‘Thanks,’ my father said and poured the cereal. ‘How old are you, John?’
‘I have no idea,’ John said.
‘You look about forty or forty-five,’ my mother said.
‘Yeah,’ I said. ‘Far too old for me.’
‘I’m probably in the region of four to four and a half thousand years old,’ John said amiably. ‘I have no recollection of being born. I don’t know exactly when I gained consciousness. I joined with the Serpent about three and a half thousand years ago.’
My parents stared at him, speechless.
‘About three thousand years ago the human form was Raised and I was promoted to Dark Emperor,’ John said, almost to himself. ‘Celestial General. That sort of thing.’
‘And you still haven’t grown up,’ I said. ‘Tea, Ceylon. Toast with peanut butter, please, Ah Yat.’
Ah Yat disappeared again.
‘Must have run out of peanut butter,’ I said. ‘Don’t know why all the demons like it so much. Remind me later to ask her for a shopping list — we can order in bulk on the internet, have it delivered, and she can stop flitting around like that. People at the supermarket will notice.’
‘She probably changes her form if she has to go twice in a row,’ John said. ‘Eat,’ I said, gesturing towards my parents. ‘You’ll get used to it.’
‘Why black?’ my mother said. ‘You only wear black. Everything. And Tiger the other night — he called you a Black Turtle. What was that about?’
‘You know the Suzy Wong reference?’ I said, and she nodded. ‘Well, Black Turtle is Cantonese street slang for pimp. The turtle in general is renowned for its …’ I grinned at John, ‘behaviour, and there are a lot of nasty insults surrounding it. It’s not a good idea to say the word anywhere near anybody.’
Ah Yat appeared with a jar of peanut butter in her hand. She put it on the table in front of me. ‘Did you pay for that?’ I said.
Ah Yat didn’t reply; she just turned and busied herself at the sink. ‘You dishonour us, Ah Yat,’ I said. ‘Later, you will go back there, pick up one of these, pay for it and put it back on the shelf, and that is an order.’
‘I’m a turtle egg,’ John said.
Ah Yat silently collapsed over the sink.
‘See?’ I said. ‘He just called himself a motherless bastard.’
‘Well, I am,’ John said mildly. ‘I have no idea as to my origins or heritage. I just am.’
Ah Yat disappeared.
‘Damn. I wish you’d stop doing that,’ I said. ‘It’ll take ages for her to pull herself together and come back.’ I turned to my parents. ‘What would you like to do today? Would you like to see the Academy? Some kung fu? The students would love to show you.’
‘Anything you like will be fine with us, Emma,’ my mother said weakly.
‘Sunday, Emma,’ John said.
‘Oh yeah, I forgot,’ I said. ‘I’ll find Simone and let Leo go. He should have said something.’
‘Go,’ John said.
Leo and Simone were working with the sword together. Simone was using my weapon.
‘Can you make it sing, Simone?’ I said.
‘Watch this.’ Simone put the sword out in front of her and stilled. The sword made a pure resounding note of indescribable beauty. Simone ran it through a gentle scale, each note making the air vibrate in harmony. The sound stopped and she relaxed.
Leo and I stared at her with awe.
‘That was wonderful,’ I said. ‘How come it sounds so splendid for you?’
‘I used shen,’ Simone said, ‘not chi.’
‘Does Mr Chen know you can do that?’ Leo said.
Simone smiled and shook her head.
‘We need to let Leo have his day off, Simone,’ I said. ‘I’m still having breakfast with my mum and dad. Want to sit with us?’
‘Sure,’ Simone said. ‘I forgot, Leo, sorry. You go.’
Leo saluted us both and went out without saying a word.
‘Can you do shen work apart from that, Simone?’ I said as we went down the hall together.
‘No. Just that. I did it by accident the first time. It sounds really pretty.’
We went into the kitchen together.
‘Hello, Mrs Donahoe, Mr Donahoe,’ Simone said.
‘Hello, dear,’ my mother said. ‘Are you okay after last night? You weren’t too scared?’
John grabbed his teapot and cup, nodded to my parents, and rose.
‘Wait!’ I said quickly, and he stopped in the doorway. ‘Did you know that Simone can make the sword sing with shen?’
John glanced sharply at Simone, then returned to the table and put down the pot and cup. He pulled Simone to sit in his lap.
‘You put shen into Emma’s sword?’ he said.
‘It sounds really pretty when you use shen, Daddy,’ Simone said. ‘Much nicer than when you use chi.’
‘Don’t try to use ching, you’re too little,’ John said sternly.
‘Don’t be silly, Daddy,’ Simone said. ‘Of course not.’
My parents silently watched the exchange, bewildered.
‘Good,’ he said gently. ‘Can you hold out your hands for me and put some shen into them?’
‘Is that okay to do?’
‘It should be all right while I’m holding you.’
Simone held her hands out and concentrated. A ball of pure silvery-white shen energy appeared above her outstretched palms.
My mother gasped quietly.
‘How much do you have, do you think?’ he said.
‘I don’t know. There’s still a lot inside me.’
‘Put it back, sweetheart.’
The shen disappeared.
‘Is she already Immortal, John?’ I said. ‘You said only Immortals can work with shen.’
John put his hand on Simone’s forehead and concentrated. ‘No.’
‘Well then, why can she do that?’
He smiled gently. ‘Because she is who she is. Same as you.’ He rested his chin on the top of her head. ‘Don’t do that too much, sweetheart, it can be dangerous. Don’t do it unless I’m watching you.’
‘Okay, Daddy,’ Simone said. ‘Where’s Ah Yat? I’m hungry.’
‘You’re always hungry when you’re working with energy,’ I said.
Ah Yat appeared. ‘Yes, my Princess?’
‘Can I have some ramen, please, Ah Yat?’
Ah Yat bowed slightly. ‘My Lady.’
‘I have work to do. I’ll leave you to it,’ John said. ‘When you want to go out, call me. I’ll take you. There may be strays.’ He nodded to my parents. ‘Brendan, Barbara.’ He rose and gently slid Simone onto the chair. ‘Don’t do shen