John
“You can try to fight me. But I doubt you’ll beat me this time.” The boy taunts. He is glowing red with huge ears. He looks just like Matt. I had gone for a walk and I saw a restaurant called Le Café. I heard noises and looked behind the building. I see the red glowing boy fight two kids. One of them has a pink and green dress, cat ears and a tail. The other boy looks normal. The girl looks just like me. The way her dress had cat fur is like the way my shirt had snake scales when I transformed. The red glowing kid turns to the boy. “What’s the matter? Don’t remember how to use your pathetic powers?” he mocks. I wonder if he has the same powers as me and the girl. The normal boy kicks the glowing boy in the stomach. He doubles over but quickly stands back up. The two boys begin to fight. “Why are you fighting us?” the girl demands to the glowing boy. He looks up from the ground sadly. He doesn’t answer. He just pulls out a gun and stands up. He points his gun at the normal boy. “No!” the girl yells. She holds out her hand and a beam of pink light shoots out of it. It hits the glowing boy and he falls to the ground. She looks shocked by her own powers. “How’d you do that?” the normal boy asks with huge eyes. “I dunno. I just . . . did.” She says in shock. “What the fuck is that?” the glowing boy groans sitting up. The girl shrugs. “Fuck this.” He says. A familiar ripple of air surrounds him. It looks the same as Matt’s. Then he disappears.
The boy and girl go inside leaving me shocked. I realize I have the same powers as the girl and maybe the boy. I had tried to forget turning into a snake and convince myself it was a dream. But now I can’t anymore. I wish I could just push this whole situation away and go back to flirting and having a good life. But I know the right thing to do is to talk to the girl. She must know what happened to me. But at the same time, the guy they were fighting had a gun. If I reveal myself to them will I have to risk my life? I decide to go home and think about it. All night I toss and turn wondering what to do. I don’t even know why I turned into a snake or fought Matt. I think of the pros and cons. If I do decide to fight Matt and the other glowing boy alongside that cat girl I’ll be like a hero. I’ll have snake powers which is pretty cool. Maybe I’ll be able to shoot beams of light out of my hand like the girl. From what I remember from my transformation, I look pretty good as a snake. But of course there’d be plenty of disadvantages. Risking my life and fighting crazy glowing people. Just being a freak in general. I never told anyone about my first transformation. Not my friends or parents or Kasey and Krissy. I don’t want to be judged.
The next day after school, I walk to Le Café. I sigh and stand at the door debating entering. My hands creep up to my mouth and I gnaw at my nails. I realize what I’m doing and quickly move my hand back to the door handle. It feels cold and hard. I push the door open. I see the boy and girl cleaning the restaurant. The girl wears a red t-shirt that says Le Café on the front. The boy wears the same shirt but it’s orange. They look too young to have jobs. “Um . . . hello,” I begin getting their attention. “Hi.” The boy says enthusiastically. “Unless you want a job here, Le Café isn’t open yet.” The girl says. “No . . . I’m not here to eat.” I mumble. “Then why are you here?” the girl asks. She no longer has a pink dress and cats ears and a tail. She looks normal. Her hair is straight and brown. Her eyes are big and blue. She looks so different anyone could easily mistake her for another girl. But I remember her face. Her bumpy nose, hollow cheeks and round chin. I know it’s her. “I saw you yesterday.” I blurt out. “What do you mean?” She asks defensively. “I saw you and him yesterday. Behind the building. Don’t try to deny it. I know what I saw.” I say confidently. The girl and boy exchange glances.
The girl sighs. “Alright. I’m Rose and this is Hunter,” she begins gesturing to the boy. “You can’t tell anyone what you saw yesterday.” Rose says fiercely. “I know. I won’t. But I need to tell you something about me.” I mumble softly with my voice cracking. I think of my reputation. I need to be chill. I need to tell these people the truth. I need to be calm. “Okay. What?” Hunter asks. “I turned into a fucking snake! Like you turned into a cat. Like what the fuck happened to me?” I demand. I wasn’t chill at all. I can’t help it. Everything is so shocking and abnormal. Hunter laughs. “Calm down spaz.” He jokes. So much for chill, I think to myself. “So you’re one of us?” Rose asks. I nod not trusting myself to speak again. “Hunter, get B.B and a gem. I’ll explain this to him.” she says to Hunter. He nods and rushes behind a door that says employees only. “Okay. Le Café isn’t a real restaurant. It’s like our base,” she begins eagerly. Hunter comes out of the room with a tall man who must be B.B. I recognize him. He’s the school nurse. He saw me puke in the garbage can. “John right?” he asks. I nod. “Alright. Take this gem.” He hands me a shiny green gem. “Um . . . what is this?” I ask. “Just lift it up.” B.B orders. “Kay.” I say lifting it up as high as I can. I glow green and I realize I’m a snake again. Yellow and green scales, blue hair and shiny pants. “So he is one of us.” Hunter looks up at me. He’s so small I can’t help but ask. “How old are you anyway?” He laughs a little. “I’m twelve.” He informs me. “I’m sixteen.” Rose pipes in. She looks more like eleven.
B.B explains to me about how he put animal DNA in the water fountain and how it made me throw up. He asks me about my fight with Matt and how it all happened. He explains to me about how I need to work at Le Café and become a super hero. He tells me the red glowing boy from before is named Joe. When he finishes he tells me it’s my choice. “I can’t force you to fight Joe or Matt and use your snake DNA. That’s your choice. You have the DNA and the power. You can do it but it’s up to you if you’re going to.” He finishes. “But what if I die?” I ask trying to sound casual. Like I’m just throwing it out there. B.B sighs. “It’s possible. I can’t promise you that you’ll survive this. But I know you have the strength to win your fights and survive.” He explains. He pulls out a test tube of white liquid. “If you do get seriously injured or shot, this serum heals you instantly. You won’t bleed to death if you have this.” He adds. “Okay. I’ll fight with you.” I agree turning towards Rose and Hunter. “Yes!” Hunter cheers. Rose lets out a whoop. “Three down two to go.” B.B mutters to himself.
A gunshot rings out startling us. “What was that?” Hunter asks. “I’ll go check it out.” Rose says pulling out her own pink gem. “Me too.” Hunter says pulling out an orange gem. I take my green gem out of my pocket. “Wait. All three of you lift your gems together and touch them together.” B.B instructs. We lift our gems and touch them together. A wave of white light comes over us and we’re all transformed. Rose is a cat again. I look to see Hunter swishing a tiger striped tail. I know I’m a snake again. “Let’s go!” Hunter cheers. We all go out the back door and look around. “Where are they?” Rose asks. “Up here sweetheart.” A voice calls out. I look up to see Joe and Matt hovering near the top of a tree. “Wait. They can fly too?” I ask. Hunter eyes me. “Yeah.” He says arrogantly. I turn and look back up at Joe and Matt. “I see you’ve found another little mutated friend.” Joe taunts looking at me. “Where’s Krys?” Matt asks. “Who’s Krys?” Rose asks. “Wait! Krys?” Hunter demands. Matt blushes. “I guess you didn’t know that.” He says quietly. “Know what?” I ask. “Who’s Krys?” Rose repeats. “My friend.” Hunter growls looking at Matt. “Krys has animal DNA too?” he asks Matt.
Matt blushes. “I’m not telling you.” He crosses his arms. It was too late though. We all knew we’d found our fourth member. Apparently a kid named Krys. “That doesn’t matter though.” Joe says flying down from the tree followed by Matt. He pulls out his gun. Matt pulls out his mace from before and swings it around. “Give up! You’re outnumbered.” Hunter points out. “So what? We have weapons.” Joe insists. He turns his gun to Hunter. Matt bites his lip. Hunter looks at Rose and holds out his hand and shuts his eyes. A beam of orange light shot out of his hand hitting Joe’s head. “I did it!” he cheers. I remember Rose shooting a beam of pink light out of her hand. I wonder if I can do it to. “My turn.” I say pointing the palm of my hand at Matt. A yellow beam of light shoots out of it and hits Matt’s stomach. He doubles over. “I’m leaving!” he shouts opening a ripple of air. He crawls through it and disappears. Joe opens his own portal and teleports away leaving the three of us. “Nice job!” Rose cheers. “I could get used to this.” Hunter smirks. I think for a moment. “So who is this Krys person?” I ask Hunter. “I sit with her at lunch. And once we stalked our friends on a date. And apparently she’s one of us.” Hunter says thoughtfully. “Well then I guess it’s our job to recruit our fourth member.” I announce beaming.
