Altered Realities

Chapter 1

The mall was always busy the closer it got to the start of classes. Sentients of all types flocked to the outlet stores and the shops that composed the shopping center. It didn't matter if they were children, teens or adults, they all had to outfit themselves with new clothing for another school year. Seraphina looked around, first taking in the busy crowd of people and then glancing to her friends. With a subtle glance, they knew what (she wanted them) to do. As they walked, they arranged themselves into a wedge formation, diverting people to either side of their path as they continued.

Sera moved into the lead position, her angelic aura deflecting people away from them, followed closely by her friends as they traveled to her favorite clothing and boutique store. Turning back to her friends, she noticed that Rose had vanished into the throng of people. Heading to the book store, she was sure. Sera could go visit Ian and maybe grab a bite to eat while he was on break later. Right now she was on a mission to build her wardrobe for the fall semester.

Continuing their march, the girls moved into the clothing aisles, Caitlin wandered away further into the clothing store to the romantic apparel while Miriel followed Sera to the dresses. Miriel selected a few dresses that she thought would be both flattering to her figure and to subtly entice, leaving Sera alone for a little while before she grabbed a light sky blue sun dress to try on.

Normally shopping would have been a group activity for the girls, who had been friends for years, but today each woman was occupied with finding clothing that would best accent their features for the New Year. Sera had selected a few items to try on, and by the time she had stepped out of the changing room with a keeper Caitlin had returned with a collection of lingerie.

"What do you think?" Sera asked. She spun on her toes before her friends. The aqua-blue sundress she was modeling came up to her knees for a brief second during her spin, before gravity pulled the fabric back towards her toes.

"It looks nice, Sera" Miriel said. She smiled down at the golden haired angel. "But don't you have enough dresses?"

"Jewel," Seraphina said, fixing the tall, blue- skinned woman with a skeptical stare. "You want to be a fashion designer, and you think I have too many dresses? Isn't that what your industry does, encourage women to own multiple dresses?"

"She's sayin' ya could stand ta' have a few more shorts an' the like," Caitlin said. She leaned against the divider to the dressing area, grinning.

Seraphina turned away from her two friends and frowned. Maybe they were right. It was hard to find clothing for her unique body. She turned back to the mirror and gave herself a good look, resting her hands by her side.

The aqua-blue sundress she was wearing accented her pale white skin and blond hair, but anything she wore would bring attention to the two large white bird wings on her back. The wings, a gift from her angelic father since birth, meant that anything she wore had to have an open back or it'd be impossible to put on. Neither Miriel nor Caitlin had to worry about finding clothing, for their bodies were normal, at least compared to Sera.

Caitlin was a typical human, excluding the plethora of tattoos that covered her in colorful designs from head to toe. Her vibrant red hair, not to be outdone, was dyed in multiple places, the end result looking like a rainbow.

Miriel's skin color was the only indication she wasn't human. The sky blue skinned woman was model thin. Something that Sera attributed to her daily regime of swimming through high school as the captain of the swimming and diving teams.

Sera, on the other hand, often found that her wings made finding clothing problematic, but she wouldn't get rid of her wings even if she could. It just meant that she wore dresses without backs in most weather. Not that cold temperatures bothered her. Her father had once stated that extreme temperatures were not a concern of angels. Even an angelic hybrid like herself need not worry about freezing or burning up. A magical blessing to protect her for when she flew to high in the sky or dive bombed quickly, though in these peaceful times dive bombing deviants wasn't in Sera's repertoire.