Chapter 3
"Xiao Hei! Xiao Hei!" Zheng yelled. She could see from here that her house was destroyed. There must be hundreds of demons and monsters hovering in the air around it. She had left Xiao Hei there alone. She felt her stomach clench in fear, and started running towards her house again.
She almost made it to her porch before a neighbor grabbed her, dragging her backwards.
"You can't go in there! It's too dangerous!" said the man who owned the fabric shop next door.
"Let me go!" Zheng demanded. "I have to get Xiao Hei!" She wrestled out of his grasp, and ran towards her front door.
Just then Xiao Hei came stumbling out of the building, carrying the Magic Screen on his back. His clothing looked shredded and singed. He had a cut on his cheek, and his face was blackened with soot. Zheng ran to him, trying to help him out into the street.
"Take the screen!" Xiao Hei panted desperately, limping towards her.
She could hear a guttural growl coming from inside the building that sent shivers down her spine. A monstrous face appeared in the doorway. Two yellow tusks protruded above his lips, which were curled in a snarl. His bristly hair was shaped into a stripe down the center of his head, the bare skin a mottled greenish-grey in color. His ears jutted out like bat wings, much higher than his skull, decorated with a single red ball which bobbled as he moved. He stalked forward, his malevolent gaze fixed on Xiao Hei. He hadn't yet noticed Zheng Xue Jing.
"Magic Screen, lock up this demon!" Zheng yelled, lunging forward to place her hand on the screen.
The monster's face turned to look at her in panic, then started to run away, too late. A swirling vortex of magic sucked him into the screen which was glowing with orange light.
A raspy voice shouted from inside the house. "It's the girl! The girl has the screen!"
There followed a great noise of bodies clambering in the opposite direction. Zheng ran inside, beckoning to Xiao Hei to follow her, chasing the retreating demonic figures.
"Magic Screen, lock up these demons!" She screamed at the top of her lungs, pointing at the demons on the staircase with one hand, and holding onto the Magic Screen with the other. A few more demons were sucked into the orange glow of the screen.
She dragged Xiao Hei along behind her, holding onto the screen like a lifeline, running headlong up the staircase. Most of the roof was gone, splintered beams from the roof joists littered the floor, and the walls leaned at a dangerous tilt. In the open sky above, she could see demonic shapes all around flying away from her house, fleeing the screen.
"Magic Screen, lock up these demons!" Zheng yelled again, pointing up into the air.
The magic swirled yet again, the vortex widening out into a two block radius, sucking in the demons that it touched. Zheng sank to her knees, her energy draining out of her as she strove to push the range of the magical vortex. There were many demons who had fled outside of the radius. She glared in frustration at the retreating figures.
Gritting her teeth, she poured as much energy as she could muster into the screen, seeking to expand her range through sheer force of will. The wooden floor rushed up to meet her, right before the world turned black.