Heaven to Wudang (4 page)

‘You aren't supposed to be able to do that,' LK said.

‘That's something I haven't heard anyone say in a very long time,' I said.

‘No, Leo said it yesterday,' the stone said. ‘And before you ask, I have no idea what you are.'

‘You don't see people's souls, you taste them,' LK said. ‘I've never seen anything like it. Usually we have a sight or sound analogue for the way we perceive the higher senses. Why are you experiencing them as smell and taste?'

‘Probably because I'm a snake,' I said. ‘We work off taste and smell more than anything; that's why we flick out our tongues all the time.'

‘Snake?' Ben said weakly.

I released their hands and turned to speak to him. ‘Many spirits on the higher plane are the essence of nature, weather and animals,' I said. ‘Dragons, tigers, wolves, foxes — many types of animals. Reptiles as well, including turtles, dragons, and snakes like me.'

‘Any cockroaches?' Tom said, amused.

‘I'm glad we found you, Tom, you're smart and brave and have transcended your nature,' I said. ‘Only demons take the form of insects; they're not intelligent enough to be Shen.'

‘I'm starting to feel less and less like a freak all the time,' Tom said.

‘Oh, we're all freaks, one way or another,' I said.

‘Hear, hear,' LK said. ‘Now that everybody's established how scary we all are, let's have a look at you, Tom.'

Tom's eyes widened and he sat back in his chair.

‘Nobody's going to hurt you; we'll just look at you,' I said. ‘No need to be concerned.'

I sat at the table and gestured around it. LK and Ronnie Wong could have been brothers: both appeared to be mid-thirties and were wearing plain white dress shirts and slacks and ugly plastic-rimmed glasses. ‘LK Pak is the Wudang Mountain Demon Master; he's made an extensive study of the nature of demons. Ronnie Wong here is a Prince of Demonkind and exiled from Hell. He turned from the hosts of Hell and has aligned himself with the Celestial, but because of his nature and the strength of the seals he is still unable to enter Wudang uninvited.'

‘I wouldn't go in anyway. One of your students might think I'm a threat,' Ronnie said with good humour.

‘It is important at this point that you do not change to your demon form,' LK said to Tom. ‘You would be destroyed.'

‘I won't anyway,' Tom said. ‘It tries to control me, and it thirsts for blood.'

I had a sudden horrible idea. ‘Do either of you know a woman called Kitty Kwok?'

They both started and shared a look.

‘I remember you mentioned a Kitty before, but it didn't click until you said it again,' Ben said. ‘Not Kitty Kwok; she said her name was Kitty Ho, same as my wife's name. She came to visit us in Wales, said she was my wife's sister, and my wife welcomed her.' He grimaced. ‘But the way they behaved wasn't like sisters at all. It was more like …' He hesitated.

Tom said it for him. ‘Lovers.'

Ben nodded, his face full of misery.

‘Did she ever experiment on you, Tom?' I said.

‘Not that I know of,' Tom said.

‘Did you have needle tracks?'

They shared another look.

‘I accused him of taking drugs and he denied it,' Ben said. ‘We had some huge arguments over it. He said he had no idea how the marks had got there.'

‘Emma,' LK said, ‘I hate to suggest this, but —'

‘No,' I said.

‘You wanted to find out what you are, ma'am,' he said.

‘Don't even think about it,' I said. I rose and walked to the other side of the room. ‘We are not going there.'

‘What is it?' Ben said.

‘Emma was filled with demon essence by Kitty Kwok and it turned her into a lamia, same as you, Tom. But she isn't half-demon like you; she is supposed to be all human —'

I spun to shout at him. ‘I am all human! My mother has never cheated on my dad!' I turned away again. ‘Don't even think it.'

They were silent. I turned back and saw LK's face.

‘Oh, no, you don't,' I said. ‘If you're talking to the Tiger about my blood samples you can stop right now. I was born in Australia. I'm not half-Chinese so I can't be half-demon. I resemble both my parents; it's obvious.'

‘I wonder if they ever tried to hook you up with a demon?' Ronnie said.

Suddenly April's husband, Andy, was standing in front of me. I backed up until I was against the wall, breathing hard with loathing as he grinned at me, an expensive bunch of flowers in one hand and a set of car keys dangling from the other.

‘Emma, it's okay, you're on the Mountain,' LK said.

I shook my head and snapped back. I was in the demon interview room on the periphery of the Mountain. I rubbed my hands over my face and returned to the table.

‘What happened?' LK said.

‘I had a flashback,' I said. ‘Most severe one I've ever had.'

‘PTSD?' Ronnie said.

I nodded, miserable.

‘What's PTSD?' Vincent said.

‘Post-traumatic stress disorder,' LK said. ‘Used to be called shell shock. You have enough extremely bad things happen to you and your mind never completely recovers. I didn't know you suffered from this, Emma.'

‘That's the first time it's happened in front of anyone else,' I said. ‘Don't spread it around that I have this, please. I don't want anyone else to know about it.'

‘Wouldn't dream of it,' Ronnie said. ‘I have flashbacks myself. You go through enough, your brain keeps bringing it out and tormenting you with it because it can't make it go away.'

‘You should both see someone,' LK said.

‘I am,' I said.

‘I've been studying human clinical psychology journals,' Ronnie said. ‘I've even thought of studying psychiatry to add to my knowledge, but that would mean studying medicine and my physiology would come under scrutiny. Not a good idea.'

‘That was a pretty severe flashback,' LK said.

‘I remembered,' I said. ‘I just saw Andy Ho …' I stopped. ‘I just saw Andy
Ho
, my friend April's husband. It was before he married her — I was back at the kindergarten, still working for Kitty Kwok. He was trying to date me, promising me all sorts of stupid stuff, claiming he was so rich and could give me a life better than anything I'd ever experienced. He was trying to give me a car.'

‘But he was a demon,' LK said.

‘He fathered a demon copy of Simone on April, and they generated a Mother copy of April as well,' I said. ‘He was in league with Kitty.'

‘Same name as my wife's family,' Ben said. ‘Her name was Ho.'

‘But you never mentioned him trying to date you before, Emma,' LK said.

‘
I didn't remember
,' I said. ‘I have no idea what the circumstances were around that flashback; I have no memory of him trying to date me. All I can remember is the terror and revulsion I felt towards him.' I shivered and hugged myself. ‘Ugh, the idea of him even touching me freaks me out.'

‘Some of the damage Kitty did to you may be permanent,' LK said. ‘It's likely lost memories will continue to surface for the rest of your life.' He pulled a notepad and a pen towards him and flipped the pad open.

‘They were filling me with demon essence in preparation for having a child with him,' I said. ‘A child like Tom.' I turned to Ben. ‘You and I have something in common; something that makes us different, and
something these demons know about. I can't wait to find Kitty Kwok Ho Man Yee and have a very serious talk with her.'

‘You need to track down whether you have any common ancestry or heritage and go find what it is,' LK said, scribbling notes on the pad.

‘Where in Wales are you from?' I asked Ben.

‘Cardiff, but my family originally came from the town of Holyhead. It's spelt “Holy” but pronounced “Holly”. It's on an island off the west coast of Wales called Holy Island.'

‘If that isn't the perfect name for the home of Shen then I can't think of one,' Ronnie said.

‘I wonder where my ancestors came from,' I said.

‘If they didn't come from the same place I will be very surprised indeed,' Ronnie said. ‘I'd love to come along if you go. I've never been that far from my Centre and I'd like to see how long I could handle it.'

‘Deal,' I said.

‘Me too,' LK said, underlining a couple of points on his notes, then peering at Tom. ‘If there's any new demons there, I want to see.'

‘I'll take you,' Ben said. ‘There are so many strange things on that island — ancient ruins, mystical stones — I'd love to show them to you.'

‘Stone, find a week to clear in my diary,' I said. ‘I have to go.'

‘Give me some time to rearrange your appointments,' the stone said. ‘Might be best to do it during term break.'

‘Is there a village there? High up on a hill, with thatched cottages and lawns with low walls and flower gardens?' I said.

‘No,' Ben said. ‘There is a small group of houses high up on Holy Mountain, but no thatching any more, it's too expensive to maintain.'

‘There really is a group of houses up on the mountain?' I said, incredulous.

‘Yes. It's called Mountain,' Ben said.

‘The village is called Mountain?'

‘Welcome to Wudang Mountain,' LK said with humour, still taking notes. ‘Which is also known as the Mountain.'

‘So many coincidences,' Tom said.

‘No such thing,' I said. ‘Are you done yet, LK?'

‘Nearly. This has been most interesting,' LK said, scribbling a few final points on the notepad.

Tom stared at LK. ‘You've been examining me this whole time?'

‘That I have,' LK said. He pushed the pad away and focused on Tom. ‘You are fascinating, sir. If you don't mind, I'd like to have a brief look inside as well.'

‘Inside?' Tom said.

‘Inside your head,' I said. ‘He'll flip through your thoughts and memories. It's an excellent way to see exactly what makes someone tick, but an unfortunate side effect is that they see everything else as well. You can't hide anything from them. You can trust LK to keep everything in confidence, but it's still up to you.'

‘Dad?' Tom said.

Ben nodded. ‘They might as well, son.'

‘They'll see, Dad.'

Ben's expression darkened. ‘And I don't think they'll be surprised. I'm not surprised myself any more. It's worth it if they can help you.'

Tom turned to LK. ‘If you promise you won't share anything you see in me, you can do it.'

‘I'll only share things that are directly related to your demon nature,' LK said. ‘Other than that, you can trust me.'

He rose and moved to stand behind Tom. Tom stood up, but LK stopped him with a hand on his shoulder. ‘Sit, relax. This won't hurt a bit.'

Tom sat back down and LK put his hands on either side of Tom's head, then raised his own face and closed his eyes, concentrating. Tom stiffened then relaxed. They remained silent for a while, then both grimaced at the same time.

‘Sorry,' LK said. He released Tom's head, sat back down and scribbled some more notes.

Ben and Tom shared a look, and Tom shrugged.

What do you think they're hiding?
the stone said.
I asked LK and he wouldn't tell me.

Of course he won't
, I said.
He gave his word. My guess is that she abused them and Ben's ashamed that he didn't protect his child from her.

I see
, the stone said.
What a horrible situation.

LK pushed the notepad away. ‘Go back to the apartment you rented in Hong Kong,' he said to Ben and Tom. He turned to me. ‘Ma'am, provide them with an escort. It's quite likely that Kitty knows what's happened and may have an ambush set up for them.' He turned back to Ben and Tom. ‘Gather all your belongings; you won't be going back there ever again. Then I suggest we find you a safe house somewhere on the Earthly, but well hidden. The Celestial is too dangerous for Tom. If he loses control over his demon nature he would be destroyed.' He shrugged. ‘Perhaps one of the Follies?'

‘The Follies are deserted, and human residents are returning; it would be too risky,' I said. ‘How about one of the Twelve Villages?'

‘Put them with the Rats,' LK said. ‘They'd love to study Tom; it will open a whole new area of exploration for them.'

‘Yeah,' I said. ‘It might even inspire them to extend their intelligence beyond China's borders.'

‘Rats?' Ben said.

‘We have twelve villages in different parts of Asia, named for the twelve animals of the Chinese zodiac,'
I said. ‘They aren't real rats, they're just people, and they specialise in intelligence gathering.'

‘They're our spies,' LK said. ‘They're based in Macau, in an urban area even though we call it a village. You'll be safe amongst the Rats; they have advanced security measures.'

Tell LK I'm hoping he's absolutely sure this kid isn't a plant
, I said to the stone.

That's why I'm putting him with the Rats,
LK said.
They'll handle him if he is. They'll be on their guard and actually hoping that he's one of these advanced copies.

‘Very well,' I said. ‘LK, arrange the escort for the trip to the apartment, and I'll contact Rat Village and make the arrangements from this end.' I gestured towards the plates of Chinese vegetarian food that the demons had made for us, which had gone cold while we'd been talking. ‘I'll have someone warm this up for us.'

A demon entered, bowed to us, and took a few of the plates off the table. Another demon took the teapot to fill it with fresh hot water.