CHAPTER THREE - CLIFFHANGER!

A while later, we arrive at Texas. I decide to stay in the back. I don't want to move at all, and I'm just hiding. Giant mutant Dori has walked off, and I'm all alone. Or so I think. . .

It suddenly feels like a raindrop hit my arm. But it has more of a. . . saliva-ish quality. But soon, it is gone, so I decide that it was my imagination, even though it does feel like something was absorbed into my skin.

I hear something. It sounds like whispering, but not in any human language. But even though. . . strange. I know that it isn't any human language, yet I understand completely. I listen in, hearing:

"Mu Fen Nos Ko Fin Vulon. Nust Fen Neh Mindok!"

Oh, I'm sorry. I forgot that you probably don't know that language. I will translate it for you people in that group.

"We will strike in the night. They will never know!"

A sigh. "No, Kendov. We are sworn to protect them."

The one who must be named Kendov says, "Well, Zin-gro, I'm bored. We've been cooped up in here for two days now. The Great Ones said that we could make ourselves known to them when The One Who Could Speak made him or herself known, but I don't want to wait."

I see something out of the corner of my eye. Well, not really see. I SENSE something looking at me.

I turn around, but nobody is there. Yet the feeling still exists. I decide to go with my instincts and close my eyes. Suddenly, I can see. But my eyes are still closed. And there is something in front of me that looks like. . . a dragon?"

"Well, Zin-gro, I don't care about your rules," it says. "I'm just going to grab a quick bite to eat, like maybe this tender human morsel. . ."

"Stop," I say, using the language that they have been speaking. "I don't care what you want, because I can burn you. Now, I can tell that your name means Fighter, and that his," I say, gesturing towards the other one, "means Honor Bound. And those seem to fit."

Now both have stopped talking. I am waiting calmly for one of them to respond. The one named Kendov looks around, obviously embarrassed. Zin-Gro says, "So it's you. You are The One Who Can Speak."

"I guess so," I say. "But it isn't very easy. Could we please switch to English? Draconian is difficult for one who has never used it before."

"Of course," says Zin-Gro in a perfect British accent.

"I knew that you could speak English," I say. "I don't even know how, but I knew that you could. Wait a second. . . how long have you two been back here?"

"Ummm, well. . . that's hard to say. We have been in the back of the van ever since. . . oh, when was it? Two days ago? Two days since we 'woke up,' yes. The man who owned the van would torture kids by putting us all over them. I remember. . . oh. Ow. I am sorry now. I was always partially peaceful, but. . . ooh." Zin-Gro winced. "Anyways, the man called us. . . he called me a 'snake' and called Kendov a 'rabid squirrel'. We were not very kind. But that day. . . I remember. Suddenly, I felt. . . awake. Like I had been sleeping for so long, and had finally awakened. Then, a lot of pain. I grew tiny wings from my back, and the guy in the front of the van. . . I saw him stumble out of the van. He looked at his hands and screamed. Then, he just. . . melted. When I was done being in pain, a thought popped into my head: I'm a dragon. I had no idea what it meant. Then I fell asleep. I had a vision, and saw a Dragon Queen, and she breathed knowledge into me. Then, we were told the prophecy, and told to protect those whom we met when we woke up. Then we woke up. And we saw you people."

"Okay, that's great, but. . . uhhh. . . could you please try turning visible?"

"Oh, yes, I forgot that normal human eyes can not see us."

What I can see of them with my eyes closed seems to change slightly. I open my eyes, and I can see them. And I realize that I was seeing their consciousnesses before. Not a shape, but I could tell what they were.

Zin-Gro is a colorful, amazing Chinese dragon. He has a typical body for a Chinese dragon, but scaled down to about six feet long. Kendov, however, is a Western dragon. A fire-breathing, two-foot-tall Western Dragon.

Suddenly, there's a noise coming from the back door behind me. Kendov snaps his head around, then hunkers down, ready to pounce.

As the door is flung open, Kendov swoops out, He opens his mouth wide. . .

And clamps down on Jack's shoulder.

"OWW!" Jack yells.

I jump out and go up to him. It's a small bite wound, but it's still bleeding. When I see the blood, everything seems to convulse around me. I look around, surprised, and the wound makes a bubbling noise. The blood coming out stops, and the wound just. . . seals up.

Then I see Zin-Gro next to Jack, with his tail wrapped around Jack's arm. Zin-Gro seems to shrug somehow, using his whole body. "Apparently I can heal stuff. Awesome."

"Um. . . are you trying to pick up slang?" I ask.

"Well. . . yes. I am. I don't know, I just want to be able to speak to you in the way that you speak. That way, I can understand you, and you can understand me."

Jack interrupts, saying, "D-D-D-D-Dragons! Awesome!"

I sigh. "Yes, Jack. Awesome. But. . ."

I suddenly have a vision. Several images, all flashing by too quickly to fully process immediately, and then the images slow down. I realize that I'm watching a bunch of footage of my entire life, being fast-forwarded to today. I see the dragons, and suddenly it starts speeding up again. It is going fast, but I can still see a few things. A giant clawed foot - the same one that crushed our bus - standing in a pile of rubble. That rubble looks familiar. . . I think. But before I can think more, I see another disturbing image: Body Slugs everywhere. It looks like the inside of a nest. Well, a cave that Body Slugs live in. Then, there's Jack. His skin has turned red, and is growing, stretching. He has something. . . WRONG with him, I think. Either that, or he is a dragonborn. . . But wait. One last image. Me standing in a pile of rubble that looks like. . . the White House? I stand there, wide-eyed, as my other self pulls out a bazooka and fires. There is a loud roar, and a sound that sounds like a brief earthquake. Then, my self looks around, and seems to be crying. My self runs up to someone on the ground, seemingly crying. He holds someone's hand, talking to whoever it is for a short amount of time, and the person goes limp. Then, after lying on the ground crying for about five minutes, he goes over to a big lever, does something with it, and pulls it. There is a blinding white light, and everything goes black.

Suddenly, I wake up. I can already feel my consciousness slipping away. I'm lying on one of the seats in the back. I see Mhairi taking care of me. Wait, what?

I don't have time. I manage to tap her on the side, getting her attention, and say, "Go to the White House. Soon. Maybe not immediately." Then, before passing out, I realize that the rubble was Brook's house. "And leave as fast as you can." Then everything fades to black.

While I'm out, though, some unstable DNA causes some very extreme changes. . .

CHARACTER DESCRIPTIONS - CHAPTER THREE

FRIENDLY-

Zin-Gro - Chinese dragon.

Kendov - Western dragon.

Brook - Daniel's girlfriend. Frodite, Healer. If she and Daniel are in a bedroom together, don't go in. The sock on the door is implied.

ENEMIES-

No new enemies.