Blue Dragon

said with amusement.
    ‘But what was that inside me?’ I said. ‘It was horrible.’
    ‘It wasn’t horrible,’ John said, the small smile still there. ‘It was just you, Dark Lady.’
    ‘But it was dark and heartless…’ I stopped, speechless.
    ‘Precisely,’ John said.
    ‘See?’ the stone said.
    ‘Did she freak the Dragon out?’ Leo said, pulling one of the chairs over and sitting with us. Michael grabbed a chair as well, spun it around and sat backwards on it.
    ‘Yes,’ John said. ‘He was ready to kill her. He was terrified of her.’
    ‘Whoa. Excellent,’ Leo said with a huge grin. ‘I wish I’d seen that.’
    ‘And then the stupid human tried to kill herself by forcing me to drain her,’ John said softly. The amusement was gone.
    ‘Stupid’s the word, my Lord,’ Leo said.
    ‘Was it really that bad, Emma?’ Michael said.
    ‘Yes,’ I whispered. I dropped my head and ran my hands through my hair.
    ‘One: you will never hurt any of us. Two: Simone needs you. Three: let’s see if the dark and heartless monster can turn itself invisible,’ John said.
    ‘Invisibility? Sweet,’ Michael said.
    ‘You can try first, if you like,’ John said, turning to Michael without rising from the chair. ‘Nothing to do with energy, but I can’t do it right now. Just concentrate and think yourself transparent.’
    ‘Is this how the dragons fly around without being seen?’ I said, curious despite myself.
    ‘Sometimes, yes,’ John said. ‘Most of the time, though, they don’t hide themselves at all, becausefrankly most humans don’t look up much; they’re usually looking at the ground or straight ahead. If the dragons are seen, they take the form of a bird, or a plane, and then they’re simply not interesting.’
    Michael had his head down, concentrating. He was already getting there; he rippled like thick glass bricks.
    ‘Excellent,’ John said. ‘You are very talented, Michael.’
    I lowered my head, centred my chi and concentrated on being transparent.
    Simone came in, still holding Ms Kwan’s hand. She stopped close to us.
    ‘ Boo !’ Michael shouted behind her and grabbed her around the waist. She squealed and jumped, and turned to shout at him, but he was invisible.
    ‘Don’t you dare do that again, Michael,’ Simone huffed, ‘or I’ll tell my Daddy. You could have hurt me. I’m only little, you know.’
    I had to laugh. She could take him down with one hand tied behind her back using either physical or energy skills.
    ‘Come and learn to be invisible too,’ John said. ‘That way you can sneak into his room and steal all his games CDs.’
    ‘She keeps stealing my copy of MOHAA, logging onto my server and playing as me anyway,’ Michael said from somewhere in the air above me. ‘The guys in my clan are always emailing me asking what happened, my average went through the floor.’
    ‘You shouldn’t be playing so much during term time anyway,’ I said. ‘Now. Simone and me. Whoever is first to be invisible wins an ice-cream beside the pool.’
    Simone dropped her head and concentrated. I did too. She was invisible within five minutes. I never got there.
    ‘Give up, Emma, let’s try ordering,’ John said. ‘We need an ordinary human to practise on and unfortunately we only have one.’
    ‘You’re not practising coercion on Leo; that is simply not fitting and I won’t let you,’ I said. ‘Do it to me, or find somebody else.’
    ‘That’s why I’m here, Emma,’ Leo said softly. ‘So that you guys can try this skill on me.’
    ‘But you don’t know what this involves, Leo,’ I said with desperation. ‘This is thoroughly inappropriate.’
    ‘I volunteer to be a subject in coercion training, my Lord,’ Leo said loudly.
    ‘Accepted,’ John said, and rose. ‘Get up, everybody, let’s see what we can do. Look inside Leo, find out where his “engine” is—the part that makes things happen. Then you can try steering him the way you want him to go. Michael, demonstrate for Simone.’
    Michael reappeared and hesitated. He didn’t move to take Simone’s hand.
    ‘It’s okay, Michael, she has to learn this,’ Leo said gently. ‘Do it.’
    Michael shook his head slightly and took Simone’s hand. ‘We’ll learn this and then we won’t do it any more,’ he said. ‘Emma’s right.’
    ‘It’s a useful skill,’ Leo said. ‘Try making me walk.’
    Michael’s expression went even darker. He frowned and held Simone’s hand tight.
    Leo’s face