Red Phoenix

listening.’ Ma’am.
    Michael grinned, then tried to control his face. ‘Leave it with me, ma’am,’ Leo said. ‘Okay.’ I went back to my room and my thesis. Later, there was a tap on the bedroom door. ‘Come.’
    Leo poked his head around. ‘Charlie grabbed him off me and told him the whole story. Right now they’re in the kitchen and she’s trying to see if she can feed him so much he explodes.’
    ‘Did he swear allegiance?’
    ‘Yep.’
    ‘Did he understand what it means?’ Leo opened the door and came in. ‘Yeah. He knew. And he did it anyway. He’s a great kid.’
    ‘I don’t know what we’d do without you, Leo.’ ‘Neither do I.’ He went out.

CHAPTER NINE
    A few weeks later John, Gold and I sat around the dining table and studied the student lists. ‘How many do you think we need to recruit?’ I said. ‘Gold?’
    ‘We should bring on another three hundred to guard the Mountain when the demons have returned to strength,’ Gold said, ‘but we don’t have room for them. Bright Mansions is full. There’s plenty of room in Wan Chai to train them, but nowhere for them to live.’
    ‘We could buy another residential building in Happy Valley,’ John said.
    ‘Good idea, my Lord,’ Gold said. ‘The market is down, there are some good buys. We could buy an older building, demolish it, and construct something purpose-built. We could even do that with the North Point building, put up something with more space.’
    ‘At the current rate of construction, Gold, how long before we can start moving students back to the Mountain?’ I said.
    Gold’s boyish face went pensive. ‘I think about five years, my Lady.’ His face cleared. ‘I see your point.’
    ‘Yes,’ John said. ‘It will take that long to build topurpose anyway. Forget it. We’ll buy something in the Valley and put them there. See to it. Dismissed.’
    ‘My Lord,’ Gold said, and disappeared.
    John turned to me. ‘I don’t know how I managed without you, Emma.’
    ‘Neither do I.’ I glared at him. ‘It’s August already.’
    He leaned back and put his hands behind his head. ‘I don’t have time, Emma.’ He threw himself forward again and rubbed his hands over his face, then tied back his hair.
    ‘You’ll have all the time in the world if you fade out and leave us. But we won’t be able to defend Simone.’
    ‘Simone can call a Celestial Master now. You don’t really need me any more. I could go now.’
    I shot to my feet, horrified. ‘Don’t you dare leave us, Xuan Wu!’ I shouted. ‘We need you! You can’t go!’
    He sat unmoving, his face expressionless.
    ‘Don’t go, please, John.’ I fell to sit. No. He was right. He could go. Simone would be safe if she could call a Celestial Master.
    ‘You wouldn’t be safe though, Emma. I need to stay near you.’
    ‘My safety is beside the point. Simone’s the one we need to protect.’
    ‘I need to protect both of you.’
    I crossed my arms on the pile of papers in front of me and put my chin on them. ‘We need you here. Please don’t go yet. Wait until you can’t stay any longer. We need you. I need you.’
    He smiled gently. ‘If I’m going to stay around then I’d better see Mercy.’
    I leaned back and sighed with relief. ‘You gave me a terrible fright just then, John. Please don’t do that again. Promise you’ll stay absolutely as long as you can.’
    ‘I promise you, Emma. Of course I will stay as long as I possibly can. I want to be with you. I want to be with both of you. I was just teasing.’
    ‘You’ll be teasing on the other side of your shell next time,’ I growled. ‘I’ll clear our diaries for the week after next and we can all go to Paris. We’ll need to have it done before Simone starts school. Michael should come as well; some travel will open his mind, and he can meet Kwan Yin. We can return Charlie to London while we’re in Paris. How’s that?’
    He spread his hands across the table. ‘Whatever you organise is fine with me. I am in your capable hands.’
    ‘I wish,’ I said with feeling, and he went expressionless again. ‘Call Kwan Yin and tell her you’re coming.’ He remained unmoving. ‘Do it right now, Xuan Wu.’ He pulled himself upright. ‘Is that an order?’ ‘Damn straight it is.’
    He leaned across the table and glared at me. I leaned forward as well and glowered back. We faced off across the table. I was about to shout at him when Ms Kwan appeared next to me. ‘Don’t worry, Emma, he