"So, are you guys going to explain to me about the supernatural world." Alek munched on the pizza as soon as she was done talking. Her eyes were shining with excitement and hungriness. The food that Bia ordered was finally here and, she was eating them like she had a black hole in her stomach. "Mmm. This is good."
"Okay." Panacea swallowed what was in her mouth and started explaining. "So, as you know, there is a supernatural world." Alek nodded with her mouth full of food.
"There are witches, vampires and faeries." Alek stopped chewing and looked at her mother with wide eyes of disbelief. "And us, the shapeshifters. In this community of shapeshifters, there are twelve leading clans. Namely Mutsuki, Kisaragi, Yayoi, Uzuki, Satsuki, Minazuki, Fumizuki, Hazuki, Nagatsuki, Kan'nazuki, Shimotsuki and Shiwasu."
"Wait, did we just hear our name on the list." Alek swallowed the food in haste when she heard their names. It caused her throat to pain but, she spoke nonetheless.
"Yes, Minazukis are the reptile shifters." Panacea answered her calmly and continued. "Each clan has its own kind to rule. As your father's clan is Mutsuki, shifters of animals with venoms or poisons."
'Damn.' Alek thought as she looked at her father next to her.
"Does that mean Jin and Rin guys are also shapeshifters?"
"Pretty much." Panacea told her daughter.
"And all of you knew this?" Alek asked as she looked around the table.
"Yep, except you." Kai answered her.
"How come I didn't know?"
"I don't know. Maybe because your powers were not activated and even now." Bia answered her sister as she ate chips.
"Iris has powers?! Am I the last Minazuki without powers?" Alek questioned.
"Iris has powers. But their family's powers are more similar to what of Mutsuki's." Robin answered his daughter. "And, yes. You are the last one that have not discovered the power."
"Wow. Then how come you guys didn't tell me? You do realize I'm one of the oldest people in our family behind Jin and Rin." Alek was a little sad and angry that her family didn't tell her. They knew she had been dreaming about meeting supernaturals, and now, she was one and her family as well.
"As I said, "Bia repeated. "Because your powers are not activated!"
"Then how do I activate it?!" Alek shouted.
"I don't know! I am not you!" Bia shouted back at her sister. "We do not have a certain age for our powers to come."
"Since when do you have your powers and, how did it come then?" Alek threw a question towards Bia.
"It developed when I was twelve. I bit my tongue by mistake while eating, but it wasn't a normal bite. I had fevers by the time when I was done eating and was rushed to the hospital. And, guess what? It was activated. I have venoms like dad." Bia told her sister.
"You have been hiding it from me for four years?! Why?!" Alek looked at Bia with betrayal.
"At first, I thought you already had your powers and was about to tell you when I discovered that you haven't." Bia talked back at her sister. "What was I supposed to do? Get an advice on how to control my powers from you?"
"Maybe you could have done that!" Alek replied.
"That's enough." Panacea stopped the fight that was on its way. "We are eating and I'm not done explaining."
Everyone became silent and, Panacea continued with her story. "The twelve clans are stronger than the normal shapeshifters. Each of us has two forms, the ancient and the modern. Most of the time, the ancient form is much dangerous and aggressive than the modern form. Our ancient form is chosen before we are born. Our modern form is kind of like derived from the ancient form and is the mixture of the parents."
Panacea continued as she now looked at the curly-haired daughter next to her. "Bia's modern form is Green mamba and her ancient form is Titanoboa. Because she is a combination of your father's side and mine, so she has venoms in her modern form."
Alek looked at her sister, who was now eating the noodles with a frown as she was a little angry. In Alek's point of view, Bia was like a cat. She never knew a cat can be a jaguar.
"We have our ancient form as leaders and to rule. None can go against our ancient forms." Panacea spoke to Alek. "And your grandmother. She is the head of our clan, meaning she has the ability to shift into any reptile she wants. But that power is limited to the modern form only. She can only have one ancient form but many modern form. She also has the ability to give her form and that's how your father has three forms."
"You do?" Alek asked her father.
"Yes. Grandma gave me the powers of a chameleon. My powers are scorpion and the ancient form. Now I have three forms. But my powers are a little weakened since I have the third form." Robin spoke. By now, most of the food that were delivered were gone.
"Does that mean that when I get my powers, it would be venomous? Alek spoke.
"We don't know. As far as we know, all of Lake's family apart from Astraea is venomous and in this family it is only I," Robin looked at Bia as he spoke. "and Bia."
"Okay." Right now, in Alek's head, her brain was trying to decipher all the information that was given in a short time. As her brain was doing the work, she looked at the table. "The food." She had forgotten about eating and all she ate was one slice of pizza.
"I'm not going to share this." Alek told the family without looking at them and started eating. The food was more than for one person, but she felt like she could still eat even when she was done.
"Is that the whole story?" Alek asked her mother as she tapped on her ballon stomach. She looked like she was pregnant.
"Yes. Well, there are some parts that we haven't told you about but, I think we can talk about those next time." Panacea didn't want Alek to overthink all the information that was given to her. They had missed out on many important things but, at least, Alek now knows about the supernatural world Astraea wouldn't bother her.
"Did Aether had powers?" Alek asked quietly after sitting properly on the chair and drinking water.
"He definitely had powers but we don't know what it was." Panacea answered.
"What do you mean you don't know?" Aether was their son. How come they didn't know?
"He developed his powers months before he died but, he never showed it to us. He said he wanted to show you first when he was able to control it fully." Panacea looked at Alek.
"Mmmm." That was all Alek could say. And the atmosphere in the room became heavy as the conversation ended.
"So Alek, do you wanna see my powers?" Kai didn't want to spend time in this situation, so he spoke up.
"Yes!" Alek immediately replied and stood up.
"Don't shift in the house." Panacea warned before her kids were left the dining room with the plates.
When they were gone, the three that were left started talking.
"That was not how I planned the whole conversation would go." Robin said.
"Agreed." Panacea chimed in.
"Same here," Bia said. "but it went well so I don't really care."
"Mmm." Panacea nodded towards Bia's statement.
When Robin was about to talk, Alek shouted from outside the house. "Bia!!!" Come!"
The house had a big garden, and it was isolated from the neighbours, so they needn't worry about being seen. Especially when shifted or shifting as the garden was used for the practice of it.
Bia sighed before leaving the room and leaving her parents alone.
Even when Bia left the room, Robin and Panacea never left their seats.
"Should we call everyone and tell them that Alek knows?" Panacea asked her husband.
"But she doesn't know fully, my love. They would think that she knows EVERYTHING when you say it like that." Robin said. "She doesn't know about how the each clan is related to."
"We can tell her tomorrow." Panacea protested. "From what I have experienced right now, I don't think she would be...uh...surprised by what we tell her. She is strong in a weird way. But its a good thing. I think she can handle it."
"Kai and Bia knew this since they were small but, Alek is different. She is not prepared like the others. More so, her powers are not activated yet. We don't know what her powers are. Maybe we could tell her when her powers are here." Robin spoke as he looked at his wife sternly.
"But that would be too late. Some of the elders in the clans know that Alek is going to be the new head. Her being the head will have many effects on society, Robin. They would try to test her." Panacea was worried about her daughter who was going to turn nineteen tomorrow and soon a leader and the ruler of reptile shifter.
Robin and Panacea ket their silence after Panacea spoke.
"We would tell her after her birthday. I don't want to ruin her day." Robin spoke as his wife nodded. They held hands and looked at each other's eyes as if to communicate with their mind.