Chapter 13

CHAPTER 13 "That's pretty wild, you guys being fans, yo," Jonah said to Li Wu Chen. The abbot regarded him disapprovingly. "So long we have waited and the branch sends us a foolish boy." "Branch?" Jonah repeated. He dropped his voice to a murmur. "You mean— Janus?" "We are not fans of your obnoxious noise. Yes, we are Janus— the one true line of the Cahill family in Asia. We welcome you as the son of Cora Wizard." Li Wu Chen's gaze moved to Jonah's father. "And of course, her non-Janus husband." It was as if a curtain had been swept aside. No wonder the branch leadership in Venice had sent Jonah here! As Janus representatives, the Shaolin monks might be able to help with a Clue in this

part of the world. "She's got a real sense of humor, my wife," Broderick mumbled, a little resentfully. His thumbs twitched as if his hands felt empty with no BlackBerry in them. "She could have told us the natives were Janus friendlies." "Chill, Pops," soothed his son. "She got us where we needed to be, no harm done." Classic Cora Wizard. She ran the branch like one of her performance-art pieces— equipping the actors with limited information and then stepping back to watch the sparks fly. It was very Janus, although he'd never expected her to do it with her own son. The abbot ushered them into a small antechamber furnished with a rough-hewn round table. The door closed with a sucking sound, and they realized they were in a secure room. "First things first," Li Wu Chen announced. "Who is the boy, and why is he with you?" "His name is Dan Cahill," Jonah's father replied. "Cahill." The abbot sat forward. "Janus?" Jonah shrugged. "Nobody knows. He's Grace

Cahill's grandson." Li Wu Chen was impressed. "Ah, Grace Cahill. Good bloodlines. Dangerous woman. Few have come as close as she to solving the thirty-nine mysteries that cannot be solved." "Easy on the lovefest," said Jonah firmly. "Grace did her thing, but my mom's got her smoked. I think that's why Cora hooked us up. Venice is one ingredient shy of duplicating the Janus formula." The abbot leaped to his feet, shouting something in excited Mandarin. "Please excuse my exuberance," he added sheepishly, reseating himself. "Too long have we Janus in Asia lived in the shadow of those Tomas louts with their large muscles and small minds." "Word," agreed Jonah, thinking of the Holts. "Consider the resources of the Shaolin order completely at your disposal. What is the missing ingredient?" "I'm on it," Jonah assured him. "Mom's convinced it's here in China, but we don't know what it is or where to find it. That's why we're hanging on to the Cahill kid."

Li Wu Chen frowned. "Surely this small boy has no knowledge beyond the grasp of the Janus branch." "Don't sell the kid short," Jonah insisted. "He looks dumb, but he and his sis have pulled off a lot of miracles. Maybe it's the Grace connection, who knows?" "Wise to cover all possibilities," the abbot admitted grudgingly. "Perhaps representing the Janus and appearing on the cover of Tiger Beat are not mutually exclusive endeavors. Manipulated cleverly, Grace's descendant could prove to be a valuable asset." "Uh— thanks." Was that supposed to be a compliment? "Your mother has good reason to search for the missing ingredient in China," Li Wu Chen told him. "Replicating the Janus serum has been the goal of the Qing emperors dating back hundreds of years. It was this obsession— not their admirable devotion to the arts— that caused them to neglect their people." "But did they get the job done?" Jonah probed.

"Did any of those emperors score the formula?" "We believe the answer is yes." Broderick spoke up. "Believe? Don't you know?" The abbot supplied the answer to Jonah, not his father. "As passed down through the decades, the story is thus: Puyi, the last emperor, hired a tutor named Reginald Fleming Johnston, a Janus scientist from the British Isles. Together, they completed the serum in a secret laboratory in the Forbidden City." Jonah could tell from his father's scowl that Pops didn't appreciate being ignored. But this was more important than Broderick's bruised ego. "So, what happened to it?" he asked urgently. "It was most unfortunate. The year was 1924. Puyi sensed that he would soon be exiled. Naturally, the safety of the serum was his paramount concern. Johnston knew a fellow British Cahill with a unique skill that enabled him to hide the formula where it would be preserved indefinitely. It is said that not another man alive at the time could have performed the task." "But where did he hide it?" Broderick

demanded, almost shouting. Li Wu Chen shook his head. "There the legend ends." "Tell me about this big player they hired to stash the merchandise," Jonah persisted. "Who was he?" "This too is not known. After leaving the Forbidden City, Puyi became inactive. Some say he journeyed to the Great Wall prior to his death, but this has never been confirmed. Completing the Janus formula was his one great achievement. Not even his brief reign on the Throne of Heaven could compare. The rest of the life of Henry Puyi— as a figurehead, a prisoner, a simple library clerk— this was no fate for a Janus." The abbot's eyes flashed to Jonah's father before settling back on the star. "For an ordinary person, perhaps even for an emperor. But not for a descendant of Jane Cahill." With a whoosh, the door to the chamber swept open and in rushed another monk in a state of high anxiety. He held Broderick's BlackBerry between his thumb and forefinger, as if expecting