Hope
woke up on a warm metal floor with a horrible headache and no
clothes. She sat up and tried to look around, but it was totally
dark. On top of that, the floor she was sitting on was rocking
slightly, as if it was floating on the surface of a lake. She could
hear talking, but being slightly disoriented, she waited to speak up
until she knew for sure what they were saying.
"Iunno,
Rox," said a familiar voice of another girl. "Weren't we
camping? I remember we were in our tents,

Ahura
trekked through the dark understory of the crimson jungle. The air
was warm and steamy, but she didn't mind it much; as the apprentice
of a witch, she wasn't allowed much clothing until she proved herself
and became a witch herself. Not even a pair of shoes. All she wore
was an iron shackle on her left ankle (symbolic of her servitude to
her mistress), a simple black wrap that barely covered her flat
chest, a piece of string that kept her silky raven hair tied into a
neat shoulder-length p

Lucia
awoke suddenly. Immediately, she could tell something wasn't right.
The bed she was in felt like a giant pillow rather than a mattress,
and the blanket was rough and stiff. Brushing her messy black hair
out of her face, she glanced around and didn't recognize the room she
was in. Her own bedroom was bigger and had more stuff in it.
She
couldn't remember how she got in this place. Last thing she
remembered was walking through the city to meet her boyfriend for a
date. She didn't even rememb

Mildred
pulled herself up off the cliff and onto even ground. Untying the
rope she'd used to climb, she looked up at the crooked peak ahead of
her. It wasn't much further, she realized; soon, she would be
face-to-face with the dragon. Doing her best to swallow her fear, she
advanced. Ahead of her was a large smoky crater that led into a
wide-open grotto. As she got closer, she could hear the monster
breathing. I
can do this…
she thought, trying her best to psych herself up. I've
trained for th

Fern
walked into the classroom fifteen minutes late. All of the other
students immediately stared at the petite girl. So
much for first impressions…
She awkwardly strolled into the classroom, trying to ignore all of
the eyes on her.
"Oh,
you must be the transfer student." Fern's eyes immediately
turned to the teacher. "So nice of you to join us."
The
teacher wasn't at all what she was expecting. Rather than some old
and grey hag, the teacher was a tall, tan woman no older t

It
had been a normal day at Ulani's old home in the big tanks in the
white, clean-looking rooms with all the other mermaids. Next thing
she knew, some human in a white coat scooped her up in a little net
and put her in a box. What felt like days passed as she could do
nothing but swim around in the dark, cramped space, hoping for
someone or something to set her free.
Then,
finally, the box opened. It was the first time in what felt like days
that Ulani saw the light. It was blinding at first, b

Colbi
and Rella sat together, hidden inside a wall, against the side of a
peanut butter jar that they had just stolen from the kitchen of the
house they occupied. Such a feat may seem low-key and petty, but for
four-inch tall mousegirls, it was their greatest haul yet.
As
mousegirls, their ears were large and round, and they had skinny pink
tails like their animal counterparts. Colbi had fairly smooth and
short brown hair that barely reached down her neck, whereas Rella had
rough, ungroomed bro

Patti
laid curled up in the strange place. It was so dark and cramped, and
she was enveloped in what felt like some sort of fabric. It felt like
she was in some sort of bag, but it didn't seem like a burlap sack or
anything. With no way out, she tried again to remember how she ended
up in this situation. She was walking home from school, took a path
through the woods, and then everything went black. She was still in
her uniform, with the blue blazer, white skirt, and stockings, so as
far as she