PRETTY aweful

                                                                               Different

                                                                              Chapter 1

There is a girl with an important destiny to change everything. She will be the answer. She will lead the rebellion. Her best friend is an Invisible. She is a Shifter. They are a small part of all the Differs, which are people with powers.

And they are trapped. She is what will save them, if she can. She is Kara Thunder.   I woke up to the sound of the door slamming shut. Lulu’s home.

I scrambled up and went to the window and started to open it. When I heard my roommate go to her room I continued to crawl out the small space that was between me and the fresh air and freedom of the roof.

Of course there was no real freedom in the Bowl. I looked down. We were on one of the worse streets in the Bowl. The poorest of Differs live here. The Differs that cooperated got the good homes and the people like me and Lulu, the ones who are rebels, got stuck in this crap hole.

My roommate and I actually do have a lot in common. We are both Orphans now. I was the recent addition. Lulu’s ok, if not a little grouchy but she has learned to accept my presence. Sometimes she even smiles.  The Bowl is a whole city of Differs. I hated the Bowl, mostly because we were trapped like lab rats in a circle of stupid mountains.

The only reason we are in this pit of death is because of the Testers. The Testers are the people who stole us from our homes and real lives, and stuck us here.  They are vermin, harassing the Differs and doing as they please.

The only thing that stops them from killing us is the Boss. They do what the Boss says or they lose everything and are put to the mercy of the Differs. The Testers do exactly what their names imply. They take Differs away and conduct experiments on them.

There is a rumor going around the Bowl that they are looking for something, something that is very important. Every year, you hear that another Differ has been taken away to the Grey House and never seen again.

The Differs ( about 350 of them) and I have been here for three years. Two of three that got taken away were my age, a girl and boy of sixteen. The other is my Father.   I have vowed to find my Father, no matter the cost.

And I planned to do it now. Dad got taken away five days ago, and since then I had gathered supplies. I have a backpack with my trusty lock pick, flash light, gloves, food and a rope. I think that is all I need, but who knows? I might get locked up with Dad, instead of saving him. I don’t care though. As long as I see Dad alive, I will be ok.

I walked over to a tree that was growing over the roof and shimmed down. Until now the only problem with my plan was I was afraid of what I might find. My Dad and I were close. Before all of this happened, we lived in a small forest by a lake.

My Dad was teaching me to use my powers. He was teaching me to Shift into animal forms. We had been so happy, and then the Boss took an interest in us.

That is when it ended. Everything I knew, gone. I shook those thoughts from my mind and focused. I looked across the street, and headed north. The Grey House is about an hour walk at a fast pace.

I had to pass through a suburb, and they teamed with Differs that would report me in a heartbeat to gain favor with the Boss. Tonight I had on all black, and up in these mountains it got pretty dark. I moved like the jaguar that I loved to Shift into.

So far, so good. I reached the end of the suburb and headed up the long road to the Grey House. If my resources are correct, then there is a low building on the left of the Grey House where the Testers work. Once I came in sight, I Shifted into a small, black bird.

When I Shifted, It was as if my old skin was shedding and the new skin took its place. It is not painful; it’s amazing, like my true self is opening up. By the time I landed on the roof of the building, it was 4 o’clock and the Testers would be rising for the morning switch of guards. I Shifted back to human shape and started to work the rooftop vent off.

I jumped into the vent and headed straight. After searching for awhile I found a room that had prison cells in it. I wrenched off the vent cover and swung down. I was in a long hallway with five cell doors on each side. I peered into the first one, and it was empty. I do not dare call out to him, because I don’t want to be overheard.

The second did have an occupant, the sixteen year old girl. She wasn’t Dad, but nobody should be experimented on. I worked on the lock and it popped. The girl looked up in surprise when she saw my face. I put a finger up to my lips in a silent shhh. I made a follow me sign and walked on.

I found the boy crouching in the second to last cell and waved at him. come on I mouthed. Both the girl and boy were obviously twins. They had blond, almost white, hair and icy blue eyes. They both seemed fit, and I nodded in approval, because it means they can run farther.

That was a valuable skill around here. I wonder what their power is? I kept searched for my dad. He was in the last cell. He was crouched on his bed, head in hands. I unlocked the cell door and he looked up. Hope and relief flashed across his face.

He jumped off the bed and gave me a hug. I ushered them all out. All of us were in the vent except me. I heard the guards at the door. I tried to scramble up into the vent, but at the last second I felt a hand wrap around my ankle and pull me into a Guards arms… oh boy was I in trouble.