Blue Dragon

of my bathroom, clean and feeling much better. I rummaged through the disaster area that was my wardrobe, searching for something comfortable to wear; my back was sore from lying on the rock in the vacant lot.
    I stopped dead.
    ‘That was the phone digging into my back, wasn’t it?’ I said.
    ‘The King’s phone?’ the stone said. It hesitated, then, ‘Oh, yes. You were lying on it, and you didn’t take it with you.’
    I rummaged through the clothes again. ‘I need to go back and get it.’
    The stone didn’t say anything.
    ‘How come I came around with no clothes, but you and the phone were there?’ I said as I finally found a clean pair of jeans.
    ‘The phone follows you, Emma,’ the stone said. ‘When you returned to human form, it materialised.’
    ‘Oh,’ I said. ‘What about you? I don’t have hands to hold you when I’m a snake. Where did you go?’
    ‘I stayed with you,’ the stone said.
    ‘How? On my tail?’
    The stone was silent.
    ‘Oh my God, this is something really weird, isn’t it?’
    ‘Depends on your definition of “weird”. I move inside you,’ the stone said.
    I sat on the bed. ‘No. I don’t want you in there.’
    ‘It’s not what you think,’ the stone said. ‘I become lodged in the muscle tissue of your back, about a third of the way along your serpent length.’
    I didn’t feel very relieved. ‘That is extremely weird.’
    ‘It’s extremely claustrophobic. I don’t like it at all.’
    ‘I’m not sore there,’ I said. ‘That’s strange.’ Then I flexed my left shoulder and felt a definite twinge, as if I had torn a muscle and it had nearly healed. ‘Whoa.’
    ‘Put your clothes on,’ the stone said. ‘The Dark Lord is coming; he sensed that you were awake.’
    We need to get together and work out what to do, Emma, John said. We have some major problems and your help would be appreciated, if you are feeling up to it.
    I grabbed an old T-shirt from the wardrobe and tugged it over my head, then went to the door and opened it. John waited on the other side.
    ‘I’m okay. What’s the problem?’
    ‘Come into the dining room and we’ll talk about it,’ he said.
    Leo and the Shaolin Master, Liu, waited for us, with the two other remaining Immortal Masters, the junior Tai Chi Master, Mike Chow, and the wushu Master, Audrey Au. They saluted as we sat.
    Mike was a huge Chinese who’d gained Immortality about seven hundred years ago. He’d taught Meredith, then suggested that she take over as Energy Master because she was so much better than he was.
    Audrey was a tiny Chinese lady who looked far too delicate to have anything to do with any of the Arts.Wushu was the demonstration Art, rather like rhythmic gymnastics: gorgeous to look at but not generally useful as a fighting style. This sort of Art, the elegant presentation type, was what many practitioners meant when they said ‘wushu’.
    It was understandable that these two had survived the demon attacks; neither of them were terribly useful in battle and had probably stayed with the junior students. Liu had been with Simone, so he hadn’t been attacked.
    The three of them were all we had left.
    ‘First,’ Liu said, ‘Disciples. Casualties: ten seniors. What to do?’
    ‘What about the juniors?’ I said.
    ‘The seniors and the Immortals gave their lives for them,’ John said matter-of-factly. ‘And succeeded. We lost only the first two.’
    ‘Which seniors did we lose?’ I said.
    Liu handed me a list and I scanned through it. Ten of the best. All but one were Chinese. They were all over the age of thirty; a couple of them were in their sixties. John had discussed them with me before: he thought that some of them were well on the way to attaining the Tao. We had planned a small ceremony in the next few weeks to officially promote eight of them to Master, as they were already doing the duties of junior Masters. They were all like family and I felt a pang as I perused the list. I would really miss them.
    ‘Did any of them get there?’ I said softly.
    John didn’t say anything.
    ‘Maybe next time,’ I said, hoping for some sort of reaction.
    John’s and Liu’s expressions didn’t shift.
    ‘Are you allowed to say anything at all about it?’ I said.
    Liu leaned back. ‘Ten seniors. What to do?’
    ‘Families?’ I said.
    ‘Three had families, grown-up children. The other seven didn’t. None of them have immediate family back in China, or Europe in Jim’s case, just the