Blue Dragon

presence. He’d toned down his appearance and appeared as a Chinese of about seventeen, wearing a plain T-shirt and a pair of cargo shorts.
    Leo took Simone out to a playground slightly higher on the Peak, and the rest of us sat around the dining table together.
    I put the ring on the table and the room expanded and contracted. We were in the living room. Simone and I were playing a board game on the coffee table with Helen.
    ‘Were you awake when Kitty collected Helen from the school?’ I said.
    The scene shifted and we were on the long outdoor corridor outside the classrooms at the school.
    ‘This where you go to school?’ the Tiger said.
    ‘Yep,’ Michael said.
    Na Zha made some derisive noises but didn’t say anything.
    Kitty was there, holding Helen’s hand. Michael and I were standing in front of them, studying Helen.
    John approached Kitty and touched her hand. ‘Human. All the way through. He hasn’t done anything at all to her.’
    ‘On the plane she bossed One Two Two around,’ I said. ‘It sounded like he actually took orders from her.’
    ‘She doesn’t know any other way of talking to people except to give orders,’ John said, crouching to study little Helen. ‘It’s probably more like a partnership of equals. I’d say that they detest each other, but stay together because it’s a beneficial union for both of them.’
    ‘Wonder if he screws her,’ the Tiger said, and I thumped him on the arm. ‘What?’
    ‘Is that all you ever think about, Ah Bai?’ John said with resignation as he touched Helen’s head.
    ‘Good coming from you,’ the Tiger said.
    ‘Cut it out, you two,’ I said. ‘Helen. Well?’
    ‘Human,’ John said. ‘Slightly larger than a normal human inside, because she is half fox spirit, but that is all. Have a look.’
    The others all touched Helen’s head then stepped back.
    ‘Would you like to go back to the apartment?’ the stone said. It had appeared behind us again in its European human form.
    ‘So that’s what you look like,’ Michael said.
    ‘No, I’m square and green,’ the stone said, and the scene shifted back to Simone, myself and Helen playing Monopoly in the living room.
    ‘Take it forward to the demon and the Snake Mother,’ John said, lightly touching Helen’s head. ‘We’ve already seen inside Helen. No ! Wait !’
    The scene had started to shift and it snapped back.
    ‘This is not the same little girl,’ John said. ‘This is a demon copy.’
    The other Immortals moved forward to study Helen.
    John’s eyes burned. ‘I had this creature in my house for half a day. It walked right in through my seals. And I was absolutely unaware.’
    ‘You never touched her, or came close to her,’ I said.
    ‘We must show this to Simone when she returns, so that she can recognise them as well,’ John said.
    ‘This is getting really heavy,’ the Tiger said softly.
    ‘Is that why Kitty made such a performance at the school?’ I said. ‘To make us have Helen over so they could check if we could sense that she was a copy?’
    ‘Obviously,’ John said. ‘The stone turtle was probably a diversion, to make us think that it was the point of the exercise.’
    ‘We signed a death sentence for her mother when we paid her a visit,’ I said. ‘I wonder where Helen is now.’
    ‘It’s obvious where she is now,’ John said. ‘I am appalled by this demon’s behaviour towards children. I have never seen its like before. It must be destroyed. I’ve half a mind to call the King and talk to him about it, negotiate something.’
    ‘The King offered to swap me for Wong,’ I said softly. ‘How about I use the phone and call him? With Wong out of the picture you won’t have to worry about Simone.’
    John gazed at me, his face expressionless. ‘You said that you would only use the phone if I went down, or if Simone was in real danger.’
    ‘Yes, I did. But we were under attack when I said it.’
    His face didn’t shift. ‘I hold you to your word, as a woman of honour, Emma Donahoe.’
    ‘You could release me from my word,’ I said.
    He was silent.
    ‘Okay,’ I said, turning away. ‘April.’
    The scene shifted again. We were inside the training room. I was facing the Mother.
    ‘Backtrack to when she was April,’ I said.
    I was facing April. ‘Let me see.’ I touched her head. ‘As far as I can see, this is my human friend.’
    John came next to me and touched April’s head. He concentrated. ‘Fascinating. Ah Bai, Michael, Ah