AN; Hey, it's Pi. :3 I just finished this series today during History. And I sort of thought it had a bit of a sad ending, but oh well. Naturally, I made myself an OC. So, here it is. The second story o this account. If only my other friends would post on here.

Chapter 1

They thought they were too good for it. Too good for almost anything. Kiera wasn't jealous of them for thinking so highly of themselves, but it got pretty annoying at times. Why should she be jealous of them? The truth was, they weren't any better than her, and they all seemed to know it deep down inside, which made it hurt even more when they turned their noses up at her.

"That stuff's for little kids, Kiera," Joy said, pushing the envelope back into Kiera's hands without even looking at it. "We don't have time for that kind of thing anymore." On Kiera's shoulder, Solluna bristled. "We're not in grade school. Birthday parties were cool then, but now they're just boring."

Kiera scowled. "It's not a birthday invitation," she lied, even though a dead rabbit could see she was. "It's from Professor Jacobson. To, uh, give to your parents. He told me to tell you not to open it, and to give it right to them."

Joy patted her on the shoulder and just walked away, leaving Kiera holding her arm out, the envelope still in her hand, untouched by the other girl. Solluna turned into a robin and fluttered to her shoulder.

"They'll eventually remember what we used to have," he told Kiera, but she didn't want to listen right now. "At least try with Tex. He wouldn't turn you down, would he?"

The girl just let her shoulders slump. She gave a small nod as her light brown hair fell in front of her eyes and trudged across the lawn to where he was. Tex was the only friend Kiera felt she had anymore. Everybody else just turned her away and acted like a snob. Just because her parents were always gone on a vacation and were never around to really do anything for her. Most of the time they even missed her birthday. But this year was special. Kiera's parents had come home for a week, and she wanted them to meet her friends. Her new friends. New friends that cared about her, unlike those old ones her parents had met back when she was six. Joy had changed now, hadn't she?

Kiera sighed and sat down on the old white bench. Its paint was peeling off in flakes, and a piece fell on Solluna's now-ferret nose, making him sneeze.

"I don't think he'll agree, Solluna," Kiera argued, glancing at where Tex was doing math homework under the white birch tree. "Besides, it'll be odd with just hime coming. You know they won't approve. And they'll pull his daemon's ears just like last time. Not my parents, their daemons. They're so rude! God, Solluna, I can't imagine what they'll do to you once you've settled."

Solluna snorted angrily. "That won't happen for a long time now, Kiera," he told her, changing into a brown tabby cat just to prove his point.

He hopped off and walked over to Tex, who looked up at the daemon approached. They seemed to exchange small words before Tex gave a small nod and Solluna returned.

"He says he's coming," the daemon said as he sprang back into Kiera's lap in his favorite form, a red panda. "Whether or not it's just him, you should enjoy yourself tonight. It's your birthday. And besides, it's not everyday one turned 13."

Kiera nodded as she stroked his red fur. Maybe I will enjoy myself, she thought. After all, it can't be that bad if Tex and my parents are there.

The sun was just dancing behind the trees when Kiera arrived home. She could smell the food cooking from half-way down the road. Tex had offered her a ride, and she'd politely declined, not wanting her parents to get the wrong idea about him.

Kiera opened the large oak-wood door to find three pairs of shoes at the door. It was strange, seeing as Tex's car wasn't here yet. She went inside the kitchen to see her mom, Mary, her dad, Lee, and some little boy Kiera had never seen before. All three of them seemed to absorbed in their work to notice Kiera had come in.

"Ahem," she coughed, making her dad look up. "Who is this?" Kiera motioned at the 5-year-old boy standing on a stool at the island in the kitchen, playing with two toy cars.

Her dad patted the boy on the back as he spoke. "This is John, your brother," he said smiling. "It's his birthday next week."

Kiera scowled. "Lee, how could you have another child and not tell me?" she snapped as Solluna leapt off her shoulder and turned into a panther for her protection. "Are you going to leave him behind all the time, too?"

"Pew! Pew! Ttttttttttttt!" John looked up from where he was making his cars shoot guns at each other. "Leave me behind..."

Kiera's mom took the pot off the stove and placed a protective arm around her son's shoulders. "Of course not!" she excalimed, seemingly horrified that Kiera would ever think to ask the question. "He's our son, the perfect child we always wanted! And I can see that little creature of yours still has yet to settle."

Solluna let out a growl.

"Could do with some good discipline teachings in my opinion," her mother continued as she popped a potatoe into her happy son's mouth.

Kiera picked Solluna up in her arms as he changed back into a red panda. "Oh, please, Mary!" she snarled at her mother. "You're one to talk! That's it, I'm leaving. If Tex comes, tell him I'm in the woods. Better yet, don't tell him anything!"

She slipped back into her shoes and slammed the door behind her as she stormed down the steps of her house, her breath billowing in front of her in the cold air. Kiera stumbled off into the woods, ferret-formed Solluna wrapping himself around her shoulders to keep her warm. They stopped in the middle of the clearing surrounded by dark oak trees and Kiera flopped onto her back in the frost-bitten grass.

As Solluna lay in her arms, Kiera felt something tickle her eyes before running down her cheek. She brushed it away with her hand, and another quickly replaced it until they were streaming out of her eyes like rain from clouds during a storm. And she knew Solluna felt her pain. That was just the way it was for everybody.

But then, as Kiera was thinking about her new-found brother, a small thought occurred to her. Where was his daemon? Mary had Gingeteh, and Lee had Rorletel. Who did John have?

"I don't think he has a daemon in the first place," Solluna whispered.

Kiera forced a laugh. "Who doesn't have a daemon, though?" she asked, forcefully cheerful.

Solluna let out a small sigh. "The only people I know of that don't have daemons are the people from those other worlds we learned about in history today," he said. "And even they had daemons. You just can't see them."

Kiera sat up instantly. "You mean the ones that had the windows opened by that knife thing?" she asked, and when her daemon nodded, she let out a gasp. "But, he couldn't be from there! They closed all the windows to other worlds, didn't they?"

Solluna shrugged. "I suppose so. Maybe his daemon died?"

Kiera shook her head, certain he wasn't from her world. "John seemed perfectly happy without a daemon," she argued. "Mary and Lee are hiding something, there's no doubt about it. But what?"