5: Gifts

Life at school was simple for everyone. Holly was 15 and in class 9A along with Amy's sister Janet. Terri was 14 and in 8C. The other 3: Emma, Amy and Rachel all were in 7B as they were 13. The way people sat in classrooms were organised: smallest at the front with tallest at the back, regardless of species, this was to allow people to see the front easily. All the classrooms to about 30 students, each sitting on a chair or stool depending on their body structure, they also had pale white surfaced desks with black metal legs that would generate holo-images for them to read and do their work. The rooms were a dull grey with a few light orbs on the ceiling. At the front of the classrooms the teacher had a larger desk to use and a seat that would match up-to what species they were, on the front wall was a large white panel that below had a black bar on it to generate a large holo image for them to use. Around the rooms would be holo posters displayed to do with the subject that was taught in that room.

The morning lessons for 9A were History and Chemistry (which it's room replaced the seats and desks for lab benches with sinks and heat panels on them). 8C had Maths and Music (a subject Terri hated for the bad players making horrible screeches that didn't sit well with her sensitive ears). And finally 7B was English and Geography. Tho for all 5 girls, despite focusing on the lessons, the events from last night still stuck in there minds. After both lessons had finished there was a morning break time. Everyone was outside, it was sunny with the occasional cloud overhead.

Round the side of the school was some benches and trees, on one of these benches Holly had sat down on.

"You look terrible Hols" Terri softly said to her as she came up and sat down next to her.

"You not looking so good yourself T" She smiles back, both of them were a little tired.

"Bad night sleeping" Terry soft mentioned as she yawned a little.

"Same with me" Holly spoke back a little quieter

"What?...You know why?" Terri whispered the question.

"That voice I thought I heard while we were in the sea yesterday, I thought I heard it again in my sleep, and there was this pink dragon" Holly whispered across to Terri.

"That is what I had too, but not certain about the voice, and the dragon was red in my dream" Terri replied a little surprised.

"That isn't the only thing, in History we looked at the ancient practices of alchemy, and for some reason these 5 symbols seemed to be standing out to me" Holly then pulled out a holo time and activated it, going through the menu to bring up an image of 5 markings. The markings on the orbs that at gone to the 2 of them and the 3 others without them knowing.

"That one seems familiar to me" Terri shockingly said pointed at one that looked like a wave.

"Really?" Holly asked and she then pointed at a curved equals symbol "Something about this one draws me in the most."

As the 2 had been talking, just down the side of the building Emma had been wandering around, still having the sound of heavy breathing and a growl in her head, she then bumped into someone.

The person turned around. Standing about 5 foot 5 high was a pale skinned human female with mid back length light brown hair and blue eyes. She wore a dark blue jumped and black mid-length skirt. She also had knee high white socks and black buckle shoes on. She looked at Emma before then quickly having a go at her "What where you are going freak."

Emma stepped back a little, not wanting a confrontation, she just looked away and quietly spoke out "Sorry Jessica, I didn't mean anything."

Jessica just gave Emma a little shove back in an aggressive manner. "What's wrong you flightless bird, afraid to deal with a proper human?"

Emma clenched her fists a little. Jessica had a reputation for being the type of person who hated the cross-breeds. She tried to keep herself calm before speaking "I highly doubt u are human, a real one had better manners."

"You just asked for it, those useless wing of yours are going to be clipped" Jessica aggressively spoke to her. She then clenched her fists and swing her right arm around in a punch, aimed for Emma's head. Emma closed her eyes and braced for bring hit, but it didn't come. She opened them and saw Amy was holding Jessica's arm around the wrist with her right arm.

"You didn't think you could start a fight without me?" She jokingly asked and gave a wink as she pushed the arm back and stood between the 2 girls. By now a crowd of people surrounded the 3 of them.

Jessica gave a little hiss as she looked at Amy standing before her. They had had a couple of fights in the past, all the times Amy had won, and she had seemed to enjoy them. She then looked at the crowd around them, seeing Holly and Terri on the bench chatting away between some of the people surrounding her. She gave a slight smile as she lowered her fists and spoke right into Amy's face "You will get a fight, trust me on it." She then looked at Emma and spoke to her "Out of all cross breeds you are a disgrace, you have wings, you can fly, but you can't, pathetic, I will teach you to watch your step when your wooden guard isn't around." She then turned around shoving a couple of people surrounding them away and stormed off, a plan forming in her mind.

"Pity, I was hoping to rearrange her mind" Amy said turning around and looking to Emma "You going to be ok?"

"Yea I will, sorry for that, I just have something else on my mind" Emma replied before she turned and went off the other way. The people surrounding them was dissipating.

"You are not the only one with something on the mind" Amy sighed silently. She then went off in a different direction, towards a door back into the school, seeing her sister standing on the way. Janet just shook her head and wondered off.

Rachel in the mean time had been watching the event outside from a upper level, curled up on a window ledge she was still trying to puzzle together the events from overnight, tho she was distracted at the possibility of a fight. She just remained silent as a buzzer rang throughout the school, singling everyone to go to their next lesson. Rachel jumped down from her perch as outside everyone started making their way inside.

The next 2 lessons went by for everyone. Maths and English for 9A (which was also had Jessica in it). 8C had History and PE on the field outside the back of the school, doing rugby for the guys and netball for the girls. 7B had Physics and History (the one lesion Rachel wasn't looking towards). Throughout the lessons the girls all felt something off around the, but placed it in the back of their minds to concentrate on the learning, well Amy was more focused on how Jessica was going to get her, but she thought it won't matter, she will just give her a good punch before she had the chance. After the 2 lessons it was lunchtime.

The lunchroom was similar to the room in the orphanage that everyone used to get their food, only this was just bigger. As lunch began everyone came into the room, up to the serving area, got a tray and there food, before going to find a seat at a table. The tables had either chairs or stools around them for the different seating requirements.

The girls all arrived around a similar time going and getting their food, but all going to be sitting down in different areas.

Holly and Terri went to a quiet table with stools near the middle right of the room, they went to sit opposite each other. Holly had more fruit and vegetables on her tray along with a bottle of water. Terri had a some little crabs wrapped in seaweed along with a bottle of sea water. As they were sitting down Jessica sneaked over, kicking Holly's stool out of her path for sitting down so she fell onto the floor and onto her right side.

"Oh sorry" Jessica teased a little as Terri ran around the table to go help Holly up. While they were distracted Jessica smiled as she quickly swapped her plate of food (fruit and vegetables with some small chunks of meat hidden within the pile) for Holly's. "That was a complete accident, I didn't spot the stool" She said sarcastically, she had meant to hit it. She pushed it back as Holly got to her feet.

"Then just watch yourself then" Holly quietly replied, a little uncertain as she stared at Jessica, Terri standing behind her, not certain what to say before returning to her seat as Jessica walked off to the far end of the room,. Holly then took her seat as they both started to eat, holly using a metal fork and Terri with the tips of her claws to lift the crabs to her mouth. Between mouthful's they chatted away quietly more about the night before, trying to puzzle together their dreams.

Nearby on a empty table Rachel had sat down and saw the confrontation, she just stared at Jessica as she walked off before a voice spoke to her "Mind if we join you?"

She looked round and saw both Amy and Emma standing there. She then looked away and shyly replied "Do what you like" She then grabbed a piece of a ham sandwich she had and ate it.

"Thanks" Emma replied as she and Amy both sat down to her right. She had a bowel of what looked like cereal on her tray with some small bits of fruit in it. Amy had a large bottle was the nutrient water like she had in the morning and a couple of bits of bread.

As they both ate and chatted away with Rachel ignoring them, mostly about Amy planning to get Jessica on their way home after school, Janet walked up, her tray had the same as her younger sister's. She tapped on Amy's shoulder and whispered to her "I know what you want to do"

"And, she deserves it" Amy replied back to her, before watching her sister frown at her and walk off go sit down next to Holly. "Killjoy" she muttered to herself, before returning to eat and chat.

At the far side of the room Jessica sat and ate the foot she switched with Holly, smiling seeing her eating it, she knew it was only a matter of time, she just hoped enough.

Holly, Terri and Janet all joked away about a some bits that happened in lessons. It was after about 5 minutes of this and 10 minutes after she had started eating that Holly was now breathing heavily and leaning hard against the table, face pointing down towards it.

"Hols, you all right?" Terri nervously asked spotting Holly leaning over the table, both her arms pressed to it, her hands digging in, and some feint growls herd in her heavy breathing.

Janet turned to her right to look at Holly and leaned down trying to talk to her "Hey, you ok?"

There was no reply, Terri was getting more unsettled, she then nervously looked at Janet while keeping an eye on Holly. "On her left arm is a medical monitor band."

Janet didn't need to be told what o do next, she looked along Holly's left arm and saw the white arm band that she had put in before leaving for school. She waved her right hand over it and a small holo screen opened, she then grabbed it in her hand, turning it so she could read it, there was something written in red on it.

"What does it say?" Terri was now on the edge of the stool she was sitting on, completely unsettled, the whole thing was not drawing attention around the room, with people watching.

Janet looked at the display and read it out "It says high meat proteins detected. But why is that a problem?" She asked as she closed the screen by waving over the band again.

Terri jumped out of her seat in fear, knocking it over. She stepped back a little as she panicked "You not aware of her other side?"

"Nope, why?" Janet replied, now a little conserved from Terri's reaction. Across the room Rachel was watching as she ate, Emma just looked on curiously like most others in the room, while Amy had stood up to try and get a better view. Jessica watched on with a evil grin and giggle, keeping near a door. Everyone else in the room was also watching now.

Terri tried to keep calm as she explained "Holly is half Bacoloian. They are peaceful omnivores but they live a vegetarian lifestyle cos they don't take to meat very well." She paused her breathing got faster "When they do they enter what they class as a feral or wild state. In this state they go on a desire to hunt for meat, they are ruthless when doing it, afterwards they can hardly remember what happens, it is like having a evil twin in their head that takes over that just wants to hunt."

Janet gulped a little, now keeping watch on Holly as she asked a key question. "They have a favourite type of meat?"

"Fish" Terri said completely in fear as she looked straight at Holly, whose breathing had slowed down. She softly spoke to her as she tried to keep her nerves down "Holly, I know you are in there, fight this" She stepped back, her tail twitching around, it then knocked a chair down from the table behind her, making a loud thud as it hit the floor.

The sound got Holly to look up, and stare straight at Terri who stares straight back. Holly's pupils had dilated. Terri gulped as she tried to hold still. Holly then stood up, still leaning on the table, her tail starched out and kept low, like she was hunting, she kept watch at Terri while sniffing the air, she then let out a growl that allowed a good view in her mouth, she had a pair of short but sharp canine teeth on the top and bottom of her mouth.

"Holly, calm down" Janet mentioned as she stood close to her, but from the corner of her eye she could see Terri mouthing for her to get back. She stepped forwards as she held her right hand out "you aren't like thi..."

She was cut off by Holly had turned and wacked her with her left arm, knocking her back onto the floor. She then jumped onto the table, knocking trays off it as she positioned herself leaning down onto her hands and she looked around the room. Panic broke out and everyone started to quickly run out of the room.

"Hey you don't do that to my sister!" Amy yelled as she jumped across the table she was at and then ran across the room, leaping at Holly tackling her off the table to the ground next to Terri who tried to get away, but tripped over some stools and chairs that had been knocked over in the panic and fell to the floor.

Emma had also quickly moved from her seat and ran over to Janet and helped her up "You all right?"

"Not sure" Janet replied holing her left arm which she ended up landing badly on top of.

"Get to the medical room and have someone come, I'll keep your sister from harming her too much" Emma told Janet as she jumped onto the table and couched down to look at Amy and Holly trying to pin each other to the floor.

"I'm more concerned about Holly harming sis, she is stronger then I have ever seen before" Janet called at Emma as she hobbled away and out of the room, clearly her left leg was also hurting.

Rachel had just stayed sitting keeping an eye on things, when the voice in the back of her head from last night was herd in her head, but this time clearly "You need to help her." She looked around as she stood up, confused by the voice.

Amy and Holly both stood up and pushed against each other, hand to hand. Amy gave of a little smirk, clearly enjoying this. "That all you got, I am not even breaking a sweat" she taunted.

Holly then growled angrily as she then head butted Amy and then in the moment of stun that followed on Amy, she let go of her hand and span round slamming the right side of her tail into Amy knocking her back into a table, making it flip over. She then turned to look at Terri who was just watching in complete fear on the floor, she then began to walk over towards her, leaning forwards and down a bit, just as if she was hunting.

"Hey, back off!" Emma called as she jumped from where she was crouched down onto Holly's back wrapping her arms and wings around her, including over her face so she couldn't see. Tho realising that was a bad idea feeling the spiked press against her. "Thought she was you friend."

Holly struggles against Emma's grip but eventually got both hands on her left arm, just above where her wing joined the arm, she dug her claws in casing Emma to moan a bit in pain, loosening her grip. She then pulled her round with both hands and tossed her under the table she had originally been sitting at with Terry and Janet. Emma ended up under the table with a couple of stools.

Terri had managed to use this time to stand up and start running away, turning around and seeing Holly leap on her hands and feet from table to table, preventing her from going to the door. Instead she was forced towards a back corner. She turned around and saw Holly was poised to leap just behind her. "Holly, don't do this" She pleaded with her friend as a tear came from her eyes "Remember who you are, who I am."

Terri's words didn't reach inside Holly's mind. She gave off a hiss instead of a growl, then leaped at Terri, bearing her teeth.

To Terri time seemed to slow down as she held her arms up before her, closing her eyes, the thought that it would end by her closest friend played in her mind as she felt something surge through her body. On her arms the skin and scales tightened up, hardening. Terri thought the feeling she was getting in her arms was from the fear she felt. Holly reached her, biting onto her right arm and the force of the tackle knocked her to the floor on her back and rolling slightly to the left because of her tail.

She expected to feel something from the bite, but didn't, she opened her eyes expecting to see her arm missing or something like that, but instead she saw Holly repeatedly trying to bite the arm, each one not working. Terri was shocked by this, Holly was biting on her skin, the softest part of her body, yet couldn't get through, not even the feeling of the bite was felt.

"Back off her" Was then called as Holly was then pulled back off Terri and tossed round and backwards. Looking up properly she saw Amy standing there between her and Holly. "You feeling good?" She asked.

"I think so but..."She started replying then seeing Holly had got up and was starting to charge at Amy, she then called out "Behind you!"

Amy turned around bracing herself for a hit, then she felt an energy surge through her and on each side of her a copy appeared. This caused Holly to stop charging and crept backwards a little, letting off a warning growl.

"Amy, how did you do that?" Terri asked suppressed at what she saw happen.

Amy looked to her left and right, seeing the copies, both just stood there not moving. It took a couple of seconds before she replied in shock herself "I have no idea."

The copies faded away and while Amy was distracted Holly charged forwards again. Amy turned around back towards Holly when she realised the copies had gone, just as she leapt at her. When suddenly she hit a pale and hard to see red barrier, knocking her back a little bit. Amy looked across to see Rachel standing over at the side, holding her right hand out towards them, she looked surprised at what had happened. Holly stood up and tried slashing at Amy with each one hitting what they could only think was some short of shield.

"Whatever you are doing it is working" Amy called to Rachel as she quickly helped Terri back up.

"I wish I knew what it was" Rachel called back, then suddenly the shield disappeared. 'Not good' Went through her mind.

Holly's claw struck the left arm of Amy leaving 3 scratch marks on the bark. Holly roared a little as she prepaid to leap again only for Emma to charge and knock her onto her left side. She quickly recovered onto a leaning position ready to strike from her hand and feet. Emma kept watch on her, especially the tail which was aggressively swaying back and forth from left to right. Rachel had run over and was helping get Terri and Amy away.

By now the 4 of them were worn out, breathing heavily to catch their breath and their hearts also racing. Holly however didn't seem to be suffering from the very one-sided fight. "How long will she stay like this?" Emma called out clearly not wanting this to last much longer.

"Don't know, previous times she has had to be put to sleep to pass it off" Terri called back as she hobbled away.

"Where are the staff?" Emma muttered to herself as she glanced away looking towards the door, which was her mistake, Holly roared again and charged at her. Hearing it she looked back and let out a scream as she braced to be hit. The scream was incredibly high-pitched, to a point everyone else had to cover their ears. Terri fell to her knees covering her ears which were more sensitive because of her need to hear clearly underwater. Holly stopped in her tracks of the charge crouching down on the floor covering her hears and roaring out in pain. After several seconds Emma stopped screaming having realised that she hadn't been attacked. She looked down before her as she tried to catch her breath. She saw Holly cowering there.

"Everyone all right?" A voice shouted as a 6 foot tall slightly tanned male with a white long coat, jeans and black shoes ran in. He was bald and had brown eyes. He looked across the room running up to alongside Emma. He placed his hands on her, seeing the fact they all were in shock. "Are you all right?" he repeated.

Emma snapped out of the stun she was and slowly turned to him, tho still looking like she was in shock "I think so sir" she muttered as she then stumbled back a little.

He then quickly ran over to Holly and couched down besides her, she was starting to growl again. He then reached into a pocket on the coat pulling out a small canister with a dark blue liquid in it, it had a black frame around it so you could see what was inside and at 1 end there was a silver pad. He pressed the pad to her neck and there was a feint hiss from the canister as the blue liquid disappeared from it. Once it was empty he put it back in his pocket and grabbed hold of Holly as she started to go limp. He then guided her onto the floor properly to lie on her left side. The 4 other girls slowly crept up watching. He turned to them and softly spoke "Don't worry, I just gave her something to sleep."

They then looked over at Holly's face and could see she was trying to fight the drug off, but after a few moments she was asleep. The guy then stood up and took a holo tile out from his pocket, but before he did anything he looked at the 4 and spoke to them again "I think you better go to the principal's office and tell your side of what happened, she will have my report once I have Holly here back in the medical room."

The 4 just nodded and started to wonder off out of the room to the principal's office. Having left the room Jessica stood just out of sight, she hadn't seen the fight or what happened, but gave a smile having heard them having to go to the principal's office.

The girls sat on some large oak benches on the upper level of the school opposite a large wooden door. They all sat there in silence. It had been over an hour since they went up there and school had now ended. Over that time they each had been summoned into the office. The principal was a 5 foot 7 tall human with mid neck length grey hair that made her look like was over 50 but really she was in her late 30's. She had dark brown eyes and always wore the same thin lenses glasses and black business type suit with a skirt, tho she wore low heel shoes. The office was small with yellow walls and below the clock tower. Her desk was oak with holo panels on it and she had a large leather chair to sit on with a window behind it to look outside and it was opposite the door. Everyone else would sit on a grey padded chair which there was 4 of on the other side of the desk from the side she sat on. The walls would have holo displays of awards the school has got.

For Amy she was use to being up here having been involved with a few fights in her time but for the other 3 it was their first time. When each had been summoned in they were questioned about what happened, they all told the truth apart from the strange things they did. The school doctor who was the one who had come into the dining room had also come up and checked each of them, as well as informing Amy her sister will be all right, plus her own scratch wound didn't penetrate through her bark. It had been 30 minutes since the last one of them (Amy, who had been saved to last for questioning due to her reputation for getting into trouble) had come out. In the time they sat there Holly's aunt Sophie had arrived and spent the time in the office.

Eventually the door opened and out walked Sophie. She looked at the girls as she closed the door behind her she started to walk off towards some stairs to get downstairs, but she stopped and turned to face the 4 of them and softly spoke "Terri I hope she didn't hurt you too much, I know how close you 2 are. And the rest of you, thank you for preventing anything bad happening." She then walked off.

A couple of moments later the door opened again and the principal stood there and spoke in her deep menacing voice "Inside now."

They all got up and walked in, 3 of them fearing they would be punished, Amy just kept calm, she was expecting to been given a yelling at then be off home. They all took a seat before the desk as the principal closed the door and went to sit down at her chair. She just stared at them for a few moments before activating a holo deploy that was blurred from behind so they couldn't see what she was looking at. After a few moments she spoke "I don't exactly understand how you managed to get a feral state Bacoloian to stop attacking long enough to be tranquilised without using restraints but it seemed you all were just acting in defence." She turned the image around so they could see she had been looking at security footage taken from just above the door into the dining room, only thing they saw was there was no copies of Amy there nor any sign of the shield Rachel had created.

She then resumed speaking but in a slightly softer voice "As for the matter as to how she ended up eating something she knows she shouldn't, that is known." She then re-wound the footage to the moment Jessica switched the plates on her and Holly's trays.

"She will be dealt with in the morning." The principal looked towards Amy and spoke directly to her "And I do mean dealt with miss Taylor" Amy smirked a little disappointed. "so I don't want her arriving here tomorrow with bruises from you." She then stood up before them. "Now I apologise for keeping you all here late, but I hope you can understand that the circumstances behind the fight with miss Davis needed to be reviewed, now get out of here and enjoy your night."

"Yes principle Evans" The 4 all spoke in unison as they then stood up and walked out, there bags had been placed on the bench outside the office while they were in there. They then claimed their bags and started to walk out together.

As they got outside Amy spoke "Well that went well."

"You kidding, I nearly was eaten by my best friend" Terri snapped at her, clearly upset by the whole event.

"But you weren't, you are standing here" Amy said back at her.

"Only because we did, well something strange" Emma jumped in before the 2 could continue to argue.

"Did you notice that the camera's didn't spot what we did?" Rachel spoke up shyly from behind them.

The other 3 paused, now at the entrance to the school and turned around to look at Rachel, then Terri spoke "She is right, the copies of yourself Amy and her shield didn't show up on the camera yet we all could see them plus it didn't seem to hear the scream you let out Emma.

"So what, we have powers?" Emma asked confused.

"I think we do" Terri spoke, she then went into deep thought, she then looked around to check no-one was close by and then asked them "Have any of you had anything out of the ordinary happen recently?"

There was a pause as the other 3 remained silent, then Amy spoke up "Does hearing a strange voice and having a odd dream count?"

"Wait, you too" Emma jumped in before Terri could say anything. "Because I had those and I have been hearing this faint breathing and either a growl or roar."

"Well I know me and Holly had a similar experience" Terri explained what she had Holly had talked about as they walked off and went into a part nearby, all sat down away from other people under a willow tree. She told them about the voice and the dragon with the strange symbols in their dreams. She even got out one of her holo tiles, having copied the 5 symbols from Holly onto it, she pointed out to them the ones that she and Holly felt drawn to.

"I had the same sort of dream with a black dragon and this symbol" Emma commented pointed at the curved standing up version of the wave like one.

"And me with a yellow one and this mark" Amy pointed to the circle with a dot in it. she then looked at Rachel before speaking to her. "Rachel, what about you, anything strange?"

Rachel paused a moment, she wasn't comfortable being with others, yet something about being with these 3 made her feel more settled. She sighed and pointed at the triangle with the missing corner and spoke "A pearl dragon." She then looked more at them and spoke again "There was also the voice just after she went wild, telling me to help."

"The voice?!" The other 3 jumped vocally at her, making her shy back a little before Terri softly asked her "You heard the voice clearly?"

"Only that time, last night it I couldn't make out what it said like the rest of you." She quietly said.

They spent a little more time discussing what they had experienced, and all decided to keep it quiet from everyone else, but would check with Holly when she was better to see if she had experienced anything, or knew of what happened. The sun was now starting to set they all said there byes for the day and went off in different directions to get home.

From behind a nearby tree Will stepped out watching them go off before she took the heart in her right hand keeping both under the cloak. "Water, fire, earth and air are awakened. Quintessence hasn't yet due to complications for her, but it was what allowed the others to find their secondary powers." She then paused, hearing something back in her head before she spoke again "Understood, but considering he hasn't been seen since this morning I don't think he knows who, but will remain on alert and continue to monitor them before gathering them at the weekend." She then teleported away.

Next Time: Practice