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will be beyond pissed when it wakes up and finds that we’ve moved it so far from its Centre,’ the stone in my ring said softly.

      ‘Can you take it back without waking it?’ I said.

      ‘Nope,’ the stone said. ‘And I know this one too. It has a temper to rival yours, my Lady.’

      John concentrated and Leo came out from the hallway.

      ‘Don’t move, Amanda,’ John said quickly when he saw her reaction. ‘This is Leo, our guard. He can take your boys and care for them while we sort this out.’

      Amanda shook her head without speaking.

      ‘Let him, Mandy,’ I whispered. ‘He’s great with kids, he looks after John’s daughter, Simone. They’ll be safe with him.’

      ‘Alan, I think it would be a good idea if you were to go too,’ John said.

      Alan hesitated. ‘Will the boys be safe with him?’

      ‘Perfectly,’ Leo lisped. ‘I swear I will guard them with my life. They can come into Simone’s room, she has a lot of toys. They’ll be fine.’

      ‘He’s right, Alan,’ I said.

      ‘Brendan?’ Alan said.

      ‘Leo’s good,’ my father said. My mother nodded.

      ‘If the boys will be safe with him, then I’m staying here with Amanda,’ Alan said firmly. ‘Is it okay with you if he takes the boys, Mandy?’

      Okay, Amanda mouthed silently.

      ‘Boys, go with the big man, he’ll look after you,’ Alan said.

      David looked as if he was about to cry and Mark’s little face screwed up with terror.

      The Tiger concentrated and their faces went blank. They both rose and placidly took Leo’s hands, allowing him to lead them down the hall towards Simone’s room.

      ‘All suggestions welcome, stone,’ John said, still crouched in front of Amanda.

      ‘We don’t have a choice, we’ll have to wake the damn thing,’ the stone said. ‘Everybody move back, I’ll do it. Don’t move, Miss Amanda, I’ll handle this.’

      The ring drifted off my finger and floated in front of Amanda. She watched it with wonder.

      ‘Lord Xuan, Lady Emma, back you go,’ the stone said.

      ‘Brendan, Barbara, you’d be safer with the children and Leo,’ John said as both he and I rose and moved back.

      ‘We’re staying here with Amanda,’ my father said. My mother nodded silently.

      ‘I’m waking it up,’ the stone said.

      Nothing happened.

      ‘Hi, Opal,’ the stone said softly. ‘Sorry about this. Didn’t know you were there.’

      Complete silence.

      ‘Please permit us to return you immediately,’ the stone said.

      Again, nothing.

      ‘This was entirely unintentional,’ the stone whispered.

      ‘Dickhead,’ the opal said loudly with a very strong Australian accent. It sounded like a middle-aged Australian man. ‘Where the hell am I?’

      ‘Sorry,’ the stone said ruefully. ‘Hong Kong.’

      ‘That’s a bloody enormous Dark Spirit over there. What is it?’ the opal said.

      ‘I’m the North Wind,’ John said. ‘Good day to you, Opal. Thanks for not hurting the lady.’

      ‘I’d never hurt my lovely Amanda in a million years,’ the opal said, and everybody breathed a sigh of relief. ‘But this ugly green bastard floating in front of me, and that pretentious little prick who thinks he’s made of gold, are both in serious trouble.’

      ‘I’ve been wearing a stone that can talk for more than ten years?’ Amanda said with disbelief.

      ‘Remember when your car suddenly swerved out of the way of that runaway truck?’ the opal said. ‘And the time you fell off the ladder but weren’t hurt at all? And the car accident in Adelaide, where the car was a wreck but nobody was injured?’

      ‘I thought I was just lucky,’ Amanda said.

      ‘Lucky my arse,’ the opal said. ‘You and your lovely little family wouldn’t be around right now if it weren’t for me.’

      ‘Can I say thank you now?’ Alan said.

      ‘You are more than welcome, mate,’ the opal said. ‘You lot are the most delightful family it has ever been my pleasure to adorn. But why the hell are you in Hong Kong? And how come you know about these spirits? You’re just ordinary humans. How come you’re mixed up in this? That’s an enormous tiger over there behind the North Wind, you know that? And what the hell is this?’

      ‘What?’ Amanda said.

      ‘This snake thing. No, wait, it’s an ordinary human. Is that your sister, Mandy? Why the hell is she . . . Good God, but she’s a bloody great black snake, you know that? A human and a big snake at the same time. Never seen her like before. Hey, Emma, is that you?’

      ‘Yes,’ I said.

      ‘Geez, have you changed. What have you been doing to yourself?’ the opal said. ‘Come and pay a visit to the Grandmother with me one day, pet. I’m sure she’d love to have a look at you.’

      I took the opportunity. ‘Am I a Rainbow Serpent?’

      ‘Mandy, dear,’ the opal said. ‘Do me a favour, love? Take me off and hand me to your little sister?’

      Mandy removed the chain from her neck and passed it to me, the opal dangling from its links.

      ‘Hold me in your hand, I want to look at you,’ the opal said.

      I dropped the stone into my hand and held it. It was warm and seemed to be pulsing with energy.

      ‘Nope,’ it said.

      ‘Damn,’ I said under my breath. ‘Any idea what I am? None of us knows,’ I said more loudly.

      ‘No idea,’ the opal said. ‘Pass me back. I feel lost without my little Mandy.’

      I opened my hand to see the stone. It was quite large, about three centimetres long and two wide, a rough rectangular shape. It was almost jet black with flashes of midnight blue and fiery red through it.

      ‘You are absolutely spectacular, you know that?’ I said.

      ‘Yep,’ the stone said. ‘Pass me back, and then this geological mistake can tell me how I got here and what the story is.’

      ‘Humph,’ the stone in my ring said. ‘You always were a rude bastard.’

      ‘Shut the hell up and tell me what’s going on,’ the opal said.

      The stone in the ring returned to my finger. Amanda put the opal back around her neck.

      ‘You can talk, I’ll just tell the opal what’s happening,’ the stone said. ‘Don’t mind us, we’ll have a little stone-to-stone talk.’

      ‘Dickhead,’ the opal said, and went quiet.

       Chapter Six

      Iburst into John’s office without knocking. ‘We need some more pillows. Can I send —’ I stopped dead. A young Chinese woman I’d never seen before was sitting across the desk from John.

      ‘Whoops, sorry,’ I said, and moved to go out.

      ‘Wait,’ John said. ‘Obsidian here would like

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