Spirit Animals: Life Of Tarik - Book 1

Lumeo

"Hurry up Tarik! We're going to be late!" yelled Chan who was helping his younger brother named Marlo put his boots on.
"I'm coming!" replied Tarik as he ran out of his room.
"Oh brother, your hair is a mess," said LaReimaja. Tarik groaned and tried to fix his hair with his hands but his older brother glared at him as if Tarik was making his hair worse.
"I wonder if anyone will summon a spirit animal," said Marlo softly.
"Well let's go outside to the Nectar Ceremony and see what happens," said Chan as he finished putting Marlo's boots on. Together, the children walked out of their hut and walked to the ceremony. Tarik was keeping an eye out for his parents but he couldn't see them anywhere. When they got to their destination, the children sat down on chairs, waiting for the ceremony to start. The crowd was awfully big, which made Tarik nervous. He didn't like big crowds. The crowd's chatter started to dull as their village Greencloak named Bakari stepped forward. "People of Caylif, I would like to welcome you all to the Nectar Ceremony. When your name gets called, I would like you to come up to the front to drink the Nectar of Ninani," said the man. Tarik looked at LaReimaja nervously.
"Are you okay?" she whispered. Tarik nodded slowly. LaReimaja gave him a look as if she was worried about him. The man up the front pulled out a piece of paper with a list of names. When he started to call names, Tarik had hoped that he would summon a spirit animal. One by one, children walked to the front and drank the Nectar. No one had summoned a spirit animal, yet. "Siena, daughter of Arlan", called Bakari. Tarik watched a girl walk to the front. She took the flask from the man and put it up to her lips and started to drink. Tarik and his other siblings watched, waiting for the girl would summon something. Nothing happened. Siena gave the flask back to the man and walked back to her seat. "Tarik, son of Archi", called the Bakari again. Tarik's eyes widened as he stood up from his chair and walked to the front. He stood awkwardly as the man gave him the flask. Tarik took it, worried that he was going to drop it and embarrass himself. He took a deep breath, and drank the Nectar. It tasted sweet and delicious, he wanted to have more but he knew he wasn't allowed to. Tarik waited. The crowd fell completely silent. Everyone had their eyes on Tarik. Suddenly, with a flash of light an otter appeared. There were soft murmurs in the crowd. Tarik looked at the otter, and the animal looked back at him. Tarik started to slowly walk forward to the otter, it's dark eyes fixed on him. Tarik held out his hand, and the otter rubbed his head against it, making a little 'squeak' sound. A huge wave of joy came over Tarik. He pulled the otter closer and hugged it. "Lumeo..." Tarik whispered.