CHAPTER 2

Maddi POV

"Matt!" Lexi released her grip on my wrist and flounced over to the three boys in the corner of the room. They were dressed rather nicely, still wearing their familiar black dress pants. They wore white shirts and like many of the other male attendees, ties. But they weren't tied, as if to take their last stand against the school. They never said that the ties HAD to be tied, I guess.

Matt was by far the shortest and nicest. He had blonde-brown hair that matched Lexi's in some ways and was a nice guy, a little too nice. In Anselm, you were nice or you were dead. Honestly, I could care less about them though. I didn't really care much for the Villa girls either – most were just some stuck up rich kids. I won't say I'm stuck up, but I've got a pretty big ego sometimes. All the time.

Next to Matt was his best friend, a boy with brown hair named Jaret. We'd been friends even back in our public elementary school, but recently we'd grown apart. Whether it was the fact we went to separate schools, or maybe because we were both growing up and getting those feelings, I wasn't sure.

And on the other side of Matt was Kyle, a taller Matt look a like with glasses and face acne. I tried to stay away from him and he was a pretty awkward guy. I'd threatened to hurt him on more than one occasion.

Lexi was all over Matt like a bee on honey. I awkwardly pulled on my dress due to its habit of riding up onto my hips. The other boys went quiet too. It was awkward despite the loud music behind our group and Lexi's spastic blathering. I raised my hand like I was asking a question and turned on my tip-toes. "I'm getting some punch. Bye." Lexi bent her neck back to look at me and smiled. "Punch, please?"

Gladly. I took a deep breath and stomped away through the crowd and past the punch bowl. I was wiping off this make-up first, I felt extremely unnatural. Maybe that's why no one talked to me – they weren't used to me being all dolled up. I stomped into the bathroom and ran a paper towel under some cold water.

I was rubbing the artificial beauty off my pale face when a girl I'd never seen before came in. She had long, twisted black hair held back in a white headband. Her outfit was simple, a flimsy white dress and silver sandals. She was more beautiful than me on a good day; and that's a rare time in history indeed. She twiddled her thumbs and looked in the mirror anxiously before scooting closer to me.

"Personal space much?" I shoved her over to the side and she frowned. An unearthly growl escaped her lips and I was taken back by it. She cleared her throat though and wiped a stray block of make-up on my cheek. "You missed a spot."

Her voice was strange. A very motherly voice that reminded me of home and my family. But when it came from this girl, I felt uncomfortable. I stepped back suddenly and bumped into the cheap bathroom sink, cursing when I realized a bruise was probably beginning to form. The beauty smiled and rubbed her hands together. "Please be careful, Madison. If you are anything like your father, you're going to need it."

I looked up from the tiled floor. She'd just pinched a nerve somewhere. She mentioned my Dad. My Mom said that my father was a military man who came and went, supposedly. And some time after my younger brother was born, he vanished and we never heard from him again.

"What are you talking about, "my father"? How would you know anything about him?" But she simply shrugged and turned on her heel to face the door. "Listen to me, Madison. I want you to be careful tonight. Not everything is as it seems, times are changing. Farewell." And she strode out of the bathroom. I was hot on her heels, a wad of wet paper towel jammed in my fist. But when I left the bathroom, there was no girl. It was as though she'd disappeared into thin air.

"Lexi!" I dashed through the crowd, careful to keep the dress pulled to a modest knee length. She turned away from her boyfriend for a split second and, seeing it was only me, immediately turned back to continue the conversation. I tapped her on the shoulder for a full minute with some Taylor Swift-related music in the background before giving her a powerful kick to the back of the knee.

My best friend dropped to one knee. "Why would you do that?" She winced painfully. Matt stepped back for fear of being kicked next and looked to his friends. They shrugged absent-mindedly like a collective body. "I have to talk to you. Can we go outside?" She was confused by my request, but sighed reluctantly and agreed. "Fine. We'll be back in a minute, guys."

But they were right on it with us. "No!" Jaret stepped forward and reached out. We looked at him and the two boys suddenly tracking. "What I meant to say was...we'll come with you." His breath wrapped around my face and I gagged. Despite fighting back nausea, I grabbed Lexi's arm and pulled her along though. "No thanks, this a girl thing. Just wait here." But they followed us. I didn't want to share my encounter with them, they might think I was nuts!

Outside of the gym, I pulled Lexi into one of the bushes. "Maddi!" She squealed, touching her dress. "My dress is covered in dew!" "Rain." I corrected. She snorted. "Same difference, You get the point – I'm all wet now!" I heard the footsteps of the boys as they exited out the door and into the overhang that marked the entrance to the gym.

"Lexi, I don't care about your dress. I met a girl who-" "You don't care about my dress! But it was so nice and now it's probably ruined! What will Matt say?" She streamed along waving her hands and yelling about her precious dress, overlooking the fact we could simply dry it later tonight, being that it was Friday. When she stopped, I took my chance. "Lexi, I met a girl who knows my Dad."

"Really?" Her voice shrunk. We both knew my Dad was a touchy subject, and I always joked about it, but it was more serious than I'd let anyone but her know. Our conversation was interrupted when one of the boys screamed and fled the overhang. Lexi and I looked over at the concrete area to find only the two boys, Jaret and Kyle. Only there was something different.

Their heads hung low and they'd suddenly dropped onto all fours in front of our eyes. Their hair got longer until it covered their low-looking eyes and their skin turned a sickly gray. They were snuffing around for something, maybe us. I quietly dipped low, but Lexi froze on them. "They look like rhinos..." She whispered, grabbing my hair. I bit my lip and poked my head up. Unfortunately, my sudden movement caused the former-Kyle to turn suddenly and look at us through his hair I assumed. Fragments of a former uniform scattered around his rhino-like hooves as he alerted the other with his hoof.

"I-I know what those are." Lexi stuttered, giving a great tug on her fistful of my hair. "We have to run. Now."

"What are they?" I protested. She shook her head. "I'll tell you later; just run!"