Kate's POV

I can't believe it. Mutti and Vater are shipping me off to live with my egotistical older brother in California. I don't even remember where that is, except that it's somewhere on the west side of the United States. Mutti says that being in a different environment will help me cope with… recent events. She also says that having me over there will help Klav cope, too, because he's lonely, even though he'd never admit it to anybody.

I speak English relatively fluently, but I'm only sixteen. Klav's going to enroll me in a fancy-schmancy school for the performing arts and I apparently am going to start actually attending it at the beginning of this next September. I'm not excited: I'd rather be homeschooled here in Germany. Even before "recent events," I preferred reading Shakespeare to actually socializing with the other Drama Nerds. And the "recent events" haven't made me fit in any better: I don't mind coming straight home from school and spending quiet nights with Mutti and Vater. What will it be like in the States, when half the country knows my older brother's fame, and the other half is aware of my other brother's infamy?

I feel like my namesake: Katherine, from Shakespeare's play, The Taming of the Shrew, when her father agrees to marry her against her will to Petruchio: I feel bitter, angry, and resentful. But most of all, I feel betrayed.

You may feel it is odd that I am named after Shakespeare's Katharine. Mutti was quite the accomplished actress (And I inherited her love for the theatre, BTW), and one of her favorite characters was Katharine. Naturally, she named her only daughter and youngest child after her, with hopes that she would grow up to become witty and strong-minded, with a heart to match.

Well, I am very strong-minded, and this means that the closer the date of my departure to the States gets, the more I convince myself that this is a very, very bad idea, and my parents are mental for going through with it.

I wish Kristoph was still here. I wish things would go back to how they were before. I rarely ever got to see either of my brothers, what with the age gap and all. Kristoph went to the States when I was little, and Klavier joined him when I was about nine. Kristoph is about twelve years older than I, and I only ever got to see him for ten days around Christmas and for a week in mid-August.

I miss him so much. Is this why my parents are sending me off to be with Klav?

Klavier's POV

Two more weeks until Doomsday. I have two more weeks until my pesky younger sister flies in from Germany. Our parents have convinced me that it's a good idea, that coming here will help her break out of her shell, and that it will also help her academically. Despite the intellect I know she has, I've heard that she hasn't been doing so well as far as grades go, especially lately. It's also been affecting her extracurriculars: she hasn't done anything especially fun over the summer yet, even though it's already late June. She's become a sullen, anti-social hermit. The reports that Mutti has given me makes me toy with the idea of introducing her to Fraulein Skye. I'm sure the two would have a field day sulking, exchanging sarcastic remarks, and gossiping about why they hate the majority of Humanity.

Really, though, I suppose it's not fair to Kate to judge her so harshly. I haven't seen her in person since Christmas, and I must admit that the "recent events" (as Mutti refers to them) have affected me pretty severely, too. I just hope that Kate stays out of my way and doesn't try to get involved with my work life or personal life or romantic life-or lack thereof. She has a history of being a meddlesome little shrew when it comes to her brothers. Or brother, I guess, now. That's one of the dangers of not having much of a social life outside of one's family. I sincerely hope that she makes some friends here quickly, if only so that she'll keep her nose out of my business. Perhaps I really will introduce her to the Fraulein Detektiv… Maybe that will make all of our lives just a little bit less miserable.

Ach, who am I kidding? The first few weeks with Kate around are going to be miserable, especially since I doubt that in two weeks her mind will magically change from hating the very idea to being excited about coming here, because she's just stubborn that way. When Kate is miserable, she makes sure the whole world knows. And too often, she makes the whole world feel that same misery.