Chapter Two

Location: Chicago, Illinois, United States

The flight from New Jersey to Illinois was felt to be much shorter than it already actually was, especially for the Khan family: Husband and father Yusuf Khan, wife and mother Muneeba Khan, their young daughter Kamala Kahn, her older brother Aamir Khan, his own wife Tyesha Hillman-Khan, and their very baby son together Malik Khan. Kamala herself looked through the aeroplane window next to her, managing to glimpse many buildings and skyscrapers, warmly smiling and knowing that they should should be close to the destination.

To Kamala, this little vacation was the best idea ever. Her family decided they all should go visit her cousin Razia here in the Big Windy City, mostly because they say she's a "good influence" for someone like Kamala, a brilliant up-and-coming physicist who joined L.A.M.P., the League of American Muslim Professionals. She also happened to be chill, a cool dresser, and a fan of cake for breakfast, the kind of influence Kamala would believe in.

Once the aeroplane had finally landed and arrived at the airport, the family exited together, collected their bags, and carried on their way. Even with such a crowd of people all about and going in any direction, this family still walked closely together with a strong bond. Kamala especially looked around, scanning to see if her cousin was anywhere and waiting for them. Eventually, as she kept close to her parents, brother, sister-in-law, and nephew, Kamala soon caught another face familiar enough to her.

Just up ahead and standing out amongst the scattering people was another dark-skinned woman, clearly older than Kamala by a few years, with short black hair, soft-brown eyes, and an equally soft smile with a beauty spot just close to the upper left of her lips, wearing glasses as well as a short-sleeved shirt, flowery bowtie, and diamond earrings of matching match, along with tight dark-cyan trousers, greyish-blue belt, and brown lace shoes.

"Razia", Kamala immediately recognised, her face lit up as she ran over to bear-hug the other girl. "We're so happy to see you".

"I'm so glad to you lot again face to face", Razia greeted in return as she hugged Kamala back. "Hello, Aamir", she spotted her other cousin and waved at him before relieving Kamala of hugging duty.

"Hello, cuz", Aamir smiled and gave a quick cuddle to Razia before he then introduced his own wife and son to Razia, and vice versa. "Razia, this is my wife, Tyesha, and our son, Malik".

"Hi there", Tyesha waved back while still holding the single stroller with her toddler son laying back in it. "This is Malik, our little son".

"My cousin once removed", Razia observed the baby before her attention was then taken by the elders of the family. "Hello, Uncle and Aunty", she waved at Yusuf and Muneeba

"Our proud niece", Yusuf shook Razia's hand and patted her shoulder before he then noticed someone else standing close behind her. "Who's this?"

Standing close to Razia was a slightly taller woman with fairer skin, long platinum-blonde hair, and sky-blue eyes, wearing a loose black t-shirt with long baggy sleeves, sea-green slip-on shoes, and a light-red skirt that ended just above her knees. She gave a welcoming smile and wave to the Khan family as she observed this little reunion.

"Oh, uh..." Razia looked back to see the other woman from behind walking up to her and taking her hand. "Everyone, this is Enola Reven", she properly introduced the other woman to her family. "She had already moved here from Indianapolis about a year ago when we first met at university, and she's..." Razia tried to finished her sentence, yet hesitated, unsure of what her aunt and uncle would think or say of this. "Well..."

"Go on, you can tell them", Enola said quietly and closely to Razia.

"Tell us what?" Muneeba questioned, crossing her arms with curiosity and suspicion.

"Well, you see..." Razia tried to explain non-explicitly. "She happens to be in the classes as I, and as we studied and researched together, we started to grow a deep bond with each other, not only mentally and emotionally, but also physically as well".

Several seconds of awkward silence between this family immediately followed, even amongst the ambience all around, the murmuring of people and clomping of their shoes, all minding their own businesses.

"We're girlfriends", Enola flat-out confessed.

"Oh..." Kamala figured out before deciding to give her cousin a teasing smile and look in her eyes. "Girlfriends or 'girl friends'?"

"It's what you may think it is", Razia rolled her eyes.

"That's okay, it's cool", Kamala put up her hands and stepped back before looking back at her parents. "Right, mum and dad?"

Yusuf and Muneeba looked at each other for a bit with confusion before Yusuf himself decided to give a shrug at it. "We suppose so. We can always welcome one to the family".

Families can only be strong as long as they allow so, loving, accepting and supporting one another no matter what. But not everyone has a loving family, or even any family for that matter...

Flashback

Location: Newark Avenue, Jersey City, New Jersey, United States

One late night in the city, the streets, usually beaming with all sorts of life during the day, were now almost utterly barren aside from the occasional stray cat or bird. Some of the shops still remained open and glowing bright, even at this late. One lone figure walked along the pavement, pouting and huffing every now and then. She was a young woman of late teens with long strawberry-blonde hair and hazel eyes, wearing a black top within a lime-green jacket, silver earrings, black fingerless gloves, a headband and skin-tight jeans of matching dark-purple, and converse-style shoes.

"Got any change on ya, love?" A shivering wrinkly man in a thick decrepit coat sat closely to a boarded up shop and begged.

"Sod off, ya tramp", the woman flipped off and carried on.

After a minute, things seemed all too quiet, too quiet for someone like a taste for anarchy like her. However, just far up ahead, the woman could see something closing in from a far distance that made her stop in her tracks, a dense foggy cloud of dark-sickly-green, illuminated by some of the city lights. The misty cloud were low enough to envelop the streets all around as it soon approached the woman as well, who only looked on with eyes wide with shock, one brow cocked with curiosity, and mouth slightly gaped open.

"The hell is that?" The woman questioned quietly.

With that question left unanswered, vocally and verbally at least, the mist soon reached up to the woman, surrounding her where she stood. She quickly looked to see everything getting obscured out of close sight in the density of the fog. While her breath shortened out of being unnerved, the woman inadvertently inhaled some of this wispy smoke, and as soon as it entered her, something within would be activated, a gene that even she would absolutely be unaware of. Her insides churned and her body convulsed and jerked inward, making her gasp, squeeze her eyes shut, grind her teeth, and clutch to her sides.

"Wh-What is this?!" She grunted. "The fu-"

The woman opened her eyes to look down at herself and she could see, much to her wide-eyed horror, something emerging from deep in her abdomen. Green oozing tendrils emerging from under her T-shirt, coiling down over her trembling legs and trousers, wrapping around her shoes and feet, and then crawling up her torso. It wrapped around her navel, her T-shirt, her jacket, and even her long hair as well. She struggled to break from this sudden mutation, even it reached up her neck and coiled around her arms and hands as well. All the while, her eyes darted all around and her wide open jaws could only let out a few weak rasps and wheezes before the cocoon eventually closed in on her face as well.

Before long, the process had done, the seal had enclosed, and the woman was completely concealed inside the chrysalis, left to float and levitate within the inner fluid. The cocoon itself was stuck up straight and planted deep upon the pavement. Her consciousness fleeted, as did all her senses, and any thought, memory, or dream she may've had were blacked out. With unconscious instinct, her arched spread-out body soon curled inward into a foetal position. Her flowing hair began to glow.

To be continued...