Blue Dragon

carry. Simone is very large inside, much bigger than you. He is also a shocking coward, and you are the weakest of the three of us. Besides, if he holds you, then of course I must do what he wants.’
    ‘If you let him blackmail you by holding me I will be very, very cross with you.’
    ‘Of course you will.’
    I sighed. ‘And I’m cross with you anyway. You didn’t tell me about the stone.’
    ‘Nothing to tell,’ John said mildly. ‘It has promised to behave, and it is a Building Block, so it will keep its word.’
    ‘I wear it in the shower , John. Doesn’t that bother you?’
    ‘Your state of undress means nothing to it; it is a stone.’
    ‘Really?’ I said.
    ‘Really.’ He sounded amused. ‘Absolutely. Its little predilections are in a slightly different direction.’
    ‘You should have told me,’ I said fiercely.
    ‘Nothing to tell.’
    ‘This doesn’t bother you at all, does it,’ I said.
    He made a soft sound of amusement and moved slightly away. He opened his mouth to say something, then obviously changed his mind and closed it again.
    ‘Tell me,’ I said.
    ‘I don’t think it would be a good idea. You are very accepting, but I think this would be too much for even you to accept.’
    ‘Try me,’ I growled.
    ‘I don’t want to lose you, Emma,’ he said softly.
    ‘Oh shit ,’ I said with despair. ‘Not you too? Where did my normal life go?’
    ‘She’ll find it amusing, my Lord,’ the stone said. ‘You’d better tell her; right now she thinks it’s much worse than it really is.’
    ‘Okay, I’ll take your word for it.’ John didn’t move but his face changed. ‘Spring of 1978,’ he said wistfully. ‘About three years after I’d lost the Serpent. The water around Hainan Island was unusually warm, and crystal clear. I ran into a stunning female turtle Shen. Pursued her for ages, both of us in True Form. She teased me, and evaded me, for days. Every time I thought I had her, she would take off again. She drove me mad.’
    I was silent. I could picture it.
    ‘I finally had her; I had my flippers over her shell.’ His eyes were very dark. ‘I heard a sound behind me.’ His face twisted into a wry grin. ‘The Calypso . They were filming us, very excited. They launched a Zodiac and circled us, filming. I was the largest marine turtle they’d ever seen, and they’d caught us in the act. First time on film, marine turtles mating. They were delighted.’
    I collapsed backwards onto my pillow, laughing silently.
    ‘See?’ the stone said.
    I gasped for breath. I couldn’t speak I was laughing so hard. I wheezed with the effort.
    ‘She wants to know if you bothered to stop,’ the stone said.
    John hesitated, then, ‘Nope.’
    I rolled onto my side and clutched my stomach. I laughed so hard I felt like I was about to throw up.
    ‘I’ve…I’ve…’ I tried to suck in enough air to speak.
    ‘She thinks she’s seen it,’ the stone said.
    ‘ Everybody’s seen it,’ John said. ‘It’s a standard piece of footage now. Whenever they bring up the subject of marine turtle reproduction, there we are, large as life.’
    I gasped for breath.
    ‘Yes, Emma, we are a matched set,’ the stone said. ‘He is an exhibitionist, and I am a voyeur.’
    ‘The Tiger is three times the exhibitionist that I am,’ John said. ‘I don’t think I’m an exhibitionist at all. I’m just a Turtle, and when my flippers are over a nice piece of shell everything else falls beside the way.’
    I wiped my eyes, my hands shaking.
    ‘And the fact that you don’t have one makes absolutely no difference at all to me,’ John said softly. ‘It is the inside that counts more than anything else. And the inside of you is the most…’ His voice trailed off.
    ‘He can’t finish it, Emma,’ the stone said.
    I wiped my eyes with my palms. I was still shaking.
    ‘Rest,’ John said. ‘Simone is safe, you are safe, the remaining students are safe. That is all that is important in the world.’
    ‘Thank Leo for me,’ I said softly, my voice quivering. ‘For cleaning me up.’
    ‘I will,’ he said. ‘He refused to let Ah Yat do it. You were only semi-conscious and he was concerned she would drop you. He said you would not mind. Rest.’
    I reached over to my bedside table, pulled a couple of tissues out of the box, and nodded into them.
    John rose to leave.
    ‘Porn star,’ I gasped loudly as he went out.
    He laughed softly as he closed the door.

CHAPTER THIRTY
    I stepped out