Astrid Parker was a big animal lover. Her mother, Charon, was a zookeeper at the city zoo, and boss's favorite worker. Ever since she first visited the zoo her mom works in, Astrid bonded with lot of animals, not only the ones from the zoo, but also with stray cats and dogs, and pigeons, as well! She didn't have best grades, and didn't have much human friends of her age (except Diana, they were inseparable since childhood), but even then, she still enjoyed her life.
One day, Charon decided to visit some shops, to search for animal themed item for her daughter's birthday. The zookeeper didn't have much luck, until she found it. The shop which is rumoured to sell magical items. Charon didn't believe in those rumors, even though the shop gave her an odd feeling, but decided to enter the shop anyways.
She saw a lot of interesting items, like dreamcatchers, music boxes, and many more, but what caught her attention was an iridescent pendant, shaped like a chameleon, hanging from one of the hooks, where jewelry was supposed to be. Chameleon was one of Astrid's, if not the most favorite animals, and Charon was sure that her daughter would love it.
Mother grabbed the pendant and took it to the counter, which had an old man, shorter than her by head, sit behind it.
"So, I see you like animals, huh?"
"Oh, it's not for me. It's a gift for my daughter, for her birthday. She loves animals, and chameleon is one of her favorites. How much does it cost?"
"That would be 50 cents, young lady. I'm pretty sure your daughter will love it.", said the old man, with a little smirk Charon didn't notice.
"Okay, then. Thanks for your help!", said the zookeeper, giving a single 50 cent coin to the cashier, and coming out with her daughter's birthday gift.
Next day was Astrid's birthday. Charon gifted Astrid with a little box. "What's this?", daughter asked. Charon smiled and said: "Open it if you want to find out!"
Birthday girl opened the box, and she pulled out the iridescent, chameleon shaped, pendant.
"I found it in a modest store yesterday. I thought you would like it since this guy is one of your favorite animals."
Astrid was awestruck by the gift she got. Sure, it was just a normal pendant, but the fact that her mom knew her really well made her go emotional (not too emotional though) and hug her mother.
"Thank you so much! This deserves a little bit more attention than my friend's gift.", said Astrid, referring to the cute penguin sweater Diana gave her that same day before.
What Astrid didn't realize was that the pendant was not the normal one. It seemed like sunlight gave it the color-changing glow, but in reality, the glow was coming from the pendant itself. In one word, the pendant was magical.
Astrid seemed to really like it, because, when the Sun set, she fell asleep with the pendant on. She didn't realize the little trinket was going to change her life, for better and for worse...