Blue Dragon Part 57

'How long will she be down there?' I said.

'Where?' Leo said. 'I wish you people would stop talking in riddles.'

I smiled at Leo. 'Do you have any idea what happens to Immortals when their physical forms are killed?'

'They go to h.e.l.l, stay there for a while, then turn up again, good as new,' Leo said. 'That's it, isn't it?'

'That's right,' I said. 'Straight to Level Ten, the bottom level, stay there for a while doing who knows what, then pop back up here.'

'What happens to them down there?' he said.

'None of the Immortals will talk about it,' I said loudly without looking at the three Immortals who sat, unmoving, at the table with us.

'All of the Celestial Masters are in h.e.l.l?' Leo said. 'Is that just for China?'

'I have no idea, and it's a waste of time asking,' I said.

'What about ordinary people?' Leo said. His face cleared. 'Oh, that's why you said "next time".'

Once again n.o.body said anything.

'Once it is all handled, you may go, my friend,' John said to Liu. 'Until then, you are needed here. She will understand.'

'How long will it take?' I said.

Liu and John shared a look. 'About three months,' John said.

'Intercede,' the stone in my ring said. 'You need them.'

John made a soft sound but didn't say anything.

'You can do that?' I said.

Neither John nor Liu spoke. Their faces were rigid.

'You're not supposed to talk about it, are you,' I said.

'There have always been people who wanted me thrown from Heaven, Emma,' John said softly.

'I see,' I said.

'How come you know all this, Emma?' Leo said.

'Research.'

'Far too much for your own good,' John said. 'Only about twenty-five per cent of what's out there is correct anyway.'

'I can tell what's right,' I said. 'It's obvious.'

'I think you should start doing a PhD to keep yourself busy, before you do do get me thrown from Heaven,' John said with grim humour. get me thrown from Heaven,' John said with grim humour.

'I have well and truly enough to do right now as it is,' I said.

John straightened and changed the subject. 'We only have three Celestial Masters left. We also have three of the original human Masters, all of whom are really too frail to take up much of the workload. There's only one thing we can do.'

I dropped my head. 'Close up shop.'

'No,' Leo whispered. 'You can't.'

'We'll send them all home, Leo,' I said. 'There's not much else we can do.'

'I'll rent the ballroom of one of the hotels in Admiralty, have a farewell dinner, make the announcement,' John said, his voice full of pain. 'The seniors who want to remain with us can stay at the Folly. Many of them have no other family, no other interests, and nowhere else to go. Emma and the remaining Celestials can look after them after I'm gone. All the juniors should go home to their families.'

'It's the only thing we can do,' I said, my heart breaking. The juniors would be devastated when they heard.

'Once the juniors are home, the seniors are organised, and the demon is taken out, you have my permission,' John said to Liu.

'My Lord,' Liu whispered, his voice hoa.r.s.e.

'Hold it a minute,' I said. 'You can't rent a ballroom-we don't have Gold. We'll have to do it at Hennessy Road. And we don't have s.p.a.ce for everybody in one room.'

'What's the problem?' Leo said.

'Language,' I said. 'They'll be able to understand Lord Xuan, but n.o.body else.'

'Oh.'

'You're quite correct,' John said.

'Gather them into the training rooms at Hennessy Road, make the announcement by telepathy,' I said. 'It's the only way.'

'We lost Jade and Gold as well?' Leo said.

'We lost Gold,' I said. 'Have you heard from him? Is he in h.e.l.l?'

'We haven't heard from him,' the stone said, completely emotionless. 'He has disappeared. He is not in h.e.l.l, he is not on Earth, he is not on the Celestial. He does not answer when he is called.'

'Oh G.o.d G.o.d,' I whispered.

Leo moaned gently and rubbed his hands over his face.

'We lost all the stones,' John said without looking up. 'All of them. The attackers had some way of disabling them. At this stage it is not clear whether the same thing has happened to them.'

The stone made a soft hissing sound, but didn't say anything.

'What about the dragons?' I said.

'Most of the dragons escaped death because of their speed,' John said. 'They fought valiantly. Many of them were injured, though, and have been moved to the East to recover. We have about a dozen dragons left, including Jade, who couldn't fight.'

'Is Jade okay?' Leo said.

'Jade's apparently sitting on a clutch of eggs and didn't tell anybody,' I said.

'Terrific timing,' Leo growled. 'She didn't even look pregnant.'

'Typical dragon behaviour. Never tell anybody anything.' I sighed and rested my chin on my hand. 'Geez. This is really bad.'

John leaned back, his face tight but his eyes burning. 'Anything else?'

'Yes,' I said. 'Why couldn't you sense them?'

Leo glanced at John.

'n.o.body could sense them,' Liu said. 'They were specifically engineered to appear human right the way through. There was absolutely no demon essence that was visible to any sort of inspection.'

'Sounds like the fire elementals, except more so,' I said.

'Precisely,' John said.

'How did you recognise them once you knew then?' I said. 'If there's no demon essence about them?'

'They are not completely human, and the difference is easy to spot once you are looking for it,' John said. 'In the past we only looked for existence of the black demon essence, and if it wasn't there we could safely a.s.sume it was human. Now we can't; we must look at its human nature as well.'

'We need to see Helen again,' I said. 'Were you awake, stone?'

'Yes,' the stone said. 'I can show you.'

'First, I must report,' John said. 'The residents of the Celestial must be notified about the new demons. Only the Heavens know how far they have infiltrated. I've summoned the Tiger, he'll be here shortly. Then we can examine Helen.'

'Were you awake when Kitty came to get her from school?' I said.

'Yes,' the stone said.

'Good, we'll look at Kitty too. Oh,' I said, suddenly remembering, 'was that April?'

'No,' the stone said. 'And it wasn't a Mother either.'

'Well then, what the h.e.l.l was it?' I said. 'It sure as h.e.l.l looked like a Mother.'

'Something completely new,' the stone said. 'You'll need to devise a name for them, I think.'

The Tiger appeared at the other end of the room and fell to one knee, saluting. 'Xuan Tian Shang Di.'

'Emma,' John said, 'what the Tiger and I are about to discuss is not for mortal ears. Please.'

'Come and see yourself in the newspaper, Emma,' Leo said, rising. 'There's a huge story about you on page three of both the English and Chinese papers.'

'My Lord,' Liu said, saluting, and disappeared.

'Dismissed, Au,' John said. 'Go and supervise the clean-up crews.'

'My Lord,' Audrey said, and disappeared as well.

'I'm in the paper?' I said, shooting to my feet. 'Holy s.h.i.t, n.o.body saw me, did they?'

'They didn't just see you, they took photos, and called the Agriculture and Fisheries Department to come and get you,' Leo said. 'Apparently you're a really big cobra. Caused a lot of panic around Kowloon Tong station. They spent the entire afternoon trying to catch you. You should see the photos-the Ag and Fish guys look terrified.'

I sagged with relief. 'Oh, they saw the snake snake. I thought they saw me me.'

'That would cause ma.s.s panic as well,' Leo said dryly, putting his arm on my back to guide me out. 'Come and have a look. You're a celebrity. You were even on the television, but we weren't quick enough to tape it for you.'

'Are you okay, Leo?' I whispered as he closed the door behind us on John and the Tiger. 'You're not too freaked?'

'About you being a snake?' Leo said. 'Or about this demon thing?'

'Everything.'

'Simone is okay,' Leo said.

I understood.

I parked the car at a meter near the vacant lot. I walked up to the fence and studied it. I looked around. n.o.body nearby.

'Try walking right through,' the stone said. 'Don't go over. Concentrate. Make yourself permeable. I will supervise. When I give the word, gently push your hand through the fence.'

I concentrated on making myself, as the stone had said, permeable permeable.

'Try,' the stone whispered. 'Just your hand.'

I retained my concentration and put my hand on the fence. I could feel the fence, but I could easily push my hand through the wire.

It was agony. The pain was indescribable. I did my best to retain my concentration and slowly pulled my hand back out.

'You are not there yet,' the stone said. 'Well done. Many others would have lost their concentration at the pain and lost their hand in the fence.'

'You just nearly cost me my hand,' I said. 'There are no energy healers left at the Academy, just me, and I don't think I'd be capable of fixing something as major as that.'

'You are quite correct, Lady Emma. Please accept my apologies,' the stone said. 'I will, in future, be more careful.'

'Good,' I said, took three steps back and jumped over the fence, somersaulting at the top and floating down the other side to land lightly on my feet. My snake track was visible in the soft dirt and I followed it to the back of the lot. The King's phone was on the ground in the tall gra.s.s. I jammed it into my pocket.

'You were hoping I wouldn't remember it, weren't you?' I said as I walked back to the fence. A Chinese couple strolled past on the other side of the street but didn't see me. I waited for them to go.

I do not like to think of what would happen to you if you were to use that phone, the stone said silently into my ear. the stone said silently into my ear. The King obviously has plans for you, and they may not be pleasant or honourable. I hate to think what he could do to you if you went to him. The King obviously has plans for you, and they may not be pleasant or honourable. I hate to think what he could do to you if you went to him.

'That is totally unimportant,' I whispered. 'What is important is that Simone is safe. And it's looking more and more like I may have to use it.'

Please be warned, Emma, you should only use it as a last resort, the stone said. the stone said. For you, death may be a preferable option to h.e.l.l. For you, death may be a preferable option to h.e.l.l.