Red Phoenix

knew that there wasn’t a problem with John; she could probably sense it. She saw my face and came to sit next to me at the Kensington house’s dining table.
    ‘I had a dream,’ I whispered. ‘I dreamed I was a Snake Mother. And in the eggs…’ I choked. ‘Were Simone. And Michael. And someone else, I don’t know.’
    She didn’t seem at all concerned. ‘Did the eggs hatch in the dream?’
    ‘No.’ I could barely breathe.
    ‘It was just a dream, Emma,’ she said softly.
    ‘Ms Kwan, when a demon attains perfection, and they can live a human life, what happens to them? Are they born as a human child?’
    ‘I cannot answer that question, I am sorry, Emma. It is not our place to tell you what lies beyond. You all must find that for yourselves. You wonder if it is possible that you are a Snake Mother that has attainedperfection. My answer is: I cannot tell you. You must discover this for yourself. But even if you are, it is irrelevant for what you are now.’
    I folded my arms on the table and dropped my head onto them. I looked up at her miserably. ‘Would a demon remember being a demon?’
    She just shook her head sadly.
    ‘Am I a snake demon?’ I whispered.
    Ms Kwan held her hand out and concentrated. A live white mouse appeared on her palm. ‘Take it,’ she said gently.
    I took the mouse. It had adorable white whiskers. Its little nose wiggled as it smelled my hand. Its tiny feet were cold. I ran my other finger over the top of its head, bending its translucent pink ears. I’d forgotten how much fun mice were. I’d always felt guilty about feeding them to my pet snake.
    ‘Eat it.’
    I glanced sharply at her, then collapsed over the table laughing, carefully holding the mouse so that I wouldn’t hurt it. I laughed so much that tears sprang from my eyes.
    I gently passed the mouse back to her. She concentrated again and it disappeared. ‘Sorry,’ I whispered into my arms. ‘Not a problem.’ I looked up. She was gone.
    I shot upright in the middle of the night. If it had been nothing more than a dream, then why had she asked me if the eggs had hatched?

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
    I had been hoping that if I didn’t bring it up, he wouldn’t remember. No such luck. The morning before we left London, John gathered the three of us—him, Leo, myself—into the dining room to discuss the logistics of a visit to my sister.
    ‘You will need a guard,’ John said. ‘Who would you prefer? Who would cause the least difficulty with your family?’
    ‘We should both…’ Leo said and then stopped. He’d heard himself again. He did sound profoundly deaf. The vowels were flat and the consonants were mushy. His voice was a slurred hiss. It would take some getting used to. My heart went out to him.
    ‘Yes?’ John said impatiently.
    Leo just shook his head, his mouth clamped shut.
    John sighed. ‘Wear your scars as symbols of valour, Leo. You have been injured defending your family. There is no higher honour.’
    ‘Leo.’ I took his hand over the table. ‘We can’t hear it. We just hear you. I don’t hear any impediment; I just hear an incredibly annoying guy who’s always playing nasty tricks on me.’
    ‘I think I’ll learn sign language,’ Leo said under his breath. ‘At least then I won’t sound like a moron.’
    ‘Go right ahead,’ I said. ‘Then I’ll have no trouble hearing you over a crowd.’
    ‘You’re on.’ He turned to John. ‘We should stay together, my Lord. Both Lady Emma and Simone are targets. They should be guarded by both of us.’
    I nodded. ‘He has a point.’
    John sighed his acquiescence and tied back his hair. ‘We’ll need to have our stories straight.’
    ‘Actually, you’re quite right, and this is great,’ I said. ‘The kids can use my sister as a dry run for school. Simone can try to be normal and not give anything away. I don’t know why I didn’t think of this before.’
    ‘What a good idea,’ John said. ‘We’ll all pay your sister a visit as a normal family.’
    ‘Even if you weren’t a reptile, an Immortal and the North Wind, my Lord,’ Leo said, ‘we still wouldn’t be a normal family.’
    ‘Heaven forbid,’ John said placidly.
    I had a horrible thought. ‘John,’ I said urgently, ‘forget it. She’s my family. She’s a target. They all are.’
    ‘No, they aren’t,’ John said. ‘No demon would dream of going after those who are not involved. Much too dishonourable.’
    ‘What about Michelle’s family?’ I said.