Melina's room looked like a normal room. Her's was no-nonsense. The sheets were spread back perfectly, and even the hair accessories, which I admit were a little out of style with the whole theme of the room, had been arranged in straight lines.

"I like things laid out. It makes it easier on me." She shrugged. Whipping around, Melina snapped her fingers and clothes starting laying themselves out on the bed. "Let's see if anything fits you. I've been meaning to pass some stuff along." She sorted through the pile manually. She pulled out clothes left and right, shooting them back at me without turning her back. Once I had gained a mound of them, she still had more than enough.

"So, you are telekinetic?" I asked when we were walking out.

"Yes." She snapped her fingers and the door closed with a bang. "If nothing fits, bring it back, I played it by ear."

Melina ran down the stairs, so I just followed her. I was experiencing the problem where you're all alone in a strange house that you don't know very well. And you try not to move, because you might mess things up. I folded my arms and tried to be interested in the material some chairs in the entrance hall were upholstered in.

"Hey, you! Get outta the way!" Called a voice that almost called down from the heavens themselves. I ran into a side room as the chandelier started to fall down. But a girl standing in an alcove above caught it. Well, she didn't catch it, but she seemed to be holding it in place. I realized it was Melina. But she wasn't the one who gave me the warning, because the voice belonged to a male.

And indeed, when Melina ran down the staircase, a boy ran out with her. He was a little older than me.

"Netta, you've got to be careful." Melina said, checking me over.

"Aye, being impaled with metal and glass is a bad way to go." Said the boy. He stood with his arms folded. "Thank goodness I saved your life."

"Who's the one that caught the thing?" She glared.

"If I didn't ask you to come up there to help, we would have ta scrape her bits off the floor." He said before turning to look at me. "Pleased to meet you, I'm Conan Moore, which means wise and majestic, and my psychometry jus' saved yer life."

"Yeah." I said. Inside, I couldn't help calling him out on things.

Cut your hair!
High and mighty, aren't you?
Take your fancy name and go.

I must have looked extremely stupid standing there, not moving while having an argument inside my head. So I sprang to life with the first cover story I could think of.

"I got distracted by the birds on your roof." I said.

"Why?" Asked Melina strangely.

"That's my peculiarity, I can hear things better than most people."

"Oh, that's interesting." Said Melina. "You'll tell everyone else at dinner. That's how it works." She explained. "When someone new comes to the house, they tell everyone at dinner, then demonstrate it if they want."

"Interesting." I said, stuck on one word sentences.

A bell rang from further inside the house.

"That would be the dinner bell." Said Melina.

Give him a change. You just got off on the wrong foot. I said to myself. Get it together, Apiston.

The dinner table was pleasant enough. It had windows encasing it on three walls, and it jutted out from the rest of the house. It contained a view of the rest of the city, as the house was built on top of a hill. As the clock moved closer towards five o'clock, more people came into the room. I took inventory of them. The oldest seemed to be Casper, or Fedor. The youngest looked to be not over a year old, she had her own high chair to sit in.

Miss Thrush walked in, giving a wave before sitting at the head of the table. "Children, as you know, or, I think you know, Nettalyn Apiston will be staying with us for the next couple days. I hope you will make her feel welcome."

They all nodded. "As customary, Nettalyn, would you like to share your specialty with us?" Asked Miss Thrush warmly.

"I'm afraid it's difficult to share." I said. "I suppose you could say I can hear things at different decibel that others can't." I blushed.

"So you can hear extra goodly?" Asked a little boy who was about seven.

"Um, yes." I answered.

"Please, Gunther, make sure to speak properly." Said Miss Thrush. "Now, who would like to go first?"

The little boy, Gunther, raised his hand. "Ooooh! Me! Me! Me! Me!"

"Now you are going last, Gunther." Said Miss Thrush.

He made a sad noise.

"Ah, Helen, how about you go first?" Miss Thrush announced, while giving Gunther a look.

"I think Nettalyn already knows this, but I can fly." Said Helen. She nudged Fedor, who was sitting next to her. "And you go next."

"I am unsure if Netta knows this, but I can expel extremely cold or hot air, depending on my preference." Fedor said proudly, ice crystals forming on the chicken on his plate. He started to thaw it.

"He's always full of hot air." Muttered Casper, who sat next to me.

"Who dare say that?" Fedor said angrily. "Why don't you go next then, ghost boy?"

"Okay, I guess I will. Punch me." He said to me. I tried hitting him but my arm kept bouncing off. It didn't ever touch him. "There's like a protective force field around my body." Said Casper. "That's why Fedor seems to dislike me, because he never wins a fight. Unfortunately, it means I can never kiss anyone, which is a shame, because of my good looks." He said, posing in his seat. Jeffrey rolled his eyes.

"If you think he's cool, I'm able to locate anything nonliving in the whole world. I never lose things. Well, since I'm here the whole house never loses things." Jeffrey said. "I'd love to show you sometime, but dinner shouldn't be interrupted. Let's let Melina go, she'll do something cool." He gestured dramatically to Melina at the far end of the table.

"She's already seen it, but I am telekinetic." She waved her hand, and with intense concentration, lifted the table, food and all, over our heads.

"Miss Manon, not while we're eating." Scolded Miss Thrush. Melina quickly lowered the table. It fell to the ground with the clatter of silverware.

"This is Wendy." Melina said, stroking the baby's hair, the one I noticed on my way in. "She's literally 9 months old, we only got her a few weeks ago. Sometimes she likes to blow things up."

I almost spit mashed potatoes on Casper, which wouldn't have been good. "She blows things up?" I asked.

"We are hoping she learns to control herself." Said Miss Thrush. "We can't keep purchasing all the baby essentials."

"Before Gunther, there's me." Said a boy. I hadn't noticed him before. "My name is Arthur. The reason you're wondering why you didn't see me is because I was making you forget you saw me. That's my peculiarity, I can make people forget things."

"Please don't forget-"

"About us." Said two boys who sat across from me. They had blank expressions on their faces. One seemed to be a little older than the other.

"We are connected through-" Said the younger.

"Our heads." Said the older.

"I'm Joel-and-Peter." Said the younger.

"And I'm Peter-and-Joel." Said the older.

"We'd let you hear our scream-"

"But we're inside the house." They finished.

"That's very nice and all, but the lady wants to see me." Said Gunther. "I can change my voice to sound like anything at all. I can also throw it. Cool, huh?" He said, in an exact replica of me!

"There you have it, my peculiar children!" Exclaimed Miss Thrush. "Nettalyn, if it's okay with you, we set up a bed in Melina's room, so you can sleep there."

"Than you, everyone. If you don't mind me asking, when is your changeover?" I asked.

"Oh, it's at nearly midnight, we don't usually experience it." Helen said.

Everyone wished me good night as Melina led me to her room on the third floor. A bed was assembled up there, sheets already turned down for sleeping in. I crawled under the covers, and fell asleep, already dreaming of the next day.