"As I suspected." Karina smiled. We were in her house. Well.. in Fathoms but the second floor where she lives. She had a little bio chemistry set up in her room. The classic hues of red were also in her room just like downstairs. I don't know the tools at all. Did I mention I'm not someone who likes chemistry? Also slept through bio too.

"Ha! Didn't know you could smile." I remark. She just raises her eyebrow at me.

"And why wouldn't I smile?" She asks.

"Oh, since the day we met you don't really smile." I explain. She nods at me. She looks at something through those weird binoculars. I believe it is a microscope or something.

"So what did you suspect?" I say. Karina twirls her brunette hair around her finger. Why I'm paying attention to this useless knowledge is beyond me right now.

"You're normal cells are converging with animal cells. Particularly a Lynx Canadensis." I bat my eyes in confusion. She sighs.

"Canadian Lynx. You're slowly transforming into an animal."

"You can fix this right?!" I shout. Karina motions with her hand for me to calm down.

"I'll see what I can do." She says quietly. "But for now I will inform my father."

"What do I do in the mean time?!" I question. Karina is already at the door, ready to leave.

"Be very careful with what you do." She ordered. That's when I realized that I'd be on my own for a while.

It's useless to keep wondering what I should be doing. Since I left school, going back would solidify my rebellious nature, that everyone thinks I have. Going back to my house would just get me in trouble with my parents. Well, my Dad at the very least. The fact that I pretend my Mom still lives in our household is a pathetic attempt at denial.

The only choice I really had was to go home. So I just walked out of Fathoms. I headed down from Hooky and Fare to Rhodes Street; where I live. Of course I wouldn't be walking right through the front door. The other part of the building that my Mother was planning on buying, was the best course of action.

I leapt to the highest window. These powers have their ups and downs, I guess. I slowly opened the second floor window. Slid in and closed it as if I was a burglar. This part of the building was empty. Nobody owned it, well my family doesn't own it yet.

I was faced with a black metal door. On the other side was my room and the rest of the house. I leaned against the left wall where the door was. I needed to think on how I was going to get through the door. That's when I felt the left wall shift a little. I peered closer at the wall. It looked like there was a hidden room.

I pulled the sliding door. Another wall. Was I tricked? I pulled this door as well. There's a hidden room. When I traveled deeper, there were a couple of steps down and that's when I noticed there was a window view. I closed the two fake walls behind me. The lights flickered on. The light switch was near the entrance but I hadn't touched anything. I could see a clearer image of what I was looking at. There were many doors everywhere. Five on the ceiling. Too many to count on all four walls. A couple on the floor too. This must have been a center for traveling to places. There was a little closet too. I opened the door on the far left. There was a mini door in the closet too.

Now I was at a loss for words. I sat down where I stood. It seemed that my world was getting bigger and bigger each day. Why couldn't anything be simple? I didn't know what I was doing now. I curled up into a ball. Now I was at a dead end. We all travel a path in our life. Usually you hit the dead end when you die, but I guess I got lucky and hit it early. Or I could think of it as me hitting a unlimited amount of paths and being utterly lost.

I don't know why I went digging through my jean pockets but I pulled out a card. It was the card from Cericles O'Verir. The strange man who kidnapped me. It was possible that maybe now was the time to call him.

"1+312-798-2019." I breathed. (Note: Do NOT dial this number) I dialed it on my phone. Shortly after, I could hear someone pick up the line.

"Yes?"

"This is Zina Cisco."

"Ah, you're the girl? Yes? You sound like her."

"Tell me what's going on in this world." I demand.

"Meet my assistant at Waverly, yes?"

"Alright." I stopped the call. It's time to finally get some answers and possibly stop my animal transformation.

Again when I met the assistant. He blindfolded me. Said I couldn't see where the Master's lair was. When I could finally see again, I noticed that there was a lot of astronomical maps draped across the walls. I stood in the center of it, basking in it's glory. Cericles O'Verir appeared before me.

"Ah, glad you can make it, my dear." He said with a bow.

"Skip the curtsies." I say with with a hint of annoyance. "I want to know what happened this September 20th, the Friday morning." He smiled at me for a long time. He almost made me believe he was the Cheshire Cat. Almost. He had a staff in hand. The type with the crystal globe on top of the stick. He used it to tap the ground while he was pondering loudly like a buffoon.

"Right this way!" He cheered. Cericles began his stride towards an entrance, that lead to a corridor. It was a gloomy corridor, the one where it felt like a cave with stalagmites. I felt like an evil presence was among me, but that's usually the paranoia. Nicks, Cericles scraggy assistant, followed right behind me.

We reached a gigantic room. It looked like there were floating lanterns. Puffs of blue fire floated around the floor. I gave them a stare. I thought I saw a glimpse of Yuki in one of them. Cericles could tell that I was intrigued with his magic trick.

"Ah, dear," He smiled, "You're taking quite a liking to the Life Spears." That caught my attention.

"Life Spears?" I breath. Nicks stands in the front of the entrance all of a sudden. That gets me a little concerned. Why the sudden change in the air? The presence. I sometimes don't like that I pay attention to little details.

"Nothing to be concerned about." Cericles said reassuringly, as he waved off Nicks' behavior. This guy always seemed so nonchalant. I didn't think he could get worse. He directed me towards the nearest blue orb.

"Look closely," Cericles cooed, "What do you see?" I glared deeply into the blue orb. The image of Yuki appeared.

This is what I saw.

"Father, I did everything you asked.." Yuki cried. A loud slap echoes for a few seconds. What was most terrifying was the blood that came from it. The wine bottle hit her right in the head. She didn't cry. I know Yuki was tough, bothersome, full of herself, but...I didn't know she dealt with this.

"Cry me a river." Her Father barked. Yuki stormed away from the kitchen and up the stairs. She tripped as she rushed. Which is something I'd never see Yuki doing. She's always very accurate and precise about everything she does. This wasn't the Yuki I know...

She slammed the door with fury in her eyes. The rush of tears flowing like waterfalls. She continued to punch the closest wall near her. I could tell her knuckles were bleeding after this.

Another moment of her life appeared in the fire. Yuki was rubbing her eyes at her locker. Hunter appears before her and starts laughing at her.

"Sup' Mom." Hunter chuckled. Yuki rolled her eyes and gave him a glare.

"I'm not your...Mom." She spat weakly. Hunter seemed uncomfortable by Yuki's change of mood.

"So, Uh, have you seen Zina anywhere?" Hunter asked softly. Yuki didn't answer and walked away. Hunter watched her go as Carter walks up to him.

"Geez, what's her problem?" Carter scoffed. Hunter looked at him.

"I know right?" Hunter said. "Always so bossy, when it comes to everything. She asks me something I deliver, I ask her something and she just doesn't say shit."

"It's a respect problem." Carter sighed, "Thats for sure."

Another moment of something I had never seen before continued.

"Go to hell, Yuki!" Camille spat. Yuki's eyes drooped as she lowered her head in defeat and began to walk away.

"Stop worrying about me! Worry about yourself.." Yuki cried. She ran. Sprinted like a cheetah as the rain poured down on her head. She came to an intersection and fell on the pavement knees first. An unearthly cry came from her. She cried right in front of a huge crowd of people...but nobody paid attention. It was like she was invisible.

"Yuki." I uttered weakly. I had no idea what I just saw. I didn't know Yuki well but Camille yelling at Yuki was as wrong as Yuki crying in the streets. Cericles directed my attention to another orb.

"Yes, yes," Cericles said, "Little Miss perfect has baggage." He wiped it away. All of Yuki's suffering.. like it was nothing!! Like it didn't matter.

"Now this one is a beauty!" He chimed. "Perfectly gruesome!"

I looked into the next spear, like some hypnotic patient.

"Camille Leroy!" Shouted a man, "You can't just sit around writing your useless poetry and looking at comics! The rest of your life will be miserable!"

Camille yawned, "Whatever mista'" She trudged away from the teacher yelling at her as she walked across the parking lot. Camille had started to look at her phone as she drowned everything out. Her face turned to agony with tears coming out of her eyes.

Her girlfriend...dumped her.

Watching the moments as she traveled the route to her house was excruciating. Watching her slowly become a lifeless shell killed me. But what broke me was how she walked into her house, acted like nothing happened, and collapsed into a mess on the floor in her room. She was bawling like she just lost her world...

I felt something wet hit my hand. Probably just the drippy ceiling. But no. It was my own tears. My own; right in front of a bunch of strangers.

"Damn it." I whimper.

"There, there." Cericles warbled, "Everything is as it should be." I wiped my face clean. I wouldn't want tear stains all over my face, now would I?

"Why did you show me this?" I ordered. There was a distance between me and him. I gave him my best intimidating stare.

"I'm simply opening your eyes." He whispered with glee. I never felt so scared before. Several orbs surrounded me. I could see what was inside of them clearly.

Pain. Suffering. All my friends hurting. I couldn't do anything about it.

"STOP!" I scream. "I don't want to see or hear this!!!" I covered my ears. Where did all this pain come from?! Why have I not noticed it? I always assumed that I was very observant, that I knew what was going on with people. How the hell did I miss all this? Am I blind? Do I only see what I want to see? I mean it is a very human thing to only see what you want to see. Then again, people hear want they want to hear.

The plumes of fire kept racing around me like a pack of vultures, waiting for its prey. One of the sparks came right in my face. I saw Aria and Nina. They weren't smiling like they usually do. Nina was yelling at Aria. Both of them had tears in their eyes.

"If your just going to keep lying behind my back, I don't know how I can be with you." Aria shouted with rage in her eyes. Tears falling down, rapidly.

"Please understand." Nina begged. Whimpers could be heard from her as she spoke.

"I did what was best. Camille and I did what we had to do."

"Lie." Aria growled, "Lie to all of us! Lied Hunter, Kano, Yuki..me..." Aria turned away from Nina, not wanting to see her puppy dog eyes.

"Aria." Nina breathed.

"We're done." Aria spat, "You and I are finished."

I shook my head vigorously.

"Shit!" I scream. "I don't want to hear any of this!"

Cericles voice echoed throughout the room.

"My dear, you ignore things when they get too, hard." He said. "Like take this memory for example." He thrusted a blue orb in my face.

"Here's what you came for." He says with a dark tone. "The Friday that you, oh, so desperately want to know about."

The boy I liked was gonna confess to me. 3pm on the school rooftop. My dream had came true. I would be able to date him. Although...it was just easy...too easy. Like why today? What got his mind to thinking about me? Did he find out I liked him? Was he playing me? If's there's one thing I hate, its unpredictability. I was going in blind. Nothing more and nothing less. So why does it scare me so damn much?

I paced back and forth on the third floor of the school. The stairs of the rooftop were leering at me as I glanced at them. I felt smaller and smaller as my heart raced rapidly. I jumped like a bunny when I felt someone tap my shoulder. A laugh followed after I squealed like an idiot.

"Ha ha, geez," Cameron chuckled. "Didn't know you get scared." I angrily sneered at him and he tried to ignore my look.

"So what's got you down?" Cameron asked. I won't tell him. Why would I? The flirt of the school doesn't need to know. Heck he would probably just steal my guy too! But...I'm stuck in a deadlock. I'm going in blind. I'm going in blind. Unless I wanted to lose my pride, telling Cameron wouldn't do shit about what's going on. It would just get Hunter laughing at me and Yuki just smiling too. Ugh, how I hate how right Yuki always has to be. It drove me nuts. I have street cred that I need to maintain. The school's residential delinquent.

"Do you know anything about Amari Emerson?" I blurted out. People say I don't know how to shut my mouth. Honestly, one of the things I despise about myself. They weren't wrong. They were never right either.

"Amari?" Cameron pondered. He placed his hand on his chin, as if giving it deep thought.

"That guy's got class when it comes to picking up chicks. He's always into one girl one week, and the next week he totally loses interest. Happened at my old school. He and I were buddies, but we had different view points, which caused us to drift apart."

"I see." I say sounding defeated.

"Wait..Are you the unlucky girl that's being asked out today?" Cameron queried. His eyes were wide open.

"Unfortunately." I remarked as I rolled my eyes. I started to walk up the stairs.

"You gonna be okay?" He asked sincerely.

"That's none of your concern." I sneer.

"Do you need any help?" He began.

"Curious to know your history with Amari." I rasp.

"Well, he told lies about other people and I just couldn't stand it. When I confronted him for the first time...we were in 8th grade. He wouldn't listen to me and I ended up being the one blamed for the lies spread around our old school. What's worse is that he became popular and became the pervert, the laughing stock.."

I nodded then smiled at him. I think that was the first time I ever really smiled to him. He seemed very pleased with himself for some odd reason. That's what bugged me. That smile. I wanted to wipe it off his face...

"You're services are no longer needed."

Cameron frowned, "Wait, you're going to him now?! There's one thing I forgot to mention!"

I ignored him. He became white sound to me as I slammed the rooftop door shut. Amari was standing near the railing, looking at the scenery before him. I cleared my throat. He turned around almost immediately.

"Thanks for meeting me here." He began, "You see, I want to say-"

"That you love me?" I raise one of my eyebrows, "That I hope you feel the same way too? Using your charm and good words is how you always get your way, right?"

"No, I- what?!" Amari blubbered.

"Dating a girl a week? What womanizer! You thought you could fool me with my own blind love towards you?"

"No! Never." Amari pleaded, "Do you love me?"

"Yes," I answer, "But do you know what really gets on my nerves?"

"What is it?"

"Lies!" I spat, "The ones where you do it to make yourself look better. The ones you make to cut others down. The ones that tear up relationships! You tore down Cameron and for what? Status? Puh-lease how shallow can you get?"

"I never meant to hurt Cameron. You don't know the full story. This has nothing to do with what is going on now."

"Do I look like I care?"

"What has gotten into you?"

"Planning the best course of action. That's what's gotten into me."

"What happened to you? This isn't the Zina I know."

"Then you never really knew me at all." I stormed towards the door with Amari hot on my tail.

"Wait!"

Cameron came bursting through the door. He glared at Amari with a kind of anger I had never seen him bare. He shoved Amari without a word. That was my queue to leave. There was gonna be a brawl and I wasn't going to see it.

Faster. I sprinted down the third floor stairs. Faster. I continued my stride down the second floor stairs. I fell down the last flight of stairs. I couldn't really do much...my legs just gave out. Away. Away from the scene. I didn't want to be a part of it. I stumbled as I tumbled to get up. When I looked up, the exit was there clear as day.

Nina and Carter were talking by their lockers as I dashed towards the exit. They saw me fall as I ran. I tried to get back up. Nina came to my aid and helped me up. I didn't thank her. I just ran.

"Zina!" She cried. "Wait!" I turned around for a glance. Carter looked scared out of his mind. I continued running but I only made it halfway through the front of the parking lot. I felt like I hit a wall. But I didn't, because the wall wouldn't have fell with me. Then again, if it was a wall, the architect did a bad job at designing it.

"Zina!" Yuki says. "Are you okay? You look like you saw a ghost."

"I'm fine." I lied, "I'll meet you guys later, I have something to do." I helped Yuki get on her feet and left her there.

By now, I had made it out of the school perimeter. I believe I was east but I couldn't tell. I couldn't confirm it. I was in a alley, surrounded by trash. I felt dizzy, out of breath. How far had I ran? How far was I from home?

A snapping noise drew me out of my haze. I couldn't hear anything over my loud breathing. I looked around wearily with no luck, I didn't know if it was my imagination.

A rattling noise came from the fence in front of me. I stagger back a little. Who could that be? What is going on? Why is this happening? What the hell did I get myself into?

Something blue leapt over the fence. Blue eyes. Fangs. Before I knew it, before I knew what it was... it bit me.

"Happy now?" Cericles said all too cheerily. "You finally know what happened." I didn't say anything. I couldn't, I was at a lose for words.

"It's hard I know." Cericles says with some sadness in his tone. "Lot to take in." He patted my head. I didn't respond. I didn't know how to respond. How did one day turn into chaos?

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"W-why did that animal bite me?" I finally came up with something to say. Cericles continued to circle around me. The plumes of blue stopped swirling around me some time ago.

"You see..." He began with his annoying hand motions. "It chose you."

"Great so some cliche-superhero-mumbo-jumbo answer." I groan.

"My dear." He smiled at me, "It doesn't make sense now. You'll understand later."

"Tell me what that thing is." I order, "The creature that bit me." Cericles looks at me like I killed his dog. He turns his back to me and a low cackle comes out of him.

He leered at me as he turned around, "Where's the fun in that?" I felt myself falling. Falling into the void. Something pitch black. It hurt so much when I finally hit a surface. I groan as I rub my eyes before getting up off the cold floor.

When I do look up and around myself. It was black. A blue orb glistened just a few feet away from me. I walked straight for it with no hesitation. It's not like I had anything better to do. The Life Spear as Cericles calls it, didn't have anyone I was familiar with. I looked closer when I recognized brunette hair. I peered into the orb.

The orb showed a girl dressed in red and black. The fire around her burnt through the ground of some old rickety floor. She floated in the air for what felt like a long time. Then slowly descended.

She vanished into the flames. Karina was dead.