Nea

I slowly opened my eyes to find I was strapped to the hospital bed and connected to wires.

Were these people trying to kill me?

I looked up and saw I was alone in the white room, except there was a mirror. I lifted my head and stared at the mirror realizing I was a normal girl again. All of a sudden, I shock went through me. A deadly, painful shock.

As I screamed, I tried to turn my head the best I could. I got a glimpse of my hand and saw... blurs. Of animals? I couldn't tell.

A wing, a paw, a fin...

It was as if my entire body was glitching. I looked into the mirror as the pain kept going. I was glitching between animals and things I've never seen before.

The machine finally stopped producing its agony into my veins. I started breathing harder and harder. Hyperventilating.

I looked at the mirror and saw my hand twitching along with my leg. My head was jerking and my eye twitched. I had tears streaming down my cheeks, but I didn't feel them. I tried moving my hand and immediately regretted it. I screamed out from the pain.

My hand went on twitching.

All of a sudden, a burst of light pulled my eyes away from the mirror. I turned my head to find my friends standing there gaping at me.

Just when I thought things were becoming better, the wires started shocking me again.

I sat there as I felt the electricity stabbing my veins like daggers. It felt like a thousand needles in my body. A scream escaped from me as the pain grew. My body was glitching in the mirror.

I screamed louder.

I didn't know what or who I was looking at anymore.

Sandra

"Rina, do something!" I screamed as Nea thrashed in the bed morphing into... I don't even know.

Rina outstretched her arms and closed her eyes. A bead of sweat ran down her face. Nothing happened.

Sydney, pulling herself and away from Callie's grip, ran over to the wall and put her hand on the mirror. It turned to stone.

Me and Callie stood there not knowing what to do. I then looked at the gaping hole in the wall that used to be the mirror and saw... people.

It was a one-way room.

You can't see them, but they can see you. Just like a prison.

Sydney ran in the secret room and I joined her.

"Turn it off!" Sydney screamed at the doctors and scientists in the room.

"We need security!" One yelled into the radio. Sydney ran over to them and turned them, one by one, into stone. She immediately put her hand on the control panel and watched as it turned into stone. She held her hand there for a long time so it could break.

Nea's screams echoed in my head.

I ran out to where Rina was as she groaned and fell to her knees. Callie caught her before she fell face first. Her arms still outstretched, she concentrated harder. Sydney then emerged from the room.

"It's working!" She yelled as Nea's thrashing grew smaller. "I'll turn the bed into stone... Rina do you think you can keep the electricity away from me, so I don't get zapped?"

 Rina didn't reply, arms still outstretched as she concentrated harder.

"I'll take that as a, yes." Sydney said and ran over avoiding the wires connected to the metal bed and touched it with her hand, careful not to touch Nea.

Nea, sat there with her eyes closed jerking back and forth, silencing her screams as the bed turned to stone, her breathing was erratic.

But it was working.

Rina gasped and opened her eyes. She looked at Nea. "I feel the electricity dying down... but some still lingers in her. She'll be like this for a while..."

Callie slowly walked towards Nea. "Nea... can you open your eyes?" You could tell Nea's eyes were moving underneath her eyelids as they jotted back and forth, but still her eyes didn't open and no response came. I helped Rina off the floor and walked over to Nea—

"Stop where you are!" A man with a police badge yelled at us with a gun in his hand.

Crud.

I froze mid-step where I was as the police officer came closer revealing an entire police squad behind him. Rina still on the floor closed her eyes again. Concentrating. What was she doing?

Callie next me whispered, "We need to get Nea out of that electric... thing and get out of here."

"Duh." I replied. I turned my head away from Callie trying to—

BOOM!

A gunshot came out of nowhere. I gasped. I kept my head where it was. Slowing my breath, scared to make a single movement. "Callie are you okay?"

No response.

"Callie?" My voice broke as I recited her name again. A tear streamed down my face. Was she dead?

At the corner of my eye I saw Rina and Sydney staring at where the officers were.

I turned my head. Nothing happened, but at the same time something did.

Callie.

She stood feet away from the officers as the gun laid next to her on the floor. Everyone stared as the officers lay unconscious on the floor.

"Did you kill them?" I asked my voice barely a whisper.

Callie said nothing.

When she didn't answer, Sydney did. "She knocked them out one by one with the barrel of the gun. How did you not see? It was the coolest thing I've ever seen. It was just like an action movie! You go Callie!"

Callie picked up the gun and teleported back next to me. She handed it to me barrel first. "I don't know what to do with it."

"Uh... and you think I do?" I replied slowly. My mind struggling to process what just happened. Callie? Sweet innocent Callie, knocked out an entire swat team of officers? Her?

"Ooh! I have an idea!" Sydney said as she banged on the straps—that is now rock—making them crumble into tiny pebbles falling weakly to the floor. She then reached out to grab Nea, and then cursed under her breath. "Before I say what the idea is, I need a little help over here."

Me, Rina, and Callie reached out to Nea, but then recoiled. I then put my hand on her shoulder. Her arm jerked.

"Rina, do you think you can get the... lingering electricity out of her?" I asked.

"I don't think I can... this is all so new to me... I don't want to hurt her more than help her." Rina said as she looked at the floor.

"Well, this is gonna be interesting..." Sydney grumbled. "Can we wake her up somehow?"

"There's only one way to find out." I said as I took a step closer to Nea. I then gently put my hand over her eye and pulled back the eyelid.

I screamed.

Her eye looked like a snake's eye. A purple, creepy, snake eye. I backed away. Everyone else followed.

Nea's arms then had scales over them then soon her body blended into the body of a snake. Her eyes opened and she then slithered off the bed. Staring at us.

I gulped. "Nea... can you turn back into a human, please?" I stared at her as she leaned her head to the side and hissed.

All four of us ran to the wall.

"How do we make her not be... that?" Rina asked with a panicked tone.

"She has to know its us... we just have to... I can't believe I am saying this... go up to her and snap her out of it." Sydney said as she took a step forward. Nea hissed. Sydney considered taking a step back but didn't. "Hey, Nea it's me... Sydney... can you please turn back to a normal person?" Sydney shakily asked almost begged as she took a step closer.

"Wait, stop!" Rina called out to Sydney as Nea tried biting her. Sydney immediately yanked her arm away and backed away to the wall with the rest of us. Rina rubbed her hands together and took a step toward Nea. "Do you think she's still in pain?"

"Um... probably." I said. "Why?"

"Because... I'm going to shock her back into a human."

No one said anything. Probably because it was the only good idea we had.

Rina then ran over to Nea and touched her forehead. Nea's jaw snapped and Callie teleported over to Rina and pulled her away, right before Nea could bite her.

It worked.

Nea slowly morphed back into a human. Breathing heavy, she looked up at us from her spot on the floor.

"Nea... are you..."

"Back?" she asked panting. "I... think so..." She said between breaths.

"Okay, a couple things. One, that. Was. AWESOME! Two, you almost killed me. Three, welcome back. Also, four, don't touch my hands. And five... Its really good to see you!" Sydney rambled as she gave Nea an awkward hug, considering she couldn't use her hands.

We all joined in. The five of us have finally found each other in this madness.

"Let's get the heck out if here." Nea said as she pushed us away and wiped a tear falling down her cheek away. I couldn't tell if the tear was from pain of from happiness. Probably both.

"I couldn't have said it better myself." Sydney said.

We then ran down the halls. The strangely empty halls... I looked to my right and saw Callie with the gun still in her hand. "What was that idea you had Sydney?"I asked.

"You have fire powers, right? Well, there is gunpowder in there... so I say we should blow this popsicle stand!" Sydney said with a wicked grin on her face.

"Are you crazy?" Rina asked.

"Yes, yes I am." Sydney replied still smiling.

"Look we just got out of a fire we don't need to get stuck in other one. Besides, our parents can still be in here somewhere..." Nea said.

Oh. I forgot all about our parents.

"Wait, were your parents here? Including your dad?" Callie asked.

"Yeah... at least I think so... I remember seeing him, but then I got electrocuted and then he was gone." She shuddered. "I never want to be hooked into one of those ever again."

"But he was walking? He was okay?"

"From what I remember... yes. Oh no, you've got to be kidding me..." Nea said as we stopped right in front of the exit.

No one dared to move.

"On second thought, maybe we should blow that popsicle stand." Sydney said as her face turned horrified.

Outside was an entire police department waiting for us.

Well, crud.