Red Phoenix

the sunshine.
    Leonard and Jennifer looked around for the source of the voice.
    ‘I will be extremely generous and permit you to stay in True Form if you can hide us,’ John said. ‘My Lord,’ Gold said.
    Everything around us went completely silent, as it had when the Demon King had appeared.
    ‘Done,’ Gold said. ‘Most appreciated,’ he added softly.
    ‘How long do we have?’ John said to the air.
    ‘About an hour, my Lord, that’s all I can manage,’ Gold said.
    ‘Should be enough,’ John said. ‘But we’ll need a safety net, just in case Emma falls.’ He turned toJennifer and Leonard. ‘Don’t be concerned, but I need the help of somebody who can catch Emma if she falls off your roof, and she just happens to be a dragon.’
    Jennifer’s eyes went wide, but Leonard grinned broadly. Little Colin shifted closer to his mother.
    ‘Don’t worry, Jen, her name is Jade, she’s the family accountant, and she’s really nice,’ I said. ‘Don’t think of her as a dragon, she’s just a person. John, tell her to arrive in human form and transform after.’
    Jade appeared in human form and Jennifer shot to her feet with a gasp. Colin clutched his mother. Leonard’s grin didn’t shift.
    Andrew and Simone were busy talking near the swings and didn’t notice.
    Jade fell to one knee and saluted John, then did the same to me. She bowed from the waist to salute Jennifer and then Leonard.
    Jennifer stared at me, eyes wide, then gave Jade a similar look.
    ‘Jen, would you be okay if Jade turns into a dragon?’ I said. ‘She’s only three metres long, and I can assure you that she’s perfectly harmless.’
    Jade fell to one knee in front of Jennifer. ‘I swear I will not hurt any member of your family, my Lady. I am a sworn servant of Lord Xuan and Lady Emma. By your leave, Lady Jennifer.’
    John smiled quickly at me. I shot a fleeting smile back: he had her picked; that was exactly the right thing to do.
    ‘Go ahead,’ Jennifer said.
    Jade nodded and rose.
    ‘I’ll do the sword first, then we can work on the technique,’ I said.
    ‘Yes, let us see, Emma,’ Leonard said. ‘I’ve heard about this sword of yours. I want to hear what it sounds like.’
    ‘You’ll want to throw it in the garbage after you’ve heard it.’
    I went to Leo, and he handed me the sword, hilt first. I pulled it from its scabbard, held it in front of me and made it sing. I ran it through a slow scale. Fortunately no dogs started to howl, but Jennifer put her hands over her ears and winced.
    I pulled the chi out of the sword and it went quiet.
    ‘And that will blow up demons?’ Leonard said.
    ‘Low-level ones, yes,’ John said. ‘Higher-level ones are unaffected.’
    Please don’t do that again, Emma, Simone said straight into my ear and I laughed.
    ‘Don’t worry, sweetheart, I won’t,’ I called, and she nodded. She and Andrew were playing on the swings together. Looked like she may have made a friend after all. Without his big brother to egg him on, Andrew seemed to be a nice kid.
    Jennifer glanced from me to Simone. ‘What was that about?’
    ‘She can talk to me silently, right into my ear,’ I said as I put my sword back into its scabbard. I gestured towards John as I returned the sword to the table. ‘Both of them can. It’s a pain in the neck.’
    ‘Telepathy?’ Leonard said with wonder.
    I stopped at that. ‘I suppose it is.’
    ‘Of course it is,’ John said. ‘That’s what it’s called, anyway. The Monkey King once went to the CIA in America and told them he could do it. He demonstrated it to them. They were sure they had a new secret weapon. The little bastard played along with them, pretending to be American and patriotic, the whole works. When they started field testing, he destroyed the entire testing centre and left the place in a complete shambles.’
    ‘Next time he challenges me I will take him up on it,’ Leo lisped softly, almost to himself.
    ‘I would like to be there. I think you could take him, if he didn’t have that blasted staff of his. Enough storytelling. Emma,’ John said more briskly, ‘let’s get you wall running.’
    He gracefully pulled himself to his feet and gestured for me to accompany him to the house.
    Leonard, Jennifer, Colin and Jade all followed at a respectful distance.
    John stood back from the house about three metres, then ran to it, took three steps up the wall, leapt off somersaulting, and landed on his feet where he’d started, facing