Red Phoenix

Form?’
    ‘Animal. I’ve never seen it. I think Leo has. If he changes to the animal form, then he’ll be gone for a long time; he won’t have the strength to return to human form.’
    ‘What animal is he?’ Michael paused, thinking. ‘North Wind. I know that the East is a Dragon, and of course the West is a Tiger. But I don’t remember. What animal is Mr Chen?’
    I nearly choked on it. ‘A Turtle.’
    His jaw dropped and his eyes went wide. Then he lit up into a huge delighted grin. ‘You know that calling someone a turtle is slang for calling them a—’
    ‘Michael.’ I cut him off. ‘I understand every single insult attached to the turtle. I’ve heard them all. I know what the poor beast’s head and neck resemble. I know that the Ancients thought that the male turtle had no sex organs. I know that turtles are notorious for their…’ I hesitated, searching for the right word. ‘Behaviour. I know about the egg business. I know it all. So does Mr Chen. So watch your mouth. Okay?’
    His mouth snapped shut and he nodded. He could see that he’d pushed it too far.
    ‘Mr Chen’s True Form is even stranger than that. He’s a combination of two animals, a snake and a turtle. He claims that right now he’s lost the Serpent part of him and doesn’t know where it is.’
    ‘He’s lost part of himself? How could that happen?’
    ‘Even he doesn’t know how it happened. He really is extremely weird. Compared to him, your father is almost normal.’
    ‘What about my father?’ Michael said. ‘He has different forms too?’
    ‘Yep. Simone likes to have rides on his True Form, his tiger form. It’s enormous.’
    ‘He’s really a tiger?’
    ‘He really is. Anyway, back to Mr Chen. He’s constantly draining his energy by staying in human form. He’s really weak while he’s like this. He goes to Paris and meets Kwan Yin. She helps him by feeding him energy for a few days—tops him up, so to speak—so that he can retain the form and stay with us.’
    Michael nodded silently, listening carefully.
    ‘You have to understand something.’ I ran my hands through my hair. This was very tough. ‘As soon as Simone is able to defend herself, Mr Chen will revert to True Form and leave us. He’ll be very drained. It will take him a long time to come back. Maybe more than a lifetime. Ms Kwan, Kwan Yin, says something between ten and a hundred years. I’ll look after Simone, and all the other stuff, when he’s gone.’
    Michael’s face didn’t shift. ‘How long before he goes?’
    I swallowed it. ‘He thinks probably when Simone’s about eight years old.’
    ‘She’s nearly six now, Miss Donahoe.’
    ‘I know. I know every minute of the day. We have to keep him here until she’s able to defend herself.’
    ‘I understand. Is that why you two never married? Because he has such a short time left?’
    ‘No, it’s not, Michael.’ Something inside me really began to hurt. ‘The fact that he’ll only be around for a short time makes no difference to either of us at all.’ He opened his mouth but I cut him off. ‘You notice that we never touch each other?’
    ‘Yeah.’ He grinned. ‘You two are really old-fashioned.’
    ‘No, we’re not.’ I smiled through the misery. ‘Exactly the opposite, in fact. Which is funny, considering how old he is. The reason we never touch is because if he touches me, he could kill me.’
    He went completely still.
    ‘If we were to physically share our feelings, even with just a touch, we would share our energy as well. And he is very drained. He would suck the energy out of me, suck the life out of me, and kill me. We have to be extremely careful.’
    Michael gestured with one hand across the table. ‘Then how come you wear his ring?’
    I glanced at the ring, a small square piece of very green jade on a plain gold band, with three studs on either side. It was supposed to be sentient, but I had been wearing it non-stop for months now and it still hadn’t woken to me. I wondered if it ever would.
    ‘If he ever comes back in my lifetime we will be able to touch. Then we can be what we want to be for each other. He’s promised to come back for me. I’ve promised to wait for him.’ I looked up at Michael and smiled. ‘And that’s the whole story.’
    ‘I hope it happens for you, Miss Donahoe,’ he said quietly.
    ‘Thanks, Michael, you don’t know how much I appreciate it.’ I shrugged it off and spoke more briskly. ‘So that’s why we’re