-1-

As I look back at my life, I think of a song lyric. 'And all the people hurried fast, real fast, and no one ever smiled.' Yeah, I was on the run, my whole life. Of course, I wasn't alone. I had friends. Four of them, to be exact. Kinda sad, hm? Oh, okay, you might want to know my name. It might be critical for this. My name is Gypsy. Not Gyps, or Gy. Just Gypsy. I like being called Gypsy. I'm fourteen years old. Typing? Gypsy what makes you so special? you ask. Well, what makes me special? You'll just have to wait. I'm not spoiling it for you.

Of course, everyone started in a home, and mine was a normal one. My normal would be defined as a regular three-story house, with five children living in it. I was sort of surprised we weren't caught by the Orphanage or anything, because we actually weren't. The people who lived in my house were Isaac, Opal, Marshall, little Avril, and I. In order, Isaac was a little older than me by, I think, three or four months. He's fifteen, too. Opal is thirteen, and she'd be turning fourteen in about a month or so. Marshall is fourteen, and he's Avril's big brother. Avril is the smallest, she's five. What brings these tween-teenagers and a toddler to one house, you ask? Well, remember that 'special' thing? Well, we are special. We're special together. So, to get away from all the pokes, the prods, the probes, the pain, we ran away. That was when Isaac and I were 11. And to this day, we are still afraid of needles. Where are our parents? Jeez, how many questions can you guys ask? If you must know, guess which five people were test tube babies? Anyway, it was just a normal day at home when it happened.

I walked into the kitchen. It was roughly 10:30. I hated mornings. Marshall was in the kitchen, dressed in his red striped shirt, which had folded cuffs, and stopped at his forearm. He wore black jeans, and converses. His black hair was tousled, as if he was too lazy to even brush his hair that morning; it's always how his hair looked. He was making eggs. Marshall turned around and gave a little wave with a flick of his hand, turning back to his eggs. "Hey, Gypsy," he yawned, taking the frying pan full of eggs and putting some in five plates equally. He handed a plate to me and I stretched quickly before taking the plate full of eggs, smiling. "Hey, there, Marsh," I returned. As I heard a yawn and a creak, I spun around, dropping my plate of eggs, only to see it was Avril. I gave a breath of relief to see it was her, and then looked back at Marshall, who had a pouty face on. "That took me twenty minutes!" he faked, shrugging and turning towards the dining table, "you'll have to clean it up, not my problem anymore." I stuck my tongue out at him playfully, ignored the eggs, and then walked over to Avril, who was rubbing her eyes and hugging her ginourmous teddy bear. I picked her up and cooed, "hey, Avvy. Sleep well?" Avril smiled sleepily and nodded, and I let her down to eat next to her brother, who pat her on the back and murmured a greeting. Next was Isaac to come into the breakfast party. He trudged over to the dining table, wearing a t-shirt and a thin jacket with jeans. His red hair was ruffled, and his freckles were dappled over his nose. I started to say 'good-morning', and he waved lazily at me, and I snorted. How dare he ignore me? I just shrugged and chirped, perking up, "I'm going to go and wake up Opal, okay?" Isaac and Marshall groaned, while Avril piped up, "but Gypsy! Opal talks too much." Leave it to the five year old to complain. I sighed and shrugged. "That's okay, we'll deal with her anyway."

I trotted towards Opal's light purple room, where I heard her snoring through the door. I rolled my green eyes and scoffed, opening the door and stomping over to Opal. "Opal, move your butt!" I pushed her off her bed, and she groaned, but didn't get up. I was getting slightly annoyed. I found her old trumpet, which I bought her, but she never played it. Time to put it to good use. I set the trumpet to my lips and blew all my air into the mouth of the trumpet, the sound coming out towards her ear. She squealed, got up and ran to the bathroom. I grinned and looked at the trumpet. "I'm gonna have to keep you, mister trumpet." I pranced over to my room triumphantly and changed into an aviator jacket that stopped just under my mid section, and a long white cashmere shirt underneath it. No sleeves came out from under the jacket, and I put on grey skinny jeans, the ones with those fashion rips on it, and black boots. Then, I headed to the kitchen, where Marshall just couldn't help himself and had cleaned up the mess, giving me half his food. Avril giggled at her brother as he threw out the eggs and slid his plate over to me, which I ate hungrily. Opal had just arrived and ran to her seat next to me, wolfing down her food quickly. I coughed and watched her eat. She was wearing a green fleece sweater, but it drifted down her under arms, and black jeggings underneath it, with black flats. Her long blond hair was pulled into a quick braid. I had black hair that fell in ringlets, and dark freckles. All I could do with my hair was either let it down, or put it into a ponytail.

Isaac cleared his throat and spoke up, "hey, uh, what're we doing today?" I got ready to answer and- hey, wait. I didn't tell you where we lived. We live in a beach home. Right next to the surf and sand. It's in California, that place is nice, man. - blinked my pale green eyes, thinking it over for a second, closing my mouth. And then it happened.

The smashing, pushing, upheaval of the ground. It happened so suddenly; I had no time to think. It sort of just… happened. I immediately grabbed Avril as the breath was knocked out of me. I then came back to my senses. Something had hit me in the head. It had hurt. What disaster was this? I heard Avril screaming and crying, and felt her get smaller in my arms. Oh, no, not now! I looked down, which was hard to do when everything was tumbling out of reach. I shouted her name and heard Isaac yell, "I've got her!" I would've given a breath of relief, but I was too busy being thrown out of my house from the ground. Along with the rest of my family. Isaac, Avril, Opal, and Marshall fell from at least thirty feet in the air, where our house was being thrown, and I fell after them. And then, I spread my wings. I glided with the wings I had chosen, albatross. They were twice as big as the sea bird's large wings, to hold me up. Special? That wasn't even the half of it. I saw Isaac hold onto Avril tighter and unfurled his choice of wings, bat wings, as he drifted towards safety. But then again, where was it safe? Opal, at the last moment of panic, spread out her arms to form sugar glider flaps, and I laughed, even at this time. Marshall, who quickly opened up impressive snowy owl wings, grabbed Opal just in time for her to not plummet to her death. I pressed my large wingspan to my sides, to gain speed to be able to fly over my friends. They all looked up to see 17 foot white wings and my face, smirking up at them. Isaac rolled his eyes and plopped into the ocean neatly, making sure to cover Avril's face and nose, till she changed. Change? Wings? Choice? Answer: Shape-shifters. I grumbled under my breath and then looked at Opal and Marshall. "You saw him, troops! Dive, dive, dive!" I closed up my wings and headed headfirst into the water, Marshall following soon after quickly. Opal, on the other hand, flailed and yelled and screamed until she landed on a belly flop into the ocean.

I changed into a dolphin, as Avril changed into a large fish. Sea animals weren't very… diverse in their tails. So, Opal turned into a turtle, Isaac turned into a shark, a hammerhead, while Marshall turned into a great white shark. Marshall and Isaac flanked us. I was at the front, and Opal changed into a dolphin, too, regretting her turtle form. I chirped and clicked, signaling to quickly move towards the North side, my side. I didn't know for how long, just that we needed to go north. I don't know how I knew this, it was just a feeling in my gut, and so I followed it. North it was. Isaac groaned and snapped gently at my tail. I turned, slapped his face with the tail he had tried to nudge and gave a dolphin laugh. Marshall snickered in his own shark way, and we headed north.

I was still very confused about what happened to throw us out. I guessed an earthquake. But, there was land coming up I had never seen before. So it could've been underwater volcanoes erupting, making little islands. I ignored it and jumped onto an island, changing back to my human form, but taking on black wings, just to be safe, and if I needed to take flight in a second. I looked back and took Avril from Isaac, who was having a little trouble changing back into a little girl. Isaac, however, changed instantly, back to his tall self. Marshall plopped Opal onto shore and changed, huffing. Opal sat there as a dolphin, squirmed a little, and then sighed as she morphed back to her original form. I looked over the changing and pressed my new wings against my back, blinking. Okay, everyone was here. "Gypsy, what happened?" Little Avril tugged on my jeans, and I looked down at her, answering her question. "Well, for now, we can't go back. We have to find a new home." Avril sniffled and murmured, "I don't want a new home." I didn't answer but made my face into a small frown. I was sad, too. I looked over at Marshall, Isaac, and Opal, who were busy drying their hair. Isaac had no trouble with his red hair, and he just shook his hair, flicking water from the ends. I covered my face as to not get any droplets on me. Marshall just let the water there. His hair was still tousled, so I don't think it mattered to him much. Opal, though, was busy twisting her blond locks and squeezing the water out of them; she was grumbling under her breath.

I snickered and then coughed a little, stroking Avril's hair; Avril was sitting and hugging me, not bothering to laugh. I guess losing a home would take a big toll on her. Marshall came up to me, picked up Avvy, and rocked her, whispering to me, "she'll just take a nap for a bit. Then we can all think." I nodded. That was a good idea. And Avril DID look tired. Marshall carried her into a little cave, and took some soft dirt as a sort of mattress for his sister. I smiled at his efforts, and then looked back at Isaac and Opal. "Okay, you guys, after we have a plan, we have to leave. I don't care if you're sick, or have a broken foot. We're leaving." Opal asked a question, "But where do we go?" I looked at her with narrowed green eyes. "I took north to get here. I'm feeling a tug somewhere in…" I pointed towards the sun, which was just about the highest it could get in the sky at that moment. I guessed it was about noon. "… That direction." Marshall came back from setting his sister to take a nap and sat down on a newly formed rock. "Okay, but where do we go? Like… a specific place? We can't just go that way, and then not reach anything." Isaac nodded his agreement with Marshall. I shrugged. "It's either go that way, or we can die of hunger here." Opal thought, "but this is an island, can't we eat rabbits or something?" I looked back at her and sighed, "If this island was just formed, under the sea, do you think rabbits would randomly sprout here?" Opal shrugged, and went back to tending to her hair. Isaac looked in the direction of the sun. "Okay. We'll head towards the big star. How about… in a couple of hours? Just until Avril wakes up." I nodded and then looked around the small island. Okay, it was just us here, a few rocks, a cave, and pebbles and dirt. Very exciting. I decided to nudge Marshall off his rock perch, for me to sit instead. He slouched and moved over, but didn't get off. I sat next to him. Fine, then, there was enough room for both of us. Isaac gathered some pebbles and sat on the ground, I think thinking about what we had to do before we left. In truth, pretty much nothing. All that was left was to get some rest. This would be a long day.

-2-

After Avvy had woken up, we each sprouted some form of wings- Marshall his snowy owl ones, Avril little white angel wings [it took her a while to get those, she needs some practice changing], Opal and some tawny hawk wings, and Isaac left his bat wings to take on golden eagle wings- and got ready to take off.

As we darted into the air, we flapped over towards the sun, as planned. But the ocean kept going on and on into what seemed like forever.

Opal complained,

"Gypsy, I'm tired!"

"Okay, deal with it."

"Can we land?"

"Where do you see a place to land? Huh?"

She fell silent, but looked down, as if searching for an island we might've been flying overhead. I rolled my eyes and kept flying.

A little over three hours later, we found an island. Okay, multiple islands. We landed in the chain links of Hawaii. Opal squealed and blabbered on about how Hawaii was 'so wonderful'! But I looked closer. Something was not right. Opal had been telling Avril and Isaac about it, Avril took up every word the thirteen year old said, but Isaac just nodded, chipping in bits of information once and a while, giving quirky little smiles sometimes, too. Marshall flew next to me, asking me if I saw something. I did. I stopped flying and went into an ultimate muscle shut down. Avril screeched, scared out of her mind. "Marshall! Go catch her!" she was yelling. I couldn't change, I couldn't flap, I couldn't move. This was a Glitch. That's what we called it; a Glitch. This is what happened when something happens during our changing or when we're just so surprised, our bodies go into shut down mode. Before Marshall could catch me, I fell straight into the water, and couldn't breathe. But the water relaxed my muscles and I swam upwards, leaving my wings and not bothering to change. As I broke free of the water and gulped for air, I saw what I was scared of.

We were too late, the volcano had erupted, and everyone had fled. No one was in Hawaii anymore. I scrabbled onto the side of one of the roads and looked up, where my friends were quickly landing next to me and helping me up. I coughed up some water, but otherwise, I was fine. A little sore, but at least I wasn't damaged in anyway. Marshall quickly apologized for no catching me, but I just waved him away. It wasn't his fault.

Avril asked, looking at me, "where is everybody?" I took a deep breath and told her. "Gone." And then, Opal whooped. "We have Hawaii to ourselves!" She ran towards the nearest grocery store and did who knows what. Isaac snickered and looked at the ground, picking up Avril and setting her on his shoulder. "C'mon, Avvy, let's go eat." Avril nodded and bounced off of Isaac, running after her older friend. Isaac followed just behind, and then looked back at me, not bothering to look at Marsh, who was already starting towards the store. "Hey, Gypsy, are you coming?" I flickered my eyes towards him and sighed, shrugging. "Why not?" I pranced towards the two and pushed them inside the store, running past them afterwards. I made a beeline for a backpack, and stocked up everything the backpack would hold. 'I love Hawaii' socks, canned food, microwavable food, popcorn, jackets, lots and lots of food, extra shoes, and sodas and waters. Good variety there. I said under my breath, "this will keep us going for now." I turned to go look at everyone and what they were doing.

Marshall was checking out some Hawaii converse all stars, and ignored them. They had pink on them. He then looked at some sweatshirts and pulled a black one on, then going over to Opal and watching her. Avril was playing with the hula dolls and toys she found. Opal was rushing around everywhere, trying to pick up every accessory she could, trying on shoes, jackets, sweaters, glasses, and everything you could name. Marshall snorted and turned away to play with his little sister. Isaac was nowhere to be found. Then I heard his voice. "Busy being 'Mom'?" I whipped around and snorted. "I am not 'Mom'." I used quotation marks with my fingers and rolled my eyes. Isaac smirked and tugged gently on my ringlet hair. "Whatever." He turned to play with Avril and Marshall, but not without another word, "Mom." I groaned. He was so stuck up. I turned away towards Opal, tempted to try on some things myself.

Opal was going shop crazy. Hawaii super stores were really convenient. I saw out of the corner of my eye that Marshall was still playing with Avril, he was the blond doll; it was actually really funny hearing his 'Barbie voice'. I returned to my shopping and tried out some converses. They were much more comfortable than suede boots. I kept my boots on, though, because I liked them better with my prized aviator jacket. I turned away towards Avril and Marsh and sat on the floor next to them. I held a doll and pretended to walk with it, and then I spoke to everybody, even Isaac, who was drinking a soda and looking at bikes. Marshall sat up and hugged his knees, waiting for me to speak. "We'll leave tomorrow. We can sleep here tonight. But then we'll explore the rest of the island." Avvy smiled and rubbed at her eyes. She got up and abandoned her game with Marshall and me, but took her stuffed angel doll and picked up a sleeping bag from the shelves, immediately shimmying into the bag and falling asleep. Man, she was tired. It was only six, as far as the store's clock went, but I guess when you're five, you need more rest, or you'll be cranky.

Marshall dropped the doll as he saw his sister leave, got up, dusted himself off, and helped me up. I dropped the doll I had, too. Opal wasn't even done shopping. She was going crazy over there, yelling, "OHMIGOD, THIS IS TOO CUTE!" I just rolled my pale green eyes and brought Marshall over to Isaac, where I sat in the middle of them. I grabbed Isaac's soda just as he was about bring it up to his mouth to keep drinking, and sipped it myself. "Go get another one," I said, drinking the last drops and throwing the can over my shoulder into a trashcan. Marsh snickered. "Gypsy, are you a basketball player?" he asked me. Isaac grumbled and got up to get another can of soda. I shrugged and then answered, "I've never really tried." Isaac turned back and opened the can. "Well, when we find a court, we can play two-on-one. Me and Marshall against you," Isaac said, "winner gets the glory." Okay, you see, just because Isaac was the oldest didn't mean he was the 'leader' per se, because who's telling the story? We all know who is the dominant one in this family, you guys. Hint: Me.

I thought over what he had said for a minute. "Yeah, sure. Bring a basketball when we go explore Hawaii, okay?" Marshall smiled and then yawned, laying his head down on a table, bored. Isaac was silently drinking the Pepsi. Nothing else to do here, I guess everything was done in this store. Except for Opal's shopping.

A cry was heard. I shot up from where I fell asleep on the table next to Isaac and Marshall. I got up and went to check on Avril, who was still sleeping like a baby. It must've been Opal. I ran straight for the fashion section and didn't find her. Then I saw a pair of feet under the dressing room. I knocked on the door. "Ope? Are you alright?" Opal gave a yawn and called back, "I can't fit into these adorabubble jeans, and this is the only size!" I scoffed and turned away. "So that's an 'okay'." I wiped the drool from my mouth and glanced at the nearest clock. 6:00 A.M. Oh, wow. "Opal, how long have you been awake?" "Well, I fell asleep in here, and got uncomfortable at about four thirty, so I went out and looked around for some more stuff to try on. I've got about two piles of stuff, so far. I'm not done yet." She explained. I turned back to the dressing room door and banged my head against the door, groaning. "I woke up for that?!" I snapped, tromping away and pulling on a grey sweatshirt over my jacket. This was not worth 0 dollars an hour. I'm being sarcastic of course. I don't get paid by the hour. More like by twenty years.