Peyton Naomi Leonard

Hey, friends! Happy Tuesday! How are you? I'm doing well. I'm excited to share this new snippet with you. I hope you enjoy. 

Backstory: Lola confesses her feelings to Tyler. 

I heard him rustle his wings and then sit down beside me, scrutinizing my face. “Well, Andy said there was something wrong with you and he wanted me to talk to you. And... you looked pretty sad earlier, Lo. What’s the matter?” 

I laughed icily when I heard that Andy had told him to talk to me. “So, you’re only here because Andy told you to talk to me, huh?” I chuckled darkly, keeping my eyes fixed on my mutated reflection. 

“Uh, well, I wanted to talk to you anyway. You looked... and look pretty down. What’s wrong with ya?” he said, washing his face with the water. 

“... I can’t tell you,” I murmured, feeling the lump return in my throat. A lone tear fell from my eye and landed in the pond. ... Stupid tear blew my cover. 

“Lola, are you crying?” he exclaimed, turning to fully look at my face. He looked beautifully horrified. “Hey, why are you tearing up on me? What’s wrong?” 

“Nothing. Please, just go away,” I croaked, fighting against the overpowering tears. They wouldn’t stop coming. 

“Lola,” he sighed, wrapping me with his arms and his wings... just like before, “what’s going on?” 

“Please,” I begged through my crying, “don’t hold me like this. Please, I’m begging you.” I tried pushing away from him, but he wouldn’t let me move. My face was pressed against his dark fur. 

“Tell me what’s wrong, cheetah girl. Why are you crying?” he purred, rocking me back and forth comfortingly. “You can tell me. What’s going on?” 

“I... I can’t,” I wept, fighting against him once again. “Please, let me go.” 

“No way, José. What’s the matter?” he questioned, looking into my eyes. 

It came out so quick that I didn’t have time to stop myself from showing him how I felt. “I love you,” I told him through my eyes. I knew then that he would know I wasn’t just pulling his leg.

Hey, friends. Sorry again for the delay. I'd love for you to meet Tyler's dad, Jacob Tyler Reynolds.

Jacob is a human with sapphire blue eyes, graying dark brown hair, and sun-tanned skin. He also has a light mustache and beard. He starts off being emotionally unavailable to his son, but after hearing about Tyler's fight with Ricky, he opens up to him about missing his mother (we'll talk about her more later). Jacob is naturally warmhearted and funny. Like father, like son. He's a hardworking man and is devastated when his son goes missing. He'd do anything to get his son back. 

Birthday: May 5, 1969

Height: 5'11

Weight: 173 lbs.

Want to more of Jacob? Tune in for more snippets of The Mutates: The Creation!! <3

Hey, friends. Sorry for the delay. I haven't been feeling so good this week. But here's the next snippet of The Mutates!

Backstory: Andy and Samy are reunited with Tyler and Lola. Lola, throughout her time with Tyler, had started to develop feelings for him. Andy noticed and was upset with Tyler. Teenage drama ensues. 

I sat on the ground and closed my eyes for a moment. Lola’s face was in my mind and she was smiling at me. I felt tears well into my eyes. “I miss you, Lola,” I thought sorrowfully. 

“ANDY!!!” a wonderfully familiar voice screamed excitedly. “SAMY!!!” 

“Lola?!” I cried, opening my eyes. I couldn’t believe I was seeing her. She was running at us much faster than Tyler was. I couldn’t believe she found us. “LOLA!!!” I scrambled to my feet and raced toward her, scooping her up into my arms and wailing. My wings caped around us as I squeezed her tight to me. 

“Hey, tigress!” Tyler greeted, hugging a crying Samy. 

“TYLER!!!” she cried. 

“Oh, Lola, I thought I’d never see you again,” I sobbed, kissing her head. 

“I’m so glad we found you,” she wailed, hugging me tighter. One of the bears made a noise and Lola instantly pushed away from me. “GAGE!!! CASCA!!! You guys are okay!” She raced over to them and saturated them in her tears and kisses. “It’s so good to see you!” They happily licked her face. Casca’s tail was wagging furiously. 

“Hey, it’s my two favorite fur balls,” Tyler said, letting go of Samy to say hello to the grizzlies. Casca nearly tackled him down. “Whoa, Cas! I missed you, too, but I’m with someone right now!” he joked, laughing and hugging the grizzly. He got up from the ground and placed his head against Samy’s. She wrapped her arms around his neck and they both caped their wings around each other, hiding their faces from view. Gage and Casca lay on their bellies and rested their heads. 

Lola made a face at that, which surprised me. She looked... genuinely jealous. She turned away from them and smiled at me with not as much joy as before. “I’m glad we’re all together again,” she said, though something told me that she wasn’t saying that wholeheartedly. 

Samy and Tyler let each other go and they looked as if they were blushing. She turned her attention away from him and smiled at Lola. “I didn’t get to hug you, Lo. I’m so glad you guys are okay,” she said sweetly, hugging Lola like she was her sister. 

“It’s good to see you, too. I’m glad you two are unharmed,” she said, covering up the jealousy I had seen a moment ago. We all exchanged stories and I nearly killed Tyler when he told me that Lola fell on top of him. 

“You make it seem like it was my fault!” he cried, avoiding my angry glare and backing away from my hostile form. 

“It was your fault! You were holding her!” I snarled. I knew now that that only made Lola more jealous and I always defend my sister. He had no right to egg her on. I knew he didn’t realize what he was doing, but that didn’t make me happy with him. Casca was making anxious noises and standing beside Tyler in defense. He didn’t want us to fight. 

“Wait, what about you holding my girl?!” he countered challengingly. 

“Tyler, you know I’d never do anything like that with her. Be reasonable,” I growled. It didn’t escape my eyes that Lola cringed at his mentioning of “his girl.” Anger consumed me again and I snarled at him.

Hello, friends! I hope you're doing well. Welcome to another snippet from my book! I hope you enjoy!

Backstory: Lola recovers from her bear attack and actually befriends the bears, naming them Gage and Casca. Tyler and Lola come across something even deadlier than bears in the forest... 

“Lola?!” I cried, peering back to look at her. My mouth dropped as I looked up at an... abomination. It was the size of King Kong, but it was not a gorilla. Its eyes were red like blood and its teeth were sharp and yellow. Its spine seemed to have grown and stretched up into its back. It had no fur, but it was a mixture of a dog and a cat. Its skin looked almost human in a sense. It had a massive black collar on its neck with spikes that had pierced the skin. Blood trickled where the spikes indented into its throat. Drool cascaded down its jaws like rain. A membrane like a wing was attached to its sides and its elbows. Where paws would normally be, there were claws like what we had. Apparently, Dr. Herman mixed it with some kind of bat. Murder was written on its face. “... Oh my God...” I breathed. Fear twisted every part of my stomach in horrible ways and I nearly threw up on Casca. The creature was so ugly and scary that I could literally smell the fear radiating from all of us. It was nerve racking. It seemed like Casca and Gage weren’t even running fast enough. The monster wasn’t even running. With every step it took towards us, the ground would splinter and shards of wood would burst from a tree it had slightly stepped on. It was the most terrifying thing I’ve ever seen in my life... besides a rabid raccoon. 

“PLEASE, RUN FASTER!!!” Lola cried. I could smell the tears pouring down her face. 

Gage made a yelping growling noise and he struggled to please her and increase his pace. Casca followed his actions. Far ahead, there was a rather large hole in the ground that looked slightly like a burrow. 

“Guys, aim for the hole!” I ordered. “We can hide in there!” 

“Please, hurry!” Lola screeched in fear. 

The monster behind us roared so loud that it made sonic waves and caused the bears to topple over. Everything was blurry as we sailed over the bears and landed a couple of yards away from the hole.

“GAGE!!! CASCA!!!” Lola screamed, getting on her feet instantly and running for her friends. 

“LOLA!!!” I cried, snagging her by the arm. “LET EM GO!!” 

“NO!! THEY’LL DIE!!” Lola fought against me. “GAGE!!! CASCA!!!” The bears were tumbling over each other as they scrambled away from the monster. Gage got up and ran, but Casca didn’t have enough time. As I continued to fight against Lola, the monster captured Casca in its teeth. “CASCA!!!!” Lola roared so loud that I had to let her go cuz it hurt my ears so much. 

I watched in horror as the monster made to devour Casca. I couldn’t let that happen. “ARGH!!!” I roared, racing towards the monster.

Happy Friday! It is my pleasure to introduce to you Ms. Lola Dunhill, another main character from The Mutates.

Lola is a 14-year old girl and Andy's younger sister. She has hazel eyes, chestnut brown hair, dimples, and coffee colored skin like her brother. She's incredibly smart. She actually skipped a grade in school and shares classes with the others. As a mutate, she is a cheetah with barn owl wings. She is the fastest runner among the four mutates. She is a ball of sunshine and exuberates youthfulness. She cares deeply about animals and nature. She is loving, patient, and always down for an adventure. 

Birthday: September 23, 1995 

Human Height: 5'4

Human Weight: 119.5 lbs. 

Mutate Height:  5'8

Mutate Weight: 132.5 lbs. 

Wingspan: roughly 6 ft.

Love Lola? Me too! To get to see her in action, keep reading my blog posts! Appreciate ya! <3

Hey, friends! So sorry for the delay. I was not feeling the greatest yesterday. Here is the next snippet of The Mutates!

Backstory: Andy and Samy venture deeper into the facility looking for Tyler and Lola. Another test comes their way.

“Hmmm,” he went, looking around him. He looked at my eyes saying, “Do you see anything?” 

I shook my head and searched around. I didn’t see much, but I could sense some kind of thing was near us. Out of impulse, I let out a snarl. It echoed among the mountains for the longest time. 

Andy looked at me with big eyes, “Why’d you do that for?” 

I shrugged and did it again, veering away from him to see if anything could be seen. There was complete silence, part from our flapping wings. “I guess it’s nothing,” I said, going back to his side. 

“I hope so. I feel like something’s among us, too,” he murmured. 

“I really doubt...” I started to say when a loud screech drowned out my voice. We both turned our heads to see a cloud of birds flying towards us. “Fly faster!” I cried, pumping my wings harder and diving down into the crevices of the mountains. Andy followed, going underneath me and whizzing through cracks that I couldn’t slide into and he was bigger than me. Andy is quite agile. “Don’t leave me!” I pleaded, landing awkwardly on a mountainside. I tried climbing it, but there was hardly a place to safely put my claws. 

“Samy, follow me!” he said, flying by me and grabbing my arm. It stung since that was the one I injured, but I didn’t complain. 

The birds were a mixture of different kinds of vultures and buzzards. I assumed Dr. Herman trained them to attack us so that our skills could be tested. ... I really hate that guy. 

“How are we going to get rid of em?” I asked as I tried to keep up with him. 

“Try and fly places that would be hard for them to fly,” he answered. 

“They’re smaller than us. They can fit where we can!” 

“Roar at them! Scare them off!” I flipped over in midflight and roared as loud as I could at them. They screeched and flew upwards and away for a moment. “Nice job.” 

“Why don’t you help me?” I asked, twisting back on my stomach. 

“Your roar is louder than mine. I’m a snow leopard,” he claimed, running a hand over the side of his face. 

“So? You could still help,” I claimed, turning sideways to slip into the slender crack. “Whoa, that was close.” 

“Is it getting hotter?” he asked, slowing down his flight. The birds weren’t following us anymore. I don’t know where they went off to. 

“It is,” I said, gasping when I saw the reason why. We flew over a long border of mountains and encountered a lake of burning lava. Spouts of the hot liquid spewed out and flew up to a great height. “Holy crap,” I murmured, feeling the same kind of fear I felt in the cell run through me.

What do you think? Are you enjoying the book so far? Please let me know your thoughts! <3

Happy Tuesday, everyone. How are you? I hope you're well. Here's the next snippet of The Mutates. I hope you enjoy! <3

Backstory: Tyler and Lola get separated from Andy and Samy, ending up in a wooded area with deer... and bears.

There was another rumbling in the ground. All of us raised our heads and turned to see what was coming. The deer stood up and started running. Lola and I followed them. 

“What is that?” Lola wondered as we dashed through the woods. It was amazing how much speed she had. She was nearly at the front of the herd. I struggled to keep up and I was the track runner. 

“Dunno, but let’s not stop running,” I suggested, dodging a deer that was kinda running too slow. 

Out of nowhere, a loud roaring sounded from behind us. Two huge grizzlies rammed through the trees and ran at us. The deer made high-pitched barking noises and ran even faster. I didn’t know they could do that. 

“Ty, we have to protect the deer. We’ve gotta hold these bears at bay!” Lola cried, halting in her run and facing the coming beasts. 

“Are you crazy?! They’re gonna kill you! Keep moving!” I cried, grabbing her and dragging her into a run. 

“We’ve got to lead them away from the deer,” she protested, turning around and facing a bear. There was a brief silence before both bears snarled and charged at us. “Let’s go!” she sped off in a direction away from the herd. 

“What did you do?!” I demanded as we bolted. My heart was ramming against my chest and adrenaline increased my speed. Everything was sorta blurry at times, but we managed not to hit any trees. 

“I told them to follow us,” she said as she ran up a tree and starting jumping from tree to tree. 

“Thanks, Lola! Now we’re gonna get killed!” I seethed as I followed her demonstration. It wasn’t as easy as she made it look. I nearly fell... twice. 

“We had to protect the deer!” she snapped at me. 

“No, we didn’t have to do anything to them! We need to protect ourselves!” I snapped back. “We’re being chased by two grizzlies!” 

“We were attacked by fifteen lions! We can survive this! We just need to communicate with them,” she said before diving from the limb she was on and fluttering down to her feet. 

“Lola, no!” I cried, diving after her. I was too late. I had to watch her race towards the bears and watch one of them smack her against a tree. She slumped to the ground and didn’t move. “Oh no...” I breathed. Everything seemed like it was moving in slow motion. The grizzlies raced toward me, roaring and drooling like dogs, while Lola lay unconscious at the trunk.

Happy Friday! Let me introduce you to another main character, Ananias "Andy" Dunhill.

Andy is a 15-year old with chocolate hazel eyes and chestnut colored hair cut in an emo style. He has dimples and coffee colored skin. As a mutate, he is a snow leopard with gray hawk wings. At such a young age, he is full of wisdom. He is an old soul and is very spiritual. He loves reading his Bible, looking after his younger sister, watching a good sci-fi, and hanging out with his best friend, Tyler. 

Birthday: May 4, 1994 

Human Height: 5'8 

Human Weight: 135 lbs. 

Mutate Height: 6'0 

Mutate Weight: 148 lbs. 

Wingspan: roughly 7 ft.

If you'd like to hear more about Andy, look out for more blog posts on The Mutates: The Creation. Much love! <3

Hey, friends! Sorry I'm just now posting this. What do you think of these snippets so far? I'd love to hear your thoughts. Enjoy this next one!

Backstory: The four teenagers, now mutates, take on a challenge by Dr. Herman.

There were other mirrors around and we slowly found one to use. The first time I saw my mutation, I didn’t know what to say. I was tall or at least taller than I used to be. I was covered in snow leopard fur and my face looked like a leopard’s. My eyes were nearly as gray as lead. My gray wings were a much lighter gray on the inside than on the outside. My tail was bushy and thick behind me, hovering over the floor by an inch or so. I licked my lips and watched as a pink tongue lapped out, reaching over my dark gray catlike nose. There was a hint of blue in my spotted fur. I opened my mouth and saw all four of my fangs. The two on the top were the largest. I was just surprised that such large teeth could fit into my mouth. As I looked at myself, I couldn’t help but feel disgusted. My ears pressed against my head as I finally took myself in. “I’m a freak,” I thought. “God, why did this happen to us?” I turned to see how the others were taking their mutation. 

Samy was looking at her face and her hands with horror written on it. Her wings dropped beside her and I could’ve sworn I saw a tear slide down her cheek. 

Lola was taking her mutation better than all of us, I think. She was calm as she stared at herself, turning every now and then to see the color of her wings. They were beautiful. The outside was mainly a caramel brown with white spots here and there. On the inside, her wing was snow white with flecks of caramel. She was busy eyeing her cheetah face when I came up to her. 

When she noticed me, she smiled and said, “I look... cool.” 

“You think you look cool?” I asked. “I think I look like an abomination.” 

“Amen to that, bro,” Tyler said, joining us. It seemed like he was trying really hard not to look at himself. 

“I can’t believe your mom brought us here for this,” Samy said, still staring in the mirror. 

An angry growl came from him as he said bitterly, “Yeah, don’t remind me.” 

“Well, what’s done is done. We can’t undo this,” I said, looking at them. “Dr. Herman sent us here for a reason. He led us into this place so that we can be challenged.” 

“So, this is a test?” Lola asked, looking at her reflection. 

“He wants us to embrace what we are. I tried to look at my image in the water, but I couldn’t see it very well. Just the shadow of me scared me,” Samy whispered, glancing at us. 

Tyler went beside her and took her hand in his. “It’ll be okay, tigress,” he whispered tenderly. “We’ll find a cure.” 

“There is no cure for this!” she snarled, ripping her hand away from his. “You can’t escape this! We’re stuck like this forever! You heard Ananias! There’s no hope for us!” It had been years since any of them had called me by my full name in front of my face. 

“Samy, getting angry about this won’t help,” Lola said, coming near her and placing her hands on her shoulders. “We have to keep going now.” 

Samy closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “Yeah, you’re right. Sorry I got mad. Let’s just... get out of this mirror room.”

Hey, friends! Hope you had a wonderful Tuesday. Here's the next snippet for The Mutates: The Creation. Enjoy!

Backstory: After the encounter with Elana, the four teenagers find themselves not only trapped, but experimented on. 

“GET ME OUT OF HERE!!!” she howled and that’s when she completely lost it. A roar came from her that sounded like some jungle cat and everything about her changed. Her golden eyes shifted to a brighter yellow and she grew fangs. 

“Oh my God!” I cried, cowering away and literally pressing myself into the wall that kept me and Andy apart. 

Tyler couldn’t move. His back was turned to us, but I know that he was watching her transformation in horror. I don’t know what Andy’s reaction was, but I knew he was just as scared as we were. 

Samy started to grow tiger fur. It covered her entire body. Her facial structure turned all catlike. Her feet arched and turned into paws. Her hands grew bigger and her nails got slightly longer and sharper. With a popping sound, dark brown wings came from her back. They looked to be about five or six feet wide as they spread out behind her. A tiger’s tail came from behind her, too. She looked truly terrifying. 

Fear overwhelmed us all and suddenly, we were transforming, too. Tyler snarled like a panther and his skin became black fur. Black wings popped out of his back and they looked to be about nearly seven feet. A black tail slid down from his shorts and he grew taller from his arched paws. 

While he transformed, I felt my fur bud and consume my body. It didn’t hurt, but... it felt different. The intensity of my sight increased and I felt my bone structure shift as I morphed. That wasn’t so pleasant, but it lasted only a couple of seconds. This transformation process had taken about twelve seconds in its entirety. When my wings popped out, they slipped easily through slits in the back of my shirt. It felt oddly satisfying like they had been locked up for a long time and I was finally letting them out to breathe. I felt my tailbone grow and slide through the slit in my shorts. I turned in time to see Andy transform. 

Out of his back popped out two massive gray wings. They looked to be about the same size as Tyler’s. His fur was that of a snow leopard and it covered every part of him. His eyes were gray instead of the fiery chocolate-hazel they usually were. He looked to be about as tall as Tyler, too. He had all the features of a cat. It was strange though. Our hands were similar to our human hands apart from the fur and the sharp nails. They weren’t like paws or anything; not like our feet. 

So, here we were all transformed and roaring like beasts. There were no mirrors to see ourselves in the cells, but it didn’t really matter. We were all scared for our lives.