Red Phoenix

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

‘So your trip to Europe was quite eventful,’ Ms Kwan said as she put down her tea cup. I watched Simone playing and sighed. ‘You could say that.’

‘Your family were unharmed?’

I nodded. ‘But the things that attacked us were apparently very strange.’

She sat slightly more upright. ‘Strange? In what way?’

I hesitated. She was obviously concerned. ‘Zhu Que said something about asking you to sortie. But Xuan Wu said he didn’t want to endanger you.’

Kwan Yin refilled her tea cup, and then mine. ‘What attacked you, dear?’

‘Red humanoids, about level fifteen. Low-level birds. And fake fire elementals.’

She stiffened as she raised her tea. ‘What do you mean, fake?’

I took a sip of the tea, trying to remain calm. ‘Zhu Que said that they were some sort of new demon hybrid. Created specifically for John.’

‘She must have been furious.’

‘I’m surprised my sister has any grass left in her backyard. Some parts of it were quite badly scorched.’

‘Zhu Que was right. I should go and have a look.’

I suddenly realised that she was talking about visiting the demons on their home turf to gather information for us. ‘Wait! What if they catch you?’

She smiled. ‘They haven’t caught me yet.’

I quickly reached out to grab her hand. ‘Please don’t do this unless we don’t have any other alternative. I hate to think what they’d do to you if they caught you.’

‘They’ve been compiling a list of what they want to do to me for over a thousand years,’ Kwan Yin said mildly. ‘You have no idea.’

‘And if they caught you down there, they would have you?’

She nodded, smiling sadly.

‘How do you make sure they don’t know you’re there, Ms Kwan?’ I said, then stopped. ‘If it’s a secret, you don’t have to tell me.’

‘I take the form of a demon myself,’ she said. ‘My demon form has become rather famous. Occasionally I travel the Halls to comfort some of the longer-term residents. I must be very careful.’

I dropped my head onto my hands. ‘I should never have mentioned this to you. If I’d known what it meant, I would have stayed quiet. No wonder John was so loath to call on you.’

‘I would love to know where the hybrids came from though, Emma,’ Ms Kwan said. ‘Whoever managed to create a false elemental is certainly worth watching.’

‘Zhu Que said that Simon Wong…that One Two Two wouldn’t be able to do it, and that he had to have had help.’

She sighed and took a sip of her tea. ‘She was quite correct.’

Simone came to me and wriggled into my lap. Kwan Yin gestured slightly and a cup of apple juice appeared on the table in front of us.

‘Thank you,’ Simone said and took a noisy slurp.

‘You sound like a blocked drain drinking like that, Simone,’ I teased.

She lifted the cup and slurped it as noisily as she could.

‘You are a little monster,’ I said. ‘Are we all right to go home now? School will be starting tomorrow.’

‘Simone,’ Ms Kwan said, ‘call me if you need me. Any time you want to talk to me, I am here.’

‘Thanks, Kwan Yin,’ Simone said, sounding much more mature than her five years. ‘But I’ll be okay with Emma.’

I squeezed Simone around her waist. ‘We’ll be just fine together, waiting for your dad to come back for both of us.’

‘And we’ll find a way for Leo to get better too,’ Simone said with confidence.

‘I don’t think we will, sweetheart,’ I said sadly to the top of her head. ‘I think we should enjoy being with Leo as much as we can now.’

‘I cannot say what the future holds,’ Kwan Yin said. ‘But I can tell you one thing, Ladies of the House of the North, and that is that the Black Lion is truly noble and well on the way to becoming a Worthy.’

Simone put her arms on mine where I held her around her middle and we squeezed each other with delight.

‘How can we help him, Aunty Kwan?’ Simone said breathlessly, still clutching my arms.

‘You already are,’ Ms Kwan said. ‘Every minute you spend with him, you help him to approach the goal that he has no personal desire to reach.’

‘He doesn’t want to?’ I said.

She shook her head sadly. ‘He is a true warrior.’ She shifted to silent speech so that Simone wouldn’t hear. He lives as if he is already dead. His life has no value to him, save as a means to serve. He has no desire to live once his Lord has departed. The Japanese have a word for such as he: Samurai.

‘I think you’re right,’ I said softly, my heart breaking. ‘If they found a cure for him tomorrow, he would be delighted, because then he could make the sacrifice of staying on to care for us.’

‘I am glad you understand,’ Ms Kwan said. ‘You have adapted to our ways remarkably well.’

I had to smile at that. ‘Oh, I don’t know, Ms Kwan. I still won’t knock people over to get a seat on the MTR.’

Simone giggled, and wriggled in my lap.

‘You’re okay now, Simone, aren’t you?’ I said to the top of her head.

‘Can we go back home now? I want to get ready for school tomorrow,’ Simone said. ‘I want to give my dad and Leo a big hug, and then I want to beat Michael at Monopoly again.’

‘You’ve been beating Michael at Monopoly?’

‘Yep.’ She nodded under my chin. ‘He complains all the time that I’m better than him. He’s really bad at it.’

Ms Kwan smiled, nodded, and we were back in the living room. Simone leapt off my lap and raced down the hall to find her father. The training room door opened and Simone squealed with delight. I heard them talking together. I sighed.

Leo came out of the kitchen, saw me and Ms Kwan sitting together in the living room, and smiled. He heard John and Simone talking happily together, and his smile softened. He went quietly back into the kitchen.

Michael appeared in the hall. ‘Hello, Ms Kwan.’ Then, to me: ‘Is everything fixed now?’

‘All fixed,’ I said, and smiled. ‘Are you ready for school tomorrow? Got your stuff together?’

Michael grinned. ‘Funny thing, but I’m actually happy about going.’

He turned and went back down the hallway. ‘Hey, Simone, want to play?’ he called.

‘Nah, I’ll do some sword with Daddy,’ Simone said from down the hall.

‘You want to join us, Michael?’ John said. ‘We’ll pull some demons out and do some Inner Eye work as well.’

‘Wait for me!’ I called to them.

‘Okay, Emma, hurry up,’ Simone said.

‘This is an extraordinary household,’ Ms Kwan said. Her expression became wry and she gestured. Five gold coins appeared on the coffee table. ‘How many do you have now, Emma?’

‘I’m putting them together with red thread and making a lantern out of them,’ I said. ‘By mid-autumn festival next year, I’ll have a lantern made of gold.’ I suddenly remembered. ‘We still have some moon cakes left over from the festival this year—do you want to take some with you?’

‘Are they vegetarian?’ she said. ‘Many of them have a large amount of animal fat in them with the lotus paste.’

‘These ones are nice vegetarian Snowy ones with a soft white crust,’ I said. ‘Not too rich and heavy at all, and no salted duck-egg yolks in the middle. They’re quite good, but as usual John bought too many. We have a couple of spare tins in the fridge. Take one with you.’

Kwan Yin rose and I stood with her. ‘Thank you, Emma, that would be lovely.’

We went into the kitchen together. Leo was sitting at the table with a cup of coffee. He rose when we entered. Ms Kwan gestured dismissively. ‘No need, Leo, we are family.’ He sat again.

I went to the fridge and pulled out one of the moon cake tins. It was made of light metal with a delightful decoration of an ancient painting of the moon on the lid. I opened it to make sure that Michael hadn’t attacked it yet. The four moon cakes were untouched; still in their plastic wrap. They were round and about ten centimetres across. The design of the moon was clearly visible on the flaky white crust of each cake.

I checked the side of the tin: these ones had lotus seed paste inside and definitely no egg yolks. John said that he liked the yolks, even though he couldn’t eat them: they made a symbolic moon when the cakes were cut. I didn’t—the yolks were too salty and rich for me.

In the centre of the plastic tray holding the cakes was a clear pouch with a plastic knife and some cocktail forks for eating the cakes outside under the moon.

I put the lid back on and held it out to Kwan Yin, who gracefully took it, nodding to me.

‘Give her two,’ Leo said from where he sat at the kitchen table with his back to us. ‘Get rid of the damn things. Everybody’s sick to death of the sight of them, and they’re so rich that you can’t eat more than a quarter of one anyway.’

‘Do you want another tin?’ I said. ‘He’s right, you know. Simone won’t eat any more, and Michael and Leo have had enough. And you know how many calories these things have; if I eat them they go straight to my hips.’

Both Leo and Ms Kwan laughed softly.

‘Do these pants make my ass look big?’ Leo squeaked in a falsetto without turning around. ‘No,’ he said in a deeper voice, ‘but the big hole in the back of them gives a good view of it.’

I sidled over to Leo and flicked the back of his bald head with my finger.

‘Ouch,’ he said, and rubbed his head. ‘Give Ms Kwan another one.’

I pulled a tin out, checked the side, checked that Michael hadn’t attacked it, and handed it to her.

‘You have another couple of coins on the table out there for you and Leo, Emma,’ Ms Kwan said. ‘You’ll have more than one lantern for the next festival. Call me if you need me.’

‘Wait!’ I stopped her before she could disappear. ‘Please don’t do anything unless we absolutely have to. Right now they’re quiet. No need for you to put yourself in danger for us. Okay?’

She smiled sadly, nodded, and disappeared.

Hey, Emma! Simone squealed right into my ear. I just blew up a level three demon with my Inner Eye! Come and have a go!

‘Bastard,’ I said quietly as I went out.

‘I heard that,’ Leo said behind me.

Both Leo and I took the kids to school on their first day. We went in the big car. They sat silent and intimidated in the back in their new, stiff green uniforms, school bags at their feet.

There were a lot of cars outside the school, and the security guard made sure that each vehicle stopped only long enough to let children out, explaining that if parents wanted to come inside they would have to park away from the school. It was chaos.

As we approached, the security guard waved us on. Leo stopped the car and I opened the window to speak to the guard. ‘We have a permanent space in the car park,’ I said. ‘Let us in.’

He smiled, shook his head, and waved us on.

I looked around for the head guard. Obviously they had put extra staff on for the first day. I couldn’t see him, so opened the car door and hopped out.

‘Go around the block and come back,’ I said to Leo.

He nodded as I closed the door, and pulled away.

The security guard smiled patiently at me. ‘Just drop children, no parking.’

I ignored him and went to the guard post. Nobody there. I saw the head security guard, Paul, minding the entrance. He was a very nice Filipino who spoke good English; he’d been informed about us and knew that we had a permanent space in the car park. He saw me and I waved to him.

‘Hi, Paul,’ I said cheerfully as I approached him. ‘Is our space ready?’

‘All ready,’ he said. ‘Where your car?’

I pointed. ‘That guard moved us on, wouldn’t let us in.’ I smiled at Paul again. ‘Will you let us in?’

‘Sure.’ Paul went to the guard and told him the situation. The Mercedes appeared as they were talking, and both security guards ushered Leo into the car park, pointing out the space that they had allocated for us.

‘Thanks, guys,’ I said to the guards. I smiled, trying to turn on the charm. ‘Most appreciated.’

‘No problem, Mrs Chen,’ Paul said.

I froze completely. My heart leapt into my throat. Of course, that was the name on the paperwork. But it felt so damn good to be called that. I shook the feeling off; things to do.

‘Just Emma, guys,’ I said, ‘and I’m not Mrs Chen. Miss Donahoe. But just Emma, nanny.’ I pointed at the car. ‘Leo, driver.’

‘Okay,’ Paul said. ‘Sorry.’

‘Well,’ I said, ‘better get these kids fixed up. Thanks, guys. See you later.’

They both smiled and nodded as I returned to the car.

I heard shouting behind me and turned. A Chinese woman in the back of a large black Mercedes driven by a Filipino driver had seen us park and was arguing loudly with the guards that she should be allowed to park as well.

Michael and Simone pulled their bags out of the car, assisted by Leo.

‘We Retainers will drop the Princess in her classroom and check the area, then we’ll drop the on-site guard to his station,’ I said cheerfully.

‘Yes, ma’am,’ both Michael and Leo said, but Simone scowled and put her hands on her hips. ‘You’re the nanny, Leo’s the driver, Michael’s my cousin, and I’m not a princess.’

‘Maybe this will work out after all,’ Leo said as he watched the children entering the school.

A large number of mothers were hovering outside the first graders’ classroom and I had to fight my way through them with Simone. Leo and Michael hung back and waited. Simone hesitated, intimidated, when we entered the room; the children were all over the classroom. There weren’t old-fashioned desks, just small tables for the children to sit at, and a row of hooks along one wall for their bags.

I helped Simone put her bag onto a hook at the side, then we approached the teacher. She handled the chaos with aplomb, cheerfully organising the children to sit at the tables.

‘Hello, this is Simone Chen,’ I said to her, a young blonde Australian woman with a kind face.

‘Hello, Simone,’ the teacher said. ‘Have you been to school, or kindergarten, before?’

Simone shook her head, her eyes wide with apprehension.

‘Okay then,’ the teacher said briskly, ‘I’ll put you next to a little girl who already did a year here in the preparatory class, and she can help you. Is that okay?’

Simone nodded, eyes still wide.

‘Do you remember about Simone?’ I said to the teacher.

‘No, what?’ the teacher said, obviously trying to recall any medical problems.

I leaned over to speak quietly in her ear. ‘She has a guard stationed downstairs in the car park at all times. Either Leo, who’s outside waiting, or myself. She’s a kidnapping target; she’s already had a few attempts on her. Sorry.’ I grinned an apology. ‘But while we’re downstairs, she’ll be fine.’

‘I remember,’ the teacher said, studying me appraisingly. ‘Mrs Nelson told me about you.’ She smiled. ‘Well, I don’t need to worry about any terrorist attacks or anything while you’re downstairs. How did you get into the bodyguard business?’

‘I can honestly say that I had absolutely no intention of ever being one,’ I said. ‘I’m really just a nanny with some extra training. When your ward is a target, you learn quickly.’

‘I suppose you do.’ The teacher glanced down at Simone, who was talking quietly to the girl next to her. ‘Who’s the other bodyguard?’

I opened my mouth to ask Simone to call Leo in, then stopped and mentally kicked myself. Damn, she was better at this normal stuff than I was.

‘You can’t miss him,’ I said. ‘He’s huge and black. Really nice guy. His name’s Leo. He’ll be downstairs in the car park. Simone knows who he is.’

The teacher shrugged. ‘Lot of trouble to go to when she has all these kids around her. But if your boss wants to waste his money, that’s his business.’

I laughed softly. ‘You’re exactly right.’ I watched Simone briefly. ‘I think I’m okay to go now. Can I leave you my mobile number just in case?’

‘Sure.’ The teacher gestured towards her desk, and I wrote my and Leo’s mobile numbers onto a piece of paper.

‘Call either of us if anything suspicious happens,’ I said, and she nodded.

‘You don’t look like a bodyguard. You armed?’ she said quietly.

‘No, and really, I’m just a nanny,’ I said and left it at that. If I mentioned the martial arts then I could be roped in to giving a demonstration, or, even worse, teaching children at the school, and I had quite enough of teaching at the Academy.

‘Bye,’ I said to the teacher, and she nodded and smiled a reply, then rushed to sort out a couple of kids who were arguing over a seat.

Simone didn’t notice me; she was busy talking to her new friend about the meals provided by the school cafeteria. I knelt so that I was at her level. ‘I’m going now, sweetheart, okay?’

‘Okay, Emma,’ Simone said. ‘I’ll be fine.’

‘Both of us are downstairs today,’ I said softly. ‘And Michael is up on the fifth floor.’

‘I’ll be fine, Emma.’ Simone tilted her head and smiled cheekily at me. She waved me away. ‘You go.’ She turned back to her friend, ignoring me. I went out.

The year tens were clustered around a set of lockers outside one of the classrooms. Inside the room, the teacher was allocating lockers and telling the kids how to open them. There was less chaos here, so all three of us approached.

There was a stunned silence when we entered and everybody saw Leo, but it didn’t last long and the loud conversations recommenced.

I took Michael to see the teacher.

‘This is Michael MacLaren, he’s new,’ I said. ‘Can you tell us what we need to do?’

‘I’m Jason Taylor, the Year Ten homeroom teacher,’ he said, shaking my hand strongly. He looked at Michael. ‘Weren’t you told about dyeing your hair?’

I cut in before Michael needed to. ‘I can guarantee that his hair is its natural colour, Mr Taylor,’ I said. ‘Could you let the other teachers know, please?’

The teacher smiled at me. ‘Sure. Are you his mother?’

‘No, I’m the nanny. And this is the driver.’ I gestured to Leo, and the teacher nodded to him, unfazed. ‘Could you sort Michael out for us, please? His little cousin is downstairs in the first grade—it’s her first day too and I want to make sure that she’s okay.’

‘Let me handle everything, I’ll have Michael here fixed up in a jiffy.’ The teacher gestured to Michael. ‘Come with me, young Michael, let’s get you organised. Are you half-Chinese?’

Michael and the teacher went out to the lockers, chatting amiably. Leo and I shared a smile.

I quickly checked on Simone again as we went back down to the car. She was with a group of little girls who were comparing pencil cases, and didn’t even see me. The teacher saw me, gave me a wave and a smile, and gestured that Simone was okay.

Leo and I settled ourselves in the car. The children were all in school now and it was quiet. Nobody went in or out. The guards sat around the guard station and chatted in Cantonese and Tagalog.

I opened the laptop on the back seat, pulled out the budgeting spreadsheets and started going through the figures. I had two sets: the real ones and the figures for my thesis. The real figures didn’t include salaries for most of the staff, who were demons.

Leo sat comfortably in the driver’s seat and rustled the newspaper against the steering wheel.

I felt it before I saw it. I jerked up from the spreadsheets and saw it come into the car park. High level, but alone. Not a prince. Looked like an ordinary Chinese workman, in dirty white trousers, a torn T-shirt and filthy canvas shoes.

There’s a demon downstairs, Simone said into my ear.

Neither of us could talk back to her. We both swung into action together. Leo threw the newspaper onto the seat next to him, pulled off his reading glasses and dropped them on top of the paper. We slammed the car doors behind us and walked quickly over to intercept the demon. Paul, the head guard, smiled at us. Then he saw us walking threateningly towards the demon and his smile disappeared.

The demon saw us coming and stopped. It faced us. It watched us for a while.

We stopped about two metres away from it. Both of us folded our arms and stood quietly, waiting for it to make a move.

It smiled tightly at us, spun, and walked out of the school grounds.

As we went back to the car, Leo held out his hand and I tapped it lightly with my fingertips.

We returned to our spreadsheet and newspaper without saying a word.

Demon’s gone, Simone said into my ear. There was nothing for a while, then, I’m sitting next to a really nice girl, her name is Helen. She has a new puppy and wants to invite me to her house to see it.

Leo sighed gently, turned the page of the newspaper, and shook it flat over the steering wheel.