The sky was clear as she walks ahead, but when she looks up she sees a glimpse of a hawk swooping down towards her. She jumps into the air and changes, then starts for home. As she is flying under and through branches she loses the hawk and changes back to her human form. She is one of the therianthropy hybrids, a result of government experiments. Therianthropy hybrids are like shapeshifters, but they can’t change into anything they want. Some can change into wolves, some into rabbits, and others into cats, but there are way more than that. Therianthropic hybrids have to hide their abilities from the public. Lillian Wox is a therianthropic hybrid and she changes into a cardinal. Her parents are also therianthropic hybrids. She lives with her mother because her father was taken away for scientific experiments before she was born.She changes to get away from predators, or people who will experiment with her.

“Lillian get in the house and look at this!” she hears her mom call. Lillian figures that something happened. As she walks into the kitchen her mom says, “They were investigating a coffee shop a couple blocks away.” Lillian sighs, “Again? Why can’t people keep a secret?” She walks up to her room and grabs her laptop. She then starts searching for information about the investigation.

“Hybrids Reveal Themselves At Local Coffee Shop”

“3 teenage hybrids reveal themselves at Chris’s Coffee shop when a police dog gets close to them while investigating. They thought that they were in danger, so they changed into their hybrid forms to protect themselves. The event shocked everyone and now they wonder what is going to happen next, now that they know there are more hybrids out in the world. The school district of Izayel is canceling school for the next 2 weeks because they don’t want to risk anything happening.”

“Mom! I don’t have school!” she calls and her mom comes up the stairs, looks at the laptop screen and smiles.

“Then you can stay home and finish the work you missed when you started changing.”

Her mom leaves the room and Lillian opens her window, breathing in the fresh air. Until she smells something rotten and foul. She goes to call for her mom again when a hand is placed over her mouth. Lillian struggles to get the hand off and when she finally does she notices her old childhood friend.

“Blaze! You scared me! I thought you were an officer,” Lillian says giving him a hug. “When did you get here?”

“I got here a couple of minutes ago, I thought it would be fun to surprise you,” Blaze says laughing and hugging Lillian back. Lillian runs down the stairs to tell her mom that Blaze is there, but what she sees was not expected. Her mom being sniffed by a dog, and officers holding both of her arms behind her back. Lillian runs back up the stairs and runs into Blaze with a scared look in her eyes.

“Blaze they have my mom!”

“What do you mean by that?”

“There’s a dog sniffing her and I don’t wa‒”

“Okay, okay calm down. Let’s get you out of here first,” Blaze says before moving towards the open window. He looks out the window and looks at Lillian.

“Okay, there isn’t anyone looking. If you change and fly away they probably won’t think about it,” He says beginning to put a coat on Lillian.

“What about you?” She asks while pulling at her sleeve. “How will you get out? Where will you–”

“Don’t worry about me. I’ll find a way. Just go and don’t come back!” He pushes her out the window and she flies away. She stops in a tree and looks back as he jumps out the window and runs into the woods. She starts to fly beside him as Blaze changes and dodges the police and runs further into the woods. As she is dodging branch after branch she sees Blaze jumping over rocks and logs. He looks up at her and turns to run towards the river. Lillian now flies faster trying to keep up with Blaze as he runs and jumps into the water. She realizes that he is trying to hide his scent when he starts to roll into the mud. When he is almost fully covered, Lillian changes back and helps spread more on him. They hear a noise and get ready to run again, but a little girl comes out crying. Lillian quickly washes the mud off of her hands and walks over to the little girl.

“What’s wrong?” Lillian asks while kneeling down in front of the girl.

The little girl sniffs, “My mommy was taken by the police.”

“Do you know why they would do that?”

“No, she told me to run away and never talk to them,” The little girl says then sits down on a rock. Lillian looks over at Blaze and he nods his head signaling Lillian to ask.

“Can your mommy change into an animal?” The little girl nods.

“Okay, I have one more question to ask you.” Lillian looks at the little girl's face, “Can you change into an animal?” The little girl looks confused but nods her head slowly.

“I'm a fox!” she says and giggles a little and Lillian smiles a bit knowing that the little girl is just like them. Lillian walks over to Blaze and asks, “Don’t you think that it’s a little too early for her?”

Blaze changes and walks along the river bank thinking. “Lately I’ve noticed that some hybrids are changing earlier than most,” he says deep in thought.

“Maybe the government hasn’t stopped experimenting yet, and this is the outcome,” She says thinking out loud.

Blaze just gives her a little nod in agreement and walks into the water to clean himself off. Lillian walks over to the little girl and tries to get a name.

“What’s your name?” Lillian asks.

“Anabelle Smith,”