Chapter 28
Twenty-Eight
Back and Forth
The shift is lightening quick – I’m back in my hotel room, standing in the doorway between the sitting room and bedroom where I last glimpsed Mr Lee.
The jade must have worked, he must be alright.
At least, that’s what I keep telling myself.
It’s the only thread of hope I have. I steady myself against the door frame.
My head spins and bile coats my tongue. This realm shifting will take some getting used to.
Two strangers sit at the table by the window, surrounded by books and the remnants of breakfast.
‘Who are you?’ I ask.
The woman looks up and screams. The man jumps to his feet, but when he sees me, his stance relaxes. He says something I don’t understand.
‘Who are you?’ he says again, this time in Mandarin. It’s a bit accented, but I can make out his meaning well enough.
‘Where is the man who was staying here?’ I ask.
‘You mean the previous guest? He must have checked out. We arrived this morning.’
I glance wildly around, scanning the walls for blood smears, signs of struggle. Mr Lee was in no condition to get up, much less check out when I left him. What if the masked men returned for him? But the walls are pristine. Nothing seems out of order, apart from the two strangers in my hotel room.
I bow my thanks and hurry to check Gigi’s room. I realise I’m still barefoot but that can’t be helped. There’s no rotted answer in her room either. Maybe they checked out together.
I visualise Big Wang’s terrace, and blink.
The transition makes me pitch sideways as the terrace materialises around me.
I fall to my knees, gagging, but manage to swallow down the nausea.
It takes me a second before I can open my eyes.
When I do, a beady yellow eye greets me, followed by an ear splitting COCORUCOH.
I stare at it – it looks like the rooster from my bedroom. Yellow neck, orange breast, teal body. It’s back to its original size. I almost laugh, grateful that Big Wang fixed him, despite the Treasury disaster.
‘You are one lucky rooster,’ I say.
The creature clucks and stares as I search the terrace for Big Wang, Bullhead, and Horsey.
The terrace is empty apart from the rooster and tortoises.
Neither Horsey nor Bullhead are at their usual posts.
The lights are off in Big Wang’s quarters.
Where the rotted Hell is he? I need to know if Mr Lee is okay, and Big Wang was my best bet.
I lean over the bannister, gazing out across yin Shanghai.
It seems quiet, nothing out of the ordinary.
Along the quay are the ferries, docking as normal, disgorging their passengers in one long line that is absorbed into the crowds of the Bund.
A small sampan is tied to the docks. Fisherman Lo.
A flicker of hope lights inside me. Fisherman Lo will know.
I consider blinking my way down there, but the risk of vomiting is too high.
So I run to the lift, jabbing the call button.
I pace as the lift makes its way to me, slow as the tortoises in Big Wang’s koi pond.
When it finally arrives, I get in, push the lobby button and tap my foot as the lift descends gently and wholly incognisant of my urgency.
The lift stops on the sixth floor, the doors yawning open to an empty lobby.
I jab the close button, but the doors stay open for what feels like an eternity.
Finally, they slide shut again, and the lift ponders downwards like an elderly gentleman expounding the virtues of the Shanghai hairy crab.
‘For Hell’s sake, hurry up,’ I snap to the empty lift. Of course, the lift doesn’t respond, nor does it go faster. When finally we reach the ground, I shove myself through the doors before they’re fully open and bound across the lobby right into Bullhead and Horsey.
‘Lady Jing! Where have you been? Everyone’s been worried sick about you,’ Horsey says, his eyes bulging as he takes in my bright purple robe. ‘What in Tian are you wearing?’
‘How is that important right now? Where is Big Wang?’
‘He’s not with you?’ Horsey asks as Bullhead checks me over for scrapes.
‘What? I need to see him!’
For a moment I feel like a child again, running back to Bullhead with tears after falling off the roof trying to escape the guards, or after losing a fight to another yaojing.
‘Big Wang got a call from Willie and rushed off,’ Bullhead says, seemingly satisfied I’m not fatally injured, ‘He said he was going to the Hulijing Court?’
‘I was just there. I didn’t see him. What about Mr Lee? Have you heard from him?’
‘That’s odd.’ Deep lines etch into Horsey’s forehead. ‘Mr Lee had Fisherman Lo take him to the Hulijing Court too.’
I sag with relief. ‘He’s okay, thank Tian he’s okay.’ And then the rest of Horsey’s words sink in. Take him to the Hulijing Court. ‘No, no, no.’ My hands flap uselessly in the air. ‘He can’t go there. They’ll kill him.’
‘We thought Big Wang had gone to meet him. But—’ Bullhead exchanges a worried look with Horsey.
‘I need to go.’ My insides prickle with fear. Niang Niang will leave him a desiccated husk.
Bullhead stops, looks at me as if only realising something. ‘We just came from Fisherman Lo – you didn’t come on the sampan. How did you get here?’
‘Ask Lord Black.’
They seem confused by my answer, but I don’t have time to elaborate.
‘I have to go. Mr Lee won’t last long with those bitches.’
For once neither chastise me for insulting the hulijing.
Horsey puts a hand on my shoulder. ‘Be careful of Niang Niang. She doesn’t play by the rules.’
I am touched by Horsey’s concern. Perhaps I’ve been too harsh on him all these years. He looks down at my feet and that frog-frown smacks him full in the face.
‘Where are your shoes?’ he shrieks.
Or perhaps not. Before he can say anything more, I visualise the pavilion, and blink.
I hear shouting from inside the palace complex. I run along the bridges, through deserted pavilions, towards the Hall of Preserved Harmony. I pad to the open doors and peer inside.
Huge pillars of polished golden silkwood soar upwards to meet carved wood ceilings painted with golden foxes. In the centre is a dais with a rosewood throne where Niang Niang reclines, cushioned by embroidered silk pillows. Her handmaids stand in rows either side of the dais, gazes cast downwards.
Standing alone at the foot of the dais steps is Mr Lee.
His clothes are bloodstained, the same suit he was wearing when I left him slumped in the hotel room.
But he’s standing. He’s breathing. The jade pendant worked.
I sniff the air – hulijing scent dominates the room, but underneath, I can scent his yang qi.
He smells healthy and his yang brims with vibrant potency. Relief courses through me.
‘You lie,’ he says, voice firm. ‘I know you have her. I demand you release Lady Jing.’
Niang Niang raises an elegant hand and laughs behind her pale, tapering fingers. Her laugh is carefree, like bells on a summer’s breeze, and it scrapes through me like shards of glass.
‘You? Demand?’ She waves the imperial jade nail guards on her right ring and pinkie fingers, casually admiring them. ‘On what authority, mortal?’
I lean against the door frame, preparing myself to confront my grandmother.
Mr Lee squares his shoulders. ‘Parley on behalf of the Ministry of Hell. Ordinance 6.2 of the Jade Emperor’s Treaty of Mount Kunlun.’
Niang Niang stills. The amusement drains from her expression and her eyes glitter dangerously.
I have to step in before she sets her handmaids on him.
Celestial command would be the easiest solution here.
Niang Niang could not deny the authority vested in me as a ward of Hell.
I’ve not yet managed it, but as Horsey says, Effort makes the mind.
‘The Treaty is none of your affair, mortal. In fact, a mortal entering my realm is the equivalent of willingly offering me your yang.’ She lifts a finger and the handmaids all look to her. ‘Are you hungry, my darlings?’ she asks.
I stride into the hall, channelling all my resolve into my voice.
‘Stop,’ I say. But my voice is no different from before. The command won’t come.
I almost stumble from the disappointment.
But one look at Mr Lee – his rotted doe eyes shining in greeting – and I straighten my spine.
I keep going and take my place beside him.
My eyes water from the presence of yin silver – he must be wearing a Lei talisman.
Perhaps Big Wang got him a new one. I breathe easier, despite the burn.
A layer of ministry protection. Maybe the two of us can bluff our way out.
‘Mr Tony Lee is here on my behalf. I am a ward of Hell, and thus the Treaty applies. Venerable Matriarch, I demand you comply.’
I don’t dare look away from my grandmother, but part of me focusses on Mr Lee’s scent. Snowflakes. Watermelon. Persimmons. Ripe walnut fruit. I frown. There’s something else there – flint and peaches? Those are new . . .
I don’t have time to puzzle out the odd scents before Niang Niang stands and flicks the voluminous silk of her skirts behind her. She flows down the dais towards me but I hold my ground.
‘I demand parley,’ I say. ‘You brought me here against my will. Held me captive, threatened me with yin silver, and hired thugs to beat me into submission. You’ve broken the Treaty and must face the consequences.’
Niang Niang’s lips curve like a scythe. ‘So many demands today. First from a mortal, and now a mongrel. Both of you clearly have paste for brains.’
Mr Lee pulls out his talisman and holds it in front of my grandmother. The silver makes my eyes burn.
‘This was blessed by Lord Lei himself. I am here in an official capacity on behalf of the Ministry of Hell.’ Mr Lee speaks with a clarity that rings through the hall. ‘Stay back, demon.’
Shock crosses Niang Niang’s smooth oval face. She averts her eyes, lifts a water sleeve as if to hide behind it. Her handmaids watch in silence.
My vision blurs and doubles. There are two Niang Niangs before me, one lifts her hand and reaches towards Mr Lee.
I blink. The blur is gone. Niang Niang moves and the déjà vu slams into me.
She lifts her hand, reaches towards Mr Lee, exactly as I saw it.
In one swift gesture, she yanks the talisman from Mr Lee’s neck.
‘No!’ I shout.
Without it, Mr Lee is a lame rabbit in a den of foxes. I lunge forward to grab the talisman from her at the same time her handmaids lunge towards Mr Lee.
I’m too slow. Niang Niang leaps backwards and lands lightly at the top of the dais, just in front of her throne. Her handmaids surround us, ripping Mr Lee away.
Niang Niang’s smile chills. ‘Silly melon. You thought you could outwit me?’ She seats herself on her throne, adjusts her skirts before leaning into her cushions. I struggle but there are too many holding me.
Niang Niang’s gaze locks on mine. ‘You have been a thorn in my side for far too long.’ With a lazy wave of her hand, the handmaids fall on Mr Lee.
Their jaws elongate, deforming their beautiful faces.
The wet sounds of tongues lapping at flesh turn my stomach.
He shrieks as his yang is pulled from him in long golden strands.
The shrieking becomes a wheezing wail. He convulses, knuckles and head knocking against the polished wood floor.
His eyes roll back until only white remains.
His flesh falls in on itself. He is withering as I watch.
He will die here, and it will be my fault.
Lord Black’s words return to me. Embrace the Cosmos, and you become embraced. Nurture the Cosmos, and you become nurtured. Accept the Cosmos, and you become accepted. Clear your vision, and you will see. Open your heart, and you will be loved.
I’m supposedly one with the Cosmos. If I claimed him with Celestial command, that could stop them. I clench my hands. How though? I couldn’t manifest it before.
Mr Lee no longer shrieks. His convulsions have slowed too. I don’t have time to wait. Gathering my qi, I take a deep breath, and speak: ‘Re-lease him.’
My voice starts out with Celestial power but then fizzles into nothing. Disappointment rips through me. I don’t wallow, I don’t have time. I push forward hoping my ruse will still work. ‘I have prior claim on Mr Lee.’
‘Enough,’ Niang Niang says, and her handmaids stop their frenzied lapping.
I hold my breath. Mr Lee groans. His skin is a dull grey, collapsing like wet paper against his bones.
‘You are very amusing, mongrel. You think to claim the mortal?’ She leans forward. ‘In order for prior claim to work, he must willingly offer you his yang qi, and you must have already fed on it. I happen to know you are too squeamish to feed from mortals.’
My shoulders slump and I bow my head. This I cannot bluff. There is no hope. I drop to my knees. Niang Niang smiles in triumph.
‘Since you admit you have the pearl, forfeit it and I will spare Mr Lee.’