Chapter 1
I ran my finger lightly along the spines of the books, sitting on the shelves and just begging to be read. A title caught my eye and I grinned, pulling the book it belonged to off the shelf.
I made my way through the aisles and rows up to the front of the store, where I lay the book on the counter and reached for my wallet, which was on a shoulder strap and slung diagonally over my torso.
The clerk ran the bar code under the scanner, and I faintly heard a soft hum, hidden by the beep of the machine. I glanced up just in time to see the book glow just slightly blue, but it quickly faded as I pushed two five dollar bills over the counter. I took my change and the book and looked it over, but there was no trace of the blue light. Maybe it had been my imagination, or there was a new scanner, although it looked exactly the same as always, battered and old-fashioned.
"Have a good day, Miss," the man behind the counter said, sounding bored.
"You too," I said politely, tucking my change safely into my wallet and heading out the door.
There was a bench right outside the door, and it was empty. Grinning, I sat down and opened to the first page of my book.
But before I got more than a sentence or two in, the door opened again, and a group of six teenagers, around my age, came out, though I hadn't noticed anyone in the store with me.
"This is insane. INSANE. That's all I'm saying."
A tall blonde girl elbowed the boy who had spoken in the ribs. "Marco," she hissed, glancing pointedly at me. He fell silent.
My eyes widened and I slowly glanced down at the cover of my book, then back at the girl, then the rest of the group.
Oh. My. God.
Suddenly I felt the book being snatched out of my hands by another boy, with dirty-blonde hair and a strangely blank expression.
"Guys, look at this." He handed a third boy the book, whose eyes widened as he scanned the cover, then handed it to another person and so on until all of them had seen it.
"Where did you get this?" the third boy asked.
I silently pointed to the bookshop.
The short African-American girl who had seen the book last handed it back to me, and I looked at the cover again. Right at the top, clear as could be, was the word ANIMORPHS. And right below it was a picture of the blonde girl.
Rachel.
A/N: R&R, please. Thanks for reading!