White Tiger

dark eyes shining with contentment. We rose to meet him and I handed him his towel.
    He took it and threw it around his shoulders. We walked back up to the apartment together without saying a word.

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
    I lay awake, listening to the surf. The moon shone through the curtains, making the bed covers glitter as if covered in frost. Simone was an unmoving dark shape in the room’s other bed. The curtains billowed in the breeze. I’d left the window open; I liked to hear the sound of the waves.
    I rose and went into the dark living room, still wearing my old tank top and tatty shorts.
    Mr Chen was leaning on the balcony railing, dressed in black pyjama pants. The breeze lifted his long braid and brushed it over his bare back. A few strands of hair floated around him. He shifted slightly and the muscles moved beneath his skin, glowing in the moonlight.
    I could have sworn he was waiting for me. He turned to me and smiled, his dark eyes shining. I slid the door open and the warm air brushed over me. I joined him on the balcony. The tiles were still warm, with a light dusting of sand on them. Simone’s little boogie board leaned against the railing to one side.
    I stood next to him and we watched the moon rise over the water in silence. It seemed to fill the sky, the water shimmering below.
    Eventually he spoke, his voice warm and low. ‘You should be exhausted after the day you’ve had today.’
    ‘I think I’m through exhaustion and out the other side, Mr Chen.’
    He smiled sideways at me. ‘I’d really prefer it if you called me John.’
    ‘Not in front of Leo or Simone I won’t,’ I said, ‘…John.’
    More than anything in the world, I wanted to put my arm around his waist and lean into him. I wanted to touch him so much it was killing me. I moved slightly away.
    ‘The moon is very beautiful tonight, isn’t it?’ he said. He gestured towards the ocean. ‘There is a large amount of sea life out there. Whales are migrating down the coast. The water is full of cetaceans and juvenile billfish, tuna and marlin. I swam side by side with another turtle for a long time. It is wonderful.’
    ‘You saw all that? Hold on— another turtle ?’
    He didn’t turn away from the ocean. ‘Don’t worry, I can hold human form out there, hard as it is for me.’
    I bent and rested my forehead on the railing. ‘I’m employed by a sea monster.’
    He spoke with mock impatience. ‘I thought you’d done some research on me. You should have known that by now.’
    ‘What—that you’re a sea monster?’
    He nodded. ‘Hn.’
    I straightened and leaned on the rail next to him. ‘North, black turtle. South, red phoenix. East, blue dragon. West, white tiger.’
    ‘Four winds,’ he finished for me. He turned and leaned one arm on the rail. ‘The dragon is blue-green. His name “Qing” means “clear” as in “clear sky”. In China he is often depicted as blue. In Japan he is often depicted as green. I suppose you saw what colour he really is.’
    ‘A gorgeous shade of turquoise,’ I said. ‘His hair is amazing.’
    ‘You should see his True Form. He is exquisite.’
    ‘He scared me to death,’ I whispered.
    ‘He wouldn’t be a dragon if he didn’t.’
    ‘And you’re North…’ I didn’t finish it; I didn’t want to insult him.
    ‘I am a turtle,’ he said. ‘I am the egg of a turtle.’
    I gasped. The ‘egg’ thing was even more of an insult. He’d just calmly called himself a motherless bastard. I was speechless.
    He turned back to the sea. ‘And a dog demon is a bitch. It is what we are, our nature. I am a Turtle.’
    ‘What about the snake thing, though? You’re often depicted as a combination of a snake and a turtle twining together.’
    He watched the waves. ‘My Serpent essence is out there somewhere, roaming. I do not know where it is. Nobody else has seen it. It is absolutely silent when I call.’ His voice changed slightly. ‘Don’t ask me what happened, because I have no idea. Half of me is missing and I don’t know where it is. Right now I can exist separately. I will rejoin when I regain True Form.’
    ‘Does it hurt?’ I whispered.
    He didn’t answer me. He just watched the waves.
    ‘Does it have something to do with the current situation? Because you’re so drained?’
    He didn’t turn away from the water. ‘No. It happened long before all of this. I have no idea why.’
    ‘That is one of the weirdest things I have ever heard,’ I said. ‘And I