Red Phoenix

at all.
    ‘You thought that too,’ I said. ‘You’ve thought that for a long time.’
    He shrugged. ‘We don’t need words.’ ‘No, we don’t.’
    ‘I’m not sure I’d want that, Emma,’ he said. ‘Because if you were my Serpent, then when we joined, I would lose you. You would be absorbed into me and no longer exist as a separate entity; you would become part of the Dark Lord, you would become part of me .’
    ‘I can’t imagine anything that I want more in the whole world.’
    ‘But we have loved, we have shared our minds and our bodies. If you were my Serpent, we would haverejoined. I have often wondered, but it’s not really possible.’
    ‘Damn,’ I said softly.
    ‘Not possible at all,’ the Tiger cut in from where he was sitting, completely forgotten by both of us. ‘Because the Serpent’s been found. That’s probably why he brought it up, he’s somehow subconsciously aware of it. I was on my way to tell him anyway.’
    ‘I brought it up,’ I said, but neither of them heard me.
    ‘Where is it?’ John said, excited. He leapt to his feet, full of energy. ‘I must go to it. It would be good to be whole again.’
    ‘You would lose everything, Ah Wu, you forget yourself,’ the Tiger said. ‘It is better that it stays where it is.’
    John rubbed his hands over his face and grimaced. ‘You’re right.’
    ‘Where is it?’ I said. ‘What’s it doing?’
    ‘It is at the bottom of the Mariana Trench,’ the Tiger said, his face expressionless. ‘It is hiding in the deepest reaches of the ocean. It sleeps at the bottom of the darkest seas.’
    ‘Who found it?’ John said.
    ‘The Lady,’ the Tiger whispered. ‘She heard its cries.’
    ‘It cries?’ I said, my heart breaking.
    John’s face was expressionless.
    ‘Can you hear it, Ah Wu?’ the Tiger said gently.
    ‘No,’ John said, his face still expressionless. He stalked out without saying a word.
    ‘Is anyone holding it there, Tiger?’ I said. Maybe someone had imprisoned it.
    ‘No,’ the Tiger said softly, his face a mask of misery. ‘I think. I think…’ He looked down. ‘I think that the Serpent may have forgotten what it is, who it is. It only knows that it is missing…’ He hesitated. ‘It is missinghalf of itself. It cries for its lost half.’ He looked me straight in the eye. ‘So does he.’
    ‘You know what?’ My throat thickened. ‘Even if he were to be a different person, and no longer loved me, I think it would be worth it to have him whole.’
    ‘It is very hard to see him like this, Emma,’ the Tiger said, looking down. He looked back up at me. ‘Remind me to give you a gold coin.’ He shook his hands in front of his miserable face. ‘By your leave.’
    I nodded and he disappeared.
    I knew what John was doing. He was in one of the training rooms, doing sword katas until he dropped from exhaustion.
    I went back to my spreadsheets. Suddenly I wished that I was his Serpent and that he could have absorbed me completely. It would be worth it to have him whole, and Leo healed, even if it meant that I would no longer exist.

CHAPTER FORTY
    L ater that evening somebody tapped on my bedroom door.
    ‘I’ll never finish this if you keep interrupting me!’ I shouted at the door. ‘Emma, it’s me.’
    ‘Come on in, Rhonda,’ I said. ‘Sorry about that. They keep banging on the door. Everything okay with Michael?’
    Rhonda came in and sat on my couch, across from where I was sitting at the desk. ‘Tell me about this kid. Na Zha.’
    I sighed. ‘You don’t know about him? There was a TV series on the Cantonese channel about him not long ago.’
    ‘He’s an Immortal?’
    ‘Yes. One of the biggest,’ I said.
    ‘But he looks like a teenager.’
    ‘I know,’ I said. ‘John says his essence is that of a youth.’
    ‘I’m not sure I want Michael hanging around with him,’ Rhonda said, concerned. ‘What’s his history?’
    ‘Very long. Very old. He’s really powerful. When he was only seven years old he killed a Dragon Prince, oneof the sons of the Dragon King himself, for no better reason than he could do it. He’s always been a chronic troublemaker. He’s supposed to have grown up, but I don’t think he ever will.’
    ‘Is Michael safe with him?’ Rhonda said. ‘There are demons after him all the time. And the other guys, the triads.’
    ‘That’s the problem,’ I said. ‘Na Zha is the best demon killer on the Celestial short of Xuan Wu himself, and that’s saying a