Blue Dragon

had turned the chair sideways and was leaning one arm over the back. He appeared perfectly calm and relaxed. He smiled at me. ‘Don’t worry, and don’t move.’
    ‘Destroy that thing now !’ the Dragon said more loudly. ‘It will be the end of you all!’
    ‘You don’t even know what she is,’ John said. ‘You’re just panicking.’
    Oh my God, he was talking about me . I tried to remain still but my throat was thick and I found it difficult to breathe.
    ‘I saw that ,’ the Dragon said, somehow indicating something. ‘I don’t know what it is, but I really don’t like the look of it.’
    ‘Am I a demon?’ I whispered. ‘If I’m a demon, please, John, destroy me now.’
    ‘No demon can come into the resort, Emma,’ John said. ‘The Dragon is just being an old woman about this. You are not a demon.’
    ‘No. She isn’t a demon. If she were a demon I wouldn’t be reacting like this.’ The Dragon’s scales rattled behind me. He’d transformed. ‘You should destroy that thing now .’
    ‘You are a Serpent yourself,’ John said mildly, not shifting from his relaxed posture.
    I reabsorbed the chi, but couldn’t turn to speak to the Dragon. He still had me bound. ‘What did you see?’ I said.
    ‘It cannot be put into words,’ the Dragon said.
    ‘Well then, show us,’ John said.
    He did. Right in my centre, at my very core, was a heart of deepest darkness that seemed to absorb everything around it. It was a roiling ball of such merciless destructive power that it terrified me. It thirsted for blood and slaughter and would stop at nothing to get it. It was huge and dark and monstrous and scared the living daylights out of me—and it was me.
    I inhaled sharply. The Dragon was right. I knew what I had to do. I desperately struggled to move, but the Dragon had me bound tight. I had a quick inspiration. I generated an enormous ball of chi and threw it straight at John. He’d absorb it, drain me, kill me: easy.
    I closed my eyes. I knew it.
    I saw a blinding flash of white light through my eyelids and then everything faded. I heard sounds, but they disappeared. No vacuum vortex this time, just a gentle fade. Goodbye.
    Ms Kwan spoke, full of her sad smile. ‘Emma.’
    ‘Wake up, Emma!’ Simone’s little insistent voice.
    ‘And if you do that again, I will be extremely cross with you,’ John said.
    I opened my eyes. I was still in the chair. All of them were there: John, Simone, Michael, Leo, Ms Kwan. Even the Dragon was behind them, in human form, watching.
    ‘What happened?’ I said.
    ‘Daddy says you did something really silly and nearly died,’ Simone said, her voice miserable. She climbed into my lap, threw her arms around my neck and put her head on my chest, burying her face into my shirt. ‘Please be careful, Emma. Daddy and Leo will leave meand you’ll be all I have left.’ She shook soundlessly, and I wrapped my arms around her and kissed the top of her little tawny head.
    ‘Promise me you won’t do anything silly like that again,’ Simone said, gasping through the sobs.
    I was silent.
    ‘Promise me!’ Simone said, jamming her head into my chest. ‘Promise!’
    I pulled her tighter into me. ‘I promise,’ I whispered into her hair.
    ‘’Cause you’re all I’ll have left,’ she whispered. ‘And I don’t want you to leave me.’
    ‘I won’t leave you,’ I said.
    ‘You are a complete fool,’ the Dragon said, and disappeared.
    ‘Who was he talking to?’ I said.
    ‘I think, all of us,’ Ms Kwan said.
    ‘Now that Emma’s finished being extremely silly,’ John said with an amused edge, ‘it’s time to learn our last few lessons. Emma and I can talk in private about her extremely advanced silliness later.’
    Simone squeezed me but her head didn’t move from my chest.
    ‘I promise, Simone,’ I whispered. ‘I won’t do it again.’
    ‘Good,’ Simone said, a huge gasp. She climbed down off my lap, took Ms Kwan’s hand and led her out.
    ‘I have something I want to teach you, Simone,’ John called after her.
    ‘I’m going to the bathroom to wash my face and blow my nose,’ Simone shouted back, irritated. ‘Don’t do anything without me. Ms Kwan’s looking after me. You stay there and tell Emma that she’s very silly.’
    I couldn’t help myself. I laughed softly.
    You will never harm them, Emma, Ms Kwan said into my ear.
    I sighed. She was right.
    ‘When I am back at full strength I will make that Dragon suffer most dearly,’ John