Red Phoenix

took over. Right, two questions each, I could handle this. ‘Are you sure that you’ve budgeted for everything here? What if some unexpected expenses turn up? How will you handle that?’
    ‘Unexpected expenses always turn up,’ I said. ‘The essence here wasn’t managing for the expected, it was managing for the unexpected. So I had to put that in. Do you want me to go into detail about budgeting for the unexpected?’
    Miss Lo shook her head. ‘I think that’s enough of an answer for me.’ She nodded towards the third professor, Mr Knight. I sighed inwardly with relief.
    I turned to Mr Knight and was shocked right down to the soles of my feet. He was at least a level fifty demon. Huge. As big as a Snake Mother. I’d been so nervous that I’d completely missed him.
    Holy shit, what was he doing here, and what had happened to the real professor? I hoped the real professor wasn’t found in a Kowloon City dumpster in a million pieces, the same way that pizza delivery guy was.
    The demon smiled kindly at me, exactly like a sympathetic university professor helping a talented student along. ‘Tell me, Miss Donahoe, on page thirty-five of the thesis you mention “demon staff”. Is this a particular term used in martial arts?’
    I looked blankly at him, then smiled. No way, he wasn’t getting away with that. ‘I’m sorry, Mr Knight? Isn’t it?’ He nodded confirmation. ‘I really don’t know what you’re talking about. Is there a typo in there? Because I don’t remember putting anything in the thesis about “demon staff”. And the term doesn’t mean anything in martial arts, as far as I know. But I really don’t know much about it.’
    The other two professors flipped to the page he’d mentioned and scanned it. Jan shook her head. ‘Not here, Jim. You sure you have the same paper we have?’
    The demon passed his copy to me. ‘Look, Miss Donahoe, right in the middle of the page.’
    I scanned down. It was my writing until about the third paragraph. Then there was a message for me.
I have offended One Two Two. I am desperate. Help. I am willing to pledge. I have information. Nod if you are willing to protect me. I will raise my hand in oath that I will not attack. I will meet you downstairs. Please take me to the Dark Lord, I am willing to pledge to both of you.
    I glanced up from my thesis. ‘This is a copy. Where is the original…’ I hesitated, ‘Mr Knight?’ I carefully chose the inflection so that the real question would be obvious to him.
    ‘The original is quite safe and unharmed,’ the demon said. ‘Nearby. I can get it for you later, if you like.’
    I breathed a sigh of relief. ‘Thanks. Just making sure.’ I nodded. I was willing to take the risk for the information.
    He raised his hand in confirmation. I hoped it meant that he had sworn to lay off me.
    Both Jan and the Chinese professor looked in bewilderment at their papers. The demon shrugged. It was up to me to gloss this over. Think quickly, Emma.
    ‘I think you have the wrong version of the paper, Mr Knight. The page numbers don’t seem to be right in this one, and the words “demon staff” are actually a typo; it should be “demonstrate”.’
    I handed the paper back to him and he eyed it appraisingly. He flipped it so that he could see the front page. ‘Oh, you’re quite right, Miss Donahoe, I have anearlier draft that you handed in. The original is in my office; quite unaware of how this happened—I seem to be having periods of memory loss lately, don’t know what’s wrong with me. So sorry.’ He smiled broadly at Jan. ‘I don’t have any other problems with it.’
    Whew, he had the real professor bound and unaware in his office somehow. Must ask how they did that, if that was the case.
    ‘Your graduation ceremony will be in December. Will you be in Hong Kong? It’ll be a big occasion,’ Jan said, her blue eyes sparkling with amusement.
    I nearly let out a whoop of triumph but managed to hold it in. I swallowed my emotions instead. ‘Thanks, Jan,’ I said sincerely. ‘I couldn’t have done it without your help.’
    Jan waved her hand over the paper. ‘Not a problem, Emma, it’s been a really enjoyable experience. Most unusual paper I’ve ever seen, the topic was fascinating. I must come up there one day and have a look, it sounds incredible. Does your employer really have three hundred students learning martial arts?’
    I nodded a reply.
    ‘What do they all do when they graduate?’ she