Blue Dragon

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.

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
    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 ituntil 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