As they rushed off to their first class, (Art) Scarlette couldn't help but feel a little down that Joel wouldn't be there, since he was still in hospital. The doctor had told her that he should be out door tomorrow, and she hoped that would be true, he was one of her best friends. As the two penguins opened the door cautiously, and the art teacher gave them a confused look. Erin explained what happened to him, and sat down in her usual seat, volgende to a small hole in the cave, which was classed as a window. She stared outside, her head in the clouds. She really wanted to find out why that oil substance changed them, and why it was so different for each person.
I'll have to go back and collect a sample of it, and analyse it. She thought, her attention turning back to the class, as the rest of the kids piled in, chatting and giggling noisily. In this class were, the sisters, Joshua, Joel (usually) and a kid called Jacob.
"Ok so today, we're going to continue with our card designs." The teacher, Mr Longden, explained, getting a box of folders out, and passing them to the kids. Heather tuned out, and worked slowly, not hearing a word of what was going on around her. She glanced around the room, and her eyes fell on Cassie and Joshua. They were talking and giggling as usual, but Cassie seemed meer quiet,and nervous.
Probably becasue she likes him, and because of her feathers. Heather guessed, turning her attention to Becky. Becky's pencil was gliding over her paper in ease, every stroke curvy and beautiful. Becky was very good at art, and always made incredible pieces. (Though she wasn't as good as Kai of Joel) Heather smiled and tuned back to her own piece. The card designs were supposed to be based on something that inspired you, and Heather had chose muziek and colour. And so far, she only had a colourful muziek note on the page, and a rainbow. For the past few lessons, she had been a little stumped about what to do. She looked down at her flippers, then up at her sisters. She smiled, and began to draw a head shot of each one of them on the paper, which ended up taking most of the lesson. She then wrote, 'For making my life bright and colourful' underneath them. She smiled and looked up at the clock. The klok, bell went for seconde lesson, and the kids rushed to their volgende lesson, which wet surprisingly quickly. Break was volgende and as Heather was passing Cassie and her friends, she couldn't help but overhear some of their conversation.
"Why does it matter if my feathers have changed colours, I'm still me!" Cassie protested, looking tearful.
"Exactly, I'm with Cass on this one." Joshua agreed, staring at their 'friends' in disbelief.
"Me too." One of Cassie's friends, madeliefje, daisy agreed. The other penguins (Masie, Alex, and Kyle) gave them a look of disgust.
"You have changed, u look all freaky, and you're quieter!" Masie argued, frowning at Cassie.
"Hey, she does NOT look freaky!" Joshua replied sharply, his eyes dark with anger.
"Yes she does, her and all of her sisters have really always been freaks, but now it's easy to tell." Masie replied, smiling evilly at the three penguins.
"Sis, what on earth is wrong with you!?" madeliefje, daisy asked, staring at Masie.
"Nothing's wrong with me, the only thing wrong here is that little freak." She replied, pointing at Cassie. Kyle and Alex nodded in agreement. Cassie burst into tears and ran off down the corridor. Joshua and madeliefje, daisy gave their former vrienden a dark look and ran off after her. Heather stared after them for a second, then turned her head to Masie, Kyle and Alex. "What are u staring at freak?" Masie asked.
"Not your ugly face that's for sure." Heather snapped, not only surprising the crowd around them, but herself too. She began to walk off when Kyle stopped her.
"What did u just say?" He asked, his eyes flashing with anger.
"I said, 'Not your ugly face, that's for sure'." Heather repeated calmly, going to walk on again. Alex stood in front of her, and Kyle grabbed her flippers. He then nodded to Alex, who drew his flipper back, ready to stempel, punch her. Heather reacted quickly, and kicked Alex in the stomach, making him fall over in pain and surprise.
"Woah, Alex, are u alright?" Kyle asked, loosening his grip on Heather, who then broke free, and twisted his flipper back. He yelped in pain, and Heather twisted harder, then threw him at a nearby locker. His face collided with the rock solid metal, and he passed out of the floor. Heather smiled in satisfaction, and looked down at Alex, who was still on the floor. She kicked him with all the force inside her, then turned to Masie, who was beginning to back away.
"Hey, we- we were only joking.." Masie stammered, holding her flippers up, and breathing heavily. Heather cornered her and looked directly into her horrible face.
"Don't u ever mess with my family again." Heather told her sternly. Her purple eyes seemed to glow with anger. She began to turn away, then turned back suddenly, and punched Masie in the face, and kicked her stomach. Masie screamed and fell to the floor. Heather then smoothed her hair down, put her headphones back in, and walked calmly away from the chaos, as if nothing had happened.
Meanwhile, Joshua had just caught up with Cassie, who was standing outside of the girls toilets, sniffling, and wiping her eyes. She couldn't believe that her friends, the people who were supposed to be there for her, would turn their backs on her, just because of her appearance. She then realised that they never were her real friends, they were just terrible people, who cared about looks and popularity.
"Hey are u ok?" Joshua asked, wiping the remaining tears out of his vrienden eyes, and holding her flippers.
"Well not really, the people I thought I could count in basically spat in my face and turned their beaks up on me, because of my feathers." Cassie replied, blinking the tears gathering at the back her eyes away.
"Not all of them did." Joshua reminded her, hugging her gently. Cassie returned the hug instantly, and relaxed a little.
"Thanks for being here for me Joshua." Cassie whispered, hugging a little tighter.
"No problem Cass, I always will be." He told her reassuringly. Cassie looked up at him, and smiled shyly. He smiled back, and stroked her hair slowly, blushing a little as he did. Cassie's hart-, hart sped up in her chest, and she pulled a daring move. She closed the distance between them, and kissed him softly, running her flipper though his hair. This took Joshua door surprise, but he kissed back, wrapping his flipper around her waist and pulling her closer. A few seconds, they pulled away, and Cassie blushed.
"I- I've kinda liked u for a while." She admitted, smiling up at the taller penguin.
"Same here." Joshua replied, blushing a little. A moment later, madeliefje, daisy rushed around the corner and ran up to them, breathing heavily.
"You two are fast!" She exclaimed, panting slightly. "And sorry Cassie, I don't know what's wrong with Masie, she shouldn't have zei those things to you, I'm having a good word with her when I get home." She added.
"Thanks Daisy." Cassie zei gratefully. She began to say something, when Becky ran up to Cassie. "Oh hallo Beck, what's up?" She asked, frowning at her sister's expression.
"Heather just beat up those vrienden of yours!" Becky told her breathlessly. Cassie's jaw dropped, and she looked at Joshua and Daisy, who's expressions had turned gleeful. Cassie began to smile.
"Good, they deserve it!" She remarked, grinning devilishly. Becky stared at her sister in confusion, and looked at loss for words. madeliefje, daisy quickly explained what had happened, then turned to Cassie.
"We've gotta thank your sister for that, let's go and see if those scum bags are still on the floor." She said, beaming at Cassie.
"Urm, well Heather's in the principles office at the minute...." Becky piped up. Cassie's eyes widened and her attention was caught door her other sisters, who were walking up to them.
"Hey Cassie, I heard about what happened." Scarlette said. "Who'da thought Heather was capable of such butt-kicking?" She zei out loud, smiling a little.
"Anyway, we were gonna go to the principles office and wait for Heather, are u coming?" Erin asked. Cassie nodded, and the penguins set off down the corridor.
"I hope she's not getting shouted at too much." Lily remarked.
Meanwhile...
Heather sat in silence, and stared at the floor, not daring to look the principle in the eye. The principle sighed, and took his glasses off, wiping them with a cloth. He had a soft spot for Heather, because of her quiet nature, lack of friends, and good behaviour. And because she was different to the loud, noisy, and hyper kids.
Heather, can u tell me why u hurt those kids?" He asked softly, putting his glasses back on. Heather didn't say a word. She picked up a nearby pencil, and tapped it on the desk. The principle thought hard and put a piece of paper in front of her. "How about u draw, of write what happened?" He suggested. Heather nodded silently, and began to draw Cassie and her 'friends' on the paper. She labelled each on, and put little speech bubbles volgende to them. On the seconde half of the paper, she drew Cassie running off in tears, and Joshua and madeliefje, daisy following her. She turned the paper over, and then drew about how the kids then had a go at her, and tried to hurt her. She then drew herself kicking their butts, a small smile tugging at her face. She handed the paper silently to the principle, who studied it carefully. "So.." The principle began, staring at the mean penguins. "These kid, Masie, Alex and Kyle, were being horrible to your sister because of her feathers, and made her cry?" He asked.
"Yes." Heather replied quietly.
"So they started to pick on you, and tried to hurt you, so u beat them up?" He asked. Heather nodded in conformation. The principle pressed a button on his desk, and a little red light blinked on. "Please send in Masie, Kyle and Alex." He zei into the red light. A few minuten later, the three penguins stalked in, glaring at Heather.
"Freak." Masie muttered. Heather stuck her foot out and sent Masie tumbling over, knocking over Alex and Kyle in the process.
"Clumsy zeehond, seal scum." Heather remarked, trying to keep a straight face. Maise cast her a dark look, and sat on a spare chair.
"Now, I've been told about what u zei to Cassie, and it's completely unacceptable." The principle began calmly.
"What about her, she beat us up! Alex protested.
"After Masie called her a freak, and u two caught her flippers and tried to stempel, punch her." The principle added sternly. "It was clear self defence."
"Well she punched me in the face!" Masie zei angrily. "I zei we were just kidding, and she still did it."
"Well what do u expect, u were horrible to her family, and her, and we all know that it was no joke, u just wanted to put that family through hell, becasue of something that was out of their control, and u got your comeuppance, now, becasue of what u three did, you'll be in detention for 2 months." The principle replied sternly.
"What about her!?" Kyle asked, almost growling with anger.
"It was self defence so she's let off with a warning." He answered calmly. The three penguins looked outraged, and the principle gestured for Heather to leave. She smiled and headed for the door.
Well it seems some adults have sense after all. She thought, smiling in satisfaction.
Heather opened the principles door, and was took door surprise, as Cassie hugged her tightly.
"Thank for teaching them kids a lesson." She zei gratefully. Heather just smiled in response and stared at the clock above them. It was already half way into third lesson, which made Heather wonder how her sisters had managed to stay outside here without being caught. She pointed to the clock, and the penguins' eyes widened.
"Woah, we better get to....urm, which lesson is next?" Lexi asked.
"Geography." Lily answered cheerfully, bounding towards the classroom. Geography was Lily's favourite subject, and the teacher cared about the environment, like her. As they walked in Becky and Lily sat down with Megan, and Scarlette and Erin sat with Kai and Violet.
"Hey Scarlette, I forgot to ask u earlier, is Joel coming out of hospital soon?" Kai asked, worried for his best friend.
"He should be out this afternoon." Scarlette replied brightly, getting her pencil out.
"Can we go and visit him after school?" violet asked hopefully.
"Sure." Erin agreed, turning to Scarlette and lowering her voice. "Hey, after that I want to get a sample of that oil that changed our feathers, maybe we'll find out what in the substance caused the colour change." She whispered. Scarlette nodded in response.
"After we visit Joel." She reminded her sternly.
"I know I know." Erin replied, her attention turning to the teacher. The lesson dragged for everyone, (except for Lily) but it was soon over. The rest of the dag flew door and the 7 sisters were soon rushing out of the school, and towards the hospital, closely followed door Kai and Violet. As they walked in they saw Joel getting out of his bed and scratching his bandage, which was wrapped around his flipper. He spotted the penguins and his eyes widened.
"Woah, guys, what happened to your feathers?" He asked curiously. Scarlette briefly explained the oil incident, then quickly changed the subject.
"So how are you?" She asked.
"Very good now, I've been so bored most of today." He replied, his normal grin back on his face.
Scarlette, violet and Erin gave him a warm hug, and Kai high-fived his mate, looking the happiest he had been all day. They stayed with him for a little while, chatting, giggling and messing around, until the doctor came in.
"Joel u can go now." He told him, disappearing as abruptly as he arrived. Joel grinned and turned to his friends.
"What should we do for a bit?" He asked.
"Well I'm going down to the lake to collect some of that oil and see why it changed us." Erin replied. "Anyone else coming?"
"Me and Lexi were gonna go down there with Joshua and madeliefje, daisy anyway." Cassie answered, smiling at her sister.
"I'll come aswell." Becky agreed. "What about u Lily?"
"Sure, why not?" Lily agreed. Scarlette and Heather nodded in agreement, and the penguins set off toward the lake.
"I'll be a few minutes." Erin told them, diving in and heading for the sunken ship, a small test tube in her flipper.
Okay, so what room was the oil in? She wondered. She poked her head around a large metal door, it's once shiny exterior reduced to brown rust. Erin touched a piece curiously, and it broke off, floating upwards towards the surface. She continued on, unaware of the sudden events taking place above her.
On the surface..
A large boot had pulled up on the edge of the lake, and two big humans climbed out of it. Joel instinctively backed away.
"We need to go, now." He told the others urgently watching the humans warily.
"Why?" Becky asked. "They're not doing anything."
"It doesn't matter, humans like to take animals to zoos in strange cities." Joel replied, backing away still.
"What makes u say that?" Scarlette asked.
"My Aunty and Uncle were took door a group of them before." He replied, hiding behind an ice rock, which stuck out of the ground. "Get behind here, do u want to be kidnapped door humans?" He hissed, peeping out worriedly. The others sighed and followed him behind the rock.
In the Lake..
Erin collected some of the oil, and put it in her waterproof bag.
"The oughta do." She said, smiling and swimming back towards the surface. She popped her head out, and was surprised to see no one in sight. "Guys?" She called, jumping out of the water and glancing around. She caught sight of the humans and froze in surprise.
"Hey what is that?" One of the humans asked, pointing towards Erin.
"It- it looks like an oranje penguin..." The other replied, taking a step closer to Erin. Erin looked up at him, with curiosity, surprise, and some fear. She tried to verplaats her feet, but they didn't move. Kai popped his head out, and noticed her.
"Erin!" He whispered urgently. "Get over here!" Erin began to back away from the humans, and towards the rock. The humans took a bigger step closer to her and picked her up gently.
"What an unusual colour for a penguin, we'll have to take this one back for study." He decided. The other human nodded in response, and Erin's stomach churned uncomfortably. She began to struggle, and she turned her head to the rock, her eyes full of fear. Scarlette clenched her flippers and ran out after Erin, tugging at the humans broek leg.
"Let her go!" She exclaimed, kicking the human. The other penguins followed her out and ran over to the humans.
"Oh wow, there's a whole regenboog of penguins!" The other human exclaimed. He stared down at the others, and rushed back to the boat.
"Do u think we scared him away?" Becky whispered to Lily.
"Urm, I- I don't think so.." She stammered, as the human came back with a cage. It fell down around the sisters who rattled it, trying to break free. Joel, Kai, Violet, madeliefje, daisy and Joshua tried to help, but it was no use. The humans picked the cage up, and carted it off with them. Cassie shook the cage bars and stared at Joshua tearfully.
"Go, quickly, while u still have the chance!" She told him, trying to wipe the tears from her eyes.
"Cass, I'm not leaving u and your sisters!" He replied, running after the humans, the other penguins closely behind him.
"Look, get help from the adults, they might be able to stop this." Cassie reasoned. She looked back at the humans and saw something on the back of one of their tops. She squinted and read off it, before turning back to Joshua. "This guys tops says Bronx Zoo on it, I think that's where he's taking us." She explained. "Get the adults, and they might be able to find where that is and get us back!" Joshua nodded, trying not to cry himself.
"I won't stop looking for you. Ever." Joshua told her solemnly.
"I know." Cassie said, wiping her eyes as tears rolled down her cheeks.
"And we won't stop looking for u guys either." Joel added. The humans put the cage in the back of their boot and the sisters waved to their vrienden for one last time. They waved back sadly and watched as the boot sped off into the distance.
The seven sisters were let out of their cage, and led into a large, yet strange looking habitat. They stared around it in wonder and walked in cautiously.
"Where are we, it's very warm here!" Lily remarked, flapping her flipper in front of her face, in an attempt to cool herself down.
"I'm guessing this is the Bronx Zoo." Scarlette replied, looking around suspiciously. Their habitat had a large expanse of water covering most of it, with a large cave at the far end of it. Nearby were two other habitats, one tank, labelled 'Dolphins' and the other labelled 'Penguins.'
"Why would they have two pinguïn habitats?" Erin wondered.
"Probably because of our feathers." Cassie remarked, her mind drifting a little. She wondered if Joshua had told the adults, and if he was on his way to get them back.
"Ooh, I want to meet our habitat neighbours!" Becky exclaimed, climbing on top, boven of the habitat fence. She turned to the habitat to their left, the Dolphins. She saw one dolfijn swimming around, jumping in the air occasionally. "Um, hello!" Becky called out, watching her curiously. The dolfijn stopped swimming and popped her out of the water. Her skin was light blue, tinted with grey, and she had dark green eyes, and a blue and green bloem on her head.
"Oh hello, u must be the new arrival, it's nice to meet you." The dolfijn greeted cheerfully, swimming to the side of her habitat, and watching Becky.
"Well, I'm one of them, I'm Becky." Becky replied, smliling brightly.
"I'm Doris, welcome to the Bronx Zoo." Doris said, taking a closer look at Becky. "My, you've got quite unusual feathers." She remarked.
"Yeah, this strange oil changed them to this colour." Becky explained. "Anyway, these are my sisters." She added, gesturing to the other penguins, and introducing them all. Doris greeted all of them in turn, and they began to chat with their new neighbour.
"So what's this zoo like?" Lexi asked.
"It's quite nice, this is the quieter end, we're the only habitats in this corner, including the other pinguïn habitat." Doris answered cheerfully.
"Are the other penguins nice?" Lily asked, a little shyly.
"Yes, most of them are about your age, though there's two adults aswell." Doris replied. "Would u like to meet them?" She asked. The penguins nodded and Doris hopped out of her habitat, and slid across the floor on her belly, towards the other habitat. She popped her head over the fence and the others did the same. This habitat looked similar to theirs, but it was slightly bigger, and had meer land. Heather noticed a small penguin, with a flat head, spiky hair, and light brown eyes, sitting down volgende to the fence, playing with a toy car. He looked up, and smiled at the dolphin.
"Hey Doris." He greeted, putting his car down for a brief second.
"Hey Tom, could u get the others please, I'd like to introduce them to our new neighbours." She explained, nodding to the pinguïn sisters. (Remember, this is set before Tom arrived at the Central Park Zoo.)
"Ok." He replied, jumping into the water, and swimming over to the cave. He disappeared for a brief second, then came out, followed door 6 other penguins. He invited the sisters in, and they stood on the small area of land at the start of the habitat, a little nervously.
"You've met Tom, and they're his parents, Stacey and Paul." Doris began, nodding to the two adults. Stacey was quite short, and had reddish brown hair tied back in a bun, and dark brown eyes. She had a small pair of glasses covering them. Paul was tall, and had a flat head, and light, blueish green eyes.
"And that's Zoe." Tom said, pointing at a small penguin, who had jet black feathers all over, long spiky red hair, a red underbelly, and dark red eyes, beak and feet. "That's Samantha." He continued, nodding at the tall girl penguin, who's blonde hair was tied back in a ponytail, keeping it out of her light brown eyes. She had a red karate riem around her waist. "That's Liam." Tom added, gesturing to a quite tall male penguin, who had light brown eyes, and spiky black hair, that fell a little into his eyes. Tom then turned to the last penguin. "And that's Ryan." He finished. Ryan was the tallest of the penguins, and had dark brown eyes, and short dark brown hair, and a small tuft of it stuck out of the back of his head. Scarlette took a seconde glance at Ryan.
He looks quite a lot like Joel. She thought, smiling at him. He smiled back at the sisters, before speaking up.
"Welcome to the zoo girls, it's nice to have meer penguins here." He greeted brightly. The other penguins nodded in agreement. Doris introduced the pinguïn sisters, and the penguins smiled at each one.
"Would u like a tour of the zoo?" Sam asked.
"Not right now thanks, we're pretty exhausted from our trip." Lily replied politely.
"Did u guys come from Antarctica?" Liam asked.
"Yeah, we were kinda took against our will." Cassie explained, a slight annoyance in her voice.
"Aw, that sucks." Zoe remarked. "Um, were- were u took because of your feathers?" She asked, earning a slap on the back of the head from Ryan. She glared at him, and stood on his foot.
"You can't just ask vragen like that." He hissed.
"Why not?" Zoe asked in a low voice. Ryan just sighed and turned back to the new arrivals. Zoe shot him a dark look.
"Lanky giraffe." She muttered.
"Dwarf." He replied, earning a giggle from Tom.
"To answer your vraag Zoe, yes I think so." Erin replied, a little guiltily. If she hadn't gone to get a sample, maybe they'd still be in Antarctica, and she was feeling a little bad about it. She still had the sample, tucked safely in her bag.
"So, it's real nice to meet u guys, but we'll think we'll turn in for today." Scarlette announced, smiling at them, then hopping over the fence. The other sisters smiled and waved, then hopped over after her. The penguins, and Doris waved and they headed back to their habitat. They entered the cave, and saw a tiny button on the side of the cave.
"That's odd." Heather muttered to herself. She pressed it and a small lift popped out of the ground, She showed it to her sisters, then strolled inside.
"Woah Heather , careful, u don't know what's down there." Cassie warned. Heather shrugged her shoulder and the others exchanged a glance, before following her inside. The lift went down, and they came to a square underground room, with a single porthole on the right wall. There was 3 doors on the left wall, one opened to a bathroom, and the volgende was a large bedroom, divided into 7 sections. The last door contained a spare room, which had nothing in except for a worktable.
"Ooh, I could turn that into a lab!" Erin exclaimed, running into the spare room, and putting her science kit down on the worktable. "She thought for a second, then turned back to the others. "Urm, can I?" She asked hopefully. They sighed, and rolled their eyes. They weren't planning on staying long, but it seemed that Erin had forgotten that.
"C'mon Erin, it's getting late, lets get some sleep." Scarlette told her, patting her shoulder as the other sister went into the room.
"Aright." Erin sighed. "Hey doesn't that Ryan look just like Joel?" She asked her sister, grinning a little.
"I know right, I was thinking the same thing." Scarlette replied, grinning as she walked into the bedroom. There were sleeping bags in each section, and they all lied down in one, hoping to get a little sleep tonight. They called goodnights to each other, then turned off their lights.
I hope u find us soon guys. Cassie thought as she drifted off.
The volgende day, Cassie woke up groggily, to the sound of a small ringing noise.
"Ugh, what is that..?" She groaned. Erin was up like a shot, looking cheery and refreshed.
"I think it's your phone sis." She replied, walking out of the room, and into the bathroom. Cassie's eyes lit up, and she grabbed it and pressed the receive button.
"Hello?" She said, almost bursting with anticipation.
"Hey Cass." Someone zei and she instantly recognised the voice.
"Hey Joshua! Have u found a way to get us back yet?" She asked excitedly.
"No, but me, Daisy, Megan, Stephan, Kai, Joel and violet are all coming to live at the Zoo with you!" He told her, his voice buzzing with excitement and happiness.
"R-really..?" Cassie asked, completely took door surprise.
"Yeah, and we're brining all of u and your sisters things up." He answered cheerfully.
"But what about your families?" Cassie asked.
"Well my dad, Daisy's, Joel's and Megan's parents are alright with it, and well it's not exactly like the others have their family any more." Joshua replied sadly. When all of the children were little, there was a massive Leopard zeehond, seal attack. None of the children were harmed, but the seals killed many adults like Joshua's mum, Stephan's parents, Violets parent's and Kai's. Cassie's dad was also a victim of this. She didn't remember him too well though, since it happened when they were about 3.
"So, when will u guys get here?" She asked.
"A dag of two I think." Joshua replied. They talked for a few minutes, until Cassie felt a tap on her shoulder.
"Hey Cass, can I talk to Joel for a bit please, I haven't got my phone with me." She explained. Cassie sighed and told Joshua this, who handed the phone to him, and Cassie handed the phone to Scarlette.
"Hey Scarlette." Joel greeted cheerfully.
"Hey Joel, I was wondering, do u have a relative, a cousin of a brother in New York?" She asked.
"Not that I know of, I've got 3 cousins who used to live in England, I'm not sure where they are now though. Why?" Joel replied, slightly surprised at the question.
"Oh, becasue there's a pinguïn here that looks a little like you, but he's taller." Scarlette explained.
"What's his name?" Joel asked, a small smile on his face.
"Ryan." Scarlette answered.
"Yeah, that's one of my cousins." Joel said, his smile getting wider. "Could u tell him hi for me?" He asked hopefully.
"You can tell him yourself if u want." Scarlette replied, hearing the lift come down. Zoe, Tom, Sam Ryan and Liam stepped in holding a big basket.
"Sorry to come in unannounced, we knocked but we kinda realised that u wouldn't hear us all the way down there." Liam explained, apologetically, holding out the basket.
"Here's a home pagina warming gift." Ryan zei brightly, putting down the basket. It had lots of vis in, some fruit, and few pieces of chocolate.
"Aw thanks." Lily said, smiling and calling the others. They all thanked their new neighbours and motioned for them to sit down with them.
"Hey Ryan, have u got a cousin called Joel?" Scarlette asked, just in case Joel was mistaken.
"Um, yeah." Ryan replied, surprised that his new neighbour knew this.
"I knew him back in Antarctica." Scarlette explained. "And he wants to say hi." She told him, holding the phone out to him. Ryan's face cleared and he took the phone from her, and began talking with his cousin, his grin back on his face. The penguins started talking amongst themselves, learning little bit about everyone at a time.
"So Tom, have u got any brothers of sisters?" Lexi asked, looking at the small penguin.
"Yup, I've got an older half brother and sister, two older brothers and one older sister." He explained.
"Tom and his sister, his mum and dad, and other brothers used to live with us in England for about 6 years, until 2004. Liam added. "Though the two brothers left in 2001."
"I barely remember them." Tom zei sadly.
"Well u were only 1 at the time." Sam pointed out, patting his shoulder.
"What are their names?" Becky asked brightly.
"Skipper, Rico and Emma." Tom replied, eating a piece of chocolate.
"They're nice names." Becky zei cheerfully. Tom smiled and nodded. After talking to the others, they found out that Liam had two brothers and five sisters, who were all very smart, Ryan had a twin called Jake, (He didn't look like him though) Sam practised karate, and Zoe was slightly crazy. Heather noticed, and pointed out to Lily (who was sitting closest to her.) that Sam and Zoe didn't seem to like Ryan that much.
"I don't understand why, he seems nice." Lily whispered. Heather nodded and her mind wandered again. As everyone was talking, Cassie couldn't help but think.
Maybe this won't be so bad after all. She thought, smiling a little.
About a week later..
Joel, Joshua, and the others arrived a few days before, and the zoo keepers had to build yet another pinguïn habitat in their corner of the Bronx Zoo. Scarlette and her sisters were beginning to adjust to their new life, and they had already painted the walls of their underground home, a warm cream colour. Ryan had been hanging around with his cousin a lot, and Kai described it as 'having two Joel's around.' Liam had noticed that Heather didn't seem to talk much, and he started to hang around with her, and talk with her. And on the sunny afternoon, a week after they arrived, Erin was in her science lab, looking over the oil sample. Because she had all of her stuff now, she had began a proper analysis of the sample. She had a strange feeling she knew how it changed their feathers, but she needed to be sure.
"Okay, so I need a sample of living tissue to work on...." She muttered. of even a piece of skin, of feather would do just fine.." She popped her head out of the door, scanning who was in the room. She noticed Kai sitting in the corner and drawing. "Hey Kai, could I borrow u for a second?" She asked.
"Sure Erin, what's up?" He asked, walking over to the lab.
"I'm very close to finding out what in this oil substance made our feathers change, and I need to test it on a feather that hasn't been exposed to the substance it yet." She explained. Kai blinked a few times and Erin sighed. "I need one of your feathers." She said.
"Oh, sure, here u go." He replied, plucking one from his flipper and passing it to her. She smiled a thanks at him, and put it into a tiny dish. She looked at it under a microscope, and zoomed in on the cells. She made a few observations, and squirted a liquid like substance onto the feather.
"What are u doing?" Kai asked curiously.
"This substance will allow me to look at the DNA in your feather." She explained, though Kai still didn't know what was going on. She looked under the microscope again, making meer observations. Erin picked up a pipette and put it into the test tube filled with oil, and squeezed the top. The oil filled the little pipette, and she hovered it above the feather. She squeezed the top, boven again gently, and let the oil drop onto the feather. The feather turned a dark brown colour, and Kai's eyes widened.
"Woah... is that what happened to your feathers?" He asked. Erin nodded and she added a drop of the first substance to the feathers, and fir a third time. looked under the microscope.
"Interseting...." She muttered, writing meer observations down.
"What is it?" Kai asked.
"It seems that this oil is full of DNA Modifying Bacteria." She explained. "DNA Modifying Bacteria changes DNA, sometimes for the worst."
"Are... are u guys gonna be alright?" He asked worriedly.
"Yes, this was a very harmless strain, it only changes genes like, the eye colour gene, the beak colour gene etc, which must be why our feathers hair, and eyes all changed."
"So how come some of u were meer affected than others, and why did the colours vary like u got mostly orange, and Scarlette got red?" Kai wondered.
"I guess it's because of the variations in our DNA." Erin answered. "And because I noticed that the people who got it in their eyes, me, Lily, Heather and Scarlette, our eyes changed colour, but Lexi, Becky and Cassie, didn't get it in their eyes, and their eyes are the same." She added "My theory is that if the oil lands on your hair, it'll change your hair colour genes, if it lands on your feathers, it'll change your feather colour genes, and so on." Erin said, looking thoughtful. "Though I'll have to do meer tests to be sure."
"That's pretty strange." Kai remarked. Erin nodded in response. Part of her wanted to test it on a real living thing, but she remembered the pain she experienced during exposure, so she left it.
"Thanks for letting me use on your your feathers." Erin zei gratefully, hugging her friend. Kai was took door surprise, but he hugged her back.
"Are u gonna tell the others?" He asked.
"Yup." Erin replied cheerfully, strolling out of the lab, and gathering her sisters. She explained what had happened and they listened intently.
"Can u change it back?" Cassie asked.
"No, our DNA's been modified enough, if we change it again, it might be harmful." Erin answered.
"Oh.." She remarked, slightly disappointed.
"It doesn't matter sis, it's not that bad." Becky told her cheerfully.
"I guess so." Cassie agreed finally.
"And come on, we're gonna have a great time here, we've got old friends, new friends, in a great zoo." Becky added.
"Yeah..." Cassie replied, smiling a little, cheering up a bit. Becky was right, she could leave her Antarctic life behind her now, and finally spend time with people who actually cared about her. She smiled, looking vooruit, voorwaarts to the good times ahead.
I'll have to go back and collect a sample of it, and analyse it. She thought, her attention turning back to the class, as the rest of the kids piled in, chatting and giggling noisily. In this class were, the sisters, Joshua, Joel (usually) and a kid called Jacob.
"Ok so today, we're going to continue with our card designs." The teacher, Mr Longden, explained, getting a box of folders out, and passing them to the kids. Heather tuned out, and worked slowly, not hearing a word of what was going on around her. She glanced around the room, and her eyes fell on Cassie and Joshua. They were talking and giggling as usual, but Cassie seemed meer quiet,and nervous.
Probably becasue she likes him, and because of her feathers. Heather guessed, turning her attention to Becky. Becky's pencil was gliding over her paper in ease, every stroke curvy and beautiful. Becky was very good at art, and always made incredible pieces. (Though she wasn't as good as Kai of Joel) Heather smiled and tuned back to her own piece. The card designs were supposed to be based on something that inspired you, and Heather had chose muziek and colour. And so far, she only had a colourful muziek note on the page, and a rainbow. For the past few lessons, she had been a little stumped about what to do. She looked down at her flippers, then up at her sisters. She smiled, and began to draw a head shot of each one of them on the paper, which ended up taking most of the lesson. She then wrote, 'For making my life bright and colourful' underneath them. She smiled and looked up at the clock. The klok, bell went for seconde lesson, and the kids rushed to their volgende lesson, which wet surprisingly quickly. Break was volgende and as Heather was passing Cassie and her friends, she couldn't help but overhear some of their conversation.
"Why does it matter if my feathers have changed colours, I'm still me!" Cassie protested, looking tearful.
"Exactly, I'm with Cass on this one." Joshua agreed, staring at their 'friends' in disbelief.
"Me too." One of Cassie's friends, madeliefje, daisy agreed. The other penguins (Masie, Alex, and Kyle) gave them a look of disgust.
"You have changed, u look all freaky, and you're quieter!" Masie argued, frowning at Cassie.
"Hey, she does NOT look freaky!" Joshua replied sharply, his eyes dark with anger.
"Yes she does, her and all of her sisters have really always been freaks, but now it's easy to tell." Masie replied, smiling evilly at the three penguins.
"Sis, what on earth is wrong with you!?" madeliefje, daisy asked, staring at Masie.
"Nothing's wrong with me, the only thing wrong here is that little freak." She replied, pointing at Cassie. Kyle and Alex nodded in agreement. Cassie burst into tears and ran off down the corridor. Joshua and madeliefje, daisy gave their former vrienden a dark look and ran off after her. Heather stared after them for a second, then turned her head to Masie, Kyle and Alex. "What are u staring at freak?" Masie asked.
"Not your ugly face that's for sure." Heather snapped, not only surprising the crowd around them, but herself too. She began to walk off when Kyle stopped her.
"What did u just say?" He asked, his eyes flashing with anger.
"I said, 'Not your ugly face, that's for sure'." Heather repeated calmly, going to walk on again. Alex stood in front of her, and Kyle grabbed her flippers. He then nodded to Alex, who drew his flipper back, ready to stempel, punch her. Heather reacted quickly, and kicked Alex in the stomach, making him fall over in pain and surprise.
"Woah, Alex, are u alright?" Kyle asked, loosening his grip on Heather, who then broke free, and twisted his flipper back. He yelped in pain, and Heather twisted harder, then threw him at a nearby locker. His face collided with the rock solid metal, and he passed out of the floor. Heather smiled in satisfaction, and looked down at Alex, who was still on the floor. She kicked him with all the force inside her, then turned to Masie, who was beginning to back away.
"Hey, we- we were only joking.." Masie stammered, holding her flippers up, and breathing heavily. Heather cornered her and looked directly into her horrible face.
"Don't u ever mess with my family again." Heather told her sternly. Her purple eyes seemed to glow with anger. She began to turn away, then turned back suddenly, and punched Masie in the face, and kicked her stomach. Masie screamed and fell to the floor. Heather then smoothed her hair down, put her headphones back in, and walked calmly away from the chaos, as if nothing had happened.
Meanwhile, Joshua had just caught up with Cassie, who was standing outside of the girls toilets, sniffling, and wiping her eyes. She couldn't believe that her friends, the people who were supposed to be there for her, would turn their backs on her, just because of her appearance. She then realised that they never were her real friends, they were just terrible people, who cared about looks and popularity.
"Hey are u ok?" Joshua asked, wiping the remaining tears out of his vrienden eyes, and holding her flippers.
"Well not really, the people I thought I could count in basically spat in my face and turned their beaks up on me, because of my feathers." Cassie replied, blinking the tears gathering at the back her eyes away.
"Not all of them did." Joshua reminded her, hugging her gently. Cassie returned the hug instantly, and relaxed a little.
"Thanks for being here for me Joshua." Cassie whispered, hugging a little tighter.
"No problem Cass, I always will be." He told her reassuringly. Cassie looked up at him, and smiled shyly. He smiled back, and stroked her hair slowly, blushing a little as he did. Cassie's hart-, hart sped up in her chest, and she pulled a daring move. She closed the distance between them, and kissed him softly, running her flipper though his hair. This took Joshua door surprise, but he kissed back, wrapping his flipper around her waist and pulling her closer. A few seconds, they pulled away, and Cassie blushed.
"I- I've kinda liked u for a while." She admitted, smiling up at the taller penguin.
"Same here." Joshua replied, blushing a little. A moment later, madeliefje, daisy rushed around the corner and ran up to them, breathing heavily.
"You two are fast!" She exclaimed, panting slightly. "And sorry Cassie, I don't know what's wrong with Masie, she shouldn't have zei those things to you, I'm having a good word with her when I get home." She added.
"Thanks Daisy." Cassie zei gratefully. She began to say something, when Becky ran up to Cassie. "Oh hallo Beck, what's up?" She asked, frowning at her sister's expression.
"Heather just beat up those vrienden of yours!" Becky told her breathlessly. Cassie's jaw dropped, and she looked at Joshua and Daisy, who's expressions had turned gleeful. Cassie began to smile.
"Good, they deserve it!" She remarked, grinning devilishly. Becky stared at her sister in confusion, and looked at loss for words. madeliefje, daisy quickly explained what had happened, then turned to Cassie.
"We've gotta thank your sister for that, let's go and see if those scum bags are still on the floor." She said, beaming at Cassie.
"Urm, well Heather's in the principles office at the minute...." Becky piped up. Cassie's eyes widened and her attention was caught door her other sisters, who were walking up to them.
"Hey Cassie, I heard about what happened." Scarlette said. "Who'da thought Heather was capable of such butt-kicking?" She zei out loud, smiling a little.
"Anyway, we were gonna go to the principles office and wait for Heather, are u coming?" Erin asked. Cassie nodded, and the penguins set off down the corridor.
"I hope she's not getting shouted at too much." Lily remarked.
Meanwhile...
Heather sat in silence, and stared at the floor, not daring to look the principle in the eye. The principle sighed, and took his glasses off, wiping them with a cloth. He had a soft spot for Heather, because of her quiet nature, lack of friends, and good behaviour. And because she was different to the loud, noisy, and hyper kids.
Heather, can u tell me why u hurt those kids?" He asked softly, putting his glasses back on. Heather didn't say a word. She picked up a nearby pencil, and tapped it on the desk. The principle thought hard and put a piece of paper in front of her. "How about u draw, of write what happened?" He suggested. Heather nodded silently, and began to draw Cassie and her 'friends' on the paper. She labelled each on, and put little speech bubbles volgende to them. On the seconde half of the paper, she drew Cassie running off in tears, and Joshua and madeliefje, daisy following her. She turned the paper over, and then drew about how the kids then had a go at her, and tried to hurt her. She then drew herself kicking their butts, a small smile tugging at her face. She handed the paper silently to the principle, who studied it carefully. "So.." The principle began, staring at the mean penguins. "These kid, Masie, Alex and Kyle, were being horrible to your sister because of her feathers, and made her cry?" He asked.
"Yes." Heather replied quietly.
"So they started to pick on you, and tried to hurt you, so u beat them up?" He asked. Heather nodded in conformation. The principle pressed a button on his desk, and a little red light blinked on. "Please send in Masie, Kyle and Alex." He zei into the red light. A few minuten later, the three penguins stalked in, glaring at Heather.
"Freak." Masie muttered. Heather stuck her foot out and sent Masie tumbling over, knocking over Alex and Kyle in the process.
"Clumsy zeehond, seal scum." Heather remarked, trying to keep a straight face. Maise cast her a dark look, and sat on a spare chair.
"Now, I've been told about what u zei to Cassie, and it's completely unacceptable." The principle began calmly.
"What about her, she beat us up! Alex protested.
"After Masie called her a freak, and u two caught her flippers and tried to stempel, punch her." The principle added sternly. "It was clear self defence."
"Well she punched me in the face!" Masie zei angrily. "I zei we were just kidding, and she still did it."
"Well what do u expect, u were horrible to her family, and her, and we all know that it was no joke, u just wanted to put that family through hell, becasue of something that was out of their control, and u got your comeuppance, now, becasue of what u three did, you'll be in detention for 2 months." The principle replied sternly.
"What about her!?" Kyle asked, almost growling with anger.
"It was self defence so she's let off with a warning." He answered calmly. The three penguins looked outraged, and the principle gestured for Heather to leave. She smiled and headed for the door.
Well it seems some adults have sense after all. She thought, smiling in satisfaction.
Heather opened the principles door, and was took door surprise, as Cassie hugged her tightly.
"Thank for teaching them kids a lesson." She zei gratefully. Heather just smiled in response and stared at the clock above them. It was already half way into third lesson, which made Heather wonder how her sisters had managed to stay outside here without being caught. She pointed to the clock, and the penguins' eyes widened.
"Woah, we better get to....urm, which lesson is next?" Lexi asked.
"Geography." Lily answered cheerfully, bounding towards the classroom. Geography was Lily's favourite subject, and the teacher cared about the environment, like her. As they walked in Becky and Lily sat down with Megan, and Scarlette and Erin sat with Kai and Violet.
"Hey Scarlette, I forgot to ask u earlier, is Joel coming out of hospital soon?" Kai asked, worried for his best friend.
"He should be out this afternoon." Scarlette replied brightly, getting her pencil out.
"Can we go and visit him after school?" violet asked hopefully.
"Sure." Erin agreed, turning to Scarlette and lowering her voice. "Hey, after that I want to get a sample of that oil that changed our feathers, maybe we'll find out what in the substance caused the colour change." She whispered. Scarlette nodded in response.
"After we visit Joel." She reminded her sternly.
"I know I know." Erin replied, her attention turning to the teacher. The lesson dragged for everyone, (except for Lily) but it was soon over. The rest of the dag flew door and the 7 sisters were soon rushing out of the school, and towards the hospital, closely followed door Kai and Violet. As they walked in they saw Joel getting out of his bed and scratching his bandage, which was wrapped around his flipper. He spotted the penguins and his eyes widened.
"Woah, guys, what happened to your feathers?" He asked curiously. Scarlette briefly explained the oil incident, then quickly changed the subject.
"So how are you?" She asked.
"Very good now, I've been so bored most of today." He replied, his normal grin back on his face.
Scarlette, violet and Erin gave him a warm hug, and Kai high-fived his mate, looking the happiest he had been all day. They stayed with him for a little while, chatting, giggling and messing around, until the doctor came in.
"Joel u can go now." He told him, disappearing as abruptly as he arrived. Joel grinned and turned to his friends.
"What should we do for a bit?" He asked.
"Well I'm going down to the lake to collect some of that oil and see why it changed us." Erin replied. "Anyone else coming?"
"Me and Lexi were gonna go down there with Joshua and madeliefje, daisy anyway." Cassie answered, smiling at her sister.
"I'll come aswell." Becky agreed. "What about u Lily?"
"Sure, why not?" Lily agreed. Scarlette and Heather nodded in agreement, and the penguins set off toward the lake.
"I'll be a few minutes." Erin told them, diving in and heading for the sunken ship, a small test tube in her flipper.
Okay, so what room was the oil in? She wondered. She poked her head around a large metal door, it's once shiny exterior reduced to brown rust. Erin touched a piece curiously, and it broke off, floating upwards towards the surface. She continued on, unaware of the sudden events taking place above her.
On the surface..
A large boot had pulled up on the edge of the lake, and two big humans climbed out of it. Joel instinctively backed away.
"We need to go, now." He told the others urgently watching the humans warily.
"Why?" Becky asked. "They're not doing anything."
"It doesn't matter, humans like to take animals to zoos in strange cities." Joel replied, backing away still.
"What makes u say that?" Scarlette asked.
"My Aunty and Uncle were took door a group of them before." He replied, hiding behind an ice rock, which stuck out of the ground. "Get behind here, do u want to be kidnapped door humans?" He hissed, peeping out worriedly. The others sighed and followed him behind the rock.
In the Lake..
Erin collected some of the oil, and put it in her waterproof bag.
"The oughta do." She said, smiling and swimming back towards the surface. She popped her head out, and was surprised to see no one in sight. "Guys?" She called, jumping out of the water and glancing around. She caught sight of the humans and froze in surprise.
"Hey what is that?" One of the humans asked, pointing towards Erin.
"It- it looks like an oranje penguin..." The other replied, taking a step closer to Erin. Erin looked up at him, with curiosity, surprise, and some fear. She tried to verplaats her feet, but they didn't move. Kai popped his head out, and noticed her.
"Erin!" He whispered urgently. "Get over here!" Erin began to back away from the humans, and towards the rock. The humans took a bigger step closer to her and picked her up gently.
"What an unusual colour for a penguin, we'll have to take this one back for study." He decided. The other human nodded in response, and Erin's stomach churned uncomfortably. She began to struggle, and she turned her head to the rock, her eyes full of fear. Scarlette clenched her flippers and ran out after Erin, tugging at the humans broek leg.
"Let her go!" She exclaimed, kicking the human. The other penguins followed her out and ran over to the humans.
"Oh wow, there's a whole regenboog of penguins!" The other human exclaimed. He stared down at the others, and rushed back to the boat.
"Do u think we scared him away?" Becky whispered to Lily.
"Urm, I- I don't think so.." She stammered, as the human came back with a cage. It fell down around the sisters who rattled it, trying to break free. Joel, Kai, Violet, madeliefje, daisy and Joshua tried to help, but it was no use. The humans picked the cage up, and carted it off with them. Cassie shook the cage bars and stared at Joshua tearfully.
"Go, quickly, while u still have the chance!" She told him, trying to wipe the tears from her eyes.
"Cass, I'm not leaving u and your sisters!" He replied, running after the humans, the other penguins closely behind him.
"Look, get help from the adults, they might be able to stop this." Cassie reasoned. She looked back at the humans and saw something on the back of one of their tops. She squinted and read off it, before turning back to Joshua. "This guys tops says Bronx Zoo on it, I think that's where he's taking us." She explained. "Get the adults, and they might be able to find where that is and get us back!" Joshua nodded, trying not to cry himself.
"I won't stop looking for you. Ever." Joshua told her solemnly.
"I know." Cassie said, wiping her eyes as tears rolled down her cheeks.
"And we won't stop looking for u guys either." Joel added. The humans put the cage in the back of their boot and the sisters waved to their vrienden for one last time. They waved back sadly and watched as the boot sped off into the distance.
The seven sisters were let out of their cage, and led into a large, yet strange looking habitat. They stared around it in wonder and walked in cautiously.
"Where are we, it's very warm here!" Lily remarked, flapping her flipper in front of her face, in an attempt to cool herself down.
"I'm guessing this is the Bronx Zoo." Scarlette replied, looking around suspiciously. Their habitat had a large expanse of water covering most of it, with a large cave at the far end of it. Nearby were two other habitats, one tank, labelled 'Dolphins' and the other labelled 'Penguins.'
"Why would they have two pinguïn habitats?" Erin wondered.
"Probably because of our feathers." Cassie remarked, her mind drifting a little. She wondered if Joshua had told the adults, and if he was on his way to get them back.
"Ooh, I want to meet our habitat neighbours!" Becky exclaimed, climbing on top, boven of the habitat fence. She turned to the habitat to their left, the Dolphins. She saw one dolfijn swimming around, jumping in the air occasionally. "Um, hello!" Becky called out, watching her curiously. The dolfijn stopped swimming and popped her out of the water. Her skin was light blue, tinted with grey, and she had dark green eyes, and a blue and green bloem on her head.
"Oh hello, u must be the new arrival, it's nice to meet you." The dolfijn greeted cheerfully, swimming to the side of her habitat, and watching Becky.
"Well, I'm one of them, I'm Becky." Becky replied, smliling brightly.
"I'm Doris, welcome to the Bronx Zoo." Doris said, taking a closer look at Becky. "My, you've got quite unusual feathers." She remarked.
"Yeah, this strange oil changed them to this colour." Becky explained. "Anyway, these are my sisters." She added, gesturing to the other penguins, and introducing them all. Doris greeted all of them in turn, and they began to chat with their new neighbour.
"So what's this zoo like?" Lexi asked.
"It's quite nice, this is the quieter end, we're the only habitats in this corner, including the other pinguïn habitat." Doris answered cheerfully.
"Are the other penguins nice?" Lily asked, a little shyly.
"Yes, most of them are about your age, though there's two adults aswell." Doris replied. "Would u like to meet them?" She asked. The penguins nodded and Doris hopped out of her habitat, and slid across the floor on her belly, towards the other habitat. She popped her head over the fence and the others did the same. This habitat looked similar to theirs, but it was slightly bigger, and had meer land. Heather noticed a small penguin, with a flat head, spiky hair, and light brown eyes, sitting down volgende to the fence, playing with a toy car. He looked up, and smiled at the dolphin.
"Hey Doris." He greeted, putting his car down for a brief second.
"Hey Tom, could u get the others please, I'd like to introduce them to our new neighbours." She explained, nodding to the pinguïn sisters. (Remember, this is set before Tom arrived at the Central Park Zoo.)
"Ok." He replied, jumping into the water, and swimming over to the cave. He disappeared for a brief second, then came out, followed door 6 other penguins. He invited the sisters in, and they stood on the small area of land at the start of the habitat, a little nervously.
"You've met Tom, and they're his parents, Stacey and Paul." Doris began, nodding to the two adults. Stacey was quite short, and had reddish brown hair tied back in a bun, and dark brown eyes. She had a small pair of glasses covering them. Paul was tall, and had a flat head, and light, blueish green eyes.
"And that's Zoe." Tom said, pointing at a small penguin, who had jet black feathers all over, long spiky red hair, a red underbelly, and dark red eyes, beak and feet. "That's Samantha." He continued, nodding at the tall girl penguin, who's blonde hair was tied back in a ponytail, keeping it out of her light brown eyes. She had a red karate riem around her waist. "That's Liam." Tom added, gesturing to a quite tall male penguin, who had light brown eyes, and spiky black hair, that fell a little into his eyes. Tom then turned to the last penguin. "And that's Ryan." He finished. Ryan was the tallest of the penguins, and had dark brown eyes, and short dark brown hair, and a small tuft of it stuck out of the back of his head. Scarlette took a seconde glance at Ryan.
He looks quite a lot like Joel. She thought, smiling at him. He smiled back at the sisters, before speaking up.
"Welcome to the zoo girls, it's nice to have meer penguins here." He greeted brightly. The other penguins nodded in agreement. Doris introduced the pinguïn sisters, and the penguins smiled at each one.
"Would u like a tour of the zoo?" Sam asked.
"Not right now thanks, we're pretty exhausted from our trip." Lily replied politely.
"Did u guys come from Antarctica?" Liam asked.
"Yeah, we were kinda took against our will." Cassie explained, a slight annoyance in her voice.
"Aw, that sucks." Zoe remarked. "Um, were- were u took because of your feathers?" She asked, earning a slap on the back of the head from Ryan. She glared at him, and stood on his foot.
"You can't just ask vragen like that." He hissed.
"Why not?" Zoe asked in a low voice. Ryan just sighed and turned back to the new arrivals. Zoe shot him a dark look.
"Lanky giraffe." She muttered.
"Dwarf." He replied, earning a giggle from Tom.
"To answer your vraag Zoe, yes I think so." Erin replied, a little guiltily. If she hadn't gone to get a sample, maybe they'd still be in Antarctica, and she was feeling a little bad about it. She still had the sample, tucked safely in her bag.
"So, it's real nice to meet u guys, but we'll think we'll turn in for today." Scarlette announced, smiling at them, then hopping over the fence. The other sisters smiled and waved, then hopped over after her. The penguins, and Doris waved and they headed back to their habitat. They entered the cave, and saw a tiny button on the side of the cave.
"That's odd." Heather muttered to herself. She pressed it and a small lift popped out of the ground, She showed it to her sisters, then strolled inside.
"Woah Heather , careful, u don't know what's down there." Cassie warned. Heather shrugged her shoulder and the others exchanged a glance, before following her inside. The lift went down, and they came to a square underground room, with a single porthole on the right wall. There was 3 doors on the left wall, one opened to a bathroom, and the volgende was a large bedroom, divided into 7 sections. The last door contained a spare room, which had nothing in except for a worktable.
"Ooh, I could turn that into a lab!" Erin exclaimed, running into the spare room, and putting her science kit down on the worktable. "She thought for a second, then turned back to the others. "Urm, can I?" She asked hopefully. They sighed, and rolled their eyes. They weren't planning on staying long, but it seemed that Erin had forgotten that.
"C'mon Erin, it's getting late, lets get some sleep." Scarlette told her, patting her shoulder as the other sister went into the room.
"Aright." Erin sighed. "Hey doesn't that Ryan look just like Joel?" She asked her sister, grinning a little.
"I know right, I was thinking the same thing." Scarlette replied, grinning as she walked into the bedroom. There were sleeping bags in each section, and they all lied down in one, hoping to get a little sleep tonight. They called goodnights to each other, then turned off their lights.
I hope u find us soon guys. Cassie thought as she drifted off.
The volgende day, Cassie woke up groggily, to the sound of a small ringing noise.
"Ugh, what is that..?" She groaned. Erin was up like a shot, looking cheery and refreshed.
"I think it's your phone sis." She replied, walking out of the room, and into the bathroom. Cassie's eyes lit up, and she grabbed it and pressed the receive button.
"Hello?" She said, almost bursting with anticipation.
"Hey Cass." Someone zei and she instantly recognised the voice.
"Hey Joshua! Have u found a way to get us back yet?" She asked excitedly.
"No, but me, Daisy, Megan, Stephan, Kai, Joel and violet are all coming to live at the Zoo with you!" He told her, his voice buzzing with excitement and happiness.
"R-really..?" Cassie asked, completely took door surprise.
"Yeah, and we're brining all of u and your sisters things up." He answered cheerfully.
"But what about your families?" Cassie asked.
"Well my dad, Daisy's, Joel's and Megan's parents are alright with it, and well it's not exactly like the others have their family any more." Joshua replied sadly. When all of the children were little, there was a massive Leopard zeehond, seal attack. None of the children were harmed, but the seals killed many adults like Joshua's mum, Stephan's parents, Violets parent's and Kai's. Cassie's dad was also a victim of this. She didn't remember him too well though, since it happened when they were about 3.
"So, when will u guys get here?" She asked.
"A dag of two I think." Joshua replied. They talked for a few minutes, until Cassie felt a tap on her shoulder.
"Hey Cass, can I talk to Joel for a bit please, I haven't got my phone with me." She explained. Cassie sighed and told Joshua this, who handed the phone to him, and Cassie handed the phone to Scarlette.
"Hey Scarlette." Joel greeted cheerfully.
"Hey Joel, I was wondering, do u have a relative, a cousin of a brother in New York?" She asked.
"Not that I know of, I've got 3 cousins who used to live in England, I'm not sure where they are now though. Why?" Joel replied, slightly surprised at the question.
"Oh, becasue there's a pinguïn here that looks a little like you, but he's taller." Scarlette explained.
"What's his name?" Joel asked, a small smile on his face.
"Ryan." Scarlette answered.
"Yeah, that's one of my cousins." Joel said, his smile getting wider. "Could u tell him hi for me?" He asked hopefully.
"You can tell him yourself if u want." Scarlette replied, hearing the lift come down. Zoe, Tom, Sam Ryan and Liam stepped in holding a big basket.
"Sorry to come in unannounced, we knocked but we kinda realised that u wouldn't hear us all the way down there." Liam explained, apologetically, holding out the basket.
"Here's a home pagina warming gift." Ryan zei brightly, putting down the basket. It had lots of vis in, some fruit, and few pieces of chocolate.
"Aw thanks." Lily said, smiling and calling the others. They all thanked their new neighbours and motioned for them to sit down with them.
"Hey Ryan, have u got a cousin called Joel?" Scarlette asked, just in case Joel was mistaken.
"Um, yeah." Ryan replied, surprised that his new neighbour knew this.
"I knew him back in Antarctica." Scarlette explained. "And he wants to say hi." She told him, holding the phone out to him. Ryan's face cleared and he took the phone from her, and began talking with his cousin, his grin back on his face. The penguins started talking amongst themselves, learning little bit about everyone at a time.
"So Tom, have u got any brothers of sisters?" Lexi asked, looking at the small penguin.
"Yup, I've got an older half brother and sister, two older brothers and one older sister." He explained.
"Tom and his sister, his mum and dad, and other brothers used to live with us in England for about 6 years, until 2004. Liam added. "Though the two brothers left in 2001."
"I barely remember them." Tom zei sadly.
"Well u were only 1 at the time." Sam pointed out, patting his shoulder.
"What are their names?" Becky asked brightly.
"Skipper, Rico and Emma." Tom replied, eating a piece of chocolate.
"They're nice names." Becky zei cheerfully. Tom smiled and nodded. After talking to the others, they found out that Liam had two brothers and five sisters, who were all very smart, Ryan had a twin called Jake, (He didn't look like him though) Sam practised karate, and Zoe was slightly crazy. Heather noticed, and pointed out to Lily (who was sitting closest to her.) that Sam and Zoe didn't seem to like Ryan that much.
"I don't understand why, he seems nice." Lily whispered. Heather nodded and her mind wandered again. As everyone was talking, Cassie couldn't help but think.
Maybe this won't be so bad after all. She thought, smiling a little.
About a week later..
Joel, Joshua, and the others arrived a few days before, and the zoo keepers had to build yet another pinguïn habitat in their corner of the Bronx Zoo. Scarlette and her sisters were beginning to adjust to their new life, and they had already painted the walls of their underground home, a warm cream colour. Ryan had been hanging around with his cousin a lot, and Kai described it as 'having two Joel's around.' Liam had noticed that Heather didn't seem to talk much, and he started to hang around with her, and talk with her. And on the sunny afternoon, a week after they arrived, Erin was in her science lab, looking over the oil sample. Because she had all of her stuff now, she had began a proper analysis of the sample. She had a strange feeling she knew how it changed their feathers, but she needed to be sure.
"Okay, so I need a sample of living tissue to work on...." She muttered. of even a piece of skin, of feather would do just fine.." She popped her head out of the door, scanning who was in the room. She noticed Kai sitting in the corner and drawing. "Hey Kai, could I borrow u for a second?" She asked.
"Sure Erin, what's up?" He asked, walking over to the lab.
"I'm very close to finding out what in this oil substance made our feathers change, and I need to test it on a feather that hasn't been exposed to the substance it yet." She explained. Kai blinked a few times and Erin sighed. "I need one of your feathers." She said.
"Oh, sure, here u go." He replied, plucking one from his flipper and passing it to her. She smiled a thanks at him, and put it into a tiny dish. She looked at it under a microscope, and zoomed in on the cells. She made a few observations, and squirted a liquid like substance onto the feather.
"What are u doing?" Kai asked curiously.
"This substance will allow me to look at the DNA in your feather." She explained, though Kai still didn't know what was going on. She looked under the microscope again, making meer observations. Erin picked up a pipette and put it into the test tube filled with oil, and squeezed the top. The oil filled the little pipette, and she hovered it above the feather. She squeezed the top, boven again gently, and let the oil drop onto the feather. The feather turned a dark brown colour, and Kai's eyes widened.
"Woah... is that what happened to your feathers?" He asked. Erin nodded and she added a drop of the first substance to the feathers, and fir a third time. looked under the microscope.
"Interseting...." She muttered, writing meer observations down.
"What is it?" Kai asked.
"It seems that this oil is full of DNA Modifying Bacteria." She explained. "DNA Modifying Bacteria changes DNA, sometimes for the worst."
"Are... are u guys gonna be alright?" He asked worriedly.
"Yes, this was a very harmless strain, it only changes genes like, the eye colour gene, the beak colour gene etc, which must be why our feathers hair, and eyes all changed."
"So how come some of u were meer affected than others, and why did the colours vary like u got mostly orange, and Scarlette got red?" Kai wondered.
"I guess it's because of the variations in our DNA." Erin answered. "And because I noticed that the people who got it in their eyes, me, Lily, Heather and Scarlette, our eyes changed colour, but Lexi, Becky and Cassie, didn't get it in their eyes, and their eyes are the same." She added "My theory is that if the oil lands on your hair, it'll change your hair colour genes, if it lands on your feathers, it'll change your feather colour genes, and so on." Erin said, looking thoughtful. "Though I'll have to do meer tests to be sure."
"That's pretty strange." Kai remarked. Erin nodded in response. Part of her wanted to test it on a real living thing, but she remembered the pain she experienced during exposure, so she left it.
"Thanks for letting me use on your your feathers." Erin zei gratefully, hugging her friend. Kai was took door surprise, but he hugged her back.
"Are u gonna tell the others?" He asked.
"Yup." Erin replied cheerfully, strolling out of the lab, and gathering her sisters. She explained what had happened and they listened intently.
"Can u change it back?" Cassie asked.
"No, our DNA's been modified enough, if we change it again, it might be harmful." Erin answered.
"Oh.." She remarked, slightly disappointed.
"It doesn't matter sis, it's not that bad." Becky told her cheerfully.
"I guess so." Cassie agreed finally.
"And come on, we're gonna have a great time here, we've got old friends, new friends, in a great zoo." Becky added.
"Yeah..." Cassie replied, smiling a little, cheering up a bit. Becky was right, she could leave her Antarctic life behind her now, and finally spend time with people who actually cared about her. She smiled, looking vooruit, voorwaarts to the good times ahead.