Blue Dragon

over them like that. Next time move so that I can sit.’
    ‘I’ll send someone to buy a matching armchair for the living room,’ John said. ‘You are quite correct, I was totally unaware.’
    ‘Were you that upset?’ I said softly as he opened the door to the dining room.
    He didn’t look at me. ‘Yes.’
    ‘You weren’t sure everything would be okay? I thought you would know.’
    ‘I don’t know everything,’ he said, sitting in one of the dining chairs and resting his elbows on the table and his head in his hands. ‘Nobody does. The future isn’t fixed, it’s moving all the time.’
    ‘We’ll get there,’ I whispered as Simone and Michael entered. The grim expressions on both their faces made them look much older.
    John didn’t say anything.
    Later I had the chilling realisation: it had probably been a toy .

CHAPTER TWENTY
    O n Saturday evening I was in my room when the sound of the television blasted out. It was guitar music, a sweet riff that meandered through the scales, but Simone had it awfully loud. I hesitated before I went in to ask her to turn it down; I was enjoying it, but John would want the volume lowered if he was meditating.
    I opened the door to the television room and found Simone directly on the other side, about to emerge. ‘You need to turn that down, Simone,’ I said. ‘If you’re going out, don’t forget to turn the television off.’
    ‘It’s not on,’ Simone said. ‘That’s Daddy.’
    I turned and listened. ‘That’s Daddy?’
    She nodded. ‘I’ve never heard him play that before. I didn’t know it was his.’
    We went to the music room together, and hesitated outside.
    ‘Let’s leave him,’ I said.
    Come on in.
    We shrugged and entered. The music stopped.
    ‘Don’t stop, Daddy,’ Simone said. ‘I like it.’
    John returned the black electric guitar to its stand, then switched off the amp in the corner. ‘You do? I’m awfully rusty.’
    ‘That was rusty?’ I said. ‘That was wonderful.’
    ‘You both like it?’ he said. ‘Michelle…’ He stopped.
    ‘Mummy didn’t like it?’ Simone said.
    John didn’t say anything, he just shook his head.
    ‘Well,’ I said, ‘ we like it, so you’re going to play it for us right now .’
    ‘Yeah,’ Simone said, climbing on the piano stool. ‘Play for us.’
    I leaned against the stand holding the guzheng , next to the wall. It was a horizontal stringed instrument, similar to a Western zither. ‘Do you play this too?’ I said, ‘I really like guzheng .’ I plucked one of the strings absently.
    ‘ No, Emma !’ Simone shouted, but it was too late.
    The force of the blast threw me across the room and I slammed side-on into the piano. The keys hit me in the ribs and I fell over.
    John and Simone both rushed to me.
    ‘Careful you don’t touch her, Daddy,’ Simone said as she took my hand. ‘Now it’s okay.’
    ‘Are you badly injured?’ John said with concern, taking my other hand.
    I checked myself internally. ‘Cracked ribs and a bruised liver. Give me a couple of minutes to heal it and I’ll be as good as new.’
    Neither of them said anything; they just held my hands and watched me as I started to move the energy.
    ‘What hit me?’ I said as I moved the energy through my ribs.
    ‘That is the Celestial guzheng ,’ John said. ‘The one that carries the Mark—’
    ‘—of Six Fingers? That’s Six Fingers’ guzheng ?’ I said, my voice hoarse.
    ‘I thought you knew,’ he said.
    ‘That thing’s legendary.’
    ‘So am I,’ John said with amusement. ‘I think you’ve ruined the piano. The whole front of it is smashed in.’
    ‘Yay! No piano practice!’ Simone cried with glee.
    ‘Simone, are you okay?’ I said.
    ‘I’m fine,’ Simone said. ‘Somehow it went right through me and didn’t touch me.’
    Leo tapped on the door and entered. He stopped when he saw us. ‘What the hell happened here?’
    Simone giggled. ‘Silly Emma touched the guzheng .’
    ‘You were supposed to tell me what to avoid,’ I said fiercely from the floor. ‘When I first came to work here, you showed me around, but you didn’t mention that thing at all.’
    ‘Oh, by the way, Miss Donahoe,’ Leo said, moving further into the room to tower over me, ‘the Chinese musical instrument in the music room used to belong to a demon. It’s enchanted, and if you play it, it will destroy just about everything around it, so don’t touch it.’
    ‘Oh, so now you tell me.’
    ‘Shut up and heal