‘It’s incredible,’ my father said. ‘All the buildings are tall buildings. Everywhere. Where are the suburbs?’
‘Suburbs?’ Simone said.
‘There aren’t any,’ I said. ‘It’s like this from one end of the Territory to the other. Even out in the New Territories, people live in packed high rises in “New Towns”. There are villages of village houses all crammed together as well, but the vast majority of the population live in tiny high-rise apartments.’
‘I should arrange for someone to take you to see a government housing estate,’ John said, almost to himself.
‘Good idea,’ I said, and then saw the look on my mother’s face. ‘You okay, Mum?’
My mother was staring at the path in front of us, her face ashen. I turned away from the railing and froze.
‘Don’t anybody move,’ John said.
An enormous Chinese cobra lay motionless on the path. It was shining black and more than two metres long, a really big one.
‘Is it dead?’ I said.
‘No,’ John said.
‘It’s watching us.’
‘Is it a demon?’ I whispered.
‘No,’ Simone said.
‘Natural snake,’ John said.
The snake raised its head. About a third of its body came off the ground. It was nearly as tall as me.
‘Don’t move,’ John said, very quietly. ‘Stay very still.’
My mother made a soft sobbing sound of terror.
‘Don’t worry, I don’t think it will hurt us,’ John said. ‘Everybody, stay very still. I may be able to talk to it.’
John carefully moved around us and eased himself towards the snake. It followed his movements with its head, watching him. When he was about a metre away he stopped to crouch and study it. He was slightly side on to us and his face went rigid with concentration.
The snake glanced at me, then turned back to John.
Then everything suddenly happened at once.
John’s eyes went black and he reached out to touch the snake.
Simone screamed, ‘No, Daddy!’ and flew around me to tackle her father before he could touch it. She took him completely by surprise and knocked him to the ground.
The snake snapped back, lowered its head, and quickly disappeared into the undergrowth at the side of the path.
Simone beat her father on the chest with her tiny fists and screamed, ‘You don’t leave me. I need you!’ She shouted at the bushes where the snake had gone. ‘You go away and leave my Daddy alone!’ Then she threw herself on him and sobbed.
John sat up and put her head on his shoulder. He squeezed his eyes shut and buried his face in her hair.
‘Go away, go away, go away!’ Simone sobbed into his shoulder.
‘I’m here,’ he said gently. ‘I’m not going.’
‘Don’t you ever do that again!’ she gasped.
‘I’ll do it eventually, sweetheart,’ he said. ‘I won’t be able to stop it.’
I went to them. John’s face was full of misery. I held my hand out and he took it.
‘That was it, wasn’t it?’ I said.
He nodded into Simone’s hair.
‘Tell it to go away,’ Simone said into his shoulder.
John used my hand as a lever and pulled himself to his feet, still holding Simone. He released my hand and gently lowered Simone. She held his hand and both of them watched the bushes where the snake had gone.
‘What was all that about?’ my mother said softly behind me.
‘That was his Serpent,’ I said without turning. ‘The other half of him. If he rejoins with it then he’ll be gone for a very long time.’
Simone sobbed again loudly. I reached into my bag, pulled out a packet of tissues and passed it to her. She took one out and sniffled into it.
‘It’s gone,’ John said. ‘It’s still very weak. It hardly knows what it is. It won’t be back for a long time —’
‘Good,’ Simone said.
‘I wonder what happened to it,’ John said. ‘It’s nearly as weak, nearly as drained as I am.’
‘Do you remember what happened when you lost it? At all?’ I said.
‘Not a bit,’ John said without emotion. ‘I have absolutely no recollection of being divided.’ His tone didn’t change, his voice was still very mild. ‘If somebody has done this to me then they will pay very dearly.’
He turned and spoke to my parents as if nothing had happened. ‘Let’s go further around and look at Pokfulam. You can see Cheung Chau from there. Would you like to see the temple dedicated to me on Cheung Chau? It’s not very exciting, but you may be interested to see some of the stories and rituals that surround me.’
My parents just watched him silently.
‘Would you like us to take you home, guys?’ I said gently.
My father nodded. My mother didn’t move.
‘I’ll call Jade and Gold to carry you,’ John said.
My mother flinched.
‘No, thanks,’ my father said weakly. ‘We’d just like to walk back, if you don’t mind.’
‘You are perfectly safe as long as you are with me,’ John said.
My parents turned and walked back along the path without seeming to notice whether we followed them.
They are not taking this very well, Emma.
‘You can’t blame them, John.’
Back at the apartment we all sat at the dining table. My parents had glasses of scotch in front of them. The Serpent had pushed them over the edge. They’d had enough. Neither of them had shouted at us, they’d just gone very quiet. I didn’t blame them.
‘I can give you a choice,’ John said. ‘You can either go to the Western Palace, where you will be absolutely safe, or you can go back to your own home and I will post guards there for you.’
‘Where’s the Western Palace?’ my mother said.
‘It’s the Tiger’s palace,’ I said. ‘It’s on the Celestial Plane. It’s a beautiful place with gardens and fountains in the Western Desert.’
‘Heaven?’ my mother said.
‘Sometimes called that,’ John said. ‘But not really. More like a higher level of reality. If you go there, you will be perfectly safe. But it will be quite boring for you. You won’t be able to continue with your normal lives.’
‘How long before we can go back home and be safe?’ my father said miserably. ‘Before all of this blows over?’
‘Probably between one and two years,’ John said. ‘Depending upon how quickly I can take the head off that little bastard One Two Two.’
‘One Two Two?’ my mother said.
‘The