Red Phoenix

situation. Maybe when Simone started school. ‘See you soon.’
    ‘You forgot to put your hands on the wheel again,’ Leo said as Gold pulled up in the car.
    Gold just grinned and disappeared.
    At Hennessy Road, Leo and I took Simone up to the large training room on the fifth floor. Mirrors coveredone of the long walls, and vertical blinds shaded the windows on the short wall. John and Gold were waiting for us.
    The room was prepared for demon training. The Academy’s demon jar sat in the corner, full of large black beads. Black hand towels were stacked neatly on shelves under the windows.
    ‘Simone, go with Gold to the top-floor conference room and wait for us there,’ John said.
    ‘Okay, Daddy.’ Simone took Gold’s hand to leave the room.
    ‘Now.’ John linked his hands behind his back. ‘Have either of you warmed up?’
    Leo and I shared a look, then turned back to John and shook our heads.
    ‘Good. You are to do this cold, without any preparation. We’ll start at level ten.’ John pulled a black bead out of the jar and threw it onto the floor under the mirrors. ‘Leo.’
    The demon grew into human form: a Chinese man in his early twenties, wearing jeans and a plain T-shirt.
    Leo moved to the middle of the room, faced the demon and readied himself. He nodded without looking away.
    The demon threw itself at Leo. He ducked under it, turned, twisted, and threw it over his shoulder onto its back. He rammed his fist through its face and it dissipated into feathery black streamers.
    ‘Good,’ John said. ‘Towels on the side.’
    Leo collected a towel from the shelves and wiped his hands. He tossed the towel into the wicker laundry basket next to the shelves, then returned to stand next to me.
    John pulled another demon out. ‘Emma.’ ‘Am I limited to physical?’ I said. ‘If I am, hold off releasing it. I’ll take my ring off.’
    ‘No limit on what you do,’ John said. ‘Energy, physical, anything. Just take it out.’
    I raised my hand and transferred my ring from my finger to the chain around my neck anyway. Then I readied myself in the centre of the room and nodded.
    John threw the demon to the floor and it took the form of an elderly Chinese woman in a bright green cheongsam. She lunged forward to attack me and I took her out with a ball of chi.
    ‘Good,’ John said. ‘Obviously not a challenge for either of you. Let’s try something bigger.’ He shuffled inside the jar. ‘Level twenty.’ He glanced up. ‘Call if you’re not confident.’ He stopped and spoke more fiercely. ‘I mean it. This is not a competition. Call if you’re not confident.’
    ‘Yes, sir,’ Leo and I said in unison.
    ‘Good.’ John threw the bigger demon and it formed under the mirrors. ‘Leo.’
    Leo took it easily. John pulled out another level twenty and I took it just as easily with energy.
    ‘Level thirty.’
    ‘Once we’re higher than this I’ll need a weapon, my Lord,’ Leo said. ‘They’re much faster than me and I need an edge.’
    ‘Emma?’
    ‘Me too. I can’t generate enough energy without the weapon to take them out.’
    ‘I’ve seen you take a level twenty-five bare-handed,’ John said.
    ‘I prefer to use energy. Don’t get my hands dirty.’ ‘Against humanoids?’
    ‘Oh, come on, you know that physical is the only way to go with them.’
    ‘Very well,’ John said. ‘Take the level thirties, and then we’ll move to weapons.’
    ‘Is this a test?’ I said.
    ‘Of course it is. A simulation.’
    Leo and I shared a look, then shrugged. Whatever. He was the boss.
    John tossed the level thirty to the floor under the mirrors. It took True Form: a massive humanoid, seven feet tall, with black scales and tusks.
    ‘Nice one,’ I said.
    Leo hesitated. ‘You want it?’
    ‘Nah, you can have it.’
    Leo stepped forward, readied himself and nodded.
    The demon came alive. It looked at each of us in turn, then quickly saluted John. ‘Dark Lord.’ It nodded to Leo. ‘Black Lion. I am honoured.’ It saw me and stopped. ‘What are you?’
    ‘Perfectly ordinary human female. What, you’ve never seen one before? I find that hard to believe.’
    ‘Not like you.’ The demon turned its three red eyes onto Leo. ‘Lion.’
    ‘A second chance,’ John said.
    The demon threw itself at Leo, clawed hands raised. Leo ducked beneath its hands and sliced at its abdomen as he went through. His hands glanced off.
    The demon stopped and turned. Leo took two steps back, leapt, and