My mother made a small sound and I glanced at her. Her face was unreadable.
I turned back to Simone. ‘It’s a deal. Maybe next Christmas. Even if he’s still here, we’ll go and take him for a swim in the sea.’
‘What would you like to do today, Mrs Donahoe?’ Simone said. ‘Where would you like us to take you?’
‘Any suggestions, Emma?’ my father said through his cornflakes.
‘It’s difficult on a Sunday,’ I said.
‘Why, nothing open?’ my mother said.
Simone giggled at that. My mother looked at her with bewilderment.
‘Everything’ll be open, Mum, that’s not the problem,’ I said. ‘Hong Kong is very densely populated, and for many people Sunday is the only day off. So the shopping centres, the streets, everywhere, will be packed.’
‘You can’t move in the middle of Causeway Bay,’ Simone said, still delighted. ‘The ground floor of Sogo is packed. You can’t even get in.’
‘Sogo is a big Japanese department store in Causeway Bay,’ I said. ‘I don’t know why, but everyone agrees to meet at the entrance on a Sunday. It’s absolutely packed to the rafters with people.’
‘Want to go yum cha?’ Simone said. ‘There’s a couple of places that know Daddy, and we don’t have to take a number.’
‘Oh no, please, Simone,’ I moaned, ‘you know I can’t eat anything there. Hardly any of it’s vegetarian.’
‘What?’ my father said, still through the cornflakes.
I ran my hands through my hair. ‘I’m mostly vegetarian now, guys. Sorry.’
‘It’s because Emma’s becoming Immortal,’ Simone said with relish. ‘Human Immortals are vegetarian. Like Kwan Yin.’
The phone rang. I rose to get it, but John answered it in the study.
‘Tell us about this Immortal stuff, Emma,’ my mother said as I sat back down.
I was silent. I didn’t want to go into detail about it.
‘If a human being attains the Tao, then they become Immortal,’ Simone said, her eyes sparkling. ‘That’s what Emma’s doing.’
‘Tao?’ my father said.
‘The Way,’ I said. ‘It’s complicated. I’d prefer not to talk about it.’
‘You are no fun at all sometimes, Emma,’ Simone said, sounding much more mature than her six years.
John appeared in the doorway and leaned in to speak to us, one hand on either side of the frame. ‘Emma, we have problems.’
My heart sank. ‘Already?’
‘Leo called from the dojo he teaches at on Sundays. It’s in Causeway Bay. Michael’s there. About fifty low-level demons have turned up at the front door seeking sanctuary.’
He stopped and went rigid, his eyes unfocused. Then he snapped back and smiled gently. ‘More have turned up at Turtle’s Folly. And about a hundred appeared outside the car park of Hennessy Road. Altogether, about two hundred demons, all over Hong Kong, all pleading for protection.’
The intercom next to the front door buzzed.
‘Oh my God, no,’ I said.
John answered it.
‘Yes, Barnabas?’ he said. ‘How many? Okay. I’ll be right down.’
He came back to the doorway, leaned in and smiled. ‘About twenty downstairs. We have a busy day ahead of us.’
‘What’s going on, Emma?’ my mother said weakly.
‘What are we going to do?’ I said. ‘I wanted to show my parents around.’
‘We can do that at the same time,’ he said. ‘You finish your breakfast; I’ll go downstairs and sort out the demons here. Then we’ll go to the Folly, then the dojo, then to Hennessy Road.’
‘Do the dojo first,’ I said. ‘It doesn’t belong to us. The owner will be upset if the demons don’t disappear in a hurry. Does he know who you are?’
‘No, you’re quite right. He has no idea who I am, only that I’m one of the best there is. He knows I taught Li. I’ll do downstairs first, and then we can go to Causeway Bay.’
‘Damn,’ I said. ‘What the hell will we do with two hundred demons?’
‘I have no idea,’ John said. ‘All suggestions welcome.’
‘What is this all about, Emma?’ my father demanded.
‘Explain while I go downstairs and sort them out,’ John said.
‘Can’t a Master do this?’ I wailed.
‘Nope. Only a Celestial, and I’m the only one around today. Oh,’ his face cleared, ‘what a good idea. Simone.’
‘Yes, Daddy?’ Simone said through her noodles without turning around.
‘Want to come and have a lesson in demon taming?’
‘Cool!’ Simone squealed. She jumped up and threw her chopsticks onto the table.
‘I wonder if you can do it too,’ John said, eyeing me appraisingly. ‘Considering what you are. Stone.’
The stone didn’t reply and I tapped it.
‘Yes, my Lady?’
‘Have a look at Emma. Do you think she can tame demons directly now?’
The stone was silent for a moment. ‘Not right now. On the inside she appears to be a perfectly normal human being.’
‘What about the Serpent?’
‘Damn,’ I said softly.
‘Probably,’ the stone said. ‘But right now it’s not there.’
‘Okay,’ John said. ‘Just me and Simone then. Emma, you stay up here and keep your parents company. This will take about half an hour, then we’ll all go down to Causeway Bay. Come on, Simone.’
Simone bounced to her father and grabbed his hand. ‘I want a demon servant for myself!’
‘No way!’ I shouted at their backs. ‘You do your own cleaning up!’
I heard the door open. ‘You are no fun at all, Emma,’ Simone said faintly just as the door closed.
‘I do not appreciate being ignored like this,’ my father growled.
‘Sorry. We just had to organise what to do,’ I said.
‘What’s the big problem?’ my mother said.
‘Demons have turned up on our doorstep looking for sanctuary — hundreds of them.’ I ran my hands through my hair. ‘There are different levels of demons, and the low-level ones are usually servants — except more like possessions — of the larger ones. When a really big demon gets annoyed, it usually takes it out on the small ones. The demon we saw last night is a really big one, a Prince, and he’s particularly cruel to his thralls. Looks like just about every single one of them has tried to escape him and turned to us.’
‘What is John going to do?’ my mother said.
‘First he has to check that they’ve really turned. Then he’ll send them somewhere to work for him — although God knows what we’ll do with two hundred demons. We really don’t have the room for them.’
‘I’m really beginning to wish that I’d never come to this