Disclaimer:
~The Center universe and any original characters from it that appear here belong to Lilith Langtree.
~Characters or lines taken or paraphrased from published works are their creators’ property.
~Any characters I create for The Center universe are open for use by anyone else, just ask first.

Author's Note: Big thanks to Drakira, who's story I have been editing and fallen in love with since the moment I read it and got me to read the center. Also, read his story it is great; The Center: Taking Wing. If anyone would like to help me edit and not be a complete jerk about it, please contact me.
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Michelle sat on the swing in her backyard and let her feet drag in the sand, she wasn't short, and she was oddly tall for only being sixteen, so her feet would be dragged nicely in the sand. The stars were out and she could see them shining brightly and a dark blanket of night lying over her and around the poor stars. Michelle was happy the sun was gone; she is a night person and had always been, since she was a child her father tells her a lot. Her father told her she never slept through the night and was asleep all day. She remembered when her dad had installed the swing set she was sitting on. James and Michelle had been sitting in the house at the backdoor since they had woken up that morning; it was like Christmas to them, just on a hot September day instead. She shook her head so that she left the memory from her head quickly. She hated thinking of the past but it always seemed unavoidable and sucks her into the memories like an over powered vacuum. She wondered what she could do to change that.

She looked up from her feet, she had started looked at them after she had been looking at the stars for a few seconds, but the memory had forced her head to be pointing to her feet. She looked at her black and blue sneakers and wondered why she picked more boy colors and styles then girl things. She looked up and saw James and her father sitting in the living room and playing Zelda the old NES version on the family television. She sighed, her father was just a big kid like them most of the time, but oddly responsible. He at least pretended to be that way. She still worries about her father most of the time. He was sad a lot of the time, but he could hide it very well from everyone. She had been told the story a few times and she was very glad that she did not have to hear it much anymore.

Her father and mother had been high school sweet hearts and from what everyone told her, they were soul mates. They got married right out of high school and went to University on the East Coast together, her father has been pushing her into one of these very nice school since she was in middle school. Her mother had been beautiful, and thankfully her father had shown her almost billions of pictures and so had her grandparents; she spent a good part of her childhood at her mother's parent’s house. Her dad was not a fan of being a father for a few years after she was born.
Her mother gave birth to her a little over a year after her parent’s had gotten married. There was a picture of them that her father had taken and it always made her cry and she had tried before to get rid of it, but her father had always caught her, then get very mad at her for weeks. He wanted a picture with his daughter and wife. He loved looking at it and was happy to have this picture. She blamed herself for what happened to her mother after this picture was taken; she blamed herself for her mother’s death. They had been told that everything was normal when she was pregnant and during the birth, but once she had given birth something went horribly wrong. The nurses had given her to her mother before the problems happened, she was quickly passed on to family and that was the last time anyone in the family saw her mother alive.

She stopped the swing and it made her stop thinking of her mother. This made her as happy as when she had first sense the picture of her mother and her, she was glad it was easy to pop herself out of that memories or she would have ended up crying. She saw James pointing at the screen and she saw his mouth make the word ‘watch-out’. She giggled, put those two and even herself in a game of Zelda or TF2 and they would be lost to the world and almost anyone in it, There could be a full out war starting and as long as it did not mess up the game, they were fine. She loved her little brother James, even when he was being a brat and the most annoying little brother. He is only a one week younger than her, her parent’s had meet James’ mother during their freshmen orientation. Matt and Anna (her parents) had become fast friends with Ashlyn (James’ mother). When Anna had died, Ashlyn had done most of the planning for Matt and three days later they were married and a week later James came into the picture. Ashlyn, had died during child birth too, James and Michelle shared that if nothing else, but she was perfectly fine sharing her father with James.
James has brown hair like his mother and bright blue eyes, Michelle looks like a spitting image of her father, blonde hair and boring green eyes. James did not know who his real father was and Matt was never planning to tell him the truth and made Michelle promise to never tell him when her father had told her the story. The two mothers’ had spent almost every moment together when they were pregnant, they were rarely apart. The story Matt had told Michelle when she asked was that Ashlyn was planning to give James up after Anna had died; she had thought she wanted a baby and then changed her mind because she knew she could never be happy or be able to care for the baby, when her best friend could not care for her own child. Matt voted to marry her and wanted to keep the child as his own and they would divorce so she could pretend like nothing happened and could go and do the other things she had planned.

Michelle smiled, those two got along better then a normal father and son pair and she enjoyed seeing this and having a baby brother. She was honestly glad her father never plans to tell James the story of his birth. She heard the back door open when she had been watching the television and not them anymore and noticed James poking his head out and looking for her, till he spotted her on the swing set.

“Sissy, if you sit on that much more you may just end up breaking it now.” He said the joke and then smiled a nice but evil grin at her.

“Sometimes, I wish dad dropped you on your head more.” Michelle replied with a big smile and they both knew she is only joking. She could hear James chuckling at that but he made sure to hide the smile from her.

“Dad said it is time to come in and get ready for bed.” He told her as he yawned.

She looked down at her watch and saw it was almost midnight. To her this was the perfect time of the day. She rose up from the swing she was sitting on and went over to him and lightly pushed him into the house.

As she did so she whispered to him, “Next time, do not let him see the yawn.”“What stars are out tonight my big girl?” Her dad asked as she noticed he was turning off the NES and Television and he seemed to want it to go faster than it was able to.

“Cancer and a few others that are my favorite are out tonight.” She replied as she hugged her father.

“Okay, off to bed. The two of you have an early day tomorrow.” As he started talking, both of the kids stood by him and let him kiss their foreheads and then nicely pushed them off in the direction of their bed rooms.

They both walked down the hall together, lightly pushing at each other and joking around, Michelle got to her room and James got to his at the same time, his is right across from hers. Both stepped into their thresholds and made a funny face at each other and then closed the doors. James changed into his red 49ers pajama pants and jumped into the bathroom, hoping to get there before his sister got into the bathroom. He always swears that girls took forever to do simple grooming habits. After brushing his teeth he ran back into his room and literally jumped onto his bed and as he was mid-air he clapped, and the lights went out and his room went completely dark. He got under the covers and fell quickly asleep.

Michelle tried to walk across her bedroom, it was always harder then she remembered because of the fact that all her possessions seem to be on the ground. She also never was able to keep the possessions all picked up and put away. She got to her dresser after sometime trying to not step on anything or hurt herself and pulled out her black 49er pajama pants and a green shirt with tons of Tinker Bell’s on it. She brushed the tangles out of her waist length hair and pulled it into a lose pig tail braids, before she headed to brush her teeth and wash her face. When she was finished she went back to her room and turning off the lights before heading off to her bed. Almost every night she wondered why she had decided to not have the clappers in her room. As she got to bed and settled into her comfortable bed and blankets, she had a feeling something was going to happen, but she wasn’t sure what it could be.

*~*~*~*~*~*

Michelle woke up first, like every day before that, the only time she seems to ever be able to sleep in is on the weekend and even then she is not able to. She lightly knocked on her brother’s room and then opened the door, because she knew that just knocking he would not get up and if he did not get up soon they would be late.

“Hey, wake up sleepy head.” She said and watched as he started to get up and slowly get out of bed and nodded to her.

She went to the bathroom and got ready quickly, and as soon as she existed, he entered. She realized that he had chilled in bed till he knew she would be out of the bathroom. She went into the kitchen and made some egg sandwiches for the family’s breakfast. She has never been a fan of cooking, but in the morning she is the only one that is even near being awake enough to do it, also she knew that since her and James work out in the morning they need to have a good breakfast. She started to feel sick and assumed it was from being tired and getting only like two hours of sleep before school. She looked and saw her dad and brother coming into the kitchen and knew she had finished just in time and was thankful everyone was on the same track. Her dad came up to her and kissed her forehead and took a sandwich and started eating it quickly.

“Do you guys have everything ready to go?” He asked the two kids nicely as he had a mouth full of food.

“Yes sir. I also made us all lunches last night. They are in the fridge and ready to go when we are.” She told the two males in her life nicely.

“Let’s go kids.” He told them as he got his lunch out and his brief case also from the fridge.

Michelle sighed; her dad must have been up working late again. She figured he must have gotten a midnight snack, when he was working and stuck his brief case in the fridge without even thinking about it. He had done this many times before and she knew years from now he will keep doing it. This made her wondered what her family would do if she was ever gone. She shook her head and moved the frying pan into the sink and started to let it soak. She knew that she would never be able to leave them. She would do anything to provide for her family, even stay here for college and never get married to stay close to them. Michelle picked up her swimming gear and James picked up his cross country gear and they picked up their lunches, backpack and headed out of the house and into the family car.

Michelle and James got out of the car as they arrived at their high school and waved good-bye to their dad as he pulled away to go to work. “What is the bet this time?” James spoke as he picked up his gym bag he had sat on the ground to grab his backpack when he was getting out of the car.

“I vote a twenty.” Michelle said as she started to slowly walk to the mini-gym and the girl’s locker room.

“Do you really think he would get lost again? I mean we have a camping trip this weekend and he knows how important it is to us, this is birthday weekend.”

“James, he had a late night. He will be late and we will also be lucky if he comes home from the office today. It is more likely than not that he will fall asleep when working late.” She smiled sadly at him.

“Why does he get this way around your birthday?” He asked her for about the millionth time.

She sighed, they always had this talk and she hated it every single dang year. She hated how she was reminded every year that she was the one to kill her mother. She hated celebrating a birthday that lost a life. She had been trying to take her mom’s spot for years and she knew she would never be able to or ever been any good at it. She was happy to see the door to the girl’s locker room, she waved good-bye to him and entered, hoping her brother would drop the question and pretend it never happened and maybe he would let it pass this year.

James knew he had gone too far when she stopped talking. Her mother death has always been a very a touchy subject with his sister. He wanted her to talk about it, but she always refused going to see a doctor or just talk to someone about how she feels. He knew it had done him worlds of good to just have a few times of being able to talk to someone that just sat down and listened and who would then make him think about the things he had said. She normally seems happy but he noticed when she is able to think that she quickly becomes depressed and upset. He wondered if she only pretends to be happy or if she has just gotten that good at faking it.

She needed to stop covering up her problems and just finally get mad or angry. He knew people would understand, everyone knew she needed to let it out, but instead she pretends to be perfect and he notices how much it really hurts her to not seem that way. He went off and into the bigger gym and the boy’s locker room, which was connected to it. He exited a bit later and he was in his black and maroon sweatpants, also black and maroon sweatshirt, and running shoes. He saw her in her maroon and black swimsuit and her diving in, he laughed and could not help but think she looks like a frog jumping from a lily pad and more like sliding on the surface so she could quickly get to the over side. He also laughed as he wondered why there school had chosen maroon, silver, and black. He kicked a rock and started to take off to the track field and knew this would be a good warm-up for the day.

*~*~*~*~*~*

Michelle sat on one of the diving boards. She was not a fan of having afternoon practice and morning practices but she loved swimming so she was perfectly fine with it. She was not been in a good mood all day, even her teachers where giving her a hard time today. It seemed they were not happy with how she was falling asleep in class today, she could not explain it but she felt sick and very tired today. She thought it might had been from not having slept pretty much the whole night and having worked out more than normal because she wanted to forget the question her brother had asked.

She had a done all this before and had never been this tired, she had a feeling there was another problem, but she could not figure it out. Being in an upset mood did always improve her swimming and for that she was thankful and she glad she tended to forget about the stress when she was in the water. She hung her head down and she could feel a shadow come over her and knew someone was standing close to her, she did not have to look up to guess who it was. She looked up and saw a girl she had known since first grade and who for some reason hated her.
“What do you want Anna?” She asked, trying to make it clear she was waiting to be dismissed since she had finished the work out for the day and she did not want to be around Anna unless she really had to.

“Really think we would go a whole week without chatting? Plus I owe you a birthday gift.” Anna told her moving closer to her so she could be in a position to push her into the water.
Michelle took herself off the diving board. “Anna, I’m really not in the mood and do not want to deal with you or your stupid treats today. Can you just stay the hell away from me?” She told her with a bit of venom coming from her voice.

Anna smirked and a few seconds later before Michelle could realize what was happening, Anna had her hand in connection to Michelle’s face and she then pushed her into the water. Michelle figure it was so it looked like an accident, Anna is a bully but not always a dumb bully. Her coach ran over at hearing someone jumping in, when most people were finished or doing labs and he saw her injured and quickly fished her out.

“What happened?” He asked her as he pulled her out and saw her nose was bleeding and her eye was turning black and blue, and he had told someone to get the first-aid kit.

“I fell.” This was all she could get out before she lost her lunch all over him.

He looked at here and knew she was lying, Anna and Michelle had always been at ends and fighting since they were in the first grade together. Anna was the problem here, but Anna is very good at hiding things and Michelle never wanted to rat her out, but she had gotten lucky and gotten pay back on Anna a few times. He just wished she would stop taking the abuse and fight back or just let people take care of this for her.

*~*~*~*~*~*

“Mishy, what happened to your nose and eye?” James asked as he saw his sister and they started to walk home.

“Nothing, just hit a wall when I was diving.” She told him sweetly and they both knew she was lying but they always played this small game.

“Do not lie to me sissy.” He turned to walk backwards and now a few feet ahead of her and looking at her, so she would be unable to lie.

“Okay. Anna hit me again. She got a good swing in too.” She looked sad at him.

“Do, I need to kick her butt for you?” He asked sweetly and they both knew the answer to that.

“No, her brother has already threatened to kill you if you mess with her. Let’s not have us both hurt.” She told him as she lightly pushed him and he turned to walk next to her.

“Keep your gym shorts up to your nose to stop the bleeding.” He told her as he lightly pushed her back.

“Yes mother doctor.” She said sarcastically and giggled as she lightly pushed him back.

“So, should we start planning the pay back that you will do?” He asked her winked, hoping she would be at the point to get her back again.

“Sounds like a good idea.” She answered and they started to come up with a plan to get her back, they would do this whenever Michelle would have enough and smart up and give pay-back.

They arrived at their home after a nice long walk from school, they spent both of the walk joking around and both put their bags down in their rooms and started to pack for the family’s planned camping trip for the weekend. They got their bags packed and everything else the family would need packed and hoped their dad would come home soon to start the weekend early.

“Hey are you hungry sissy?” James asked from the kitchen and looked at her in the next room sitting on the cough, flipping through the channels .

“Sure, what you have in mind little bro?” She asked him.

“How about pizza with chocolate syrup?” He asked her and winked, that had been one of their favorite things since they food it in an old cook book that Anna had and her father had given her.

“Yummy, let’s do it.” She jumped up and over the back of the couch and oddly got a bit caught off guard and partly fell off but then righted herself and took a few big steps to get there quickly.
She laughed at how clumsy she seems to be in her own skin.

As soon as they started the homemade pizza; it quickly turned into a fun mess that they made together and they just kept joking and messing around. They both had dough all over their faces and covering their hands and chocolate syrup was already half gone from them squirting it into their mouths and all over the counters. They noticed the pizza did not nearly have as much as they would expect. They were on the floor joking and laughing as the pizza was finally cooking. Michelle got up and started to clean and kept joking with her brother, who was happy to clean himself off and go and sit on the couch that she had given up. Right as she finished cleaning up, she heard a knock to the door. Michelle told James to keep cooking or at least keep an eye on the pizza as she checked the door and she went to answer it, thinking her father had forgotten his key. She answered the door and a young woman standing at the door and she noticed that this girl looked nothing like anyone she knew in her life.

“Hello. What can I do to help you?” Michelle asked nicely.

“Nothing, but you can talk to us. Are you Michelle Swan?” The women asked her.

“Yes. What do you need?” Michelle asked as she nodded and she clearly showed confusion on her face and she was quickly becoming annoyed.

“We need you to come with us and talk.” The women told her and seemed to speak kindly and nicely. Michelle noticed she looks very pretty and wondered why she would not know who she was if they had meet before.

“Who are you?” Michelle asked quietly, so as not to freak her brother out, but she was a bit worried how this woman knew her name.

“Kristyn Keys.” She spoke to her.

“I do not know a Kristyn and you do not look familiar. Could you please leave? My brother and I need to leave for a camping trip soon.”

“We have something we need to discuss that is very important and could be a danger to you and your family, so may we talk with you?” Kristyn asked her, trying to seem nice, but clearly showing it was important and they needed to talk.

Michelle knew she was not joking at this moment, she figured if something was going to happen and she could feel something was. Also if this woman and her friends could help then she should not turn them down and would do anything to protect the people she loves. That she finally agreed and gave her an answer.

“Come on in, but only you. Can your friends stay out please?” She said and as she got a nod from the girl named Kristyn, she moved out of the way and let Kristyn step in to the house.

Michelle closed the door and led Kristyn to the couch and figured she would let her say what she wanted as soon as she got her brother out of the room. She had a feeling her brother should not hear whatever it is this women wanted to tell her.

“James, you should go clean your room. Dad will be upset if we leave and they are still very messy as the always tend to be.” Michelle told her little brother. Hoping he will leave so she could find out what this woman wanted, she was oddly curious now and wanted her also gone quickly.

James sighed and Michelle knew he wanted to say something about her room but he choose to finally do what she said and he left to go to his room. He slammed the door a bit harder then he should have and played his music a bit louder than needed to and normally Michelle would have gone and talked to him about what she had asked him to do and to not act like a brat with people around, but she would also normally go and clean her room. She had a feeling that this woman had something important to tell her and hoped it could be solved quickly and without her family knowing what she was doing.

“Please talk now, you made me wonder what you needed to tell me. Also, sorry for seeming rude, I just have never met you before and was worried about how you knew who I was.” Michelle asked and told Kristyn nicely.

She realized she really wanted to hurry this along to, she knew better then to think her brother will stay in his room for too long and she knew the quicker they spoke the less likely he would be able hear anything they talked about and she noticed Kristyn must have caught on because she started speaking as she spoke.

“Around Sixteen years ago there was a terrible incident that happened at a genetics lab. This happened to result in the nearby water bottling company to have the water source it uses for its bottled water to become contaminated and it was not noticed for a quite a while, and it took some time for them to recall all the water and to also clean up the mess. A very good amount of pregnant mother’s in the United States had drunk this bottled water that they had thought was safe, but turns out it was not as safe as they knew.” She said this and stopped, letting Michelle soak this all in before she went on.

Michelle could not help but think that this woman sitting in front of her was crazy and she wondered why she would be telling her this information that did not seem important. She did not think that drinking this water they Kristyn was talking about would in any way affect someone and if it did not affect her then why would this women be telling her about this. She figured quickly that this somehow had to do this her or her brother. As if Kristyn knew what she was thinking she started to speak again.

“From the information we have gathered, your mother had drunk from this bottled water company’s supply throughout all of her pregnancy. Due to her doing this, the result is that you are now intersexed.” Kristyn told her, hoping she will react okay and not freak out like she noticed a good amount of people have done, she never did like giving this news to people.

Kristyn also thought it was odd that Michelle was not showing any of her powers yet and wondered why it was, since she should not have almost any control over it, but she wondered if it was due to the type of power she had. Michelle did not know what to do or to ask or for the first time in a very long time, she had no idea what to even think at this point. The first thought she did think was how did this happen, how could drinking water during a pregnancy have in turn have any effect on her. She wondered if it meant her mom was sick and that it may not be her fault that she had died.

“Intersexed?” She finally was able to get her mouth working so she could ask. She thought she knew what she had been told but she was not as sure about this.

“Intersexed, meaning you have both male and female reproductive organs. Another part of the story is that, I was once a male and now a woman but also like me you will change, but you will become a man.” Kristyn told Michelle, hoping she would be okay with finding out this odd part of the information.

Michelle stood up as Kristyn finished speaking.

“What?! I will become a what?” She asked and was a bit scared about what she was being told to her.

“That is not as bad as it sounds, just take a deep breath and you will see that you are okay and you will be just fine. There is another thing to this that I have not told you and it is a very important part. All of us, whose mother drank this water supply, also have special powers. Mine is Electrokinetic and the girl who is a Telepath has made it clear you are a Bestialkinetic.” She told her.

Michelle had been taking Latin since she was in the seventh grade, so she knew what Kristyn had said but still questioned her, “What? This is not at all possible.”

Kristyn realized this was getting hard then she had thought it would and she could see that she needed to prove it somehow to Michelle and maybe the girl would stop acting the way she was. Kristyn stood and placed her fingertips together and she pulled them away and Michelle could see a mini-lightning bolt arching between her fingers that she had placed together and had pulled apart.

Michelle just looked at her fingertips with shock; her eyes got big and looked almost ready to pop out of her head. Michelle couldn’t think about how she was doing it, her logical way of thinking wanted to find a way to show it was just a trick.

“You better now?” Kristyn asked nicely and sat down where she had been sitting and Michelle also sat down as she was asked this question. She just nodded at her and hoped that this was all a joke or some kind of very odd dream and she was napping off the pain from being hit today and this dream turned to confused her even more then it had already.

“As far as we have been able to determine, you will have some kind of connection with animals on a mental level and maybe physical, but we not too sure. We think it just means that you are able to speak and somehow get animals on your side and bale to help you. We are only guessing, but honestly we have no details or idea on your power, so you will be able to surprise us. Since your power is a kinetic it will in some way be like the other kinetics.” Kristyn smiled and hoped that would comfort her some, knowing that she will be able to surprise people and no one would pressure about what she can and cannot do, she had a clean slate to draw on for herself.

“This cannot be right. I rarely go by animals and they seem to really hate me. They never want me to pet them or come near them. I should have had some sign before now, which I still never had any form of sign and animals still hate me.” She asked, thinking this girl had gotten something wrong and she must have meant to speak to someone else, or if any of this was even at all true and not some giant joke.

“Is this all you wanted or is there more?” Michelle asked, after the last thing she spoke and right after she put one of her mask on that she had learn to make perfect so she could hide the pain all over her face and in her eyes.

“We would like you to come with us so that you will be able to undergo your change in a very safe environment. We really do not want you hurting yourself or others and have no idea what will happen while you change or how your power will show when you change. It will also give you a safe place to grow as a person and in your powers. There are other people just like you there and you will not be looked at any different we promise you. I cannot say things are perfect, but you will be happy. We all tend to get along quite well for high school aged young people.” Kristyn told her, hoping she would listen and want to protect her family enough to come with them and not be any problem.

“Okay, I will come with you guys, but please let me get some stuff and come back out. I also cannot worry my little brother, so I need to tell him I’m going out for a bit.” She told her and smiled sweetly at her as she got up; hoping that Kristyn and the few people with her would leave without her.

James could smell the chesses melting and the dough raising and knew his sister could cook like crazy and he could not wait till he got to eat the pizza. ‘Why would she want me out of the room to talk? Maybe she is trying to set me up with that pretty girl.’ He asked himself and then answered his own question; he realized he should not worry about her too much. He knew she will sooner or later tell him. He wondered why she asked him to clean his room, it was no were near the mess her is very single day.

Michelle looked around for a few of her favorite items in her room that she would keep on her and switched things in and out of her camping bag. She figured she could hide out for a few days so that the people who had come to get her would leave her and her family alone. She opened her attic door that was in a corner of her room. She got on her bed that was a few feet from the attic door on the ceiling and jumped on her bed and climbed into the attic, quickly and quietly closing the door behind her. She noticed the dust and started sneezing like crazy; also she noticed her lungs tightening as her asthma took effect. She put her head and one of her shoulders through the loop of her messenger bag, so she could carry it on her back.

She crawled quickly through the attic and was glad JROTC had finally done something good for her, besides stress her out from having to deal with the politics and the stupid kids in her class. She found the window that faced the backyard and that had a rose lattice that she could shimmy down and escape from. She opened it quietly and did just that, if someone had been watching they would either have been very impressed to see her shimmy down a rose lattice or laughing there butt off at this point. She had also gotten very good at shimmying and climbing odd things from childhood and from JROTC. She got within a five feet of the ground and normal people would have gone down more, but she jumped down and landed gracefully, almost looked like a cat jumping and landing on the balls of their feet. She took off to the small river that went through town. She was planning to follow that river or swim if she had to and she hoped she could follow it across town to one of her best friend’s houses so that she could hide out in her tree house.

*~*~*~*~*~*

Kristyn started to wonder why Michelle was taking so long. She figured something had to be up and Kristyn got up from her set and made her way done the hallway to see what had happened with Michelle. She could hear the music from the room closest to her and it was across from a quieter one and she hoped this was Michelle’s room.

Kristyn opened the door quietly and looked into the room and even though it was messy you could clearly tell a girl lived in this room and what was important to her. She saw the window was opened and looked out of it. She realized it looks into the front yard and across the street. She knew that Michelle could not have gone this way or the people she had come with would have seen her and caught her in time. Kristyn knew that Michelle had disappeared since she was no long in her room and now she had to chase her down and find her. She did not like the idea of another person running away and them having to hunt for Michelle again. Kristyn walked out of the house and saw the people she had come with.

“Looks like we will be doing some tracking again guys.” She told the group she had come with that she had rejoined with them all outside the house.

They looked around the house to find the trail she must have taken from the house and also to figure out the way she got out of the house. They found the trail and noticed it was from the rose lattice and Kristyn realized that there was a window from what looked like an attic and she realized she had sense a door on the ceiling that lead to the attic, she shook her head and wondered what kind of training this girl had that she was able to do things like this and Kristyn knew that is they found her, she will benefit The Center perfectly.

Michelle figured her family would come looking for her as soon as her brother realized she was missing and the other odd people who had come to get her would never be able to find her, if she was smart and used her training, which she plans to do. As she finally got on the shore line of the tiny river, she saw a tiny and what looked to be a baby fox and without realizing it, she has started following him. She hoped she made the right choice from what she had originally planned and she had no idea how she knew the fox was a male, but she trusted it without a doubt at this moment and she wondered why she did put so much trust in it. The tiny fox lead her to a giant tree that she saw in a neighbor’s big yard that was more like a large patch of land instead of a backyard. The roots from the tree half poke out of the ground and she also saw that she could hide and be very well covered under a small pocket that the roots had made. She made sure nothing in there would hurt or freak her out and she put the bag under the tree and crawled in after it and held it close to her as she stayed hidden there under the tree and she oddly was okay with resting here instead of in her friend’s horrible tree house. As she got comfortable she started hoping she had chosen well enough.

She noticed a lot of animals seemed to be coming by this tree and they all seemed to be checking in on her and she also hoped they were not giving her hiding place away. She wondered where in this quite but fun neighborhood, which sits just on the edge of the city, where all these semi-wild animals would be hidden during the day, because she never saw them out and about until this moment. She heard voices the next second and noticed four people coming from near the water who looked oddly dressed in a mixture of civilian clothes and military outfits. Michelle noticed they seemed to be hunting for something or she figured for someone, she did not know how she knew it was her, but she moved back into the shadows a bit more. They were slowly getting dangerously closer to her and she got a bit worried they would find her and these guys did not seem to be very nice people.

“Where is she?” One of the men spoke angrily asking the other people in the group and he seemed to be the leader of the group.

“Sir, I’m trying my best to track her. She seems to have become part of the area though. We are also at a disadvantage, she knows the area much better than we do.” The man next to him spoke and the other two tried to cover their laughter with coughs, but were clearly doing a horrible job at it.

She could tell that the guys who were trying not to laugh were the arms of the group. They had guns and she had the feeling they had little if not no brains at all. She wondered how they knew the right way to hold a gun, but she looked and noticed they were not being perfectly safe with the guns. The person that she assumed was tracking her and had spoken from a bit ago stopped a few feet from the tree and looked around. She had thought they might have found her in that second, but they passed by. They were clearly trying to pick back up her track but she knew they would not be able to do that or at least she hoped they would not be able to for at least a while and at that point they would just give up.

She sighed and started to get dizzy and her eyes lids started to get very heavy, she wondered why she had not feel sick after the day she had or that fact she had been sick most of the day. She noticed her body also seemed to become suddenly very heavy and all she wanted to do was fall asleep. She closed her eyes and hoped her body’s equilibrium would restart and balance itself out.

She noticed that she had started running back to her house and she wondered when she had woken from her dizzy state. She then quickly wondered why she could not look at her hands or any of her body and just kept running even thought she wanted to stop. She realized this must be a dream, and that she was finally sleeping but chose not to wake up and instead followed it and sees what would happen in the dream. She finally was able to look down and she saw she had paws and was on all four red and white tipped paws and running on the ground. She knew at this second she was not even in her own body in this odd dream. She stopped into a small clearing of daisies and other fun little flowers, she wondered why she seemed barely bigger than the flowers around her and she started to wonder what animal she was and noticed the girl who had come to her door, Kristyn. She winked at her and nodded for her to follow, because the next second she was being nicely followed by Kristyn and was bouncing off in an unknown direction. She noticed the group that Kristyn had been with and Kristyn herself looked like a skyscraper when she looked up at them.

Kristyn got to the tree with the roots and noted that a small group of animals were protecting it. They realized Kristyn was not going to hurt them or the young girl who they were protecting in the tree roots because they stopped protecting the hole in the tree that Michelle had slipped through and moved so they were standing behind Kristyn and watching her closely to make sure they had not made a mistake in trusting her. Kristyn found Michelle who seemed to be sleeping and everyone helped pull her up and out of the tree roots. They also realized she had a bag and they grabbed that too, they had already packed some of her stuff from her room up. Brian had ended up being the one to fireman carry Michelle and after they had only gone a few feet back the way they came from, the men from earlier that had also been tracking Michelle appeared.

Kristyn had a few of her team take off with Michelle as a few stayed with her to take care of the guys that were trying to take poor Michelle away. Kristyn waited till all of the guys were together and then sent shocks to all of them and Michelle opened her eyes for a few seconds when she smelt ozone and burning, she saw the guys from before and Kristyn shocking them. Michelle knew who ever was carrying her was looking at Kristyn by the way she could mainly she her and then a few seconds later she fainted from being so worn out from this odd day and she wondered how she got so worn out, but she realized it was from the odd and horrible day she had been having. A bit later they all meet back up at the truck and they tucked Michelle safely into the minivan and sat her so she was rest her head on the window and everyone got in after her. They did not see the red and white fox that had found its way into the minivan with them and was hiding under the seat that Michelle happened to be resting in.

Michelle woke up for a few seconds and noticed she was on a plane, she knew it had to be pretty private because the only people she noticed happened to be Kristyn and the group she has been with when she had come to her house. She started to feel sick and after trying to get up she noticed she could not stand, things suddenly went black and she fell onto the ground.

The next time Michelle woke up she knew it had to have been at least a few hours since she last woke up. She sat up quickly to find herself in a place that kind of looked like a hospital room of some kind. She got a bit dizzy from sitting up so quickly. It reminded her of the surgery area she had been placed in when she got her appendix taken out. She noticed another girl was in the room and sitting next to the bed that she was resting on.

“I was hoping you would wake up.” She said as Michelle finally really looked at her and noticed she had a Native American decent about her and Michelle agreed she looked very pretty.

“Ummmm… who are you?” Michelle asked sweetly, trying to not seem scared of finding herself here and finding a random person sitting next to her.

“Sorry, I’m Liz. I’m also Kristyn’s daughter. You meet my mom when she came to get you, she is amazing isn’t she?” The girl named Liz told her and Michelle was sure she did not want an answer to her question, but also Michelle did not want to give an answer because at this point it would not be nice things.

Michelle nodded, so that the girl got an answer but that she did not have to really speak the truth. She has never been great with people, her brother has really been her only friend, the two best friend’s she did have when she was younger moved away right when seventh grade had started and since then her brother and her have become the best of friends.

“Well, hello. I’m Michelle Swan.” She offered her hand to Liz and Liz just smiled and instead patted it and lightly hugged her.

“I hope we can be better friends then that and that means hugs are okay at a time like this or almost anytime.” Liz told her and smiled.
Michelle just half smiled and nodded, this girl was a bit too nice and excited she thought and part of her wonder if this girl was completely sane.

“I’m so happy that I get to see you before you changed, I wanted to see the girl that was described to have that cool power and she sounded so cute and you do it a lot of justice.” She told Michelle and smiled sweetly.

“Thanks I guess. I never thought of myself as cute, but thanks.” Michelle answered trying to sound nice and be honest, so she just smiled. She was slowly starting to trust the girl sitting next to her. “What is this changing though that will be happening?”

Liz looked at Michelle and realized that she would need to explain a bit about this and decided to do it in a goofy way.“Your abilities are now becoming active, so it will not be to long before you change genders.” She said making a curvy outline of a girl and then a flat outline of a guy with her hands.

Michelle was starting to remember what had happened today. She giggled a bit and then she suddenly looked scared and worried. “Is my brother okay and my father?” She asked quickly, not worried about anything besides them at this point.

“They are fine from what I have been told, which is not much but at least they are fine.” Liz told Michelle, hoping she would not freak out much more because of this.

Michelle was worried about her brother and father, what was going to be happening to them, and what would be happening herself at any given moment. She placed her upper body back on the bed after having sat up to look around and talk with Liz.

“Well this is really happening I guess?” She asked looking at the ceiling and not wanting to know the answer, she figured with all this happening that it was all true and she would soon become a whole new person.

“Yes, you will become a guy, I bet a nice looking guy. I will be here throughout the whole time, my mom asked if I could come and look after you. Also, do not worry about me, I self heal. She is busy and wants to make sure you are well taken care of. She cares about all the new people that come here and all of the people currently here.” She answered sweetly but also quietly, hoping to comfort her.

Michelle’s face got even sadder. “Sounds good…” She let herself trail off as she let herself cry and she started to drift back off to sleep again.

Liz looked at Michelle and was very worried about her; she was wondering why Michelle would be crying and why she did not seem to be able to let herself feel or at least show her feelings to anyone.

“Rest up and I will be here for you.” She smiled at her sweetly and spoke softly. “You will be fine.” She finished and spoke that part. Michelle heard Liz talking and the next second she did not see or hear anything and things went completely black.

*~*~*~*~*~*

Michelle could not have begun to tell anyone what happened, but she assumed she had either fallen asleep or passed out from some kind of sedative that they must have put in her IV, that had been making her itch since she first woke up in the doctor office like bed. She figured her transformation had happened sometime around midnight and she wondered what time it was right now. Normally her body’s inner clock was not this far off, but she figured it was completely off and did not want to guess on the time. She went to move and noticed something was lying on top of her legs. She looked down and on her legs she saw the fox she had followed to the tree.

“Did you follow me?” Michelle asked it, knowing it would not be able to answer her question.

After a few moments it nodded and made a sound so it seemed like it was answering her. Michelle looked at it, and was shocked it had answered her question and that it seemed to not to speak to her and not want to run away like other animals tend to. The fox got up and sat next to the bed and looked at her. Michelle could see the stars in the window and wondered how late it was. She also started to wonder how long she had been sleeping and how long it had lasted, it seemed like it had been more than a few hours, maybe even a few days but she figured she should stop guessing. She knew she must have slept well though and her body seemed at peace and well rested, nothing seemed sore yet or giving her problems. She noticed the mattress was extremely comfortable and she just rested on it and patted the bed so the tiny fox could rejoin her and snuggle up to her like a cat would have done.

“Thanks for saving my life little guy. Would you like to be my baby boy?” She looked out to the skies and stars as she asked the cute little fox the question she placed before it. It seemed like she was on the swing set at home and after a bit she looked down and saw the fox nod and snuggle more into her as it made another sound to get her attention.

Michelle knew she should get up and try moving around a bit. The fox seemed to know what she wanted to do, so he hopped to the end of the bed and watched her like a guard fox. She lifted herself up and instantly over shot her amount and hit her knee as she went a bit more forward then she had meant too. She had not expected to be missing her chest that she was naturally very used to having. She realized how much she really had known her body from before then though half the time she doubted it. She also realized she did not know this new body almost at all. She found her hair was not flowing everywhere like it normally would have done with the way she was sitting. Michelle poked where her chest should been and found it to be flat and have muscles, which was a very big change from the D’s that she had been so used to having.
She could feel her body already had muscles in completely different places then she did when she was a girl. She found it oddly funny that poking herself had given herself a very different sensation from when she was girl. She placed her hand on her tummy and felt some muscles there that seemed much more noticeable then her flat girlish tummy she had before and then put she moved her hand down and realized she suddenly had grown some male equipment between her legs. She blushed at herself and wondered when those had come and thought it was odd she would have to get used to them.

Michelle stood up slowly; wanting to know what she looked like now and wondered how much of a difference it done to her from when she had been a girl. Michelle noticed that she no longer had her very long blonde hair falling down to her waist. She felt her head and could feel it was a million times shorter; it was barely long enough to spike at that and she wanted to scream. She kept trying to stand and it about the same amount of time to get up as it did the first time she was told to get up after her appendix had come out. She was off the bed finally but she had to grab the side of the bed so that she did not fall flat onto her new face or butt.

The first step she took was definitely very different from anything she had felt before. Her center of gravity was completely different then it had been before and she wondered if she would ever get used to this strange and odd new body. She looked down and saw she had a different shape then she had as a woman, her butt was a bit bigger and he no longer had a big chest to balance it out, instead he had more muscle on his arms and legs and it seemed to balance its self out perfectly fine. She wondered how boys were able balance and figured she was just not used to having any butt, she never had one as a girl, had the chest, but never a butt.

She saw the door after looking around the room she was now in and she saw a mirror hanging on the inside of the door. She walked slowly over to the door and the light switch. Walking felt so different to her now, she figured having it had to do with having something added down in the lower part of her body. She looked at her new hands, her semi-nice manicured hands from before looked much more different, they were not tiny and cute anymore, but they were now bigger and much manlier then before. She saw the new person in the mirror and the face in front of her. She did not even know who that person was, but as she touched her new face, she knew this was her. Her new hair that used to be very long and blonde was now short and a very dark brown that looked almost black.

She now had the very pretty green eyes that he had seen in a picture around hundred times before. She looked like a male version of her mother. She was so happy at seeing herself, she had a stronger looking jaw and her cheek bones were placed much differently. She knew she was very handsome and if she was a girl like before, she would have fallen for the handsome boy standing were she is now standing in seconds. She placed her glasses on and noticed she no longer needed them. She wanted to jump up and down at this amazing new idea, but figured it would not be a good idea at this point in time.

She was dressed in a basic and simple baggy t-shirt and a very lose pair of sweatpants. She was happy that she looked semi-toned for not having this body very long at all and she knew at that moment she would do more body toning so some pretty girl would just fall at this new body’s feet. Her eyes amazed her along with her new face. It was clean and nice looking, not odd or to baby face like her old body. She did not have a blemish or anything else on this new face and was quite happy, but deep down hoped that this body would take after her old one and would not get almost any blemishes. She looked rougher then she would have thought but she liked this look on herself and it fit with her new body. Her new eyes made her very happy that she finally had something to remind herself of her own mother, she was also very glad that she now looked a nice boy version of her amazing mother.

She knew she would fall head over hills for someone with these eyes if she had been given the chance and not cared more about swimming and school work then boys. Someone knocked quietly on her door and she got shocked a bit and she hit her head on the door and fell back a bit. She quickly readjusted herself and answered the door.

“Come in.” She spoke and was surprised at hearing the new voice that came from this body. After she spoke this in walked a guy she had not yet met.

“Hey, I’m Raymond, Ray Lomax.” Ray told Michelle as she looked embarrassed to be holding her forehead. “Hit yourself?”

Michelle nodded and rubbed her new forehead. Ray chuckled at this. “Do not worry man, it happens to us all the first time and I completely forgot you are easily spooked when looking at yourself the first time.” Ray looked at her and told her nicely.

“Did all of you hit your heads or is it just me?” Michelle asked him.

“Some of us hit our selves pretty bad the first time. Don’t worry at all about hitting yourself; we all seem jumpy for the first bit of time in our new bodies.” Ray told her, hoping to make sure she feels normal as much as he could.

“Oh sorry, I’m Michelle.” She said and offered her hand to Ray.

“Or you were a Michelle; you no longer look like one.” Ray answered with a laugh as he shook Michelle’s hand.

Michelle started to rub the back of her new neck. “Guess it does not fit with my new body. I guess a name change will have to be I order at some point.”

“Do not worry it will get taken care of. What is more important now is, Welcome to the Center. You will be attending school here and living here now, this is mainly a school for us to finish our education and gives us a safe place to also learn and train our new abilities that we have. Also to get used to whom we have become and to help others in the same place and we are in.” Ray told her and hoped she could be happy and understand this is for her safety.

“What are you abilities?” Ray asked, trying to get to know Michelle.

“I have been told it is Bestialkinetic. From what I have been told so far, I have some kind of brain connection with animals. Sounds super scary right? I can make a cat tell me how it feels.” She shrugged her shoulders sarcastically at telling Ray her powers.

Ray chuckled at that, “Do not worry. A power trainer will help figure it all out with you. Also, your power level is comparable to some of the other much more powerful people here.” He told Michelle, hoping to let her know how powerful she really is.

“You know what will happen.” She said as a reply. She looked like she was slowly becoming adapted to this new situation she had been forced to find herself in. Michelle’s face seemed to become a tiny bit more relaxed. Then Michelle’s stomach started to growl and she knew she was hungry and wondered what she would have to do to get some food around here. She had also lost a good amount of food during the day she had been brought here. She put her hand against her new stomach and looked at Ray and looked surprised to be so hungry.

“Do you have anything to eat or will I have to give into my animal ways and run around for a deer?” She asked nicely and jokingly making fun of her new powers.

“We have some food in the cafeteria, how hungry are you?” Ray asked back, seeing what they should do first.

“Very hungry, I have not had a decent meal in awhile since I lost most if not all my food the day I was brought her from being so sick. I guess I will also need something to wear at some point. I do not mind wearing this to sleep the rest of the night in, but I do not think everyone wants to see me wear this for tons of days on end.” Michelle answered and hoped she was not acting like a girl at this moment.

“There is some decent clothes in the dresser, you can change and come out if you want. Do not worry though, I can leave, but keep in mind I have the same parts as you now. I have sense everything you have many times before.” Ray told her and Michelle went to the dresser and pulled out some boxers, slacks and a semi-nice button up shirt.

He pulled off the baggy shirt and sweatpants and pulled on her other clothes and for once was thankful she would never have to wear a bra again. She remembered how evil they could be and she figured this was one good side to becoming a guy. She had a brother and did his laundry and was thankful that she had done it before this moment, if not she might wonder what the boxers where for. She pulled the boxers on as she pulled off her other clothes and then the slacks and realized all guys where hundred times luckier than any women in the world since they had a lot more room when wearing underclothes now.

“I look dressed enough now.” She said and looking at Ray. Ray nodded and they walked out of the room that she had been sleeping in.

“Do not worry; tomorrow I will take you to the wardrobe so you can get your school uniform and some new clothes for everyday wear too. Also, I guess we have to get your hair styled and that stuff. Do not worry, only the girls like any of that stuff, but it is required that we do it too. You changed on a good day, tomorrow is Sunday, so you will have plenty of time to do the things you need to when you first come in here and will not have to worry about classes.” Ray told Michelle a bit of the plans that would be happening.

“Have I really been asleep that long?” Michelle asked and was surprised when Ray nodded back and led her to the cafeteria.

When they arrived it reminded Michelle instantly of a college campus. She had been in her third year of high school and so to her father that meant looking at colleges to force her to go to. She had been smart, but she never thought she had been crazy smart, but she also had very good street smarts. She also was amazing at drawing and taking pictures and she always hoped that she would be able to make a living of doing that or studying the stars. Either way, she would be happy and find someone and something to keep her happy. She now wondered if it would be a pretty girl or an amazing man and part of her wondered what kind of job she would end up with.

Once they were in the middle of the room Ray told her how it worked and showed the pre-made sandwiches that were made for the night and that was the only options for the night. She walked over and choice a turkey sandwich out and then got a glass of cherry crush soda to drink. Michelle took her cup and food over to the table that Ray was sitting at and started to quickly eat her, like she had been starving for years instead of just a few days.

“Slow down, you do not want to get sick or anything again.” Ray told her and then she started to go into what the next day will be like even more then he had before. Ray told her the general things that will be happening, like the physicals, the testing she will be doing and just barely getting to know her new powers.

“Have you thought of a name?” Ray asked, wanting to know if Michelle had thought about it at all.

“Do I have to have one this quickly?” She asked, almost choking on a piece of turkey.

“It would be better to have it sooner rather than later, you no longer look like a Michelle and it would be odd to keep calling you that at this point.” Ray told her as she still had to remember to slow her eating down.

“Oh no, that means I have to be all manly and stuff.” She put her hand to her forehead and shook it.

“Do not worry, we are not here to make you be all manly and that stuff. You have been given a whole new life and a clean canvas to put yourself on. They will nudge to do the things that men should do in a normal day, but they will not force you to be something or someone you do not want to be or not comfortable being. Everyone is here to help you become whoever you want to be and to also make sure you are well adjusted, like high school kids should be.” Ray told her, hoping she got the point.

“So, is everyone here just like me?” Michelle asked, still not believe everyone.

“Everyone, with an exception to most of the staff.” Ray told her.

Michelle nodded and was slowly digesting the pieces of information that was being put in front of her. She looked down and thought of a name and it hit her within a second.

“It will be Patrick, Patrick Anthony Waterspoon.” Patrick told Ray, who just nodded.

“Very nice to meet you Patrick.” They shook hands and smiled at each other.

Patrick was walking back to his room with Ray guiding him and after he walked in, he saw the fox looking at him from his new bed.

“Were you the view I had when I was going to get Kristyn?” He asked the cute little fox the question.

“Also, I think I should name you tricks. Do you like it?” He asked as he patted his new friends head.

It nodded and he just let his eyes get wide and wondered what he had gotten himself into in this world and what did this mean to have a fox almost talking to him and he seemed to understand it.