Alex and Sally looked in amazement. They saw students in all shapes and sizes. The one made of green mould was perhaps the strangest, but everyone had a little weirdness about them. The curiosity was not one way either. It seemed that everyone was curious about the 'minimally changed' or the 'mostly human' variety. Some it was a feeling of jealousy, others of longing... some wanted to work out in what way they were different.
Alex didn't mind the gazes so much as he did expect it. Sally however was getting a little on edge about it. Still they enjoyed the three eyed girl's company. It was a bit weird that there was an empty seat next to her...
Alex was however, extremely concerned that the three eyed girl could 'pick up' their unchanged status just by looking at them. It added an aspect to the changed he had not considered. An extra sense perhaps? He had assumed the changed would have mostly human senses... the five basic ones. It had not occurred to him that some might gain an additional sense unknown to normal humans.
He suspected some students might be very angry at normal humans intruding on them like this...
Alex glanced around the students... feeling a primal human instinct. It was almost like a feeling of knowing one could easily be prey here... he was an ordinary person among- Beasts? No... that word felt so wrong... Still he did not want to make his sister worry about it. Damn it, Why did she have to be here! This was his risk. There was nothing he could do about it until sunset though.
"So what's your name?" Asked Sally to the three eyed girl.
"Um- well-" Harry hated that question... why did that simple question have to be complicated! The changed would be more sympathetic about her situation but these two were normal humans. She didn't want them to freak out more... "It's... Haru," she said in the end. it didn't feel that bad to say her name as such any more.. Maybe since her mom gave her new clothes that fit her quite well. Nothing 'too' girly... but they were stylish and fit in with her 'exotic' appearance.
"Nice to meet you. I'm Sally, and this is my brother Alex," She grinned. "This is all so cool."
Alex groaned a bit. "Keep your voice down on that... I don't think many students think its cool," he said quietly. "We've been getting a few looks."
Sally bit her lip. "Hehe... just like you plan all this and then worry about it now. It'll be fine!"
Alex wasn't so sure as they ate the food.
Haru was glancing at the empty seat again.
"Are you expecting someone?" asked sally.
"Um... no..." Haru said quickly. "I mean- um- maybe. Ken might come. We're going to go see a movie."
Sally giggled. "Sound's nice."
"N-not like that!" Haru blushed. "We're just friends."
"Wow..." Alex was staring at another student. She was... big. A scorpion lower half carrying her human torso. "Who's that?"
"That's Athena," Said Haru. "Um- she hangs out with Zoe mostly. They are nice," she added a bit hesitantly.
The two continued to talk about the differences between their two sides.
Across the table, on that chair, Brittany watched curiously. In truth this was a very new situation for her. She had never had to be with the changed and unchanged at the same time. She took it for granted that everyone saw her during the day, and her ghostly nature was not easily noticed. She wondered why only the changed could see her... there was something about the sunlight that brought them partly into 'her world' she guessed. No matter their form.
Sally and Alex, still existed on the other side of that divide.
She asked Haru to keep quiet about her for now, so she could watch them.
Anneza was a thoroughly miserable woman.
Her comfort food had finished, and all she could hear now was the insentient tick of the clock...
She floated around the room, looking at her various possessions. Her clothes... she wondered just how much could she sell them for? Given they were useless to her now, perhaps selling them would let her gain a little more time to find a new job- if she had to. Which she conceded, was quite likely unless she re-learned English in a speedily fashion.
She had experimented with writing in her book, it was almost becoming a journal of her thoughts. It all looked perfectly 'normal' to her. Was this really a foreign language? She looked at the words she wrote by her own hand, in her own handwriting, and for a moment.. it was almost as if there was nothing at all wrong with her.
The illusion was broken as soon as she looked at the symbols on her branded television.
She looked down in frustration, wiggling her toes slightly. Her dangling legs hovered a good foot or so above the air.
She hated her body.
She hated the way her legs danced on air with elegant grace,
she hated her dress making her look... sensual.
she hated her green hair, the antenna, the headband, the weakness of her physique, her breasts, unable to talk to anyone, unable to even be who she was... everything!
SPACIUS ASTRONOTICUS. RARE. WE PRESENT AN OFFER A voice crackled suddenly. It echoed across the room, as if speaking through a tiny hole.
Anneza gasped at the voice and sudden intrusion. it didn't seem to come from anywhere... but it was speaking her language! W-Who's there!" She demanded. Could whoever talking understand...
"WE SPEAK TO YOU. YOUR LANGUAGE IS KNOWN"
The space girl felt very uncomfortable. Someone was in her house talking to her from apparently nowhere... had she gone mad now? "Where are you?"
"A SPACE YOU CAN NOT PERCEIVE. THE OFFER: HELP US. WE HELP YOU."
Anneza started to feel uneasy again. an offer to help her? "Can you return me to my normal body?" She asked slowly.
"IN TIME. POSSIBLY. IMMEDIATELY: WE CAN PROVIDE TO YOU THE MEANS TO LEARN THE LANGUAGE OF THIS WORLD. INSTANTLY. WORK FOR US, AND THIS GIFT IS YOURS."
Anneza thought it was too good to be true. Who were these people? How were they communicating? How did they know her language? Did they really have the means to return her to her old form? They said they could do that 'in time'... that didn't mean there was a guarantee they would do it, even if she did what they wanted. But they said they could provide her a way to speak English again.
"I- I don't know..." Anneza said in the end. This was suddenly becoming very strange. Still, she was sure she could 'feel' some kind of presence somewhere...
"SPEAK YOUR WORDS CAREFULLY ASTRONOTICUS... DENY US AND WE ARE GONE. THE OFFER WILL BE RECINDED"
Anneza gasped slightly. Was it really that easy to get rid of them? All she had to do is say no? But... did she want to say no? This kind of thing doesn't happen often... she had never heard such offers being made to any of the transformed. But then would they tell about it?
"Why me?" She asked carefully.
"WE HAVE OBSERVED YOU. YOU COULD BE A USEFUL AGENT TO OUR PURPOSE."
"What is your purpose?"
"UNIMPORTANT TO YOU."
"I would say its damn well important! You're asking me to do things for you. I want to know what you're asking of me, and what exactly will happen if I do it!"
"OUR PURPOSE, IS TO RETURN... OUR POWERS CAN CHANGE YOUR SHAPE..."
"You really can... restore me to as I was?"
"...POSSIBLY."
Anneza swallowed. She had already just nearly gone to prison, did she really want to risk everything all over again? Then again maybe it wasn't going to be a difficult task. Why the hell did it have to be now! Her first conversation in this language and it had to be with... with... aliens? Whatever they were, they were offering her a way to return back to normal. It couldn't hurt to at least ask first...
"Okay... what do I need to do?"
"A PACKAGE IS WAITING OUTSIDE THIS STRUCTURE. TAKE IT, AND USE YOUR LOCOMOTIVE FORCE TO PLACE IT UPON THE ROOF OF A BUILDING..."
A map suddenly just 'appeared' on the space girls desk... what was this building? It didn't have any names on it... but she knew a few of the landmarks on it. Given her ability to see the streets from high up, it would be easy to work out where to place this object.
"YOU HAVE ONE HOUR."
One hour? "W-what happens in One-"
"59 MINUTES AND 45 SECONDS. YOU WILL BE REWARDED WHEN THE TASK IS COMPLETED."
"Wait!" Anneza screamed but the voice was gone...
She opened her front door and sure enough, a box was there...
If she was going to do this, she had to do it now.
Anneza picked up the box, finding it quite light in her hand. That was perhaps very strange, since it looked like it was supposed to be heavy. She felt her dress 'sticking' a little to the packages material... perhaps they were similar? It was a shiny black material unlike her white dress, and felt as cardboard. She glanced at the map, and tensed her legs, taking her upwards.
As she drifted she wondered what she was getting into... what was inside this box? Was it dangerous? Why did 'she' have to do it, and not those other... things out there? They said they wanted to 'return' to this world. Did that mean they had been here before? At the moment though, she was desperate.. so desperate to return to her old life. This didn't seem to be a difficult task.
She glanced at the building indicated. She guessed if she had to go by car, this would have taken a few hours. By travelling through the air as she had, she avoided all that and went directly. This was an act she could easily get away with...
she placed the object down on the roof of the building. She was surprised when she realised, she should be feeling quite cold going through the air like this in such a minimal dress... but she was fine. how weird was that?
As soon as she placed the box down, it started to float upwards, similar to her, not confined by gravity... she looked at it with amazement, as the box opened by itself, its material somehow turning inside out and disappearing from view.
She could only have a vague guess at the strange device she saw, as it started to hum. She was then thinking about the hour she had been given by that presence..
A bomb? ...
she glanced down at the building realising it was a school?
She had just....
Oh crap!
She started to fly upwards to get away, there was probably only fifteen minutes since her initial countdown... She stared down at the building in shock at what she had just done. She glanced down at her hated body... this was her ticket to returning to the world! She could even regain her old form, get back her old existence.. she could... all she wanted right now was to be herself again!
She couldn't do it... not like this.
She tried to fly downwards again, back to the 'bomb'. Maybe she could throw it away before it exploded? Not even thinking how dangerous such a thing could be she accelerated as fast as possible, but then suddenly she hit resistance... a force field? What the hell?! Whatever it was, it nullified her ability to float towards the object now that it was activated. That was strange... it looked like it was making some kind of 'hole' in space? What kind of a bomb was this?
She had to get the students out of the building! She saw a window was open in one empty room and easily slipped in. She saw a fire alarm, and hit the glass activating it.
"YOU HAVE WARNED OUR ENEMIES AND SIDED WITH THEM... THE OFFER IS RECINDED. YOU WILL NOT GAIN ANY HELP FROM US,"
"You lied to me! You didn't tell me this would involve kids. I'm not going to hurt children!" She screamed. It wasn't her fear of jail that did this... she wasn't sure if it was even the result of her change. All she knew is that the price was far too high if this is what she had to do...
The voice didn't respond. Perhaps gone now.
She glanced out the window and could see students pouring out. Glad for that, she quickly sped away hoping nobody noticed her in the confusion.
The witch girl glanced up at the fire alarm going off.
"Okay students, you know the drill. Everyone outside in an orderly fashion," The wolf teacher said.
The students organised themselves quickly.
Jenny looked with some confusion. "I-Is this practice?"
The witch girl looked to her. "Nuh uh..." she said sadly. She could tell this was a signal... the signs were clear. Someone had just warned them...
Jenny then realised her bracelet was glowing. What was happening?
"Someone's doing magic," said the witch girl. "They got something on the roof. I sense... yep. It's opening a hole. The noise from the alarms interfering with it a bit."
"W-what?!" Asked Jenny.
"Looks like it." she seemed to say under her breath, but whatever it was Jenny couldn't understand it. "Uh oh..."
"W-what do we do?" jenny was in a near panic.
"Sorry. you gotta come with me," She said taking her hand. The two easily slipped out of the crowd as the rest left congregating outside the school.
Jenny and the witch girl ran up the flight of steps. There was an incredible urgency in the witch girl Jenny didn't get.
The access to the roof was locked. They both tried pushing and pulling at the door, but it was bolted shut. Whatever was going on up there, they had to stop it before the hole became too big!
Jenny felt panic rise. Did those creatures find her? How in the world could this have happened! She still wasn't trained to fight. Is that why she was targeted? Because she was unnamed and untrained? She didn't want to fight though!
"C-can't you magic the door open?" Asked Jenny.
"I'm not that kind of witch," the witch girl explained.
Suddenly, Jenny heard- or felt... something. A weird voice in her head...
let me help...
It was like something inside her head opened a tiny crack and Jenny knew how to get the door open. She took out from her bag a paper-clip, and started to bend it. She did the same with a second paper clip.
The witch girl watched Jenny curiously, but didn't say anything.
Jenny didn't know how she was doing this. She bent the clip in a particular way after looking at the lock on the door, and started twisting and turning it. She took out a sheet of paper, folding it carefully, and slid it into the catch of the door. There was a click and the door was opened.
"Good job!" the witch girl said. "Come on!" they ran out onto the roof.
Jenny and the witch girl were now at the roof of the building. The girl had no idea how they got here, but she could see the glowing object...
The witch girl pointed at it, and it drifted closer towards them, attracted by some strange force.
"We- we gotta run!" said Jenny.
"Nuh uh. It's opening a hole. We got to stop it." The witch girl adjusted her pointy hat.
Strange sounds were heard, and Jenny was reminded of that awful night... when she was scared and alone, and became a magic girl for the first time. Were these things here because of her? The last time she stopped it by transforming right inside the strange hole... but she couldn't do that in front of somone else! Could she?
"That device is the key. You gotta disable it." Said the witch girl.
Let me try...
Jenny approached the device, even as above it the hole got closer. She wasn't too sure about it as it looked alien. But there were analogues that made a certain sense. A power source for one... made of unknown materials. Connected to a circuit... She felt an instinct that by cutting that wire, it should disable the device. She pulled the wire apart...
Instantly, the hole disappeared, and the witch girl sighed in relief. "Well done..." she smiled.
Jenny was sweating still... how did she know to do that? They saw a teacher arrive interrupting her thoughts.
"You two are in big trouble! You know during a fire drill you are supposed to-" she paused as she saw the suspicious object... "What happened here?"
"I-I-" Jenny looked unsure. "It was going to do something bad. I cut out the battery," she said in the end.
The teacher looked alarmed... some kind of explosive perhaps? "Get away from it. We need to call the police... Outside now, both of you."
Alex and Sally were really enjoying mixing with the changed students. A lot of them were really, just like normal humans. In fact with a lot of them, you could forget they had changed at all. He learned that the story of ones change tended to be a rather personal subject. While some would volunteer it, others didn't really want to.
He guessed he could understand that.
He glanced now and then, looking for any of the changed that might be Steven... but so far, he couldn't find him. Then again, there was no way to know if his suspicion was correct or not.
Suddenly they heard a voice on the PA system. "Attention students. Due to an Incident at a nearby school, the building is to evacuated. We ask students to leave in an orderly fashion to the grounds outside, while a security search is conducted."
Alex looked wide eyed, and glanced at Sally as the students started to walk outside... into the sunlight.
"Bro! What do we do!" Sally asked alarmed.
"I- I'm thinking!" This was not exactly something planned by Alex! Their cover was about to be blown.. they couldn't leave the building. Maybe it was time to come clean? But they would get into so much trouble for it! He glanced at the time.. okay.. so it was now just after noon, so the sun would be in the south. That would mean there would be some shadows in the North side... but that was going against the flow of the students!
A rabbit teacher glanced at them. "Go on you three, please go outside" she gestured them as she ushered a few other stragglers.
Alex grabbed Sally as he tried to think... wait a minute, why did the teacher say three?
