Heaven to Wudang (26 page)

‘Don't throw yourself away, Emma,' Leo said. ‘There's a damn good chance these boys aren't the real ones.'

I looked him in the eye. ‘If this was one of your nephews, and there was a chance it was really him, what would you do?'

He held my gaze for a long time, then looked away. ‘I'll take you down. Simone, stay here where it's safe. I don't trust that demon bitch at all.'

‘Daddy says don't do it,' Simone said.

‘Tell Daddy I love him.'

Simone jumped to her feet and ran away.

‘And I love you too, Simone.'

 

Leo wasn't good at landing anywhere on the Earthly except Central, so we arrived at the Star Ferry terminal and collected the car from its park under the Landmark building. I sat silently in the passenger seat, watching the traffic and lights of Hong Kong, as Leo drove.

‘We'll come for you,' Leo said eventually, as we sat in the stop-start traffic to enter the Cross-Harbour Tunnel.

‘I know you will. I hope these are the real boys.'

We entered the tunnel and went from near standstill to the speed limit. Leo weaved across the lane and the car next to us sounded its horn, making him jump.

‘Sorry,' he said. ‘Distracted.'

‘Is anyone talking to you?'

‘No.'

‘Leo.' I turned to see him. ‘Don't worry. He will find me. He vowed that he would.'

Leo's expression cleared. ‘That's right, he did.'

‘Even if Heaven and Earth have to be moved for him to achieve it, that oath will be fulfilled. We knew all along that he would have to find me — and for that to happen, I have to be lost.'

He wiped his hand over his face. ‘I don't want to lose you.'

‘I don't want to lose you either, mate. I hope you're still here when he brings me back.'

He hesitated for a moment, then nodded once. ‘I will be. I'll wait until you're back and we can say goodbye properly.'

We shot out of the tunnel on the other side and immediately slowed. The automatic tag on the windscreen beeped as we passed under the gate.

‘Sometimes it feels very strange to be back here,' Leo said. ‘And sometimes it feels like I've come home.'

‘Yeah, the same for me. But when I arrive on the Mountain, it just rings like a bell inside me and I feel: now I'm home.'

‘Yeah.'

‘Look after Michael,' I said as we travelled down Waterloo Road in the evening traffic towards Kitty's kindergarten in Kowloon Tong. ‘Help him. Gaining Immortality wasn't a gift after he's lost so much.'

‘He and Simone have a lot in common,' Leo said.

‘There'll be some issues when he finds out how she feels. They'll need your guidance; you and John together will have to support them through it.'

‘Geez.'

We turned into the street where the kindergarten was located. This older part of Kowloon Tong had originally been a prestigious enclave of two-and three-storey houses close to the old Kai Tak airport back when tall buildings weren't allowed there. Now all the individual houses had been converted into kindergartens and love hotels. There were no cars on the street; the kindergartens were closed for the evening, and the love hotels had private car parks with curtains to hide the numberplates of the customers' cars.

We parked outside Kitty's kindergarten five minutes past the hour she'd given me.

‘I want you to do something for me,' I said as Leo turned off the ignition.

He waited without looking at me.

‘Give Martin a chance,' I said. ‘He really does love you, Leo. He could give you something to live for.'

He pressed the button to open the boot and guided his wheelchair to the front of the car without speaking. I got out of the car to wait for him. He wheeled himself around so he was next to me.

‘One other thing.' I looked up at the dark kindergarten building. ‘If you see me changed after I've gone to them, do me a favour and end it for me.'

‘Don't be ridiculous.'

‘Kitty'll use me for a breeding experiment. She'll fill me with demon essence and I don't ever want to face that again. Promise me.' I took his hand. ‘I couldn't bear to have it burnt out of me again. John can't do it; and if I'm changed, I can't be Raised. I know he made that vow,
but if I'm filled with essence I'd rather be dead. So if you find me, and I'm changed, end it for me.'

‘I won't promise you, Emma. But if I do see you again, I'll keep it in mind.'

I bent to hold him close. ‘Thanks, mate.'

I pushed away and took a few deep breaths. ‘Let's go.'

T
he kindergarten had a tiny garden with a lawn and bamboo edges. We went along the concrete path to the front door and the light above it lit automatically.

‘I'm here,' I said to the door.

It opened to reveal a plain-looking, middle-aged Chinese woman who I didn't recognise. We followed her through the dark office into one of the playrooms, which smelled of waste and disinfectant. The desks were neatly lined up in the room, the tiny chairs on top of them. The walls were covered in educational posters showing the alphabet and the first hundred Chinese characters that children were expected to know for entry into first grade.

I shivered at the memories this place brought back: the children had been lovely, but Kitty's tyranny had been unsettling even back then. The knowledge of what she had done to me here, filling me with demon essence without me even knowing it, made me tremble. I took deep breaths to control it, hoping I wouldn't need to use chi calming.

‘We can leave if you change your mind,' Leo said.

I straightened and centred my energy. ‘Be ready to run if the boys aren't here.'

‘Gotcha.'

The woman waited for us on the other side of the
playroom and we followed her into another, larger room. As we entered, the lights snapped on, blinding me. I put my hand over my eyes and peered into the brilliance.

Figures came into view: Kitty, the Death Mother, a pair of high-level demon guards in human form, and my nephews. The boys stood dully, their eyes wide and unseeing.

‘Mark, Andrew, are you all right?' I said.

‘They're fine,' Leo said. ‘Sedated but okay, from what I can see.'
They look human
, he added silently.

‘Emma, walk towards us and we'll send the kids to him,' Kitty said.

‘Try anything and Leo will destroy you,' I said.

‘He couldn't take both of us in a million years,' the Death Mother said with contempt. ‘Gay-lo.'

‘Just come over here and let's get this over with,' Kitty said. ‘You've caused me way too much trouble over the years, Emma, and it's about time you performed the task you were designed to do.' She waved me forward. ‘Come on.'

I stepped forward and she pushed the boys towards me. They moved mechanically, not seeming to notice me as I passed them.

I waited until I was just out of reach of Kitty and the Death Mother before turning to check that Leo had the boys. I saw something out of the corner of my eye, moved to block it, but wasn't quick enough. The Death Mother had shoved a hypodermic into my arm. She quickly pushed the plunger down and ripped it out.

‘That was unnecessary, I was coming with you,' I said, holding my arm and glaring at her.

She smiled slightly. ‘Just making sure.'

I turned back to Leo. The boys were next to him; he took their hands and they all disappeared.

The Death Mother took advantage of my movement and grabbed my hands, pulling them behind me. She
roughly tied them together with raffia packing twine, commonly used to bind boxes and shopping bags in Hong Kong. It would cut my wrists open before I could snap it. She pulled the twine so tight it hurt, then grasped my arm again.

‘Let's go,' she said. ‘Boat at anchor.'

The building around us disappeared.

We landed on the deck of an old-fashioned Chinese junk floating next to a jungle-covered island just visible in the darkness. I didn't get to see much before they dragged me down the stairs to the front of the boat, but from what I glimpsed we weren't in Hong Kong any more — the water around us was calm and muddy and there were hardly any other boats.

Whatever the Death Mother had given me began to take hold and everything felt heavy. My legs were too massive to lift and I sagged under my own weight.

‘Help me,' she said, and one of the demons lifted me by the other arm.

They half-dragged, half-carried me into a stateroom that had been converted into what appeared to be a medical treatment room, with an examination couch and cupboards. When I saw the IV stand next to the couch, I panicked and tried to escape, but both of them held me.

I took deep breaths, trying to clear the drug from me and change to snake, but they'd hit me with a heavy dose. My eyes were closing by themselves and I was a dead weight as they lifted me onto the couch. They pushed me onto my side and unbound my hands, but I couldn't move them even when they were free.

They rolled me back, painfully crushing my left arm, then pulled my right arm out and prepared it for the IV. I tried to yell with fear and pain as they inserted the needle, but all that came out was a heavy, silent gasp.

I tried to stay awake as the black fluid dripped into the tube, but it was too hard.

 

The pain woke me — the demon essence was being burnt out of me again, but just in my arm. Where was I? My entire right arm was on fire and I wanted to grab at it, but my left arm was bent painfully under me. I tried to roll over to release my left arm but I couldn't move.

If I could have thrashed around, I would have. The demon essence was going in, I couldn't move — someone please kill me now. What had happened, where was I?

Stone?

No reply. The terror burst inside me and I wanted to scream but I couldn't make a sound.

Someone appeared above me next to the couch, their face blurred and their movements in slow motion. They said something, but I didn't understand.

They slapped my face and I didn't react.

What was happening?
John?

They wrenched the IV out of my arm, stabbed me with a hypodermic, and rolled me over to release my left arm. They did something with my hands — bound me to the couch — and then moved out of sight. I was still paralysed. As I watched the room spin around me, I wondered why I couldn't move. At least the demon essence wasn't going in any more, but my arm was still on fire.
Stone? John?

Later, the sound of shouting brought me around; my head was clearing. I looked down at my arm: the skin was black and shiny where the essence had gone in; it looked like it was covered in oil. It didn't hurt. I tried to move my left hand to touch it but I was bound to the couch.

I dropped my head back, took some deep breaths and my head cleared even more.

‘She didn't die last time, she won't die this time! Just fill her up!' the Death Mother shouted outside the room.

‘She will die,' Kitty said, her voice calmer. ‘She's somehow caught AIDS. You saw what it did to her arm. If we fill her up, not only will it kill her but I could catch it too. I don't want to even go near her now — she's contagious and that disease is mean.'

‘So just kill her and dump her off the boat.'

‘We should drop her back in Hong Kong. They'll find her and leave us alone.'

‘You'd just let her go?' the Death Mother said, full of spite. ‘After all she's done to you? You're weak.'

‘Look, you stupid bitch,' Kitty said, ‘if we kill her, he'll know. He'll be straight down here and he won't rest until he's torn both of us to tiny pieces. If we throw her out there alive, he'll find her and leave us alone.' Her voice went sly. ‘How about we break her head, fill her full of alcohol and dump her in Lan Kwai Fong? She won't know who she is, and the authorities will think she's just another drunk gweipoh who hit her head. Even better, we give her a fake ID, and they'll send her home to Australia thinking she's someone else. Even
she'll
think she's someone else. He'll be busy looking for her for years, and we can find that other one again and breed from him.'

I nearly smiled.
Do it, he'll find me. He vowed he would
… But I wouldn't remember him.

I concentrated and quietly tried to pull myself free of the bonds that held me on the coach, but they were made of the nylon bands used to hold loads on trucks. They had been ready for me. I tried to change to snake, but the drugs and the demon essence had mixed up my energy and I couldn't.

‘Let me do it,' the Death Mother said.

‘Oh no, this one's mine,' Kitty said.

They came into the room, both of them looking smug. Kitty leaned over me.

‘I'll change her name to Donahue,' she said. ‘It's about time she spelled it right.'

 

I was surrounded by noise and confusing light. I was lying on something rough and I ached all over. My head throbbed. People were speaking in a language I didn't understand — all I could see was feet. Someone prodded me and I couldn't do anything. I vomited without moving my head; I couldn't even shift it back out of the way. I tried to lift my head, but I couldn't. Everything was too hard.

I was jostled, then people were speaking softly near me. I opened my eyes — dim light. I looked around: I was in the back of a van. I saw the IV and tried to rip it out, but again I was bound. We swerved and hit a bump — definitely in a van.

‘What happened?' I said.

‘Going to hospital, stay calm,' someone said with a Cantonese accent.

More Cantonese: they were discussing the quickest route to the hospital in the Saturday-night traffic. Someone made a bawdy comment about gweipohs that I only half-understood, and they all laughed. The radio chattered in Cantonese and I couldn't understand it at all.

 

Someone shone a light in my eyes and I tried to wince away from it. They held my head and I grabbed their hands. Someone took my wrists and tried to pull them away, so I flipped my hands out to release them, did a one-handed somersault out of the bed, and stood next to it in a long defensive stance.

‘Wah,' the doctor said.

I dropped my hands. I was next to a hospital bed, with a doctor and a couple of nurses staring bewildered at me. I bent double as my head thundered with pain, then glanced up at them.

‘What happened?' I said.

‘You were found drunk and unconscious in Lan Kwai Fong,' one of the nurses said. Her face screwed up with disapproval. ‘You hit your head; you have concussion. You could have died of alcohol poisoning.'

I moved out of the stance. ‘I can do kung fu.' A wave of weakness swept over me and I leaned on the bed. ‘That's a line out of
The Matrix
. I can do kung fu, and I have no idea who I am.' I gripped the bedsheets, wadding them in my hands. ‘I have amnesia, I don't know who I am. I can remember lines out of movies, but I don't know who I am!'

‘You are …' The doctor looked down at my chart. ‘You are Emily Donahue, you're from Australia. You're a tourist here in Hong Kong, and we're trying to find out which hotel you were staying at. You have an Australian passport and a ticket back to Australia for tomorrow night.' He glanced up at me. ‘But I think we'll need to keep you here for a day or so if you don't remember who you are. You had a bad bump on the head. Do you have travel insurance?'

‘I don't know.' I sat on the bed; my arm was bleeding. I must have ripped out an IV when I jumped out of it. ‘Did I have a phone with me?'

‘No.'

‘A diary?'

‘No.'

‘Anything with some contact numbers on it?'

‘We'll call the Australian Consulate,' he said, and put my chart back on the clip at the end of the bed. ‘You're staying overnight for observation. Put the IV line back into her —'

‘No,' I said firmly.

‘You need fluids.'

‘I don't care, no IVs.'

‘Do you have a religious rule?'

‘No,' I said. ‘I wish I could remember why, but I don't want any IVs.'

The doctor shrugged. ‘Drink plenty of water then. Oh. Sit on the bed, there's something I want to ask you.'

I climbed up onto the bed as directed.

He held my right arm out; it was bandaged. ‘What happened here? How long have you had this?'

‘I don't know. I didn't notice it until now. Is it a cut or something? What happened?'

‘We want to ask you.'

The nurses moved closer to watch as the doctor unwound the gauze from my arm.

‘Is it poison, or gangrene?' the doctor said. ‘Your hand seems to be fine, which is very strange. We're calling in a specialist because we don't know what it is.'

He finished unwinding the gauze and I saw that my skin was black from the middle of my upper arm to close to my wrist. It wasn't the gelatinous black of rotting flesh; it was smooth and shiny. It looked like my arm was coated in black plastic. I touched the surface and it was hard.

I leapt off the bed again, staring at my arm in horror. I backed away from it, but it followed me. I took deep breaths, then moved forward again to stand next to the bed and put my hand around the blackness. The area had the same sensations as regular skin. I clenched my right hand a few times.

‘It feels completely normal,' I said with wonder, watching the lights dance across the blackness. I looked up at the doctor. ‘And you don't know what it is?'

‘The dermatologist will take a look at it tomorrow,' he said. ‘Also, you appear to have had recent keyhole surgery in your abdomen. Did you have an ovarian cyst?'

I felt it now that he'd mentioned it: a tight, painful sensation low on my right side. I turned away from
them and lifted the hospital gown; I wasn't wearing anything beneath it and I wondered for a moment where my clothes had gone. A piece of self-adhesive gauze was plastered just above my right hip. I lifted the edge of the gauze to find a five-centimetre-long incision closed with stitches. I replaced the gauze and turned back to them. ‘I have no idea what that is.'

‘It's healing well anyway,' the doctor said. ‘Rest now, and we'll let you out as soon as you're better, and the Consulate will find your family in Australia.'

I crawled back into bed and noticed a ring on my left hand. It was on my ring finger, like an engagement ring, but it looked very old, with an old-fashioned setting. The stone, whatever it was, was gone.