~Avril~
"First things first….names." I announced.
"We don't have names." Elizabeth rolled her eyes. I felt she was a smite too old for that, but didn't comment.
"Maybe mom and dad has names….or maybe files they've kept." Seth mentioned. Seth was only seventeen years old, so he was the baby of the group, still in high school, coming right behind Monique, who at eighteen is still watching morning cartoons. They were still kids practically, I didn't want them there.
"I don't think it'd be….wise to let you guys come with us." I started.
"Why not?" Monique asked, slightly glaring. Her shoulder length raspberry color hair and dark green eyes always made her look cute. She could either work that for good, or bad. Right now, she was glaring.
"You're just too young." Danny shrugged. Danny looked just like a young Fang, which he always worked to his advantage. At 23, he's at his peak, with perfect windswept dark hair and eyes, and all muscular, and a perfect smile. But not only that, he took after his mom in commanding authority. No one went against him when he made orders. It wasn't that we were intimidated or scared, it was just something not done.
"I was there. I can help." Seth argued.
"It doesn't matter what you think, all that matters is you're safe." I said sternly.
"It's not like you're that much older than us." Monique snapped.
"Guys! I don't care what happens, just let us get to the house and find these names. No one is too young for that!" Elizabeth snapped in all our directions. Like Danny, she was her mother's daughter. Despite her usually easy going nature, whenever she gets serious, you do what she says. She is the oldest anyway.
~Seth~
Aunty Max's house was first for obvious reasons. She was always prepared, for everything. We tore through her and Uncle Fang's offices, ultimately coming up with nothing. Monique screamed out in frustration kicking a box.
"This isn't working!" Danny and Avril shared a look, like they knew this would happen, but after a quick glare from Max, they went back to searching.
"She's right. We're getting nowhere, and we're only destroying my parent's house. We need to strategize. We're not even sure what we're supposed to be finding." Elizabeth, said, slapping down some papers on the desk. Right then, the bell decided to ring.
"I got it." Nick dragged himself up. I assume the only reason why was because the atmosphere was becoming too thick. Even I needed air. "Um…Seth. Can you come to the door?"
"Who is it?" Avril called from her spot in the corner. Papers were stacked to her hips, and she was going through them piece by piece.
"Celeste."
"Like my mom's old bear." Monique reminisced lovingly. But I was sweating. I forgot I had invited her over.
"Should I invite her in?" He called back. I immediately looked to Avril who firmly shook her head.
"No. It's too dangerous."
"What could happen? They're gone."
"And we don't know that for sure. They know we're still alive and….for whatever reason we're not supposed to be. I don't want to drag another person into this."
"I mean it's not like I already know." I jumped as she just appeared in the door. Her silky dark wavy hair traveling to her waist, and nice bright golden eyes, with creamy brown skin, and a curvy figure. She was around 5'4, average height, but she was far from being an average girl. She was born with three percent white tiger. Complete with black and white furry ears, she hides with hats. Right now she had a white, saggy hat on covering them. She hides her tail with long coats, despite the weather. The only thing she cannot hide is her pointed teeth and her luminous, almost glowing eyes. So when she smiles, it's like you're looking into a vampire's mouth. But she makes it look good. Like it was intentional.
"I know what you guys are. It wasn't that hard."
"How did you find out?" Danny asked. She didn't seem intimidated by his looks, which for him was a first. But then again, she was just as good looking. Why should she care he looked like he belonged in a magazine.
"You don't really…seem normal. And after I saw Monique fly from some argument with her mom….I put the pieces together. Simple." She shrugged and smiled, like she did in class when she out smarted the teacher. Again I turned to Avril, who turned to Danny, who turned to Elizabeth. Liz was almost eleven years older than me, so we were never that close in that friendship kind of way. More like we loved each other because we loved the cousins who were closer to our ages.
"What do you know about our parents." Celeste slid into a chair in an almost cat like manor and shrugged.
"Not much. The most I know about my own parents was that they were young and wanted powers. They went to this place…..Itex I think."
"After that flood-" Max started.
"It wasn't like they could just be stopped. They held stations all over the world. And that flood only happened on one measly island. From my understanding, Itex has been under some kind of investigation, and their trying to get rid of their tracks before they get found out."
"Do you know their station?"
"By way. I've traveled there plenty of times. Just to see where I came from you know. I've never memorized the address." Avril got up.
"Can you take us there?"
"Avril think before you act. Remember what mom use to say." Nick quickly chastised, but she ignored him.
"Think about it guys. We're getting nowhere searching for something we might never find. We could get the information right from the source."
"But what about security?" Max asked. Nick gaped at her. "I'm just looking at our options." She defended. Celeste shrugged.
"Shouldn't be a problem. You can fight right?" There was an awkward pause. "At all?" Another one.
"We can hold our own in a fight." Monique hugged her arms, shrugging. But we barely made it through the first wave of erasers.
"Wait wait wait….wait. You thought you could just run into Itex, already under orders to shoot upon intrusion without legal permission, and get out safe and sound. They're not just gonna hand you their information." Celeste scolded.
"We didn't think this through." Elizabeth shook her head.
"I knew we weren't ready!" Nick exploded.
"Oh be quiet, you're always like this! Too timid to cross the street!" Max snapped back.
"Will you both shut up!" Elizabeth snapped.
"Will all of you shut up!" Celeste clutched her ears on top of her head.
"What are you?" Monique asked, her anger sliding away to curiousness. Sighing, Celeste took her hat off, her ears twitching.
"My sense of hearing is like, a hundred or so times betters than y'alls, so loud noises…get to me."
"Can you teach us to fight?" Elizabeth addressed her.
"Sure I can. But….it's not wise to travel to Itex. Especially now."
"We understand that."
"I'm not just talking about the guards. There's been a bounty on us. We so called "failed experiments". If any other experiment takes in the body of another dead experiment, they survive extension and Itex overlooks them in mass extermination."
"Mass extermination?" Danny asked, his arms crossed.
"Like I said, their covering their tracks."
"Getting rid of their past experiments." Avril nodded.
"We definitely need to train." Celeste muttered, looking around.
~Monique~
I'll admit I am far from the most mature person in our junior flock. But the fact that Avril and Danny wanted to just cut both Seth and I out was insulting. So naturally, we were the first two people out. Celeste slid off her jacket. She was wearing a pale green tank top, showing her nicely muscular arms, and slightly exposing her toned stomach. Her tail twitched excitedly.
"I wouldn't exactly be excited to be the first two out."
She worked us harder than any gym coach worked us before. Even super guy Danny was drenched with sweat before the hour. "Run four more times! You wanted this! Work for it!" Celeste barked. God! She was smaller than all of us, with nine feet of attitude. "Now! Attack!"
Here's the thing about Celeste. She's super freaking fast. She can run a hundred in under a second. And that's her jogging paste. So when Elizabeth tried to pounce, Celeste was already on the other side of the yard, in a huge tree. Poor Elizabeth ate the bark of another tree.
"Elizabeth, stop focusing on attacking and more on sensing where your attacker is." Suddenly she gasped, but before she could move she was tackled to the ground. Being part cat, she landed on her feet, but she skidded a few feet, looking around madly. Seth jumped up, cheering.
"That was me! Yes! Me!" That stopped everyone in their tracks. The baby of the flock, yes, the absolute baby, just pounced on the most athletic person on the planet. She straightened herself out, smiling.
"I think you're ready." But just as quick, it snapped off her face. "But the rest of you aren't. I'm not the hardest to pin down!" And with that, she took off. Seth laughed and ran after her. If Seth could do it, I know I can.
Sadly, I wasn't the next person to pin her down. I wasn't even the third. Avril came in second, and a Danny with a wounded pride came in third. Followed by Nick, then Max. Now it was just me and Elizabeth. The others, since they pinned her down before, Seth four times, sat out for this round. I glanced at Elizabeth and saw she was just as ready to stop as I was. I wanted nothing more than to just drink a glass of water. But to do that, I had to pin this girl down. And Celeste wasn't letting us off easy. She pulled her hair up, and rolled her pants up. She stopped at the top of a tree, her eyes literally glowing. More cat like now than ever. Her grin was maniacal.
"Want a breath, gotta catch me." And like the wind, she was gone again.
I started off, fury at already being considered second class by the rest of the flock making me go a little faster. Elizabeth was right next to me. And suddenly, a blur of white flashed by. I darted after it, only to become fast first in a tree. I gritted my teeth and ran to catch up. Elizabeth was a little bit ahead. But Celeste wasn't running where she was running. Which meant I had a chance.
"Moe." I almost tripped. What the hell?! Did I just see my mom? "Moe, she's your cousin." Again, I bared my teeth and just changed my direction. I was acting crazy because of over exhaustion. That's all it was. "Moe family don't do this to each other." I glanced and saw my mom's disapproving face. Her blond hair and ice blue eyes menacing. Whether it was real or not, I knew she was right. I reached out and grabbed her arm, propelling her in the right direction. But she didn't let go. So when I pushed her forward, she was pushing me forward as well. Until we had pinned a body against a tree.
"Team work. Nicely done." Celeste grinned and she slipped out from our hold. "You're done for the night." She wasn't even breathing hard. I glanced at Elizabeth who was breathing hard. She held up a hand, smiling. I clasped it.
"I don't think you're too young at all." She said. I smiled.