White Tiger

the afternoon off. Simone and Mr Chen hit some tennis balls on the tennis court. Leo and I played with a frisbee on the lawn. We could throw it with a speed and accuracy that surprised both of us; the training gave us skills in other areas that only appeared when we tried them.
    A little brown dog wandered up to us with its tongue hanging out. It stopped about five metres away, unsure.
    Leo threw the frisbee to the dog and it jumped to catch it, then ran to him with the disk in its mouth. He took the disk from it and it backed up slightly, wagging its tail.
    He threw the disk again and the dog charged to catch it, leaping high in the air.
    ‘Good boy!’ Leo shouted. The dog ran back to him and dropped the disk at his feet. It gazed up at him and grinned broadly.
    Leo dropped to one knee and rubbed the top of its head. It settled and rolled onto its back. He scratched its belly and it wriggled with delight.
    I stood back and let him have his moment.
    ‘I wonder if he’d like to stay,’ Leo said. ‘It would be great to have a dog around.’
    ‘You know we don’t have space back at the Peak,’ I said. The dog grinned at me and wagged its tail. ‘But he really is very cute.’
    Leo rose and picked up the frisbee.
    The dog’s grin widened. Its mouth became wider and wider and its face cracked open into something grotesque and horrible.
    ‘Demon, Leo!’ I shouted. ‘Get down!’
    Leo cast around, looking for the demon.
    The dog shot a ball of flame out of its mouth. I generated a huge ball of chi and threw it at the demon, hitting the fireball and ramming both balls of energy straight into its head.
    The blast knocked Leo off his feet and enveloped him in a cloud of black demon stuff. He lay unmoving on the grass, covered in the black goo.
    I spun to call Mr Chen and crashed straight into him. He shoved me to one side and ran to Leo, falling to his knees next to him.
    Leo started to pull himself upright.
    ‘Down, Leo,’ Mr Chen said. ‘Don’t move until you’re cleaned up. You’re covered in it.’
    Leo fell back onto the grass.
    ‘Are you injured?’ Mr Chen rose again and looked around. ‘ Ah Sum! Ah Say! ’ Leo shook his head.
    ‘Where are they?’ Mr Chen concentrated. ‘Damn! I’ll do it myself.’
    Leo furiously shook his head.
    ‘Remain still, that’s an order,’ Mr Chen said. ‘You know dog essence is three times worse, it needs to come off quickly. Back, Emma, Simone, give me room.’
    I took Simone’s hand and pulled her away. ‘Enough?’
    He nodded. He rose, took a deep breath and lowered his head.
    ‘No, Daddy,’ Simone whispered.
    He put one hand in front of his chest and the other in front of his abdomen. He closed his eyes and his long hair came out of its tie and floated around his head.
    A tiny dark cloud appeared at head height above Leo. Mr Chen took a deep gasping breath and a tornado grew from Leo to the cloud, then a wall of water crashed out of the cloud.
    The water seemed to go on forever. It completely soaked both Leo and Mr Chen, and the wind whipped it around and doused me and Simone with the spray too. I tasted the water as it blew into my face: salty.
    Then the whole thing stopped as if it had never happened. Mr Chen sagged to his knees on the grass. Simone shook my hand free, ran to him and knelt next to him. ‘Are you okay, Daddy?’
    ‘It’s gone, Leo,’ he said.
    Leo sat up. He raised his arms and checked them. He touched his face.
    Mr Chen gasped for breath. ‘Did you get any in your mouth?’
    ‘No, sir,’ Leo said. ‘I’m fine.’
    Mr Chen nodded. ‘Good. Are you injured?’
    ‘No, sir. Emma destroyed the demon before it could hurt anybody. She was terrific.’
    ‘How did it get in?’ I said.
    Mr Chen didn’t get up from the grass. ‘It should not have been able to. I have been building the seals on this place for centuries; they are some of the most effective in existence. The dog demon must have had very powerful assistance to break through.’
    We all shared a look. Simon Wong.
    ‘Are the seals blown now?’ I said.
    ‘No. This one was not big enough. It was just a test. But we will have to be very vigilant; the next one will probably be larger.’
    ‘Where did my chi go?’ I said. ‘It hit the demon and disappeared, but I’m not drained at all. In fact I feel three times stronger.’
    ‘The chi combined with the demon’s energy and fed you. That’s what happens when you destroy a demon with chi; you absorb its