"Let me run through a field in the night, Let me lift from the ground, til my soul is in flight..."

Those were the words that echoed in my head that morning as I lay in my bed, my headphones in my ears. I was thinking about my life, and everything that had happened to me for the past few months. Life had not been going well for me lately, and I was getting fed up with everything. I didn't really have any friends, no one at school ever seemed to pay any attention to me, and I seemed to fail at almost everything I tried to do. Nothing I tried ever seemed to work out for me, and I was wondering if it ever would.

I looked down at my phone, which was acting as an iPod at the moment. Music was one of my only escapes from this world, and at the moment I was listening to one of my favorite songs of all time: Flight by Sutton Foster. I loved it because it felt so... relatable to me. I always felt like I needed to get out there, needed to be noticed. I needed to fly away from here, escape from this humdrum life and get myself out there. I sighed, knowing that dreams like that would have to wait for now, and got up to get ready for school.

As I got my stuff together, I suddenly felt something brush up against my leg. I looked down and saw my cat, Coco, staring back up at me. "Hey there, Coco" I said, reaching down to pet his soft, brown fur. My family had gotten Coco a few years back, and I immediately felt a special bond with the animal. Sometimes, I felt like he was my only friend, my one companion in this world. I watched him follow me to the front door, then opened it to let him out. "Bye, Coco! See you when I get home!" I yelled, as I began making my way to the school.

As I walked in the front doors of my school, I couldn't help noticing all of the people surrounding me. They seemed to all be huddled together, talking in groups.... all of them being social and outgoing. I sighed, knowing that I couldn't even hope to be among them. I was basically the very definition of a loner, making it a habit to keep to myself. I never really talked to anyone, mostly because I didn't really know what to say. Clearly, I wasn't born with social skills, so I never really knew what to say to others.

Sitting down at a nearby table, I reached into my backpack and pulled out a small, battered notebook, hoping to work on one of my stories. Writing was one of the few things that I could actually do with myself, and it was another way for me to escape from my life. I was currently engaged in a story about a girl like me, a girl who desired nothing more than freedom and a chance to do something exciting in her life. Only, this girl had wings. It may seem like a bit of a Mary-Sue concept, but I tried to make it a little more deep than most people would expect, using it as a source of conflict between her desire for freedom and her duty to her loved ones at home.

"Hey. What are you doing?"

Startled, I quickly looked up to find a boy standing over me. He was pretty tall, with short brown hair and a long, narrow face. "Um... nothing much" I said, slightly flustered. "Just... writing."

The boy smiled. "Really?" He looked down at my notebook. "What are you writing about?"

"Well..." I said, feeling a little nervous. "It's about this girl... who has wings. I know it seems a little cliche, but I'm trying to expand on the concept a little, so it's not as... you know..."

"Don't worry, I know. And I think it's a great concept!" said the boy. "I'm Jon, by the way."

I smiled. "I'm Katherine" I said.

"That's a great name" said Jon. As he said it, he happened to glance down at my backpack. "Are those earbuds?" he asked, pointing at one of the pockets.

"Hmm? Oh, yeah" I said, pulling them out of my backpack, and my phone along with them. "I was listening to some music before school, and I guess I was in a bit of a hurry to get that into my backpack..."

"Can I see what you were listening to?" asked Jon. I nodded, and handed him my phone. He examined it, looking quite thoughtful. "I don't think I know this song" he finally said. "Or this singer, for that matter."

"Sutton Foster? She's actually an actress." I looked up at him. "That's actually one of my favorite songs of all time, you know" I said. "It's what inspired me to write that story in the first place."

"Well, it must be pretty good, then" said Jon, grinning. Suddenly, his grin vanished. "I wish I could write stuff like that" he said. "Honestly, things haven't really been going well for me lately."

"Really?" I asked. "What do you..."

Before I could finish, I noticed someone else coming up behind Jon. "Hey, Jon!" the other boy yelled, grabbing Jon's shoulders. "You doing alright?"

Jon laughed. "Hey, Connor!" he said. Then he turned to me. "Katherine, this is my best friend Connor. Connor, this is Katherine. I just met her. She's a writer."

Connor looked at me. "A writer, huh?" he said. "What kinds of things do you write about?"

I shrugged. "Mostly fantasy stuff" I said. "Like, this one story involves this girl with wings, and her struggle to find herself. I have some other stuff, too, but this is what I'm working on right now. I was mostly inspired by this song I've been listening to lately, because I feel like it relates to my life really well...."

Connor nodded. "Pretty cool" he said. "Hey, do you mind if I go somewhere else for a bit? I need to do a little thinking about... something."

For a moment, I thought I saw a rather... unpleasant look cross Jon's face, as if he had just bitten into something sour. However, that look vanished almost as quickly as it appeared. "Uh... yeah, sure" he said, though it seemed like it was taking great effort. "Just... do whatever you want."

Connor smiled. "Thanks" he said, before walking away.

As I watched him leave, I noticed that Jon was glaring at him hard. "What a jerk" he muttered angrily. "Ever since he stopped having those dreams..."

I looked at him, feeling a bit confused. "Jerk? What do you mean? He seemed nice enough to me" I said. "And what's this about dreams?"

Jon sighed. "Oh, a little while ago, Connor was having these reoccurring dreams" he said. "They all seemed to involve something calling out to him, or something like that. We were always talking about them, wondering if there really was something calling out to him, or if he was just going crazy. But a few days ago, he came in and told me that he had just stopped having them. All of a sudden, they just went away, like they had never happened. I thought that that was the end of it, but..." He shook his head sadly. "Ever since he stopped having them, it seems like he's been wanting to spend less and less time with me. That story you've been writing... A few weeks ago, he would have been all over that kind of thing. But now, he just treats it like it's nothing. I don't understand it..."

He looked back up at me. "Anyway, its been nice talking to you" he said. "I hope you keep on writing that story of yours, because it seems really interesting."

I smiled. "Thanks" I said. "Also... thanks for talking to me. It... means a lot to me."

"Really?" asked Jon. "Why's that?"

"Well..." I said. "It's just that.... you know, I don't really have a lot of friends.... or any friends, really. I normally just keep to myself... so it's nice when someone actually wants to talk to me.

"Hey, don't mention it" said Jon, grinning. "Honestly, I'm kind of surprised that you don't have more friends. You seem really interesting."

I looked at him curiously. "Really?" I asked.

He nodded "Sure" he said. "Anyway, class is probably going to start soon, so I should probably get going. See you around!"

I grinned. "You too!" I called, watching him walk away.

The rest of the day passed by without me really even noticing. I was too focused on my earlier conversation with Jon to focus on anything else happening to me. I was amazed that he had even bothered to talk to me, let alone tell me how great my writing was! Since I didn't have any real friends of my own, the simple fact that someone had said all of that to me was enough to put me in a good mood for the rest of the day. In fact, as I began walking back to my house after school, I was sure that nothing could destroy my spirit!

Unfortunately, I was wrong.

"Hey, I'm home!" I yelled, coming through the front door. "...Mom? Dad?" I looked around, feeling confused. "Where are you? Hello?" I began searching the house for them, trying to figure out where they were. But I couldn't find them anywhere, and I was beginning to get worried. They weren't supposed to go anywhere today, so why weren't they here?

Just then, I heard the front door open. I ran over to it and, sure enough, I saw my parents standing there. "Where were you?" I asked, walking up to them. They looked at me and, for the first time, I saw their faces. But instead of being cheerful, like they normally were, these faces seemed to be somber and stricken with worry. "...Did something happen?" I asked.

My mom looked at my dad. "You want to tell her?" she asked.

Now I was really worried. "Tell me what?" I asked.

My father looked at me, his eyes filled with pity. His arms were trembling and, for the first time, I noticed that he was holding something in them. It was wrapped in a blanket, though, so I couldn't tell what it was. But as soon as he lifted the blanket, I immediately felt like I had been punched in the stomach.

Lying in my father's arms.... was Coco. Dead.

For a moment, I couldn't speak. My lips were moving, but my voice simply refused to work. "What... happened?" I finally managed to force myself to say.

My mom looked at me, and I could see that there were tears in her eyes. "...I'm sorry, Katherine" she said. "We were outside, and we were watching Coco. He had just gone into the street when a car just came speeding out of nowhere and..." she shook her head. "There was nothing we could do. We tried to save him, but..."

"No... t-this isn't..." I looked down at my cat's lifeless body. "Why... why did this.." I reached down to touch his fur, hardly able to believe what was happening. My cat, Coco, dead! The one creature that I ever felt truly close to.... now gone, taken away from me forever. I picked up his lifeless body, holding it in my arms. I felt a few tears fall from my eyes, wetting his brown fur. I handed his body back to my parents and, unable to contain myself anymore, pushed past them and ran out the front door, tears falling down my face.

"Katherine!" my mom yelled, but I was too far gone to care. I had to get away, had to be by myself. I had a habit of withdrawing from others when things didn't go well for me, and at this point, I knew that I needed to put some serious distance between myself and the rest of the world. Luckily, I knew just the place to go.

I ran and ran, refusing to stop until I reached my destination. Eventually, though, I managed to make it to my spot: a meadow near the edge of town. As soon as I reached it, I began walking, taking in everything. It was a calming, relaxing place, filled with fresh air, birds, and beautiful green grass. It was almost enough to make me forget about Coco. Almost.

I laid down on the grass, some tears still in my eyes. I just... couldn't believe that this had happened. Coco was dead, and I was alone. Alone in the world once more, with seemingly nowhere to go.

In my despair, I impulsively shoved my hands into my pockets. However, my fingers were met by something unexpected: my phone, followed by my earbuds. I pulled these items out, vaguely remembering shoving them in my pocket before going to class. As I looked at my phone, I realized that music was probably the only thing that could cheer me up now. I pulled out my earbuds, not wanting to restrict myself to my phone, and let my music play.

"I'll catch a ship that will sail me astray, get caught in a wind I'll just have to obey, til I'm flying away..."

I closed my eyes, letting the music soothe me. It was amazing how even in my darkest times, this song seemed to be able to calm me completely and make me feel better. It was so... calming, relaxing me to the point where I could just forget about all of my problems, let them blow away in the wind.

Speaking of the wind, I was beginning to notice that the wind was beginning to pick up. I stood up, curious as to what was going on with the breeze. But just as I did, the wind immediately began blowing harder and harder, until it felt like there was a wind tunnel blowing into my face! I gasped, desperately trying to keep my hair in check as it flew along with the wind.

However, as I was looking around, I noticed something strange: neither the grass nor the trees seemed to be affected by this sudden windstorm. They were perfectly still, not even moving a little. As I tried to figure out how that was even possible, I suddenly felt an even stronger burst of wind! I felt myself get knocked over by the sudden gale, landing on my back. Then, just as quickly as it started, the wind stopped.

I sat back up, "Well, that was weird..." I muttered to myself. "Oh, my hair's a mess..." But as I ran my fingers through my hair, trying to straighten it, I felt them brush up against something... odd. "What the... Ow!" I yelled, quickly pulling it out. I brought my hand to my face, seeing that I was holding a... white feather? "How did that get in my hair?" I wondered allowed. "Not only that... why did it hurt when I pulled it out?"

I ran my fingers through my hair again, only to find... more white feathers. They seemed to be popping up all over my head, and attempts to pull them out only resulted in more pain. Not only that, but... was my hair getting shorter? As my fingers touched my forehead, I noticed something even more distressing: there were feathers sprouting there, too. In fact, there seemed to be feathers covering my entire face!

Needless to say, I was quite a bit concerned while this was happening. However, my concern nearly doubled when I looked at my hand. My hand didn't look normal at all, as it appeared that yellow... scales were emerging on my palm. Wide-eyed, I quickly turned my hand over, to find that these scales were appearing all over my hand, even spreading up my arm. But the biggest shock was my fingers, as not only were they also turning yellow and scaly, but my fingernails were turning black, beginning to grow longer and sharper. "Oh my God..." I said, staring at my changed hand. "I... I have claws...."

I looked at my other hand. The yellow scales, the claws... they were both present on that hand, too. But as I examined my hands in shock, I noticed that my mouth was beginning to feel... not quite right. Nervously, I brought my hand up to my mouth... and was met with yet another shock. My mouth and nose were beginning to fuse together, and they felt like they were beginning to... harden. The next thing I knew, I felt them begin to expand, pushing out in front of my face! As I ran my hand along this new growth, I realized what it was: a beak. I had just grown a beak.

Now I was truly in a state of panic. My heart racing, I began running my hands all over my face, including my new beak. I was met with little relief, as I only found more feathers, which now completely covered my face. Not only that, but all traces of my hair seemed to be gone, replaced by more white feathers. As I brushed against my ears, though, I realized that they had grown longer, and more pointy. Then I noticed something else: my hearing had was much better than it had been before, as I could clearly hear conversations from people on the street, over a block away. I also noticed that my eyesight had increased to almost superhuman levels, as I could clearly make out words carved onto a tree over fifty yards away!

But as I was marveling over my new heightened senses, I began to feel something growing in my torso area. Being careful not to puncture my shirt with my new claws, I lifted it up to find... wait. I blinked a few times, to make sure I was seeing things correctly. Underneath my shirt was... fur? Just to make sure I wasn't going crazy, I lifted up my shirt more, only to find more white feathers growing on my upper torso, near my breasts. White feathers on the upper part of my body, but fur on the lower part? It didn't make any sense to me, but I was a little too freaked out to really dwell on that.

The fur didn't stop on my torso, either. As I looked down, I noticed that the same fur was also beginning to sprout on my legs. I also happened to notice that the fur was a golden-brown color. I began running my fingers through this fur before realizing that, with my new claws, that might not be such a good Idea. The fur was beginning to spread now, growing all over my legs. But when it spread down to my feet, I noticed something strange happening to them. They seemed to be growing much larger, to the point where my shoes could barely contain them! The next thing I knew, they had burst right through the tips of my shoes, no longer small enough to stay inside. But they were far from normal, as it appeared that it looked like some of my toes had merged together, leaving me with three on each foot. I also noticed that my toenails had grown out, becoming sharp claws. Before I knew it, I found myself standing on the balls of my feet, raising my height by a few inches. As I looked down at my new feet, I realized exactly what it was that they had become. "Paws..." I said, in utter disbelief. "I... I have.... this is unbelievable..."

As I looked down at my new body, down at the paws, the fur, the feathers, and the claws, I suddenly had a moment of realization. My eyes widened, as I began to figure out exactly what I was becoming! But before I could dwell on it any further, I began to feel what felt like something... growing, just above my backside. The next thing I knew, the back of my shorts had ripped open, and I quickly turned my head to see what had happened. But the moment I looked, I thought my heart was going to stop. Sticking out from my pants was a long, slender, fur-tipped tail. I quickly grabbed the new appendage, running my hand over it in disbelief. But as I was doing that, I began to feel another growing sensation, this time in my shoulders. Soon, my shirt had ripped open as well giving way to two, gigantic, feathery.... wings.

For a moment, I just stood there, frozen in shock. I reached up to run my hands over my new wings, my heart beating frantically. "I... have... wings... " I finally said, snapping out of my shocked state. I looked down over myself. "And a tail. And paws. And claws... " I brought my hand back up to my face. "...And a beak. I...I'm literally talking through a beak..." As I looked myself over, the realization of what I was began to return to me. A creature that I had always admired because of how amazingly beautiful yet powerful it was. A creature that always made me smile and think about how much I envied its power and freedom whenever I saw it. A creature that, to me, represented being free in a way that nothing else could.

I had become a gryphon. An anthro gryphon.

As I tried to process the reality of what had happened to me, my now sensitive ears suddenly began picking up the sound of voices, heading right for me! Realizing what someone might do to me if they saw me like this, I quickly turned around, ready to make a run for it. But before I could take off, I noticed that the voices were saying some... interesting things. "Are you sure there's a spirit around here, Pyra?" asked a male voice, filled with wit and sarcasm. "Maybe you just got rusty after spending so much time in that cave!"

"Maybe I wasn't just waiting for a potential host to come wandering in, Sol!" a stern, female voice responded. "Maybe I was actually training so that I could actually recognize a spirit when I'm near one, like right now!"

"Wait!" A third voice cried, much younger than the other two. "I think I see someone over there! I'm going in!"

My curiosity getting the better of me, I turned in the direction of the voices... and noticed what looked like a red streak, coming right for me! "No!" I yelled, impulsively thrusting my arms out. But the moment I did, I suddenly felt a blast of wind against my back. The moment the sudden gust hit the red streak, it was suddenly knocked back, falling to the ground.

I looked at my hands in disbelief. "Did... did I cause that?" I said.

I looked back at the figure sprawled out on the ground, and noticed that it looked like... some sort of giant, red and gold bird. Only it looked like its wings were coming out of its back, and it had talons on both its hands and feet. It looked up at me, a weary look in its eyes. "Geez..." it said. "Did you have to do that to me?"

I just stared. First my cat dies, then I turn into some kind of anthro gryphon, and now some kind of bird like creature is talking to me? At this point, I was convinced that this was some kind of horrible dream, and that I would wake up eventually. But just as I thought that, I heard another voice, laughing. "Reckless as always, aren't you, Will?" the voice said. I looked up to see where the voice was coming from... and screamed.

Standing in front of me was an eight foot tall, bipedal dragon! It towered over me, its red and yellow scales glistening in the sunlight and its golden eyes staring down at me. I backed away from it slowly, trembling. "Please...." I said, my voice shaking. "Please... don't hurt me..."

The dragon's golden eyes were suddenly filled with confusion. "Hurt you?" it said. "Why would I..." Just then, the confusion vanished, replaced by shock. "Wait..." it said. "...Katherine? Is that you?"

Now it was my turn to be confused. "What?" I said. "How do you even know my..." I stopped, realizing that the dragon's voice sounded... vaguely familiar. And then it hit me. "Wha... Connor?" I cried in disbelief.

The dragon slowly nodded. "I... don't believe it..." he said.

"Well, that's convenient. It seems you already know each other" said another voice. Recognizing it as the female voice from earlier, I began looking around for the speaker, but couldn't see anyone else, even with my improved vision.

I looked back at Connor. "Who said that?" I asked.

"Oh, that's my spirit" replied Connor. I responded with a blank stare, which seemed to confuse him. "You know, the one who transformed me? You should have one, too."

"I should?" I asked. But just as I said it, I suddenly heard another voice.

"Hello?" The voice said. This voice seemed young and feminine, with just a hint of shyness to it. "Sorry... I'm not really used to this whole "spirit sharing" thing, much less full-on possession."

"Don't worry, Gale. You're doing fine" replied Connor's spirit. "Also, it's not really "possession", since we aren't completely taking over their minds..."

"Wait..." said my spirit, apparently named Gale. "Are you... Pyra? It's been so long, I didn't even recognize you at first!"

"About five hundred years, to be exact" said Connor's spirit, Pyra. "I'm so glad to see you again!"

"So... I take it you know each other, then" said Connor.

"We've been friends since the fourteenth century, actually" replied Pyra. "She mostly keeps to herself, but she can be quite caring when she wants to be. She even has power over the wind! Quite impressive."

Next to Connor, the giant red and gold bird-thing from earlier had already gotten back up. "Well, that explains how she knocked me back like that" he groaned. "My head's still spinning, by the way."

"Oh yeah, I almost forgot about you!" said Connor. "Katherine, this is my younger brother, Will. Will, this is Katherine. We go to the same high school."

"Allow me to introduce myself" said another voice, one that I recognized as the witty male voice from earlier. "I am this boy's spirit, Sol the Phoenix! Well, right now I'm more like an anthropomorphic phoenix, actually. Or a "phoenix with human..."

"Thanks, but I know what it means" I said. I looked back at Connor. "So let me get this straight. We're being "possessed" by these spirits, who are turning us into anthropomorphic mythical creatures. Why, exactly?"

"Well... it's kind of a long story" said Connor. "Basically, we need to rise up against this evil spirit who wants to take over the world. That's why we need to find more spirits, to get more people on our side. But I can explain all of that later. For now, lets just get you used to that new body of yours. Come on, let's go!"

"Wait" I said. "Sorry, but... this is all really sudden. I...I'm not so sure I want this."

"What?" said Connor. "What do you mean?"

"Well..." I said, looking over my new form. "I just... don't think I'm ready for this kind of thing. You can't just drop this on me and expect me to just go along with it. It doesn't work like that." I turned away. "I'm sorry, but I going to pass on this little group of yours."

"Wait!" someone yelled. I stopped, recognizing the voice as my spirit, Gale. "You can't just leave us like this!" she yelled. "I thought... this was what you wanted."

Now I was confused. "What made you think that?" I asked.

"Well..." said Gale. "It was... that song you were playing. It was beautiful, and you seemed so... peaceful, listening to it. One look, and I could tell that you really could relate to that song, and that you really desired... freedom. So... that's why I changed you. To grant your wish."

I sighed. "We don't always really want what we wish for, Gale" I said.

"I know" said Gale. "But... please, just try to stay with us. I really wanted to do this with someone like me, someone who wanted a change, wanted freedom. So... just do it for me. Please."

I looked back at Connor. "Well... alright" I said. I looked up at Connor. "I'll go with you."

Connor grinned. "Glad to have you on board, Katherine" he said. "Now what do you say we fly on back to my place?"

"Fly?" I looked back at my wings. "Oh, right. Um, alright!"

"Okay, then" said Gale. "Hey, how about I create a gust of wind to give you a little lift?"

"What?" Suddenly, I felt the wind pick up around me. Realizing that the wind was actually helping me lift up, I quickly began flapping my wings. Sure enough, I felt my paws lift from the ground as I rose up into the air. Before I knew it, I had taken off, flying through the air at ridiculous speeds! "Wow!" I cried. "This is... amazing!"

Next to me, Connor rose up as well. "See, I knew you would like it!" he said. "Now come on, we have to get back to my place."

"Hold on" I said. I was having a bit of a... suspicion regarding Connor. "Connor, did your transformation have anything to do with those... recurring dreams you had earlier?"

Connor's eyes widened. "...Yes." he said. "they were Pyra's way of calling out to me to get me to come to her, but... how did you know about them?"

Suspicion confirmed. "Jon told me about them" I said.

"Okay..." said Connor. "But why are you asking me about them now?"

I thought about everything Jon had said to me after Connor left earlier. "Um... no reason" I said. "Now come on, let's go!"

Connor nodded. "Yeah, let's go!" he said, taking off.

I flew after him, feeling the best I had felt in quite some time. I felt alive, energetic, strong, powerful, and most of all... free.

"Wish me on my way" I said to myself. "Through the dawning day..."