LITMIR.BIZ

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was what was different,’ the stone said. ‘In Central, she injured you.’

      ‘I was bleeding in Central,’ I whispered.

      ‘Thought so,’ John said.

      ‘What, Daddy?’ Simone said.

      Nobody said anything.

      ‘You healed me,’ Leo said.

      ‘He broke your neck,’ I said. ‘If he had ripped your carotid you’d be dead. I don’t know whether he missed it on purpose or not.’

      Leo put his arm around my shoulders and kissed me on the cheek. ‘Thanks, Emma.’

      I wrapped my arms around him and gave him a squeeze. ‘I am so glad I could do that. What happened after I changed back?’

      ‘The Lady and the Dragon came,’ John said. ‘The Lady gave me enough energy to make it to the resort. She didn’t want to feed me too much on the plane, it’s not sealed. We’d attract flyers. I’ll make it.’

      ‘And the Dragon’s flying the plane?’ I said.

      ‘No, actually he’s on the outside carrying it,’ John said with amusement. ‘He hasn’t stopped complaining about the damage to his claws.’

      ‘Oh, poor baby,’ I said. ‘Broke a fingernail.’

      Leo chuckled and his arm shook around me.

      ‘You were a big black snake again, Emma,’ Simone said.

      ‘Yes, I know, sweetheart,’ I said. ‘Don’t be afraid of it, it won’t hurt you.’

      Simone levered herself over the edge of the bunk and dropped to the floor. She came to me and fell into my lap. I released Leo, wrapped my arms around her middle and kissed the top of her head. Leo’s arm didn’t shift from around my shoulders.

      ‘It’s awfully big and scary, Emma. Was it really you?’ Simone said.

      ‘It’s really me,’ I said.

      Leo let go of me and pulled himself to his feet. ‘Coffee,’ he said, and went into the galley. He poked his head back out. ‘My Lord?’

      ‘Tea, tikuanyin,’ John said. And a big glass of blood for the Serpent Lady.

      ‘You are really revolting sometimes,’ I said.

      ‘What did he say?’ Simone said.

      ‘Don’t you like it?’ John said. My Serpent does.

      ‘No!’ I said fiercely. I hesitated. ‘Strange. I liked it when I was really mad. Now I can taste it and it’s nauseating. I need to wash it out.’

       Your Serpent likes it.

      ‘Yeah. I know. But I don’t.’ I sagged. ‘I have a split personality. I need to see a shrink.’

      ‘Perfectly normal insanity,’ John said.

      ‘Yeah. I cannot believe I just tried to . . .’ I didn’t say the word, ‘. . . Simon Wong. I must be insane.’

      ‘I think the insanity is the most attractive thing about you,’ John said. ‘That and the black scales.’

      ‘You two are stupid,’ Simone said.

      ‘Oh, I don’t know, Simone,’ John said. ‘Those who are simple-minded or insane have the easiest path to the Tao.’

      ‘Then I’m already there,’ I said. ‘Doubly so.’

      ‘You want something, Emma?’ Leo said from the galley, ignoring us.

      ‘Yeah,’ I said, gently moving Simone off my lap and pulling myself unsteadily to my feet, leaning on the wall. ‘I want to brush my teeth. Then coffee sounds really good. Strong. With lots of sugar.’

      Simone ran to her father and threw herself onto her stomach on the bunk next to him. She turned onto her back and smiled up at him. ‘Are we there yet?’

      He didn’t say anything, just tickled her until she fell off the bunk onto the floor with a thump.

      We sat together in the main cabin. John was drowsy but awake. Simone sat in his lap, her head on his chest. It had caught up with all of us.

      ‘What will we do about Brian?’ I said.

      ‘The Dragon will fix it for us,’ John said. ‘We’ll make it look like Brian had a heart attack on the way here, and the co-pilot flew the plane. The Dragon will provide a tame demon to take the place of the co-pilot.’

      I tried to remember if Brian had been physically injured. I couldn’t.

      ‘Did he have family?’ I said softly.

      ‘Yes,’ John said.

      We were all silent for a while.

      ‘They thought they had control of me,’ I said eventually.

      ‘The important thing is that they didn’t,’ John said. ‘Is that the first time they’ve tried?’

      ‘Yes,’ I said. ‘As far as I can remember anyway.’

      ‘Then they probably weren’t expecting it to work,’ John said. ‘But they made an attempt anyway.’

      ‘What did they do to me?’ I whispered fiercely. ‘Did they turn me into a snake?’

      ‘If they did, then they made a huge mistake, didn’t they,’ John said placidly.

      ‘They sure did,’ Leo said with satisfaction. ‘You healed me. The Snake healed me. The ulcers are gone.’

      ‘Uh, Leo . . .’ I began.

      He understood. ‘You couldn’t heal all of it, could you?’

      ‘I’m so sorry,’ I said, my voice thick. ‘More than anything else in the world, I wanted to do that for you. But your neck was broken and you had lost a lot of blood. I did what I could.’

      ‘You couldn’t make him better from the bad disease?’ Simone said, her voice small. ‘He’s still going to die?’

      I couldn’t face them. I got up and went into the galley. Leo followed me. I stood facing away from him.

      ‘Next time, don’t bother,’ he said softly.

      I nodded without looking at him.

      He turned and went out.

      Two hours later we approached the coast of Borneo.

      ‘Look out the window,’ John said.

      ‘I can’t see anything. His front foot is in the way.’ The window was blocked by the Dragon’s huge claws.

      ‘Wait,’ John said. The claws disappeared. ‘He needs to be invisible to bring the plane in anyway.’

      Simone and I rushed to the window to see out. A few tiny islands were dotted through the brilliant aquamarine sea. We approached the land; the shore and the city of Kota Kinabalu came into view. The city wasn’t too impressive: there were only a couple of buildings more than ten storeys high; most of the structures were low-rise and shop houses. But the water was a stunning sparkling aqua and the sky was brilliantly clear.

      ‘The resort is below us,’ John said. ‘On the waterfront.’

      Simone saw it. ‘There it is, Emma. It’s huge!’

      She was right. The complex was enormous and embraced the edge of the water. It had bright green grass and a marina with white mooring posts. Two swimming pools glittered below us. A golf course flanked the resort on the landward side.

      ‘The golf course is really big too,’ I said. John chuckled. ‘You play?’

      He shook his head, still smiling. ‘Tried for a while,

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