Chapter 42
Forty-Two
The Shrine
The shift is instantaneous. The Hall disappears.
We stand at the mouth of a cave surrounded by forest. Though I’m better at realm shifting than I was, it still makes my head spin.
Lord Aengus and Tony fall to their knees and dry-retch.
The Durands are unaffected; perhaps their ability to mist means they’re more accustomed to the dizzying shifts.
No golden mist emanates from the cave. Disappointment hits me in the gut. He’s not here. I look over to Mémère. She holds Marianne and Max’s hands, one on each side of her. All three stare at the cave, faces grim.
‘How did you know where to find the shrine?’ I ask.
‘I happened by here once and noticed it had a strange energy. But I never thought to investigate further,’ Lord Black says.
‘Is it safe?’ Tony asks.
Lord Black cocks his head to one side, listening. ‘There is someone here . . . heading towards us. There she is,’ he says, gesturing towards the cave with his chin.
A white fox comes barrelling out of the cave. From the smell, she’s hulijing. But I don’t recognise her.
The white hulijing circles Tony, sniffing. The air ripples and a young woman appears in place of the fox.
Lord Aengus gasps, stares at her with his jaw hanging wide open. He nudges Tony, and points at me with his chin. ‘Did you know hulijing are also foxes?’
I turn away and pretend I didn’t hear him.
‘You have Ca-ra-me-le,’ the stranger announces before glaring at the rest of us. ‘Go away, I don’t want you here.’
‘And who might you be, little fox?’ Lord Black says with perfect civility.
The moment she realises Lord Black is a dragon king, she drops to her knees. ‘Venerable Dragon King, I am Maomao, protector of this shrine. No one may enter.’
Tony fishes in his pocket, pulls out little squares of caramels. My heart pangs. And I’m suddenly very jealous of this little fox.
‘What if I exchanged these for a visit to the shrine?’ He holds his palm out.
The woman contemplates the candies. ‘Those caramels are from France. Are you also from France?’
Marianne stares at the caramels, then at Maomao. She whispers, ‘My father loved those caramels. Never went anywhere without them.’ She turns to the hulijing. ‘Have you met my father, Romain de Durand? We’re looking for him.’
‘You are Romain Gege’s daughter from France? The one who saves kittens?’
Marianne staggers, pink tears pooling in her eyes. Mémère asks something, but Marianne’s mouth opens and closes wordlessly. Tony translates for her.
‘Maomao,’ I say. ‘Did you know my mother, Lady Rey?’
Surprise, relief, sorrow flash across Maomao’s face.
‘Rey Jiejie was my favourite. I helped her look for Romain Gege, even though Niang Niang forbade us. I ran away, kept looking. But by the time I found him, the hunters had killed her. I’ve been waiting a long time for you, Jing Meimei.
Come.’ She leaps; with a swish of her thick white tail, she heads back into the cave.
Marianne, Max and Mémère stare after the fox. I’m suddenly fearful.
Lord Black leads the way, and we follow him into the cave. The floor is carved into wide stone steps that spiral downwards.
As we descend, Marianne asks, ‘Is she your sister, Jing? She called you meimei.’
I shake my head. ‘All the courtiers call each other sister. Hulijing only bear whelps once in their lives, so we’re all only children, except for those born as twins.’
We reach the bottom of the stairs and find ourselves in an underground cavern. Thick tree roots hang from the ceiling, plunging into the ground like pillars in a majestic hall. Maomao waits by one of these root formations. Close by is a fog-covered table.
Lord Black slows as he looks at the table; for a split second his expression is inhuman, terrifying in its fury, but it’s gone as quickly as it came. He turns to us. ‘Be careful of the daggers.’
I don’t understand what he’s talking about. But then, I see what he sees.
The table is a flattish section of root. And the fog . . . the fog is—
The fog is my father. Mist in the shape of a body, trapped in place by talismanic daggers. I sink to my knees, retching at the horror of being held like that for a century.
Lord Aengus curses softly. Mémère’s sob tells me she sees it too.
She throws herself at the table, grabs one of the daggers, tries to pull it free.
Blisters and angry welts erupt over her palms, spreading over her hands, her wrists, up her arms. She screams as she yanks, but the dagger holds fast. Marianne and Max hold her, or at least they try to, but she is prodigiously strong. They’re no match for her.
‘Tony.’ I turn and am startled to find him staring at me, looking a little sad. He startles as well and I have to take a second to remember my words. ‘Um, can you try to stop Mémère?’
But even Tony can’t stop her.
Maomao steps from foot to foot. ‘I tried many times. They don’t come out.’
Finally it’s Lord Black who lifts Mémère away as easily as picking up a kitten. ‘Attends,’ he says gently.
Mémère slumps against a tree, face red, her arms a bloody mess.
Lord Black puts an ear to my father’s mouth and listens intently.
He frowns. From somewhere in his sleeve he takes two small dragon pearls.
One with iridescent pink scales, which looks a lot like my dragon pearl, and another with jet-black scales.
He blows on them. They burst into pink and black flame which arc from his hands like ribbons, dancing across the table and engulfing each dagger in pink and black fire.
Lord Black bows his head. There is none of his usual cheeky humour. ‘He knows we’re here.’
‘He’s conscious?’ Marianne’s voice trembles.
Lord Black nods.
My heart swells. ‘Then we can save him?’ I’ll be able to talk to him, to get to know him.
Out of habit, I search for Tony and meet his gaze. But his eyes don’t reflect any hope at all. Then I remember what I did and how he feels, and drop my gaze.
‘Lord Black?’ I say. But his eyes are like Tony’s. I try again, not caring how desperate I sound. ‘You said it yourself. He’s conscious. He’s still there. You can heal him, can’t you, Lord Black? You healed Tony.’ My voice is reedy.
I look to Marianne, to Mémère, even to Max. Someone must understand, must believe we can help my father come back. But they all look defeated.
Lord Black says, ‘I’ve neutralised the talismans so he’s no longer in pain. But the daggers tether his qi to this world. As soon as we remove them, he will die.’
‘Then don’t remove them,’ I say. ‘We can keep the talismans neutralised until we find a way to heal him.’
‘The daggers are designed to cause pain,’ Lord Black says. ‘You saw what they did to Mémère, who only touched them for a minute or so.’ He gentles his voice. Suddenly I don’t want to hear what he’s going to say. ‘Think about your father. Those daggers have been embedded in him for a century.’
The full extent of his meaning hits me. ‘Then take them out!’ I grab at the daggers and yank.
They don’t budge. ‘Help me! Mémère, help me save my father, please!’ I’m crying and screaming, trying to remove the rotted daggers, but they’re stuck fast. ‘I want to talk to him, it doesn’t have to be for long. Please.’
Tony pins my arms to my sides, turns me in his arms and holds me tight. I sob into his chest.
‘But he’s right here,’ I say, words muffled. ‘I blamed him for so long. I just want the chance to say I’m sorry. I didn’t know he was suffering.’
Tony stiffens; and I realise how uncomfortable I must be making him. I back out of his embrace. ‘Sorry,’ I whisper.
Mémère takes my hand, leads me away from my father’s remains. Marianne and Max join us, as does Tony.
‘We came here with the goal of finding your papa,’ Mémère says.
‘We did that. I am proud of you all. House Durand’s motto is perfer et obdura, endure and persist. Papa has been very brave, holding on until we could find him.
Now it is our turn to do our most sacred duty: to guard our own from harm. ’
I listen as Marianne translates, my heart screaming no even as my head understands it’s the right thing to do.
‘He is tired, your papa. He deserves to rest.’
‘How do you know he wasn’t waiting for us to save him?’ I ask. How can they let him die?
‘Sometimes letting go is the only right choice,’ Tony says. ‘You can’t save everyone, Jing.’
I look at the man I love. The man for whom I willingly gave up everything and everyone I love, just for the chance to save him. I’d do it again, in a heartbeat, even if he never understands why. ‘I can try,’ I say. ‘Even if no one else will.’
Marianne takes my hand. ‘Jing, his mind is fractured. He’s been tethered here beyond his limits. We all love him so much, but forcing him back into his body isn’t loving him. We can save him from suffering only if we let go.’
Mémère, Marianne and Max loved him best. If they can let him go, despite how much it costs them, I have to do the same.
Lord Black squeezes my shoulder with his free hand. ‘Listen to your heart, Lady Jing. It won’t lead you wrong.’
I miss our circular conversations. This time, my nod has only one meaning and there’s no taking it back.
‘I will pull the daggers out,’ Lord Black says. ‘This will free Monsieur de Durand. You will have a short time with him before his qi returns to the Cosmos.’ He meets each of our gazes. ‘Ready?’
We nod. The flames intensify until the daggers glow orange. Lord Black dips his chin and the daggers wink out of existence. ‘Now,’ he says softly, and steps back, giving us room.
Mémère caresses my father’s face, her blood tears dripping through his mist onto the tree roots. Marianne holds his hand, while Max holds the other. Mémère reaches for me and pulls me in front of her. She calls for Tony, too. We stand before what remains of my father.
‘Mon cher Romain, merci pour ma belle petite fille. Elle a du coeur! Elle est loyale, courageuse, et honorable. Je suis tellement fière de toi and d’elle.
Et ici je te présente Tony Lee. Le coeur de ta fille.
Je veillerai sur eux pour toi. Ne t’inquiète de rien.
Repose-toi. Je t’aime, mon fils.’ Blood streams down her cheeks as she intones, ‘Béni soit le coeur qui retourne à la chair dotée par la paix éternelle.’
I leave the Durands to say their goodbyes.
Tony stands respectfully to one side. This goodbye only makes me more certain that I made the right choice for Tony, even if he disagrees.
As I reach the mouth of the cave, stepping into the warm sunshine reminds me how kissing Tony used to feel.
Full of joy. I hope with time he’ll find joy again.
Something in the trees catches my eye. A shimmer. I move closer, trying to see.
Two silvery outlines, as delicate as gossamer, stand in the shadows of the forest’s edge. One is my mother, her eyes alive with joy, smiling at a tall, dark-haired man. Hand in hand, they walk towards a silver river in the distance where a ferry awaits.
I stare. How is this possible? My mother is a yaojing. When we die, there is no ghost ferry for us, and we don’t cross the Naihe Bridge. Where has she been this whole time?
‘That is unusual,’ Lord Black says, appearing beside me.
‘How is my mother still here?’ I ask.
‘The red threads of Fate are very powerful. I had a little chat with Maomao. She said your mother’s spirit wouldn’t leave without your father’s; your mother’s been waiting here ever since.’
‘Will the ghost ferry will deliver them to Madame Meng?’
Lord Black nods.
‘Do yaojing cross the Naihe Bridge?’ I ask.
‘Do yaojing cross the Naihe Bridge?’ Lord Black repeats my words but puts the emphasis on Do.
‘I guess I’d better ask Madame Meng,’ I say.
‘I guess you’d better.’ He holds up my dragon pearl, glistening pink in the sun.
‘Great,’ I say, feeling that familiar frustration rising. Circular conversations are really not my favourite. ‘Could you—’
I’m about to ask him to place the pearl, but with terrifying speed he grips my chin and shoves the pearl into my right eye. It settles into place with a wet squelch. Still gripping my head, something over my shoulder draws his attention and he forgets to let go.
‘Um, Lord Black?’ I say, tapping at his hands.
‘Aiya, of course,’ he says, releasing me. ‘Someone interesting is coming.’ He nods at the cave.
Lord Aengus heads my way, the white fox circling his feet. He gazes at her with a tenderness I didn’t know he possessed. Interesting.
‘I’m very sorry for your loss, Lady Jing,’ he says. ‘Maomao has something important to tell you.’
But the fox glances at Lord Aengus, seemingly unsure.
He gives her an encouraging smile.
There’s a shimmer in the air, and Maomao the young woman says, ‘I didn’t want to hurt Rey Jiejie, so I never told her. But I should have. If she had known, your parents might still be with us.’
‘What do you mean?’
Maomao takes a deep breath. ‘When Romain Gege went back to France, Rey Jiejie found out she was with whelp. You. Niang Niang and Rey Jiejie had a big fight. Rey Jiejie said she was going to move to Paris with Romain Gege. So Niang Niang went out one day and hired a demon hunter to get rid of Roman Gege.’
‘Are you sure?’ I ask.
My grandmother is a nasty bitch, but she loved my mother.
Maomao nods. ‘I followed her. Saw with my own eyes. The demon hunter took her silver. When Romain Gege came back, he captured him. After you were born, Rey Jiejie didn’t stop looking for Romain Gege, didn’t believe Niang Niang’s lies, telling her Romain Gege went back to France.
She found the demon hunter; they fought; she died. ’