Anomalies (working title)

Chapter 4

Cameron (Cam)

Cam automatically flicked Reya when she wasn't moving. Cam couldn't do this whole boarding school thing alone, and so far, it wasn't looking good for her, considering the way her entire friend group had frozen at the sound of their names. Reya seemed to be awakened by the flick, and she stood up first, her unruly, curly hair bouncing as she tried to navigate all of the children on the ground. Cam followed closely behind her, then Hayley, Skye, Jo, and Blue. When she reached Ms. Lynn, she gave her a hug and whispered "Congratulations. Make sure they don't do anything too stupid," into Cam's ear. Cam flashed her a smile and walked back to her seat.

She was glad that she was going, to say the least, she just wished that her fangs would retreat back into her gums for once. But it was a full moon after all, so that wasn't likely to happen. Reya's eyes were already fully yellow, which really popped against her cocoa skin.

God, she's beautifu- Now is not the time, Cameron.

Yeah, Cam may be just the littlest, tiniest bit... Gay. Pansexual, technically. But she wasn't the only one. Practically all of the new Venificus students were gay. Skye and Hayley being the only exception (Skye was transgender and ace, while Hayley was completely straight).

As Cam surveyed the room, she could see signs of everyone starting to turn. Some of the fallen angels' horns were out, the fairies' wings (which had come out around noon today) were turning black, the sirens' hair was turning all sorts of different hues, and most of the vampire's fangs were out. The sun was beginning to set, and they needed to begin preparations soon, or else things might get out of control. 23 children all turned into different murderous creatures running around a house with one supervisor? Not a good idea.

Ms. Lynn seemed to sense this as well, so she put the tub of vanilla ice cream back into the freezer and began to usher the littles upstairs to their rooms. Cam sighed, and began to trudge upstairs to her room. In a matter of minutes, she and Reya would both be bound and the locks magically locked. Blue would be lighting candles around the pentagram in her room, saying an incantation, and then jumping right into the portal. Jo would be filling up her bathtub and locking the locks tight, and Hayley and Skye were flying to the dark forest with the other fairies and were assisting the littles who weren't as coordinated.

Everything had a system, yet somehow, something always went wrong, usually with those who were a part magician. A quick magical incantation to undo the locks, jumping out the window and floating to find a victim. Most of the older kids knew they had probably murdered someone. Every time they found stories online about someone being drowned, torn apart, or found dead at all near their area, they all automatically got that thought. Was that me? Did I kill them? The only person we knew for sure had killed someone was a siren. Someone had drowned in a local pool, and in one of the security cameras they had set up, they had found a tail. Just a corner snapshot, but that was enough for anyone who had seen Samantha's tail to know that that had been her's.

A few years ago, Ms. Lynn had taken the middles and bigs to the sea, which also had a forested area nearby. It had rocks for climbing, cliffs for jumping, and near the end, the fallen angles helped create a bonfire and firework showcase. Sam, Jo, and a few other sirens got separated from the main group, as Anna, one of the middles, spotted a group of 'totally hunktastic boys' who were fishing. Right as they were swimming up, one of the 'hunks' cast his rod, spearing Sam in the corner of her mint green tail. Samantha, of course, in shock had swum as quickly as she could away, causing the boy to try and reel her in. Sam's powerful tail flicked hard enough that it ripped the hook out of her tail, leaving a sizeable scar that did eventually heal, but could still be seen at certain angles. The camera was at one of those angles. Though everyone tried to assure Sam that there were hundreds of other sirens with scars on their tails, but Sam was practically impossible to convince. She was quite stubborn on most of her thoughts.

And now they would be going to school together.

Oh my God, this is just so remote.

"Hey, Cam, can you help me with this knot?" Reya asked from her closet (and go to hiding spot for full moons). Her nails had already started to elongate, and her pupils were narrowing into slits. The longer Cam stood, the more she could feel her resolve to slip away. She fumbled with the knot, and Reya tightened Ala's ropes.

"Do you think the locks are done tight enough?" Ala inquired curiously from her closet.

"Even if they aren't, Ms. Lynn will tighten them," Reya said. Ala could hear the growl in her voice already developing. Suddenly, Cam felt so... Alone. It hit her that tonight, and for many, many more full moons, she would be unable to have someone next to her, whispering kind things and letting her hold them.

"Okay. Reya?"

"Yeah?"

"...Never mind. Goodnight."

Cam didn't know if Reya responded or not. Her vampire form had already taken over.

The real Cameron was gone.