Red Phoenix
nodded.
‘All Serpents are healers, and when I had mine I could heal anything .’ He glanced down at the papers on his desk, not seeing them. ‘The Serpent’s healing is sorely missed here in the Academy, and by the residents of the Celestial. Take Leo: the Turtle by itself can only keep the virus at bay. With the Serpent, I could clear him completely, I could heal him.’
‘Oh my God. Does he know?’
‘No. It is your choice to tell him, if you wish. I will not.’
‘Is there any chance of the Serpent returning before you go?’ I said desperately. This could be Leo’s life.
‘I have no idea,’ he said. ‘Nobody has done this before. Nobody else has the same nature as me: two creatures as I am. I am unique, this is a unique situation, and we must just take each day as it comes. Idon’t think it would be a good idea for me to have the Serpent back before I go, because to merge I would have to return to True Form, and then I would probably be gone anyway.’
‘I’ve never thought of snakes as healers, just as poisonous,’ I said.
John’s eyes turned inward and he concentrated. Then he snapped back. ‘The Serpent is also the most powerful weather maker on the Celestial. The Turtle can call forth rain; the Serpent can call forth floods and deluges. The Turtle can move typhoons; the Serpent can make them. I suspect that some of the unusual weather patterns that have occurred in the last few years have been a result of the Serpent out there somewhere flexing its muscles.’
There was a tap on the door and Two Five One, John’s demon assistant, poked her head in. She tossed a small white cardboard box into the air on the other side of the room. It floated to John and he picked it out of the air. She disappeared again without saying a word.
He turned the box over in his hand, then held it out to me, pointing to a small mark on the side. I took it. It was a bandage from one of the medicine cabinets.
‘The Serpent, as healer, in the West as well,’ he said.
The mark was the standard Western medical symbol of two snakes wrapped around a staff. ‘I never thought of that,’ I said.
‘The Serpent is the wiser of the two of me. It is extremely clever; its intelligence is not measurable. We tried to measure it on the Celestial a while ago, but the results of the tests were not meaningful because I just answered everything right. I miss its intelligence; the Mountain was much better run when I had it. I’m glad I have you instead.’ He smiled slightly at me. ‘It is a powerful healer, it is a powerful weather maker. It is also cunning, fast, spiteful, and dreams about eatingbabies.’ He leaned back and put his hands on the desk. ‘And that is the end of the herpetology lesson. In a way, I am looking forward to leaving you…’ He studied me closely to gauge my reaction, and relaxed when he saw that I wasn’t upset. ‘…and having the Serpent back, because I really am not whole.’
I had a horrible thought. ‘Will you change when you have your snake back?’
‘No, of course not,’ he said. ‘I am unchanging.’
He concentrated, and the Tiger appeared next to me in the other visitor’s chair. He saluted us both casually without a word.
‘Ah Bai.’ John leaned his elbow on the desk. ‘Do remember back to when I lost the Serpent?’
‘I remember,’ the Tiger said, and his eyes turned inwards. ‘That was a tough time for all of us. No idea what brought that on.’ He snapped back. ‘It was about 1975. He just completely disappeared for about six months. And then he came back as if nothing had happened at all. The first time he took True Form afterwards, he seemed the most surprised of all of us that the snake was gone.’
‘Was I different when I had the Serpent? To how I am now?’ John said.
The Tiger studied him appraisingly for a while. He appeared to be thinking about it. Then, ‘Yeah,’ he said with a grin. ‘Come to think of it, you were different.’
John frowned. ‘No, I wasn’t. I was exactly the same person.’
‘Nah.’ The Tiger’s grin widened. He shook his head and raised his hand. ‘You’ve changed. Be interesting to see what happens when you have that Snake thing back.’ He realised what he’d said. ‘By the Heavens, Emma, I’m sorry. Don’t worry, he’ll still be the same person.’
My blood ran cold. ‘How different was he?’
The Tiger turned back to John. John glared under his brows at him, obviously irritated.
‘He was much more
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