Moon Princess by Barbara Laban Page A

and kept his head lowered for a while. Then he said with a beaming smile, ‘My name is Zou. And this here’ – he put his hand into his jacket pocket – ‘is Bai tuzi.’
    â€˜White hare,’ whispered Sienna, frowning. She felt sure she’d never learnt the words in Chinese; they’d just popped into her head from nowhere. ‘I’m Sienna, and this is Feng,’ she added hurriedly, unable to take her eyes awayfrom the creature sitting on Zou’s hand.
    Staring straight at Sienna was a small hare. He had sparkling red eyes and long, white fur. Most striking were his huge white ears, which seemed to glisten. A fine, sparkling dust hung in the air near the hare, giving him a magical, otherworldly appearance.
    Zou stroked Bai’s ears, his eyes twinkling. ‘My friend is rather special,’ he said. ‘You may have noticed that you are finding it easier to master the complexities of Mandarin since you and I began to converse?’
    Sienna nodded, her eyes wide.
    â€˜Well, that is one of his unique talents,’ Zou smiled, continuing to stroke the hare’s ears. ‘It has to be said that Bai is rather a wonderful creature.’
    Sienna turned to Feng to explain what was happening, but he didn’t seem to be listening; he was staring forlornly out of the window at the passing countryside. Above his head the tiny dragon flapped around, looking very tired and miserable, his little coughs of smoke reminding Sienna of sobs.
    Zou stood up and bent over Feng’s head, andin a lightning-fast movement he took hold of the dragon gingerly between his wings and held him in his hands. The frightened animal fluttered like a trapped butterfly. Carefully Zou sat back down in his seat. Now he raised his hands gently in front of his face. The dragon looked into the man’s eyes and seemed to slowly calm down. Zou placed the dragon on his lap, where he fell instantly asleep.
    The little hare made himself comfortable next to the dragon and studied Sienna and Feng with interest.
    Feng looked with wide eyes at Zou and Sienna, who did her best to explain about the invisible friends.
    â€˜Your little dragon is already fast asleep,’ she said.
    Feng peered closely at Zou’s lap, but he still couldn’t see them. Frustrated, he closed his eyes and rested his head against the window.
    â€˜Let us try to find out more about this dragon, and why your friend cannot yet see him,’ Zou whispered. ‘Would you like to … ?’ He gently scooped up the dragon and held his hands out towards her.
    Sienna nodded, and he placed the tiny animal into her hands. The dragon was even lighter than she had expected. She laid him on her lap and covered him up with part of her skirt. Suddenly feeling utterly exhausted by the events of recent hours, she closed her eyes and fell into a deep sleep.
    The first thing Sienna saw when she opened her eyes was a huge red sun coming up over the fields. Even the dirty train window couldn’t spoil the view.
    Glancing down, she saw that the tiny translucent dragon was still slumbering peacefully on her lap. Next to her, Feng stretched and, seeing she was now awake, asked impatiently, ‘Where is my dragon? What’s he doing? Why can’t I see him? How can this man see him when I can’t?’
    â€˜Ssh!’ whispered Sienna, aware of the curious glances from the other passengers on the train. Zou himself was sleeping. ‘The little dragon is asleep. And this man – Zou – can see all invisible friends, it seems. I don’t know how. But I think we can trust him. Besides, he might be able to help us.’
    Feng frowned and then peered out of the window again. ‘We’re nearly there,’ he announced. ‘This is Pingdingshan!’ His voice woke Zou, who gazed bleary-eyed at the view.
    The train was moving even more slowly now and Sienna could see that they had reached some sprawling suburbs.