A/N: First two chapters are mostly just introductory chapters. Get you acquainted with the characters, a little background on the main ones. Not vital, but will be helpful. Hope you enjoy! Also, please review!
Santana Lopez loved everything about herself. She was pretty, smart, popular and a daddy's girl that got whatever she wanted. She had all the latest shoes, purses, clothes in fashion, a bright red sports car, and more expensive jewelry then her peer's could even imagine. There actually was one thing Santana didn't like though. She could do without being able to manipulate dirt. It made her different, a freak and Santana had been taught her whole life that she needed to be like everyone else. As a small child she realized she could make the ground move around her and she had used it to bully her peers. It never passed the stage of blowing dirt into the eyes of someone that had annoyed her, but still. One day her Daddy caught her doing and she had never been more afraid. He yelled and screamed until he lost his voice and then made her promise to never use her powers again, ever. Santana had readily agreed and had spent the years since suppressing and hiding her ability. She didn't want to be a freak.
Recently she was having more trouble containing it though. At random moments there would be a surge of power through her hands and mini earthquakes would erupt. Thankfully she lived in Los Angeles so it was always dismissed, but Santana couldn't help but worry since each one was stronger than the last. Today had been a particularly rough day with an almost constant release of power. Santana couldn't wait to make it home and just sleep the rest of the day away. Pulling into her driveway she was surprised to find a car she didn't recognize in her spot. Ohio? Why the hell was someone from Ohio visiting her parents? She went inside and as she was passing the living room she saw her parents talking to the visitors. She waved and started up towards her bedroom only to be stopped by her mother.
"Santana, come sit down. We need to talk to you about something."
Santana walked back towards the living room, but stopped at the entrance and assessed the people in the room. Her mom looked worried, her dad looked sick and the two people sitting opposite were downright beaming. One was a tall, thin man with wavy, sandy blonde hair. The other was a tall, heavyset woman with short brown hair. They both stood, the man outstretching his hand.
"Hi Santana, my name is Will Schuester and this is my colleague Shannon Bieste.
Santana ignored the hand, "Hi, what do you want?"
The man lowered his hand but lost none of his smile. "We are here to talk about your special ability. Something with the earth I believe." He winked and Santana felt her heart stop. Who the hell are these people?
Quinn Fabray loved nothing more than running. Running was her escape from the world and let's face it; a teenager has a lot to escape from. Especially when this particular teenager is running around with a full coat of hair, four legs and a tail. Quinn was a shape shifter. When she was young she kept shifting into a dog and couldn't figure out why no one in her family acknowledged her and told her to shoo. She cried for days the first time it happened, and for the next couple years every time she shifted she would experience panic attacks that made her shifting unpredictable. Her parents were eventually forced to home school her to prevent people from seeing her change. Quinn actually preferred this as she was never much of a people person anyways. She could shift in the privacy of her own home and just wait to shift back into herself with no worries.
Though once she reached her teenage years her curiosity got the better of her and she started exploring the world in whichever form she was in. She still hadn't mastered shifting into a particular animal at will yet, but she liked experiencing the same thing through multiple, so to speak. One day she could be a rabbit and the next a wolf. Quinn had learned to accept her ability and her biggest concern these days was the fact that she hadn't ever shifted into an animal that could fly. God did Quinn want to know what it felt like to fly. She spent hours on her back staring at the sky wondering what it would be like to soar through the wind. She loved her dominant form, a coyote, but the thought of flying would not leave her. With the thoughts of flying still running through her mind, Quinn rounded the corner of her neighborhood and caught sight of a strange car in her driveway. The Fabray's weren't known for entertaining visitors, another side effect of Quinn's condition, so the car intrigued her. She started up the driveway and spotted the plate. Ohio? What was someone from Ohio doing at her house in Phoenix? She walked into the open garage and nudged the button to close it before shifting back into her human form. She entered the house and called out for her parents who beckoned her into the kitchen where she found them sitting with two strangers. A tall blonde woman with short, blonde hair and a short, ginger woman. The blonde came forward first.
"Hey Blondie, I'm Sue this is Emma. A coyote huh? Couldn't think of something a little more creative?"
Quinn just stood rooted to her spot on her side of the island.
Brittany Pierce sat in her bedroom in Washington, D.C. that night under the covers, creating little balls of light in her hands. She had always been able to do it, as long as she could remember. Even as a young child she knew not to share it with her peers, so she did it at home under her covers every night. She noticed that when she went without releasing the light her skin would start to radiate. She had heard too many times to count that she was positively glowing. She would always smile and say thank you before excusing herself to a secluded spot to release the pent up light. It never bothered Brittany that she could make light come out of her pores, it actually excited her. She spent countless hours in front of her computer trying to find any scrap of evidence that she wasn't alone. She just couldn't be. So she wasn't the least bit surprised that she managed to uncover a website merely called 'X' that had people like her discussing their abilities. Some of them even alluded to going to a special school, but she never managed to get one of them to provide her with a name. She wanted this school, if it existed, so badly it almost hurt. She wanted people like her so she didn't have to hide.
It was the next day during an especially long day at the dance studio, she had to excuse herself three times already to release her light and she was feeling the pressure again, that she entered a bathroom to find an adult leaning against one of the sinks, as if waiting.
"Hello." Brittany gave her best smile before heading towards a stall. The pressure was getting unbearable and she was sure it was showing on her skin.
"Hello Brittany." At the use of her name, Brittany flipped around and actually looked at the woman leaning against the sink. A short redhead with an innocent smile and knowing look in her eye.
"Who are you?"
"My name is Emma. Feel free to release that light, I'd like to see it." Brittany didn't hesitate throwing the light off her skin, she felt like the woman could be trusted since she already knew what Brittany could do. Brittany was the trusting sort after all. Emma took an involuntary step back and threw her hand over her eyes; she wasn't expecting the intensity of the light pouring from the girl.
"I'm sorry! I've never done that in front of someone before! I didn't know it would hurt you! I'm so sorry!"
"It's quite alright. That was magnificent."
"So what can you do?"
"How do you know I can?"
"I just know."
"I teleport."
"That's so cool!"
"I know. So I have a proposition for you. Get you out of that orphanage."
Similar situations were happening all over the US with other kids.
Kurt Hummel, a flamboyant kid in Las Vegas.
Artie Abrams, a paralyzed teenager in Portland.
Rachel Berry, an obnoxious performer from New York City.
Finn Hudson, a good southern gentleman from Charlotte.
Mercedes Jones, a boisterous girl from Miami.
Noah Puckerman, a thug from Boston.
Tina Cohen-Chang, a Goth from Louisville.
Mike Chang, a dancer from Pierre.
Sam Evans, a charming blonde from Nashville.
Lauren Zizes, a badass wrestler from St. Louis.
Matt Rutherford, an exceptional athlete from Austin.
Blaine Anderson, a quiet nerd from Denver.
Dave Karofsky, a football bully from Trenton.
All of them were about to find themselves enrolled at the McKinley School for the Exceptionally Gifted in Lima, Ohio where their lives would take an unexpected turn.