A little book I'm writing with my oldest daughter

    My daughter loves to write stories and books.  This is one we do together.  She writes a chapter, I write a chapter.  It's pretty fun.  This is really raw (unedited), but it's the first chapter, which we wrote together.

Chapter 1

                Rachel lay awake, as she had for so many nights the last few weeks.  Tomorrow was the day she would start intermediate school.  She was both excited and scared.  Elementary school was easy.  The schooling was vigorous, but like all children from Qualia Duo, she was smart.  Math, Language, Science, Herbology, History, Social studies, and Economics came easy to her.  Beastology was her favorite subject, though.  She was, after all, a daughter of two angelic beast parents.  They kept her busy every hour after school with tutors from every beast guild in Qualia Duo.  That was on top of her angelic beast training.

She looked down at the sleeping ball of fur curled up at the foot of her bed; her spirit beast.  Rachel had just turned eleven, but her beast still hadn't evolved.  That meant she was going to the Undecided’s Intermediate School.  Some of the kids in her elementary school had developed last year or over the summer, so they got to go to schools suited to their spirit beasts.  Her best friend, Maddie, had developed over the summer.  Her parents were so proud when her little ball of fur had grown wings and the head of a horse.  They were both in the Angelic Guild with Rachel’s mom and dad, so a daughter developing pegasus spirit beast was a source of great pride for Maddie’s parents.  Maddie should have gone to Undecided’s Intermediate School with Rachel because her beast still didn’t have a body, but her parents had pulled some strings to get her into the Angelic Guild’s Intermediate School.

Rachel felt a twinge of jealousy for her friend’s beasts.  Maddie would get to live with her mom and dad forever because she had an angelic beast like them.  Rachel quickly repented of her jealousy.  She knew that bad thoughts and feelings could change her beast into a monster.  She looked down nervously at the little ball of fur again.  Sometimes it scared her.  The spirit beast would reveal her true character when it evolved, and Rachel worried that her true character might not live up to the ideals of the Angelic Guild. 

Rachel had heard all the lessons the Angelic Guild members had to teach her; “Be honest”, “Be brave”, “Be virtuous”, “Be loving”, “Be forgiving”, “Be kind”, and hundreds of other “Be’s” that it took to have an angelic spirit beast.  Her parents had actual angel beasts.  Her father had a beautiful female angel, clothed in a white robe with long blonde hair, a ten foot wingspan, and a flaming sword.  Her mother had a muscular male angel, with flowing blonde hair, a fifteen foot wingspan, and shimmering armor.  He wielded a trident, and carried a silver shield.  Both angel beasts glowed an otherworldly gold which made it almost uncomfortable to look directly at them.  They were doubly matched; as they fell in love their spirit beasts also fell in love.  Their dual marriage made them head of the Angelic Guild because they were easily one of the most powerful couples in the guild. 

Having parents with angel beasts didn’t guarantee that Rachel would have an angelic spirit beast.  In fact, her older brother had developed a demon spirit beast!  He grew weary of the constant lectures about living a good life, and he began to rebel when he was just a year younger than Rachel was now.  He got worse over time and when horns appeared on his spirit beast’s ball of fur, Rachel’s parents banished him from the house.  Rachel never saw him again.  She could only assume his beast developed into a full demon spirit beast, but she had no way of knowing. 

Rachel’s older sister, Elle, on the other hand, was a little miss perfect.  It was little surprise when her ball of fur began to grow angelic wings and glow a beautiful golden hue.  Now, her beast was fully developed into a beautiful female angel.  It would be a few more years before the beast developed armor or weapons, but Elle would be going into high school this year, and no doubt, she would be the talk of the school with her gorgeous angel spirit beast.  Elle treated her beast as one of her best girl friends.  They would giggle over the stupidest things, and spend hours alone in their room gossiping telepathically with each other.

For the second time that morning Rachel had to check her feelings, as jealousy threatened to take hold again.  She looked at the little ball of fur at her feet again, hoping that it hadn’t felt her feelings, though she knew it had.  The butterflies in her stomach started twittering again.  What would her spirit beast reveal about her?

The room was getting lighter now.  Morning was coming, and Rachel hadn’t slept all night.  Her stomach tightened with anxiety.  Her spirit beast rolled around uncomfortably.  He didn’t like the feelings she was having, but she couldn’t help it.  She was scared of going to a school where she didn’t know anybody.  She was scared of who would be at the school.  The Undecided’s Intermediate School would have little fur balls like her spirit beast, but it would also have animals which had not yet fully developed and were still considered undecided, even if everyone had a pretty good idea as to what they were going to be.  There would probably kids who would develop demon spirit beasts there.  That thought unnerved Rachel the most.  Often times, demon spirit beasts killed as their first act of evolution.  The thought of murder made Rachel sick.  Of all of the Angelic Guild’s teaching, the value of life was the one which struck her the hardest.  She knew that she never wanted to kill.  Everyone in Qualia Duo killed, eventually.  Even the angelic spirit beasts, but at least the Angelic Guild taught to value life above all other things.  They only killed in defense or defending the defenseless.  She prayed that the day would never come where she would have to defend herself, or somebody else. 

Rachel smiled for the first time in weeks.  Maybe her value of life would be enough to make her spirit beast evolve into an angelic creature.  She didn’t want to leave her family.  Not all families jumped to conclusions like her parents.  Her brother’s beast horns could have been the horns of a goat, or some other animal, but her parents were not as accepting as the schools in Qualia Duo.  Rachel wasn’t even sure if her parents would keep a child with a normal beast that wasn’t a demon.  She was pretty sure that if her little ball of fur wasn’t an angel, or at least an angelic beast like a Pegasus or unicorn, than she would be kicked out just like her brother.  The thought put her stomach back into knots.

Not being able to stand the wait any longer, Rachel threw back the covers and hopped out of bed.  Her spirit beast rolled to the floor with a “thud” after her.  She turned around and shushed the ball of fur. It wasn’t quite time to get up yet, but laying in bed waiting was only making her more nervous.  He made a growling sound at her, but she ignored him and walked quietly to the door.  A hot shower would go a long way to calm her nerves. 

When she opened the door to her room she was surprised to see her little brother bouncing back and forth on the balls of his feet.  His little spirit beast was just as energetic, rolling around all around his bouncing feet.  When she looked back at her brother’s face, he was grinning from ear to ear.

“What are you doing up so early Sam,” she asked.

He smiled even bigger, and then looked at the bathroom door.

Rachel looked at the door and then back at Sam who had already turned to run to the bathroom.

“Oh, no you don’t,” she yelled as she chased him down the hall, but she wasn’t fast enough and he had the door locked before she could catch him.

“Sam, open the door!  I need to shower!”

“So do I,” he yelled back, through the door.

“I go to school earlier than you,” Rachel complained, though she knew it was too late.  “Come on, Sam.  It’s my first day.  I need to be ready on time.”

“It’s my first day, too,” Sam yelled as the shower started.

“Ugggh,” Rachel exclaimed as she hit the door and turned to storm off.

“Be patient,” her mother called from the kitchen, reciting one of the many “Be” dictates of the Angelic Guild.

Rachel rolled her eyes, but quickly repented when she looked down at her little ball of fur.  She took a calming breath to control her anger, and then walked down the hall to the kitchen.  Rachel’s mother was a beautiful woman, slender with dark hair and blue eyes, and she always looked done up.  Even first thing in the morning.  Her angel was busy cooking breakfast.  The kitchen was designed for him because he loved to cook.  His massive wings needed room to move around, so the stove and countertop island were several feet apart.  The human-like beast was busy cooking some omelets for breakfast.

“Mom, it’s not fair, I have to go to school an hour before him…”

“And you’re up an hour early, so you’ll have plenty of time,” her mother interrupted, before she could finish her argument.

“He’s only starting 4^th grade.  Nobody is going to care what he looks like,” Rachel complained.  She knew it was a mistake before she even said it, but the sleepless night had left her feeling a bit moody.  Her mother’s angel started a bit because Rachel had almost raised her voice.  He looked at her tentatively out of the corner of his eyes.

Her mother locked eyes with her, as if trying to judge if she were starting to rebel like her brother had.  Without meaning to, Rachel looked away.  She could never look into the judgmental eyes of her mother or father.  They were almost perfect in the dictates of the Angelic Guild.  Who was Rachel to argue with them?

“Be patient,” Her mother repeated.  She took Rachel’s chin in her hand and forced her to look her in the eyes.  “Be kind.  Be loving. Be understanding.  Be giving.  Be sympathetic,” she said, squeezing playfully with the last words of advice.  Her mother then took her in her arms in a warm hug.  “It’s a little nerve-racking going to a new school, huh?”

Rachel nodded the best she could in the bear hug.

“Well, I’ve been there.  I know it’s scary, but everything will be alright,” she said.  Rachel knew that she hadn’t exactly ‘been there’ because her mother had developed at a young age, and she got to go to an Angelic Intermediate School, but she didn’t want to argue the point.  “Intermediate school is a fun time.  You get to make some strides in the direction of your choice for the first time in all your school life.  Have fun with it dear.  Don’t sweat the small stuff, and be brave.”

Her mother released her enough to look into her eyes.  Rachel just smiled and nodded.

“What’s this about being scared,” came a booming voice from behind.  It was her dad.

Rachel turned to face him only to be thrown up in the air by his angel spirit beast.  The playful female angel was always happy to play with the kids.  The beast caught her and hugged her too tight before placing her back on the ground.  The angelic face was always smiling.  At times, Rachel felt closer to her father’s angel spirit beast than to either of her parents, even though it could never talk directly to her.

“She said you look lovely, and the boys will be drooling over you all day,” Her father said.  It was a pity that spirit beasts could only communicate through their humans.  At times it was a little unnerving.  The angels looked so human-like that Rachel often forgot that they were spirit beasts.  “I don’t know if I like the idea of all that,” her father continued as he groaned and looked at her mother. 

Her mother just laughed and continued setting the table for breakfast. 

Her father groaned again and looked at Rachel.  “You’re not into boys and all that yet are you?”

“Dad,” Rachel exclaimed as she rolled her eyes.  “How did a conversation about Sam stealing my shower time turn into a talk about boys?”

Her father laughed, knowing he had won the game and gotten her flustered.  Rachel couldn’t be mad at him.  She knew he was only teasing her.  Just then, the water stopped and Rachel raced down the hall to get in the bathroom before her other little brother woke up.  He was only five, and loved to tease even more than Sam or her dad.  The door opened and Rachel pulled Sam out of the bathroom, jumped inside the door and locked it behind her. 

“Hey,” Sam protested. 

She heard her mother say something, but couldn’t quite make it out.  Then she looked down and saw Sam’s spirit beast wet and frightened at her feet rolling around in a panic to get to its human.  It wasn’t until then that she realized she had locked her own spirit beast out in the hall with her little brother.  Rachel opened the door to see her mother’s stern face looking down at her disapprovingly, holding her little ball of fur in her arms.

Sam’s beast rolled out of the door in a panic to get close to its human.  Rachel had no excuse for her actions and looked down at her feet, waiting for the lecture.

“Be patient,” her mother repeated, gently placing Rachel’s spirit beast in her hands.  “Be patient, Rachel.  Sometimes I wonder what will become of you, when you can’t learn the very basics of the Angelic Guild’s dictates.”

Rachel wondered too.