Red Phoenix

mother would be thrilled to have him off the streets.’
    ‘Straight?’ I said.
    Both of them stiffened. ‘What does that have to do with anything?’ Leo said sharply.
    ‘Nothing at all. I’d just like to know.’ ‘Straight,’ Leo said suspiciously.
    ‘How old is he?’ I said pointedly, and now they could see where I was going. John glanced at Leo.
    ‘Fifteen,’ Leo said. ‘I hadn’t thought of that. Maybe I should ask around my other friends instead.’
    ‘No, bring him in,’ John said. ‘Let me see him anyway. First impressions are important. If he’s your first choice, then he is worth looking at.’
    The ceiling was very low in the dim bathroom. I wiped my hands on the towel and turned around.
    An enormous black snake, at least half a metre across, writhed across the shower cubicle and down the wall towards me. I couldn’t see the head, butI didn’t bother looking for it. I didn’t scream. I just ran.
    I threw the door open, charged out, and slammed it shut again. There was a jade bolt on the door and I pushed it into the frame. But jade was really brittle, and if the snake wanted to come out it could.
    I ran out of my room and tore down the dark hallway.
    I woke up gasping.

CHAPTER THREE
    J ohn poked his head around my bedroom door. ‘Simone’s asleep. Want to come with me to check the work at Hennessy Road?’
    I pulled away from my computer. ‘Sure.’ I gestured towards the book in his hand. ‘How far did you get?’
    He opened the book and held it at arm’s length to read it. ‘Eeyore losing his tail.’
    ‘Now you know why she called her little donkey Eeyore.’
    He grinned. ‘I didn’t realise Taoism had penetrated Western society at such an early date. Certainly when I was in England in the twenties, nobody had heard of the Tao.’
    ‘I don’t think the Taoist references are deliberate, the author was just a very wise man.’ I pulled my copy of The Tao of Pooh from the shelf above my desk and tossed it to him.
    He caught it easily, then opened the book and held it away to read it.
    ‘Holy shit,’ I whispered. I worked it out. It was May now; only four months since Kwan Yin had last fed him energy, but he’d been severely drained when the demons attacked us in Guangzhou a few weeks ago.
    ‘John, could you call Leo silently for me, please?’ I asked.
    He glanced up from the book, concentrating. Leo appeared in the doorway behind him. ‘Yes, my Lady?’
    ‘Do you have your reading glasses, Leo?’
    Leo pulled his small round reading spectacles out of his breast pocket. ‘Yeah, why?’
    ‘Give them to Mr Chen.’
    ‘No,’ John said.
    I rose and leaned on my desk. ‘John, you look mid-forties. Is your human form mid-forties?’
    ‘I am four and a half thousand years old.’
    ‘No, John. Does your human form have the characteristics of a man in his mid-forties?’
    John glanced at the glasses in Leo’s hand, then down at the book. He took the glasses from Leo and slipped them on, then looked at the book in his hand. His eyes widened. He removed the glasses, looked at the book, then put the glasses back on. ‘No.’ He sagged, took the glasses off again and handed them back to Leo.
    ‘It’s only four months since you saw the Lady,’ I said.
    ‘Oh my God,’ Leo said softly.
    ‘Do we need to take you back now?’
    ‘No,’ John said. ‘This is just the human form slipping from my control. I am becoming more human as I lose energy and my characteristics as a Shen fall away.’
    ‘Don’t risk it, John. If you’re running low on energy we’ll go to Paris.’
    ‘I’ll last a couple more months,’ he said quietly. ‘We’ll go in July or August, just before Simone starts school.’
    I pushed away from the desk. ‘Okay. Thanks, Leo. Now let’s go check on the work at Hennessy Road.’
    ‘Am I all right to drive?’ John said. ‘I don’t want to risk you.’
    ‘I don’t wear the glasses to drive,’ Leo said. ‘It’s only things close up you need them for.’
    ‘Damn,’ John said softly.
    ‘I’m surprised you haven’t complained of headaches from the eye strain,’ I said. John’s face was miserable.
    ‘Healing himself.’ Leo sighed with exasperation. ‘Take him down to Central tomorrow to buy some reading glasses before he wastes all of his energy.’
    ‘We’re going to Hennessy Road right now. Can you guard Simone for us?’ I said.
    ‘Sure.’
    I stopped in the doorway. ‘How come you wear reading glasses, Leo? You’re too young