Earth to Hell. Kylie Chan
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of food around with them, usually small snacks such as dried fish or nuts.
‘Oh, give it up, Michael, they’re enjoying themselves,’ Simone said. She gestured with her head. ‘That looks like our boat, it’s completely non-tourist.’
A five-metre motor launch was docked at the pier, its white sides gleaming. It had no registration or name. When the deckhand saw us approach, he pushed a gangway out to the edge of the pier for us.
We boarded, Simone leading and Michael guarding the rear. As the deckhand prepared to release the rope, a middle-rank demon appearing as a young Chinese man dressed in a smart black business suit came out from the main cabin. He quickly saluted all of us.
‘Passage is payment of a black jade coin,’ he said.
I handed him the scroll tied with vermillion ribbon that contained the Jade Emperor’s edict to let us into Hell. He perused it quickly; this part of the proceedings was just a formality. He returned it to me and nodded. ‘Your passage has been confirmed. Please come with me. There is tea and soda inside if you wish.’
As he spoke, the boat and the sky both went black and the surge of waves beneath the boat ceased. The sound of the noisy tourists on the next pier was cut off, as was the noise from the myriad boats moored in the typhoon shelter. The air echoed with the eerie sound of the inside of a huge cavern and darkness surrounded us. The water was completely still and black as ice, and the temperature dropped.
‘Come inside,’ the demon said. ‘It’s about an hour’s journey and it’s freezing out here. And I’m very honoured to make your acquaintance.’
‘Yes, I’m well aware of the similarities to the Western legend of the River Styx,’ the demon said as he poured the tea. ‘I’ve studied the mythology and I’m interested in the way that theirs — or yours — matches up with ours. I’d love to travel to the West and see for myself, but of course I’m much too small to travel that far from my Centre.’
‘Has the King ever said anything about it?’ I said.
The demon made a soft sound of amusement. ‘I have been lucky enough in my long life to avoid attracting the attention of the King. It is not something I would do by choice.’
He nodded to Simone. ‘I remember when you came through as a child, Princess. You scared me to death with the amount of shen energy you were radiating. You threatened to destroy me if I didn’t take you across. Of course, I couldn’t take you without the payment of a coin and I readied myself to die.’
‘I remember now, it’s all coming back to me,’ Simone said. ‘At the time I was so upset it was just a blur. I was going to destroy you but then I decided not to waste the time.’
‘You rose on your shen energy and floated across the water. You were a thing of terrifying beauty, making the water beneath you ripple as you drifted above it.’ He smiled slightly and shook his head. ‘You should have been destroyed — the water is full of the power of yin itself; one touch is destruction. Being in the centre of the river is like being in a vortex of yin and therefore should annihilate anything except this specially constructed boat. Yet you were completely unharmed. Later I learnt that you had summoned yin, and I understood. You could probably manipulate this water if you wished to control it.’
Simone smiled back tightly. ‘I don’t think I’ll bother. I’m just here to find my Retainer.’
‘As you wish, ma’am,’ he said, and we continued in silence.
The landing on the other side was a rough-hewn alcove cut out of the dark grey rock with a smooth stone floor. The only break in the wall of rock was a modern black-doored elevator with a single black smoked-glass button next to it. The demon pressed the button and the light went on.
‘This is where I leave you. There is only one destination for this lift,’ the demon said. He saluted us. ‘Ladies. Sir. Good luck on your sortie and I hope that I will be able to ferry you on your return.’
We saluted back. The demon returned to the boat and it pulled away, disappearing into the darkness.
A bell sounded and the lift doors opened.
‘Here we go,’ Simone said, and we went in.
‘How much of this is coming back to you?’ I asked as the lift doors closed and we descended.
Simone looked up but there were no floor lights above the door. ‘Some of it. They kept telling me you were here by choice; and the counsellor I was seeing acted as if you were dead, but I knew you weren’t dead because I could sense you. When Rhonda took me to school on my first day back and the stone told me that this was the way my life would be now, without you, or Daddy, or Leo, I just snapped. I thought, “To hell with this, I’m getting back the person I can get, and that’s Emma”.’
‘The stone did that on purpose?’ I said, incredulous.
The stone didn’t reply and I moved to tap it. It spoke before I touched it. ‘Some of us had the brains to realise what the King was doing when he manipulated Simone into coming down here, destroying Wong and freeing you.’
‘Rubbish,’ Simone said. ‘You just wanted her back as much as I did, and you didn’t give a damn either.’
The stone didn’t reply.
‘Simone isn’t as much fun to torment?’ I said.
‘She’s getting there,’ the stone said. ‘Give her some time.’
Michael quirked a small smile and shifted his sword, the White Tiger, more comfortably where it lay diagonally across his back. I saw his face; it was strained with tension.
‘Are you okay, Michael?’
He nodded, serious. ‘I can feel the nature of this place and how it wishes to reject me, but I can tolerate it.’
‘I don’t feel that it wants to reject me,’ Simone said. ‘I don’t feel anything much.’
‘You’re probably too powerful, Simone,’ the stone said, and Michael grimaced slightly. ‘Emma?’
‘I don’t feel rejected,’ I said quietly.
The doors opened and we stepped out of the lift into a large bright courtyard full of small trees and flowing water. The water ran in narrow channels between paths of light tan pavers and raised garden boxes. Small pavilions with white-tiled pillars and traditional roofs were scattered around the garden. The whole area gleamed, and a fresh breeze full of the scent of jasmine lifted the air. A bird sang nearby, and I looked up. There was no ceiling, but neither was there a sky; it was just bright above us, and nothing else was visible. It was impossible to tell how high the ceiling was, if there was one.
An official wearing a traditional black silk robe and a high, square hat with long extensions either side appeared. Meredith was with him. He bowed slightly to us and saluted. ‘This way, please.’ He turned to our left and led us through a large moon gate. On the other side of the gate was a landing with stairs leading down to the right.
We all stopped on the landing and watched in wonder. The ground below — about a hundred metres away — spread before us to the sandy edge of a large, still, brilliantly blue lake that stretched to the horizon. The beach was bordered by a metre-high tan stone wall, and on its near side was an expanse of manicured lawn dotted with bauhinia trees, their pink and white blooms covering the ground around them. The courtyard we had been in had an open rooftop and the building below us had ornamental arches for windows in its light tan stone walls.
A white marble causeway led out across the lake, with traditional cloud-patterned balustrades on either side. It was about three metres wide and disappeared into the misty distance. Similar causeways could be seen about two hundred metres away on either side of it, spreading out from where we were and stretching across the lake.
Next to our causeway stood a two-storey mansion with red pillars and wooden screens, a large veranda around it, and an upward-sloping roof of green tiles. Identical mansions