Chapter 4: Secret Friendship
That night, Rep looked out his bedroom window and saw the caravan under the stars. Catrina was on his mind, and he couldn't stop thinking about her.
‘I’ve never seen anyone like her before,’ he thought to himself, ‘I wouldn’t mind seeing her again. Maybe even more.’
Then, out of the corner of his eye, he spots something...
It was the cat girl, and she was sneaking around the garden, looking at some flowers.
"It's that cat girl I saw," Rep said, "I oughta go down there and see her."
Rep changed into a green butterfly and fluttered toward the garden.
****
In the garden, Catrina was admiring the beauty of the flowers. She especially admired the pink glowing flowers, which glowed like they were the stars of the ground.
She giggled and said, "These are even more beautiful than the Abyssinian roses back home."
She was about to smell one, when suddenly...a green butterfly fluttered in front of her. She was surprised by it at first, but when she let it land on her finger, she could feel the gentleness it gave.
"Hey there, little fella," she said, "You come to show me around the garden?"
When she asked that, the butterfly fluttered off of her finger. It flapped its wings to where a person could be at a regular distance from another person.
Then...the butterfly transformed...into the lizard boy that Catrina saw in the throne room earlier. She quietly gasped and stepped back as she made rustling sounds in the grass.
Rep shushed her and whispered, "Hi there. I’m sorry if I scared you.”
Catrina looked around to make sure nobody else was around and said, "It’s alright. I was just surprised, that’s all. No harm done.”
"I'm Rep. What's your name?"
"Catrina."
"Catrina? That’s a pretty name.” Rep compliments.
When Rep gave her that compliment, Catrina couldn’t help but blush and giggle a little.
“Thanks.” she responds, “What brings you out here, by the way?”
“I noticed you were admiring the pink moon flowers. My mom once said if you hold one close to your face, it will make your face glow like the stars."
Curious, Catrina plucks one of the moon flowers and held it close to her face. The flower let out a glow that outshone the stars themselves.
"Does it work on me?" Catrina asked.
As Rep looked at the star-like glow on Catrina's face, his heart began beating, his eyes looked as if they are stargazing, and the feeling he had ever since he saw her became greater.
"It sure does, Catrina," Rep said.
Catrina giggled. Then, the two shook hands with each other.
"I don't care what my dad says, Rep," Catrina said, "You're cool to be with."
"You too. I think we should hang out together more often."
"Me too. But we should meet someplace where our dads can't find us."
Catrina and Rep looked around until they saw a hedge maze in the courtyard. It gave Rep an idea.
"I got an idea, Catrina," Rep said, "We'll meet in the hedge maze. I can turn into a butterfly and spot you from the air."
"Good idea, Rep. I'll come to see you at sundown. You can tell me about Tambelon and everything about it."
"Then it's settled. We'll meet at the hedge maze at sunset."
Suddenly, they heard their dads calling to them.
"Rep, it's time to turn in!" Lt. Chamel cried.
"Catrina, time for bed! You have a busy day tomorrow!" Ioz called.
"I gotta go, Rep. I'll see you at sunset."
"Bye, Catrina," Rep said.
The two kids went in opposite directions back to their fathers.
"Already, we set up plans to meet and hope our fathers would never find out," Catrina said, "Little did we know that someone saw us together, and he plotted to use our friendship to his advantage.”
A pasture-green crow watched the two from a tree and said, "Hmmmmm. Those two could be useful for my plans."
The crow snickered and flew off.