It took nearly 2 hours to get ready to go. Having this much fur was a disadvantage. I did not know how I was going to deal with this regularly. There had to be a better way to get clean. I did my best to put on the clothes that mom had brought back with her. It was difficult having a tail; we ended up having to cut a hole where I could fit it through. When we were both dressed, we all got into the car. Mom was not saying anything about where we were going. She was acting very suspicious.

“Mom, where are we going?” I finally asked. She looked at me and smiled. Her nonverbal response did nothing but make me even more anxious. Taylor, on the other hand, seemed content with the ride. She was looking out the window, watching neighborhoods fly by, her tail and ears twitching everything we passed by a restaurant. She must really be hungry. I could not blame her. We did not really get a lot to eat before the trip.

It seemed like we had been driving for hours when something caught my eye. In the sky above us was what appeared to be a floating island. I blinked a few times, thinking that I must be seeing things. It looked like it was sitting over Clinton, where my dad lived. I watched it get more significant as we went and realized that it was sitting over the town. Looking at Taylor, I saw the same confusion that I was feeling.

“It popped up last night. Your dad wanted us to come to see it for ourselves. I did not believe him when he told me until I heard the news. That was not all that I heard. The news is buzzing about a catgirl and a wolf saving the police station in Kansas City.” Mom said. Mom and dad did not end their relationship on bad terms. They just did not feel the same way for each other as they did when they met back in high school. I was glad that we were going to see dad, but that floating island had me worried.

By the time we came to dads’ house, he was already standing outside. He waved at us as we pulled into the driveway. Holly was sitting there too, looking dorky as ever. My little sister was always a ball of joy whenever I came to see her, but I knew that it hurt her that I was living with mom, and she was living with dad. From the day that she was born, she and I were inseparable. That was until the day that mom and dad decided that their relationship was not going anywhere. We were lucky we only lived a couple hours away from each other, but it still felt like hundreds of miles for her.

The strangest part of the floating island was that because of it, it almost looked like nighttime already, even though there were still a few hours of sunlight. As I got out of the car, I practically sprinted toward my sister, knocking her to the ground as I pounced her and hugged her tight. She squirmed and tried to push me off.

“Who and what are you?” she asked when I finally let her up. Mom laughed, and dad just looked at me with this mixture of awe and creeped out.

“It’s me, you dingus, your brother… well now, sister,” I said, doing my best to smile. It was not like I really had the lips to smile, so I could only imagine how I looked, showing my teeth. She looked at me in disbelief. It was understandable. Even I was still having issues coming to terms with how I now looked.

“Trust me, it’s me. Remember the time that we snuck into mom and dads’ room and found those videos.” I said. I watched as she blushed and then hit me. “You promised you wouldn’t tell.” She said before looking at dad. He just shook his head. Just like a dad to not say anything. However, mom was giving us stern looks.

“So, what do I call you now.” She asked as she was watching my tail swing back and forth. It was funny watching her head move with the motion of my tail. Looking at her, I said, “My name is now, Angel.” She looked at mom, and mom just nodded. There was an awkward silence.  Taylor was the one to clear the air as she cleared her throat.

“Oh yeah, Dad, Holly, this is my friend Taylor. She’s staying with us because her parents are discriminating bigots who threw her out after that storm.” I said. She waved at them both before hiding behind me. It was weird to see her get shy all of a sudden, but I guessed it had to do with the fear of judgment.

“They are calling it the Emergence.” Mom said in a matter of fact tone. I know she told us that they were calling us emerged, but it sounded weird them calling the storm the Emergence. As we rode here, we got to hear Trump spread the fear of anyone who was changed, saying that we were all monsters. There was also an announcement that an independent company would be trying to develop a way to sort out the wrong people from those who would not be a threat to society.

“Well, as nice as it feels outside, how about we all go inside. We can talk more in there; I don’t want any of the neighbors making a scene over my so… I mean daughter.” Dad said as he motioned for us to go inside. Once inside, dad motioned for us three girls to sit on the couch. He then pulled his chair in front of us, along with a chair for mom to sit in.

“Now, as I am sure your mom told you, that floating island popped up last night during that weird storm. But that was not the only one to emerge. There are floating islands that have popped up all over the U.S. and not just the U.S. Other countries are reporting places popping up out of nowhere in open fields. There was also a place that popped up in Michigan. The town that was there just disappeared along with its people,” dad explained. There seemed to be a lot that went on in less than 24 hours.

“Now, they are not allowing anyone near these places, but this hasn’t stopped people from trying,” Dad said. I was confused as to why he was telling us all this. I did not see how it affected us at all. It wasn’t like we were going to try and go to these places. Who knew what could be on them?

“Dad, I don’t understand why you are telling us this. We aren’t going to go near them.” I said while trying to ignore my sister, who had grabbed my tail. When you see something you do not understand, your first instinct is to examine it, but it was weird because I could feel every fiber of hair that she touched. Sighing, I pulled my tail away from her and looked back at dad.

“The reason I am telling you this is because while the news chopper was flying over this one, they found something very curious to me. You see, there is a statue up there that looks a lot like you, except it has wings.” He said. I saw mom smile from the corner of my eye. And like they had heard their call, my wings materialized yet again, ripping the shirt that  I was wearing. Luckily, mom had thought ahead because I had an undershirt with enough of the back cut out of it to compensate for my wings. This awarded me a gasp from my dad and a scream from my sister.

“So you do have wings. Your mom didn’t tell me that when we were on the phone.” As his eyes studied my wings, he said you could see the curiosity on my dad’s face as he did. After a couple of silent moments, he looked at me and said, “Those are some lovely wings, Angel. I must admit, it is going to take time to get used to calling you that.” He said, smiling at me. It was a genuine smile, unlike most people who did just to mask their disgust.

“Excuse me, sir, but why tell us about the statue if we can’t go see it?” Taylor asked. She seemed to have calmed down from when we were outside. Dad looked at her and smiled again. Then he said, “I only brought it up because of its proof that what happened to you all and the appearance of the island is indeed connected. I fully intend to look into it as soon as I can.” This was not much of an answer, but it did mean that he or even we would be checking it out at some point.