Hiru’s POV
It was finally my moon celebration. My parents had been planning this for a few months. Sadly, my birthday was a month ago. They didn’t want to have two parties, so we had to wait for the next full moon. Something about my tie to my animal being stronger. I didn’t care about that. I just wanted to be finally shift into the great snake that I was.
My dad, Taerin, was the king and wanted all the kinsmanships to be involved. I didn’t want to have to deal with Kataya. It had nothing to do with being a dirty, shifterless. She just gave me the creeps. My Aunt Lavender said she would come, but that meant I would have to deal with those stupid twins.
My dad called me over to his study. He sat behind the chair with his phone up to his ear. I never realized it until now that his head seemed more in shape with a cobra head. I wondered if that would happen to me. I waited patiently for him to finish his call.
When he finished, he sighed. “
Kataya’s POVIt sucked that I missed out on Hiru’s moon celebration, but there was a silver lining. My little brother was about to be born. Dad came and picked me up from the house. I was in the middle of my dinner, though. “Kat, we need to go to the hospital. Your mom is giving birth. Well, about to, anyway.”I put my spoon down. “Ok daddy. I’ll just put this away.” Standing up, I put away my food and the meal I cooked. It wasn’t much, but it’s better than eating air and drinking water.Dad opened the door for me. “Sorry, you can’t go to the celebration. Taerin spoke to me and said it would’ve been a moon celebration for all of you that were born around the same time as Hiru.”My mouth dropped open. That wouldn’t have happened. I’ve been to a few moon celebrations in my short life and I understood that all the parents had to agree. “Why did the snake king do that?”“Something about keeping Hiru from being arrogant.”“Oh.” I
Kataya’s POVSince that weird day at the hospital, everything has been objectively normal. My mom and little brother were home. I started going to the reptile temple. The reason it’s sort of normal is that Hiru has been spending time with me while I go there. We ride from the school to the temple together. It is awkward, honestly.It’s only been a few days since that incident and I haven’t told a soul. Who would believe me about any of it? It’s not something I could tell anyone. So I haven’t. my parents haven’t been ignoring me well my mom hasn’t been, but now it seems like she’s relying on me a little too much. Which If the words are spoken aloud could be said she’s abusing me. That’s if someone else said it. I’m just glad she’s finding me useful.Ms. Tanis called upon me towards the end of class. “Kataya? Before you head out, I&rs
Kataya’s POVThe first week with Hiru was annoying, but it was tolerable. The reptiles were a lot nicer than I was led to believe. We’re not taught that they are dangerous, but it’s ingrained in us that the reptiles or ferocious and you have to be careful when, sadly majority of the primates are the most vicious.Elder Solomon wasn’t a bad guy, per se, but he studied me far more than I would have liked. All the priests in the temple were varied compared to the primates. There I believe it was more chimps and gorillas than it was any other primate. Jeremiah Lynn was more of an orangutan, which was ok.Elder Solomon had me sit in on seminars from different priests in order to see if I would resonate with any one animal. When I hadn’t, after a few days, he took me to a small room. My alarm bells sounded. He sat me down in a chair next to the desk. “Little one, how did you know I was a Komodo?”He still hadn’t forgotten about that. Shrugging,
Kataya’s POVElder Solomon continued with his story. I sat there, enraptured by his tail.“My brother was a pretty cool person. I don’t say this because he was my brother. I say it because it was true.” His eyes misted. “He would take me to the lake hidden in the mountains and we would go swimming. Keep in mind he’s a good decade older than me. He taught me how to swim, how to fish. I loved spending time with him.The day before it was going to be his coming of age ceremony. I got his necklace, and we went into the mountains one final time. We swam, but this time it was different. I hadn’t told him that the Sun God visited me in my dreams.”My ears perked. “Really? Like you saw his face, or it was more like you heard his voice? You were sleeping, right?”He held up his hand. “One question at a time, little one. Yes, I did. He was something else. His hair flowed down to his ankles. And the strands were gold. Not gold that we associate with metals, but a pure, untouched gold. It was blin
Hiru’s POVElder Solomon was being quite weird. He never acted like that with anyone else in the kinsmanship. What was so special about her? She’s just a shifterless. He made it seem like she was going to be this grand person. I hated the way they acted.When lionel came to get us, he went directly to her first. It’s annoying how he ignored me. It couldn’t have been because of earlier. Lionel spotted me in the pew laying down. “Young master, we have to go. The little miss is already in the car.”Sitting up, my eyes narrowed. I couldn’t help the disdain showing on my face. “Of course. You get the little shifterless brat first.” I was sulking. I wasn’t trying to show my emotions, but it was hard.Lionel came to where I was sitting. I turned away. He cleared his throat. “Young master, you realize Miss Kataya is a guest in our kinsmanship? She has to be home soon.
Elder Solomon POVGleefully, I headed to my office to make a call. I needed to speak with the feline elder. No doubt that feline would notice my change in favor of the sun’s child. But who am I to follow others like a wee lamb? Closing the door to my office, I made the call.A gruff voice answered. “Hello?”“Monty? Why do you sound like that?”He cleared his throat. “Like what? I was just taking a catnap.”The pun wasn’t lost on me. “Har, har. You really should learn to keep the cat puns to a minimum.”“That would be a cat-tastrophe. I don’t know how I could ever go on.” His snickers resonated through the phone.“I don’t know if I should dislike you more or respect your tenacious side. But either way, I come bearing news.”On his side, I heard shifting and papers shuffling. “What is it?”“It’s about the little one, Kataya.”“Oh? Has something happened?”I cleared my throat. “N
Kataya’s POVHiru had been acting strange since the hospital. I don’t know what exactly happened, but I know it was terrible. Taerin had driven me home. The driver was put on suspension. It wasn’t his fault. I wanted to tell the snake king, but it wasn’t my place. Plus, few adults listen to me.He made sure I got home safely. Even waited until I got inside. When I reached the door, I turned and waved. He waved back, then pulled away from the curb. Turning my key in the lock, I went inside. My mom was in the kitchen. Her off-key singing told me where she was. I hadn’t heard her sing in months. Or maybe longer.The lullaby she was singing had my brother giggling. I leaned against the wall, listening to her. She hadn’t talked to me since before my brother was born. It hurt. It truly hurt. She used to talk to me a lot. We used to talk about a lot of things. Reminiscing about the past would only hurt. I tried to shake away the thoughts.Headin
Kataya POVIt took Dad a while to come back. I was just falling asleep when he came with the food he promised me. Only it wasn’t what I was expecting. I assumed it would be the grilled cheese and tomato soup. Instead, it was a bowl of cereal.My heart plummeted. Maybe I was getting used to being the odd one out, or perhaps I still held out hope that I would be important to him, but seeing a bowl of cereal made me sad. I tried not to sigh, but it came out anyway. Dad heard it and gave a sheepish grin. “Sorry kiddo, we’re out of a lot of things. So, this will have to do for now.”That couldn’t have been true. I was sure there was food in the fridge and cupboards. Guess that was a lie. “Oh, I get it, daddy. If that’s all we have, that’s fine. I know the stores are all closed now.”That didn’t explain why it took so long. Cereal takes a maximum of 3 minutes to make. And it includes g