A/N: Sorry it took me so long! I've been busy, even though it's summer. But here it is! It might be kinda crappy. Sorry if it is.

Truth be told, I didn't wake up in time for lunch. I didn't wake up until nine-thirty that night. What woke me up was a loud knocking noise on one of the adjoining doors. I jumped out of bed and ran a brush through my hair, then opened the door.

On the other side of the door stood a girl. "Hi!" she said. "I'm Cassie. I heard you had gotten here today, so I thought I'd come say hi."

Cassie was at least a foot shorter than me. She had bright orange hair the same length as mine, and blue-green eyes.

"Hi, Cassie. I'm Ryan. Want to come in?" I said.

Cassie nodded and entered the room. She looked around at my bare room. "Haven't had time to decorate yet?"

"No. I only got here today, and I spent most of the morning arguing with Jill. She won. Then I came here and just fell asleep."

"I saw you come in. I thought your face looked familiar, but I didn't recognize you cause Jill made you chop off your hair. I think it looks better short."

"Thanks," I said. I heard more knocking.

Cassie jumped up and ran into her room. "I think that's the welcoming committee." She opened the door and three girls came in. "Guys, this is the new girl, Ryan. Ryan, this is Amy, Jess, and Laura."

Amy shrugged. "She didn't want to come. I guess she didn't feel good or something." Amy was taller than me by a few inches, with bright green eyes and long dark brown hair that reached the middle of her back.

Jess and Laura were identical. They had hazel eyes and jet black hair. The only difference was that Jess's hair was streaked with hot pink, while Laura's was streaked with lavender.

More knocking. This time on my other door. "Bella!" cried Jess, jumping up to let her in.

She opened the door. Three girls walked in. One was Ever.

"Hi, Ryan," Ever said.

Cassie gasped. "Ever brought you? Lucky! She's the nicest Changed here. You know who brought me? Jill."

I put a comforting hand on her arm. "Jill sucks," I said.

One of the new girls laughed. "Hi, Ryan. I'm Leah. This is Bella. We're twins."

They looked nothing alike. Leah's eyes were bright green, while Bella's were purple. A strange eye color. It made her look eerie and mysterious. Leah had long, light blonde hair. Bella's was short and dirty blonde.

"Hey," I said. I couldn't look away from Bella's strange eyes.

"You're looking at my eyes, aren't you?" Bella asked a moment later.

"I-uh-yeah," I stammered.

"They weren't always like this. They used to be the same color as Leah's. But then one morning while I was here, during the Change, I woke up and they were purple. It's kinda creepy, I know, but I just had to get used to it," she told me.

Her eyes had changed color? I shivered and cast a quick glance in the full-length mirror next to the door. My eyes were, thankfully, still brown.

Bella saw me look. She laughed. "Don't worry. It's never happened before. I'm the first Changed to be able to shape-shift, so it was probably part of that." To demonstrate, she changed into a cat and back again.

Leah slapped her arm. "Show-off," she muttered.

"What can the rest of you do? Well, I already know Ever's. And mine," I said.

Leah and Cassie sprouted wings. Leah's were dark gray with white spots, and Cassie's were jet black with white stripes, kind of like a zebra's pelt. Amy held up one hand to show me webbing between her fingers. Looking down, I noticed there was webbing between her toes, too.

"I can breathe underwater, too," she told me.

Jess and Laura melted into shadows. One second they were there, the next they weren't, and gray splotches took their places. I tried as hard as I could to unfurl the wings I knew I would grow, but they didn't come.

"You will start your Training tomorrow. You may not be able to open your wings until next week, though. It's different for everyone. Some people will be here for months before they can open their wings. Don't worry," Ever said. "Do you want to sleep?" she added.

I shook my head. "Stay. Unless you want to leave. It's fine," I told the other girls.

No one left.