I totally wasn't ready for my alarm to go off in the morning. You'd think after nights of anxiously sleeping in the wilds, I'd finally develop the habit of rising early. Nope.

I grabbed my teal covers and pulled them up to my chin, trying to hide from the ringing.

Levi's soft scales brushed across my arm as he slithered out from the bed and looked around for the sound. I cracked my eyes open to see the little blue snake leaning over my phone and bumping it with his nose. He had seen me hold it a couple times in the wilds, mostly when I felt alone in the dark caves at night. But I never turned on the sounds because it wasn't safe, nor did I turn on the light because I wanted to preserve the battery. He didn’t know it could make noise until now. His nose accidentally hit the stop button and the alarm shut off. He flinched back in surprise and stared at the phone, ready for it to attack.

I gave a sleepy smile. "Good boy, you can do that every morning."

Okay, that was a total lie. If he did that, I'd never get a good task from the Association. But today, it didn't matter. I was a little tasked out for now. Well, Hunters Association wise; there was no getting around the System's tasks. Plus, I had plans with Uncle.

I ignored Levi as he poked around my phone and snuggled in bed for a bit longer. Music suddenly blared from my phone, completely freaking him out. Before he could smash the electronic with his tail, I picked him up, effectively distracting him.

"Okay, I'm up," I admitted and sat up.

Immediately, a System message popped up. Ding! [Daily Task: Kill Three Monsters.]

"And there it is," I muttered, not surprised.

After all, daily tasks were as consistent as the sun, though this task was a little different from normal. It increased the number of monsters from two to three. It seemed the System was just as eager as I was to complete the Get to Level 50 task.

I wasn't planning on going to the wilds yet so I put on shorts and a shirt, enjoying the feeling of air on my skin. Seriously, my under armor was very comfy but after wearing it for five days, I was ready for a change.

Micah opened his door the same time I did, his eyes still half closed. "Morning," he mumbled. Then he caught sight of Levi on my shoulder. He stiffened, all the sleepiness gone just like that. He jumped back and slammed his door hard enough to make my ears hurt.

"Morning," I said to the wood panel. He wasn't going to do that every time he saw Levi, right? He'd run out of doors, eventually. I tapped on it. "Levi's not dangerous, you know," I half lied. He was absolutely dangerous to everyone, just not my family.

Levi stuck his tongue out at the door. Then he sent me an image of a cowering baby rodent monster.

I smiled despite myself. "Yeah, he's still young."

Levi looked me dead in the eye and sent another image of a tiny blue snake, much like what he looked like right now. Only this time, he was referring to me.

My brows wrinkled as I walked down the short staircase to the kitchen. "No, I'm not a baby. What are baby snakes called again? Snakelet or hatchling? Anyway, I'm not. I'm an adult."

He sent me the same picture, obviously disagreeing.

Dad sat at the kitchen island, drinking coffee. He looked up from his tablet. "Good morning." There was a slightly hesitant after tone, like he was stepping on thin ice.

I grinned big and threw my arm around his shoulder to reassure him, making sure that Levi was angled away. "Good morning!"

He paused in surprise then hugged me back. "There's coffee on the counter. The toast will be done in a minute."

I hummed happily and sat down across from him.

Levi slipped to the counter and examined the kitchen.

Dad stiffened. I guess he forgot about Levi too, huh?

Levi didn't spare him a glance. He watched me grab some coffee and toast, carefully observing how the cabinets moved. Noticing, I paused and opened a few more cabinets and drawers, demonstrating how it was done. When I sat down, he leaned over the coffee until the steam hit his face. He recoiled, scrunching his nose at the smell. But the words on the side of the mug were too interesting — Rise and Shine! — so he came back. He pointed to the S. Ssssss.

Dad watched over the tablet the whole time, his worry turning to wonder. "Does he ... understand it all?" he marveled.

I took a big drink of my sweetened coffee and nodded. "Yep." Would it be too much to say that he wanted to learn how to read, too? I took a bite of toast, thinking. I knew how to read, obviously, but I didn't know how to teach it. Even with how smart Levi was, he was guaranteed to fail if his teacher sucked. Unfortunately, I didn't know that many people in Colorado, and none of them had enough free time to teach a snake who could only communicate in my mind to read.

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My gaze landed on the tablet in Dad's hand. Of course! I jumped up and grabbed the family tablet from the charging station and sat back down.

Levi crawled over the top of the tablet and bent until he could see what I was doing. The problem was, his body affected the touch screen. He still couldn’t understand why he could touch phones and tablets, but not my Guide screen.

I pulled him off and set him on the counter, then angled the screen so he could see too. "Don't touch the screen, it’s touch sensitive," I instructed and opened the apps store. A quick search found exactly what I wanted — a program that taught how to read. Granted, it was designed for toddlers and young kids, but it started from the basics and went from there. Perfect.

"We'll play with this later," I said and downloaded the app.

Levi didn't know what it was so he didn't put up a fight and simply watched me eat my breakfast.

Between bites, I exchanged stories with Dad about what happened when I was away. Dad talked about how he fought with the Association to get any information about my disappearance, and how they never released the names of the other Hunters so he could ask them himself. I talked about how I picked up Levi half-dead on the river bank, and how we'd work together since. Both of us were vague on the details, not wanting to upset the other. The whole talk was tense, both ready to backtrack if the other got upset.

After I was done, I washed up my stuff, picked up Levi, and headed out the back door. Micah had been hiding on top of the stairs for most of the conversation. I figured it was time to let the chicken eat breakfast now.

My steps got quicker and quicker as I hurried to the line of tall, thin pine trees that separated the backyard from the paddock behind. I could hear the crunch of grass on the other side, the sound more and more frequent, as if impatient.

Levi felt my joy and looked around, trying to figure out what it was.

I dodged around the last tree, a huge smile on my lips. "Shiva!"

There she was, as pretty as the first I met her. Her silvery coat gleamed in the soft light, a gorgeous contrast to the luscious backdrop. Her navy blue hooves stamped the grass flat as she paved back and forth behind the fence. Shive could easily jump the wooden barrier, but she recognized that as home and chose to stay. Her regal head, crowned with navy blue antlers, stayed pointed in my direction. As soon as I came into view, her calm blue eyes brightened.

"My Shiva!" I vaulted over the fence and threw my hands around her neck and pressed my face into her cool hair. "I missed you."

She bowed her head and rested her chin on my back, hugging me back. Then she jerked back, stepping out of my arms.

Levi puffed up on my shoulder, hissing at her.

"Absolutely not," I announced and grabbed him off my shoulder. "This is Shiva," I introduced to him. "And you will be nice to her. She's my favorite."

He gave me a stink eye, then looked at the raindeer. Then sent me an image of big Levi eating other deer-like monsters for snacks.

"Be nice," I warned.

Shiva blinked at him, curious about the little blue snake in my hand. She leaned forward, nose flaring as she smelled him.

Levi stuck at her nose.

But I expected his attitude and took a page out of Terre's book. I grabbed Levi's head and pinched his mouth shut. "You seriously need to stop biting everything," I warned him. "There's going to be a lot of new things around you, since you've never been in a human city before. You will be killed if you injure someone, and there's no way I can stop it." I let go of his head, then waved Levi in front of Shiva. "And Shiva is my battle partner, which means she's yours too. Be nice." Still annoyed, I tossed him into the grass a couple feet away.

Ssssss! He hissed in my mind, but didn't throw another sink. Instead, he went off to investigate his surroundings.

Now that Levi was settled, I heaped love on Shiva. "Are you okay now?" The last time I saw her, she was still injured from the suspy battle. I ran my hands over her chilly body, pausing where the worst of her injuries had been. I knew that monsters healed fast, but it still blew me away to see her so healthy. She didn't even have a scar hidden under her smooth hair.

Shiva gently nuzzled me back, just as happy.

I took a moment longer to love her some more than patted her shoulder. "Ready for a ride?"

Her eyes brightened up. After all, she accepted Micah and Dad's presence, but as a mount bonded to me, I was the only one who she'd allow to ride. She's probably been stuck in this paddock since I disappeared, unwilling to leave without me.

I saddled her up, then looked towards the right corner of the fence. "Levi, let's go."

He climbed to the top of the fence and flicked his tongue.

I rolled my eyes and took Shiva over to him.

Before I could grab him, he jumped and landed the back of her neck in front of the saddle horn.

Shiva startled and pawed at the ground, tossing her head from the new feeling.

"Shoot." I grabbed her head and cooed to calm her down. "It's okay," I reassured her repeatedly.

She quickly calmed down, but her skin kept twitching every time Levi moved.

He moved around carefully, as if testing her smooth hair against his belly. He tapped her shoulder with his tail, watching as her muscles twitched each time. Once he tormented her enough, he climbed up her neck to the flat between her antlers.

Shiva shivered and stamped her feet in agitation, but didn’t buck or pull her head out of my hand. Her wide eyes stared at me, comforted by my calm attitude.

I continued to soothe her, waiting to see if she was going to reject him or not. As my mount, she didn't allow other people to ride her, but how did that convert to my familiar? Right now, she was stronger than Levi, so he didn't pose a threat to her. If she couldn't handle him crawling on her, Levi would just have to ride on my shoulder, which was also perfectly fine.

After a while, when Levi finally stopped moving and rested his head on her forehead with his body curled around the base of her antlers, Shiva calmed down. She tilted her head around, getting used to the feel of a snake on her head. He, at least, had the decency to stop harassing her.

I let go of Shiva's head and stepped back, staring at the odd image. A small smile pulled at my mouth. This was my fighting team. With them, I could go anywhere in the wilds and no matter what, they had my back.

I hopped on Shiva's saddle. "Okay, let's go see Uncle."

*****