Red Phoenix

Western Palace?’
    ‘Not with the Tiger’s women around. The Disciples are confined to barracks.’
    ‘I see.’ I sat next to him, and pulled the plans closer. ‘Monica!’
    Monica poked her head in the door. ‘Ma’am?’
    ‘Tea, tikuanyin, and three cups, please.’
    ‘Ma’am.’ She pulled her head back into the kitchen.
    ‘You’re a mind reader,’ John said.
    ‘Will she ever call me Emma again?’
    ‘Nope.’
    ‘John.’ I turned to him. ‘Should I tell her about the situation? That I can’t marry you until you come back because you’re a Shen?’
    ‘Monica has made it very clear that she doesn’t want to know anything,’ John said without lookingup from the plans. ‘When Michelle hired her she tried to explain that we weren’t a normal household, and Monica said, “Don’t tell me, ma’am, I don’t want to know. Just tell me what to do.” She’s terrified of the strange things that happen, but she loved Michelle, and she loves Simone, so she stays and puts up with us.’
    ‘We have to protect her then, and make sure that nothing scares her.’
    ‘That’s what Michelle said.’
    ‘How long were you and Michelle married, John?’ He hesitated, expressionless.
    I turned away and shuffled the plans. ‘Sorry, don’t bother.’
    ‘We were about to celebrate our fourth anniversary when it happened,’ he said, wistful. ‘Simone was only two.’
    ‘Oh my God, you were hardly married any time at all!’ I lowered my voice. ‘Does Simone remember much?’
    ‘I don’t know. She won’t talk about it.’
    Gold reappeared with a stack of printouts. ‘My Lord. My Lady.’
    John rose and pushed the blueprints aside. ‘Okay, let’s see what we have here.’
    I stood up and riffled through the lists. ‘Hey, many of these names aren’t Chinese.’
    ‘Of course not,’ John said. ‘I take the best, it doesn’t matter where they’re from.’
    A good proportion of the names were Chinese, but there were some recognisably Anglo-Saxon ones, plus Japanese, Korean, and even African names. It was a complete cross-section. I scanned the Anglo names: many of them were women.
    ‘Did you have separate dorms on the Mountain?’ I said.
    ‘For the different nationalities? No, of course not,’ John said, and then, ‘Oh, for men and women, of course. Except for those who are married or bonded to each other.’ He saw my face. ‘No, I’m not slow. I’m just cold-blooded, like you said.’
    ‘Get out of my head.’
    ‘I’m not in it,’ he shot back. He turned over the lists. ‘Let’s see the Masters.’
    This list was much shorter. There were only about fifteen names.
    ‘So few, John?’
    ‘They gave their lives for the students, Emma. Even the human Masters. They were killed by the demons.’ He put his hand on the list. ‘These are the Immortal Masters that have returned. And a small group of mortal Masters who were too old or frail to take part in the battle.’
    ‘How many students died?’ I said.
    He sighed with pain. ‘Almost half. Nearly three hundred.’
    I flopped to sit. ‘Holy shit. Masters?’
    ‘Nearly all of them. About fifty.’
    ‘How many of the Masters were human?’
    He sat next to me. ‘Of the ones that were killed? About three-quarters, love.’
    ‘How will you tell their families?’ I whispered. ‘Three hundred and fifty people.’
    He put his head in his hands. ‘I don’t know.’
    ‘Do their families know where they were?’
    John was silent.
    ‘No, my Lady,’ Gold said. ‘Most of their families thought they were learning martial arts on Earthly Wudangshan. This is the greatest loss that the Mountain has seen in centuries. Even the Celestial Ones have become involved in dealing with this issue. A decision is yet to be made, but the consensus is that theCelestial will erase the existence of the students from the Earthly.’
    ‘They’ll never have existed at all?’ I said.
    ‘It’s the kindest way, Emma,’ John said into his hands.
    I was horrified. ‘How often do you Celestials interfere with us like this?’ I said. ‘You just make people not exist?’
    ‘This will be the first time in history, my Lady,’ Gold said with remorse. ‘There has never been a need for it in the past.’
    John dropped his hands, but didn’t look up. ‘There is some argument that the Mountain should not recruit humans if they are in danger from attack like this.’
    ‘If there are no Disciples learning, then the Celestial loses its defence against the