Snake's Eye

Chapter 1 – Dawning

I could feel the sunlight creeping into the window beside my stone-cold bed and could hear the Warfs barking and Mallards squawking. I got up slowly, stretched my wings to their full length, and licked the air with my forked tongue. My yellow scales shone as the sun's rays hit them, lighting up the room. I stretched my tail to my head, up over it, and tried to reach as far as I could without falling over. DL had taught me that trick as an exercise.

Speaking of which, DL came just in time to see me finish off my morning stretch. She was a giant walking cat, one on two legs, and had glowing green eyes like emeralds or spring leaves. They shone miraculously to me as I looked up and smiled. "Hey, DL! What's up?"

DL smiled. "Nothing really, Draca. How about you?" DL was a nice owner, really; she always fed me and bought me toys and plushies, and she'd take me to Faerieland to the Water Faerie's Fountain when I got hurt. I've been trying to beat others at the BattleDome, but I'm not really ready yet. I still need practice.

I yawned and asked, "What day is it?"

DL smiled as she started to clean my room. "Today is Saturday. What would you like to do with the family today?"

I chewed on the tip of my left wing as I thought. "Well, today Gruundo is playing at the Tyrannian Plateau. Can we go there, pretty please?"

DL laughed as she put a helmet into my stone wardrobe. "We'll see, but first we have some errands to run."

I nodded as DL walked out of the room to go wake the others. She always woke me up first, mostly because I don't mind, but also because I'm nice enough to help whenever she went to –

"NOO! I DON'T WANT TO WAKE UP, MOMMY! LET ME SLEEP IN!"

"TANIA, WILL YOU BE QUIET! AN EYRIE NEEDS REST, TOO, YA KNOW!"

"PHO, SHUT YOUR BIG TRAP! I'M THE ONE WHO NEEDS BEAUTY SLEEP!"

"DO YOU THINK WE CARE, GOLDY?!?"

"YOU CRAZY GIRLS MAKE SUCH A RACKET IN THE MORNING!"

"ICY, FOREST, SHUT UP BEFORE I KILL YOU!"

I sighed. "It's another one of those days…"

First came Tania; she is a blue Aisha (soon to be baby once 'mom' can afford it) with a very, VERY annoying whining voice. She is the youngest of the group of girls, the baby sister. She always follows me, Pho, Goldy, and everybody else in the house.

Then was Phoenix, my younger 'brother'. Pho is a red Eyrie, hopefully a cloud Eyrie or something (We haven't decided, although Tania suggested Snot) when DL could get it, who wasn't exactly…well, happy all of the time. He seemed to be really withdrawn and antisocial. He doesn't talk to anybody, except Forest and sometimes me. I wish I could find out why he's so sad-looking all of the time, but he only says things like that to Forest, who won't say anything about it.

Gold Hooves is my slightly younger 'sis', yellow Peophin, maybe a desert or royal someday, who is what people would call 'attention-feeders'. They strive on attention and if they don't get it, they make a racket. That's the same for Goldy, except she does it by complaining about how DL didn't make a beauty room or whatever just for her. She's a fashion freak, which I dislike.

Icepaw is my other younger 'sister'. Icy's a blue Xweetok, someday snow, and she's energetic and playful and curious all rolled into one. Unfortunately, she's not a morning person…

Forestclaw is my only older 'brother'…and older 'sibling'. He's just like Pho, except he doesn't even say anything to me! He only talks to Pho when he's alone with him, and whenever he talks to me it's usually because either 'mom' forces him to or it's something really urgent. I've only done something with Forest actually coming with us (a nice little picnic on the beach with everybody, very calming) but all he did was either tell me off or eat silently.

I guessed that Nic was in the kitchen, ignoring the noise coming from the hallways, and eating Lupe O's. He is a blue Lupe, but he's half the size of a normal Lupe. He was the runt of the litter, and Icy pointed him out at the pound. He had been taken from his mom and pop and dumped in there, so DL adopted him right away. DL's been talking about painting him Darigan, but he doesn't look the part, or act it. He's very nice and sometimes shy.

The only 'sibling' that didn't yell would be Fire. FireHeart's my younger 'brother', younger than Pho but older than Icy, a red Kougra who wishes to be painted Fire. He is very curious and likes to play rough, so he's my kind of brother! I like to wrestle and play-fight with him. We have a ball! He uses his fire powers against me, but he hasn't beaten me yet!

I smiled as the little fireball himself walked in, on four paws, and yawned. "It's a surprise to see you up at this hour!"

Fire smirked and sat on the edge of my bed. "Yeah, but how can you sleep in this racket?" As he spoke this, we heard the thumping of footsteps running up and down the halls as DL and the others ran around chasing each other. I would help in a moment, but first I wanted to talk to Fire about something.

"Hey, Fire?" I asked him hesitantly. Fire looked at me, curiosity written all over his face. "Yeah? What is it, Draca?"

I sighed. "Well, it's just that…being adopted and coming into a new family…it's just…hard." I sighed again. "I sound stupid, don't I?"

Fire shook his head. "No, Draca, you sound perfectly normal, for once!" He grinned jokingly. "You don't feel like you belong, correct?"

I nodded. "I try to make friends with my new 'siblings', but…Pho and Forest are in their own shells, Icy and Tania are crazy little midgets, and Goldy's just…Goldy! The only friends I have here are DL and you!" I looked at him, sadness in my eyes. "I can't seem to make any friends here…"

Fire thought for a moment, watching me look down at the ground and flop my tail that hung over the edge of the bed. After a moment, he smirked, and he suddenly tackled me. I wrapped my tail around his middle and picked him up, smirking. "Nice try, buddy! Can't catch me off guard!"

I put him down beside me, and he grinned and playfully punched my shoulder. "Seriously, though, you need to make some friends!" His grin got wider as he said this. "And I know just how you can…"

I saw the mischievous look on his face and raised an eyebrow. "And how's that? Bribing somebody?"

Fire shook his head, still grinning. "Nope! Even better!" He paused dramatically. "You…are going to make friends with Pho and Forest!"