‘I’ll come with you,’ Tony says. He nods to Ah Lang and Gigi, pointedly ignoring me, and heads off after Lord Aengus.
Ah Lang’s brows furrow. I can tell he feels awkward and bad for me, so I smile as if I hadn’t noticed Tony’s obvious omission, even though it stings like a bitch.
‘Join us?’ Gigi says.
‘You know what, I think I’m going to read more of my father’s journal,’ I say. ‘I haven’t opened it since...’ Words seem inadequate to describe all that’s happened, so I don’t. ‘You guys have fun.’
Thirty-Eight
The Way of the Cosmos
28 September. Jade Dragon Temple, Likiang – I had been resting when a vivacious melody, much like a bubbling brook, took me out of my meditation. Before I knew it, I was standing before another pavilion, on the far side of the lake, holding a bottle of jiu in one hand and two cups in the other.
Lady Rey’s dress was coral tonight. She leaned over the strings, her fingers dancing in time with the pearls dangling from her hairpins. ‘Ten thousand years of good health,’ I said by way of greeting. ‘We meet again, most fragrant Lady Rey.’
She plucked the zither so hard she broke a string. I held up the bottle of yinjiu. ‘I brought wine to share, since I drank all yours last night.’
‘If you won’t die, then get lost. I am busy,’ she said.
I laugh out loud at my mother’s blunt response. Very much something I would say. It tickles me to know that I am clearly my mother’s daughter.
I suspected she was trying to lure mortals; someone like Crispin would no doubt naively accept a drink, thinking he’d made a new friend.
Pour Crispin; he probably would have tried to help her and been sucked dry for his trouble. Glad my father has more common sense.
Lady Rey tried to play her zither but kept stopping and starting, missing her notes. I was well into my cups when the lady stomped down the steps of the pavilion. She stood before me, hands on hips. ‘You are not welcome here. Leave.’
‘Are you trying to offer more of that wine of yours to other people? It is highly poisoned, as you know.’ She stomped her foot like a tantruming toddler.
And my mother is also clearlyhermother’s daughter; stomping her foot is one of Niang Niang’s tells when she can’t get her way. They spend quite a few pages bickering; and then I skip a big section where my father writes in quite boring detail all the things he cleans and repairs. Then I find an entry that gives me a chill: demon hunters attacking my mother.
29 September. Jade Dragon Temple, Likiang – Lady Rey hung limp, pinioned mid-air by silver darts and fulu, like a specimen in a collector’s glass case.
She was high off the ground so I misted level with her and reformed my upper body only so I could yank out the silver darts. The yellow fulu fluttered to the forest floor like autumn leaves. Slipping an arm around Lady Rey, I reached for the last dart on her forehead. Her eyes were shut, her breathing shallow and her skin had a blueish pallor. With a tug, the last fulu joined the rest on the ground.
Lady Rey’s eyes popped open. They were wild, fearful. A moment of vulnerability I hadn’t expected from a woman so self-possessed. A tender ache bloomed beneath my breast bone. Before I could reassure her, she reared back and headbutted me with the force of an enraged bull.
I whoop at my mother’s ferocity, though I have to admit I feel bad for my father, since he was only trying to help her. She escapes by double-crossing my father and telling the demon hunters my father is the one they want. I flip ahead, my heart racing, wondering if these demon hunters were the ones who captured him. But in the journal, my mother is the one in danger.
A pale hand gripped the edge of the furthest outcrop, flashes of coral thrashing in the rapids. With no thought to the dangers of such turbulent water, I misted to the middle of the river. In the split second it took to cross from bank to outcrop, Lady Rey was gone. The world went silent, but for another jagged ka-kung. At the time I paid no heed to my heart’s sudden commotion, though now I recall those events, perhaps it was a warning of the perils to come.
I plunged into the whirling brown maelstrom, barely able to see. A flicker of coral caught my eye. I dove through the water, forming a hand and grabbing blindly. Luckily my fingers closed over a smooth wrist; I held tight, pulled myself towards her and with great effort misted us back to the bank.
But I could not reform the rest of my body. The river held my mist in thrall. My consciousness threatened to splinter as the currents did their best to rip me apart.
Straining with all my might, I pulled free of the water’s grip. It took every ounce of strength and mental fortitude to force my body back into my physical form – one of the most painful and difficult things I’ve ever done. Reformed, I sank to my knees, clutching Lady Rey. She was pale, her eyes closed, but still breathing. Benesangue. My hands were slick withher blood and something acrid singed my eyes and throat.
Even now as I write of these events, safe and dry in my temporary home, I am deeply ashamed of my recklessness. My own excellent father was lost to us under similar circumstances – it would have destroyed Mémère to lose her son in this manner.
I make a note of the dangers my father mentions so I can ask Mémère and make sure Tony knows not to put himself at risk this way.
29 September. Jade Dragon Temple, Likiang – Lady Rey slept fitfully, shifting in her sleep and whimpering with pain whenever she did so. The whimpering grew louder as she thrashed more forcefully. Approaching slowly, and stopping at a respectful distance, I made soft reassuring noises, like soothing a scared kitten. She sat up and growled, a deep rumbling which would have frightened any mortal. She glared at me, then her eyes rolled into her head and she went limp, falling backwards.
Dieu! I launched forwards and caught the back of her head, preventing her from adding concussion to her list of injuries. Her hair was damp. Weakened as she was, I didn’t want her to catch the grippe as well. I glanced down to reach for her blanket and noticed my leg was hooked around Lady Rey’s. It was only then that my brain processed the indecorous situation I’d placed us in. I cannot stress enough the horror which flooded me. I knew well enough from Lady Longnu the high value Celestials placed on decorum. I jerked my leg away. But even as I remedied one impropriety, another took its place. My chest was pressed againsthers, my hand beneath her head, fingers tangled in her hair, my face close enough for her breath to tickle my lips. She made a small sound, drawing my gaze to her face. Incredibly, she was still fast asleep!
Her skin was luminous. Faint freckles sprinkled her cheeks and the bridge of a perfectly formed nose. My heart thumped, overloud in the silence. Another warning, no doubt. Heat pricked my cheeks and the tips of my ears. I shuffled backwards. Cold air filled the space between us, causing Lady Rey to shiver violently. A deep crease appeared between her brows.
The impropriety of our closeness and fear of her sister discovering us thus was eclipsed by my worry for her health. Warmth first, then. I rearranged her blanket so it was more securely tucked around her and was rewarded with a contented sigh. I pulled at a nearby scarf, covering her hair for good measure. The shadow of a smile teased the corners of her lips – a dazzling sunrise peeking out from behind a blanket of cloud. I found myself intently wishing for the clouds to disperse, and did not notice until too late that she had wormed into the space I had just vacated and tucked herself against me, shifting her head from my hand to my arm, thus pinning me in place beside her. She nuzzled my chest, lips curling into a self-satisfied grin. I was reminded strongly of a kitten I once found, and how contentedly she slept once her belly was full of cream.
