A beetle scuttled over to them. Lyra stared down at it.
“Do you think there’s someone in there?”
“Hmm, probably. I mean, you do know you could be staring at a person.”
Lyra looked away awkwardly.
“Do you really believe this stuff though? It’s like the X-Men, but… real. I think. What he said back there, does it mean we can do that too? Turn into animals?”
“I don’t even though if I’d want that. Mum, Dad, our normal lives… and our friends. I don’t know, I just… it’s weird.”
“Yeah, you bet.”
Lyra looked around.
“Hey where’d everyone go?”
“Let’s go see.”
“Wait, no, that’s the point. While everyone’s gone, we can try to escape!”
“But, what if we are Mutatios or whatever, what if it’s better if we do stay here. We might harm people otherwise.”
“What, and stay imprisoned with these weirdos!?”
Lyra took off at a run, quickly followed by Luna. They ran for five minutes, until they reached the edge of the forest.
“Come on, let’s go.”
“Uhh…”
Lyra grabbed her sibling by the hand, jerking her forward. They ran for another ten minutes, tiredness getting the better of Luna. PE had never been her strong point. Lyra on the other hand, was extremely fast, and good with her legs. Her agility let her climb to the top of the nearest tree in record time, taking in their surroundings.
“Well, this place is huge. We could- gahh!”
Lyra felt a sharp pain in her leg, and looked down quickly. A big lizard, no, a chameleon, was sitting on her left leg, with claws digging into her flesh. She screamed, shaking her leg, jerking it up and down, until the lizard finally fell from its perch, tumbling down to hit the ground with a loud thud.
“That hurt!”
The two girls looked down onto the forest floor in surprise. Curved in a ball lay a boy with grass-green hair. He shook his head slowly getting up, uncurling his back. He looked directly at Lyra, accusation plain in his eyes.
“You could have been more careful, I do have a spine you know.”