((Woo! I finally got my first chapter done! I can't wait to type up the next one ^.^))
Chapter 1
I grumbled curses as I hauled myself up my willow tree. Being the most popular person of the junior class definitely had its downs. I was only talked to because of my track times. Everyone who wasn’t gifted would’ve avoided me like the plague if I couldn’t run as fast as I could. I made it up to the top of the tree, my eyes warily searching the students exiting the uniform brick building. Some people waved at me and shouted something about a good run in gym today. I ignored their voices. I must have missed the person I was searching for while I was settling onto my usual branch because I heard his loud, obnoxious voice before I saw him.
“Oh Tara?”
Shit.
“My little turtle dove! You cannot hide from my perfect mind, you know.”
I sighed at the dumb ass, he shouldn’t even hint at his power in public.
“My sandy doggie girl! Where art thou?”
Or mine. I grimaced, searching for my own personal annoyance that was sent to me straight from hell. Someone cleared their throat from below me. I reluctantly looked below me. A well built, boy with curly black hair stood below me, grinning.
I thought I’d find you here. The grin widened when I rolled my eyes.
Yes? I responded in my head. Only Zephyr could find me that fast. Sometimes I didn’t pity him for his power. I thought back for a minute, mind reading would have been very useful but hard to control.
Why are you up there? Get your little mutt butt down here. I promised Tobias we’d be at his house early, before the Dreamscapers meeting started.
I made my response annoyed. I need ten seconds to think. All those stupid jocks, always flaunting their stupid records around like it’s currency. I don’t even care what Rob Barrucho got for his mile time. I don’t care how many people Jeremy Welch crushed in wrestling. I don’t care!
I hit my head against the tree. Zephyr grabbed the bottom branch, testing his weight on it, and quickly dragged the rest of his body up after me. I watched the students down below. They were lucky. They didn’t have to do their homework and run around as a wolf to try and save the world. They didn’t have to hide their real selves in public. They didn’t put themselves in constant danger. But then again, they didn’t have our community, the sense of family the Dreamscapers had. We knew we were the only ones who kept our world from breaking.
I felt Zephyr try to tap into my head. I pushed him out with my wolf side, locked in my head until I could shift.
He snorted beside me. The branch we were sitting on jostled. “You know I don’t like being left out.”
I growled at him and continued to watch the flow of people stop turn into the deserted school grounds I loved. He seemed to enjoy my sulky mood. His bony finger poked my ribs, causing me to yelp. He laughed loudly. I scowled and returned his laugh with a punch in the arm. A roar emitted from his mouth rather than a yelp.
Fine, I’ll just fight you out of the tree. Zephyr’s brown eyes turned playful. I grinned.
Bring it, psycho.
As you wish, lap dog.
A growl slipped past my teeth as Zephyr launched himself upwards, using his powerful arms to swing from branch to branch. I could always kick his ass on the ground; the bugs and leaves of the trees, however, were his turf.
I laughed coldly and pushed my legs after him. He went across and down, heading towards the lower branches. Obviously he didn’t want me to be hurt once he kicked me off. I would show him his happy mistake.
A foot connected solidly between my shoulder blades. I snarled and whipped around. Too late, Zephyr was climbing again. I reached up and followed, branch-by-branch. Suddenly Zephyr dropped, smiling enormously. I quickly flipped around and slung my knees around the branch, leaving me upside down. I threw a punch towards monkey boy’s arm and clipped the muscle above the elbow. He cried in alarm and fell the ten feet to the ground. He landed on his back but quickly sprung to his feet, grinning.
I let myself drop to the lowest branch. I caught it, barely. “I’m sorry, Zeph. I was under the impression that you were gonna knock me out of the tree.”
It was not surprising to hear his loud, booming laugh come from his muscled body. “I agree. I thought I’d have your tail down here real fast.”
I swung for a minute, soaking up my odd victory. Zephyr never let me win at anything! I narrowed my eyes. “What’re you hiding?”
Zephyr laughed again. A body casually walked out from behind his massiveness. This body was that of a true runner. I was too muscular from weight lifting to even look like I’d run fast. This boy was lean, lithe and small. His messy blonde hair was wind blown; his light green eyes steadily watched me. He looked dejected, his eyes too cute to be resisted.
“I thought you two promised you’d be early.”
I gave in immediately, a sucker for puppy faces. “Aw Toby. I’m sorry, stop givin’ me the face, all right? How ‘bout I let you carry me home?”
Tobias’s face lightened immediately a laugh easily flew from his lips. “I have to carry Zephyr home, you’ll have to run.”
Zephyr scowled. “You can’t carry my, shrimp. Not all of us work out so much that we’re unnaturally strong.” He shot me a sidelong glance.
I stuck my tongue out like a two year old. “Number one, I have to be strong in case I can’t shift for some reason. Two, I guess I’m hauling your butt home then.”
Zeph grinned. “Haul away, poodle.”
I inhaled, breathing in the humid summer air. The heat that lived in my spine crackled like electricity. I let it flow through my body, coursing with my heart. A ripping sound exploded through the air, sand colored fur shot out of my body, my spine bent over to accommodate my new body. My pads and claws shot out from where they were hidden and attached themselves to my growing hands. My ears shot up on top of my head and grew into the familiar wolf ears. The poor excuse for a tail shot out from my lower back. The tingle of growing fur stopped and everything suddenly felt still.
Zephyr was grinning. “I’ll never get used to that.”
I grunted and angled my head so my eye was level with his head. No one watched, right?
“Nope.” He answered, “Tobias already left for his house. Can we go now?”
I nodded my massive head and lowered my body so he could get on. Zephyr grabbed a hold of my scruff and pulled himself onto my back. He settled himself between my shoulder blades and lightly squeezed my sides with his knees. Giddy up little doggie.
I grumbled but took off anyways. I paced myself at eighty miles per hour, slow compared to my max speed. Zephyr seemed to be enjoying himself, letting out a whoop of joy as I ran through the forest on the outskirts of town. The school was behind us and Toby’s house wasn’t too incredibly far away. I rolled my eyes at Zephyr’s cry of joy. Running was fun but not that fun. I smirked to myself. I shredded the ground below me as I stopped, sending Zephyr over my head.
“Holy shit!” His curse was followed by a thump. Zephyr hit a pine tree a few yards away. I coughed out a laugh. Zephyr pulled his head back and out from the tree. He pulled the rest of himself out and fell to the ground. An imprint of Zeph stayed in the tree. I heaved a sigh of defeat; I had forgotten Zephyr had two powers. I never saw him really use his diamond hard skin in a battle.
Stupid indestructible… I mumbled to myself and went to retrieve my passenger.
Zephyr hooted loudly. “Forgot, didn’t ‘cha?”
I grinned despite myself. I grabbed Zephyr around the torso with my teeth and took off again. I ran Zeph through a few trees, his hard skin cutting them down. I was trying to make him shut his gigantic mouth with all the mental talking, which was worse than verbal words. Those you could block out.
The air seemed to stop around me. I screeched to a stop again. We were in a large valley, rock cliffs stood on one side and a grassy hill on the other. A large villa stood, picturesque against the small cliff behind it. A little road winded out of sight. It eventually met with the main road. Zephyr smacked my snout. I let go of my annoying captive.
A blur came from the front door to the villa. Before it fully caught my attention Tobias appeared next to me, smiling his little doll smile. Why couldn’t he walk like a normal person?
I let a coolness spread throughout my body. My body compacted, the fur, tail, claws, paws, anything wolfy, went back to my soul. My clothes came into being again except for my shoes. I never got my shoes back. I let out a sigh, they were my favorite.
Tobias smiled, his hair ruffled by Zephyr. “You guys hungry? We’ll have to eat before we go to the meeting. Charlotte said she wasn’t bringing food for us this time.”
I nodded and tucked a piece of my dyed pink hair behind my ear. I watched Tobias claw at an itch on his cheek. His white blonde hair lay in a messy array around his head. It reminded me of an angel’s halo. Toby sniffed and shook his head out. “C’mon! Dad said he’d make us subs!”
He was gone in another blur. I grinned at Zephyr. He returned my grin; no sane person ever wanted to miss Abraham’s fresh subs.
“Race ya?”
I liked how you introduced Tobias and definitly how you ended the first chapter. If Jamie_Rocks is right, and it is like that book she was talking about, Animorphs, then you really should change it around a bit. You don't want to have people mistaking it for that, or thinking you took some of your ideas from it. They want it to be original, which I think was your intentional purpose of course! Don't get me wrong.
