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close up you need them for.’
    ‘Damn,’ John said softly.
    ‘I’m surprised you haven’t complained of headaches from the eye strain,’ I said. John’s face was miserable.
    ‘Healing himself.’ Leo sighed with exasperation. ‘Take him down to Central tomorrow to buy some reading glasses before he wastes all of his energy.’
    ‘We’re going to Hennessy Road right now. Can you guard Simone for us?’ I said.
    ‘Sure.’
    I stopped in the doorway. ‘How come you wear reading glasses, Leo? You’re too young to need them yet, aren’t you?’
    ‘It’s ‘cause I’m such a brainiac,’ Leo said.
    John drove in silence along Magazine Gap Road towards Admiralty. The city lights glittered between the trees. He carefully negotiated the winding turns as we went down the steep hill.
    ‘It’s not that big a deal,’ I said.
    He didn’t reply.
    We meandered through the highrises and took the overpass into Garden Road. Old Government House sat on the left, empty now that there was no Governor. The Chief Executive chose not to live there because of the poor fung shui. The towers of Admiralty loomed above us, still bright with office lights.
    ‘John.’
    He ignored me.
    ‘John, you just need to guard your energy. Be careful. If you want to go to Paris sooner, tell us.’ I turned in my seat to see his face. It was rigid with control.
    He turned into Queens Road, four lanes both ways and still full of buses and taxis. He pushed his way through the stop-start traffic onto Hennessy Road, then eased into one of the dark, narrow side streets to enterthe building’s car park. One of the demon guards smiled, opened the door and waved us in. A large sign next to the entrance warned that it was private parking only.
    The Hennessy Road building was perfect for our purposes. It had been built in the mid-seventies, and the external walls were covered with tan tiles. Each floor was about two hundred square metres, and there was a floor of shops on the ground level, with two basement car park levels. We’d kept the shops; they provided the building with camouflage. A fashion boutique and a stationery shop leased the ground floor units, both run by friendly Shen who lived as humans.
    There was only one van left in the car park; all the other human workmen had gone home. John didn’t even bother parking in a space; he just left the car in the middle.
    After we’d climbed out of the car I stopped him with my hand on his sleeve. ‘Are you embarrassed about needing glasses?’
    He sighed with feeling. ‘It was one thing having clothing bought and made. It was another dealing with human weaknesses and needs. But this…’ He pulled his arm away, turned and looked into my eyes. ‘This is my effectiveness as a warrior. If I can’t see well, how can I defend you and Simone?’
    ‘Okay,’ I said. ‘Easy. If you closed your eyes and worked blind, what’s the highest level of demon you could take down?’
    ‘I could take down the King himself without needing to see.’
    ‘How many Snake Mothers could you take down blind?’
    He smiled sadly. ‘You’re right, Emma. You’re always right. I don’t need my eyes.’
    ‘See? It’s not that big a deal. And when we’re in Central tomorrow, you are not going to give me a hardtime. Instead, you are going to sit quietly and let them test your eyes.’ ‘Yes, ma’am.’
    ‘Now let’s see Gold about your Academy.’ He turned and gestured for me to lead. ‘ Our Academy, Emma.’
    ‘Do you have any idea how good that sounds?’ He grinned. ‘Yes.’
    Gold met us at the lift lobby, smiling and jolly as ever. He wore a tan polo shirt and a pair of tan slacks, setting off his golden-brown hair. ‘Come up to the fifth floor. We’re nearly finished there.’
    Like most Hong Kong buildings, the Hennessy Road tower didn’t have a fourth floor. ‘Is there a fourth floor at all?’
    ‘Nope, fourth is skipped,’ Gold said. ‘Do you want to renumber the floors? We can have the lifts