PROLOGUE
~Gabrielle~
Yesterday was a normal day. I was a normal sixteen year old girl, going to a normal school, coming back to a normal home, doing normal homework, surfing the web on my normal laptop with my normal childhood best friend.
Then one day, I woke up something different.
I stretched out my arms, yawning. I stopped in surprise, my eyes flying open in panic. I looked at my arms. I looked at my stomach. I clapped my hands onto my toned stomach, patting it. It couldn't be real. I'd changed overnight. I shot out of bed, launching myself off the mattress - something I’d never been able to do before. I'd always been too lazy, too unfit. I stared at the mirror in horror. My hair had changed – from straight brown, with a flick under at the tip – to wavy black. My small amount of fat had melted off me, and my eyes were red. They used to be dark brown. I looked more closely at them, noting the black and gold specks flaring out from the pupil, stark contrasts from the blood colour covering the rest of my eyes.
'Mutant Red'.
I gaped hopelessly at my reflection. It had been happening a lot lately. A few children from all over the world, seemingly at random, had suddenly developed this 'mutation', as they called it. Everyone on the planet dreaded them, because everywhere they showed up, they caused all kinds of damage. They had been taken to a 'secure location' to be 'studied'. I knew that once I got in there, I was never getting out. There had been at least eight reported cases of children, aged six to eighteen, growing extra, abnormal, almost mythical body parts, or even completely transforming themselves. Also, in addition to whatever abilities their changes gave them, there was one supernatural thing they could do. I reached behind my back, trying to flex my heavy shoulder blades. Bad move. I nearly fell over backwards in shock when four black leathery wings extended outwards.
Courtney walked in on me staring despairingly into the mirror and freaked out, backing up into the wall and screaming, no matter how I tried to calm her down. She acted like I'd contracted a lethal disease, calling the cops on her tiny mobile phone and staying as far away from me as possible, screaming things like 'Who are you!' and 'What have you done with my best girl!?' I couldn't stay, or I'd end up like those other kids; in a prison cell, waiting to be sliced up by men in white lab coats. The problem that my best friend had was that I didn’t look like the girl in the mirror for that moment after she had walked in. I had changed my appearance into her. I had shape-shifted – for only a moment, but I knew now I could do it. The wings had stayed with me, no matter what I shape-shifted into, but that meant it would look odd if the animal wasn't black. I could change into a black horse, and they'd be there. If the animal I changed into already had wings, they would be replaced by my own.
That day, I left New York. My apartment building was put under strict guard, and each resident had to be matched with an identification card on the apartment's register. I changed into a pigeon, flapping my wings fast, hoping no one would notice the double bat wings. From my apartment building, I headed west, changing into my neutral form over a large patch of forest in Tennessee. Somehow, they found me - in the air. I nearly outmanoeuvred them, but they caught me. First, they caught me in a light net. I changed momentarily into a Blue Whale, breaking the net and earning myself another three minutes. I couldn't go closer to the ground, because there were men with darts. In the air were helicopters. There was no escape. They caught me with a thicker net, and I didn't even try breaking free. I changed back into my neutral form, and sat in the net until they pulled it in.
None of the soldiers would go near me. My red eyes shone brightly in the dim cargo hold. I clung angrily to the net, realizing I could have gotten out if I'd taken on the form of a fly. So I changed into a fly. The soldiers panicked, picking up guns and issuing orders to search the hold. I flew onto the roof and stayed there, upside-down, watching their mass panic. The plane landed, and I tried to head for the door. But it didn't open. Instead, I watched the soldiers put on gas masks. I tried changing into a flea, smaller than the eye could see, and getting inside one of the masks – but I was too late. Gas erupted into the plane, and I was choking almost immediately. Not thinking about my form anymore, I instantly morphed back into myself, and the soldiers pounced. I was gagged, passing out an instant later.
