Nea

We sat down on the broken pieces of concrete that fell during the explosion. I sat on a stone with Rina as we all crowded around Ms. Harriet waiting for her explain. "So... what is all of this? What are you doing here? What did you do to my family—"

"All of your families, actually." She said as she sat in a proper position on the stone.

"Why?" Sandra asked, beating me to the question.

"Well... because they can't know anything that happened to you," Ms. Harriet replied casually.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"I mean... all of the things that happened to you... has been planned." She said as she flattened her skirt. I looked around at everyone, making sure everyone was as confused as I am. I looked at Callie to find her staring at Ms. Harriet's shoes.

"It was you!" Callie yelled and teleported right in front of Ms. Harriet and put her finger in her face. "You closed the doors on us!" She yelled.

Ms. Harriet clicked her tongue, "Putting puzzle pieces together?"

"Wait..." Sydney said, baffled, "You... closed the doors on us locking us inside... did you know we would have these... powers?" Sydney asked between ragged breaths, getting angrier.

"Yes. It was all apart of the plan," Ms. Harriet said as she smirked. Sydney jumped up and ripped a piece of stone from the concrete and made it mold around her hand, a fist, as she ran toward Ms. Harriet. She blocked Sydney's blows perfectly. Perfectly.

"How do you do that?" I asked.

"Finally! I was wondering when one of you would notice... I can do that because I am exactly like you," She said as she pointed a finger at each of us.

"What?" We all asked in unison.

"Oh Namolia, your dad told me you were smart," She laughed. "It appears he lied."

"WHERE IS MY DAD?" I yelled.

"I'm right here." My... dad said coming out from behind a piece of broken rock.

"Dad?" I asked, my voice breaking. I ran up to hug him. "What are you doing here? What's going on?" I asked as I wrapped my arms around my dad.

He didn't respond as he hugged me back. His eyes darted to Ms. Harriet. She cleared her throat, "So... now that he's here, I am afraid he has to go back home." She said as she looked back at him. I looked back in forth between her and my dad and took a step back.

"Dad, what is going on?" I asked as I walked back to the rock I was sitting at.

"Nothing sweety... Ms. Harriet just has some things to discuss with y'all." He then nodded at Ms. Harriet and started walking back home.

I ran toward him and grabbed his hand. He turned around. "Dad, what is..." I struggled to speak. I don't even know what I am trying to ask.

He smiled gently and took my hand off his hand and pushed it toward me. "It's okay, Nea," He placed a gentle kiss on my forehead and walked back to the house, his white lab cot blowing in the breeze. I turned my head back to Ms. Harriet, "You have a lot of explaining to do." I said through my teeth.

She smirked, "Will do. Catch," She yelled as she tossed what looked like a necklace to me. I caught it and looked at the pendant. It was a beautiful, glowing dark green crystal. She started tossing the same necklaces to everyone else. Each person got a different color.

"What is this?" Callie asked shyly as she held up the necklace.

"This is your most prized possession. It will help you... transform." She said as she straightened her skirt.

"Transform into what?" I asked as I sat back down next to Rina.

"Into... I don't know." Ms. Harriet said. She's clearly lying.

"Well that's helpful." Sydney mumbled as she put the necklace on.

"What are you doing?" Sandra whispered.

"Nea's dad knows what's going on... I trust it." Sydney replied as she stared at the gem hanging from her neck. She was right... my dad knew what was going on... this should be fine. This will be fine. I then slid the necklace over my neck.

"So... is there a catchphrase or something?" Sydney asked.

"Kinda... the necklace helps you transform with your fingerprint." Ms. Harriet said as Sydney touched the gem with her fingers.

"How'd you get our fingerprints?" Sandra asked.

"That's out of the question—" Ms. Harriet replied a little to quickly as a glowing light circled around Sydney.

Before we knew it, she disappeared.

"Sydney!" We all screamed, except Ms. Harriet as she had a wicked grin spread across her face.

Sydney

I screamed as I felt myself disintegrate and get sucked into... whatever I got sucked into. I ended up in... a building? A building with white walls, white floors, white everything.

"Hello!" I shouted. No reply. I turned my head to see a mirror. Five mirrors. I looked in one. "Gah!" I screamed. It was me. At least...I think. I had makeup that matched beautifully with my skin tone and a short dark purple skirt with black leggings and a black shirt with a dark purple 'S'. I looked at my real self, seeing I was in the outfit I had when I was sitting on the broken lab.

The weird girl (that looked like a beautiful, heroic version of me) waved.

I didn't do that.

I took a step back. She extended her arm toward me. It came out of the mirror. I screamed. The perfect version of me smiled gently and nodded at her hand. I took a step forward. I reached my hand out, but then recoiled. She stretched her arm a little further, still smiling. I stared at her and extended my hand, millimeters away from hers. I then took it. Then, she pulled me into the mirror.

I yelled as she I felt my body morph with another. My entire body tingled as I felt like I entered another life. I then got sucked back into reality, sitting back on the broken concrete. In the same clothes that weird girl was wearing. I gasped.

"Sydney!" All my friends shouted at once. I then got bombarded with questions. I zoned them out as I stared at the palms of my hands. Scar free. The wound I got before was gone.

"What are you wearing? Girl, you. Look. AMAZING!" Rina yelled. "But what happened? Seriously."

"I don't know... there was a mirror and a girl and... wow," I said still staring at my hands, then at my dark purple boots. Then it hit me. "Oh my goodness! The reason why you locked us in the lab was to give us powers. Then, you gave us these necklaces, making me turn into a superhero!" I laughed, "Take that fantasy books!"

Ms. Harriet laughed, "You figured it out. I was getting worried you wouldn't come back, but you did. That means it worked." She took a deep breath, "Girls... me and the science lab saw that we needed heroes. Superheroes. So... what Sydney said sums it up, so if you'd please transform." She said as she gestured at me.

"That was really cheesy," I said as I rolled my eyes. "Leave the speeches to me," I took a deep breath... "Girls, transform!"

They stared at me wide eyed.

"What?" I asked.

"You... look so different." Callie whispered.

"What I look like is a superhero and you can be one to," I said as bile rose in my throat. Oh no I sound cheesy! I gagged. Gross.

"What she said..." Ms. Harriet said, "So transform?" She asked, batting her eyelashes.

"I'm up for it if I can look like that," Rina said as she put her fingers on the necklace. Everyone did as well.

"Make sure you walk into the mirror!" I yelled as they disappeared.

Moments later, they appeared. I looked at them my jaw hanging. They look like superheroes! I ignored my head as it warned me how cheesy I was at the moment... but they looked amazing in their different colored outfits.

"I look amazing!" Rina exclaimed.

Everyone else stared at themselves with baffled expressions. Ms. Harriet stood up from her rock and looked around at all of us. "So... you all need to choose a cool name and such," She said as she waved her hand, annoyed, in the air, "But we are going to do that another time right now..." She said as she took out a blue glowing crystal. I gasped.

"Are you a superhero also?" I asked jumping up and down.

"No. I have powers... but I am just your... coach." She said as she put her fingers on the crystal and returned immediately wearing a blue jumpsuit. It was clear she's done this before.

My jaw dropped along with all my friends'," Is that what you meant with the whole 'because I'm like you' thing?" I asked.

She nodded as she tucked the necklace into the top of her jumpsuit. She looked at us, "You all should de-transform. Just walk through the mirror again," She said waving her hand in an annoyed motion, "Training begins tomorrow."