‘Everything’ll be open, Mum, that’s not the problem,’ I said. ‘Hong Kong is very densely populated, and for many people Sunday is the only day off. So the shopping centres, the streets, everywhere, will be packed.’

‘You can’t move in the middle of Causeway Bay,’ Simone said, still delighted. ‘The ground floor of Sogo is packed. You can’t even get in.’

‘Sogo is a big Japanese department store in Causeway Bay,’ I said. ‘I don’t know why, but everyone agrees to meet at the entrance on a Sunday. It’s absolutely packed to the rafters with people.’

‘Want to go yum cha?’ Simone said. ‘There’s a couple of places that know Daddy, and we don’t have to take a number.’

‘Oh no, please, Simone,’ I moaned, ‘you know I can’t eat anything there. Hardly any of it’s vegetarian.’

‘What?’ my father said, still through the cornflakes.

I ran my hands through my hair. ‘I’m mostly vegetarian now, guys. Sorry.’

‘It’s because Emma’s becoming Immortal,’ Simone said with relish. ‘Human Immortals are vegetarian. Like Kwan Yin.’

The phone rang. I rose to get it, but John answered it in the study.

‘Tell us about this Immortal stuff, Emma,’ my mother said as I sat back down.

I was silent. I didn’t want to go into detail about it.

‘If a human being attains the Tao, then they become Immortal,’ Simone said, her eyes sparkling. ‘That’s what Emma’s doing.’

‘Tao?’ my father said.

‘The Way,’ I said. ‘It’s complicated. I’d prefer not to talk about it.’

‘You are no fun at all sometimes, Emma,’ Simone said, sounding much more mature than her six years.

John appeared in the doorway and leaned in to speak to us, one hand on either side of the frame. ‘Emma, we have problems.’

My heart sank. ‘Already?’

‘Leo called from the dojo he teaches at on Sundays. It’s in Causeway Bay. Michael’s there. About fifty low-level demons have turned up at the front door seeking sanctuary.’

He stopped and went rigid, his eyes unfocused. Then he snapped back and smiled gently. ‘More have turned up at Turtle’s Folly. And about a hundred appeared outside the car park of Hennessy Road. Altogether, about two hundred demons, all over Hong Kong, all pleading for protection.’

The intercom next to the front door buzzed.

‘Oh my God, no,’ I said.

John answered it.

‘Yes, Barnabas?’ he said. ‘How many? Okay. I’ll be right down.’

He came back to the doorway, leaned in and smiled. ‘About twenty downstairs. We have a busy day ahead of us.’

‘What’s going on, Emma?’ my mother said weakly.

‘What are we going to do?’ I said. ‘I wanted to show my parents around.’

‘We can do that at the same time,’ he said. ‘You finish your breakfast; I’ll go downstairs and sort out the demons here. Then we’ll go to the Folly, then the dojo, then to Hennessy Road.’

‘Do the dojo first,’ I said. ‘It doesn’t belong to us. The owner will be upset if the demons don’t disappear in a hurry. Does he know who you are?’

‘No, you’re quite right. He has no idea who I am, only that I’m one of the best there is. He knows I taught Li. I’ll do downstairs first, and then we can go to Causeway Bay.’

‘Damn,’ I said. ‘What the hell will we do with two hundred demons?’

‘I have no idea,’ John said. ‘All suggestions welcome.’

‘What is this all about, Emma?’ my father demanded.

‘Explain while I go downstairs and sort them out,’ John said.

‘Can’t a Master do this?’ I wailed.

‘Nope. Only a Celestial, and I’m the only one around today. Oh,’ his face cleared, ‘what a good idea. Simone.’

‘Yes, Daddy?’ Simone said through her noodles without turning around.

‘Want to come and have a lesson in demon taming?’

‘Cool!’ Simone squealed. She jumped up and threw her chopsticks onto the table.

‘I wonder if you can do it too,’ John said, eyeing me appraisingly. ‘Considering what you are. Stone.’

The stone didn’t reply and I tapped it.

‘Yes, my Lady?’

‘Have a look at Emma. Do you think she can tame demons directly now?’

The stone was silent for a moment. ‘Not right now. On the inside she appears to be a perfectly normal human being.’

‘What about the Serpent?’

‘Damn,’ I said softly.

‘Probably,’ the stone said. ‘But right now it’s not there.’

‘Okay,’ John said. ‘Just me and Simone then. Emma, you stay up here and keep your parents company. This will take about half an hour, then we’ll all go down to Causeway Bay. Come on, Simone.’

Simone bounced to her father and grabbed his hand. ‘I want a demon servant for myself!’

‘No way!’ I shouted at their backs. ‘You do your own cleaning up!’

I heard the door open. ‘You are no fun at all, Emma,’ Simone said faintly just as the door closed.

‘I do not appreciate being ignored like this,’ my father growled.

‘Sorry. We just had to organise what to do,’ I said.

‘What’s the big problem?’ my mother said.

‘Demons have turned up on our doorstep looking for sanctuary — hundreds of them.’ I ran my hands through my hair. ‘There are different levels of demons, and the low-level ones are usually servants — except more like possessions — of the larger ones. When a really big demon gets annoyed, it usually takes it out on the small ones. The demon we saw last night is a really big one, a Prince, and he’s particularly cruel to his thralls. Looks like just about every single one of them has tried to escape him and turned to us.’

‘What is John going to do?’ my mother said.

‘First he has to check that they’ve really turned. Then he’ll send them somewhere to work for him — although God knows what we’ll do with two hundred demons. We really don’t have the room for them.’

‘I’m really beginning to wish that I’d never come to this awful place, Emma,’ my mother said softly. ‘And that you’d never come here either.’

‘You’ll be fine.’ I tried to reassure her. ‘When John and Simone come back up, we’ll all go down to Causeway Bay and have a look at the shops while he sorts out the demons at the dojo. Don’t worry, we’ll be safe.’

‘I don’t know how you can live like this,’ my father said. ‘You act as if you’re totally unafraid. As if it’s the most natural thing in the world.’

‘I hardly recognise you,’ my mother whispered. ‘You aren’t the girl that left Queensland six years ago to work in Hong Kong for a couple of years.’

‘I’m still the same person.’

‘You’re a bloody snake!’ my father cried. ‘If that lady hadn’t shown us inside you, I would swear you were a different person. That you aren’t Emma at all.’

I didn’t know what to say.

‘Are you sure we’ll be safe?’ my mother said.

‘Absolutely positive.’ I tried to smile. ‘Come on, you might enjoy yourselves. The shops around Causeway Bay are great fun.’

‘Simone said something about Leo’s mother hurting his mouth and that’s why he has a speech impediment,’ my father said from the front of the car as John drove us all down to the dojo. ‘What happened?’

‘Not Leo’s mother, a Snake Mother,’ Simone said patiently. She was sitting between my mother and me in the back seat. ‘Snake Mothers are big demons.’

My parents glanced at me, questioning. I looked out the car window and didn’t say anything.

‘What did the demons do to him, Emma?’ my mother said.

‘They cut his tongue in half,’ John said, without looking away from the road. ‘Right down the middle. We were able to heal it, but he’ll never speak clearly again.’

My parents were silent. I could picture their faces, but I still didn’t look.

John made himself appear very old as we neared the Causeway Bay dojo.

‘Have you been here before, Emma?’ he said. ‘Yeah,’ I said. ‘A couple of times, to pick up Leo.’ John eased the car up into the car park and parked it not far from the smaller Mercedes.

‘Do you need a cover story?’ I said before we stepped out of the car.

‘No. I’ll just be me, John Chen Wu. The owner of the dojo just knows my name and that I’m Leo’s employer.’ He grinned at me. ‘Do I look about ninety?’

‘At least.’ I grinned back. ‘Very cute.’ ‘He doesn’t look cute, he looks stupid,’ Simone said. ‘Respect your elders,’ John said sharply in a thin elderly voice.

Simone screamed with laughter. ‘You okay to get around like that?’ I said. ‘You don’t need help?’

‘Nope,’ he said in his usual voice, his dark eyes sparkling under his bushy white eyebrows. ‘It’s only the outside. The Dark Lord is inside, still as drained as ever.’ He glanced at the car park lift. ‘I hope Roland has a spare room where we can do this.’

‘Come on, guys,’ I said to my parents, who were watching us like frightened deer. ‘Everything’ll be fine. Let’s sort out these demons, then we’ll go to the shops.’

The dojo was on the eighth floor of a nondescript commercial building in the least glamorous part of Causeway Bay. The lift was tiny, old and filthy. My parents were not impressed.

The eighth-floor lobby was tiled with ghastly dark green tiles, and the walls were bare concrete stained black with smoke from the incense in the altars to the door gods.

Mr Pak had the whole floor of the building, his family had owned it for many years. The dojo’s single door had a red demon-warding light above it, a small altar to the door god next to it, and a number of good-luck calligraphy papers stuck all around it. There was a huge metal gate in front of it, but that was left open during the day.

John banged on the door. Nothing happened. He stopped and concentrated.

Leo opened the door and poked his head around. ‘My Lord. My Lady. Come on in, we have a lot of explaining to do.’

The whole dojo was a hubbub of voices. There must have been dozens of demons in the training rooms, but the hallway was deserted.

John stilled. The noise hushed immediately. There was complete silence.

‘John, your hair’s going black,’ I whispered urgently. ‘Try to hold the shape.’

John concentrated again and gained a few years.

‘I do not believe this,’ my father growled quietly.

‘Maybe take your parents shopping while I sort this out,’ John said to me.

‘How many are there?’

‘About seventy-five, but more are turning up all the time.’

Roland Pak charged down the hall towards us and shouldered Leo aside. ‘What the hell is going on?’ he shouted in Cantonese. ‘Are these refugees from the mainland or something? Illegals? If you don’t give me a good reason why I shouldn’t call the police, I’ll be hitting the phone soon and hitting it hard.’

‘So sorry about this, Roland,’ John said calmly in English. ‘New students from the Mainland, came to the wrong address. Should have come to me.’

‘Like I said, I gave the bus driver the wrong address, Roland,’ Leo said, taking the blame. ‘I should have given the bus driver the address of Mr Chen’s place in Wan Chai, but I gave him the wrong card.’

‘Hair, John,’ I whispered under my breath.

‘Just let me round them up and get them fixed,’ John said amiably. ‘I’ll check their IDs and then send them over to my building.’

Roland studied John carefully.

I shot a glance at John. He was losing it.

John concentrated on Leo.

‘Come with me, Roland,’ Leo said, taking Roland’s shoulder and turning him away. ‘Let’s go and have some coffee or tea or something while Mr Chen makes these students disappear.’

Roland shrugged Leo off and faced John. He studied him intensely.

I’m very drained, Emma, John said into my ear. The last couple of days have taken a lot out of me. I don’t think I can hold it.

‘Come on, Roland,’ Leo said, trying to turn him around.

‘Get your hands off me before I hit you,’ Roland hissed. ‘What the hell is going on here?’

He stared at John, who had reverted. He didn’t look ninety any more, he looked about fifty, and his hair was almost completely black.

Roland’s face became a mask of horror. ‘Demon!’ he shouted and moved into a guard stance. ‘What are you?’

John completely lost it. He roared with laughter, then straightened and changed back to his normal middle-aged self. He grinned at Roland with delight. ‘You think I’m a demon? You have seventy-five of them in here already and you think I’m a demon?’

Roland didn’t shift.

‘Sorry about this, Leo,’ John said. ‘Couldn’t be helped.’

‘Not your fault, my Lord,’ Leo said. ‘It’ll be fun to tell him anyway. Can’t wait to see the look on his face.’

‘I want to be there too.’ Michael came down the hallway and stopped behind Leo. ‘I want to see his face when he finds out. I’ve been looking forward to this for a long time.’

‘You three go and tell him everything,’ I said. ‘I’m taking Mum and Dad shopping.’

‘I want to come too,’ Simone said. ‘I brought my wallet.’

‘Go,’ John said. ‘If any demons approach you, send them up here.’

Roland stiffened when John said ‘demons’ but didn’t move otherwise.

‘Hi, Roland,’ I said.

Roland didn’t move or shift his gaze from John.

‘Look behind you, at the end of the hallway.’

Roland still didn’t move.

‘See the altar at the end of the hallway there?’

‘I know it’s there,’ Roland said.

‘Who put it there?’

‘Leo.’

‘Yeah,’ I said with a broad grin. ‘Which god is it for?’

‘Pak Tai.’

‘Yeah, Pak Tai. Chen Wu,’ I said. ‘Leo put it there ’cause Leo works for Chen Wu.’ I gestured towards John. ‘This guy.’

Roland dropped his arms and his face went slack. ‘No.’

‘Come on, guys,’ I said to my parents. ‘Let the boys have their fun.’

‘I think you spoiled their fun already, Emma,’ Simone said with delight. ‘That was great.’

‘Call me when you have them all tamed,’ I said as we left.

My parents’ faces were white as we took the lift down to street level. I didn’t know what to say.

‘Can we go to Toys R Us, Emma?’ Simone said. ‘I have some money to spend.’

‘How about we show my mum and dad some grownup stuff?’ I said. ‘You can go to Toys R Us any day.’

‘Oh, okay,’ she said. ‘Of course.’ She looked up at my mother. ‘What sort of things would you like to buy?’

My mother stared at Simone as if she were a creature from another planet.

‘She’s just a little girl, Mum,’ I said.

‘Yeah,’ Simone said with a grin. ‘Emma’s the one that’s the snake.’

Both my parents stiffened.

‘Damn,’ I said softly. I raised my voice and tried to sound cheerful. ‘Let’s go to the China Products store. There’s a lot of great stuff there from the Mainland — Chinese handicrafts. You said you wanted to see that, right, Mum?’

My mother watched me, silent.

‘Are you okay?’ Simone said.

Neither of my parents spoke.

What’s the matter with them, Emma? Simone said into my ear.

‘Come on, guys,’ I said. ‘Let’s go and be tourists. Perfectly ordinary, normal tourists.’

Chapter Three

F inished, Emma, come on back.

‘John’s finished with the demons at the dojo,’ I said. ‘We’ll go back and move on to Bright Mansions.’

When we reached the dojo, Roland Pak was in his office with John, beaming with delight.

‘Where’s Leo and Michael?’ I said.

‘In one of the training rooms,’ John said. ‘Leo’s teaching a group of youngsters. Michael’s assisting.’

‘Come in, come in,’ Roland said to my parents. ‘Come. Sit.’

He rose and gave his seat to my mother, and gestured towards an empty chair for my father. The tiny office was a squeeze with all of us in there. Simone climbed into her father’s lap.

‘You can throw chi too, Emma?’ Roland said, leaning one hip on the desk.

‘Yep,’ I said, standing behind my father and resting my hands on his shoulders. ‘I’m about ten times as good as Michael.’

‘And that’s just in human form,’ John said. ‘In Serpent form she’s another ten times better than that.’

My parents stiffened and I glared at John, but Roland’s grin didn’t shift.

‘Where did you put them all?’ I said.

‘I sent them up to the Mountain. Construction will move three times more quickly with so many extra hands, even if they are unskilled. I may have some of them taught to use heavy equipment; we’re short on bulldozer operators to clear the rubble.’

‘One Two Two’s really done us a huge favour then,’ I said. ‘On to Happy Valley.’

‘How about I drop you at the Jockey Club clubhouse in the Valley on the way?’ John said. ‘You can have lunch there while I sort the demons out.’

‘Uh,’ Roland began. ‘Before you go . . .’

‘Yes, Roland?’ John said.

‘You want me to show you some stuff, don’t you,’ I said.

Roland nodded.

‘Oh, of course,’ John said, leaning back. ‘Least we can do for you, Roland, after putting you through all of this. Imagine having a hundred demons turn up at your front door like that. I’ll get someone to set seals on the studio early next week.’ John rose and slid Simone off his lap. ‘Do you have a free room we can use?’

‘Come this way,’ Roland said, his grin even wider.

‘You guys can stay here and wait for me, if you like,’ I said to my parents.

‘I’d like to see, Emma,’ my father said. ‘Barbie?’

My mother nodded, silent.

Your mother’s not talking much, Simone said into my ear. Is she okay?

‘If it’s all too much for you, just say so, Mum,’ I said, linking my arm into my mother’s and giving her a squeeze as I led her out into the hall. ‘I’ll take you home and let you rest.’

‘I’m okay,’ my mother said softly. ‘I want to see.’

Roland took us down the hall, past the room where Leo had resumed his lesson, to another training room.

It was only about three metres square and didn’t have any mirrors. One wall was windows overlooking the busy Causeway Bay street. I jammed my foot into the mats on the floor to test them: not as good as the ones up on the Peak, just cotton wadding. But they would do.

‘What would you like to see, Roland?’ I said.

‘Siu Lim Tao,’ Roland said.

‘You’re joking. The basic Wing Chun set?’

‘I’m impressed, Roland,’ John said. ‘Good thing to ask for. If Emma performs the set for you, you will see it done by a true Grand Master, in perfection. You should take a video.’

‘I can’t do it perfectly,’ I said, annoyed. ‘Nobody can.’

‘Not even me?’ John said with a grin.

I glared at him. He could see that I wanted to thump him and his grin widened. ‘Do it, Emma. If Roland can find any imperfection in your performance of the set, I will be very impressed indeed.’

‘I’m going to do the basic set of moves for one of the more lethal types of Chinese kung fu,’ I said to my parents. ‘But the most effective styles are the least impressive to look at. Don’t expect too much, okay? After I’ve done this for Roland I’ll do some pretty stuff for you. And I’m not a Grand Master, Roland. Call me sigung and I’ll be very cross indeed.’

‘Sigung,’ John said loudly. He dropped to the floor to sit cross-legged and pulled Simone into his lap, holding her around the waist.

‘When I am able to touch you again,’ I said, moving into position, ‘old man,’ I flipped my fists and moved into Wing Chun stance, ‘I really am going to beat,’ I punched with my left fist and then my right, ‘the living crap out of you.’

‘Stop,’ Roland said, and I froze. ‘Sorry. Apologies. But you didn’t do a signature.’

‘A signature?’ my mother said.

I nodded, still with my right fist out. ‘That’s right. Each Master adds a small move to the start of the set. All of their students do that move first, to acknowledge the Master who taught them. It’s like the Master’s signature.’

‘But you didn’t do one,’ Roland said.

‘No. She was taught by me,’ John said.

‘Oh,’ Roland said softly.

I worked through the rest of the set, finished and saluted. I was greeted with complete silence.

I looked at my parents; their faces were frozen in masks of restraint. They weren’t impressed at all.

John and Simone smiled indulgently.

Roland grinned like an idiot.

‘Emma,’ John said, ‘show it to Roland at full speed.’

‘Some of it’s meant to be done slow.’

‘Show him the fast bits at full speed.’

‘Okay.’

That didn’t take much time at all; at full speed I moved through the set very quickly. My hands were a blur.

I stopped and saluted again. Once again there was complete silence.

Then, ‘I couldn’t see your hands,’ my mother whispered.

Roland had a huge smile on his face and tears ran down his cheeks. He spun and went out. ‘Don’t go anywhere,’ he called from the hallway. ‘I’ll be right back.’

‘Roland’s seen Michael do energy work. Do some for your parents,’ John said.

‘Okay,’ I said. ‘Do you want to see me throw energy?’

‘What does it involve?’ my father said.

‘I take some of my personal energy and push it outside my body. It’s difficult to explain. Might be better if I just showed you. Don’t be scared, I won’t hurt you. If it bothers you, just say so and I’ll stop.’

Both my parents stiffened but remained silent.

‘You sure you want to see?’ I said.

‘Show us,’ my father said, and my mother nodded.

I generated a small ball of chi, only about the size of a tennis ball. I held it on my hands and waited as they became accustomed to it.

‘Okay?’ I said.

My mother nodded. My father didn’t move.

I lifted the chi and floated it around the room. I didn’t move it close to them.

‘Generate another the same size,’ John said.

I hesitated. I’d never tried that before. I put the chi into the centre of the room and left it there, hovering. I held my hands still and concentrated and, to my surprise, managed another one. I moved it off my hands and put it near the first one. Now there were two balls of energy hovering in the centre of the room.

‘Do you think you could produce a third?’ he said.

‘Let me try.’

‘If it gets away from you then drop it,’ John said quickly.

I nodded and concentrated, and produced a third ball. I moved it next to the other two. I tried something; I made them spin vertically around a common axis, like a little Ferris wheel.

‘Cool,’ Simone said softly.

‘Merge them,’ John said without moving.

I pulled them closer together and they joined to form a larger ball of chi.

‘Now separate them again.’

I concentrated and the ball of chi split into three smaller balls again, still spinning. I didn’t have it perfect, each ball of chi was a slightly different size.

Roland came in and stopped dead. ‘Wah!’

‘Make them blue,’ John said.

I concentrated. They went from gold to green, then greenish-blue. I lost it completely: the chi snapped back and hit me in the middle of the stomach, knocking me flat.

Simone burst out laughing, but my parents rushed to me, concerned.

‘Are you okay, sweetheart?’ my mother said as my father lifted me.

‘Yeah, I’m fine,’ I said. ‘Happens all the time when I’m working with energy. It’s on an invisible rubber band. If I lose control, it snaps back and knocks me flat.’ I gestured towards John and Simone who were clutching each other with delight. ‘They think it’s really hilarious.’

‘Well it is, silly Emma,’ Simone said, still giggling.

‘She’s right, you know, Emma,’ John said. He sobered. ‘Oh. You should know — only Immortals can do that. Humans can’t work with more than one chi ball at the same time. Or change the colour. Well done.’

‘Damn,’ I said softly.

Roland saluted me, falling to one knee. ‘Lady.’

‘Oh, for God’s sake, cut it out, Roland,’ I said. ‘I’m not any sort of Immortal.’

‘You certainly look like one to me, Lady,’ Roland said with a huge grin. ‘If you were Chinese I would swear that you were the Lady Yim Wing Chun herself. Or more likely her teacher Ng Mui.’

‘Oh, thank you very much,’ I said. ‘What next?’

‘Me,’ Leo said, coming through the door with two staves. He threw the smaller one to me.

‘Now this is more like it,’ I said. ‘I haven’t beaten Leo up in quite a while.’

‘I’ve been learning, Emma,’ Leo said, readying himself. ‘Bet you a day’s guard duty I can take you.’

‘You are on!’ I said with delight. ‘I haven’t had a proper day off since I finished my thesis.’

‘Whoa, whoa, wait a minute there,’ my father said loudly. ‘Leo’s much taller than Emma and must weigh three times what she does. This is hardly fair!’

‘You are quite right, Brendan,’ John said. ‘Not a fair match at all.’ He concentrated.

Michael appeared in the doorway, holding a staff.

‘This is more like it,’ John said with satisfaction.

‘All bets are off if I’m facing both of them,’ I said. ‘Michael’s half Shen.’

‘Double or nothing,’ Leo said.

‘Come on, Emma, give it a try,’ John said. ‘We might even be able to bring the snake out.’

I gestured towards Michael. ‘He’s half goddamn Shen!’

Michael grinned and saluted me, holding the staff.

‘She’ll fight both of them?’ my mother said softly.

‘Yes!’ Roland said. ‘I have a video camera in my office. Wait! Please!’

‘There are a hundred and fifty demons out there waiting for you,’ I said.

‘Let them wait,’ he said. ‘I don’t think this will take long.’

Roland came back with a video camera. ‘Move into the big room.’

‘But there are students in there!’ I protested.

‘Tell them you taught her,’ John said to Roland.

‘They wouldn’t believe me, Your Highness,’ Roland said. ‘I’d have to tell them that she taught me.’

‘That would work,’ John said. He pulled himself up off the floor and took Simone’s hand. ‘Let’s go.’

‘You know Emma’s only been learning off the Dark Lord for less than a year and a half?’ Leo said to Roland as we went out.

‘Wah!’ Roland said. ‘Amazing! Such talent!’

‘Damn,’ I said softly.

‘She turns into a snake, you said. Why is that? Is she a Shen?’

‘Nobody’s quite sure what she is,’ John said amiably. ‘She’s not a demon, that’s for sure. We’ll just have to wait and see.’

‘Maybe she’s the White Snake,’ Roland said.

John stopped and his face froze. ‘Not possible.’

‘I’m black in Serpent form,’ I said.

‘If the Pagoda has fallen then she may be the White Snake,’ Roland said.

‘If I’m the White Snake then where’s the Red Snake?’ I said.

‘Ah. You know the legend,’ Roland said.

‘Of course I do,’ I said as I entered the larger room. ‘I’ve been doing an enormous amount of research on the nature of Serpent Shen, for obvious reasons.’

‘She is not the White Snake,’ John said, moving to catch up with us. ‘Not possible.’

The students lounged against the long wall, waiting quietly for Leo to return. Roland directed them loudly in Cantonese. ‘All of you, back to the far short wall, stand still, stand quiet. You are about to be extremely privileged. Silence!’

The students moved back, quiet and cowed.

Roland gestured. ‘Whenever you are ready, my Lady.’

‘Mum, Dad, you okay?’ I said. My parents nodded. ‘Go stand with John.’

My parents moved over to John and Simone in front of the mirrors. This room was larger, about six by four metres. Simone took my mother’s hand and smiled up at her.

‘Wait,’ Roland said. He pulled the video camera out and turned it on. ‘Okay, go.’

I nodded to both Leo and Michael. They saluted back. We moved into position. Both of them faced me, side by side.

I held my staff out in front, guarding. Leo I could take easily, but Michael was an unknown quantity: not just half Shen, but half tiger as well. He had been learning from John for months now, and had probably come a long way since I had easily bested him when I trialled him for the job as trainee bodyguard to replace Leo.

Leo came at me first. He swung at my head. I blocked it with my own staff, swung it down, twisted it, and tried to take his feet out from under him with the other end.

Michael came at me at the same time. As Leo’s staff went down, Michael went for my head. I flipped my staff under Leo’s and guided it into Michael’s. Their staves clashed together hard and both of them winced.

Leo dropped one hand from his staff and shook it, grimacing.

I jumped back and waited for them.

‘Don’t hurt them too much, Emma,’ John said with delight.

Michael went for my feet, trying to sweep them out from under me.

I leaped over his staff, somersaulted, and planted both feet into Leo’s chest, hard enough to knock him over without hurting him. I bounced off him and somersaulted backwards. I jammed the end of my staff into the floor before my feet hit, spun around it and hit Michael in the chest with my left foot. He staggered back but didn’t fall.

I landed lightly on my feet in front of Michael, jumped right over the top of his head, and spun my staff behind me to take his feet out from under him before he had a chance to turn around.

I rolled and spun to face them, snapping my staff under my left arm and my right hand out into a guard. They were both on the floor, Leo on his back, Michael on his stomach.

‘Come on, guys, up you get,’ I said. ‘I didn’t hit you that hard.’

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Blue Dragon

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