The Forgotten Zodiac

Tyler shook his head. "I don't want a made-up language. I want a real one. Or you could make one up and not tell me it was made-up. That would be okay too." He looked around and glared at Kyle, kicked the boy once more, then pointed away. "We have to go away from Kyle, or he'll be a meanie and tell everyone about our language that you make up and don't tell me is made up."

Israel nodded and walked away from Kyle. "Okay, let me teach you some words, then. Does that sound like fun?"

Tyler nodded. "What words then? It does sound like fun, but it wouldn't be fun if I didn't know what words you were going to teach me, because then you won't have teached me them, and that would be sad."

"What words do you want to know? Do you want to know the ones fore people?" he asked.

Tyler frowned. "What do you mean for people? All words are for people, because animals can't talk unless they're actually people." He grabbed Israel's hand and leaned as far back as he could, leaving all of his weight on Israel's shoulder. "I wanna learn words that are words."

Israel let out a cry. "Tyler, lean closer to me. Now! Ow, ow, ow..." he murmured, stopping walking.

Tyler leaned closer to Israel, waiting for him to actually teach him a word. "Okay. Sorry, Israel. Can you teach me words now?"

"Yes," he answered, nodding. "Ettayah is sun," he said.

Tyler frowned. "That's not an interesting word. An interesting word would be... What's the word for exploding?"

"Kakkent," ISrael answered.

Tyler's face lit up. Two words, and they had a good use. "So kakkent ettayah would be exploding sun? Cool!" He grinned, wondering what would happen if he yelled it out in some crowded place. "What's the word for the?"

"That depends," Israel said.

"What depends? Exploding suns or the's? You have to be specific." Tyler nodded as if he knew everything there was to know about teaching someone a new language.

"The's," ISrael said. "It depends on what you're talking about."

Tyler squirmed out of Israel's arms and skipped along beside him. "The exploding sun. How do you say that?" He frowned, wondering whether Michael would think it was strange. He probably wouldn't. He would probably think it was amusing.

"Tung kakkent ettayah," he answered.

"Tung? It sounds like 'tongue'." Tyler stuck out his tongue for Israel to see, then pulled it back into his mouth. "Are we almost there yet? This is boooooooooring."

"Almost there," Israel said, pointing ahead to the walls of a castle that had appeared on the horizon.

Tyler pouted slightly, and then he squirmed out of Israel's arms and grabbed his hand, running forward. "Let's run!"

Israel laughed, running alongside him.