Blue Dragon

flowing, I moved it into the central dan tian and attempted to use it to burn out the demon stuff.
    When I came around I felt like I’d been hit in the head by a small building. Okay, that didn’t work.
    But I could still manipulate the remaining chi, and that was good enough for now. I would work something out.
    I ordered the maids to make me some food and ate it silently and alone in the dining room.
    Then I went into the study. All of the classics I had asked for graced the bookshelf.
    I sat at the computer and opened the word processor. I had memories to record so that I would never forget. One day Simone would be able to read the whole story. Well, maybe not the whole story. Some parts would be just for me.

CHAPTER FORTY
    I woke up and cast around, then remembered. I threw myself out of the enormous bed and wandered into the bathroom.
    I yawned in the mirror. Then I just about broke my jaw shrieking. I leapt back.
    The face in the mirror had no skin .
    I took a deep breath, then carefully slithered forward for another look.
    I realised that I’d slithered . I collapsed and curled up on the floor. I pulled my black coils in and gasped. I tried not to look at my hands but I couldn’t help it.
    No skin. No skin . I watched with silent horror as the blood moved over my skinless arms.
    Okay. Deep breaths. I was still me, wasn’t I?
    I pictured Simone in my mind, and imagined being ordered to hurt her.
    I collapsed again. The thought of that wonderful little girl, and how much I missed her, tore my heart out.
    Okay. Deep breaths, again. I was still me.
    Holy shit. I had a True Form. I looked inside myself. The black stuff had moved through me during the previous two days; it wasn’t just in my dan tian now, it was everywhere. Thank you so damn much , SimonWong. I quietly pondered exactly what I wanted to do to that bastard when I didn’t have to worry about Simone’s safety any more.
    Right. Looking inside: where’s Emma? I studied myself. I didn’t look like a hybrid, which was interesting. I didn’t look like a Mother on the inside either. I looked like something extremely old and powerful.
    Something floated to the surface of my memory. The creator of the human race, in deep mythological history, had been half serpent, half human. The Great Mother. The Dark Woman, Nu Wa. I was something like that. Very interesting. Damn, I wished I still had the stone with me. It would have known what Nu Wa looked like, and would have been able to tell me if I was something like her.
    I grinned to myself, still curled up on the floor. Look at the Snake Mother being cold-blooded.
    Okay. I pulled myself upright. I wouldn’t look in the mirror again, thank you very much. I slithered back to the bedroom.
    I went to the window and looked out, trying to calm myself. There was a quiet knock on the door.
    ‘Who is it?’ I said, my voice hissing.
    ‘It’s me, ma’am,’ the demon servant said. ‘Your breakfast is ready.’
    I suddenly became extremely aware of exactly what Mothers ate. Well, well. You learned a new thing every day.
    ‘Later,’ I said. ‘Leave me.’
    I saw her move away with my Inner Eye, then froze.
    My Inner Eye was working in this form. I checked my chi; but it wasn’t the chi that was running the Eye. It was the black stuff.
    I took another deep breath. Okay, ignoring for a moment the source of this power, I used it to have a look around. Holy shit. I wasn’t on top of OceanTerminal at all. The windows were an illusion. I was underneath Kowloon City.
    What I really needed to do, though, was find my own form, my human form. My real True Form.
    I ordered my body to take human shape and was knocked flat.
    When I came around I quickly checked my hands. Back to normal. Back to me.
    I raced into the bathroom and breathed a sigh of relief. Okay. I’d even managed to conjure the same clothes I’d been wearing.
    While I washed and readied myself I thought about what I would do. I should try to take this Mother form at will, it could prove useful. Particularly if I could work with the black stuff. Then I decided against it. It was just too damn ugly. And weird.
    I opened the door and went to find breakfast. I tried not to think of John’s reaction if he were to see me.
    I tried not to think of Simone at all.
    I sat at the dining table and ordered the maids in from the kitchen.
    They appeared to be tiny round Chinese women in their mid-forties, less than one and a half metres tall, wearing traditional