Kitabı oku: «Heaven to Wudang», sayfa 3

‘Looks like a Serpent form of John’s Turtle …’ I said, and my voice trailed off. I released Ronnie and fell to sit at the table, my head in my hands. ‘Oh dear Lord, no.’

‘More demonic than the Dark Lord,’ Ronnie said. ‘That thing was scary. Immeasurably big; I think it could take down the King easily. Immense destructive power, and so damn dark the centre of it was like looking into the Abyss. Whatever you were, Lady Emma, it certainly scared the living shit out of me, and I’m big enough to sire spawn on a Mother.’

‘You saw something too?’ LK asked me.

I nodded into my hand.

‘Are you concerned you’re his Serpent?’ Ronnie said, sitting next to me. ‘Is that what this is about? I’ve heard stories.’

I wiped my eyes. ‘If I’m his Serpent, then when he rejoins — well, that’s it, isn’t it? I’d be gone.’

‘You’re afraid of losing your identity into his?’ Ronnie said.

‘No, I’d welcome it,’ I said. ‘But for Simone, it would be the same as if I died. She’d gain him and lose me, and I’m like a mother to her. She’s lost enough family members as it is. I really can’t do it to her.’

‘You may not have a choice,’ Ronnie said.

I nodded.

‘Show me what you saw,’ LK said to me.

I raised my hands and each of them took one. I re-established the link and our minds touched.

LK was a human Immortal, not a Bodhisattva, so his soul didn’t have the ringing purity of a Buddha, but he was connected to the Universe and one with Eternity. His soul smelled of mint-fresh shen energy, intertwined with constantly regenerating ching energy, tasting of firelight and summer heat. His chi enveloped both and moved with his breathing, full of the essence of sunshine and autumn leaves. His Immortal nature sang in tune with the Universe, and was at the same time as small as an atom and as vast as a galaxy.

‘That I could attain such heights,’ Ronnie said with awe.

‘You have made the first step onto the Way,’ LK said.

‘It would take so long for me to travel there,’ Ronnie said.

‘You cannot travel to a Path, you are already on it,’ LK said. ‘And as you travel, time has less and less meaning. Eventually you are pure thought and time does not exist at all.’

Ronnie’s essence was the dark roiling thickness of demon, but there existed strands within it of chi; he had cast off his nature and turned, and was attempting to attain humanity. He didn’t taste of the foulness of demon; he was more like dark chocolate, deep and bitter, with the chi making sweeter and lighter strands through it. My heart went out to him; he’d turned hundreds of years before and still had achieved so little.

‘Remember what I said. Time is an illusion,’ LK said.

Ronnie nodded agreement inside my head.

I showed them what I’d seen when I walked in the door. I’d tasted LK’s pure Shen nature and Ronnie’s dark demon nature, made sour by his fear. I’d smelled Tom and Ben behind me; Tom’s demon nature was similar to Ronnie’s but in many ways different. Ronnie saw it as well and his mind glowed gold with the smell of spice and curiosity. Ben I saw as human; he was the only human there. Compared to LK his nature was earthy and rich, but he did have traces of something greater within him, like flashes of a deeper scent that came and went.

‘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.

‘No chance of anything non-vegetarian, ma’am?’ Ronnie said wistfully.

‘Not on the Mountain, sorry,’ I said.

‘Do you mind sharing the info you just gathered?’ Ronnie asked LK.

‘Link up, I’ll tell you,’ LK said. They concentrated on each other and went quiet.

‘So, tell me what kind of work you were doing while you were living here in Asia,’ I said to Ben.

‘I’m an engineer, aircraft systems,’ he said. ‘So I never had difficulty finding work anywhere we went —’

Simone appeared at the end of the room holding a large, black, flapping tortoise that sprayed muddy water in a wide arc with every movement.

‘Emma, come up to the compound,’ she said. ‘I’ve found Daddy!’

‘John?’ I asked the turtle.

Simone was having trouble holding the struggling creature. ‘It doesn’t have any intelligence, it’s just the animal.’

‘Are you sure —’

‘I know my own father!’ she said. ‘Now what do I do with him?’

‘Meet me at the entrance to the Grotto,’ I said.

‘Oh, good idea,’ she said, and disappeared.

‘That was her father?’ Ben said. ‘I thought my wife was strange.’

‘It gets better, I’m engaged to it.’ I rose. ‘I’d better head back up, she’ll be waiting for me. Wait here for your escort, and I’ll see you later when things have settled down.’

‘I’ll take it from here,’ LK said. He picked up his chopsticks. ‘Now, let’s eat!’

‘If you don’t mind, Emma,’ Ronnie said, ‘I’ll go find something a little more —’

‘Carnivorous,’ I said. ‘I’ll see you later.’

He saluted me and disappeared.

‘Later, guys,’ I said, and went out to jog up the winding trail that led back into the Mountain.

CHAPTER 4

Simone was standing outside the entrance to the Grotto, still holding the struggling turtle. ‘I forgot you can’t travel. His panic is easing but he’s still fighting me.’

The Grotto entrance was a rock face on the hillside behind the Armoury, a plain grey wall of stone.

‘Have you tried talking to him?’ I said, putting my hand on the latch to make the wall disappear. The stone stairs down into the Grotto became visible as the rock faded.

‘Yes, he’s not replying. All that stuff with you and the Demon King and the demon essence must have really taken it out of him,’ she said.

We started carefully down the steep stairs into the darkness.

‘Where was he?’ I said.

‘Hanoi. There were reports of a giant tortoise that used to live in a lake there centuries ago — that it had returned. I had a free period so I wandered down there. God, it stinks — it’s so polluted — but there he was, large as life. I couldn’t believe it.’

‘Can you do a light while you hold him?’ I said.

She struggled to hold the tortoise with one arm around its shell, then made a ball of chi energy that floated to light the tunnel around us. ‘Sorry, forgot you can’t see in the dark.’

She hefted the tortoise in both arms again and we continued down. As we headed deeper into the Grotto, the air became colder. Condensation ran down the walls, making the steps slippery.

After two hundred metres, our breath formed fog and the air was still and bitterly cold. I jumped down the steps, trying to move faster to warm myself up. The tunnel opened into the cavern of the Grotto, so huge its walls and ceiling were invisible in the distance. The water before us shimmered in Simone’s light. We stood on a ten-metre-wide ledge that jutted five metres into the underground lake. The lake itself was a kilometre long, two kilometres across and two kilometres deep, plunging into the core of the Mountain and making its centre water — fitting for the Xuan Wu.

The lake’s fish came to the ledge, curious. They were three metres long, with white bodies and pink, lilac and blue fins, glowing with bioluminescence. One of them stuck its head out of the water and made gasping movements with its mouth, then spoke telepathically to us.

It’s not feeding time, what’s going on?

‘This is Xuan Wu. I found him,’ Simone said.

More fish appeared around the ledge, sticking their eyes out of the water with curiosity.

Put him in here with us, we’ll look after him, the fish said. Do you think he’s hungry?

‘I’ll be right back with some cat food for him,’ Simone said. She lowered the tortoise carefully onto the wet black rock. ‘Don’t go anywhere, Daddy, this is your Mountain.’ She put her hand on the back of his shell. ‘Please stay here and come back to me.’

The tortoise walked clumsily to the edge of the water. He was sixty centimetres from nose to tail and, apart from his complete blackness and his feet instead of flippers, appeared to be an ordinary amphibious tortoise. He carefully slid into the water then poked his head out. The fish quickly moved back out of his reach. He ducked his head under the water and dived beneath the surface.

The fish that had spoken to us went under too, then came back up half a minute later. He appears to be heading right to the bottom. We can’t follow that deep.

Simone dived into the water. I’ll see what he does.

I sat cross-legged on the rock and waited.

Martin and Yue Gui, Simone’s older brother and sister, came down the stairs and I stood.

‘Yes, it’s him,’ Martin said. ‘Can we go down and see?’

‘Go right ahead,’ I said.

They changed to tortoises, walked to the edge and slid into the water.

‘Can you hear me?’ I asked the fish.

Yes, it replied. He’s sitting right on the bottom, and the Princess is sitting with him. The other two are heading down as well; goodness, but they move fast.

He’s just sitting here with his eyes closed, Simone said.

Nothing happened for a couple of minutes.

They’re coming back up, the fish said.

‘Thanks,’ I said.

No problem, ma’am.

‘Do I know you?’ I said. ‘You sound familiar.’

The fish’s voice sounded horrified. Can’t you tell who I am?

‘Sorry, no.’

I’ve been in your energy work classes since the school returned to the Mountain — that’s a good six months now. You should know my voice; I’ve even spoken telepathically to you before. Its voice filled with humour. I am mortally wounded.

‘If the wounds are mortal then please die quietly.’

The fish surged out of the water onto the rock and flopped around, splashing water everywhere. It opened and closed its mouth and its eyes rolled in agony.

‘I said quietly.’

The fish stopped flapping, lay still for a moment, then rolled back into the water. It resurfaced and floated belly up without moving.

Simone, Martin and Yue Gui rose out of the water so that their feet were clear of it. The water ran out of their clothes, and they floated towards me, drifting to lightly land on the stone.

Simone glanced back at the fish. ‘What happened? Is everything okay?’

The fish quickly flipped back upright and dived under the water.

‘Is John still down there?’ I said.

Simone nodded. ‘He seems to have gone to sleep.’

‘We can leave him there, bring him food; the fish will tell us if anything happens,’ Martin said.

‘Where did you find him?’ Yue Gui said.

‘There was this news report,’ Simone said, ‘about this lake in Hanoi that had a mystical giant tortoise living in it. The tortoise disappeared from the lake hundreds of years ago, but people claimed to have seen it in the last year — it seemed to have returned.’

‘Ooooh,’ Martin said, a drawn-out sound of understanding. ‘I remember! Father got in so much trouble with the Jade Emperor, he was nearly thrown from Heaven.’

‘What did he do?’ I said.

‘The Ming of China were planning to invade the Kingdom of the Viets — what is today Vietnam. Father didn’t agree with their plans, so he took the form of a giant tortoise, and when the King of Vietnam was rowing for pleasure on the lake, Father surfaced and gave the King an enchanted sword that helped him to defeat the invading force.’

‘Good Lord, he’s the Lady of the Lake,’ I said.

‘Straight up,’ Simone said.

‘Did the King throw the sword back into the lake when the battle was done?’ I said.

‘Yes,’ Martin said. ‘It was Dark Heavens — of course Father wanted it back.’

‘The parallels are crazy,’ Simone said.

‘No wonder he did his PhD thesis on Arthurian legends compared to his own,’ I said. I shivered; the damp was seeping through my clothes and the long period of inactivity wasn’t helping. ‘Can we go back up? Do any of you want to stay here with him?’

‘We can leave him; if he wakes the fish will tell us,’ Yue Gui said. She linked arms with me. ‘I hear you’ve had a busy day. Since we’re here, we will definitely take you up on your generous offer of a Wudang Mountain luncheon.’

‘How many times has Daddy nearly been thrown from Heaven anyway?’ Simone said as we made our way back up the stairs. ‘It seems to happen every ten years or so.’

‘Sounds about right,’ Martin said.

‘Come to the Northern Heavens later this evening,’ Yue Gui said over lunch in our private room attached to the officers’ mess. ‘Allow us to reciprocate by providing you with dinner, and you can inspect the rebuilding work on the Serpent Concubine Pavilion.’

‘I can’t tonight,’ I said. ‘Simone and I have a charity art auction on the Earthly. But I’ll come in the next few days to have a look at the work on the Pavilion.’

‘The Pavilion is gone and the gardeners have already moved in,’ Yue Gui said.

‘Do you have space for another gardener?’ I said.

Martin unfocused, talking to the staff of the Palace, then snapped back. ‘If he is strong and talented, then yes we do.’

‘I have a Buddhist monk, a full Shaolin master — he fell from grace and worked as an assassin for a demon for a while,’ I said. ‘He’s trying to return to the Path and needs employment.’

‘Then the garden in the Palace is perfect,’ Martin said.

‘An assassin?’ Yue Gui said with disdain. ‘He should be incarcerated.’

‘Kwan Yin has favoured him,’ I said.

‘Oh,’ she said. ‘Very well then.’

‘He is sincere about redeeming himself,’ I said. ‘I can just see him attaining Enlightenment and then doing what they all do — coming straight back down to help the sorry rest of us, raking the gravel in the garden and imparting really cryptic koans.’

‘How many Buddhas are there anyway?’ Simone said.

‘You have not studied the different Ages and their Buddhas?’ Yue Gui said with surprise. ‘Perhaps you should talk to Kwan Yin … No, perhaps not.’

‘Exactly. She says that numbers aren’t meaningful and that I should find the Universe within myself,’ Simone said. ‘And that once I have embraced Unity, I will achieve Oneness with all of them.’

‘They are pure thought when they are not assisting us,’ Martin said. ‘And thoughts cannot be numbered. They exist outside of this reality and are uncountable. So the answer to your question as to the number of Buddhas is: the answer is not meaningful.’

‘I became more interested in the whole thing when Emma came back and told us about the Second Platform,’ Simone said. ‘But right now, I think coming to terms with the Tao is more important anyway.’

‘You are lucky. You have Grand Masters on the Mountain who can teach you in the ways of alchemy, internal energy work and self-cultivation to achieve Immortality. All of the different paths are laid out before you.’

Simone looked down at her food. ‘The path I most want to travel is the one with my whole family waiting for me at the end of it.’

‘We’re nearly there,’ I said. ‘We’re all here on the Mountain. It won’t be long.’

‘Why are you returning to the Earthly tonight?’ Martin said. ‘You are established here now, Emma, you don’t need to sully yourself with Earthly activities.’

‘And we just talked about Buddhas from the higher plane coming down to help us,’ Simone said. ‘As long as there are children being abandoned in China because they’re either girls or disabled, I’ll be down there helping them.’

‘We both will,’ I said. ‘We have a long list of service organisations that we help out. Orphans, micro loans for small businesses, prisoners of conscience —’

‘Political prisoners? That’s perilously close to interfering in political matters,’ Yue Gui said, tapping the table with her fingertips. ‘You know we can’t have anything to do with the way that humans choose to run their governance.’

‘I haven’t been warned yet, and until I am I’m continuing,’ I said. ‘We still have the apartment on the Peak, and we use it as a base of operations.’

‘Sounds like you ladies are on a mission,’ Martin said with humour.

‘You could say that,’ Simone said.

‘Is John still there?’ I said.

Their eyes unfocused, and they all came back and nodded at the same time.

Simone checked her watch. ‘I have to go back to school.’ She rose and kissed Martin and Yue Gui on the cheek, then turned to me. ‘Are we free tomorrow night to have dinner at the Northern Heavens?’

‘Tomorrow’s Nanna and Pop,’ I said. ‘How about after Michael and Clarissa’s engagement party?’

‘It’s a date,’ Yue Gui said, pleased. ‘Make Leo come this time as well; he is family.’

Martin concentrated on Yue Gui and they shared a telepathic communication. Yue Gui bent over the table and spluttered with laughter. ‘Never mind. Di Di just told me why Leo’s staying away from the North right now, and it’s an excellent reason.’

‘Do I want to know?’ Simone said.

‘You are very perceptive,’ Martin said. ‘And the answer to your question is: no.’