• Kir blinked his bright blue eyes, batting his eyelashes in an almost human gesture. His paws gripped the separator between window and wall, his tail swishing to and fro as he flirted with his reflection. I snorted, shaking my head while nibbling on a snack bar I had fished out from my backpack. Stupid narcissistic ferret ate all my damned crackers.

    A chime echoed through the car, followed by a voice on the loudspeaker, silencing the din of countless people as they stuffed their bags into compartments and chatted with their friends. I half-expected something like 'this is your captain speaking', but it was just a normal voice telling everyone to please take their seats, we'd be leaving shortly, and you may remove your inhibitors at the second chime only.

    Inhibitors? What the hell?

    I couldn't even begin to wonder what that was about.

    My compartment was still empty when the train gave one big shudder, and began sliding away from the platform. Was I really lucky enough to get my own group? I crossed my fingers as soon as I thought of it, hoping that whatever fate was in charge of me wouldn't have me sitting with a bunch of strangers. I just wanted to stretch out on my seat and nap, but I couldn't even take my shoes off until I knew no one was around. Didn't anyone to think my feet smelled funny, or that I was too laid-back or something.

    Yeah I've got some issues. ******** you.

    After a good ten minutes, when I thought I was safe, Fate or Karma or whatever b***h had been listening to my silent begging for solitude decided to spit in my face. A hand pulled back the curtain closing off my compartment, and a very pretty girl with long golden braids peeked in, a bright smile lighting her face. I wasn't fast enough to hide Kir, but luckily the ferret had jumped down and was playing with a stray thread from my sweater while sitting on my lap.

    "Hey, are these seats empty?"

    I really didn't want to admit it, but her voice sounded so ridiculously happy and excited that I couldn't resist the nod, my expression fixed in what might have been fear. I didn't like strangers, and now I had to sit with one. The girl shouted down the car, supposedly at a friend or something, before dropping a purse on the table and scooting in to sit across from me. Her purse looked expensive and fancy, and she was so pretty it pissed me off.

    I wasn't jealous.

    Okay that's a lie, I was insanely jealous. Her hair was like gold, her eyes were enormous and electric blue instead of that smudged blue-grey that mine were, and her face had perfect features. She was slender, but not thin, curving in all the places my body refused to. Of course, I'd seen television shows with perfect teenagers and all that, the cheerleaders and whatnot who were usually portrayed as the bad guy, but I hadn't thought people really looked like that at all. Not to mention, she seemed nice. So much for the nasty hot teenager portrayal.

    She tried to introduce herself as Rina, but before I could decide whether or not to give her my name, her friends joined, and all desire to play nice flew out the window.

    Three boys and another girl piled themselves into my compartment. I had taken a seat by the window, and I found myself cramming against the glass, fixing my eyes on the scenery outside with my hands holding onto Kir; or at least, I pretended to be fascinated with the grey blur of the city lit by the afternoon sunshine. I was trying very hard not to touch whomever was unlucky enough to sit next to me, wishing with all my might that I could just fold in on myself and disappear. At the same time, I was watching the reflections in the glass, examining the others in a way that wouldn't have them staring back at me. I never liked crowds, and now I was discovering I didn't want strangers to even look at me.

    They were all stupidly good-looking. Ah, how unfair life was. Why did I have to be sitting in a group with a bunch of people that made me look like a lump of coal sitting amongst diamonds? Why couldn't I get my own compartment? All dazzling smiles and perfect bodies... Though I couldn't see the face of the one sitting next to me, he was sitting back so there was no reflection. I couldn't hear his voice, so I assumed he wasn't talking at all.

    Talk, talk, talk. They chattered on and on, and I found my eyes drifting shut. I'd been so excited I hadn't slept well the night before, so it wouldn't take much for me to fall asleep; I kept yelling at myself not to with Kir on my lap where he could so easily be discovered. I didn't want him taken away from me, but I was just so tired... I couldn't fight it off, and I fell asleep.

    I was awoken by a ringing chime, much like the first which had accompanied the announcement upon leaving the train station. The announcer said something about inhibitors again, something about dinner and something about the ocean. I wasn't quite awake enough to pay too much attention, and I briefly pondered just going back to sleep.

    Until I noticed it was dark outside, and Kir wasn't in my lap.

    I stiffened, casually looking around so as not to draw suspicion to myself. However, before I even registered that my ferret was curled up with a black cat on the table, my attention was drawn by... Something else.

    I say something, because I wasn't sure at the time of what I was seeing. It was like... The air flickered around the others sitting in my compartment, like a heat wave rising off the concrete in the summer. Rina was taking off a gold bracelet she had been wearing, the other girl tossed some earrings onto the table, and the boys removed rings and pendants. And as they did...

    My stomach flipped. Suddenly, I was wide awake.

    They weren't human.