Blue Dragon

course, or a reference, ask me. Did Gold handle your identity papers yet?’
    She nodded. ‘Yes, ma’am.’
    ‘Good.’ I turned back to the lift. ‘You’d better get on, Sonia, we can’t stay here chatting all day, we both have work to do.’ I grinned at her. ‘Let me know when you want to take your stuff over to the Folly and I’ll drive you.’
    ‘Thank you, ma’am,’ she choked, and hurried away.
    I bent over Monique in the infirmary. She was unconscious.
    ‘Will she be okay?’ Sofie said.
    I sat next to Monique and took her hand, examining her. A first-year student like this had very little chi to start off with; and Monique was tiny.
    ‘Everybody stay very still and don’t touch either of us,’ I said.
    I took a deep breath, concentrated, and fed her enough chi to bring her back. The chi moved through her like a golden flowing wave, the energy meridians lighting up.
    Monique gasped and her eyes snapped open.
    ‘Don’t move, Monique,’ I said urgently. ‘Stay very still. Relax.’
    Monique heard me. She had the concentration of a true energy worker, and controlled her reaction to the feeding of the energy.
    I saw what happened when the energy hit her lower abdomen; her face screwed up. This sometimes happened the first time a student was fed with energy and could be tremendously embarrassing for them, particularly the male ones.
    ‘Everybody out,’ I said. ‘She’s fine.’
    Monique was gasping. All the other students quickly went out. I stopped the feed, rotated her energy through her, gathered it and put it back into her dan tian. I gave her a small mental pat on the head and smiled. I carefully withdrew my consciousness, but retained my hold on her hand.
    ‘I’m so sorry,’ she said, breathless. She blushed furiously. ‘I don’t know why that happened…’
    ‘It’s quite normal the first time,’ I said. ‘I don’t normally talk about it, because if it happens, it happens, and it’s not that big a deal.’ I leaned forward and whispered. ‘It’s ten times worse for the guys.’
    Monique laughed quietly and struggled to sit. I helped her up.
    ‘How do you feel?’ I said, still holding her hand. Internally she looked fine, but emotional damage was possible; she could have been concerned about the helplessness she had felt.
    ‘Warm and tingly,’ she said with a cheeky grin. She laughed softly. ‘But I did it.’ She jiggled with delight. ‘I did it!’
    John’s voice spoke in my head. Emma, it’s happened again. Top floor, please.
    ‘Oh my God, damn !’ I said loudly. ‘Not again!’
    Monique blanched. ‘What happened?’
    ‘Nothing to do with you, Monique,’ I said. ‘Go to the rest of the class, tell them they’re dismissed, butthey’re not to return to the New Folly, they have to remain here. A demon’s found its way into the Folly again. Happens every time we get a new batch of students.’ I dropped her hand and rose. ‘I’d better go.’
    I called John on his mobile phone as I stormed out to the lifts.
    ‘ Wei? ’
    ‘John, it’s me. Are you coming back? Where are you?’
    ‘I’m still in Splendid China, Emma, but I’m coming back.’
    ‘ John Chen Wu, don’t you dare! ’ I yelled. Some students in the lift with me turned away and smiled. ‘You stay right there and spend the day with Simone! Is that understood?’
    One of the senior students in the lift behind me tittered.
    ‘You will keep,’ I growled. I raised my voice to speak to John again. ‘You stay there. You enjoy yourselves. We’ll handle it. How big is it? Where is it?’
    ‘Level seventy,’ he said, and I inhaled sharply. ‘In the New Folly, cornered on the fourteenth floor.’
    ‘I’ll get some Celestial Masters. We can handle it. You stay there and have fun. We’ll be fine.’
    He was silent for a while and I could easily visualise the expression on his face.
    ‘We’ll be fine,’ I said again, and exited the lift on the top floor.

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
    W hen I arrived at the lobby of the Folly there was a crowd of students outside and the fire alarm was ringing. One of the seniors raced forward when he saw me.
    ‘It’s on the fourteenth floor,’ he said, breathless. It was LK Pak, one of the best seniors we had, in his mid-thirties and Chinese. He continued to keep me informed as we charged to the lift. ‘It’s holding the student who brought it in and won’t let anybody near. It says it wants to talk to the Dark Lord, it won’t take anybody else. It’s