Blue Dragon Part 7

'What?' I said.

'They found large refrigerators full of blood and tissue samples,' Gold said. 'In the kindergartens.'

'Oh my G.o.d,' I whispered. 'She was harvesting from the kids kids.'

'I cannot conceive of the sort of creature that would carry out such atrocities,' John said.

'You sure she's not a demon?' I said.

'Only a human would be capable of something like this, Emma,' John said. 'Demons do not possess that sort of depth.'

'Wouldn't the kids go home and tell their parents or the domestic helpers?' I said.

'Not if they've had their memories wiped,' John said grimly. 'Quite common for children to come home from kindergarten with a small wound, plastered over, treated with disinfectant, and say that they fell in the playground. The staff apologise and claim that it is a minor sc.r.a.pe. Perfectly normal.'

'You're right,' I whispered. 'I cannot believe this.' I had a sudden horrible thought. 'You knew Kitty well, John. Did Simone ever go to the kindergarten here on the Peak?'

'Yes, for a while,' John said. 'Leo posted himself inside, guarding. I had to make a special arrangement with Kitty, but provided I paid her extra she would let me do anything. Simone didn't like the regimentation and Leo was a nervous wreck, so after two weeks I gave up and took her out. That was about six months before you arrived.'

'So Leo was guarding her,' I said. 'She never sustained any minor injuries. They never took a sample off her.'

John's face said it all.

I put my head in my hands. 'No.' I looked back up at John. 'Did she remember?'

'No,' he said, his face rigid. His eyes unfocused. 'Your parents are outside the door. They've gone into the kitchen.'

'Anything else?' I said.

'We need to discuss the new Disciples,' Gold said.

'Let me go and say good morning and I'll be right back.'

'I can handle it. Go with your parents,' John said.

'No. I need to know what's happening. Don't do anything without me.' I rose to leave.

'You know?' Gold said.

I stopped dead, halfway out of my chair. I sat back down. They saw my face.

'Sorry, my Lord,' Gold said.

'For a creature with no mouth, Gold, you have an extremely big one,' John said, then he sighed and his shoulders sagged. 'While you were out with your parents yesterday, I had a visit from the Lady. She confirmed what I already knew.'

'What?'

'Two more.'

'The Dark Lord is rather like a rechargeable battery,' Gold said.

'Winding down,' I said. 'Won't hold the charge.'

Neither of them said anything.

'I'll get the school calendar and we'll work something out,' I said.

'Not now,' John said. 'We need to discuss the new Disciples, and you need to spend time with your parents. We'll organise something later.'

'Okay,' I said. 'But I need to be involved in every single meeting from now on.'

'Especially the ones with the Generals,' John said.

'Oh, d.a.m.n d.a.m.n.'

'Can't avoid them any longer, my Lady,' Gold said with grim humour. 'You don't have any excuses left. Your thesis is finished, you attained your degree. Time to start taking part in the running of the Northern Heavens.'

I ran my hands through my hair. 'd.a.m.n!'

'Go and have something to eat,' John said. 'Then come back and we'll talk about the Disciples. We won't get very far without you anyway.'

I threw myself out of my chair and left the office without saying a word. Halfway down the hallway I stopped still. Then I turned and went back into the office without knocking.

John and Gold watched silently as I sat down.

They waited for me. I didn't say anything.

Eventually Gold said, 'You too?'

I nodded.

'Do you remember how many times they took samples from you?' John said.

'I worked at her kindergarten for about a year. I must have used two boxes of Band-Aids,' I said. 'At the time I never remembered using a single one of them. I wasn't even worried about not remembering using them.'

'Sore arms?' John said.

I nodded. 'I went to the doctor for iron tablets because I was slightly anaemic. I wondered why he looked at my arms so strangely, but he didn't say anything. Probably thought I was an addict.' I ran my hands through my hair again. 'I had needle tracks needle tracks! I saw saw them! But I just didn't worry about it. That b.i.t.c.h messed with my head!' them! But I just didn't worry about it. That b.i.t.c.h messed with my head!'

'You noticed very few of the unusual things here for the first few months you worked full-time,' John said. 'While you were here part-time you didn't seem to notice anything. You had an astonis.h.i.+ng lack of curiosity.'

'I never even saw your sword on the wall. It took me months to notice Dark Heavens in its clips, and even then only when Simone pointed it out to me,' I said. 'Oh G.o.d G.o.d. How much did I miss when I was working at the kindergarten?'

'The samples are in the hands of the police now,' Gold said.

'It's too late to be concerned,' John said. 'Go and talk to your parents.'

'What if they used me the other way around?' I said. 'Put the demon stuff into me, instead of just taking the samples out?'

'Then they failed, because they have given me a powerful ally,' John said. 'Go and talk to your parents.'

'If the demons know about this then the odds on me being a hybrid have just become much shorter,' I said.

'Probably not worth putting money on,' Gold said.

'Go,' John said.

'And talk to my parents. Yes, I know.' I rose and went.

The scrabbling of one of the eggs woke me and I pulled myself up on my black coils. Yep; one of the eggs had cracked. It was the oldest nestling, the first one I'd laid.

I put my skinless hands on the sh.e.l.l and felt the vibration, a tingle of antic.i.p.ation moving through me.

I had a sudden horrible thought. I wouldn't eat it when it hatched, would I?

No. Of course not.

The egg cracked open and I pulled the pieces of sh.e.l.l away, but the nestling would have to climb out itself. Its little hands appeared at the edge of the opening, then it pulled itself up and tumbled out onto the floor of the nest. It lay panting, its little pale sides heaving.

I lifted it carefully and put it into the centre of my coils. It was exhausted, poor little thing. Its tawny hair was plastered to its head with the liquid from the egg, but it would dry quickly. I held it as it rested, a little human child of about four years old.

A while later it stirred and touched my face. 'h.e.l.lo, Mummy.'

'h.e.l.lo, my beautiful,' I whispered. 'You feel okay?'

'I'm fine.' The nestling pulled itself upright in the centre of my black coils and stroked my scales. I s.h.i.+vered with pleasure.

The nestling looked around, its little blue eyes focusing for the first time. It saw the other two eggs. 'What are they?'

'They are your little friends. Their names are Simone and Michael. They will be hatching soon too, and then the three of you can play.'

But only good good games. Not grown-up games. games. Not grown-up games.

'Oh, okay.' The nestling curled up in the centre of my coils and nuzzled into me. 'I love you, Mummy.'

I held it close. 'I love you too, Emma.'

I shot upright, gasping. The air conditioner whispered high on the wall. The lights of the city glowed through my curtains.

Just a dream. Just a dream. I banged my head on the pillow and rolled over. Just Just a a dream dream!

CHAPTER FIVE.

After a few days of tourist activities, my parents were tired but more relaxed about the whole thing. They seemed to be unwinding and enjoying themselves. Both John and Simone worked hard to win them over. My mother, particularly, was becoming very fond of Simone.

December weather was usually fine and clear, despite the cold, so we took them along the Lugard Road walk. The road was more like a pedestrian path, and wound all the way around the top of the Peak, giving a spectacular view of both sides of Hong Kong Island, Kowloon and the Outlying Islands.

My mother was hesitant about the height, but was okay when I held her hand. Simone and John came with us and the five of us enjoyed each other's company. Simone held my mother's other hand.

My father and John seemed to have hit it off; John liked my father's gruff honesty and my father enjoyed John's relaxed easy-going nature.

'And this trail goes all the way around the top of the island?' my mother said.

'Yep,' I said. 'About an hour's walk all the way.'

'If your artificial hip worries you, let me know. I can arrange for you to be transported back,' John said.

My mother stared at him, her face expressionless.

'He can see inside you,' I said.

'That's very rude, Daddy, you shouldn't have done that,' Simone scolded.

'She's quite right,' I said. 'Do it again and you are in big trouble.'

'This is the Western part of the island,' John said, ignoring us. He stopped at the railing and showed my parents. 'Below us, all those tall buildings, is Kennedy Town. One of the oldest parts of Hong Kong. Then across the harbour you can see West Kowloon. It's a good clear day today, you can see the Tsing Ma Bridge-that's the bridge you came across when Emma brought you back from the airport. And over there,' he gestured towards the left, 'is Lantau Island. The airport is off the north side of that. Lantau is actually bigger than Hong Kong Island, but mostly uninhabited; people like to live near the centre of things.'

'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 s.h.i.+ning 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.