Kylie Chan - Blue Dragon

Leo and I stared at her with awe.

‘That was wonderful,’ I said. ‘How come it sounds so splendid for you?’

‘I used shen,’ Simone said, ‘not chi.’

‘Does Mr Chen know you can do that?’ Leo said.

Simone smiled and shook her head.

‘We need to let Leo have his day off, Simone,’ I said. ‘I’m still having breakfast with my mum and dad. Want to sit with us?’

‘Sure,’ Simone said. ‘I forgot, Leo, sorry. You go.’

Leo saluted us both and went out without saying a word.

‘Can you do shen work apart from that, Simone?’ I said as we went down the hall together.

‘No. Just that. I did it by accident the first time. It sounds really pretty.’

We went into the kitchen together.

‘Hello, Mrs Donahoe, Mr Donahoe,’ Simone said.

‘Hello, dear,’ my mother said. ‘Are you okay after last night? You weren’t too scared?’

John grabbed his teapot and cup, nodded to my parents, and rose.

‘Wait!’ I said quickly, and he stopped in the doorway. ‘Did you know that Simone can make the sword sing with shen?’

John glanced sharply at Simone, then returned to the table and put down the pot and cup. He pulled Simone to sit in his lap.

‘You put shen into Emma’s sword?’ he said.

‘It sounds really pretty when you use shen, Daddy,’ Simone said. ‘Much nicer than when you use chi.’

‘Don’t try to use ching, you’re too little,’ John said sternly.

‘Don’t be silly, Daddy,’ Simone said. ‘Of course not.’

My parents silently watched the exchange, bewildered.

‘Good,’ he said gently. ‘Can you hold out your hands for me and put some shen into them?’

‘Is that okay to do?’

‘It should be all right while I’m holding you.’

Simone held her hands out and concentrated. A ball of pure silvery-white shen energy appeared above her outstretched palms.

My mother gasped quietly.

‘How much do you have, do you think?’ he said.

‘I don’t know. There’s still a lot inside me.’

‘Put it back, sweetheart.’

The shen disappeared.

‘Is she already Immortal, John?’ I said. ‘You said only Immortals can work with shen.’

John put his hand on Simone’s forehead and concentrated. ‘No.’

‘Well then, why can she do that?’

He smiled gently. ‘Because she is who she is. Same as you.’ He rested his chin on the top of her head. ‘Don’t do that too much, sweetheart, it can be dangerous. Don’t do it unless I’m watching you.’

‘Okay, Daddy,’ Simone said. ‘Where’s Ah Yat? I’m hungry .’

‘You’re always hungry when you’re working with energy,’ I said.

Ah Yat appeared. ‘Yes, my Princess?’

‘Can I have some ramen, please, Ah Yat?’

Ah Yat bowed slightly. ‘My Lady.’

‘I have work to do. I’ll leave you to it,’ John said. ‘When you want to go out, call me. I’ll take you. There may be strays.’ He nodded to my parents. ‘Brendan, Barbara.’ He rose and gently slid Simone onto the chair. ‘Don’t do shen work unless I’m with you.’

‘What about the sword?’

‘That too.’

‘Okay, Daddy.’ Simone hopped off the chair and went to the fridge to find some apple juice.

Emma, I need to talk to you, John said silently. Come with me into my office.

‘I’ll be right back,’ I said to my parents. I glanced at my tea. ‘I’ll never finish this.’

Bring it with you .

‘Good idea.’

My parents stared at me as if I was completely crazy.

‘I am completely crazy,’ I said. ‘I’d have to be to put up with this.’

Too true .

‘Enough!’ I picked up my teacup and went out with John. Simone watched us go, her eyes sparkling with amusement.

Daddy just likes annoying you sometimes, she said silently.

‘I will make a rule about this if you two don’t stop it,’ I said fiercely.

‘What’s going on?’ my father said.

‘You explain to them, Simone,’ I said. ‘Since you’re so clever.’

I stopped at the doorway and watched. Simone concentrated on my parents over the top of her apple juice. They both jumped as if stung.

John sat behind his desk and I took one of the visitor’s chairs. The desk was in an even worse mess than usual, probably a result of the end-of-year budgeting and the recruitment of the new novices.

‘I wish I had time to go through this room properly,’ I said. ‘When my parents have left, I’ll spend a whole day in here sorting this lot out. Even the Sanskrit.’

‘Go right ahead.’ He leaned forward over the desk. ‘What Simone just did is exceptional.’

‘I thought so,’ I said. ‘She’s not even on the Celestial Plane.’

‘Only the very few of the very largest of us can do that.’ He leaned back and retied his hair. ‘And she’s not even Immortal yet.’

‘You mean she may end up more powerful than you? I find that difficult to believe.’

‘I don’t think so. But she will certainly outshine many on the Plane. Emma, listen carefully.’

‘I’m listening.’

‘Stone.’

‘My Lord,’ the stone in my ring said.

‘Record this.’

‘Very good, my Lord.’

‘Emma, I’m just having the stone record this so that you don’t need to remember all of it. You and the stone can pass the instructions on to the Masters. Here goes.’ He leaned his elbows on the desk. ‘After I’m gone, I want Simone to learn travel, advanced energy weapons, summoning, and yin.’

‘Yin?’ the stone said.

‘Record. Do not comment,’ John said. ‘I want her to learn level three binding. Up to level ninety taming. Shen; all aspects of shen work. If I have not returned by the time she is twenty years old, then ching as well. I want her to have Dark Heavens immediately both myself and Leo are gone. And when she is fourteen years old, Gold is to bring down Seven Stars for her.’

‘When she’s only fourteen?’ I said softly.

‘Yes. Unfortunately, nobody else besides me knows how to make it shine, so I’ll tell you now, just in case.’

‘I’ve never seen it shine,’ I said.

‘I wish you could,’ John said, looking me straight in the eye. ‘Right now I can’t do it; I need to be near full strength and in Celestial Form. It is a sight to see. Hopefully you can pass the information on to Simone, and she will be able to make the sword resonate.’ He glanced at the stone. ‘Record this carefully.’

‘I really am most profoundly honoured, my Lord,’ the stone said softly. ‘Are you sure you want to tell me this?’

‘I think when Simone is about fourteen she will take some sort of Celestial Form,’ John said. ‘Based on what she did this morning, it is quite possible.’ He dropped his head and grimaced. ‘I won’t see it.’

‘What about a True Form?’ I said.

He smiled and shrugged. ‘No idea. I like to think she will be a Serpent, as you are.’ He obviously had a sudden thought. ‘Stop recording, stone.’

‘My Lord,’ the stone said.

‘Emma,’ he said, studying me intensely, ‘you never named your own sword. Why not?’

‘I just felt it was too pretentious.’

‘It’s easier to refer to the weapon by name, you know. Immortals can call weapons to them when the weapons have names.’

I sighed. ‘I know. I just didn’t feel right about it. It’s just my weapon, nothing special. Same as me, nothing special.’

He made a soft sound of amusement but didn’t rise to it. ‘Did it occur to you that the blade may already have a name?’

‘No, not at all,’ I said. ‘I never really thought about it too much, it was just my weapon. But I think I should give it to Simone now. It sings much more sweetly for her.’