Nine years had passed since orphan Ángela María Belmonte felt safe and whole, sheltered by her first home. Six anniversaries were enough for that dream to crumble with the loss of the Montoyas, the only family she had ever known. Eleven months, and their attempted kidnapping made it clear to her that she would no longer live in her world, again. She had gone seventy days without hearing from the last family member she had left. In the confinement of the Bondel Foundation, she feared being forgotten, trapped in her nightmare that had been going on for over a thousand days.

— I'm sorry. No, they didn't make it —. She heard an exhausted paramedic say, his reflection in the mirror that was her mask. The night his family would never return.

— Oh no, no! — The news brought desperate tears to her face, crisscrossing her terrified eleven-year-old face, reflecting the great need to preserve the last piece of her home. Beside her, a stunned, pale, blond girl, her older sister, collapsed. When she wrapped her long hair around her, in a cocoon of black as heavy as that night.

— It's like... like she decided to jump into the ravine. It doesn't make sense —, the police officers holding them whispered, hidden behind their masks, while they searched for the cause of her accident. — Hey, do you think it was that little hybrid girl? — They suspected, furtively glancing toward the girl with metallic irises. Because of her malicious reaction, a nurse ran toward the little girls to get them away from the group.

— Princesses. Do you have family around here? — She tried to ask several times, but to no avail. Neither of them could utter a word, trapped in their profound sadness.

— Yeah. There's no other way —, said a young detective, throwing away his cigarette and pushing the worker away. When he saw the lights of a municipal patrol car approaching, he declared, — We have to separate them —, as he took Angela's arm. Despite being Iberian and stationed at her country's embassy, ​​Aztec law wouldn't allow a disturbed woman to walk free. It didn't matter what permit she had on her.

As she felt her little sister being pulled away, Angela's face suddenly dried up. An intense explosion of bright green erupted from her pupils, completely obscuring her gaze. A violent clamor erupted from within her, reverberating to her very foundations.

— Don't touch her! — He ordered, reliving the shock of her life as she remembered the terrible moment of her arrest. 

Ilstration Process: https://youtube.com/shorts/LCU6p9ZDnao?si=Hhxl8zKj8_IPTSFe

— Amaya? Comadrita? — She searched for her, drenched in cold sweat, only to find her own body, anchored by her fingertips, firmly glued to the ceiling of her room. On the cot assigned to her, she looked like an elegant white frog about to jump, but against gravity. — Holy Virgin! —, she exclaimed as she plummeted to the floor, losing control of her adhesive force.

— Ow, ow. I've hit myself again —, she said, tossing her morning mane of hair, rubbing her head, pieces of the ceiling stuck in the microscopic hooks of her fingers.

After three years, she was already a young lady of fourteen years. Her eyes, not just her irises, had mutated even further, reflecting the emerald gaze of a spider. As she fell, she noticed a leaf lying at her side: the letter she had so desired during her confinement. Finally, it was time to recover the Iberian license her parents had obtained for her. The measures they had taken at the Shelter, after the attack she suffered with Nazz months earlier, were already foolish. She knew she was their most important inmate, but that didn't justify her isolation. She needed to speak to her sister. The measures to keep her safe hadn't been protocol, they hadn't been fair.

— Oh. It wasn't just any old thing —. Interrupted another girl, her rival on the gymnastics team, at the end of the day's practice. — Those disgusting old men could have kidnapped you —. She warned with a disturbed look and cat ears, as she painted her neat retractable nails.

— Yes, but they couldn't. Thanks to Nazz —. Angela replied, dressed in her pink leotard.

— Again with that loser? — The white cat continued, fed up with him trying to make them accept that scum. —That firebug is even more dangerous, Angie. Luckily, he didn't burn you too.

— No! Nazz isn't dangerous —, she replied, equally annoyed. — He could have easily left me, but 'no'... What would he gain by defending me?

— Maybe she wanted a little kiss, Cap? — A second companion nudged her, a young albino woman who resembled a friendly axolotl. While taking her hand to give her a little spin, she pointed out the leader's pretty shape, not very muscular, light and slender. Accentuated above all by her disturbing emerald insect eyes, porcelain skin, and straight black hair with greenish tinges. Despite her scarlet spines on her forearms and shoulders, everyone was dying for her. — There isn't a dude in the Shelter who wouldn't want a date with you. You know it.

— Don't say that, Gummy —, Angela blushed, covering herself with her towel before putting on her yellow sweats. — Besides, why are they blocking me from contacting my own sister? Seriously, tell me, girls!.

— What for? Seriously Angela! What if the phone was tapped? And you were telling your "normaloid" sister everything. That's how they knew your schedule and how to get in. You really are a trusting person — , the kitten clarified, being supported by Gummy seconds later.

— Sorry, Capi. But this time, Katri's right. What if the guy blows up on us?

— Oh God, no! Shut up! — Katrina, the feline, interrupted her, giving her a little shove. — It's a good thing we're not all unstable freaks like that Chimera. How disgusting!

— Let's see. Can't you hear each other? — Angie stopped the argument, standing in front of the two of them. — That's why you have us here, for stupid ideas like yours —, she said, before being stopped by the clock on the dressing room wall. — Whatever! I don't have time for this.

— Don't be mad, Capi —. The axolotl tried to calm her down, throwing down his jacket before she forgot it. "You're going to do great. The Director loves you!" He said goodbye, as the door closed hastily and angrily.

With the lack of support from her team, Angela quickened her pace, annoyed. She focused on what she would say to the headmaster to expedite her release, while also thinking about how she could keep her place on the squad, even if she was out of the shelter.

— Cap, Capitain —. Another small athlete shouted, three years younger, who was clumsily chasing her meters behind, with a box in her hands, about to fall down an open drain, tried to stop her.

Process: https://youtube.com/shorts/bydhsXFnSBs?is=rSbsGAKuJL4bFfo7