kill him?’ Liz stood still in shock.
‘Don’t know. If you want to talk to him, go and wait under the Narrows Bridge at midnight tonight. I’m not sure if he’ll be there, but it’s worth trying. He was going to meet me there last night but he didn’t show up,’ Mr Dingo was looking worried. A large group of police was approaching the dancing group. ‘Say hello to the Professor for me,’ he called as he led his dancers towards the police. Soon their dancing sticks became weapons against the police batons. Screaming, shouting, and ambulance sirens became too much to bear. Liz, Henry and Sue disappeared into the crowd of bystanders.
‘I still feel bad that we didn’t stay and join the fight with Mr Dingo,’ said Henry.
It was a few hours later in Liz’s bedroom. She had organised for Sue to sleep over so they could go out together later. ‘We have more important issues to deal with. You said that yourself earlier; you didn’t even want to join the protest.’
‘I know. I just wonder if Mr Dingo will be all right,’ said Henry.
‘He’ll be OK.’ Liz sat on her bed, took out the letter from Li, and stared at it.
‘What are you trying to find out? Haven’t we already read it a hundred times?’ said Sue.
‘I don’t know; so many things don’t make sense— if Li has time to teach us Tai Chi for three years, why can’t she tell us what happened to her?’
‘She may not be able to tell us anything in the dream. She could have been attacked while writing the letter. Do you think the people trying to kill the Professor also attacked Li?’
‘I don’t think so. Li is far too powerful for ordinary people. Remember she was fighting thousands of evil monsters.’
Liz took out her pen. ‘I know it’s a magic pen, but I just haven’t had much luck with it. I wish Li had had a bit more time so she could have taught me how to use it.’ She made a few strokes on the piece of paper, and then suddenly shouted. ‘Look what’s happening!’
They were all stunned, watching what happened in front of their eyes; the piece of paper curved and wrinkled as if it was being burnt by an invisible fire. A few seconds later, it stopped, but it was no longer a piece of paper— it had turned into a palm-sized diary.
‘It’s the diary Li mentioned in her letter.’
‘Why didn’t Li give it to us in the first place? If Liz hadn’t touched it with her pen, we’d never have found out the secret.’
‘It could be a precaution to prevent it falling into the wrong hands. Let’s have a look what’s inside.’ Liz opened the diary. It was blank; turning to the second page, she found it was blank, too. ‘So the first three blank pages are the emergency help pages.’
‘Let’s hope we don’t need any emergency help, then,’ growled Henry.
In between the next few pages, Liz found three masks the size of her palm. She spent a few minutes reading the Chinese words in the diary, and then she said. ‘Watch my face carefully.’ Her hand quickly stroked over her face.
Henry and Sue couldn’t help gasping; in front of them, an Asian girl smiled at them shyly. ‘Me no spoke English good.’
‘Wow, that’s incredible!’
‘Can I try your mask?’
‘We have a mask each— and there’s more!’ Liz stroked her face again from her chin to her forehead. To her friends’ surprise, this time she transformed herself into Li Ping. ‘There are a few layers in our magic masks.’
‘Wow! Where’s mine?’ Henry reached for the diary, and Sue tussled him for it.
‘I want to see what I’ve got. Do you think there’s one that would make me look like Anna Sinkovska?’
‘Who?’ Henry found his mask and smoothed it on. ‘What do I look like?’
‘Your science teacher. Quick, change it! What about me?’ Sue pranced, hand on her hip.
‘My grandfather before he shaved his beard off…’
They had a lot of fun trying on their masks until almost midnight.
‘Should we tell Mum what we’re going to do?’ Liz said.
‘Are you crazy? Do you want to lose our new found power and memory?’ Henry almost shouted.
‘Shush, Henry. Liz, your mother will understand one day.’
‘I know. I just feel as if I’m going to do something wrong, sort of guilty.’ Liz raised her hand before Henry opened his mouth. ‘OK, let’s get out as quietly as we can, with masks on.’ She opened her window and climbed out. Henry and Sue followed.
They walked silently on the soft grass along the South Perth foreshore. Occasionally Liz turned and looked at Sue and Henry. Sue’s blond hair had changed into an Irish girl’s red hair, and Henry was a blond surfing boy. Liz knew she had an Asian girl’s black hair. How could the masks change their hair colour? She couldn’t believe how much her life had changed in the last two days; she and her family had gone to enjoy a sunny winter picnic yesterday, and now she was walking along the foreshore at midnight to meet a professor about evil monsters.
The Narrows Bridge was not really narrow. The name referred to its location, the narrowest point of the Swan River. In fact, the bridge was quite wide: apart from a four-lane highway in each direction, there was also a railway track down the middle. The three peered into the shadows under the bridge, illuminated by pale lights on both sides. Nobody was to be seen.
‘What are we going to do now?’
Liz looked at her watch: just a few minutes past midnight. ‘We wait.’
Henry fumbled with his new belt and paced backward and forward. ‘Who do you think is trying to kill Professor Smith?’
‘I don’t think it’s the monsters we encountered yesterday.’
‘I suppose you’re right, because the monsters wouldn’t know who the Professor is. But who else would have a motive to kill him?’
‘We’ll know the answer when the Professor turns up.’
‘That assumes he will turn up.’
‘Relax, will you, Henry? We’ve only been here five minutes.’
‘Let’s assume that it’s somehow related to the evil monsters, so there’s a good chance we may need to combat them tonight. I wish I could use my sword,’ Henry murmured to himself while marching backward and forward. He held the buckle of the belt. ‘I saw Li do this in the dream, just like this, to withdraw the magic sword. Wow— look what I’ve got here!’
A green sword gleamed in Henry’s hand.
‘Could I please have a look?’ Liz said. Henry gave an experimental swipe or two and passed it over reluctantly. It was about five feet long and two inches wide. Liz was unable to tell what kind of material it was made of, but it felt quite light and soft. She shook her wrist, and it made a pleasant humming. It seemed that the belt’s buckle had transformed into the sword’s hilt. It was decorated with a tiger’s body, and the sword grew out of the tiger’s mouth. In the background of the tiger-striped leathery hilt, two green eyes glowed in the dark.
Liz passed the belt sword to Sue, who turned to Henry. ‘How did you withdraw it?’
‘I just did it, pulled it out.’
‘Can you put it back in the belt?’ After a brief examination, Sue gingerly handed the sword back to Henry.
Henry made a series of Tai Chi sword movements; interwoven green circles appeared in the air. Turning it around, he thrust it back into the belt. Like an icicle melting, it dissolved and became a normal black belt again.
‘What a magic belt sword! I wonder if my weapon will suddenly work.’ Sue took her bangle off, throwing it in the air. It spun and grew while making beautiful curves. When it glided back to her hand, it had grown three feet in diameter and shone with golden fire. She gripped the rim of the ring lightly; when her hands rose again, she had a ring in each; one was the original gold and the other glittered silver. ‘Ladies and Gentlemen, the Yin Yang Ring.’
‘It looks beautiful.’ After Sue had shrunk the ring back to a bangle again, Liz examined it closely; although its surface was badly worn, Liz could recognise a golden phoenix curved around its rim.
‘Liz, try
your weapon.’
Taking out her pen and shaking her wrist, Liz saw the brush of her pen suddenly grow longer and thicker, growing fast, like a jet of dark blue water shooting from a hose. In a split second, it grew nine metres long and thick as a tennis ball, a whip emitting rainbow sparkles. As if it was the ribbon in her gymnastics class, Liz shook her wrist, and rainbow loops and circles glittered in mid-air. ‘Ladies and Gentlemen, the dragon whisker whip.’
‘It’s great that our weapons work. Any idea why?’
Shaking her whip into a pen again, Liz thought for a while. ‘I think it has something to do with the magic masks.’
‘Are you telling me that if we take off our masks, our weapons won’t work anymore? I want to try it.’ Henry reached for his mask.
‘It won’t be necessary.’ A voice came from behind one of bridge’s huge pillars.
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