John said that he had never seen so many talented students in a single year. He pondered out loud that the Mountain didn’t just need to be rebuilt, it needed to be extended. And then he grinned at my moans of dismay.
As I passed Amy, I gently placed my hand on top of her head. I felt her working under Brad’s supervision and suddenly realisation hit me like a thunderbolt. Amy was a dragon.
And Brad was a demon.
I had to think quickly; now that I knew the truth I didn’t have much time.
‘Call the energy back, guys,’ I said casually. At the same time, I tapped the stone and silently ordered it to get Gold in
right away
.
‘Everybody up,’ I said, and they all rose. ‘Remain in your pairs and move so that you are an equal distance apart in the room. Spread out and make space.’
Gold appeared beside me.
‘Brad, grab Amy
right now
!’ I shouted fiercely. ‘Standard arm lock! Amy, if you can understand me, let him do it.’
Brad jumped to obey me. He held Amy from behind, towering over her. Amy didn’t fight him.
‘Everybody out!’ I ordered loudly.
Amy’s face went ashen. Brad’s face tightened into a grimace of effort. The other four students went out, closing the door behind them.
‘What did I do?’ Amy said. She didn’t attempt to struggle.
‘Gold, get Jade here,’ I said. ‘I don’t care if she’s in the middle of laying eggs, I want her here
right now
.’
A long minute of agony passed before Jade appeared. She looked around, then saw Brad holding Amy and stiffened. ‘Get the next of kin,’ I said. ‘Tell them to hurry.’
I told the stone to explain the situation to Gold, who passed it along to Jade, and both of them nodded without saying a word.
Amy’s face twisted into anger. ‘Don’t move, Amy,’ I said. ‘Brad, hold her.’
‘I didn’t do anything!’ Amy shouted, struggling.
‘Hold still, Amy, trust me,’ I said. Amy subsided. ‘Hold her, Brad, a tight grip.’ Brad nodded, his face rigid.
‘What did I do, Emma?’ Amy said. ‘Why are you doing this?’ Her face filled with horror. ‘Oh my God, am I a demon and I don’t know?’
‘Just trust me and stay still,’ I said. ‘If I’m right, we won’t hurt you at all. Trust me. How long, Jade?’
‘Five minutes,’ Jade said. ‘It was a long way.’
‘Amy,’ I said gently, ‘give us five minutes, and it will all become clear. I won’t let Brad release you, because you may get hurt. Trust me, stay still. Brad, concentrate. Hold her.’
‘Ma’am,’ Brad said.
Tears ran down Amy’s face; she was terrified, but she remained motionless in Brad’s grip. Brad didn’t move at all.
‘Two minutes,’ Jade said.
‘Jade, Gold, on the count of three: as much chi as you can generate, right at her head,’ I said. ‘One.’
‘
NO
!’ Amy shrieked. ‘I didn’t do anything!’
‘Two.’
Jade and Gold moved into position. We generated three balls of chi, each at least a metre across.
Amy struggled harder. Brad held her tight.
‘Three!’ I shouted, and all three of us let loose with the chi right at Amy’s head.
Amy transformed into a small black dragon, about two metres long. The chi missed her completely and hit Brad at neck height. He was completely destroyed and dissipated quickly.
Amy, still in the form of a black dragon, threw her mouth open and roared, then hurled herself at me.
Jade transformed, leapt onto Amy’s back and held her down. Amy’s black dragon form struggled against Jade, writhing and roaring with fury, but Jade was bigger and held her.
Gold and I waited patiently.
A magnificent dark blue dragon appeared in front of me, facing Jade and Amy. Its scales were so dark they were almost black, and its fins and tail were gold. It was about twice the size of Jade and had to bend its long tail to fit in front of me.
Amy froze completely when she saw the dark blue dragon. The dragon transformed into a short, round Chinese man in his late fifties. He stood still and silent, studying Amy.
Amy’s dragon form sagged, then she changed back to her human form. She collapsed onto the floor. Jade also transformed, and put her arms around Amy.
The Chinese man went to Amy and stood silently over her for some time. Eventually, Amy pulled herself to her feet, Jade helping her. Then Amy fell into the man’s arms, weeping. ‘Why didn’t you
tell
me?’
‘What would be the point?’ he said. ‘Either you are one of us or you aren’t. If you are, it will happen. If you aren’t, it is better that you never know what you could be.’ He turned to me with Amy still in his arms. ‘Hello.’
‘Hi,’ I said. ‘Have you heard of the Academy?’
‘Of course I have,’ he said. ‘But I didn’t connect it with what Amy was doing in Hong Kong.’ He pulled away slightly to smile down at her and stroke her hair. ‘I should have realised. She isn’t here to teach English and avoid her husband at all. Like most dragons, she is unusually talented in the Arts and was recruited by the Dark Lord.’
‘You never knew?’ I said.
‘She never showed any inclination before,’ he said. ‘Before she started learning kung fu, she never displayed any signs whatsoever.’ He pulled her tight. ‘I am so
proud
, Amy. My own beloved daughter, a black dragon.’
Amy was gasping. ‘A black dragon?’
‘Black as night,’ I said.
‘Is that why you tried to destroy me?’ she said. Her face filled with horror. ‘Oh my God, Brad! You killed Brad! How could you do that? No…no. You missed me, and killed him—he was helping you!’ She breathed in ragged gasps. ‘He died for me!’
‘He was a demon, Amy,’ I said. ‘I was counting on you changing so that I could destroy him without him knowing we were on to him.’
‘He was a demon?’
‘The stories are true, my Lady,’ Amy’s father said.
‘I’m sorry, sir, I don’t know your name,’ I said. ‘You’ll have to forgive me, I don’t remember Amy’s last name.’
‘Amy Wu,’ Amy said.
Amy’s father released one hand and held it out to me.
I shook it. ‘Mr Wu.’
‘You can call me Richard, it’s easier,’ Amy’s father said. He turned and smiled at Amy. ‘A black dragon. Wonderful.’
‘Am I a bad dragon?’ Amy whispered. ‘If I’m black?’
Both her father and I laughed. ‘Colour has nothing to do with it,’ I said.
‘By your leave, Lady Emma, I would like to take my daughter to try out her new abilities,’ Amy’s father said. ‘And then, of course, I must present her to the King.’
‘Of course,’ I said. ‘Say hello to the Dragon King for me. You
were
something special, Amy, it was just very well hidden. Happens all the time with you dragons. You’re the third one this year. I should be getting used to it.’
Amy released her father and embraced me. ‘Thank you so much, Emma.’ She turned to Gold and saddened. ‘Does this mean I won’t see you again?’
Gold smiled gently. ‘Once you’ve been presented to the King you’ll probably be back here joining the advanced classes with the other dragons. I’m thinking of setting up a special school for you guys, so many of you keep turning up.’
‘The world is shrinking and we are finding more mates among the wider human population,’ Amy’s father said. He turned back to Amy. ‘Now, we will transform, and I will show you how to fly and how to swim, and then you will see the most magnificent palace in existence.’
‘Bye, Amy,’ I whispered as her father took True Form. ‘Have fun.’
‘How do I change?’ Amy said, but before she’d finished she was already in her dragon form. Her frill, fins and tail fin were all gold; the rest of her was shining jet black. She was magnificent. Her golden eyes flashed.
‘Whoa,’ Gold said softly.
‘Bye, Gold,’ Amy said.
‘Au revoir,’ Gold said. ‘Come back soon.’
‘Thanks, Emma,’ Amy said.
I bowed slightly. ‘You are most welcome, Dragon Lady.’
‘Follow me. Watch closely,’ Amy’s father said and disappeared.
Amy glanced at me with her golden eyes, then disappeared as well.
Gold sighed with bliss.
‘She’ll be back soon,’ I said softly.
‘I know,’ Gold said.
‘Now we will sort out my students, and then the three of us will have a contingency meeting on how Brad the demon made it halfway through second year without any of us knowing,’ I said.
Jade and Gold both looked sheepish.
‘Not good enough from any of us, guys,’ I said. ‘Stone, did you see all of that?’
‘Yep,’ the stone said.
‘Good,’ I said. ‘I’ll want you to replay the part where Brad was destroyed. I want a good look at that demon; obviously he was something very special. We’ll do a post-mortem on that thing and find out how we were duped.’
‘Good idea,’ Gold said.
‘I think it would also be a good idea if I kept you busy for the next week or so,’ I said to Gold.
‘Forgive me, my Lady, but I was sitting on a clutch,’ Jade said, miserable.
‘Oh, for God’s sake, why didn’t you
tell
me?’ I said. ‘Go! Before they get cold. Why don’t you dragons ever tell anybody anything?’
Jade disappeared.
‘Because they are truly wonderful,’ Gold said.
‘I wonder who the father is?’ I said.
‘No idea,’ Gold said.
A
couple of the Masters wanted to come along later that afternoon when we replayed the Amy/Brad incident. Meredith as Energy Master, the Demon Master JC Poon, and Gold were present. Meredith and JC had passed Brad in the hallway many times without picking him; Meredith herself had examined him as an energy candidate. JC was a charming good-looking Northern Chinese who appeared in his mid-forties. Both he and Meredith wanted to see how Brad had made it past them.
Much as Leo wanted to see it, he and Michael took Simone out. She was sick of spending her summer holidays at the Academy and had demanded a day out with both of them, and Leo was strong enough to take her now.
We watched the replay in John’s office, around a conference table that one of the Celestials conjured for us. I put the ring in the centre of the table and everybody leaned forward to study it.
Once I discovered that the stone kept a perfect record of everything it heard, I often used it as a memory aid. It was almost like a personal assistant for me; it even reminded me when I had appointments. I knew it could record images as well, but I hadn’t tried it
until now, and I was interested to see the results. I was expecting something like
Star Wars
: an image projected above the stone.
‘Everybody ready?’ the stone said. ‘This will feel queer.’
The room expanded, then collapsed, and we were back in the training room. The students were frozen, Brad holding Amy. The figures of Jade, Gold and I stood facing them.
John and I approached Brad and Amy, the other Masters behind us.
‘Can you rewind it to where I put my hand on Amy’s head?’ I said.
The images didn’t move backwards; instead, the scene shifted. The image of me stood next to Brad and Amy with its hand on Amy’s head.
I studied myself. ‘I really need to do more physical stuff.’
‘Everybody’s been telling you that,’ John said. ‘It’s obvious you don’t enjoy it as much when you can’t do it with me.’
Meredith couldn’t hold her amusement and made some most undignified noises.
‘This is where you knew,’ John said, crouching to study Amy and Brad. Amy held the energy in her hands, her face a mask of concentration. Brad sat across from her, his hand on her arm, supervising.
‘Yes,’ I said. ‘Amy was distracted, and I saw right through her. I saw through her into Brad, who was also concentrating. It was there for a fleeting second before Brad closed up—I saw what he was. He was busy closing up so he didn’t see what Amy was. I had both of them for a split second.’
‘I didn’t see that,’ the stone said behind me.
I turned. It had taken human form to join us. Both Meredith and I collapsed over our knees laughing. It had taken the form of Sean Connery.
‘What?’ the stone said.
‘You don’t sound like Sean Connery, you sound like John Cleese,’ I said, gasping.
‘I do not sound like that buffoon,’ the stone said stiffly. It changed to a distinguished-looking European man in his mid-sixties wearing a smart dark green suit and tie. He held his arms out. ‘How about this?’
‘Much more like it,’ I said, and turned away. Meredith was still grinning like an idiot. Gold had a similar expression on his face.
‘I’ll have a lot of trouble working with it now that I know what it looks like,’ I said softly as I bent over Brad and Amy.
‘You know what it looks like,’ John whispered. ‘It’s small, square and green. Ignore it.’
We both studied Brad. I reached out and touched his image on the head.
‘Move slowly forward, second by second,’ I said. I felt the movement even though the images themselves were unmoving; at the time we had all been still. ‘Stop.’ I straightened and gestured. ‘Here. I saw what she is, and what he was.’
Meredith, Gold and JC moved closer to study Brad. John touched him on the head, his face a mask of concentration, his noble features glowing in the reflected light of Amy’s chi. Meredith and JC put their hands on Brad’s head as well.
The stone approached to stand behind John, watching.
All three of the Masters rose together and shared a look.
‘Move forward to where the demon was destroyed,’ John said without turning.
The scene changed. Amy was a roaring dragon on the floor; Brad was in the process of dissipating.
John moved to stand next to what was left of Brad’s exploding form.
I inhaled sharply when I saw it, then had to turn away, my stomach churning. Meredith quickly moved to catch me, and set me gently to sit on the floor. ‘Breathe, Emma,’ she said urgently. She saw my face and pushed my head down over my knees. ‘Don’t look.’
‘I shouldn’t be this squeamish,’ I whispered through the gasps. ‘I’m a Master of the sword.’
‘You’ve never harmed a human, or seen a human like this,’ John whispered next to me. He put his arm around my shoulders and I flinched away, but he held me. ‘It’s okay, we’re not really here.’
I threw myself at him and buried my face into his chest. He held me. ‘Of course seeing that has upset you. You have never harmed a human being, and you never will.’
‘But I was okay after we saw what happened to Helen’s mother,’ I said into his chest. ‘The domestic helper had her head cut off and that didn’t worry me at all.’
He pulled away to smile at me. ‘You were ready for battle then. You weren’t ready for this. I think the snake part of you is a long way away right now. It’s just all
you
.’
‘Is she all right?’ the stone said with concern from above us. ‘Here.’ It had produced a mug of Ceylon tea for me.
‘Thanks,’ I said, and took a sip. It was more than just tea. As the liquid went down my throat I felt calm and strong and in control.
I glanced up at the stone. ‘Thanks. I needed that.’
The stone smiled, its pale blue eyes twinkling under its shock of grey hair. ‘My pleasure.’
I passed the cup back and pulled myself to my feet, assisted by John. ‘Okay. Let’s see what we have here.’
‘You don’t have to look if you don’t want to,’ John said, still holding me around the shoulders.
‘Once you’re gone I’ll need to be able to handle anything,’ I said. ‘Better get used to it, I think.’
John held my hand as we went back to the demon.
‘Is this one of the half human demons that the stone was talking about?’ I said.
‘Something similar to that,’ the stone said, studying the demon. ‘But in many ways, different.’
‘Rewind until it is whole again,’ John said. ‘Try to do it frame by frame, like a movie.’
The appalling mixture of red and black and white pulled itself back together.
‘This is like something out of a very poor horror movie,’ Meredith said softly.
‘I don’t like horror movies, I don’t watch them,’ I said.
‘Me either,’ John said, watching Brad carefully. ‘I do not find the depiction of humans being harmed entertaining. Forward and back slowly, stone, run through it a few times. This is extremely interesting.’
Every time it happened it was newly horrifying.
‘Was Brad human?’ I said.
‘No,’ JC said. ‘Definitely a demon.’ He sighed. ‘A human–demon hybrid, but still one hundred per cent demon. Do not be concerned that you may have harmed a human, my Lady. This thing was demon right through.’
‘But inside,’ I said, gesturing, ‘it’s physically very human.’
‘You okay?’ John said softly.
I nodded. ‘Thanks, stone,’ I said without turning.
‘My Lady,’ the stone said behind me.
‘It has a skeleton and everything,’ I said. ‘You can see its brain.’ I stopped. ‘I’ll probably have nightmares when the stone’s tea wears off.’
‘If you do, call me,’ Meredith said.
John reached over and squeezed my hand.
‘How long did it take to completely dissipate?’ John said.
‘Less than half a second,’ the stone said.
‘Run it at full speed,’ John said.
The chi hit Brad and he exploded.
All of the Masters shared a look, except for Gold, who was studying Amy’s dragon form with longing. The stone watched Gold, its eyes sparkling with amusement.
‘Well?’ I said.
‘Take us out,’ John said.
Everybody else except for the stone disappeared. The room was empty except for me, John and the stone. The stone didn’t say anything; it gestured and a chair appeared. It turned the chair away from us and sat.
John pulled me in and held me close. I looked up at him and he lowered his face to mine. His arms tightened around me and our lips met.
Nothing around us moved. Time stood still.
Suddenly John went rigid. The stone threw itself up from the chair and we were back in the conference room.
I collected the ring and put it back on, silently thanking the stone.
My pleasure,
it said with amusement.
Realisation hit me like a thunderbolt. Oh my God, it
was
a voyeur.
The stone didn’t say anything.
I smiled to myself. It wouldn’t have anything to watch for a very long time now. And when John did return, it would be left outside the room.
I would like to remind you that I work very hard for you, my Lady. I serve you well.
I didn’t know whether to laugh or explode with anger.
‘Are you okay, Emma?’ John said. He stood on the other side of the table.
‘We need to talk privately later,’ I said.
John didn’t reply. He quickly turned to the other Masters. ‘Well?’
Meredith and JC were on their feet as well, their faces grim. ‘Both of us can identify them now,’
Meredith said. ‘We’ve already locked down everything, now we’ll go through the students and clean up. We have a busy day ahead of us.’
‘What, you think there are
more
?’ I said, shooting to my feet as well.
‘Three of them turned in the past ten minutes, while we were in the stone,’ JC said. ‘Two students were killed before the demons were contained. They are level forty-five equivalent.’
‘But Brad was considerably bigger than that,’ Meredith said, still grim. ‘He was about level fifty-five.’
JC’s voice was fierce. ‘We have been infiltrated. We are full of them. And I didn’t pick a single one.’
‘We do not have time for regrets,’ John said. ‘We need to move, and move now. Each of us will take one-third of the building and show the other Masters how to identify the demons. Do not attempt to work alone; obviously some of them are very large. We will clean here first, then we should have enough Masters trained in spotting to do both Follies at the same time. Gold.’
‘My Lord?’
‘Find Simone, Michael and Leo. Escort them home immediately.’
‘My Lord,’ Gold said, and disappeared.
Master Liu, the Shaolin Master, appeared behind me.
‘Take Emma home directly and guard her,’ John said.
‘No!’ I shouted. ‘I’m staying here and helping!’
‘Not this time,’ John said, his eyes blazing.
We materialised in the training room of the Peak apartment. I fell over, but Liu caught me before I hit the mats.
‘Take me back!’ I shouted.
‘At this stage I do not think that would be a very good idea,’ Liu said calmly. ‘Unless you want to see your students dying.’
I sagged in his arms. ‘No.’
‘The demons know we are on to them. There is a very large number of them. This is very, very bad.’
‘No.’ I buried my face into his shoulder and he held me.
‘Emma, we may be attacked here. They may take advantage of the fact that the Dark Lord and most of the senior Masters are occupied defending the students.’
‘Oh my God,
Simone
! Is she okay?’
He gently pushed me away so that he could study my face. ‘Emma, she is fine. She will be home soon. Then we will lock down and prepare to defend ourselves here.’
‘Liu,’ I said fiercely, ‘this apartment is sealed. They can only come in one at a time. Please. Go. Find Simone and defend her; she’s out there with only Leo, Michael and Gold, and none of them can handle anything bigger than about level fifty. I can handle higher than that with energy myself. They need you much more than I do. Send Gold back if you like, he can help me. But please, for God’s sake, find Simone and defend her.’
Liu hesitated.
‘You know I’m right,’ I said. ‘Go.’
He released me. ‘Where is your sword?’
‘In my office in Wan Chai,’ I said. ‘Forget it. Go.’
‘Call it. Hold out your hand and call its name. It may come to you.’
I did as he said. I held my hand out, closed my eyes and called the Silver Serpent to come to me.
I opened my eyes. I was holding the sword, but I hadn’t felt it appear. It felt like it had been there all the time.
Liu disappeared without saying a word.
I pulled the sword from its scabbard and threw the scabbard aside. If Simon Wong didn’t come for me I would be very, very surprised.
I checked the back pocket of my jeans: the phone was there. I didn’t take any chances any more: I kept it
with me everywhere. Even in the bathroom, next to the basin, when I was taking a shower. But if Simone was okay then I wouldn’t need to use it. The worst that could happen would be that I was killed, and that was infinitely better than either Wong or the King getting their hands on Simone.
As I readied myself I wondered if Xuan Wu could find me and Raise me in the next life if I was killed. If there
was
a next life. All the Taoist teachings said there was, but a great deal of the stuff that had come out over the years was wrong in many important details. And none of the Immortals would talk about it; not even Kwan Yin, who was an icon of both Buddhist and Taoist faiths; and Buddhism was firmly based on the concept of reincarnation.
I silently pondered if I would ever meet any of the Bodhisattvas. Once again none of the Immortals would talk about it. But Immortals were pretty much the same thing as Bodhisattvas anyway. One day I would have to make a trip to India and check it out. And visit the Kun Lun mountains in the West.
But first. I hefted my sword. I had to survive this.
I felt them coming.
I silently asked the stone if Simone was okay.
She is fine. They haven’t gone after her. They are coming for you. Liu, Leo and Michael are returning as quickly as they can, but they cannot come directly, Simone is too large to carry.