7 Chapter 7: Family

Kiep excused herself and left the dinning room. After having a moment of silence for Mal, the group continued their conversation.

"Mine was the same as Kiep's except I heard a few of the people's names. The frog was Jae, and there was also a snake-woman named Haiku. They were all from that corporation, V inc," Rose informed them. "But that's all I heard."

Sam nodded, noting the new data. "OK. Hey, Ella, you wanna go next?" The girl nodded and recounted her entire story, starting from when her parents were kidnapped and ending when she had her first dinner with the group. She also skipped over the unimportant information, mainly how she had eavesdropped on the other's conversation. When Ella finished, Suzuki raised her eyebrows.

"How old are you anyway, 7?"

"No, I'm 9!"

Suzi leaned back in her chair. "Still too young to deal with all this."

"Hey, come to think of it, you never told us your age," Rose remarked.

"I'm 15."

"WHAT?!" This came from the entire room.

"I thought you were ten!"

"15...?"

"But... Your so short!"

Suzi scrunched up her nose. "I'm not that short."

"Hey Suzi, tell us the story of how you evolved so small," joked Oak.

"Sure, whatever."

The Shape Shifter's Tale:

So, around 2 years ago I woke up in a lab. A white one, and it was spotless. I didn't remember anything at the time, and I was surrounded by people in lab coats. I had already developed my shape shifting abilities, so I developed a pair of eyes on my arm. I didn't know what they would do if they knew I was awake. They were detaching tubes from my body, and rushing around the room. Checking from their behavior, I could tell it was during the afternoon. They looked slightly hungry but still active. Sure enough, they all left the room once they finished what they were doing. I scanned the room for cameras. There was one in the upper right corner and above my face. I quickly took them both out after growing and frog tongue and ripped the tubes off my skin -

"Wait a second," interrupted Rose. "Why did you take them off? They might've been helping you."

Suzuki looked a bit annoyed. "Well, they had kidnapped me. Even though I had amnesia, I knew I didn't live there."

"Oh. OK."

"Anyway."

I took off the tubes and made for the door. It was locked. But, you know me. I turned into a mosquito and flew through the key hold to the ceiling. I continued flying but as a fly, because they are stronger and withstand a swatting easier. They are also considered not at evil so the chances of being attacked is less than that of a blood drinking bug. So, as I continued I followed on of the scientists out of the building. And honestly, I was starving. So I went to a restaurant as a cat. As you know, my cat form is adorable. So I had no trouble earning some scraps from the chef. And, lucky for me, the scientists were there too. I decided to listen in on their conversation.

'-Interesting, you know. They say she can grow tentacles. She stung Jae with them."

Sam gasped. "Y-you-"

"Let me finish."

'Box Jellyfish. That's what her hybrid feature is.'

'Yeah.'

After that I left. Apparently they knew about one of my transformations, but they were still clueless. I went to an alley and turned back into a human. I went and got a job at McDonalds to pay off my rent, went to college on a scholarship (like Ella I was relatively smart for my age), quit my job, and went and opened up a bakery and studio for a part time job while also working at Google. And, that's it.

"Mal...?" Kiep was standing in the doorway. She had heard everything.

"OK, but I still don't remember anything. It could be a coincidence. Maybe "Mal" was a jellyfish hybrid."

Oak shook his head. "She hadn't had that feature before. And I doubt she just developed it then. She seemed to know how to use it."

"Well then, hey. Nice to see my family again, y'know?"

Kiep, Oak and Rose ran up to her and hugged you. Kiep was tearing up. Sam crushed everybody together in a ginormous sandwich, making Suzi (Or Mal?) gasp for air.

"You too Ella!" squealed Rose. Ella smiled. It had been a while since she had had family.