‘And what am I?’
‘You are my Lady. Now,’ John said, more briskly, ‘try moving shen into the chi. Try.’
I concentrated. I left the chi on my hands, moved my awareness to my upper dan tian, found my shen and carefully moved a tiny amount into the chi. The feeling hit me. Part of my awareness was inside the chi; it was as if my Inner Eye had moved into it. I saw my surroundings from two distinctly separate angles.
‘Now try moving the chi off your hands, only a short distance,’ John said.
I moved the chi off my hands, as he said, and floated it closer to Simone. I saw two images of her: one through my physical eyes and another through my chi.
‘Oh my God, this feels so good,’ I whispered. I tried something; I moved the chi higher. Nothing happened, so I carefully moved it level with the treetops. I could see the horizon through my chi. A huge thunderstorm had gathered out to sea; the lightning flashed inside it.
I pulled the chi back down to me and absorbed it. ‘Michael should quickly try, and then we should all hurry back to the resort,’ I said. ‘It’ll rain cats and dogs in about twenty minutes.’
‘Sooner than that,’ John said. ‘Try, Michael, but don’t hurry; you have all the time in the world. You should be able to master the skill easily. If you’re not too drained, Emma, go to one side and practise generating that black chi. I’d like to experiment with it when we return home.’
‘Permission to take a look at the black chi,’ the Dragon said. He was still in True Form. ‘It is fascinating.’
‘Good idea,’ John said. ‘Emma, go to the side, make some and let the Dragon see.’
‘He can have a look inside me at the same time,’ I said.
‘That is not necessary; we have seen all we need to,’ John said.
‘I want him to,’ I said.
‘No need, Emma,’ John said gently.
‘If the Dark Lord objects then I have no option,’ the Dragon said. ‘I won’t go against his wishes.’
‘I’m doing it anyway,’ I said. ‘Come on, Dragon, let’s have a look inside this unusually snaky female who can generate black chi.’
The Dragon didn’t move.
‘Come on,’ I said, waving him forward. ‘Tell him.’
‘Let her,’ John said with resignation. ‘If that is what she wishes, then I really have no choice.’
The Dragon shook his enormous turquoise head and followed me.
‘Look at the black chi now,’ John called to us. ‘Look inside Emma later, back at the resort. That storm will be here soon and you don’t have time.’
‘The Dragon can move it away for us,’ I said.
‘I will keep you dry if we are caught in the storm, but I will not tamper with the forces of nature unless it is absolutely necessary,’ the Dragon said.
‘Okay,’ I said. ‘I understand.’
The Dragon returned to his preferred human form: turquoise hair, silken grey robe, serene long face. ‘Generate the black chi.’
I held my hands out and put some chi into them, then turned it black. It was easy.
‘Not difficult?’ the Dragon said, his bright blue eyes focusing on the chi.
‘Can he touch it?’ I said.
‘Yes,’ the stone said. ‘Such a small amount should be all right for a powerful Shen such as he, at full strength.’
‘That stone is quite useful,’ the Dragon said, raising his hand to the energy. ‘Let me see.’ He held his hand above the energy and concentrated. His long turquoise hair floated around his head. He very slowly lowered his hand until it was just above the chi. ‘Fascinating.’ He quickly dipped his hand in and out of the chi. ‘Remarkable.’
‘Well?’ I said.
‘You can release it now. Michael has finished. We should return,’ the Dragon said.
‘And?’
‘To inspection, to touch, to feel, it is perfectly ordinary chi, nothing special about it at all,’ the Dragon said, bemused. ‘Please invite me along when you throw it at a demon. I would be interested to see what it does.’
I released the chi back into my hands and gasped with shock. I hadn’t changed it back to gold and the skin of my hands flashed black for a split second as it went in.
‘Oh my, that was good,’ the Dragon said, taking my hands and studying them. ‘Please do that again.’ He glanced up at my face. ‘That didn’t hurt you in any way, did it?’
‘No,’ I said. ‘It just felt perfectly normal. Are you okay, stone?’
‘It felt normal,’ the stone said. ‘It just looked black. As you say, Lord Qing, most fascinating.’
‘Do it again,’ the Dragon said, releasing my hands.
I generated chi, turned it black and dropped it into my hands. They flashed black again.
‘Try generating black chi right from the start,’ John said. He had approached us without me noticing and stood beside the Dragon.
I concentrated, held out my hands and generated a ball of black chi.
‘Try moving your shen into it,’ John said. ‘Just a very small amount. See if you can move your consciousness into it.’
I came around on my bed back in the hotel room with John and Simone holding my hands.
I closed my eyes. ‘I really must stop doing this to myself.’
W
e waited until the next day for the Dragon to look inside me. John had some indoor things to teach us as well. These required privacy and quiet, so the Dragon chased all the staff out of one of the large function rooms and gave it to us.
The function room was like a ballroom, with a huge chandelier and elegant wallpaper and carpet. We took a corner, and had an area of about five by five metres partitioned off. Chairs had been stacked against one of the walls and John pulled a few down for us to sit in the centre of the room.
John sent Leo, Simone and Michael off to the country club while the Dragon looked inside me. The Dragon sat me in a chair and sat behind me, placing his hands on my shoulders. I relaxed and let him in.
‘I am honoured that you permit me to do this when you dislike me so much,’ the Dragon said.
‘I don’t dislike you that much,’ I said.
The Dragon didn’t reply.
He hunted around inside me, same as John and the Tiger had. I was accustomed to the feeling and stood back to watch as he rummaged around.
‘And the Tiger could bring the Serpent out?’ the Dragon said.
‘Yes,’ John said from his chair in front of me. ‘He dug his claws into her and dug deep. It came out.’
‘Depth. Depth,’ the Dragon said softly. ‘Depth.’
‘Interesting,’ John said. ‘You seem to become deeper every time one of us looks inside you. The stone was correct.’
‘Of course I was,’ the stone snapped.
‘And I will be astonished,’ John said. ‘I think I am astonished already, stone.’
‘Why will he be astonished?’ I said.
‘Please remain silent, my Lady,’ the Dragon said. ‘Stay still so I can look at you.’
I subsided and let the Dragon see me.
‘And the taste of blood brings it out as well,’ the Dragon said. ‘I have some here. Just hold on, I’ll get someone to bring it.’
‘No,’ John said. ‘I forbid it. That is wrong.’
‘Very well,’ the Dragon said, shrugging inside my head. ‘Would have been an interesting experiment, though.’ He continued to shuffle through my thoughts and feelings. ‘Worthy.’
‘Of course,’ John said. ‘Anything?’
‘No…no.’ The Dragon stopped and pondered inside my head. ‘Hold out your hands and generate some black chi. Let’s see what happens from the inside.’
‘Are you sure that’s a good idea?’ I said.
‘Don’t move shen into it, just make the chi,’ John said. ‘Shouldn’t hurt you. Ordinary chi can be generated in these circumstances without any risk, and watching the process from the inside can be very informative.’
I held my hands out and generated a small ball of black chi. I could tell that it was black without even looking at it.
The Dragon ripped himself out of my head, tearing the inside of my brain and making my entire head explode with agony. He moved swiftly behind me and his chair fell over. He held me bound, with my hands out holding the black chi.
‘Destroy it,’ the Dragon hissed fiercely. ‘Do it now!’
‘Don’t be ridiculous,’ John said calmly.
I snapped open my eyes. John still sat in front of me. He had turned the chair sideways and was leaning one arm over the back. He appeared perfectly calm and relaxed. He smiled at me. ‘Don’t worry, and don’t move.’
‘Destroy that thing
now
!’ the Dragon said more loudly. ‘It will be the end of you all!’
‘You don’t even know what she is,’ John said. ‘You’re just panicking.’
Oh my God, he was talking about
me
. I tried to remain still but my throat was thick and I found it difficult to breathe.
‘I saw
that
,’ the Dragon said, somehow indicating something. ‘I don’t know what it is, but I really don’t like the look of it.’
‘Am I a demon?’ I whispered. ‘If I’m a demon, please, John, destroy me now.’
‘No demon can come into the resort, Emma,’ John said. ‘The Dragon is just being an old woman about this. You are not a demon.’
‘No. She isn’t a demon. If she were a demon I wouldn’t be reacting like this.’ The Dragon’s scales rattled behind me. He’d transformed. ‘You should destroy that thing
now
.’
‘You are a Serpent yourself,’ John said mildly, not shifting from his relaxed posture.
I reabsorbed the chi, but couldn’t turn to speak to the Dragon. He still had me bound. ‘What did you see?’ I said.
‘It cannot be put into words,’ the Dragon said.
‘Well then, show us,’ John said.
He did. Right in my centre, at my very core, was a heart of deepest darkness that seemed to absorb everything around it. It was a roiling ball of such merciless destructive power that it terrified me. It thirsted for blood and slaughter and would stop at nothing to get it. It was huge and dark and monstrous and scared the living daylights out of me—and it
was
me.
I inhaled sharply. The Dragon was right. I knew what I had to do. I desperately struggled to move, but the Dragon had me bound tight. I had a quick inspiration. I generated an enormous ball of chi and threw it straight at John. He’d absorb it, drain me, kill me: easy.
I closed my eyes. I
knew
it.
I saw a blinding flash of white light through my eyelids and then everything faded. I heard sounds, but they disappeared. No vacuum vortex this time, just a gentle fade. Goodbye.
Ms Kwan spoke, full of her sad smile. ‘Emma.’
‘Wake up, Emma!’ Simone’s little insistent voice.
‘And if you do that again, I will be extremely cross with you,’ John said.
I opened my eyes. I was still in the chair. All of them were there: John, Simone, Michael, Leo, Ms Kwan. Even the Dragon was behind them, in human form, watching.
‘What happened?’ I said.
‘Daddy says you did something really silly and nearly died,’ Simone said, her voice miserable. She climbed into my lap, threw her arms around my neck and put her head on my chest, burying her face into my shirt. ‘Please be careful, Emma. Daddy and Leo will leave me
and you’ll be all I have left.’ She shook soundlessly, and I wrapped my arms around her and kissed the top of her little tawny head.
‘Promise me you won’t do anything silly like that again,’ Simone said, gasping through the sobs.
I was silent.
‘Promise me!’ Simone said, jamming her head into my chest. ‘Promise!’
I pulled her tighter into me. ‘I promise,’ I whispered into her hair.
‘’Cause you’re all I’ll have left,’ she whispered. ‘And I don’t want you to leave me.’
‘I won’t leave you,’ I said.
‘You are a complete fool,’ the Dragon said, and disappeared.
‘Who was he talking to?’ I said.
‘I think, all of us,’ Ms Kwan said.
‘Now that Emma’s finished being extremely silly,’ John said with an amused edge, ‘it’s time to learn our last few lessons. Emma and I can talk in private about her extremely advanced silliness later.’
Simone squeezed me but her head didn’t move from my chest.
‘I promise, Simone,’ I whispered. ‘I won’t do it again.’
‘Good,’ Simone said, a huge gasp. She climbed down off my lap, took Ms Kwan’s hand and led her out.
‘I have something I want to teach you, Simone,’ John called after her.
‘I’m going to the bathroom to wash my face and blow my nose,’ Simone shouted back, irritated. ‘Don’t do anything without me. Ms Kwan’s looking after me. You stay there and tell Emma that she’s very silly.’
I couldn’t help myself. I laughed softly.
You will never harm them, Emma,
Ms Kwan said into my ear.
I sighed. She was right.
‘When I am back at full strength I will make that Dragon suffer most dearly,’ John said with amusement.
‘But what was that inside me?’ I said. ‘It was horrible.’
‘It wasn’t horrible,’ John said, the small smile still there. ‘It was just you, Dark Lady.’
‘But it was dark and heartless…’ I stopped, speechless.
‘Precisely,’ John said.
‘See?’ the stone said.
‘Did she freak the Dragon out?’ Leo said, pulling one of the chairs over and sitting with us. Michael grabbed a chair as well, spun it around and sat backwards on it.
‘Yes,’ John said. ‘He was ready to kill her. He was terrified of her.’
‘Whoa. Excellent,’ Leo said with a huge grin. ‘I wish I’d seen that.’
‘And then the stupid human tried to kill herself by forcing me to drain her,’ John said softly. The amusement was gone.
‘Stupid’s the word, my Lord,’ Leo said.
‘Was it really that bad, Emma?’ Michael said.
‘Yes,’ I whispered. I dropped my head and ran my hands through my hair.
‘One: you will never hurt any of us. Two: Simone needs you. Three: let’s see if the dark and heartless monster can turn itself invisible,’ John said.
‘Invisibility? Sweet,’ Michael said.
‘You can try first, if you like,’ John said, turning to Michael without rising from the chair. ‘Nothing to do with energy, but I can’t do it right now. Just concentrate and think yourself transparent.’
‘Is this how the dragons fly around without being seen?’ I said, curious despite myself.
‘Sometimes, yes,’ John said. ‘Most of the time, though, they don’t hide themselves at all, because
frankly most humans don’t look up much; they’re usually looking at the ground or straight ahead. If the dragons are seen, they take the form of a bird, or a plane, and then they’re simply not interesting.’
Michael had his head down, concentrating. He was already getting there; he rippled like thick glass bricks.
‘Excellent,’ John said. ‘You are very talented, Michael.’
I lowered my head, centred my chi and concentrated on being transparent.
Simone came in, still holding Ms Kwan’s hand. She stopped close to us.
‘
Boo
!’ Michael shouted behind her and grabbed her around the waist. She squealed and jumped, and turned to shout at him, but he was invisible.
‘Don’t you dare do that again, Michael,’ Simone huffed, ‘or I’ll tell my Daddy. You could have
hurt
me. I’m only little, you know.’
I had to laugh. She could take him down with one hand tied behind her back using either physical or energy skills.
‘Come and learn to be invisible too,’ John said. ‘That way you can sneak into his room and steal all his games CDs.’
‘She keeps stealing my copy of MOHAA, logging onto my server and playing as me anyway,’ Michael said from somewhere in the air above me. ‘The guys in my clan are always emailing me asking what happened, my average went through the floor.’
‘You shouldn’t be playing so much during term time anyway,’ I said. ‘Now. Simone and me. Whoever is first to be invisible wins an ice-cream beside the pool.’
Simone dropped her head and concentrated. I did too. She was invisible within five minutes. I never got there.
‘Give up, Emma, let’s try ordering,’ John said. ‘We need an ordinary human to practise on and unfortunately we only have one.’
‘You’re not practising coercion on Leo; that is simply not fitting and I won’t let you,’ I said. ‘Do it to me, or find somebody else.’
‘That’s why I’m here, Emma,’ Leo said softly. ‘So that you guys can try this skill on me.’
‘But you don’t know what this involves, Leo,’ I said with desperation. ‘This is thoroughly inappropriate.’
‘I volunteer to be a subject in coercion training, my Lord,’ Leo said loudly.
‘Accepted,’ John said, and rose. ‘Get up, everybody, let’s see what we can do. Look inside Leo, find out where his “engine” is—the part that makes things happen. Then you can try steering him the way you want him to go. Michael, demonstrate for Simone.’
Michael reappeared and hesitated. He didn’t move to take Simone’s hand.
‘It’s okay, Michael, she has to learn this,’ Leo said gently. ‘Do it.’
Michael shook his head slightly and took Simone’s hand. ‘We’ll learn this and then we won’t do it any more,’ he said. ‘Emma’s right.’
‘It’s a useful skill,’ Leo said. ‘Try making me walk.’
Michael’s expression went even darker. He frowned and held Simone’s hand tight.
Leo’s face went blank. He turned, walked towards the door, then turned and came back to us.
He snapped out of it and shook his head.
‘Let me try,’ Simone said.
Leo went rigid again. He turned, walked and returned.
‘See if you can make him sit on the floor,’ John said softly.
Leo snapped out of it.
‘No, Daddy, that’s enough,’ Simone said. ‘I can do it, and I won’t do it any more.’ She turned back to Leo. ‘Are you okay?’
‘I’m fine, sweetheart,’ Leo said. ‘I don’t even know what you made me do.’
Simone shook Michael’s hand free. ‘I don’t like that skill. Are we finished yet? I’m
hungry
.’
‘Emma should try it,’ John said, gesturing. ‘Michael, show her.’
Michael took my hand. I felt him reach inside Leo and pull the strings. Leo walked away and back again. My throat thickened; Leo didn’t care at all. He trusted us completely.
When Michael had finished I attempted to reach inside Leo and pull the strings as well, but I simply didn’t have the strength to make them move. I struggled, trying to gather enough power to control him.
‘You can’t do it, Emma,’ John said. ‘Maybe after a year or so more of training you may be able to. Right now, I don’t think so.’
‘Good,’ I said, and I meant it.
‘One more,’ John said. ‘The most fun one of all. Carrying. Michael can already do it, he’ll show you.’ He looked around. ‘Anybody have a pen?’
Nobody replied; nope.
‘How about we have some lunch beside the pool and do it there?’ I said. ‘Simone’s starving.’
‘Yeah!’ Simone said.
‘You’ll have to be careful that nobody sees you,’ Leo said.
‘Not a problem,’ John said. ‘We’ll do it at the end of the pool nearest the lobby, to one side, and if anybody sees us Michael can just blank out their memory.’
‘I really don’t like messing with people’s heads, my Lord,’ Michael said as we rose to go out to the pool. ‘I thought it was cool when Na Zha showed it to me, but every time I do it I feel lousy afterwards.’
‘What, it makes you feel ill?’ I said. ‘Drained?’
‘No,’ Michael said. ‘It makes me feel bad. It’s wrong.’
John moved to walk beside me as we went through the lobby to the stairs that would take us down to the pool. ‘It’s a shame Leo won’t be around to help you, Emma,’ he said softly. ‘He is the finest judge of character I have ever seen.’