Anomalies (working title)

Chapter 5

Blue

It wasn't a secret that full moons sucked. But they especially sucked when you woke up in a random alleyway, curled up in a box, like one of the newly found littles. As Blue had figured out, Anomalies were kind of like cats. When they felt themselves turning back, they all looked for a safe, warm place to lay down, usually boxes. The really off-putting thing about being in an alleyway was the fact that Blue had turned in the dark dimension and had awoken in a different one (meaning she had beaten the guards again, those weak suckers. David owed her 5 bucks at breakfast), which was like falling asleep in the UK and waking up in Nigeria. As she sat up and rubbed her eyes, she tasted a metallic taste in her mouth, a normal sign of a good night of mischief. Demons feed off of anger, and, kind of like sirens, had a lovely power to inflict emotions. In most cases, it was anger. Their spells were powerful enough that a good, strong demon who was adequately trained could probably make Gandhi go reaching for his knife.

Since Blue didn't really feel like walking, she spread her wings (they hadn't disappeared from the night before) and took flight. The wind whipped her short, brown hair around her face as she flew, her skinny, pale arms extended in front of her. She always loved flying, but it made Jo, Reya, and Cam salty. They had their right to complain, but they had their advantages too. Not everyone could create water from their bare hands (Jo), or run at unholy speeds (Reya), or heal extremely quickly (Cam). They should just be glad they weren't any of the poor fallen angels who got stuck with a tail and no wings, like Lisa. But some would grow wings as they grew up, kind of like how Anna had gotten wings around her 8th birthday.

Blue noticed she was almost at the house, so she tucked her wings into an artful dive down to the streets below. She halted her dive so she wouldn't eat concrete from 250 feet up, and swooped down gracefully.

"Lovely landing," came a voice from behind her, scaring Blue out of her wits.

"Jesus Christ, Jo!" Blue yelled playfully, scooping the taller girl into a hug, not entirely thinking about the fact that she was hugging her longtime crush of 2 years.

"Aw, what's this about? You usually hate hugs," Jo said. She didn't let go, however.

"I dunno... I was just worried about you. You were really quiet after dinner last night," Blue mumbled into her hair. It smelled like the sea.

"I think we were all in our own state of shock," Jo offered.

"HEY, YOU, LESBIANS! WHEN YOU'RE DONE BEING HOMOS, BREAKFAST IS READY," Hayley yelled from her upstairs window. Jo and Blue jumped apart, both blushing furiously. It wasn't like they were being that gay, just a friendly, totally non-homosexual hug.

It was also definitely not the gayest thing they had done. Once, during 8th-grade formal...

Good god, let's never think of that again, Blue thought. Even though it felt like earth becoming heaven, never again. She's not into you. If she was, surely you would've discussed that by now. It was an accidental kiss, nothing more. No different from a stage kiss. It was all just a show.

"Blue, you good?" Jo asked worriedly as they walked up the cobblestoned steps.

"What? Oh, yeah. I'm fine," Blue lied, trying not to notice how close their hands were to touching as they walked.

"Okay," Jo said, obviously not believing her. She pushed open the ornate wooden doors to the large building, revealing the dining room they had eaten at the night before.

It was a large room, with a few paintings lining the walls, most containing everyday objects like mason jars or bowls of fruit, but some were pieces done by the children of the House of Anomalies, both current and past. But by far the most captivating one was a portrait of Ms. Lynn. It was an oil painting that captured her best traits. Her mousy brown hair was done in her traditional updo with only a few strands framing her pale face. Her powder blue eyes seemed to pierce the canvas, staring into you to catch even the slightest off-putting trait. It was a portrait that everyone had seen every morning for much of their lives, but it still gave Blue goosebumps when she looked into the painted eyes.

"Glad to see you all got back alright," Ms. Lynn said once the two walked into the room, flashing them a tired smile. She had, after all, stayed up all night as a human juggling all of the littles as they turned.

Ms. Lynn was a rarity, even in the world of anomalies. She possessed the power to change into any of the four creatures in the world of anomalies. This was referred to as a Tortoribus. Tortoribi used to be significantly more common, until one had tried to rule the magical world, creating a band of followers who were also Tortoribi. These beings, possessing the power to run as fast as the wind, fly, talk to animals, conjure water and fire, and several other things all at once, were practically impossible to kill. In fact, it was still a mystery as to how Elijah the Tortoribus killer had managed to take down practically the entire population of Tortoribi. Very few survived, and because being an anomaly skips generations, Ms. Lynn was one of the only Torotibi alive, making her training for controlling her powers even harder.

Learning to control one set of powers was hard enough, but learning to control four sets of powers, and to not be respected and spat at for possessing certain attributes couldn't have been easy. Ms. Lynn had pledged to herself to never have children to not pass down her genetics but loved children nonetheless. So she tried to apply for a job as a teacher at Venificus. They didn't hire her, saying she was 'too hazardous'. So Ms. Lynn got an office job as a secretary, before working up enough wages to open The House for Anomalies. Before there were children, she would go out on early walks, searching through ponds and crates before finally finding the first child. A young girl curled up in a flower crate. Ms. Lynn named her Flora, and thus the house began. Flora was long grown up, but occasionally would come back to visit, as many did.

Blue and Jo began to grab plates to help set the table, and a few of the littles were running around the living room area, playing a game of living room freeze tag. Blu smiled to herself as memories of her own childhood flitted through her mind. She didn't remember anything about her life before the House for Anomalies, nobody did. Changing for the first time erased all memories of their previous lives. Even Olive, a long grown-up anomaly who had a photographic memory couldn't remember anything before.

"Blue! Guess what?" Lisa yelled, running up to Blue and crushing her legs in a toddler hug.

"What!?" Blue asked, kneeling down to Lisa's height.

"Last night, I grew wings!" she squealed, bouncing up and down.

"That's great, Lisa! Maybe I can give you flying lessons!" Blue said, smiling at the little ball of energy.

"Yeah! I can't wa- Ow!" Lisa was cut off by Lily, a little fairy, tagging her.

"Haha, you're frozen until someone unfreezes you!" Lily yelled, running off.

"Lily, what did we say about using out inside voice?" Ms. Lynn said from the kitchen, her arms laden with plates of food.

"Sorry, Ms. Lynn," Lisa said meekly, before running off to rejoin the game.

"Blue! Can you grab some napkins, please?" Jo asked.

"Gotcha," Blue sighed, standing up and venturing off to grab said napkins.