Heaven to Wudang. Kylie Chan
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no longer have the forces of Hell breathing down your neck, killing your Celestials and harming your little human students.’
‘You want to set a puppet on the throne of Hell?’ I said.
She gestured with impatience. ‘I don’t want to rule Hell. I just want to be left alone to succeed with my Immortality and then live my life in peace! I’ve never wanted any of you dead; I just want to be left alone.’
‘Gloria Ho,’ I said. ‘Andy Ho. The Death Mother. Before that, Six, and the Geek, and Simon Wong. Don’t tell me you won’t try to kill us, Kitty; you and your friends haven’t stopped trying. You’ve been the leader of this all along, so don’t play the innocent. You want to put a puppet on the throne of Hell and then try to take over the Earthly Plane as well.’
She raised her arms to the side. ‘This is a waste of time. Get me out.’
The two bodyguards transformed into humanoid demons with black scales and tusks. All three of them disappeared.
‘Whoa!’ Simone said. ‘They were demons? I saw them as human.’
‘Me too,’ Leo said, and Michael nodded agreement.
‘Did you see them as demons or human, John?’ I said, turning to see him, but he’d disappeared. ‘Is he all right, Simone?’
‘Daddy went back to the Grotto,’ Simone said. ‘He seemed totally confused by the whole thing.’
‘It was strange my sword didn’t come to me,’ I said. ‘Kitty must have been blocking it somehow, which is very disturbing.’ I raised my hand and summoned the sword and it still didn’t come. ‘Are you having the same problem?’
Simone raised her hand and Dark Heavens appeared in it. She dismissed it. ‘I have no trouble calling my sword.’
‘You haven’t called the Murasame since you lost your demon essence,’ Leo said.
‘You’re right,’ I said. ‘Maybe it doesn’t serve me any more. Maybe it went back to the King?’
‘After this, we’ll head back to the Mountain and ask Miss Chen,’ Simone said. She ran her hands through her hair and fluffed it out over her shoulders. ‘Let’s go upstairs and raise some money for these poor kids.’
CHAPTER 5
We made our way back up in the lift to the floor above. The speeches had started, and we slipped in at the back to watch. Michael nodded to Leo, then went to the side table and grabbed a tray of drinks for us.
About halfway through David’s welcoming speech, a deep vibration thrummed through the floor beneath us. Water hissed for a couple of seconds, then stopped. There was silence from the crowd, then a few giggles and confused conversation. Nothing else happened so David continued his speech.
Oh my God, Emma, look out the window, Simone said.
I glanced left and stared. The sky and the other side of the harbour had gone. There was just a wall of blackness next to us, as high as the fifteen-metre windows. Its slightly curved vertical surface shifted like liquid in the reflected light of the Convention Centre.
David continued his speech, but people next to the window began moving away. More people noticed, and the chatter became louder and gained a frightened edge.
‘Don’t worry, it’s just an optical illusion,’ David said, frantically waving me towards the podium. ‘It happens sometimes when there’s an inversion layer over the water, because of the change in seasons. It’s an atmospheric anomaly, that’s all. Don’t bother taking photos; you won’t capture anything because it’s not really there — it’s something like a mirage.’
‘What is it?’ I asked Simone, waving back to David to indicate that I’d be there in a minute.
‘It’s just water,’ Simone said. ‘A wall of water. Not an optical illusion.’
‘Your dad?’
‘No. Only water. It might be elementals playing around, but I can’t sense any.’ She moved closer to the glass and concentrated. ‘No intelligence behind it.’ She cocked her head. ‘Why is it doing that?’
I walked towards the podium to reassure David, and some of the people nearby reacted loudly. A lump two metres across had emerged from the wall and was following me. I took a couple more steps towards David and the ball paced me. I continued and a snake’s head, at least a metre across, shot out of the water and slammed its snout into the window glass with a wet crack. People screamed and scurried away from the glass.
I stopped and turned to face the snake. Something in its eyes called to me and I raised one hand, desperately wishing I could touch it. It pushed its head more slowly towards me and came through the glass as if it wasn’t there. It touched its snout to my hand and time stopped. We hung suspended in the moment, touching snake to snake. The world spiralled away from me and the water rose up to meet me, its darkness filled with the immeasurable cold intelligence of the Serpent. It pulled its head back, nodded to me, and spun to disappear back into the wall of water.
The water collapsed, sending a black surge against the glass and then subsiding.
I jogged up to the podium to speak in David’s ear. ‘Pretend that was part of the show, courtesy of Chencorp, please. Nobody’s in danger.’
David raised his hands and spoke loudly over the PA system. ‘Ladies and gentlemen, a round of applause for the special three-dimensional installation courtesy of Chencorp, one of the patrons for this evening. That was a one-off display of the installation before it is dismantled for a world tour, a demonstration of some of today’s most advanced holographic technology.’ He dropped his voice. ‘How’s that?’
‘Absolutely perfect. I owe you.’
There was scattered applause through the room, then people surged forward and applauded me loudly, discussing the snake and water. I patted David on the shoulder and turned to go back down.
‘Wait,’ he said. ‘What if something like that happens again?’
‘Just say it’s an encore,’ I said.
He shrugged. ‘Turnout will be double next time we have a charity opening.’
‘All good for the kids,’ I said, and went back down to Simone and the men.
Before the auction we wandered around the paintings. Simone showed me a Western-style oil painting of a group of running horses, one of them palomino.
‘I like this one. Do you think it would look good in my room?’
‘Which room — on the Peak or at home?’ I said.
‘At home. It’s too big for the Peak, it’s a metre across. It would look good in the living room in my apartment on the Mountain.’
Leo studied the painting. ‘This isn’t terribly well done, you know. You only want to buy it because it looks like Freddo.’
She nodded a reply.
‘He should pay for it to compensate you for destroying the carpet and making you move out while it was replaced,’ Michael said.
‘Pay with what?’ Simone said.
‘A promise not to pee on the carpet in future would be a good start,’ Leo said.
‘Oh geez,’ Simone said softly, looking behind me, then quickly went to another painting, Michael and Leo trailing her.
I turned to see what had spooked them and nearly sighed with dismay. It was George Wilson, taipan of one of the big shipping companies. He was a good head taller than me and nearly the same around, carrying a large glass of scotch leaning against his stomach and a predatory grin above his double chins.
‘Here’s the girl in charge,’ he said