by M. O. McLeod
Rimselda and Kurma made their way back to the train station as quickly as possible. Rimselda wanted to catch the girls before everyone went off on their nighttime escapades. The two ascended the stairs and did the customary knock.
The room was lit dimly by candles, and all the girls moved about, preparing themselves to go out into the world. Rimselda tried to decide who she wanted to confide in first. O’bellaDonna would want to be a Raptor herself, and Rimselda didn’t feel like competing with her and Kurma at the same time. Jackie would immediately tell Nina, who would demand that Rimselda prove it, so that plan was out. Chelsea was too far up Nina’s butt even to care what was going on with Rimselda, so she wasn’t trustworthy either.
The only person she could remotely trust was April. However, April was extremely loyal to her brother, the leader of the Jeers, and Rimselda didn’t know if April would go and tell him. She couldn’t see why April would tell anyone, but she just didn’t want to risk too much information leaking out, besides; there wasn’t anyone else that Rimselda felt would understand the situation.
She signaled to April, who was seconds from heading out to her nighttime guard post. “April babes, can I talk to you real quick?”
April slung her rifle off of her shoulder and smiled at Rimselda. “Sure, hon,” she said as she approached. “Where have you two been?”
Kurma looked at the two as she sat down on the sofa. “Just out catching some breeze.”
Rimselda caught the joke and smiled. She was kind of nervous, but glad that Kurma didn’t seem too mad at her.
Rimselda and April walked into the small kitchen, and Rimselda pulled the thin blinds that hung in the doorway closed. The two girls stood facing one another… one calm, the other not so much.
“I know it’s probably awkward that I want to talk to you,” Rimselda started.
“No, Rimy, it’s all cool,” said April. “You know you can always come to me about anything.”
Rimselda let out a gush of air. “Thanks, April. That means so much to me.” She smiled and relaxed a bit. “You’ve probably been wondering how I met Kurma and why me and her have been on some best-friends stuff lately.”
“If you’re gay, I totally understand!” April said.
“Nooooo, I’m not into girls,” Rimselda whined. “You’ll never believe this, but…” She caught her breath and almost choked on her words. “Kurma is not a human, as you guys are. She’s a Raptor, and so am I.”
April’s head tilted, thinking she hadn’t heard Rimselda right.
“Raptors can change into these birdlike creatures, you know, and we can fly and all sorts of stuff,” Rimselda went on, rushing her words. “I can literally morph into it right now and fly away. It’s so awesome.”
April had heard her right—something about a Raptor and having wings and flying. But at the moment, Rimselda looked just like Rimselda, so it was hard for April to believe. “What I’m hearing is that you and Kurma, a stranger you dragged in here, are both mysterious creatures called Raptors, who apparently can fly.” April’s facial expression was priceless. Her eyebrows were extremely high, her mouth was open, and the bridge of her nose was wrinkled up. “Prove it, then. Let me see your little wings.”
Rimselda was surprised by April’s hostility. She had always seemed so nonchalant and cool about everything. Rimselda wondered if April was jealous of her and Kurma’s relationship. She hated being called a liar, or people insinuating that she wasn’t being honest. Her mother had a bad habit of that, and Rimselda always had to prove herself.
She put on her poker face and thrust out her arm. She concentrated on changing it into her wing. Slowly the skin formed and the wing emerged, brown and big, hanging limply as Rimselda bent her arm into her body. The kitchen wasn’t big enough for the wing to expand fully.
April’s mouth hung open again, and she had a look of sheer stupidity on her tanned face. “Are you for real?”
Before Rimselda had the chance to change her arm back, April lunged out and grabbed her hand to get a better view of the wing.
“No, don’t!” screamed Rimselda. She snatched her hand back with sudden force. She had touched April; now she too would turn into a Raptor. Rimselda was scared, and worried about what Kurma would do. Kurma had told her not to touch anyone, and here she had. She never listened—that was why her mom didn’t like her. She was always messing things up.
Rimselda screamed for Kurma and fell to the floor. April looked frightened and backed away, and ran from the kitchen.
Kurma showed up seconds later. “What happened?”
Rimselda cried out, “I touched her, Kurma! Even though you told me not to, I did it anyway by accident. What are we going to do?”
Kurma had never been so disappointed in her entire life. All her plans were about to be ruined. She was so angry at Rimselda she almost reached out to slap her in the face. But she saw how devastated Rimselda was; she looked so tiny crouched there on the floor, and childlike with her red, fiery hair and pasty skin.
Kurma reached down and roughly picked Rimselda up. She had no words for her. She simply propped her up like a rag doll and tried to think of a plan. Kurma heard noises out in the living room area. They got louder and louder until there was a full shout.
“Rimselda!”
Kurma would have to stand her ground and defend the two of them. She looked around for some oven mitts to protect Rimselda’s hands.
“Quickly, put these on,” she instructed.
“Rimselda, April told us what you two freaks are!” Nina screamed.
“April can suck it, I swear,” Rimselda said to Kurma.
Kurma chuckled. At least Rimselda knew April wasn’t the friend she pretended to be. Friends don’t run and tell. Kurma would deal with April later.
O’bellaDonna pulled the blinds back from the kitchen entrance way. She stood there looking massive, and almost head to head with Kurma, who blocked Rimselda from Donna’s sight. “Your beef is with me, not her.”
O’bellaDonna inspected Kurma up and down. The girl was taller than she was. She could either jump Kurma with her friends and throw her out, or hear her out and get to the bottom of this. It was four against two, but seeing that April had told her Rimselda wasn’t human, O’bellaDonna had to think smart.
“What are you exactly?” she asked.
Kurma felt her body tingling. She tried to remain calm just in case she didn’t have to hurt any of the girls. “I am a Raptor.” She played her cards and put them out for show. “You can be like me if you want. How is April holding up out there? Is she changing yet?
O’bellaDonna paused and looked back into the living area, where April was crouching behind Nina. She looked fine. “She’s good. What does it have to do with you?”
Kurma was confused. As soon as she’d touched Rimselda, the girl had immediately felt the effects of changing. So why, even though Rimselda had touched April, was nothing happening? Maybe…
“Of course,” Kurma yelled out. Only she had the ability to change another person into a Raptor. She giggled to herself at the odds of that. She really would be in control.
“What’s so funny? I asked you a question!” screamed O’bellaDonna. She’d had enough of the new girl. She reached out to pull Kurma by her hair, but was caught by a right hook. She stumbled back and tried to defend herself with nails and teeth. Rimselda tried to intervene, but Kurma pushed her away. She knew there was no better time than now to change O’bellaDonna, before all the other girls tried to jump in.
“Help,” O’bellaDonna pleaded. But it was too late. She felt Kurma’s hands all over her face, smashing her head backward against the wall. She had her hands in Kurma’s hair, tugging as hard as she could, but then her oxygen was cut off. She couldn’t breathe. She tried to call for help, but her voice was stuck in her throat. The last thing she thought was that she had never lost a
fight in her life. Who was this Kurma girl?
Nina and the others saw O’bellaDonna fighting and went running in. Nina saw her friend go down hard as she entered the kitchen. Rimselda looked guilty, and Kurma looked smug. She was so tired of this bitch, and she couldn’t stand it any longer. Nina let out a shrill, angry scream as she tried to get to Kurma. She would kick the new girl out if it was the last thing she did. She lunged with both arms out
Kurma could see this one coming. She didn’t want Nina as a Raptor. If anything, after she turned all the other girls, she would leave Nina out just to spite her even more. Kurma picked one of her long legs up and kangaroo kicked Nina in the gut as she came barreling at Kurma like a banshee. Nina flew back and knocked April aside as she fell into the coffee table; she hit it so hard her head bounced, and she lay still. Kurma picked April up off the floor and pulled her long sleeve back, and placed a bare hand on her freckled arm.
“There you go,” Kurma said, then dropped April on the floor as the convulsions began. “Your turn, my little Chelsea.”
Chelsea screamed her head off. She was shorter and more petite than Kurma; there was no way she could take her down by herself. “Nina!” she screamed, watching Kurma as she stalked toward her. Chelsea found the nearest object she could hold—a massive high heel with spikes on the front. If she had to, she would beat the crap out of Kurma. “Don’t get any closer.”
“I’ll need you to be more assertive and independent when I turn you,” Kurma teased. “None of this whiny stuff you do.”
“I swear, I will knock your head clean off!”
“Yeah, babes, kind of like that!” yelled Kurma. She chased after Chelsea, who tripped over all the clutter in the room. Thank God the girls never cleaned.
Kurma caught up to her and grabbed her by the hair. “Ssssshhh. It won’t hurt a bit.” She wrapped her hands around Chelsea’s neck; the blood rushed in Chelsea’s skin, and her heart raced.
Chelsea cried out and then blacked out.
Rimselda poked her head out of the kitchen and was afraid of what she saw. All her friends were on the floor. She didn’t know if they were dead or transmuting. What had she done?
