Chapter 1

Marinette Dupain-Cheng sat in the airport, waiting. It was a Saturday morning in Paris and dappled light was shining bright through the airport windows between the grey clouds that were forming.

She was here with her parents to pick up her cousin who was coming from China to stay with them for a while.

"Now remember, Marinette. Lee is probably a bit shaken right now. Between his parents going missing and traveling to a new country. We want to make him feel as warm and welcome as possible while he is staying with us, okay?" Tom Dupain-Cheng said to his daughter.

"Of course, dad," she replied back.

"That's my girl," Tom said with a smile then looked thoughtful. "You don't remember your cousin do you?"

Marinette shook her head. The only time she had met him was when her family traveled to China when she was little, she barely remembered him at all.

"Well, I'm sure you two will find something to talk about, he's only a few years older than you, after all." Tom said. "He was learning English the last I heard and that was a long time ago."

His daughter didn't look too sure. "I don't know, dad. I feel like I'm always embarrassing myself… I'll probably say something wrong and make him feel bad."

"Nonsense, you'll be fine," her dad said reassuringly, then looked at the passengers arriving from the last plane. "Oh look, there he is now."

Tom and his wife, Sabine got up from their seats and began walking over to greet Lee. Marinette followed blindly, trusting that her parents knew what he looked like.

As the crowd dispersed a bit, they were able to get to Lee.

"Welcome to Paris, Lee," Sabine said. "I hope you are comfortable here."

"Thank you, Aunt Sabine." The young man said, his voice quiet and stiff, obviously just as shy as Marinette was feeling.

Marinette was finally able to see what her cousin looked like. He was Chinese with yellow-green eyes and blond hair with brown highlights. He was wearing a formal-looking blue shirt with navy blue buttons down the front, black pants, and a green jacket with a shiny scale-like texture. A silver snake-shaped armlet was coiled around his arm. He appeared to have subtle green eyeshadow on his eyelids and some black eyeliner on his upper lids.

He was carrying two heavy-looking luggage bags.

"Hi, I'm Marinette!" She said to Lee then gestured to his bags. "You want some help?"

"No." Lee answered simply. "...Thank you, but I can handle them myself."

"Oh, um, okay," Marinette said, putting her hands behind her back, starting to feel more awkward than she was feeling before.

"Are you sure? I'm sure you're exhausted from your long flight, and those bags must be very heavy," Sabine offered.

Lee nodded. "It's alright. I'm fine."

"Well alright, come on then, the car is just parked outside," Tom said, walking to the exit.

Sabine and Marinette followed, Lee following close behind.

Marinette sighed.

I think I already messed things up, she thought to herself. Oh well, maybe things can't get any worse, then.

As she and her family left, a mysterious young man left the terminal that Lee's plane's passengers came from.

He murmured under his breath to his dark red jacket's pocket. "Lee doesn't understand the danger he has entered, my friend. We have to warn him."

"Well then we must do it quickly!"A small voice from his jacket pocket said quietly. "Before it's too late!"

"No," the young man said. "Not now. We must wait. We can't risk exposing our identity yet. But soon. Very soon."