her onto her back and lowering my mouth onto her.

‘Emma,' she said softly, a long time later.

‘Hmm?'

‘When I've regained the male form …'

‘Yeah?'

She was silent.

‘Sure, John. I don't mind at all.'

‘Just now and then. Occasionally.'

‘Sure. Occasionally.'

She lowered her voice to a whisper. ‘Just don't tell the Tiger.'

‘Wouldn't dream of it,' I said, nuzzling into her. ‘Now go to sleep.'

She rolled over so that she was facing me, threw her arm over me and held me closer. We cuddled down under the warm silk quilt; the fire had died down and the autumn night was cool.

‘Oh, there's something I've been meaning to say for a long time but couldn't,' she said.

‘What's that?' I mumbled, half-asleep.

‘I love you, Emma Donahoe.'

That woke me. I pulled myself up so that I was face to face with her. ‘I love you too, Xuan Wu.'

‘And as soon as I can stay male and find my other half, we're making an honest woman of you.'

‘Far too late for that,' I said. ‘Now shut up and go to sleep. We have a lot to do tomorrow.'

She nuzzled into my hair. ‘You won't be going anywhere tomorrow,' she said, her voice warm and low. ‘All the classes will be right here.'

‘Oh, will they?' I said. ‘Well then, I'd better go into my room later and find my instructional aids.'

‘Definitely.'

 

I woke before dawn the next morning, thirsty and needing the bathroom. I rolled over and felt a jolt of shock at the huge black lump beside me, then realised
what I was seeing. John was asleep next to me as a sixty-centimetre-long turtle. Its nose rested on the covers with its eyes closed and its beak half-open. I tried to creep around it to go out but it woke and saw me.

‘Emma?' it said, its voice male.

I brushed the back of its shell. ‘It's all right. Go back to sleep. I need to use the bathroom.'

It nodded its head, then grinned its turtle grin. ‘Sorry.'

‘Nothing to be sorry about,' I said, and kissed the end of its nose.

‘Remind me to give you a gold coin tomorrow morning,' it said.

‘Everybody stopped doing that; Simone kept making gagging noises.' I peered around at its back end. ‘Are you a boy or a girl right now? You sound male.'

It raised its head and half-closed its eyes, then focused on me. ‘The answer to that question is: you do not want to know.'

‘Boy then,' I said, and rolled out of the bed to head for the bathroom.

She was human and female when I returned to bed.

 

‘You're looking much better this morning,' Simone said to me over the breakfast table. ‘You were completely out of it last night.'

‘I don't remember too much,' I said. ‘It's all a blur.'

‘Has anyone heard from Michael?' John said.

‘Nothing,' Simone said. ‘He's alive, he has to be, he's just … gone.'

‘You won't want to be around the Academy today, Simone,' I said. ‘Go to school.'

‘No,' she said. ‘I want to spend time with Daddy, and I'll help sort things out. Is it okay if I move into one of the upstairs bedrooms in the Residence?'

‘Of course, this is the family home. Leo, would you like the other one?' John said.

‘I think I'll stay where I am over at the Celestial Residences.'

‘This is the family home now, Leo, we really should —' John began, but I kicked her under the table and she understood. ‘No, that's fine, stay where you have more privacy. Just remember: ceremony at the Northern Celestial Palace tonight.'

‘Can I bring Justin along?' Simone said.

‘Who's Justin?' John said sharply.

Simone looked silently at her for a long moment, then said, ‘My boyfriend. He's a really nice dragon, one of Qing Long's lesser sons.'

John glanced at me and I shrugged. ‘He's a good kid.'

‘Then he is welcome,' John said.

‘Don't you dare give him the third degree, Daddy. We've only been out once and there's no need to go all hyper-parent on me, okay?'

‘I wonder how he'll react when she calls this woman Daddy,' Leo said, almost to himself.

John unfocused and snapped back. ‘The other Three Winds are on their way to pay their respects. They'll be here in about half an hour, when we're finished eating. They want to see me before tonight to bring me up to speed. The Generals will be here after lunch.'

‘I'm out,' Simone said. ‘I'll start moving the stuff out of my quarters.'

‘Me too,' Leo said. ‘I'll catch you later, I have some kids to sort out.'

‘I'll come with you,' I said. ‘Wait for me.'

‘Emma, they can run, but I'm afraid that as my partner you still have to put up with the Winds,' John said. ‘Besides, I want someone to share my misery with.'

‘It's just the Dragon who annoys me,' I said, sitting back down and finishing my toast as Leo and Simone tried to race casually out the door.

The Tiger appeared, sitting at the table with us. He saw John and his mouth flopped open. ‘Whoa. Holy shit.'

‘Bai Hu,' John said, ‘you are not supposed to be here for another half-hour, and you are to wait for me in the Throne Room.'

‘I had to see for myself,' the Tiger said. ‘Am I correct in assuming that you didn't find your Serpent?'

John nodded.

The Tiger looked from John to me. He pointed to us, first one and then the other. ‘Have you two … you two …' He saw our faces and his eyes widened. ‘
Hot damn
!' He took the form of a tall, slim, boyish European woman with short platinum-blonde hair. ‘Can I play too? No, wait,' he said. ‘Let me get a video camera.'

John gestured casually towards the Tiger and he disappeared. She grimaced. ‘I should not have done that; he's extremely fat.'

‘Where'd you put him?' I said.

‘There is a new large construction in orbit on the Earthly. I put him on top of it.'

‘That's the International Space Station.'

‘He's clinging to the outside. It'll take him at least half an hour to return.'

I nearly choked on my tea. ‘What if they see him?'

‘One of the people inside is a dragon Shen; he appears to be a Japanese child of the Dragon. He says hello.' Her expression went wry. ‘And to please do that more often; something about the Tiger being able to fix a rotating joint on the starboard boom while he's out there.'

 

My phone rang as I was just about to enter the Throne Room.

‘Emma, darling, I hear John's back. They're saying things … Are they true?'

‘It's my mum,' I said, waving John forward. ‘You go first, I'll be along in a minute.'

‘No, I should say hello to them, pass on my respects,' she said. ‘Let me get a stone to patch me into the call.'

I glared at her. ‘I am having a private call with my mother. You can talk to her later. Go in and do your stuff, I'm right behind you.'

She bowed to me, amused. ‘As you wish, ma'am. I will obey.'

She went into the Throne Room, and I returned to the dining room and sat at the table.

‘Yes, he's back,' I said. ‘But right now he's a she.'

She was silent for a long moment, then said, ‘And how does that affect everything?'

‘She'll retake male form as soon as she's able. It won't be long. She's terribly drained after all she's been through.'

My mother made her voice forcibly brighter. ‘Well, darling, just remember: we love you no matter what lifestyle you choose, you know that.'

I choked with laughter. ‘Don't worry, you won't have to order a wedding cake with two girls on the top. She's still John, and very much him on the inside. I'm sure it won't take long for her to gain her … bits back. And compared to everything else the Xuan Wu is, being female is minor.'

She sounded suspicious. ‘You don't seem to have much trouble talking about your partner as a she.'

‘Well, we took a shower together this morning and I can assure you that right now the Dark Lord of the Northern Heavens is one hundred per cent female. The Tiger's thrilled to bits.'

‘He would be,' my father said, listening in on the extension.