Chapter 11: Sooty Dragons and Dandelion Wine
What, no reviews for last chapter? Yeah, okay, I get that you might be busy or weren't interested in reviewing, and it's not like I won't post a new chapter if you don't-I'm not that desperate for attention-but some feedback would be nice every now and then. That's all.
As for the facts on Chinese death row prisoners and dandelion wine, yeah, they're true. I looked up a lot of different sources before putting them in the chapter. And while one of them was Wikipedia, I did look up news articles and documentaries about both topics. So you can't say I'm not thorough.
And if this chapter seems a little rushed, I'm sorry. I was rather rushed writing this. But whatever; on with the chapter!
Jack Spicer had never been one to simply answer the summons of one of his enemies. He was a busy criminal genius, after all. Yet here he was outside an ice cream parlor in Canada. He couldn't understand why the people he was meeting chose this place, but from what Jack had gathered from their resumes they were frequent travelers.
So here he was, eating a bowl of cookie dough ice cream outside in the sunshine with Wuya hovering around scaring small children away from the table.
"Glad you could join us, Jack," a silky smooth voice said. It sent chills down his spine. Jack looked up to see Theo and Hazel standing in front of his table, both holding bowls of their own ice cream in hand.
"What do you want?" Jack snarled as evilly as he could. Theo rolled his eyes as the twins sat down. Hazel put a small bundle in the middle of the table, wrapped in some rough brown cloth. Jack eyed it curiously.
"We have a proposition for you," Hazel said pleasantly as Theo tucked a napkin over his white shirt. Jack still wanted to know where he got that awesome X-Files shirt.
"What kind of proposition, my dear?" Wuya asked in her sleazy voice. She hovered in front of the bundle, caressing it slightly. "Is this…"
"That's right." Theo unwrapped the bundle to reveal the Fist of Tebigong and the Falcon's Eye. Jack ogled it as Hazel gingerly slid the Ring of the Nine Dragons off her finger. She put it right in front of Jack's bowl.
Jack stared at the two artifacts before narrowing his eyes at Hazel. "What's the catch?"
"There really isn't much of one," she said before spooning strawberry ice cream into her mouth.
"The Fist of Tebigong is too basic of a Shen Gong Wu for us," Theo explained. "It doesn't fit with our personalities. And the Ring of the Nine Dragons…" He shuddered. Jack raised an eyebrow.
"It doesn't suit me as well as I thought," Hazel said quickly. "But there is a small catch to all of this, Spicer."
"We want you to test something for us," Theo said, wiping his face free of rocky road.
Jack looked back and forth between the two twins. The way they talked together like that was way too unnerving. Not that he'd ever show it. "If it's an experiment, then you came to the right person. My only question is why."
"We want you to make the game more interesting," Hazel said, an evil smile spreading across her face.
Valerie was nearly done with all her chores. After helping Omi wash the dishes from lunch, all she had to do was help Clay pull up weeds in the gardens. Then she could finish that Barry Lyga book. But first she had to find the cowboy so she didn't end up doing all the work.
Valerie went searching in the dorms first, since it was quite likely that Clay was napping on such a fine day like this. His room had all the comforts of his home back in Texas: a wooden trunk full of clothes and a spare cowboy hat, some rope for his lassos, an old saddle that was meant for a horse. There was even a square rug in there that was placed right under the bed mat, a warm tan thing with horses galloping across the cloth.
But when Valerie walked in, she was surprised to see the bed mat pushed off to the side. She was also surprised to see Clay doing yoga on his rug.
Clay, with his cowboy hat on like always, was planking somewhat on the ground, his head and torso up in the cobra position. Then he lifted both his legs up and grabbed them with his hands. He held himself in that circle position, straining against the pain.
Valerie crossed her arms and leaned her shoulder against the wall with an amused smile on her face as she watched Clay hold that position for ten…twenty…thirty seconds before he flopped to the ground in a heap. As he panted from the effort, she said, "Never took you for a yoga guy."
Clay gave a start before chuckling. He rolled to lie on his back and smiled up at her. "What, a cowboy can't do yoga?"
"I never said that," Valerie said as she helped Clay up. "It just doesn't fit your image is all."
Clay tipped his hat. "Then I probably shouldn't mention that I like poetry."
Valerie giggled. "I won't tell anyone if you don't want me to."
He waved a large hand. "Oh, no, tell them. I doubt they'll believe you, but go ahead."
She gave him a half-smile. "Come on, we got weeds to pull."
Valerie was all for doing her final chore in companionable silence. It was a rather nice day out to be outside in the large gardens: the clouds blocked out the harsh sunlight and there was a nice breeze playing with the loose hair out of her braid. But if Clay wanted to talk while they worked, she was all for it.
"I've heard some real funny stories about China," Clay mused out loud as he gathered dandelions into one of the many woven baskets.
"Like what?" Valerie asked absentmindedly.
"Oh, you know the usual. Communism, talk bad 'bout the government and you'll go missing, people eatin' dogs."
"Really? I've mainly heard stories of death row criminals having their organs harvested so doctors could give transplants to hospital patients," Valerie stated. When Clay didn't respond, she looked over to find him staring at her with a shocked and disgusted look on his face. "What?"
"Where'd you hear that?"
"I looked up things about China before I came here," she said, shrugging her shoulders. "Didn't you?"
"I never saw that on the Internet!"
"It was in some documentary about the black market."
"I never saw a documentary like that on the Internet!"
Valerie sighed. Clay was obviously hung up about this. She had to change the subject. "Another thing about Chinese culture is that they eat dandelions."
Clay raised an eyebrow (from the subject change or from the subject in general, she didn't know). "Really?"
"Yeah, you can eat it raw or boiled in a salad," Valerie stated as she put some of the weeds in question in the basket. "It's got vitamin A, C, and K and calcium, potassium, iron, and manganese."
"You're a regular encyclopedia, you know that?"
Valerie smiled and continued: "You can use the flower petals to make dandelion wine, and the ground, roasted roots can be used as caffeine-free dandelion coffee. They were once delicacies among Victorian gentry in salads and sandwiches, and are one of the ingredients in root beer."
Clay blinked. "You found all that while lookin' up China."
Valerie shrugged sheepishly. "I looked up China, then I found an article about some Chinese soft drink, then another article about the cuisine, and then…" Clay could fill in the rest.
Clay studied her for a minute. "You got all that off of Wikipedia, didn't you?"
Valerie was about to lie when she heard a whirring sound come from above. The winds coming from the sleek black helicopter blew leaves off the trees in the garden and sent waves through the grass. Bronze Jack-Bots hovered downward, aiming their laser cannons at the two monks.
Jack Spicer!" Clay hissed as the boy genius himself hovered down with his own hover pack. "Come to steal our Shen Gong Wu?"
"Why? You only got, like, three of them," Jack snorted. Valerie glared at him; that was low. "But to be perfectly honest, the criminal mastermind Jack Spicer wants to test his new Jack-Bots. And who better than on his mortal enemies?"
"Did you just refer to yourself in the third person?" Valerie sniped at him.
Jack blanched. "A-all evil geniuses do that!"
"Yeah, right before they get their butt whooped," Clay taunted, an evil little smirk on his face.
"I don't have time for this. Jack-Bots attack!" Jack yelled, pressing the activation button on his watch. The swarm of robots was immediately upon them, laser cannons firing from their chests.
"EARTH!" Clay yelled and immediately grabbed a Jack-Bot by the cannon and threw it at another Jack-Bot. With a mighty kick he put a hole through a robot and threw the body at another robot, making it explode.
"AETHER!" Valerie shouted as she landed on top of a Jack-Bot and swerved it towards another robot. The two collided and exploded and Valerie cart wheeled through the air and landed on another Jack-Bot. She tore off its head and pushed it aside. "Aw, poor thing's losing his head!" she taunted as it exploded.
Jack gave a great sigh. "You know, I wasn't really looking for a fight, but I guess I have to. Fist of Tebigong!" A metal fist was swung at Valerie's head, but she back flipped out of the way.
"Jack Spicer, you no good varmint!" Clay growled as he punched another Jack-Bot. "You don't hit girls!"
"Chivalry's dead, Clay!" Valerie told him sharply, even though she didn't want to. She turned to Jack and struck a fighting pose. "Why do you have the Fist of Tebigong? Last time I checked Hazel used it to kick your ass."
"I'm doing a little bit of research for her," Jack explained. "I do that in exchange for some Shen Gong Wu. Fist of Tebigong!" Jack threw a punch at Valerie, which she quickly dodged. Using shadow boxing she did a few quick jabs at Jack's stomach.
He spluttered and backed away, but then he swung again. Valerie ducked down and gave his chin a painful uppercut. Jack backed away, tears in his eyes. He said, "Okay, cheating time! Jack-Bots, attack!"
Valerie whirled around to see two Jack-Bots after her. She flipped towards them and landed on one of them. The other robot turned its laser on her, but just then the Jack-Bot she was using fired the red laser exponentially larger than normal. It cut the robot right in half.
"What in tarnation?" Clay said exactly what Valerie was thinking. Nevertheless she punched the Jack-Bot in the head and leaped off as it imploded.
"Thanks for the data, losers!" Jack laughed gleefully as he hovered away from the battle. He climbed back into the helicopter and it quickly flew away just as the other Dragons and Master Fung came running towards them.
"What has happened?" Master Fung asked alarmed.
"Jack Spicer," Clay spat out.
"He was here to steal our Shen Gong Wu!" Omi declared.
"That bastard!" Kimiko snarled fire in her eyes.
"No, you see, that's the funny thing," Clay said, confused. "He actually wasn't stealing the Wu."
Everyone had question marks blipping around their heads. Valerie looked at the robot parts cluttering the garden.
"He was collecting data," she said ominously.
"Data for what?" Raimundo asked.
Later that day
"Ooh, active volcano!" Valerie shouted happily as they neared the volcanic island. The others looked at her like she was crazy. "What?" she asked confused.
Raimundo playfully tugged her black baseball cap over her eyes and said, "Figure it out."
Valerie huffed and crossed her arms over her black Batman t-shirt. She was rather regretting wearing so many layers-black hat, yellow wristbands, black t-shirt, long jeans- since it was a sweltering day out and they were nearing an active volcano and all.
Dojo landed on the rim of the volcano and quickly shrunk to normal size. Smoke was wafting out of the open vent and blowing towards them. Valerie had to dodge Kimiko's Sailor Moon hair: she had put on a blonde wig with her hair in the odango style, but instead of yellow hair cascading down her sides, it was long orange ribbons. Fortunately, that was where the similarity ended: Kimiko was wearing a baby doll raglan shirt with black short sleeves and white torso with a red poppy design on the chest with a yellow jean skirt and black boots. Valerie thought she looked good, if a little less colorful than usual.
Raimundo scrunched up his face and waved a hand around. "Aw, that's rank, yo!"
Omi plugged his nose. "The volcano's odor is most stinky."
"That's carbon dioxide for you," Valerie said. "Or was it sulfur? I can't remember."
"Are you sure you smell a Shen Gong Wu?" Omi asked Dojo, his voice slightly nasally. Raimundo had some binoculars out and was looking for the artifact in the lava.
"Does Clay wear boots to bed?" Dojo joked. Everyone looked at Clay. The cowboy gave a coy grin.
"Eww!" Kimiko said disgustingly.
"There it is!" Raimundo said as his binoculars spied the Shen Gong Wu. It was sitting on a flat spire in the middle of the magma, looking black and evil-looking. "But what is it?"
"We would already know…" Omi started pettily.
"If someone didn't forget to bring the Ancient Scroll of the Shen Gong Wu," Raimundo finished, giving Kimiko a look.
"I told you I was sorry," she huffed, crossing her arms.
"Well, maybe if you weren't so busy painting your nails…" Valerie trailed off under her breath. Kimiko gave her a death glare.
"You allowed the painting of smiley faces on your fingernails to distract you from your duties!" Omi accused her.
Kimiko held up a black fingerless gloved hand. "Panda faces, hello!"
"Meanwhile, back at the volcano, are we gonna bag this Wu or what?" Raimundo interjected before things got out of hand.
Valerie felt the Shroud of Shadows looped around her like a belt. "I don't think the Shroud of Shadows will cut it this time," she admitted. "The volcanic gas, extreme heat, and possible chance of dying a horrible, burning death might destroy it."
"That, and the fact that the volcano is still active," Dojo pointed out as the island began to shake. The others screamed as more smoke belched out of the open vent. They ran away from the rim as lava began spurting out in a fiery inferno. Rocks and other debris were following them down the side as they ran for their lives towards the water.
Valerie heard an 'oof' coming from a certain green reptile. "Dojo!" she called out with the rest, and she spied the poor guy with a large rock over his body.
"You okay little buddy?" Clay asked walking up to him.
Dojo grabbed him by the red kerchief around his neck and shouted, "I can't feel my legs! I CAN'T FEEL MY LEGS!"
"You don't have legs." Clay lifted and threw the rock away from Dojo.
"What's your point?"
"Why exactly were we standing at the rim of an active volcano?" Valerie asked puzzled. "The noxious fumes could have asphyxiated us, the molten lava could have melted us, a rock could have crushed us..."
"Bit too late for that," Clay pointed out.
"I mean seriously," Valerie calmly ignored Clay. "That was such a Jack thing to do-where is Jack, by the way? He's usually here by now." She paused from her rant and looked up to the sky to see if the horde of robots were descending upon them. Everyone looked at her like she was crazy.
As if to answer her question, the so-called evil genius himself hovered in the sky, sneering evilly at them.
"You just had to ask, didn't you?" Kimiko told Valerie dryly.
"Last one in is a rotten egg roll!" Jack shouted. He flew up the volcano's side to the open vent. For some reason, he had toilet paper stuck to his shoe.
"It will not be us who will be considered rotten!" Omi declared. They all watched as Omi got a purple and gold blanket out of his backpack. He ran as fast as he could up the volcano with the other Dragons following him. They got to the rim just as Omi threw himself into the volcano.
"He's got a plan, right?" Raimundo asked the others.
"Wait for it…" said Kimiko. Omi used his blanket as a parachute and slowly descended to the lava. "That's our monk!" she hollered as she and the rest of them got out their own purple blankets from their backpacks and jumped into the volcano.
"Screw asphyxiation, I'm goin' in!" Valerie yelled as she threw herself into the volcano.
For a second she was suspended in midair, the noxious gas spewing from the vent overpowering her and the intense heat making her sweat. But then she grabbed the other end of her blanket and used it as a parachute, and she quickly descended into the molten pit of death.
"YEAH!" Valerie screamed gleefully as the danger of imminent death flew from her mind. There was no Dojo to save her if she fell to her demise, but the adrenaline that was pumping through her veins overrode any thoughts other than the pure, ecstatic feeling she was getting from the extreme stunt.
And then the wind blew Valerie upward, up to the blue sky. She was getting farther and farther away from the Shen Gong Wu. "LOSERS!" Jack Spicer called out as he disappeared into the smoke.
"What happened?" Omi called out as they all hovered above the volcano.
"The heat drafts are too strong, and we're too light," Kimiko explained as she flew to the right.
"We are, but not Clay and his Texas-sized butt!" Raimundo said loudly as the cowboy continued to descend into the open vent. Just as Jack was about to get the Shen Gong Wu, Clay let go of his makeshift parachute and plummeted to the lava. He quickly grabbed Jack's legs and held on tight.
They slowly hovered near the lava until Clay hit a rock spire and let go of Jack. Valerie looked at the others worriedly before Omi let go of his hold on his parachute and plummeted to the molten lava. She looked at Kimiko and Raimundo and shrugged. And then she slackened her grip and dived into the volcano.
Valerie saw Clay's backpack fall off his back, the extreme heat melting the straps. It fell into the lava, and for a second she could see some sort of red bottle in the mix. And then it suddenly exploded, sending the lighter Dragons upward.
"Val!" Raimundo shouted. Valerie turned in midair to see him, Omi, and Kimiko holding an edge of a blanket. She flew over to them and grabbed the edge of another one. For a second she marveled at the makeshift parachute lifting them to safety until she heard screaming heading their way.
In the explosion Clay had flew upwards, waving his arms and legs to grab hold of something. Omi lashed out his hand and grabbed onto Clay's oversized paw. "Gotcha!" he cried as he held on tight.
"Good timing, y'all," Clay said happily as Valerie grabbed one of his legs. "I wasn't fixin' to be barbequed."
"There's no way to catch Jack now," Kimiko said despairingly.
"Unless…" Omi said and they all thought the same thing.
"DOJO!" they cried in unison. As they were brought up towards the rim they were suddenly covered in soot, the black powder getting into Valerie's mouth. She coughed as she landed, the blanket covering them all. When Raimundo threw it off, they all angrily said, "DOJO!"
Jack laughed evilly as he flew away from the island. Fed up, soot-covered Omi grabbed the Mantis Flip Coin out of his robe and launched himself into the air. Spinning like a coin he rammed himself into Jack. The Shen Gong Wu flew in the air until both of them caught it. Jack flew them over to the rim of the active volcano and said:
"Omi, I challenge you to a Xiaolin Showdown. My Falcon's Eye against your Mantis Flip Coin. First one to grab this handsome dragon wins!"
"Piece of pie!" Omi declared.
"Cake," Clay called out.
"Piece of cake!" Omi corrected himself.
"LET'S GO: XIAOLIN SHOWDOWN!" they both shouted, and the smoke clouds converged and darkened. Rocks were falling into the volcano as the rim shifted. The Xiaolin Dragons were on a column overlooking the stadium. Lava spurted upwards to create columns of crumbly molten rock. The mystery Shen Gong Wu was on one of them.
Jack and Omi landed on two of the crumbling columns and shouted, "GONG YI TAN PAI!" Jack immediately hovered away while Omi shouted: "Mantis Flip Coin!" and jumped off the column.
More and more lava were spurting out of the volcano like crazy, creating fiery column obstacles. Jack and Omi headed for the Shen Gong Wu-they were just barely reaching for it-
The Shen Gong Wu landed in the lava as the two boys bumped into each other. Jack immediately got out his Falcon's Eye and saw it. "Jackpot for Jack!" he said victoriously. As if to answer his wish, the Shen Gong Wu erupted out of the lava on a column.
Jack flew towards it just as Omi flipped over to him and knocked him aside. He then grabbed the Shen Gong Wu, thus ending the Showdown.
Back at the Temple's Grand Hallway
"Strange," Master Fung said slowly. "There's nothing in the Ancient Scroll of the Shen Gong Wu about a black dragon."
"But, how can that be?" Om asked, puzzled.
"Did Dojo make a mistake?" Kimiko asked innocently.
"No way, sister!" the green reptile said from Clay's shoulder. "I'm telling ya, the black dragon is one hundred percent Shen Gong Wu."
"Of course it is," Valerie said. "We had a Showdown over it. We only have Showdowns for Shen Gong Wu."
"This is true," Master Fung conceded. "So, have you ascertained the dragon's purpose?"
"No, Master Fung," Omi said as the master handed him the Wu. "Its power remains a mystery."
"No matter," Master Fung said. "I am certain the black dragon's true nature will be revealed in time."
"Great, another dragon that's useless in a fight," Raimundo pointed out meanly. Kimiko giggled.
"Useless?" Dojo shouted. "No way! I got mad fighting skills. Back me up Clay."
Clay removed the finger in his ear. "What's that? I'm still cleaning soot out of my ears."
"You think Kimiko will find anything on the Internet about our mystery dragon?" Valerie asked the others as they headed down for dinner. They had just left Kimiko in her room with her laptop and the Wu to search for any information about the black dragon. They had offered to help but the Asian girl dismissed them.
"Of course she will; she's Kimiko," Clay said. And then they heard Dojo screaming from the dorms. They all raced to Kimiko's room where they found Master Fung there, stopping Dojo from screaming bloody murder.
And then they saw her: Kimiko frozen in her chair covered in a blue substance. Her arms were raised over her head like she was fending off an attack, and her face was frozen in a look of pure fear. Valerie could feel a strange, cold feeling washing over her, a horrible sensation she tried to ignore. But right now she felt like she was about to fall to the floor, her legs turned to gelatin as she stared at the thing that was once her living, breathing friend.
"This is most distressing," Master Fung said calm as ever. "Kimiko has turned to solid sapphire."
"I said that," was Dojo's muffled reply, since Master Fung's hands were still clamped over his mouth.
Clay tipped his hat. "Well I'll be a two-headed Texas rattler," he said in shock. "Do you think we'll be able to turn Kimiko back, Master Fung?"
"This is the work of magic," the master explained. "And magic can always be undone in time." With that statement, the cold feeling that was turning Valerie's brain to mush disappeared, leaving her with a sense of calm. Of course Kimiko would be all right. It wouldn't happen today or even tomorrow, but eventually things would right itself. They always did.
"Dojo, did you see the Shen Gong Wu when you found Kimiko?" Omi asked. He looked around for the green lizard only to see the little plotted tree in the corner shaking. Clay tried to move it only to have little scaly hands snatch it back. Clay ignored him and turned back to the monk.
"What're you gettin' at, Omi?"
"The black dragon is doing this," Valerie realized, surprised at how strong her voice was. "We don't know what it is, and we know the other Shen Gong Wu don't have this kind of power, so our mystery Shen Gong Wu is the prime suspect. Kimiko must have triggered it, turned her into sapphire and disappeared. It makes sense."
"No it does not!" Omi admonished her. "How could a Shen Gong Wu move on its own? Whoever did this to Kimiko stole the Shen Gong Wu and made off with it."
"What Valerie said is not impossible," Master Fung revealed. "The Shen Gong Wu are fifteen hundred years old. It would not be a surprise if one of them could activate on its own. But in the meantime I will gather the elder monks in the meditation hall to discuss this mystery. In the meantime, go to dinner and rest for the night."
Like anyone could relax after that. Dinner went uneaten that night. No one could sleep after seeing Kimiko's horror-stricken face. The boys had declared that they needed to patrol the temple for any signs of the perpetrator. Valerie left them to it. She had some investigating to do.
After Omi had shot down her idea of a moving Shen Gong Wu, Valerie was determined to prove him wrong. It wasn't illogical that the black dragon had started walking; Master Fung even said it was possible.
So here she was, in the room of the Ancient Scroll, with the scroll itself in front of her. Valerie had her cell phone out; if there was a time to hear Eric's voice, it was now. She hit his speed dial and begged the Forces That Be for him to answer it.
"Hello?" Eric's voice was tired and echoing throughout some sort of tunnel. Voices were ringing through the cell phone, and Valerie could've sworn she heard an announcement. "What's wrong, Val?"
"Something's up, Eric," she said simply as she opened the Ancient Scroll.
"What do you mean?" He was instantly alert.
"I can't explain it, but people are turning into sapphire." The blue drawing swirled into motion.
"Sapphire? Is this a power of some of those Shen Gong Wu things you mentioned?" Eric asked. Valerie could imagine his brow crinkling in confusion.
"I think so. I'm looking it up right now." The moving picture showed a great black dragon moving around, blowing smoke out of its nostrils and turning people still-or into sapphire statues. And then the statues were moving, crowding around the dragon like an army.
Valerie's eyes widened. "Valerie?" Eric asked alarmed.
"Today we found a Shen Gong Wu that we didn't know about," she said quickly, shutting the Scroll. "It was covered in soot, so we thought it was a black dragon. We tried to find out what it could do, but in the process one of the monks turned into a sapphire statue, and the Wu disappeared. Everyone thinks a person stole it, but I think the Shen Gong Wu moved on its own and is trying to create some sort of army out of its victims."
"So this black dragon is dangerous?" Eric asked dumbly. "Why are children handling this monster?"
"I don't think anyone knows what it can do," Valerie admitted. "I think I'm the only one who knows. Oh, dear God, I'm the only one who knows," she mumbled as the cold feeling began to course through her again.
"Valerie?"
Valerie marched out of the room. "Eric, I want you to call my cell in exactly two hours. Make sure whoever picks up is a monk of the Xiaolin Temple. Tell them that this… Sapphire Dragon is turning people into sapphire zombies. Get help."
"Valerie?"
She marched down the hallway to the dorms. "Eric, if anything happens to me, I want you to know that I love you. You were the best parent a girl could ever ask for. I honestly wish you were my real father, because God knows my biological one can't be bothered with me."
"Valerie?"
"Take care, Eric. Don't ever forget me."
"VALERIE!"
Valerie shut off her cell phone on Eric's frightened voice. She quickly chucked her phone into Clay's room-he was the only one who had a chance of calming Eric down in two hours- and she ran as fast as she could to the meditation hall where the monks were. She threw open the doors and a scream nearly tore out of her throat.
Every single one of the elder monks that had been sitting around the giant incense pot had been turned into sapphire statues. Even Master Fung, the calm voice of reason, was among them.
Once again Valerie felt the uncontrollable urge to fall to the floor and shake like gelatin. But no; she had a mission to carry out. She was about to turn only to see a scaly blue tail in front of the entrance.
Valerie stiffened as she heard something huge slither behind her. Scales were scraping the floor of the meditation hall. A slight hissing noise emanated from a deep throat.
Valerie wasn't one to feel fear. It was simply an alien thing to her, something that normal people felt. But Valerie was far from normal. She whirled around and glared at the Sapphire Dragon, wishing looks could kill. The Dragon was beautiful; sapphire blue scales on a Chinese dragon body, whiskers flowing from his snout and dancing to some invisible song, and ethereal glowing blue eyes that knew no malice or anger.
Valerie struck a kung-fu pose and prepared to launch herself at the Dragon. Just as she was about to jump, the Dragon blew out blue flames from its mouth, straight at Valerie. Gritting her teeth, she braced the deadly, cold flames as she rapidly turned to sapphire.
The last thing she saw was the Sapphire Dragon looking straight into her eyes.
Just in case you were wondering, Valerie's going to have a small but key role next chapter. In fact, the chapter itself won't be from her point of view at all. How's that for a twist?