White Tiger

have had far more than my fair share of weirdness in the past twelve months.’
    ‘And you have handled it remarkably well,’ he said. He turned back to me and smiled slightly. ‘Particularly the way you have been dealing with the demons.’
    ‘Are you kidding? Killing demons is great fun.’ Ishook my head as I understood. ‘Good God! I saw the Four Winds sit down to play mah jong,’ I said.
    ‘Until the Tiger once again opened his big stupid mouth.’
    ‘He threatened to eat the Phoenix. She was so…’
    ‘The word is “pissed”, Emma. I really like English sometimes. There’s no word that conveys it quite as well in Chinese.’
    I grinned. ‘And the Dragon didn’t do anything. The Tiger insulted his consort and he just sat there.’
    ‘I think they had a small falling out afterwards. The Phoenix is pissed with both the Tiger and the Dragon. The only one she’s not annoyed with right now is me.’
    We laughed softly together.
    ‘Are you speaking English right now?’ I said.
    ‘Yes. I’ve learned a few languages.’
    ‘Why? I would have thought you wouldn’t need to.’
    ‘I can speak and be understood. But if I write, I must write the language.’
    ‘Oh. That makes sense.’ I smiled up at him. ‘Your English is excellent.’
    ‘When I want to be clearly understood, I don’t bother speaking the language. But I like to keep my skills up, so I speak English to you, Leo and Simone as much as I can. Can you tell the difference? I’d be curious to know.’
    I thought about it. ‘Yeah, I can tell. When you’re speaking English, like you are now, you sound more formal. More old-fashioned. When you’re not, you sound like me.’
    ‘That’s because then you are hearing the meaning, not the words.’
    ‘You always have a slight English accent, though. It’s very charming on top of your old-fashioned way of speaking.’
    He raised his eyebrows and opened his mouth to say something, then shook his head. He turned back to the water and I did as well.
    We watched the moon rise in silence.
    After a while he spoke. ‘Would you like to see some energy work? I think you would enjoy it.’
    ‘Yeah, sure,’ I said. ‘What’s involved?’
    He gazed into my eyes and held his hands between us, palms up. ‘Take my hands.’
    I froze, watching him. ‘Don’t be silly.’
    His smile widened slightly. ‘While I am doing energy work, I have complete control of the energy. You are safe. I cannot harm you. Trust me.’
    I sighed with resignation. I did trust him. I put my hands in his, feeling the hard calluses on his palm and thumb from the sword. I had similar calluses on my hand. We were a matched set.
    I held his hands, looked up into his glowing dark eyes, and everything around us disappeared.
    His eyes turned inward as he concentrated. He didn’t seem to see me. ‘Close your eyes.’
    I closed my eyes, trusting him completely.
    ‘Don’t let go of my hands. This is most important. Wait.’
    A slight tingle moved through me, from my hands to my feet and then back again.
    ‘Keep your eyes closed while I tell you what I’ve done. Don’t let go of my hands.’
    I nodded with my eyes closed. The tingling stopped.
    ‘I have lifted you above the building,’ he said. I gasped. I couldn’t feel it; the sandy tiles were still beneath my feet. ‘You are now about half a li—about two hundred metres—above the top of the building. Whatever you do, Emma, do not let go of my hands .’
    ‘I understand,’ I said. ‘Can I open my eyes now?’
    ‘Sure.’
    I opened my eyes. He stood in front of me, his face rigid with concentration, his eyes unseeing.
    I looked down and felt a moment of dizziness when I saw how far above the beach we were. I gripped his hands and closed my eyes.
    ‘Are you all right?’ he whispered.
    I nodded and reopened my eyes. I just wouldn’t look down.
    Now that we were higher, the sea seemed to stretch forever. The moon had risen further over the water and a glittering silver road spread over the waves. The beach glowed below us, and the mountains of the hinterland shimmered in the distance.
    ‘This is energy work?’ I whispered.
    He didn’t focus on me, he was concentrating. ‘Hn.’
    ‘You can teach me this?’
    He seemed to see me for the first time. ‘If we had a thousand years, I could teach you this. But I will teach you some simpler things; I think you will find them useful.’
    I looked into his glowing dark eyes. ‘I wish we did have a thousand