‘But you didn’t do one,’ Roland said.
‘No. She was taught by me,’ John said.
‘Oh,’ Roland said softly.
I worked through the rest of the set, finished and saluted. I was greeted with complete silence.
I looked at my parents; their faces were frozen in masks of restraint. They weren’t impressed at all.
John and Simone smiled indulgently.
Roland grinned like an idiot.
‘Emma,’ John said, ‘show it to Roland at full speed.’
‘Some of it’s meant to be done slow.’
‘Show him the fast bits at full speed.’
‘Okay.’
That didn’t take much time at all; at full speed I moved through the set very quickly. My hands were a blur.
I stopped and saluted again. Once again there was complete silence.
Then, ‘I couldn’t see your hands,’ my mother whispered.
Roland had a huge smile on his face and tears ran down his cheeks. He spun and went out. ‘Don’t go anywhere,’ he called from the hallway. ‘I’ll be right back.’
‘Roland’s seen Michael do energy work. Do some for your parents,’ John said.
‘Okay,’ I said. ‘Do you want to see me throw energy?’
‘What does it involve?’ my father said.
‘I take some of my personal energy and push it outside my body. It’s difficult to explain. Might be better if I just showed you. Don’t be scared, I won’t hurt you. If it bothers you, just say so and I’ll stop.’
Both my parents stiffened but remained silent.
‘You sure you want to see?’ I said.
‘Show us,’ my father said, and my mother nodded.
I generated a small ball of chi, only about the size of a tennis ball. I held it on my hands and waited as they became accustomed to it.
‘Okay?’ I said.
My mother nodded. My father didn’t move.
I lifted the chi and floated it around the room. I didn’t move it close to them.
‘Generate another the same size,’ John said.
I hesitated. I’d never tried that before. I put the chi into the centre of the room and left it there, hovering. I held my hands still and concentrated and, to my surprise, managed another one. I moved it off my hands and put it near the first one. Now there were two balls of energy hovering in the centre of the room.
‘Do you think you could produce a third?’ he said.
‘Let me try.’
‘If it gets away from you then drop it,’ John said quickly.
I nodded and concentrated, and produced a third ball. I moved it next to the other two. I tried something; I made them spin vertically around a common axis, like a little Ferris wheel.
‘Cool,’ Simone said softly.
‘Merge them,’ John said without moving.
I pulled them closer together and they joined to form a larger ball of chi.
‘Now separate them again.’
I concentrated and the ball of chi split into three smaller balls again, still spinning. I didn’t have it perfect, each ball of chi was a slightly different size.
Roland came in and stopped dead. ‘Wah!’
‘Make them blue,’ John said.
I concentrated. They went from gold to green, then greenish-blue. I lost it completely: the chi snapped back and hit me in the middle of the stomach, knocking me flat.
Simone burst out laughing, but my parents rushed to me, concerned.
‘Are you okay, sweetheart?’ my mother said as my father lifted me.
‘Yeah, I’m fine,’ I said. ‘Happens all the time when I’m working with energy. It’s on an invisible rubber band. If I lose control, it snaps back and knocks me flat.’ I gestured towards John and Simone who were clutching each other with delight. ‘They think it’s really hilarious.’
‘Well it is, silly Emma,’ Simone said, still giggling.
‘She’s right, you know, Emma,’ John said. He sobered. ‘Oh. You should know — only Immortals can do that. Humans can’t work with more than one chi ball at the same time. Or change the colour. Well done.’
‘Damn,’ I said softly.
Roland saluted me, falling to one knee. ‘Lady.’
‘Oh, for God’s sake, cut it out, Roland,’ I said. ‘I’m not any sort of Immortal.’
‘You certainly look like one to me, Lady,’ Roland said with a huge grin. ‘If you were Chinese I would swear that you were the Lady Yim Wing Chun herself. Or more likely her teacher Ng Mui.’
‘Oh, thank you very much,’ I said. ‘What next?’
‘Me,’ Leo said, coming through the door with two staves. He threw the smaller one to me.
‘Now this is more like it,’ I said. ‘I haven’t beaten Leo up in quite a while.’
‘I’ve been learning, Emma,’ Leo said, readying himself. ‘Bet you a day’s guard duty I can take you.’
‘You are on!’ I said with delight. ‘I haven’t had a proper day off since I finished my thesis.’
‘Whoa, whoa, wait a minute there,’ my father said loudly. ‘Leo’s much taller than Emma and must weigh three times what she does. This is hardly fair!’
‘You are quite right, Brendan,’ John said. ‘Not a fair match at all.’ He concentrated.
Michael appeared in the doorway, holding a staff.
‘This is more like it,’ John said with satisfaction.
‘All bets are off if I’m facing both of them,’ I said. ‘Michael’s half Shen.’
‘Double or nothing,’ Leo said.
‘Come on, Emma, give it a try,’ John said. ‘We might even be able to bring the snake out.’
I gestured towards Michael. ‘He’s half goddamn Shen!’
Michael grinned and saluted me, holding the staff.
‘She’ll fight both of them?’ my mother said softly.
‘Yes!’ Roland said. ‘I have a video camera in my office. Wait! Please!’
‘There are a hundred and fifty demons out there waiting for you,’ I said.
‘Let them wait,’ he said. ‘I don’t think this will take long.’
Roland came back with a video camera. ‘Move into the big room.’
‘But there are students in there!’ I protested.
‘Tell them you taught her,’ John said to Roland.
‘They wouldn’t believe me, Your Highness,’ Roland said. ‘I’d have to tell them that she taught me.’
‘That would work,’ John said. He pulled himself up off the floor and took Simone’s hand. ‘Let’s go.’
‘You know Emma’s only been learning off the Dark Lord for