Chapter 2- Fifteen

  Neo

  I don't go inside, even when I hear the others finally shut up and see the light switch off. I'm not worried that they'll lock the window again. I know how to unlock it now. Unlike st time.

  I remember st year, a week before Christmas holiday, I was out on the roof forever. I was documenting the stars. They never look the same around that time of year. Something to do with the influence of the magical creatures. I don't know.

  Anyways, I must have fallen asleep in the cold. And it was one of those nights where cold is cold. Like when your bones feel like ice and no matter how many bnkets or fires or heat spells you have, you just can't. Get. Warm.

  I don't remember it all. What I do remember is hearing something and waking up. I was shivering and went to head inside only to find the window locked. And no way to unlock it or the doors. It was so cold and I could feel myself getting more and more tired...and then-

  Nothing.

  Until I woke up and I could have sworn I saw him. Jaxith. He was standing over me, in the boys room of Borgnines, those thick brown brows of his furrowed, his normally light blue eyes tinged darker. He must've seen the question and confusion in my eyes cuz he turned and I blinked...and he was gone. Before I fell asleep though, I coulda swore I heard him say, "You could have frozen." I thought I was dreaming. But why would I dream about him.

  I never mentioned that to anyone. Not even Rosa. And I learned how to unlock things with my mind. Psychic powers come in handy.

  I don't really think it was Jax. He's usually trying to kill me, like I said. Like the time in third year when he convinced me to let him try his levitating tricks on me. We met up at Lochness Lake and he goes and levitates me and then drops me in the fucking ke. The ke was freezing (it's always cold. That's how the Lochness likes it) and not good for swimming. Lochness has eaten swimmers before. And seeing as it is his home I don't think I can really bme him.

  So of course I'm struggling in the cold trying to figure out what to turn myself into to get out of this mess and the bloody Lochness himself comes up and tries to eat me! I managed to panic enough and turn myself into a merperson, partially anyways, and talk the Lochness out of eating me. He was so impressed he did let me go. He's actually quite intelligent you know and now every so often I stop by and throw him some biscuits- the Madelines are his favorite.

  I was so relieved that I wasn't going to be eaten that I accidentally turned myself into a sphinx.

  And sphinx. Can't. Swim.

  So now I'm stuck as a sphinx trying to get to the top of the ke and I couldn't breathe and my bloody tail was weighing me down (why the hell are tails so heavy?) and for that moment I thought I was going to die like that, just for the Lochness to come eat my corpse, when all of a sudden, Professor Morrel came diving in and dragging me up. He's a merperson and one of the strongest swimmers I know so thank god for that.

  When we got to the shore again, he shook himself off and brought his feet back. I was still slumped on the sand trying to get water out of my lungs and gasping profusely. Rosa ran up to me then, and she magicked the wind to dry me off. When I had finally quit shaking, I was able to turn back into my normal form. That's when I saw Jax standing a bit away, Professor Morrel and Professor Twinkle standing on either side of him. His head was down, his long wavy chocote locks hanging around his face like a curtain. Both professors were hammering him with questions and critique. I think it's the first time they actually believed he was out to get me.

  I mean, I'd been telling them since first year when he would trip me every time I walked out of a door behind him. No one believed me then. Well at least they had their freaking proof.

  Rosa was rubbing my back, trying to put some warmth into me. I just kept staring at Jax who was now staring at me. I didn't even realize Rosa was talking. I still don't remember what she said.

  Just as I think about Rosa and her role in all of this good guy bad guy stuff, she suddenly appears before me, her wings fluttering in the dark behind her, like my wishing she was here had summoned her.

  "Rosa?"

  Rosa

  Why is Neo always sitting on the damn roof? Especially in the middle of a winter night. Doesn't he know he'll catch a cold?

  Neo

  Rosa's giving me that "why are you out here" gre. The one she usually gives me when she thinks I'm doing something stupid.

  "What brings you up to my part of the roof," I joke, hoping she's not about to go into a lecture about the cold and being sick and taking care of myself and bhdy bhdy bh.

  "I didn't see you all day, not even before we left school." she says pointedly, her sharp purple eyes burning into my soul. "You weren't at the bus stop. What happened?" Before I can answer she goes on, like she always does. "Did you hear what happened? apparently a nymph got into school and turned into a huge tree! It destroyed all of the Magical History cssroom!"

  I swallow down the embarrassment and scratch the back of my head, shaking melted snow droplets from my auburn waves of hair that are now falling in my face. I push it back to the side so I can see Rosa clearer. She's still floating there and it looks sorta eerie at night time. Like she's a ghost. Her wings are these two rge, pointed pear shapes sticking out the back of her shirt. They look sorta solid but like a transparent gssy white kinda solid. Like they're almost see through but not quite. I can see shapes in them right now. Blue and purple and pink shimmering in the opaqueness. Rosa always called them her future telling wings. Says she can see someone's future sometimes, just from her wings.

  She's still staring at me and I realize I never actually answered her. "It's been a long day, " I say. "I got another shape. The professors were hammering me about it for hours. I didn't feel much like waiting for the exact end of the day."

  Her violet eyes go wide and she starts tugging on the end of her purple braid, floating over to sit next to me. Her wings disappear as she sits and gives me her full attention. "Tell. Me. Everything!"

  She's gripping my arm excitedly, as if she was the one with a new power. I swear she likes my changes more than I do sometimes.

  "Well..." I stutter. How do I exactly share this particur new creature change? It's not exactly the most...useful. And besides...she already knows about the incident...

  "Come on Neo spit it out!"

  I grind my teeth and close my eyes, muttering, "A nymph."

  She doesn't say anything and after a moment I gnce at her hesitantly. She's got one hand covering her mouth, the other pulling at her braid again and I can see in her eyes that she's putting two and two together.

  "You mean...like the naked-"

  I look back at my window to make sure no one is listening. "Yes, like the naked people who turn into trees and flowers and god knows what else," I whisper angrily.

  Her mouth has gone so wide and I can see she's trying so hard not to smile that I just roll my eyes and look away as her bell-like ugh peals through the air beside me.

  "Go ahead, Rosa. Laugh away at the male nymph who grows into trees and destroys buildings. Ha ha ha."

  She ughs a little harder at that. "I'm sorry, Neo," she chokes out between giggles. "It just, makes sense, you know?"

  What is she getting at?

  "Uh no? I don't know?"

  There's a twinkle in her eye and I know she's not up to any good with her next comment.

  "Because, well, because you like flowers and pnts and stuff. You're really good with them. Of course you'd learn to turn into one."

  At my outraged look she starts ughing again. I shake my head.

  "Just because I like pnts doesn't mean I want to become one. What the hell is the point of being a naked little person who's only power is to change into a pnt when they get scared? I mean why would I even need this power when I can just turn into a dragon and spit fire at whatever's trying to scare me in the first effing pce?"

  Her ughter dies away after that and she takes my cold hand in one of hers. "I don't know, Neo. I mean, we don't know why you can turn into any of the other...how many is it now?"

  I look down at my p, at the ground below, at the white snow caps that cover the bushes bordering the Borgnines and neighbors' wns.

  "15," I mumble. I can turn into 15 different things. 15 where most shifters can only change into one. 15 pieces of me that I don't understand. I'm a freak in a world of creatures.

  I start listing them off in my head, not really hearing what Rosa is going on about.

  1. Dragon. A dragon was the first creature I could change into. It's what got me discovered by the headmistress in the first pce. I mean, it is kinda hard to overlook a 13 year old who suddenly sprouts wings and roars at their bunk mates.

  2. Faerie. I'm not as strong as Rosa, but I still get wings and control some elemental magic. If she had her way, I'd be a faerie all the time.

  3. Pixie. Blue. Fast. Can fly. And too much sparkle dust.

  4. Merperson. They usually refer to themselves as mermaids or mermen. I personally think that's rather sexist. Can't you just be a person? Anyways. I'm not very good at this one. I always seem to forget something vital, like the ability to breathe underwater. Or a tail for swimming.

  5. Sphinx. You've already heard about that disaster. It is cool to be able to suddenly speak in frustrating riddles though. Once I was stuck as a sphinx for a whole 2 days. No one could get into the Magical Creatures History css because they couldn't figure out the puzzle! And Jax was blocked from his locker the whole time, which pissed him off to no end seeing as he couldn't get to any of his books or other things. That one was totally worth it.

  6. Werewolf. Yeah. The big shaggy beasts that howl at the moon. I've only managed that once though.

  7. Centaur. Centaurs aren't so bad. They're incredibly smart. It's actually kinda cool bein able to run and know everything about the forests.

  8. Psychic. Not like in the "I see dead people or the future" kinda way. But like in the "move things with my mind or hear people's thoughts" kinda way. I like this one. It can be fairly entertaining. And it pisses Jax off like no tomorrow. He hates it when I say whatever he's gonna say right before he says it. Drives him bonkers. But reading people's minds can have their faults. The things some people think about...shudder. Horrifying.

  9. Griffin. Like my st name! That had to be a given I s'pose. Did ya know griffins can fly so fast that when they get an energy boost they literally transport from one spot to another? It's wicked!

  10. Unicorn. Yeah. A white sparkly horse with a deadly horn. I don't shit out rainbows at least.

  11. Gnome. Gnomes are like moles really. They can get into small pces and like to steal stuff. They have this weird knack for bein able to find anything that's gold.

  12. Elf. Think the tall, serious ones from Lord of the Rings. NOT Santa Cus and his little helpers. Again this one's pretty cool. Heightened senses, super strength and speed, and I still kinda look normal! (Definitely way hotter but still, normal).

  13. Cadrius. No one had any idea what the hell I was when I started sprouting white feathers and wings and a beak. Cadrius (huge white owls) are actually quite rare. There've only ever been a handful of 'em at Dempsey before. I still haven't quite figured out all of those powers.

  14. Talos. Not like the typical Greek one. And not like the ones from those superhero movies. I just get taller and fatter and my whole body turns into bronze. It makes me nearly invincible. I had people shooting spells and arrows and everything else at me one day and it didn't knick me at all. The only problem is how rge I get.

  15. And finally. New today. A nymph. Bsted naked creature. All they're good for is hiding in pin sight. Definitely going to try to avoid using that one. Especially cuz I don't exactly want to be naked in front of everyone.

  Rosa's stopped talking now. I think she realized I wasn't actually paying attention to her. I do that sometimes. Just stop paying attention. I get stuck in my own head more than I probably should.

  "Sorry," I say sheepishly, giving her one of my crooked smiles.

  She just sighs and rolls her eyes. "Go to bed Neo. And don't stay up too te. It's hot buns for breakfast tomorrow and you better be there."

  Dempsey always serves breakfast before school. And lunch during. And even dinner, if one wants to stay te enough to get it. Sometimes, when I know the caregiver here is in a piss poor mood, I do. It's worth it to get some actual food.

  She stands up and as she does her wings unfurl. She gives me one more look before jumping off the roof.

  I turn back to the window and go to bed.