Red Phoenix

brain damage, my Lord, I will personally tear your arms off,’ Meredith said.
    ‘You should have seen that coming and bound the bitch quicker,’ John said.
    ‘That’s right, blame the woman,’ I said, and opened my eyes.
    I lay on my back on the floor where I’d fallen. My head felt like it was stuffed with lead-filled cotton wool. Meredith was above me, her intelligent face full of concern.
    ‘I’m okay,’ I said. ‘My head feels fuzzy but I’ll live.’ ‘Meredith?’ John said.
    Meredith took my hand and studied me. ‘She’s right: mild concussion, that’s all.’ She helped me sit up. I wriggled back so that I was leaning against the mirrors. My head was spinning but my vision was clear.
    John wiped his hands over his face and tied back his hair. ‘Damn.’ He and Meredith shared a look but didn’t say anything.
    ‘So what was the difference?’ John said.
    Nobody spoke.
    ‘Stone?’ John said.
    ‘I honestly don’t know, my Lord,’ the stone said. ‘In Central, the demon hit her and she moved faster. This time, no difference. Similar demon. Similar circumstances. I have no idea.’
    ‘It will come out in the end,’ John said. ‘We have all the time in the world. Help her up, Meredith, let’s get her home.’
    Meredith lifted me with one strong hand under my arm. I was slightly woozy, but I would make it.
    ‘We don’t have all the time in the world, John,’ I said. ‘Time is the one thing that we’re rapidly running out of.’
    ‘It will happen for us,’ John said grimly. ‘Live for the present and look to the future.’
    ‘The future is the only thing keeping me going,’ I whispered.
    ‘I won’t take you directly home, Emma, it’ll make your head ten times worse,’ Meredith said. ‘Let’s get you down to the car, and Lord Xuan can drive you.’
    ‘Okay.’

CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
    A fter we returned from the party the following Saturday we kicked off our shoes and I helped Simone drag all of the gear into her bedroom. The treat sack was huge and stuffed full of gifts. There was a tap on the door. ‘Come in, Leo, let me show you,’ Simone said. Leo came in and sat next to Simone and me on the floor.
    ‘Did you have fun, sweetheart?’ he said.
    Simone studied me, her little face very serious. ‘Emma, you said I’ll have a party too. Will it be like that?’
    ‘No,’ I said with a laugh. ‘Nothing like that. We’ll invite about six or eight of your friends over, you can all play in the living room, and we won’t have an entertainer.’
    ‘What about the food?’ Simone said, eyes wide. ‘Like that?’
    ‘No,’ I said. ‘We’ll just have some little snacks.’
    ‘Good,’ Simone said. She tipped the contents of the treat sack onto the floor. There was a mountain of sweets, some expensive toys and a large amount of costume jewellery.
    ‘It was one of them, wasn’t it?’ Leo said.
    ‘They rented the entire YMCA in King’s Park,’ I said to Leo. ‘The whole centre.’
    ‘Which one is that?’ Leo said. ‘I don’t remember a YMCA there.’
    ‘It’s a new one. Behind QE Hospital. It has tennis courts, a few climbing walls, a big roller hockey rink, an indoor sports hall. Huge.’
    ‘And they took it all ?’ Leo said. ‘How many kids did they invite?’
    ‘Must have been more than sixty.’
    Leo was speechless.
    ‘We went into the gift room to put our gift on the table, but it had overflowed onto the floor. The room was packed full of presents for this little girl.’
    ‘I don’t want that many presents,’ Simone said without looking up. ‘I want to have a party and play with my friends.’
    ‘They had the staff of the Y pull out the rollerskating gear so the kids could have a skate. But they didn’t have enough equipment. Lots of the kids missed out. The parents stood around and watched—you know what it’s like.’
    ‘Yeah, parents and grandparents bring the kids. You have to look after them too. And the little brothers and sisters and cousins.’
    ‘Then they did rock climbing, but of course they were all too small to make any progress up the wall. And the Y didn’t have enough staff, so I belayed as well.’
    Leo gestured towards my T-shirt. ‘So that’s what happened.’
    I glanced down. My T-shirt was absolutely filthy on one side, from the rope rubbing as I’d belayed for the kids. ‘Yeah. I had to lift them up the wall; they couldn’t do it by themselves.’ I stretched my shoulders. ‘My arms are killing me.’
    ‘What