She came to me and kissed me too. ‘Good morning, Emma.’
‘Good morning, sweetheart.’
‘What are we going to do today?’
‘Well, yesterday I bought some paints and paper and scissors and glue and stuff, so I thought we might make things today.’
Simone lit up as she pulled herself onto her chair. ‘Really? We can make things? And paint?’
I nodded. ‘And then if Leo doesn’t have to go anywhere, we’re going to teach him how to play snap.’
Simone squealed with delight. ‘Are you going anywhere today, Leo?’
‘I’m taking Monica to the market this morning, but after that I can play while Mr Chen goes out to a meeting,’ Leo said, his deep voice warm with pleasure.
‘Mr Chen’s going to a meeting?’ I said.
Leo nodded. ‘He’ll be back after that and he’ll spend the afternoon in the training room.’
‘Guarding his energy?’ Simone said.
Leo frowned and shook his head.
Simone’s little face fell. ‘Sorry.’
Leo took her hand and squeezed it. ‘Yes. Then he’ll teach you at three o’clock, and Emma can take a break.’
Simone lit up again, and turned to me with a broad smile. ‘It’s going to be so fun having you here, Emma.’
‘I think so too, sweetheart,’ I said.
‘Gin,’ Simone said triumphantly and placed her cards on the table.
Leo threw his cards down. ‘Not fair, you keep beating me.’
‘Leo.’ Simone bent forward, her little face intense. ‘Please stop letting me win, it’s not fair. It’s not fair on you and it’s not fair on me. I don’t want to win all the time, and it makes you sad when you lose.’
Leo grinned broadly. ‘You know what, Simone?’
‘What?’
He bent to look mischievously at her. ‘I’m not letting you win at all.’
Her little eyes unfocused for a second, then went wide. ‘You’re telling the truth!’
He leaned back, still grinning. ‘That’s right. You’re winning fair and square.’
Simone giggled and patted his arm. ‘Then I have to let you win sometimes, silly Leo.’
I gathered the cards together. ‘Didn’t you just say that it’s not fair to let someone win, Simone?’
Simone’s eyes unfocused again for a moment. ‘Miss Lee is here.’
I checked my watch. ‘No, she isn’t due for another ten minutes or so.’
Monica tapped on the door and opened it. ‘Piano teacher’s here, Emma. She’s in the music room waiting for Simone.’
Simone sighed. ‘I’d rather play with you and Leo.’
I looked at her. ‘Remember what I said, Simone. If you ever want to give up piano or violin because it’s not fun any more, you just say so. Your dad doesn’t want you doing anything you don’t enjoy.’
Simone pulled herself to her feet. ‘No, I like playing the piano, it’s fun. It’s just that the practice gets a bit boring sometimes.’
‘I have a session with Mr Chen in the training room,’ Leo said, and rose to tower above me.
Simone’s eyes unfocused again. ‘Yep, he’s waiting for you, doing katas.’
‘Wait.’ I raised one hand. ‘You know where your dad is without looking, Simone? And you knew Miss Lee had arrived?’
‘I have to go to piano lesson, Emma,’ Simone said cheekily. ‘Ask Leo.’
Leo moved to the doorway. ‘Ask me about it later, Emma.’
I snorted with exasperation. ‘When later?’
‘Oh…’ He waved one hand airily. ‘In about three weeks?’ He turned and went out, still grinning.
I slapped my forehead with the deck of cards and put them back into the box.
After I’d tidied the rest of Simone’s toys I went up the hall to the kitchen to get a cup of tea.
The door to the training room was ajar and I stopped to peer in without being seen. Leo and Mr Chen were there together. Only glimpses of them were visible as they moved around the room, but their reflections appeared in the mirrored wall as well.
Leo had a sword, and he fiercely attacked Mr Chen with it. Mr Chen was unarmed and I felt a jolt of concern for him, then saw with relief after a couple of minutes that he had no difficulty at all evading Leo’s attacks; he even managed to strike Leo a few times.
Leo moved with the grace of a cat. He was extremely fast and flexible for such a big guy.
But Mr Chen would have made a cat look clumsy. He was magnificent. He moved so fast he was a blur. His long hair flew behind him as he spun and kicked Leo in the abdomen, knocking him flat and spinning the sword out of his hand.
Leo pulled himself to his feet. ‘What level would that have been equivalent to?’
‘Forty,’ Mr Chen said.
‘Damn.’ Leo retrieved the sword. ‘I need to be able to take at least up to sixty. What if a Mother comes after her?’
‘You are human, Leo,’ Mr Chen said. ‘You have human limitations.’ He saw me watching through the gap in the doorway and his face went rigid. He came to the door and closed it with a click.
I wandered back towards my room, deep in thought. Leo was human?
About two weeks later, two teenagers turned up to learn from Mr Chen. They were about sixteen years old, a Chinese boy and a European girl. I didn’t see them arrive; it was as if they’d always been there. I couldn’t get a single word out of either of them when I tried to talk to them; they both pointedly ignored me.
After they’d been there a couple of days, sharing meals with us and still not talking to me, Leo pulled me aside. ‘Stop talking to them.’
‘I was just being friendly.’
He grimaced. ‘They’ve given up a lot to learn off Mr Chen. It’s the most important thing in the world for them. And they’ve been told that if they talk to you, they’re out.’
‘What?’
‘They’re here to learn, Emma. Leave them alone. If either of them says a single word to you, they’ll lose it all.’
‘That’s not fair.’
‘That’s the way it is. Stop trying to talk to them; you’ll only get them into trouble. Okay?’
I shrugged. ‘I don’t think it’s very fair, but okay, if that’s what everybody wants.’
‘It is.’
‘Going to tell me how they fit into the big secret?’
‘Nope,’ he said, and gestured down the hallway. ‘Simone’s waiting for you to bath her and read her a story.’
I poked him in the chest with my finger. ‘You will tell me what’s going on here, Mr Alexander.’
‘Yes, I will, Miss Donahoe, but not right now.’
I snorted with exasperation and stomped off to Simone’s room.
‘Can you tell me anything at all about what your dad does, Simone?’ I said as I tucked her in and pulled out her favourite storybook. ‘When he’s at home, he’s either locked in the training room or in his office. I hardly see him to ask him. And Leo won’t tell me.’
‘I promised them I wouldn’t,’ Simone said, snuggling further under the quilt. ‘You have to ask them.’
I sighed. ‘I want to know what’s going on.’
‘I want you to know too. None of the aunties and uncles can come over ‘cause you don’t know about them. I miss Uncle Bai. We can’t do any of the special fun stuff. Daddy even had a big argument with Leo about getting the students in ‘cause Leo said they’d do something special and you’d see it.’
‘What sort of special stuff can they do?’
She shook her head with a small smile. ‘I promised.’
When Simone was sleeping I went up the hallway to the kitchen and stopped. The door to the training room was glowing; a golden light leaked around it.