After a hard day's work, Val enjoyed nothing more than face planting into his bed. His peace was broken by a series of loud meows.

"Jeez don't be such a crybaby." He growled before turning over so Symon could curl up on his chest.

He put his hands under his head and stared up at the ceiling while listening to Sy purr. His room was one that would belong to a classic teenage boy.

Blue walls with some pictures and posters. A clock with Spider-Man's face hung above his door and one large window over looked the city outside. He could see lights from other buildings in the dark night and hear the activity.

It had taken him a while to adjust twelve years ago when they moved but now he could either enjoy it or ignore it.

"Symon, do you think I'm...off?" He felt so dumb, he didn't even understand his own question which had come out of nowhere. How did he expect his cat to.

Symon lift his head a bit and meowed.

"Right, I'm talking to my cat, of course."

Symon hopped off his chest and went over to the second pillow next to Val's head. The cat rubbed on his temple purring softly.

"I can't sleep yet Sy," Val tried at protesting but he was enjoying the head massage, "dinner." He yawned but the cat didn't stop, "Okay, just a nap. Come here and cuddle, you fuzz ball."

He closed his eyes and with Symon by his side he fell asleep, He'd be sixteen by Friday so he got to dreaming of how he'd celebrate, maybe he'd work up the nerve to talk to Alex.

***

"Happy birthday my little Valerian!" Mrs Cullen shrieked before hugging him tiger than necessary. He was nearly her height and could run for a contest as her twin brother. Same brown hair, same nose and eye shape. But his eyes were a lighter gray like his dad's.

"Here's birthday money." His dad said pushing five pounds into his hands, "Don't spend it all in one place."

"I feel so rich." He said his voice full of sarcasm.

"More is on the way if you work harder this afternoon."

"Is that a bribe?"

"You should be heading to school, I'll drop you off." His mum interrupted.

"Don't worry I'll go by myself, besides I have to take the route past the book store."

"Don't you and Sy pick out the birth day book after-school?"

It was a tradition that started one year after Sy was brought in. The beginning was kind of funny. He walked into a bookstore. As usual Symon's cuteness didn't leave room for argument so they were not challenged. Symon saw a Percy Jackson book and pointed to it and Val went, 'I'll get it on my birthday.' And that's how it started. Val would buy any book Sy picked. After two years things just got very annoying, almost as if Sy was really trying to insult him.

Last year's book was, 'How to Secure your Insecurities.'

"Love you guys, bye." He finished his toast and made for the door, Symon at his heels.

"Don't forget to show us the book." His dad called after him.

***

"'Dating for dummies.' It's official I love your cat." Bridget shrieked out in laughter when Val showed her the book during lunch. Katie was snickering as well.

Val stuffed the book in his bag before anyone else could see. "If it wasn't that he'd scratch me in my sleep I wouldn't have bought it."

"I know animals are smart but this is just ridiculous." Katie said once she was calm enough herself.

"It could be his way of helping you to finally talk with Audrey."

Speaking of which Val turned his gaze to the twins' lunch table where they seemed to be in a very serious discussion. Soon they both got up and started walking in his direction.

No way.

Katie and Bridget both noticed his unease. They followed his gaze to the twins.

"Val, relax." Bridget said.

He was about to excuse himself but the twins were already standing in front of him.

"Happy birthday Valerian," Alex said smoothly.

The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

Val swallowed thickly, "Y-you can just call me Val. And thanks."

"Val." Alex drew out the name, his voice sounded so musical, Val was about to melt.

Worse was when Audrey spoke up, "Hope you enjoy your birthday. Oh and here's this." She held out a small envelope slightly larger than a ticket, "Its an invitation to our party tomorrow night."

Val blinked twice, he looked at the envelope then slowly reached out to grab it like it was the most fragile thing the world. "Thank you."

"My number's on the first page." Alex said with a warm smile. His sister gave him a discreet nudge, "Oh and Audrey's is on the back. Call us if you have any questions or if you just want to."

It took all his strength not to blush, he felt he was doing rather well. "Okay."

Bridget straightforward as ever, "This all...nice and shit but do we get an invite?"

"Sorry, we only have a few invites." Alex said but his voice had lost the warmth.

"See you then Val." Audrey said before pulling her brother off.

"They're such liars." Katie hissed, "her desk was full of invites in French class."

"I'd feel bad for going without you two." Val said, it wasn't a total lie, they were the only people he had ever considered as close friends. Best friend was Symon's spot and he'd never shared.

"Just go we have plans anyway." Bridget said with a huff.

"What?"

"We were going to invite you out for a movie but don't worry. Go have fun." She replied.

"Exactly, when you woo Audrey at that party and you both start dating, we'll get invited to all their parties." Katie said.

"No one says 'woo' anymore Cinderella." Bridget snapped.

"No arguing on my birthday, how about we...we all hang out at my house on Sunday?" He suggested, he really felt bad for deciding to go without them but he couldn't turn down the opportunity.

"Can we do Karaoke?" Bridget asked.

"Yes."

"We're in." They grinned.

***

"He said my name Symon, can you believe that? And Audrey kept looking at me. You think I have a chance right? I'm so happy, this is by far the best birthday ever."

Symon meowed loudly in protest. He had being talking non-stop since they left school and now they were just a few feet from home.

"I'll stop but really, today has been amazing. Bridget and Katie loved your book by the way."

Symon looked highly pleased with himself.

Val got off his bike about to walk it the rest of the way when the back door flew open on its own, a tall man wearing an insane amount of leather stepped out. It was his dad's younger brother.

"Uncle Griff, what are you doing here?"

"If it isn't my favorite nephew, only nephew. How's school?"

Val moved a bit closer so he could take off his uncle's designer glasses. "You know it's my birthday, how about you give me these?"

"Sure I have like ten back in Jersey."

"Why are you here?"

"Oh right, your parents left to go to London and they needed someone to look out for you."

"You flew all the way from Jersey for that? I'm sixteen I don't need anyone watching me."

Uncle Griff became serious, he pulled out another pair of shades and put them on only to pull them onto the bridge of his nose, "I know. So listen, I have a bit of work to do here, I trust you and that's why I'm going to leave you home alone I'll be back Sunday night and your parents will be here Monday evening. They don't know and everyone's happy."

"I like that plan." Val nodded. "What's with the box?" He gestured to the box which had the words 'Bad memories, keep out,' written on the side.

Uncle Griff rolled his eyes, "Your parents are so...never mind, your dad just told me to throw it out."

"Can I look through it before -ow! Symon don't bite my ankle." He tried to kick the cat away. It took a while but Symon eventually let go hissing madly and took off. "He's crazy sometimes, ignore him." He told his uncle.

"Okay. You can look through if you want." Griffin put the box in Val's hands. "Have fun, see you Sunday."

Val waved and quickly ran upstairs with the box, he was used to his parents going on surprise trips but they usually waited for him to get home. He wondered what was so important but that thought was quickly shut out by the curiosity of the box.

He took a shower and changed into normal clothes, he had a ton of homework so he dealt with those first. Right after, he grabbed a snack before finally settling down to deal with the box.

He glanced up at the basket in front of him, Symon was asleep, "When I'm done here how about I call Alex and ask if I can bring you over, you haven't met the Lovejoys right? You have to, they're the best."

Symon was watching him with curious guarded eyes that the boy paid no mind to.

He opened the box and was immediately met by the sight of a bright yellow bead necklace. He his heart throbbed as painful memories resurfaced. No wonder his parents wanted to toss it out. He kept rifling through though and found more objects coloured bright yellow. Then there were jars full of God knows what. He didn't open them for fear of stinking up his room.

He was about to give up on finding anything interesting when he laid eyes on a leather bound book.

"Hello there." He pulled it out. The cover was utterly plain, it was probably the most uninteresting object in the world, but for some reason he just had to open it.

The pages were filled with hand written texts and drawings. Val felt he should have dropped it after the first page but he couldn't, despite how weird the content was, he wanted to keep reading. He'd show it to Katie and Bridget on Sunday.

A book of spells.

He couldn't say he didn't believe in magic, in fact he was fascinated by it. He never really took interest in learning those tricks performed by street magicians. Too much work.

By the time he was done reading through half the book, it was nighttime. He decided to read one more page before going to make himself dinner.

That one more page caught his attention.

Manual Transformation:Animals to human.

Curiosity caught the best of him, and lucky for him some of the ingredients and their substitutes were in his kitchen. Not to mention the boxes in the attic for some reason had other ingredients. It was madness but he was bored. He went about everything quietly because he wasn't sure when Symon would decide to wake up and the fun would be ruined.

He made the symbols around the basket and memorized the weird chant. There were a bunch of warnings and advice at the bottom of the page but it was all a gag. A really funny gag he was going to try out with the girls later. He'd get Uncle Griff to act as Human Symon.

"Okay Sy, let's do this." He said quietly before closing his eyes, "Incorpus deformus Ettai reformati. Restora permanta."

He opened his eyes. Nothing seemed to be different, except for the fact he was rapidly growing weak. He tried to withdraw his hands from the formation around the basket but he could. It felt as if a magnet was pulling all the strength from his body, keeping his hands in place. The symbols began to glow.

"SYMON! SY WAKE UP!" He screamed.

The light was growing brighter, there was the sound of shattering bulbs in the distance and an agitated meowing.

The last thing Val heard before he passed out was an unfamiliar voice scream, "You fucking stupid human!"