Chapter One

BRIIIING BRIIIING BRIIING! Jay’s eyes flicker open. The alarm blares relentlessly, so she picks it up and throws it at the wall. CRASH! That fixes one problem. She looks around. Everything seems a bit bigger than she remembers. Not too noticeable, just a little bit, but enough to call it to her attention. Then she hears a shriek of surprise and fear. She grins. Someone must’ve pranked Darkling. She opens the door to her room and steps out into the hall. Darkling bursts out of his room, and immediately she notices that he looks at least five years younger.

“What the heck?” She blurts. Darkling turns and stared at her, eyes wide. He says what they were both thinking.

“We’re kids again!”

“What?” Darknight walks into the hallway and stops dead at the sight of Jay and Darkling reverted back to their fourteen-year-old selves. Then he bursts out laughing. Darkling has the worst case of bedhead in the history of bad hair days. Jay starts laughing too.

“That’s not funny, guys,” Darkling protests, then claps his hands over his mouth when he realizes that his voice has gone up about an octave. Jay snorts, which sets Darknight off again. Darkling folds his arms over his chest and taps his foot, waiting for them to pull themselves together. Jay stops laughing sooner, though she is still smiling when she pulls up her interface. All systems running…  I’m just high-school age.

“What the hell is going on out here?! What is all this racket?!” Talon bursts out of her room, looking exactly the same. “Oh, hey, look, you guys are my age!”

“I have no idea what’s going on, but it’s hilarious,” Darknight replies.

“I don’t want to be your age,” Darkling protests. Jay rolls her eyes.

“What’s wrong with being high school age?”

Jay starts to respond, but is interrupted by a fourteen-year-old version of White Ninja barreling down the hall and out of sight, screaming “WHAT THE FLAKON MUTE IS GOING ON????” A normal-aged Pyra races after him, yelling at him to calm down.

Gena pops out of her room, looking around 14, with a severe case of bedhead, worse than Darkling’s. “Waz it?” her eyes are half-closed. Kyndra is in her room, humming.

“Again, I have no idea,” Jay responds. “And would someone get Kyndra out here?”

“Where’s Pitch and Devilcat?” Talon asks. “I’m going to go wake him up.” Jay can hear the door opening, and then “Oh, oh, ok. That’s nice. No one go in there.” and Talon walking away.

“What…” Darkling trails off. “I don’t want to know.” Jay blinks onto her texts and sends Peri a message.

Meet me at the REBEL base in 10 minutes.

“What’s the big deal?” Pitch sticks his head out of his room, hair all messed up. What would normally have been knee-length boxers on him are now full length pants. “Why are you barging into rooms this early in the morning?!”

“We’re kids again is the big deal!” Darkling exclaims. “I mean, look at me! Look at me!!”

“Greaaa-aaaaat,” Pitch says, his voice cracking. He turns red and shuts his door.

“Exactly,” Darkling mutters. Then, louder, “How do we get out of this?”

“I don’t know, but in the meantime, you should do something useful.” Darknight thinks for a minute, then an evil grin spreads over his scarred face. “I’m going to send you back to school.”

“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!” everyone screams in unison. “I HATE school,” Darkling adds, sounding like a whiny kid.

“Yup. Everyone up at it. I’ll register you while you get ready. Oh, and you’ll have to go by your real names, Little T.”

“Don’t call me that,” Darkling says through gritted teeth. Darknight knocks on Pitch’s door.

“Wake up, time for school,” he says, opening the door. His face changes suddenly and he slams the door. “I saw nothing.” Jay pushes past him and opens the door herself. Immediately she slams it shut and leans against the wall.

“What are you doing?” Darkling asks.

“Deleting all memory of the last five seconds,” Jay replies. “Shut up.”

“Alright they do need to wake up though,” Darknight decides.

“Oh, leave that to me,” Jay says, grinning evilly. “Just because I’m a kid again doesn’t mean I can’t be evil.” She disappears back into her room again. Darkling shrugs and heads back into his own room, his coattails dragging on the floor behind him. Darknight smirks at this, but no one sees him. He is momentarily shoved against the wall when Pyra stalks back down the hall, dragging a struggling White Ninja, who still looks fourteen like the rest of them. She’s trying to talk some sense into him, so Darknight stays out of it. The two of them disappear into the common room. When no one else shows up, Darknight decides to head into the kitchen to get breakfast. Somehow, when he gets there, Darkling is already stumbling around the kitchen, trying to find something he can stand on to reach the top shelf.

“What are you doing?” Darknight asks, confused.

“Trying to make pancakes,” Darkling growls, frustrated.

“I’ll help!” Jay skips into the kitchen and plucks the flour off of the shelf. Darkling stares at her in surprise.

“How are you taller than me?” He demands, distress creeping into his voice. Jay shrugs and sits down at the counter, waiting for Darkling to finish making pancakes.

Pitch comes into the kitchen, Quiver behind him.

“What were you two doing in there?” Darkling asks. They turn red.

“We were sitting on the couch last night, and accidentally fell asleep, that’s all,” Quiver says. “Nothing happened.”

“Yah, right.” Talon walks into the kitchen. “You two were all wrapped around each other.”

“It’s called snuggling,” Pitch says.

“Uh-huh,” Jay says, unbelieving. Her eyes grow unfocused for a moment as she scans through all of the security camera feeds from last night. “Dangit, you disabled the camera. WAIT A MINUTE WHY WOULD YOU HAVE TO DO THAT???” Jay demands, her voice raising. Pyra pokes her head into the room, then sighs and leaves.

“I’ll send it to you, nothing happened. I’ve already watched it,” Kyndra says, walking into the kitchen, eyes unfocused. The couple turn and even darker shade of red. Jay grins.

“Thanks Kato, I’ll look at that later.” She walks over to where Darkling is trying in vain to pull the milk carton off of the top shelf in the fridge and grabs it for him. Ten minutes later, there are pancakes cooking, and everyone else has migrated to the kitchen. Even White Ninja calms down and joins them at the counter. Pyra stands after everyone has gotten pancakes.

“We have to figure out three things, I think,” she begins. “One, what the heck happened, two, why only some of us are still adults, and three, how to get you all back to normal. Agreed?” Everyone nods. The REBELs and Serephimbians that had turned to kids can feel their obey-the-adults instincts returning, except for Kyndra and Jay, who are texting each other with their minds and recording the conversation for later.

“And we need clothes that fit,” Darkling brings up. The others nod. Jay’s dress, which only used to go to her mid-thighs, is about at her knees. Maybe I’m shorter than I thought, she muses, tugging at it.

“Yes, but make sure that it goes together,” Kyndra reminds her. Darknight rolls his eyes.

“Whatever, we’ll go school shopping tonight,” he says offhandedly. “I guess if I’m posing as a guardian, I’ll need to wear something other than my typical villain uniform.”

“Alright, everyone. School starts in ten minutes. If you’re late, you’re grounded,” Darknight orders. Everyone immediately starts complaining.

“But I’m not done styling my hair,” (Pitch)

“But I can’t find anything that fits!” (Darkling)

“Where’s the school? Can you make my lunch?” (Kyndra)

“I can’t wear this, I’ll look like an idiot!” (White Ninja)

“But I want to steal something,” (Jay)

“That’s not fair!” (Quiver)

“I’m still hungry!” (Talon)

“Who the **** do you think that you are, telling us what to do?” (Gena)

“Watch your language, young lady,” Darknight scolds.

“Make me,” she says, sticking her tongue out. Darknight sighs, running a hand through his hair.

“I don’t know how to discipline,” he mutters. Jay barks out a laugh, causing everyone else to burst out laughing while Darknight and Pyra try in vain to calm them down and try to figure out what the heck they just got themselves into. Pyra sighs, then steps back.

“ALRIGHT! QUIET! ALL OF YOU!!” She shouts over the laughing. Immediately everyone falls silent. “Listen up, this isn’t easy for any of us, but we have to figure this out, and in the meantime, you’re going to school. End of discussion.”

“What are you two, mom and dad?” Gena says, and Talon snickers.

“WHAT NO!!!” Darknight and Pyra yell. “Just… Go to school.”

“Teenagers,” Darknight mutters, after they leave. Pyra watches them climb onto the school bus. She hopes that no one recognizes them, it wouldn’t be good for their cover to be blown. They need to figure out what’s going on first.