the tiny and the winged in my backyard

Chapter One

"Who are you?" I cry, looking around wildly and stepping back. "I'm not kidding. How did I get so small? I was just reading a book... summer reading stuff, you know? Then I'm here, in pain, and only a few inches tall?!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," the boy says, holding his hands up and taking a step towards me. "Nothing you're saying is making any sense. You must've hit your head pretty hard. Sit down."

"No!" I shout.

They all look alarmed now.

"Quiet down!" the scary girl snaps. "You don't want to attract any predators."

The moment those words leave her mouth, there's a deep rumbling sound behind me. Everyone freezes.

I swallow my urge to panic. Slowly, I turn around to see the most enormous frog in the history of forever, with bulging, glassy eyes and slick, rubbery skin.

"Girl," the boy says. "Tell me your name," he whispers.

"Lilly," I whisper in reply. I keep my eyes on the looming frog.

It's twice my height, and it's gradually getting closer.

"We have to fly," the nicer girl hisses. "Now! Before it sees us."

I give her a bewildered look. "Did you say... fly?"

They're all looking at me now, as if flying is the obvious solution and a totally normal thing to say.

"Everyone, unfurl," the boy murmurs.

Following that simple yet strange order, I witness the most incredible sight. Three pairs of wings unfold. A pair of dragonfly wings flick out of the boy's back, shimmering and translucent. They had been folded up before. The brunette girl spreads a gorgeous pair of butterfly wings, and the other girl has what appears to be bat wings.

"Hurry up," the nice girl urges me.

My brain is struggling to catch up. "I don't have wings!" I hiss.

Whoops.

I spoke too loudly.

A rumble makes the ground shake, so I nearly lose my balance. After several seconds, it registers that the tremor was the frog and not an earthquake.

Closer and closer it approaches, it's mouth opens wide, and then it scrambles towards me.

"RUN!" another voice screams from above.

The three before me launch themselves into the air, and I break into a full out sprint, with my slippers slapping on the ground and my hair trailing behind me.

This is ridiculous, I think. I'm being hunted by a frog. The towering blades of grass are a blur as I run. I make a sharp turn and hoist myself up onto a rock. In the back of my mind, I think of how this rock could fit in the palm of my hand if I was my actual size. And then I could squash the frog with my shoe.

But not now.

I stand atop the rock, looking down on the frog. It hops circles around the rock, somehow unaware that I'm right above it. Finally, finally, it hops away.

I drop to my knees on the flat top of the rock. My breath comes heavily and the remainder of the adrenaline rush still surges through me. 

I could've died.

"That was a close call," a new voice says. 

I force myself to sit up.

There's another guy now, sitting casually on my rock. The first thing I notice is an amazing pair of blue jay wings coming right out of his back, bright blue, black and white.