It had started out so innocent. We'd all planned to go to a house party, hosted by none other than Leonidas Zafeiriou. He was the son of a guy running for mayor, but you wouldn't know that from how friendly he always was.

Honestly, I can't help but pity him. He must be blaming himself for what happened to us.

There was fruit punch, pizza and even a DJ. Everything you could ever want from a house party! Unfortunately, some of the guests had brought some rather…unsavory individuals over.

Within the first hour, at least a fifth of the guests were drunk, even though the host wasn't serving alcohol. And that's when everything went to shit.

Before long, a brawl broke out, and Leo couldn't stop it. Poor guy was running around trying to calm the chaos, and he got his nose broken in the process. I'm pretty sure something valuable was smashed. Oh, and did I mention the sex maniacs on every flat surface you could find?

Paige and I tried to sneak out the back door, but then a weird smell filled the air. I would describe it as a mix between Clorox and…

Ah, fuck. There goes my brain fog again. Anyway, what you need to know is what happened when sunrise came.

When we woke up, we realized that some of us weren't in Leo's house. Instead, we were in a rundown warehouse, and the doors and windows were locked.

All of us had changed in appearance. One of the kids, Lazarus Carver, had blue skin and butterfly wings. Yes, you read that right. Paige's head was paper white, but the rest of her skin was black and dripping ink, and she had rainbow hair.

But that wasn't even the craziest part. Some guy whose name escapes me lifted his hand, and a paper clip flew into his palm.

A whole bunch of the others were obviously freaking the hell out by this point. Can't say I blame them. Looking in a mirror Lazarus was passing around to everyone, I realized I had blue skin and a circular red nose with two strange…stick-like things protruding from it. Now that I think about it, they look like the hands of a clock…

My hair was mostly black, but there were four yellow streaks on the back and sides of my hair and in the center of my bangs. I also had red eyes.

Paper Clip Boy was making a lockpick of some kind, and another kid (I think their name was…Blaise? Bentley? Blythe? I'm pretty sure their name starts with B…) was adding small fragments of vine to it.

The worst part of all came when a bunch of vans showed up and armed guards started forcing us into them. Once we were inside, they snapped collars on our necks. Paper Clip Boy tried to bend the metal doors, but it didn't work. It just caused a guard to knock him out.

I have no idea where these lunatics could be taking us, but I have a feeling things will just go downhill from here. Let's just hope I'll still have my sanity by the time this is all over.


"What the FUCK is going on?!"

Max had never been the fondest of cramped spaces, and the collar around his neck certainly wasn't helping with that.

"I, uh, think we're being kidnapped! Probably by a bunch of government stooges looking to cut us up," remarked an unfamiliar voice.

"Saying that's just gonna make people panic more, Wally!"

"Well, it's probably true, Bea! Especially since some of us now have tails and new eyes and wings and stuff! And Malachi even summoned a paper clip earlier!"

"New eyes? Tails?! When did that happen?!" Max interjected.

"I think I might have a new eye on my forehead! Feels weird," said a voice Max recognized as Tucker Barrell. He could just barely make out Tucker's sister Peri clinging to his arm.

"And I have this tail that looks like a cable," added a boy with white hair and skin.

"I stand corrected," Max said with a shrug.

A guard suddenly announced, "Listen up, kids. You are going to a secret lab, and we will conduct research on your powers."

"And by research, they of course mean cutting us up," whispered a teenager with blue hair and skin, as well as yellow eyes.

"Don't worry, Teigan. I'm sure they wouldn't be that cruel," replied Teigan's twin, who had yellow skin, orange hair and blue eyes.

"We still need to be cautious of them, Carmen," Teigan warned.

Suddenly, the door swung open and guards marched inside.

With guns pointed at their backs, the confused teenagers reluctantly went inside the facility.

Little did they know, that was just the beginning of the hell their lives would become.