Light's Fright (formerly Lightwielder in China)

Warning (Chapter 2)

Chapter: Warning

I get off the airplane after an excruciating 13 hours of pure punishment and breathe my first breath of fresh air. Or not so fresh as much as air. I gag on the smog and airborne dust.

The escalator out of the airport is broken, so I have to drag my suitcase around. After ten steps, I lift the suitcase high over my head and say, "Make way! Crazy American coming through!" Amazingly enough, everyone lets me pass.

The airport in Danville was pretty small. Here in Beijing, you need to take trams to go get your luggage, which is not even on the other side of the airport. I think this place is the size of a small village in America.

The next part saddens me a little bit. I've gone through all the checks, got my luggage, and am leaving the airport when I notice everyone else is meeting up with someone on the other side waiting for them. I see now there's a bunch of families who were on my trip and now they're being reunited. Everyone is smiling and chattering joyously to who they know. I am alone when everyone else has another here. This feels wrong somehow.

I stumble out and grab a taxi. Its around midnight. The "haunting hour." Honestly, there's a lot of things here that could probably hurt me that I've never even heard about.

My driver surprises me by being able to speak fluent English very well. So much for emergency Chinese lessons on board the plane. "You're from America, right? Do you have family here?"

"I guess, but they're very distantly related. I'm actually here looking for someone else. " I answered.

Mr. Taxi Driver gives me a look. "Don't go searching for certain things, Savanna Stephenson. And if in the dark a loved one's voice asks you to turn on your flashlight while looking behind you, ignore it and run away as fast as you can away."

"Who are you?" I asked in disbelief.

Reptilian eyes glowed back at me now from the taxi driver and he had scales up and down his neck. His back had two growing bumps on it.

I swallowed hard. "You're a dragon!"

"And....?" his voice had almost a purr to it.

I gulped again. "You're also one of the ten percent of dragons who can read minds?"

"That's better, Savanna Stephenson." the taxi screeched to a halt. "I believe this is your stop."

I paid him and exited the car quickly after I grabbed my stuff. He sped away at crazy speed and left me all alone in nearly complete darkness at midnight.