“Okay, so why don’t we just stay at Mel’s this weekend then?” Livvie suggests as we walk through the corridor. “It’s been a while since we did, so I think it makes the most sense, right?”

  She glanced back at Phoebe and me, and I felt my face scrunch up.

  “I don’t know…” I said before trailing off, not wanting to say what I was thinking.

  It wasn’t that I didn’t like staying at Mel’s house. It was nice, and her parents were fine. They mostly just left us alone, which was good. I think we all preferred it that way. Then, we could just relax.

  But there was one thing that made me reluctant to agree with Livvie. Whenever we stayed there, Phoebe and I always shared an inflatable mattress on the floor. That was how it went. Livvie slept in Mel’s bed with her, Alice and Issy took the futon, and that left Phoebe and me with the blow-up mattress. I never really liked sleeping on them, but it was so much worse when I had Phoebe beside me.

  I loved her. She was my best friend, and I would happily spend all of my time with her, but sharing that mattress with her made it hard to resist the urge to smother her. She was such a violent sleeper, I recalled, surprise creeping into my thoughts. She wasn’t too bad in my reality, but in that world, she was terrible.

  She spent the entire night rolling back and forth, bouncing the entire bed and waking me up every single time she moved. And she kicked. Any time she wanted to throw the duvet off herself, she’d flail her legs wildly, and somehow, they always managed to find my shins. After we spent a weekend at Mel’s, I’d always be covered in bruises for a week, even with how fast I healed.

  I’d asked her about it before, wanting to know if there was something specific about staying at Mel’s house or the bed that made her so restless, but she was just as baffled as I was. Apparently, she always thought she slept pretty well when we were there. She didn’t have nightmares or anything, and I was glad, but it didn’t help my urge to murder her in her sleep.

  Livvie burst out laughing, and a grimace pulled at my lips as my eyes flicked between her and Phoebe.

  “What?” Phoebe asked Livvie before looking back at me.

  It was clear she knew she’d missed something, and I silently begged Livvie not to share my thoughts with Phoebe. I’d said it all to her before, anyway. Phoebe had just laughed them off, but they made me feel bad. She was my best friend. I shouldn’t be thinking that kind of thing about her, not even in jest.

  “Dominos doesn’t deliver to Mel’s house,” Livvie said in an overly sombre voice as she pulled open the door to the science block and nodded for Phoebe and me to go in before her.

  That was a good point, even if it wasn’t what I’d actually been thinking.

  “Oh yeah, I forgot about that,” Phoebe sighed. “Okay, why don’t we just stay at mine then? I know we were there last weekend, but Mom doesn’t mind.”

  Livvie glanced at me, and I raised my eyebrows, shrugging slightly. It was the best solution, in my opinion. I knew I was biased because I was so comfortable there; I’d been going to Phoebe’s house for years, unlike with the other girls. It had the most space, though. The sofas in the lounge pulled out into beds, and they were surprisingly comfortable.

  Plus, her mom always got the best snacks for us, I thought as we came to a stop outside the biology classroom, aware that Livvie was listening in. I was putting no effort into shielding my thoughts from her. In fact, I was doing the opposite. Those freeze-dried cheese things we’d had last weekend were so good, I thought loudly.

  I couldn’t stop my lips from stretching up into a smile as I watched Livvie deliberate, seeing the decision etched on her face. I couldn’t read minds like she could, but sometimes it was like her every thought was written in her eyes.

  “I mean, I’m happy to do that,” she said with a shrug. “Should I put it in the group—”

  A shrill bell cut her off, and heads snapped around, their eyes finding us. I reached into my pocket as Livvie and Phoebe did the same, retrieving my phone and silencing it as quickly as I could. Scanning the accompanying report on the screen, I let out a heavy sigh.

  “Really?” I grumbled, turning away from the rest of our class and starting to move. “The giant spiders couldn’t wait another hour. We were so close!”

  Neither Livvie nor Phoebe replied, but I saw the smirk on Phoebe’s lips as she threw the doors open again, and we broke into a run. My eyes darted between the report on my phone and the corridor ahead of us as we hurried towards the field.

  People generally threw themselves out of the way when they saw us coming, but sometimes they were too slow. They were too distracted as they pulled their own phones out to record us, and it meant we had to dodge to avoid mowing them down.

  Finally, we reached the door leading to the school field and sprinted through it, speeding up as we spotted Issy and Alice already waiting in our usual spot. Their phones were in their hands, and I could see Alice’s lips moving as she read the report.

  “Mel already on her way?” I asked as I reached them, looking up at the sky.

  There was no sign of her, but I knew she wouldn’t be particularly far.

  “Yeah, she’s going to meet us up there,” Issy replied, dropping her phone into her bag before looking at Phoebe. “Are you going to be okay with this one? I know you’re not a fan of spiders. You can sit it out if you want. We’ll say you’re sick or something?”

  Phoebe hesitated, the temptation visible on her pale face.

  “Did they say how big they are?” she asked fearfully.

  Issy didn’t reply immediately. She paused for just a moment longer than she should have, and I noticed Livvie grimace in the background. Concern swept over me, and my eyes flicked towards Phoebe, but thankfully, she didn’t seem to notice. She was too busy emptying her pockets into her bag, and I hurried to do the same.

  We didn’t need to, not really. Whenever we transformed, whatever we were wearing or was in our pockets at the time would just go wherever the rest of our clothes did, and it would be safe there, but I preferred to know my phone and everything else was in my bag. It made me feel more comfortable.

  They still hadn’t worked out what happened to the stuff when we transformed. The scientists had tried. They tracked our phones, put devices into our clothes and bags that were meant to report the location back, but they couldn’t work it out. It seemed as though the items just blinked out of existence until they were needed again, but I knew they had to go somewhere.

  “I don’t think they’re that big,” Issy replied, but she didn’t meet Phoebe’s eye. Instead, she was paying far too much attention to the waterproof box she was pulling out of her bag. “Okay, everyone ready?”

  She looked up at us as she tossed it to the side, and a shadow of nervousness came over me. I smoothed my skirt down, needing to do something with my hands, and nodded, suddenly very aware that we had an audience.

  I could see them out of the corner of my eye. I didn’t turn my head, didn’t look around at them, but I knew there were people there. There shouldn’t have been. Lunch was over, and the school bell had rung as we were running out. Everyone else should have been inside, starting their lessons, but there were so many people lining the field, their phones out and pointed at us.

  Are they not used to it by now? The question floated around my mind. It did fairly often when we were about to transform, and people began flocking. I was pretty sure that every single person in the school had seen it happen before. Multiple times. Were they not bored of it?

  It wasn’t particularly interesting to watch, in my opinion. The transformation looked the same every time. I’d seen the videos; I knew that. At first, we just looked like normal school kids. Then, we’d put our fists together. There would be a flash of golden light, and suddenly, we were the Shooting Stars. Obviously, it wasn’t quite that simple, but that was how it looked for others. They didn’t know what it was actually like for us.

  I didn’t either. Not really. I’d transformed a hundred times, if not more. It had become such a regular part of my life in that world, but I hadn’t actually done it. Not the real me, anyway. I hadn’t had the chance to transform since I’d arrived in the world, and I was so excited to do it. I wanted to know what it was like, to experience it rather than just have memories of it happening.

  “Ready,” Alice said, reaching her fist into the centre.

  “Ready,” came Livvie’s confirmation.

  If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

  My heart leapt as Issy looked at Phoebe. She was chewing on the inside of her lip, her face still pale. I think she must have felt my gaze on her face because she looked up. The fear in her eyes sent sympathy through me, and I needed to say something to make her feel better and remind her that she could handle what we were about to do.

  “Don’t worry,” I started. “I’m pretty sure the spiders will still be flammable, regardless of the size.”

  Phoebe snorted, the anxiety fading from her face as her fist joined the other two.

  “I guess we’ll find out. Ready.”

  “We will,” I promised her. “And if they’re somehow not, I bet I can still drown them. Wait… spiders breathe, don’t they? Do they… you know, have lungs?”

  Issy and Livvie laughed.

  “I truly don’t know,” Issy said. “I assume so? We can ask Mel once we’re up there, though. She’ll know.”

  Phoebe nodded, her expression serious.

  “She will,” she muttered more to herself than any of her before glancing at me.

  I knew what she was waiting for, and I didn’t hesitate to reach out, my knuckles touching Phoebe’s. I left just enough space for Issy’s hand to join ours, even though it wasn’t really necessary. We didn’t need to go through the whole routine of readying up and putting our hands together anymore. We had to at first; it was the only way we could transform, but we’d grown a lot since then. We’d gotten better, stronger, and we could do it with just a thought.

  But we still did it pretty much every time. It just felt better when we did. It was like we were more connected, more prepared, and I wasn’t sure why, but I didn’t want to question it too much, just in case.

  “Ready,” I said.

  We all looked at Issy, who smiled and stepped forward.

  “Ready,” she confirmed, her tone serious.

  I acted instinctively. My mind seemed to reach out towards the shard in the bracelet on my wrist, feeling the connection to the other girls and Mel, who was somewhere in the skies. I grasped it, pulling it towards me.

  Light engulfed us. My body rose into the air, and I was bathed in heat. I could feel it washing over me slowly, starting at the tips of my fingers and reaching along my arms before moving along the rest of my body. It was a strange sensation, as if I were being coated in a warm layer of something solid, but it was nice. I liked it.

  As the light passed over me, my muscles felt renewed. They became stronger, and I was filled with energy. The desire to get to work, to rush to wherever the spiders were waiting for us and start protecting people immediately pulled at me, making it difficult not to spring into the air immediately. I was ready to tackle whatever was in store for us.

  My skirt brushed gently against my mid-thigh as the glow faded, revealing us to the crowd who watched eagerly. Cheers exploded from around us, and I couldn’t help but smile at Alice, who stood opposite me. I still didn’t look at them, though. I was used to the celebrations; they weren’t the reason I was smiling. It was the transformation. I knew it would make me feel good, but I didn’t understand just how much better I would be afterwards.

  We straightened up, waiting as Issy retrieved the box she’d tossed to the ground and pulled it open. She held it out towards us, and I grabbed my earpiece and slipped it into place. A faint beeping sounded, telling me it was connected.

  “Okay, all ready to go?” she asked as she fastened the smartwatch onto her wrist.

  “Let’s go!” Livvie cheered before stepping away.

  I hurried to do the same, moving into my usual position for take-off. It was easy to spot it. The grass was slightly trampled from the sheer number of times I’d stood there before leaping into the air, and that realisation brought a smile to my lips. I wasn’t sure why. I just liked the idea of creating a mark like that.

  Okay, came Issy’s voice, seeming to speak right into my ear. Three, two, one!

  A split second of absolute panic slammed into me as the others sprung into the air, the movement appearing effortless. Time seemed to slow down, moving at a crawl, and all I could do was watch.

  I’d never done it before. I didn’t know what I was doing or how to fly, but I needed to. Everyone was watching us. They were filming, and if they saw the rest of my team fly away, leaving me on the ground, I wasn’t sure what would happen, but I didn’t want to find out.

  But I wouldn’t have to. My body took over, and my knees bent before I jumped. Amazement fluttered within me as I shot into the air, still unsure of what I was doing, but somehow, I knew that I would be okay. I trusted my body, trusted myself. It would take control again, allowing me to soar.

  And it did. I had no clue how I was doing it. There wasn’t anything in particular that I was doing, and it barely took conscious thought, but suddenly, I was hovering. I didn’t fall back to the trampled grass. I was flying.

  The rest of my team paused for just a moment before shooting forward, and I did the same. It just happened. My body moved through the air, and the wind caressed my face as we swept low over the school roof so Issy could drop the waterproof box there to retrieve later before banking and flying north.

  My heart was pounding. Flying was so easy, so effortless, and it made me want to cry. The world passed by beneath us, and I watched, my eyes finding the people below. They looked up at us, and even from the height, I could see their eyes widen. They pointed, cheered and pulled out their phones, eager to record the sighting.

  Where are you, Mel? Livvie asked. I can’t see you.

  I’m a little further ahead, came Mel’s voice. I’ll slow down more so you guys can catch up with me, though. We have time for that, right? I don’t need to race there, do I?

  No, you’re fine, Issy replied, looking down at her watch. I mean, you’re only a minute or two ahead.

  Her mouth didn’t move, I realised. When she spoke to us, Issy’s mouth wasn’t moving. I looked back at the others, waiting for someone else to speak so I could figure out if I was mistaken somehow.

  A minute or two ahead? Livvie repeated. How fast were you flying, Mel?

  That time, I was certain Livvie’s lips had stayed shut. Somehow, she was speaking without actually speaking, and I had no clue how she could possibly be doing that. Was it the earpieces? Were they somehow broadcasting our thoughts to each other?

  No, that wasn’t it. There was something else happening. Another reason. I looked around at the others again, trying to be subtle so they wouldn’t realise anything was wrong. I had to make sure Livvie didn’t notice and try to listen in on what I was thinking. That could be dangerous. She could easily notice that I wasn’t exactly me.

  We couldn’t talk whilst flying, I recalled slowly, the knowledge trickling into my awareness. I mean, it was something we could physically do, but the wind rushing by drowned things out and made it harder to pick out voices. That wasn’t the main reason, though. There was another one.

  Bugs.

  They mostly stayed away from us when we were in the air, but for some reason, if we opened our mouths, they just flew right in. A shudder ripped through me as the memory of the first time I’d done that hit me. I hadn’t seen it coming. One minute, I was flying and trying to say something to Phoebe, and the next, I was choking on a bee that had smacked into the back of my throat. I still felt bad for whoever was walking below me that day. I hope they had an umbrella.

  But that still didn’t solve my confusion. How was I hearing their voices if they weren’t talking? I flicked through my memories, searching for an answer. It was there. I knew it was. I could feel it at the corner of my mind, but it was just out of reach until…

  It was their thoughts. We could think things to each other when we were transformed. We couldn’t do it normally; only Livvie could hear thoughts then, but we were pretty sure the ability would develop sooner or later.

  The first time, it was accidental. Phoebe had noticed a kill switch in the middle of a fight, but she was too far away to hit it, and she didn’t want to scream it at us in case the villain heard and hid the switch before we could get to it. Her voice had shouted directly into my head, and I hadn’t even realised she hadn’t spoken out loud until we were watching replays of the fight later.

  I thought Phoebe’s eyes were going to fall out of her head. They were so wide as she scrambled for the remote, rewinding and watching the moment over and over as we tried to figure out if the microphones just hadn’t picked up her voice, the footage had been edited or whether something else was going on.

  We’d asked the agency, though. They were the ones who were in control of all of the footage, and they claimed they hadn’t done anything. The scientists were ecstatic, though. They made us transform and try to communicate without speaking again. It was weird and difficult to do at first. We kind of had to talk out loud, but in our heads, and that was hard to get used to. It had taken a lot of practice, but after the first week or so, we could all do it easily. It was just as natural as speaking.

  So, what’s the situation down there? How bad is it? Mel asked.

  Did you read the report? Issy replied, her tone nonjudgmental.

  There was a slight pause, and a smile tugged at my lips.

  I… scanned it, Mel told us. Briefly.

  Issy snickered, the noise loud in my head.

  Shall I ask Avery to give us a rundown? she offered.

  No, I responded immediately. We’re not close enough.

  Agreed, Phoebe added, sending me a smirk.

  Avery was… fine, but she loved to talk. That was probably why she was in charge of communicating with us, but it could get exhausting sometimes, and I felt like we just didn’t need to know everything she told us. Like, during the last attack, she listed every single person who was trapped aboard the ship and their rank. She could have just said the number of people. Why did she need to drone on for so long? It wasn’t helping us at all.

  Fair. There have been a few fatalities so far, but apparently, the spiders weren’t really attacking people or trying to hurt them, Issy told us. They’ve webbed a few people, but most of the casualties either seemed to be accidents or were caused by humans during the panic.

  So… they’re probably waiting until they see us to start attacking? Mel suggested.

  That would make sense. The octopus creatures did that, and the weird moose thing we fought a month or so ago seemed fairly peaceful until we showed up. Then, it started rampaging.

  Urgh. I bet that’s exactly what they’re doing, Phoebe grumbled. Disgusting, ugly, awful— oh wait! Mel, do spiders breathe?

  Mel didn’t reply for a few seconds. There was nothing but the constant rushing of the wind before her voice sounded again.

  I’m sorry, what?

  Phoebe glanced across at me. It seemed like she was asking for my help to explain the question, and I grinned before looking back at the distinctive green dot that was slowly coming into view in the sky ahead of us. The shade of Mel’s uniform was so bright. It was always easy to spot her.

  I know they probably need oxygen, I thought, pushing my voice out towards the others. Like, most living things do, right?

  Right… Mel replied slowly, clearly still lost.

  Okay, so… could I drown them? Would that kill them?