Looking around my room, I realized that I wasn't alone. "Owen?" I said aloud, praying I was correct. On my desk, I saw something moving, something changing, twisting into a human-like creature. I was correct, standing in front of me now was a boy my age wearing a brown sweater, a black shirt and dark blue jeans, no shoes though, I noticed, "Y-you're awake...?" He stuttered, his face turning a hot pink, "I-I didn't expect you to notice me.." "Did you think I wouldn't notice someone else's diary on my desk?" "So.. w-why are you still awake?" Owen tried to change the subject, turning more red then pink now, "I mean I sleep when I'm tired, and I'm not tired.." I said without emotion, "You have the weirdest sleeping schedule." Owen said, his face turning a more fleshy colour, "You sound like a father-figure." I said jokingly, but Owen turned pink again, "A-anyway.." Owen said, "So.. Jex wanted.. us to meet him.." "Okay then, let's go." I said, "Wait, wait." Owen said, holding out something I hadn't noticed that he had with him, "First, you have to put this on." I took what Owen was holding, it was a dark blue high-waisted pleated skirt and a black button-down shirt. I took the clothing and left to the washroom to get changed. When I came back I noticed Owen waiting, and we left with Owen leading the way. When we arrived where Owen was taking me, I noticed that Jex and Kaidie were waiting for us, Kaidie was wearing the same outfit that I was, and Jex was wearing a black button-down shirt like mine, and dark blue pants the same colours as my skirt, Jex was carrying Kaidie, who had passed out cold. "You've arrived!" Jex said in an over dramatically joking voice, "What happened to Kaidie?" I asked, I wasn't that worried though, Jex is good at taking care of Kaidie. "I woke her up to tell her to get dressed, she did, but then she fell back to sleep, I didn't want to be a jerk and wake her up again, so I just carried her here." "Where are we going, anyway?" I asked, making Jex look more serious, "Somewhere that will except us." As Jex said the words, the atmosphere became much stiffer and more awkward, "So.. lets go.." Owen said, breaking the awkward silence, "Sure!" Jex said over enthusiastically, "Umm.. one problem.. we need to fly... I know you hate doing things like this for other people.. but..." Owen sighed heavily, "Fine. But you all owe me a favour." Owen closed his eyes and after a second of waiting, I got a strange feeling, I was changing, it hurt, but not really, it was more weird than pain. I was getting smaller and smaller, my entire body felt a prickly sensation after I stopped shrinking, like tiny needles poking through from the inside. I closed my eyes for a second, and when I opened them, it had stopped. I looked around, Owen, Jex, and Kaidie were all birds. That explained it. Owen had turned us into birds. Owen was a shapeshifter. All four of us had something weird like that about us. "W-where am I?" I heard a soft voice ask, Kaidie had woken up. Jex whispered something in her ear, "O-okay" she said softly, "I should lead the way." Jex said, flapping his feathered wings, and we all followed him. In the distance I could see what looked like the silhouettes of a castle floating in the air, 'But that's not possible, right?' Well, apparently anything's possible, right? We were flying closer and closer, I noticed what looked like a girl standing in front of the castle, she looked like she was waiting for something.. us? Maybe. When we were close enough to stand in front of the girl, I got another strange feeling. I was growing, my skin was tightening and my feathers were falling out, the ones on my head were replaced by brown hair that came to around the middle of my chest, normally I tie it up in pigtails, but I didn't feel like it when I had left my house. Now that we were closer, I could properly look at the girl. She had bright red hair tied in a high ponytail on the back of her head, she was wearing the same skirt I was wearing 'A uniform of some sort, I'm guessing?' But instead of the button-down shirt, she was wearing a black tank top, it looked like just an undershirt, but I'm not one to judge, she wasn't wearing any socks or shoes, just bare feet, her skin was tan, but she had a few burns that looked very serious, one was on her left cheek (right cheek if you're looking at her, left cheek if you are her) then I noticed her eyes. They were the most lively eyes I've ever seen. Gold. Her eyes were gold in colour, but they felt like red would be much more fitting, even if it wasn't actually possible. "Hi." She said, "I'm Cassidy Williams. I'm supposed to show you around and crap." She started walking and we quickly followed after her, she walked very fast, as if she was late for something important. She pushed open the giant wooden doors, revealing a long sparkling hallway with doors on either side all the way down. "The doors all have signs so I'm not sure why I'm supposed to still be awake. The sun's probably going to rise soon." Cassidy said with a bored tone, "You're supposed to get these, anyway.. so here" she took out 4 folded up maps and handed one to each of us, "I'll bring you to the principal's office and then I'll go to bed, come on, lets go." Cassidy walked towards the first door on our right, and opened it, inside, there was a woman sitting in a wheelchair behind a big desk, she had long flowing seafoam green hair, her bangs were sky blue though, from what we could see of her, she was wearing a black choker with a seashell, and a top that showed of her stomach that was the same colour as her bangs and it looked like it was made of seashells. "Hello, Jex, Kaidie, Sara, and Owen." The woman said, "I am Professor Lily Waterfall, the principal." "Jex didn't tell you this was a school, did he?" The principal said with a dull expression, making Jex laugh nervously. Then came an awkward silence for a few seconds, I looked around the room and noticed Cassidy's face, she looked miserable. Like she'd been being lectured by her parents for the past five hours about something extremely boring. She was leaning against the wall with her arms crossed. I hadn't noticed the walls when we had first walked in, but now that I was looking, I noticed that one of the walls had a giant aquarium, inside were a few sea plants and pieces of colourful coral, they looked like things you could probably only get at the bottom of the ocean, there were 10 beautiful fish, a white one, a black one, a red one, an orange one, a yellow one, a green one, a blue one, a purple one, a pink one, and a rainbow one that seemed to glisten in the light. Another wall had fancy framed pictures of fish, the next wall didn't have anything on it, it was blank. “Fish?” I thought I had said it in my head, but accidentally said it out loud, “Well yes, they are my friends.” I was confused, Principal Waterfall probably noticed my expression because she rolled her wheelchair out from under the desk, revealing a shimmering blue fish tail, “You’re a mermaid..” Kaidie said quietly from the corner, “Correct.” Principal Waterfall said, this school is for people who are... different.” The word shot a chill down my spine. “A person with telekinetic and telepathic powers is not considered ‘normal’ by human standards.” Principal Waterfall said, “Neither is a shapeshifter, a person who talks to and understands animals, or a person who turns invisible and sees ghosts.” We were all surprised that she knew why we were different, except for Jex, he must have told her when he got us registered. “You should probably get to bed.” Principal Waterfall said, realizing what time it was, “Cassidy is your roommate, so she will show you to your room.” Cassidy was still leaning against the wall, but her head was facing the other way, “Is she asleep?” I asked quietly, and a little bit of water from the fish tank splashed Cassidy, her head turned, facing Principal Waterfall, and she called her a rude word. We left the office with Cassidy leading the way. We walked all the way to the end of the hallway, which seemed to take forever, but there was a door at the end of the hallway, there was an unlabelled frosted glass door with a blue frame and handle. Cassidy opened the door, holding it open as we all walked through, and closing it behind herself. Behind the door was a room made completely out of marble. The room was pretty small and completely empty, except for four buttons to the right of the door. Cassidy pressed one of the buttons, and the room gave a slight jolt, and Cassidy opened the door, we were faced by another hallway, Cassidy lead us to a room labeled 274, “This is our room.” Cassidy said.