Sunnydale? You’re Welcome To It!

Part Two: Changes

Julia was too restless to sleep. She rolled over onto one elbow see the luminous green display of the clock radio on her bedside table. *Four-fifty a.m.*, she mumbled. *Bloody hell!* She flopped back on the pillow, brushing her hair away from her eyes and sighing. *Might as well get up*, she thought. *Not like I haven’t got enough to do*. She threw a grey satin robe over matching pyjama bottoms and a white cotton tee-shirt and headed for the computer terminal in the study.

Not bothering to turn on the lights she switched on the modem and waited for the screen to flicker to life, casting coloured shadows over her face in the dark as the system progressed through the automatic internet connection sequence. Julia brought up a list of files relating to the three current cases she was investigating for the Centre for Metaphysical Research.

The first was a report on the outcome of a technical survey of a crop circle she had visited in Surrey a couple of months before. This one had appeared in a field of hay that was about to be baled so there was not much time in which to take measurements and samples. The farmer had rung late the night before to tell her that the field was being worked next day if the good weather held out. He promised to start as far from the formation as possible but could promise only a few hours before the field was cleared.

Julia had enlisted the aid of a couple of members of a local Crop Circle Club to take the physical measurements while she took soil and plant samples, operated the electromagnetic field detector, Geiger counter and took ground-level photographs. The boy and girl whom she had contacted through an internet special interest chatroom, both just seventeen years old, turned out to be local students who took the day off to help. They were very enthusiastic and chatted incessantly about the latest far-out theories, everything from aliens using the designs as temporary directional markers to underground magnetic ‘whirlwinds’. Julia tried to keep them working at opposite ends of the ‘circle’ from her. She greatly appreciated their assistance but wasn’t in the mood to deal with all their questions. At least the ground was dry, not like the last time when she had waded through patches of freezing cold water in marsh-like conditions to get to a large flattened nest-like mound next to a small loch just over the Scottish border.

The chemical analysis of the hay-field had come in yesterday while Julia had been at the British Museum. She took out the concertinaed computer print-outs and fed the information into a spreadsheet, noting that radiation levels in the soil samples were higher than those of the control samples taken elsewhere on the property, added comments and observations with a recommendation to revisit the site for genetic samples of the next season’s crop and to take further soil samples. She emailed the lot off to her contact in the relevant division of the CMP.

The second case Julia had outstanding was a report of poltergeist activity affecting a Somalian family recently settled in London from Arles in France. The family included the father who worked as a cabbie, the mother who was a nurse at the London Hospital at Mile End, twin boys six years of age who were born in France and a twelve year old daughter born in Somalia during the conflict who had travelled to France with her parents as refugees in 1989.

The reported phenomena included the usual range of poltergeist disturbances, with crockery and ornaments broken or moved, household and personal items disappearing and reappearing, sometimes from locked drawers and cabinets, and, more distressingly, the girl and her little brothers being tumbled out of bed, having hair pulled and limbs bruised by pinches from an invisible assailant. Cameras positioned in the children’s bedroom overnight had shown the children waking during the night with cries of pain. Fresh bruises were evident on their arms and legs next morning. As is usual with poltergeists there was none of the ‘accepted’ ghostly characteristics to the case such as entity sightings or electromagnetic fluctuations.

During a follow-up visit to the family’s home during the past week the parents had allowed Julia to speak with the young girl alone. The child was friendly and seemingly well adjusted, happily showing Julia her room that she shared with the boys, the walls on her side covered with posters of Kylie Minogue and the Backstreet Boys and pictures of Prince William ripped out of her mother’s magazines. She was happy at school, with her level of academic achievement being in the top third in all of her classes. She was popular with the other children, had several close friends, was involved in sports, especially rng ang and netball and she seemed to be genuinely fond of her two little brothers.

On the down side both parents worked shifts so were away from home at different times during the night and day, often at the same time, leaving their daughter to care for her brothers before and after school and occasionally on weekends too. This meant the family rarely spent time with all five of them together. When Julia asked her about her memories of Somalia the little girl became distracted and withdrawn, not meeting Julia’s eyes and fiddling with the ornaments on her bedside table. When pressed, she revealed quite vivid memories of a terrifying few weeks spent attempting to flee the war-torn country with her parents who, at one stage, were separated for several days amongst the steady stream of frightened refugees.

Finally, after several years in Arles, the family had moved to England where the mother had taken up an offer of well-paid but demanding nursing at a busy London hospital. One aspect of her conversation with the child struck Julia as significant; the girl constantly referred to the fact of how lucky she was to have her family together in safety, to be attending a good school and to have the opportunity to have well-paid career ahead of her in later life. When asked to talk about her feelings on the family’s ‘ghost’ the little girl said she thought an evil spirit had followed them from Africa and was angry that they had escaped when so many others had died.

Julia updated the file with her suggestion that the case be referred to a child psychologist. The young girl obviously experienced severe guilt about being safe and secure after their escape from Somalia and felt the weight of responsibility of keeping up with studies and sports while caring for her little brothers and basically running the home when the parents were at work. She felt she had to keep up a happy exterior for the family’s sake and had buried all her fears so as not to burden her parents who had been through such traumatic circumstances. Julia was sure the poltergeist occurrences would cease once the child accepted that it was OK to talk about her fears and felt more comfortable with her new circumstances.

As for the poltergeist phenomena itself, Julia was not especially inclined to recommend further investigation as she felt this might cause further stress on the girl and the family. Psychic phenomena of this type were pretty much accepted even by mainstream investigators so Julia felt there was little to be gained by pursuing this case further.

The last of her three current cases was both more complex and more disturbing. A nineteen-year-old single mother had complained of attacks on her and her eighteen-month-old baby boy by a malicious ghostly presence in their council flat.ia hia had been reluctant to take on this case originally, as it had already had received some media attention in the suburban newspapers. One local TV station had sent an interviewer out to see if the story was worth doing a spot on the weekend news.

Initially, the mother’s de factor husband, a builder’s labourer aged twenty-one and not the child’s father, was suspected of causing the injuries to the child and mother. Both displayed scratches and bruising which apparently appeared overnight and was even reported to have appeared in the presence of media representatives while the mother and baby were in the same room with them. Unable to deal with the sudden notoriety and accusations, the boyfriend had moved out of the flat but the cuts and bruises continued to manifest.

Julia was highly suspicious of this case right from her initial interview with the beset mother. She was an unremarkable young woman, mousy but neatly dressed, nervy and timid with a tiny, almost childlike voice and manner who fussed over the baby and her visitors almost to distraction. The flat contained no books but several glossy fashion magazines, a battered television set and a radio tuned permanently to whatever talkback show was on at the time. Religious knick-knacks, mostly cheap and nasty, were scattered about the rooms including the bathroom and toilet.

Half-way through this first session the young woman’s own mother turned up at the flat. During the visit she never once looked at her grandson but constantly found fault with her daughter’s housekeeping, bustling noisily about the tiny flat tidying and dusting items that were already spotless. Oblique references to the ‘sinful’ product of premarital sex were common along with admonitions to prayer and atonement. This constant barrage kept up for the entire visit while the younger woman hardly spoke a word.

Julia had paid a second visit and this time brought along an acquaintance, Sally Mitchell, whom she knew from their university days and who was now a social worker on London’s south side. Julia introduced her only by first name, not mentioning her companion’s profession and the young mum didn’t inquire further. After the interview, Julia and Sally compared their impressions of the situation. Sally felt the young woman to be borderline intellectually subnormal but had probably never been diagnosed. She was obviously enjoying all the attention, especially from the media types and constantly repeated to Julia and Sally that she had been written up in the paper and would soon be on TV. The baby was obviously well cared for, clean and well-fed but often screamed when his mother picked him up which she did obsessively whenever the child started to crawl away from the rug on the floor where he was placed.

Julia had initially suspected the mother of inflicting the injuries on the baby and herself as all of the thready scratches on the young woman were in places she could manage to reach with a pin; nothing on the middle of the back, for instance, or between the shoulders where she could not easily reach. Neighbours reported banging noises in the middle of the night, more frequently now that the boyfriend had gone and Julia suspected the bruising found on the young woman was self-inflicted. Both Julia and Sally agreed that this attention-seeking behaviour might indicate the psychological condition of Munchausen syndrome by proxy. Low self-esteem coupled with suddenly becoming the centre of attention of the local new media would be a powerful inducement for the isolated young woman to receive the kind of personal validation she was not getting from her own mother or boyfriend.

Sally had immediately notified a local caseworker to take over the case, organising regular visits to get help for the mother and baby. Julia completed her report, including a statement from Sally and the new caseworker’s contact details then e-mailing it and the Somalian family’s report onto the Centre.

Julia sat back in her office-style adjustable chair and sighed. *I really don’t think I’m going to miss this after all*, she thought, pushing the leather-upholstered chair back from the mahogany desk. *At least with the Hellmouth we’ll know who the real enemy is*.

By now the sun was coming up. Julia decided to take a quick shower then jog down to Holland Park for her morning tai chi session which she regularly attended when at home in London. *Some physical activity to calm the mind and steady the nerves*, she hoped.

*****

A group of thirty or so people gathered at the north end of Holland Park each morning to participate in tai chi classes with martial arts master, Wu Lung. Following the lead of the old man, the participants moved and breathed in unison. With perfect concentration and precision they flowed through a series of graceful actions from the Old Form style - white crane spreads its wings, strumming the lute, wild horse shakes its mane, pushing the mountain, blue dragon out of water, grasping the bird's tail. With a final deep exhalation the group bowed and relaxed. As they stood for a few moments before disbanding, Master Wu recited the credo as he always did:

It is stillness, potential with all life.
Day and night, winter and summer.
Enjoying this flow, you enter deeply into the rhythm of nature,
Floating as flower petals on the wind,
Then firm as an iron block.
Facing challenge, your speed is as a plunging falcon.
The attack is as a roaring tiger.
Your move as water running rapids.
When collected, chi is silent, as mountain filling the sky.
Yet, the connection is gentle.
Passing from extreme to extreme
Your spirit rest in stillness.

Bowing deeply a final time, the mixed class of university students, housewives, businessmen and retired folk began to chat with friends or head off to begin the day’s work or studies. As usual, Julia stayed behind to do a further half-hour’s full-contact martial arts workout one-on-one with the instructor, Master Wu, who was also skilled in the more militaristic forms of hand-to-hand combat. At almost seventy years of age, Wu was still a formidable sparring partner and Julia very much enjoyed matching speed and tactics with the old man.

Afterwards, Julia walked over to her gym bag which she had placed on a park bench, took out a small white towel and started to wipe the sweat from her face and neck. Josephine Wu, Master Wu’s granddaughter, came up beside her, patting Julia on the shoulder.

‘Have you had breakfast yet?’ she asked. Josie had returned to London just over a year ago after completing Chinese language and history studies in Hong Kong. She and Julia had become friends after discovering these dual interests in common and often had coffee and pancakes together after the early-morning workout.

‘Yeah, I’m starving,’ Julia replied. In fact, she hadn’t eaten since the previous morning. She had been too engrossed in the Sumerian clay tablets at the British Museum to stop for lunch, then too unbalanced by her meeting with Giles to think about dinner. ‘How about “Dante’s”?’ Julia suggested. Josie agreed so they headed off across the park towards Abbotsbury Road.

*****

After demolishing a plate of sausages, eggs, grilled tomato and hot buttered toast, Julia still managed room for an inch-thick banana pancake the size of a dinner plate with roasted walnuts and a drizzle of hot chocolate sauce.

‘Well, if that’s breakfast, I’ve had it!’ she grinned, patting her bare midriff. ‘I wouldn’t mind another coffee though,’ she added.

Josephine laughed, graciously pouring Julia another cup from the coffee pot on the table. ‘I don’t know where you fit it all in!’ Both girls giggled.

‘I’ve got to keep up my strength,’ Julia offered, adding a generous splash of milk and three heaped sugars.

‘While we’re on the subject of food, how about coming over for dinner again sometime soon? Say this Friday, if you’re free.’ Josephine’s family were among the few people Julia still socialised with in London. Her work tended to interfere with normal relationships in that she was often called away on short notice, not to mention it being something of a conversation-stopper when new acquaintances asked what she did for a living. It was all just too hard and she had long-since ceased to encourage new friendships.

‘I’d love to, Josie,’ Julia said. ‘Actually, I have some news to tell you. I’ve been offered a job in the United States which I’ve accepted and I’ll be leaving on Sunday. I’d love to see you all before I go.’

‘Oh, how exciting!’ Josie exclaimed. ‘What kind of job is it?’

‘Basically the same as I do here,’ Julia said. ‘Just for a larger organisation. I’ll be working with an old colleague who’s offered me an opportunity to research some of the things I’m especially interested in.’

‘Occult stuff?’ asked Josie.

‘Mostly,’ Julia replied. ‘It’s probably only going to be for a fixed term of about two years. It was short notice; I only found out yesterday, but I can’t really pass it up.’ *Especially as I’m making no progress here*, she thought.

They chatted through another cup of coffee each, agreeing to keep in touch while Julia was overseas and made a date for dinner at the Wu family home that Friday evening.

*****

Back at her flat, Julia showered again, dressed in jeans and a tee-shirt, then settled down to read through the files which Giles had given her the previous evening. The first of the three files contained a report of over two hundred pages on known or suspected historical hellmouth activity along with some theories on the science behind the phenomenon, some based on established physics, others purely speculation. Most of the case histories cited were well known to Julia from her own studies. One section of the report was surprising and somewhat disturbing.

Dr Aubrey’s research suggested that the sudden disappearance of the Mayan culture may have been due to a hellmouth appearing in the region of Tikal in the Yucatan peninsula around 800 A.D. In the hundred year period to 900 A.D. the Mayan civilization suffered a rapid decline from a peaceful society of intellectuals, artists and traders led by a class of hereditary priest-aristocrats to a blood-thirsty race preying on its neighbours to provide captives who were sacrificed, often hundreds at a time, not to the gods of a new, violent sect, as formerly believed, but to the demons of that ancient hellmouth.

Cultural references from those decades abound with images not previously seen in Mayan art but common to regions experiencing hellmouth phenomena. The skull and cross-bones symbol, images of human-animal hybrids and other strange beings appeared suddenly on temples and public buildings throughout ceremonial and social centres from Copan to Chichen Itza. When captives could not be obtained, the Mayan people from the lowliest farmer to the Royal Family themselves practiced ritual bloodletting, pricking fingers and tongues to provide the blood demanded by the demons. The nobility began to bind the foreheads of their children and file their teeth to sharp points to more closely resemble the features of their demon masters.

For almost fifty years before that time, all public construction had ceased save for the two huge temples at Tikal. The larger of these, the Temple of the Great Jaguar, had been added to, layer upon layer over the previous century, temples within temples, in an attempt to contain the gate to the hellmouth which had opened beneath it. Dr Aubrey’s recent excavation of the site had finally located the entrance, a series of caverns deep beneath tdifidifice.

While royalty and the general population alike propitiated the demon overlords with blood sacrifices which often included their own children, members of the priesthood worked in secret, achieving during this time of affliction the Mayan’s greatest advances in mathematics, astronomy and medicine in an effort discover a way of closing the hellmouth. Massive libraries of their coded writings survive, still mostly indecipherable to this day. The frenzied bung ang and rebuilding at Tikal along with the clandestine efforts of the priests was to no avail. By 900 A.D. all religious centres large and small and the major urban sites had been abandoned. The Mayan civilization collapsed in less than four generations. A few peasants continued to live without leadership in the abandoned ruins but soon even these sites were reclaimed by the jungle. Even now most of the sites of the Mayan heartland remain almost uninhabited.

Not only did this hellmouth cause the downfall of a centuries-old civilisation but its effects resonated throughout younger societies emerging at the time. Dr Aubrey believed that the sadistic rituals of the neiurinuring Aztec echoed the rites observed by the Maya in an attempt to avert a similar fate. He also believed that the Bermuda Triangle may be the final remnant of this slow-burning hellmouth.

Hell, thought Julia, shaken by the descriptions of death and horror. *Is this what we’re up against?*

The next folder contained copies of the newspaper clippings which she had briefly leafed through at Giles’s place, along with photocopies or microfiche copies of official police, fire and ambulance reports going back to the 1920s. These she put aside to read through later.

Taking up the last folder Julia noticed a note paper-clipped to the inside front cover. It was from Giles. ‘*Sorry to have sprung this on you like I did. I promise you won’t regret it. Love and gratitude, Rupert Giles.*’ The rest of the meagre contents included Merrick’s field reports which covered a period of only a few weeks, a follow-up report from the ‘clean-up’ crew who had been sent in after the vampire attack at Miss Summers’ former school and copies of personal papers such as Buffy’s birth certificate and school records, her mother’s birth certificate, marriage and divorce records. This would be a starting point for Julia’s genealogical search into the girl’s family history.

The final item in the folder was a white A4 envelope, unsealed, which contained a few recent photographs of the Summers family. The most recent photo, an eight-by-ten glossy stamped with the logo of Hemery High, Los Angeles, showed a squad of eight cheerleaders in yellow uniforms posing in the school gymnasium. A red circle in felt-tipped pen had been drawn around the smiling face of a pretty blonde girl of about fifteen years of age, down on one knee in thedle dle row with pom-poms raised high.

‘Oh, dear,’ said Julia quietly. ‘She’s so fragile-looking.’ The girl was small, even compared to the other teenagers. Not that that was unusual in a Slayer. Size certainly wasn’t an indication of strength, speed or courage for that matter. In the no-so-distant past young girls had become Slayers as young as twelve or thirteen years old, often out of necessity. There were very fewspecspective Slayers in the world at any given time and life expectancy was low once active slaying began.

Julia spent most of the rest of the day deciding what clothes to pack, which personal items she needed and which books to take with her. In addition to the Watchers Council resources Giles had an extensive personal collection of antique books on metaphysical and religious subjects so Julia tried to recall which ones they had in common. Anything she wasn’t sure of Julia packed anyway. *Better to be doubly armed than found wanting*, she thought, recalling an old saying of Merrick’s. Julia’s own antique collection included many beautifully crafted weapons, some of which might prove useful so she spent a couple of hours considering what to remove from the locked cases in the study and whether any minor repairs were needed.

By the end of the afternoon Julia had packed two large suitcases with the personal things she wanted to take with her on the flight and filled two old-fashioned steamer trunks with books and heavier belongings. These latter items would be shipped by the Watchers Council. Around 6 p.m. a courier arrived with a parcel which bore the crest and seal of the Watchers Council. Inside she found tickets for her air travel, taxi vouchers, a credit card and Green Card allowing her to in in the United States along with her official orders of reinstatement and the usual bureaucratic forms from the Personnel Department for her to fill out. *Even saving the world requires paperwork apparently*! she thought contemptuously.

Having spent the day packing Julia had missed lunch and by 7 p.m. was feeling too tired to cook. She phoned Verdi’s Italian Restaurant and asked them to deliver a chicken parmegiana with garlic-roasted baby vegetable on the side. While she waited for the meal to arrive Julia sorted through the last of her private files and research notes, the ones she hadn’t included in her official reports to the Watcherunciuncil or had written up for her own records. She kept these as hard copies only, not trusting her electronic files to be tamper-proof. She made copies of everything to be lodged in her bank safe-deposit box the following day. The originals would go with her in her hand luggage on the plane. Last of all were her diaries.

On the middle shelf of the floor to ceiling mahogany bookcase were seven red Moroccan leather-bound journals each about an inch thick which bore the legend ‘Julia M Devereaux: Her Journal’ in gold on the cover. These were part of a set of twelve volumes given to Julia by her grandmother after graduating from Oxford University many years ago. Julia ran her hand along the spines of the journals, several of which she had filled in the intervening years. *All these records of my most intimate thoughts and feelings*, she pondered, *and they still don’t hold the answers I need most. Hell, they don’t even hold those answers I do have!* The full truth, Julia knew, could not be recorded. Some secrets were written only in her heart and mind. *Hopefully*, she thought, *it will stay that way*.

Julia took down the volume she was currently using. Heading a new page with the time and location (Julia had long been in the habit of omitting the date) she sat down at her desk and began writing.

‘Shakespeare said “There are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy.” How right he was!

I can hardly credit anything stranger than being asked to re-join the Council of Watchers. I thought I’d heard the last of the Councor cor certain after Venice. I know Rupert suspects something bu’s n’s never asked me outright about what happened to me in Toronto, or Venice either for that matter. Perhaps he thinks it’s better not to ask. If he doesn’t know he won’t feel obliged to report to the Council and he’d never approach them with mere suspicions. How long will I be able to conceal the truth when we’re working together so closely? We knew each other well once, as lovers, friends, and colleagues. He’s bound to notice the changes.

Giles is right about one thing though; I have been hiding. I’ve been trudging around graveyards, following up mostly spurious leads of vampire activity, hanging out at clubs and cafes that are known or suspected vampire haunts for months and not added any real information to my store of knowledge on the vampire question. The Council’s resources could offer me the opportunity to conduct more real research in weeks than I’ve done in the past two years since I told the Council to go to hell. But am I ready to take on the Hellmouth? My research, my activities with the Council and on my own have already cost me so much. EverythI’veI’ve loved, I’ve lost along the way. Can I go through that again?

You might trust me, Giles, but can I trust myself? The temptation is more than I can resist even though I know co-operating with the Council could prove to be a two-edged sword. I have the opportunity to make massive progress in my research, possibly even gain more of an insight into my own situation, but I’m afraid of what might happen if the Council discovers my secret. Just how much do they know about what happened in Toronto and Venice?

Giles is my friend, or at least, he had been when wrkedrked together all those years ago. We’d even lived together for a short while, but where would his loyalties lie if he knew the truth about me? Like me, Giles has things in his past which the Council n’t n’t know and of which they would not approve. Just how much did he read into those blank spaces in my reports? How much of the truth does he suspect? Has he voiced his concerns to the Council? If he suspects me of representing a danger to his Slayer or ever thought I might become a liability to the “cause” just how would he react? He may have a slightly “grey” past himself but it would prove no contest if he believed my presence or indeed, my beliefs, might cause problems on this assignment.

From past experience I know Rupert Giles isn’t the mild-mannered slightly bumbling academic his outward appearance suggests. I’ve seen him do things that would make a battle-hardened veteran quail. He wasn’t nicknamed ‘Ripper’ for nothing. I know I can’t rely on a decade old relationship to save me if he decides I’m a liability. Still, I’m desperate to find answers which Council-backed authorisation might give me access to. Can I keep my secret for two years? All my previous assignments have been with benign vampire groups where I’ve had contact at their invitation or at least with their co-operation. How different will it be in what amounts to a covert war situation? An undeclared war, perhaps, but all the more deadly for it.’

*****

Dinner at the Wu’s that Friday night was, as always, a celebration. Josephine was there, along with her parents and paternal grandparents. The family’s patriarch, Josie’s great-grandfather, lived upstairs but was generally too frail to come down to dinner. Josie’s older brother Peter was there with his English wife Michelle and their three little girls, the eldest just seven year age age, who raced around the oak-panelled rooms like colourful parrots, screeching with laughter as their grandfather pretended to be a roaring tiger.

The meal itself was lavish as usual, with a variety of traditional Chinese and French-style dishes. Only French wine was served at the Wu table; an indulgence for Mrs Wu, Josephine’s mother, who was an avid Francophile. The food was consumed amidst lively conversation and much laughter. Julia always felt both refreshed and exhausted after dinner with the Wu’s!

Josie and Julia helped the more senior women to clear the table while the men amused the children in the sitting room. Michelle, who was heavily pregnant again and hoping to produce the fifth generation of male Wu’s was seated comfortably on the leather chesterfield sofa surrounded by Chinese silk cushions with a velvet ottofor for her to put her feet up on.

Towards the end of the evening Josephine went upstairs to see if her great-grandfather wanted anything before settling himselfo beo bed for the night. Coming downstairs again, she indicated for Julia to follow her back upstairs.

‘Great-grandfather wants to see you before you leave for America,’ Josie said. Julia was a little puzzled. She had only met the old gentleman twice before and, as he usually spoke only in Hsiang, the dialect of his home in Hunan Provence, Julia had not really held a conversation with him.

The old man’s room was also panelled with oak and had a large bay window opening onto a balcony which was spacious enough for a small wrought iron table and chairs where he could sit on warm days with a cup of herbal tea and his Chinese-language newspapers. Three sticks of sandalwood incense burned in a carved ivory tube on a small altar to the left of the door.

Although he was a little deaf and slightly infirm, he was still able to read without glasses. No-one was quite certain of the most senior Mr Wu’s age as records were not kept in the tiny village where he was born at least one hundred and one years ago. His sparse beard and long moustaches were so white and fine that they shone silver in the light, matching the crescent of hair left at the base of his skull which he wore long over the collar.

Josephine walked over to the velvet-padded wheelchair by the window where the old man was seated, taking his lean brown hand in her own. ‘Great-grandfather,’ she said, bending over to speak clearly to him in his own dialect. ‘Julia is here to see you.’ The old man nodded and smiled. Motioning Josie to lean in closer, he grasped her arm and began speaking quietly in Hsiang while Josephine translated. ‘Great-grandfather says he had a dream last night in which the Ancestors spoke to him about you.’ Josie looked back at Julia, smiling wryly. *Indulge the old man*, she seemed to say. ‘He says they want him to cast the I Ching for you before you leave for America,’ Josie straightened up. ‘Great-grandfather likes to do this whenever a family member has an important event or decision coming up. Do you mind?’ she asked Julia.

‘Not at all,’ Julia replied, smiling. ‘I’m honoured to be considered part of the family!’

Josephine stepped over to a huge black lacquered cabinet inlaid with mother-of-pearl showing scenes of ladies and courtiers among beautiful gardens of peonies and chrysanthemums overflown by elegant red-ned ned Manchurian cranes. From the top drawer she retrieved a two-feet long wooden box with a hinged lid, every surface covered with carvings of auspicious symbols including highly stylised bats, phoenixes, tigers, turtles and dragons. Josie placed the box on a wheeled butler’s tray-table which she moved over beside her great-grandfather, turning the wheelchair around to face towards the end of his bed. She moved the ivory incense burner onto the tray then took a pad of whitnd wnd writing paper and a tortoiseshell Mont Blanc fountain pen from one of the cabinet drawers, placing these on the tray to his right.

‘Julia, bring that wicker chair from the other side of the bed over here near the light,’ Josie said seating herself on the foot of the bed with the tray-table between her great-grandfather and herself. Opening the box, Josephine removed a large square of red silk which she draped over the butler’s tray then took out a bundle of fifty thin woodeicksicks, smooth and polished with use. Also inside was a small, thick leather-bound volume, the cover embossed with a yin-yang symbol surrounded by an octagonal arrangement of eight other symbols each made up of three sets of whole and broken lines. Josephine left the book in the box.

‘Do you know much about the I Ching?’ Josie asked.

‘Not really,’ Julia replied. ‘Fortune telling’s not really my area of expertise.’

‘Great-grandfather has studied the I Ching for most of his . Wh. When he was more active, people came from all sections of the Chinese community for guidance. I’ll tell you about it as Great-grandfather works on the divination. It takes a while.’

The old man had picked up the fifty sticks of yarrow wood in his right hand. Passing the bundle three times through the smoke of the incense sticks in a clockwise direction, he selected one which he returned to the box. He divided the remaining forty-nine sticks into two piles then, taking a small group of sticks in one hand, rapidly removed sticks from the other pile, four at a time, until a group of between one and four sticks remained. When this was accomplished he wrote down either an unbroken straight line or a broken one on the pad of paper. This was repeated five times, each line marked above the one before to produce a single ‘hexagram’ of six lines which formed the basis of this method of divination. Three such hexagrams were sufficient to provide the answers to any question.

While they watched this process, Josephine explained to Julia some of the history and philosophy of the I Ching.

‘The I Ching is also known as the “Book of Change” and has been around for at least three thousand years. Confucius worked on expanding the commentaries found in the original texts which were ancient even in his day. The texts predate almost all known organised religions including Buddhism, Taoism and Christianity and are based on perhaps several thousand previous years of observation of the natural and supernatural world. In the minds of the ancients, of course,’ Josie added, ‘there was no boundary between the two.’

‘So your great-grandfather will look in the book for the meanings for each of the symbols?’ asked Julia.

‘Usually that is what’s done but great-grandfather has practised the I Ching for more than eighty years and doesn’t rely on the book. Intuition is always a major aspect of the process. Knowing the basic meanings of each hexagram is just the beginning.’

‘It seems to depend heavily on the psychic ability or at least the common sense of the diviner,’ Julia remarked.

‘Pretty much. The philosophy behind the method is that although Man perceives the Infinite through change and the passage of time, the Higher Self, that part of us which transcends time and space and which reaches into the Infinite Always, is accessible through meditation and contemplation and understands that all things are governed by cycles and the laws of cause and effect. Perfect understanding of these cycles and trends, along with a knowledge of what has already passed, allows the Adept to anticipate future events with remarkable accuracy.’

‘So, if you have enough information about the past and the present, and understand the patterns and cycles they form, you can accurately predict the future?’

‘Exactly. You know about Fractal Theory?’

‘Yes. Even random factors eventually form patterns of some kind. But what about free will? How does self-determination fit in?’

‘Great-grandfather says that while a sailor cannot control the winds and currents he can use these forces to reach his goals by suiting his actions to the prevailiondionditions. That’s really what the I Ching is really all about – understanding the present situation and working with it instead of against it. We still have the free will to choose our own course of action.’

‘It sounds like you really believe in this,’ Julia said.

‘I’ve never know the I Ching to give a false answer,’ Josie replied. ‘Sometimes you don’t get the answer you expect. Sometimes you don’t even get the answer to the question you’ve asked, but you always get the answer you need.’

The hexagrams were completed and the elderly Mr Wu jotted down notes in tiny Chinese calligraphy on the white notepaper. After studying the results in silence for a few minutes, he looked at Julia and began to speak. Josephine translated.

‘Great-grandfather has cast six hexagrams. The first three will give an insight into your current situation, the prevailing conditions, so to speak, while the second set will suggest a future course of action.’

The old man pointed to the first hexagram – two sets of three lines, each an unbroken line with a broken line above and below which Josephine called ‘K’an’, or ‘The Abyss’. According to the elderly Mr Wu this symbolised great danger.

‘Power flows through the depths,’ Josie translated. ‘Spilling out but never decreasing. Bound with black ropes, the evil one is imprisoned within. To overcome evil a warrior must maintain a strong hold on his mind and will. By understanding when to yield and when to remain steadfast, the warrior will ensure that the evil one will fail to obtain what he seeks.’

The second hexagram, Ming I, was composed of three broken lines over an unbroken, broken and unbroken set. This, Josie explained, was known as ‘The Darkening of the Light’.

‘Beneath the earth, all light is exuishuished. A man with a troubled soul will fix his resolve on righteousness. The darkness has caused him to lower his wings; having once climbed to heaven he is now descended to the earth. An ally will perceive his darkened heart and bring light to the darkness.’

Josie cast a worried glance at Julia, who had been silent thus far. ‘Is this making any sense to you?’ Josie asked, a little concerned at Julia’s grim expression. References to the abyss had struck Julia as a little too close to a description of the Hellmouth and she was somewhat shaken. The second symbol seemed to make no sense at all.
’m n’m not sure,’ she said. ‘Please go on, though. I’d like to hear the rest.’

Josephine turned back to her great-grandfather, who continued on to explain the next symbol. Two sets of an unbroken line over a broken one atop two unbroken lines formed ‘K’uei’ or ‘The Estranged One’. Julia visibly blanched at the chillingly familiar description that followed.

‘The leader of an ancient clan bites through flesh. Who can prevent him from proceeding with his plans? A warrior wanders, estranged and alone, and encounters many demons.’

Julia’s hands were shaking now. ‘The Slayer!’ she whispered. Josephine moved to sit beside her on the end of the bed. The old man stared steadily at Julia and nodded slightly.

‘Are you OK?’ Josephine asked.

‘I’m fine. Let’s finish this.’

‘Ok, then,’ Josie continued. ‘The final three hexagrams will either recommend the best way to proceed or give an insight into the near future.’

The next hexagram was ‘T’ung’, or ‘The Brotherhood’.

‘Two will cross the sea to gain an advantage. It will prove beneficial to consult the wisdom of the Ancients. When earthly and celestial forces are in accord, the weak can overcome the strong. The chosen one, whose weapons have been concealed, will come to prominence. Although in the company of allies, the chosen one will walk alone. One will fall from heaven. Another, thought weak, will come to wield great power.’

The fifth symbol, ‘Sun’, represented ‘Willing Submission and Penetration’.

‘Youth must submit to instruction by a great man who has knowledge of the interpretation of omens. Through self-sacrifice one will gain the advantage. Together, the allies will suffer defeats and celebrate victories. Though disturbed by cries in nig night, those armed and prepared will know no fear. Persistence in the righteous path will bring success.’

The final hexagram, to Julia’s mind, left no room for misunderstanding. ‘Kuei Mei’ – ‘The Maiden’.

‘One has remained undisciplined beyond the proper time. Being chosen, one wields weapons of fire and wood but draws no blood.’

Josephine spoke to the old man again, seeming confused, then turned to Julia. ‘I’m sorry. I’ve never known great-grandfather’s divinations to be so obscure. I really do feel I’ve wasted your time.’

‘Not at all,’ Julia responded. ‘I guess time will tell how accurate he is.’ She smiled uncertainly. ‘It’s certainly given me plenty to t abo about.’

But the old man wasn’t finished yet. He reached out to grasp his great-granddaughter’s sleeve and spoke to her again. Josie nodded then went back to the lacquered cabinet. Searching inside for a few momenshe she pressed a panel at the back of one of the deep drawers. The section slid back to reveal a small gap between the back of the drawer and the rear of the cabinet, a concealed space whcontcontained another hinged box, undecorated except for the Chinese characters, ‘she-ya chi’, painted on the lid. Carrying the wooden box back to her great-grandfather, Josie opened the brass clasp and lifted the lid. From its place within the red brocade padded interior the elderly Mr Wu withdrew a magnificent dagger.

The old man, who thus far had spoken only in his native Hsiang, turned to Julia, holding out the dagger to her and declared in perfect Mandarin ‘The Serpent’s Tooth will keep you safe.’

Julia felt a small shock as she grasped the hilt of the knife. The antique weapon was made of ash wood and silver; the white metal hot and tingling in her hand. The dagger had the figure of a snake curved around the hilt, every scale visible, with the open-mouthed head forming the top of the hilt. The snake’s mouth gaped wide, its fangs and forked tongue clasping a circular yin-yang symbol of onyx and alabaster. It had a strange rounded blade with long, sharp silver tip, double-edged, with darkened ancient ash wood set inside the blade itself.

‘Venerable one,’ Julia said respectfully in her halting Mandarin, ‘this is a valuable antique! Surely it should remain here, with your family.’

‘You are to have it; the Ancestors have spoken,’ the old man replied, placing both of his gnarled hands on Julia’s. ‘In my dream I saw a darkness surrounding you, but you must not fear it. This darkness is not the absence of light. The blackness holds the light within itself and the light will be there when it is needed. Remember, light cannot be understood or appreciated without the darkness.’

*****