Born At Midnight

The unicorn, aka Perry, swatted its tail back and forth, as if strutting its stuff, then swung around in Kylie's direction. The beast took two steps toward her, close enough she could have touched it if she'd been so inclined. But no inclination existed. It reared its head, made a neighing noise, then one of its deep dark black eyes winked at her.

"Shit!"

"Damn!"

"Oh my God!"

"Holy cow!"

"Mo fo!"

Kylie wasn't sure who said what, one may have even leaked out of her mouth, for al five responses had shot through her addled brain. Taking in another gasp of air, she looked at Holiday, who stared at her with soft green eyes.

"It's okay," Holiday said. "Perry, change back now."

Kylie dropped her forehead against the flat, cool surface of her desk top and concentrated on breathing and not thinking. If she let herself think, she'd cry and the last thing she wanted to do in front of these people was show any sign of weakness. Hel , these freaks probably fed on weak people.

"You guys should leave now," Holiday's voice, now with an authoritarian tone, seemed to echo in the room, bouncing inside Kylie's head. She counted to ten and then somehow managed to sit up. The desks around her stood empty. Perry, back to his human form, and the others shuffled out of the room. Perry gave her a quick glance over his shoulder. His brown eyes, normal-looking eyes this time, almost appeared apologetic.

Remembering Holiday's order about leaving, Kylie forced herself to stand. If she could just get out of here, she might be able to find a secluded place where she could freak out in private. Where she could cry, and attempt to come to terms with ... No. Don't think yet. Not yet. She swal owed the few tears crawling up her throat and her sinuses stung.

"Where are you going?" Holiday asked.

Kylie looked back her. It hurt to talk around the knot of emotion lodged between her tonsils. "You said we should leave."

"They should leave. You need to stay."

"Why?" A watery film coated her vision and hopelessly, Kylie realized she couldn't stop it. The tears had arrived. Why? The one-word question plowed through her confused mind and morphed into dozens of questions. Why was any of this happening? Why was she being singled out again?

Why did her mother not love her? Why did her dad turn his back on her? Why couldn't Trey give her a little more time? Why did al these freakish kids act as if she were the weirdo here?

She blinked back a few tears and dropped back into the seat. "Why?" she asked again. "Why am I here?"

Holiday sat in the desk beside her. "You're gifted, Kylie."

She shook her head. "I don't want to be special. I just want to be me-normal me. And ... and to be completely honest with you, I think there's been some huge mistake made here. You see, I'm not ... gifted. I ... I certainly can't turn myself into anything. I don't suck at anything, except maybe algebra. But I've never been great at things, either. Sports are so not my thing, and I'm not super talented or even the extra smart type. And believe it or not, I'm okay with that. I don't mind being just average ... or normal."

Holiday laughed. "There is no mistake, Kylie. However, I know exactly how you feel. I felt just like that when I was your age and especial y when I realized the truth."

Kylie swiped at her face to hide the evidence of her tears and then forced herself to ask the question she'd been trying not to think about since the whole thing started. "What am I?"