Blue Dragon Part 31

'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 circ.u.mstances 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 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 G.o.d, he was talking about me me. I tried to remain still but my throat was thick and I found it difficult to breathe.

'I saw that 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 now.'

'You are a Serpent yourself,' John said mildly, not s.h.i.+fting 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 was me. 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 knew it. 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 s.h.i.+rt. '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. 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 amus.e.m.e.nt.

'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 amus.e.m.e.nt 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 gla.s.s 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 hurt me. I'm only little, you know.' 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?'