Journey to Wubang 01 - Earth to Hell by Kylie Chan Read Free Book Online Page B

problem.’
    I turned away. ‘Forget it then. I’m wearing my jeans and a shirt and the Jade Emperor can deal with it. Or better yet,’ I turned back and grinned at them, ‘I’ll wear my armour and carry my sword and let him deal with that .’
    Jade and Mr Li both lit up.
    ‘Can she do that?’ Simone said quickly.
    ‘Even more appropriate,’ Jade said. ‘Much more suitable than a Tang robe. Lady Emma is a warrior.’
    Mr Li eyed the bolts of silk on the wall appraisingly. ‘Take that one off. We’ll make a lighter under robe for the armour. It’ll still need to be Tang style, but I think we can get away…’ He wandered off, talking to himself.
    ‘Brilliant, Emma, you’ll look magnificent,’ Simone said.
    ‘I’ll put your hair up in a simple spike, same as the Dark Lord would wear into battle,’ Jade said. ‘Not—’
    ‘Tortoiseshell,’ I finished for her.
    ‘No, ebony, I think,’ she said, and we shared a smile. ‘When the Dark Lord returns, you two will be a matched set. Dark Lord and Dark Lady, both warriors together.’
    I felt a shot of pain and sighed.
    ‘Don’t worry, Emma, he’ll come back,’ Simone said.
    ‘Any sign of him?’ I asked.
    She unfocused, snapped back and shook her head.
    ‘I’ll fetch your armour, ma’am,’ Jade said, then called to the baby dragons, ‘You kids behave.’ She nodded to me. ‘Be right back.’ She disappeared.
    Simone and I sat on the cushioned benches and waited for them to return.
    ‘He visited me in a dream last night,’ I said.
    Simone sighed and put her chin on her hand without replying.
    ‘What’s the matter, Simone?’ I said. ‘You’ve been quiet ever since we found out we were going to see the Jade Emperor.’
    Simone didn’t move or look at me, her chin still in her hand. Her eyes turned inward, remembering. ‘When I was very little, Daddy took me and Mummy to Heaven. He thought I’d enjoy seeing him at “work”. Mummy stayed in our apartment in the Palace, shehated it. Daddy changed…’ She ran her hand over her face. ‘Daddy changed into his Celestial Form, and picked me up and carried me to the Grand Audience Hall. You have no idea what it was like, Emma.’ She turned to gaze into my eyes. ‘You’ve seen it, you know how big his Celestial Form is. He carried me so far from the ground, and I didn’t know him as Daddy. He was so huge ! And black, and he didn’t look like Daddy, he was just a giant carrying me so high up that I was afraid, and he walked with these huge strides—it was incredibly scary. I cried, and he did something to me to make me quiet, but I was still…’ She took a deep breath. ‘I was still terrified. Then he took me into the Grand Audience Hall and it was full of dragons and other Shen—animals and nature spirits, all sorts were there to see me, staring at me—and then we went up to the Jade Emperor, and he was in Celestial Form too, and Daddy handed me over to him.’ She smiled wryly. ‘Apparently, the Jade Emperor thought I was adorable. I was bound by Daddy, so I couldn’t move or speak, or cry. I just looked at the Jade Emperor as he held me. He was bigger than Daddy and way scarier.’ She shook her head. ‘It took me a long time to get over that. Even now, I think if I saw Daddy’s Celestial Form, I wouldn’t see it as him, just as this monster that bound me and carried me away.’
    ‘I wondered about that,’ I said. ‘I remember how scared you were of his Celestial Form.’
    ‘When he took me back to the apartment, he unbound me and I let loose,’ Simone said. ‘In seven different directions—I wet myself, threw up, everything. I was only about a year and a half old. I can remember Mummy screaming abuse at him. He changed back and tried to console me, but apparently, I would have nothing to do with him for a few weeks afterwards.’
    ‘I can understand completely,’ I said. ‘If it was me, I would have sent him down to Hell for a few days to “meditate upon his