Chapter One

She was running; running faster than she had ever run before. She could hear the pounding of her four companions' feet on the stone floor behind her. Past them, the thunder and scratch of claws seemed to drown out the roaring beat of her own heart. Even in the mazes, Pyrite had never been so frightened. She had never run for her life.

She barely thought about it as she jerked around a left turn, feeling the others follow. She didn't know where she was going; only that she had to find a way out. Any turn might take her straight into a trap; or to an escape. She knew she had to risk it.

"Your luck hasn't run out yet, Pyre!" Keegan's voice sounded over the crashing of feet as they burst out onto a gravel path. The stones cut into her feet, and Pyre's steps faltered as, for a moment, she was totally blinded by the burst of sunlight. It was something she had never seen before, and she was not enjoying her first taste of it. Behind her, she could hear the others crying out in pain.

And then a small hand slipped into hers and pulled her on. She yelped, stumbling before she regained her balance. Still blinded, she followed her tiny companion willingly. She knew who it must be; Frond, one of the twins. There was nothing his huge green eyes couldn't see.

As she followed him, the others also picked up their pace. She felt another set of small fingers take her free hand. Lazuli, Frond's sister. She knew that Michael must also have joined the chain. They followed each other with a trust that no one could ever deserve.

The screaming yelps of Erasers made Pyre's heart soar. They were as blinded as she was' Frond's eyes had bought their escape.

Slowly, the white pain of sunlight faded away. She blinked, tears streaming down her cheeks as she looked for the first time upon a world not made of steel. The others gasped in wonder. Glancing back, she saw that even Michael had been moved to tears.

The world around them was full of color; greens and browns amongst the trees, blue-gray from the scattered stones. There were a few flowers; pale violets and blinding yellows among the tangled, thorny undergrowth. The moss beneath her feet gave way as cement and steel never had. Digging her toes into it, she kicked to higher speeds, her long legs carrying her past Frond. The others released one another's hands as their vision cleared. Birds screamed as they raced by, taking off to soar in a cloud around the five children.

They ran further, and Pyrite looked up at the twisting branches. Her heart sank. There was not enough room for them to take off; not all of them.

"Frond, Laz!" She shouted. The twins, running together, looked up. Neither appeared frightened. The Clinic had already disappeared behind them, "Escape while you can! You have to get away, at least!"

They hesitated. They didn't want to leave their friends.

"If we don't catch up, find Mirage!"

Their faces cleared. Pyre could see the sudden confidence in their eyes. Even if only the twins escaped, there was someone like them, somewhere in the world, who was strong. Who would take care of them.

"Up and away!" Lazuli's voice was high and clear. She sprang into the air, pulling her brother up behind her. Pyrite didn't have time to watch as they snapped their wings open. Lazuli's flashed blue, like her hair and her eyes, clashing with Frond's shimmering green.

Pyrite felt more than saw the smooth slice of their feathers in the air as they swerved away, weaving among the trees and into the azure sky. For a moment, their narrow wings blocked the sun, and then they were gone.

"Pyre!" She glanced over her shoulder ad Michael's shout, "There's a gap ahead!"

She nodded shortly, turning back to the path. She trusted Michael's senses; his radar, as they called it. Within a hundred yards, there was an opening into the sky.

Moments later, she saw it. A bit of golden sunlight in the mottled greens of the forest. She lengthened her stride, and the boys fell in at her sides. They burst out of the forest, and Pyrite opened her wings.

She cried out in astonishment. She knew the glistening russet of her eighteen foot wingspan, but she had never imagined what it might look like in the sun.

She was gliding on wings of fire.

Behind her came the familiar rushing snap of Michael's wings as they blew open. And then the thunderous crack as Keegan's takeoff broke the sound barrier, stunning his friends for a moment. She felt his hand catch roughly in the back of her nightgown, and then she was jerked straight up, faster than she had ever moved before. She pinned her arms and wings tight to her sides, and still she feared that they would be torn from her body. On the other side, she could hear Michael's swears as they were swept off into nothingness.

And then they shrieked to a halt. Pyrite opened her wings again, catching the wind in her feathers and trying to find her breath. Michael's wings beat like gray-flecked shadows. His dead gray eyes were fixed in a steely glare on Keegan's cheerful face.

"I will kill you." He whispered. Keegan just shrugged.

"I got us away, didn't I?"

Pyrite ignored the brewing argument, looking down at the spot they had just launched from. It was nearly a hundred miles gone, the clearing nothing more than a pin-sized speck in a sea of black pines.

"where are the twins?" She demanded just as the boys began to shout. They fell silent, meeting her anxious venom-green eyes, "Can you feel them, Michael?"

He shook his black hair out of his face, "Nothing." He murmured, "My range isn't all that large."

Pyrite's heart almost stopped. She had to work to make her wings move.

"Keegan, find them."

"He won't know if anything's coming." Michael protested.

"We have no choice." Pyrite argued, "He's the only one fast enough to stop them from leaving."

"But he's deaf." Michael snapped. Keegan flushed angrily, "If they're calling, he won't hear."

"Then I'll go with him." Pyre hissed, seizing Keegan's hand. He glanced anxiously at her. She knew he could feel her temper flaring ever hotter. The connection they shared made his deafness irrelevant, as long as she was near him. He could hear anything she could.

Pyre tried to pull Keegan on, but found herself glued in place by his massive hand.

She looked up at him, seeing fear and dismay in his blue eyes. He shook his shaggy blonde hair, his jaws clenched in refusal.

"Let's go." She growled, tugging again. But he was so much stronger

"I won't take you back there." Keegan argued shortly, in the same instant as Michael snapped, "I won't let him take you back there!"

Keegan glanced at Michael, hearing the words in Pyrite's mind. He nodded in agreement.

"So you condemn them to death?" Pyrite snapped. The boys hesitated, and she tugged sharply on Keegan's hand, off-balancing him, "Let's go!"

With a resigned sigh, Keegan took her firmly in his arms and angled himself downward. One flap of his broad white wings and she felt the lethal tug on her wings once more.

"Wait!" Michael gasped, grabbing hold of Keegan's nightgown just in time to be pulled along.

They came to a halt once more just above the trees. Pyrite could barely breathe. She never wanted to move that way again.

Both of them were still gasping, but Pyre turned to Michael. Her eyes were questioning.

"Hold on," He rasped, and he dropped lightly into the nearest treetop. Pyrite folded her wings and plunged after him, down into the branches. She landed beside him, a short distance from the trunk. He was slumped against the rough bark, eyes closed, probably trying to slow his heart.

"You two alright?!" Keegan's voice sounded barely ten feet above, brimming with worry. Pyrite peered more closely at Michael. His face, to any other, would have seemed blank. Pyrite could see his pain.

"We're not built for sonic flight!" Pyre shouted back, "Can you see anything?!"

"A lot of trees!"

She rolled her eyes in irritation, "The twins!"

"No! Not here!"

Pyrite glanced back at Michael, fidgeting on the tree. He was pale, still gasping. Michael would never admit it, but as strong as he was, Pyre recovered faster. He didn't looked like he'd be all that useful for some time.

"Keegan, get Mike!" She called finally, springing up off the branch and into the open sky.

Panic fluttered in her chest, restricting her breathing. They had only just escaped. Was it possible that the Erasers had caught the twins?

She raced up and down the forest, shouting their names, skimming across the tops of trees and coming dangerously close to the Clinic's white walls. In the sea of dark emerald formed by summer leaves, Frond might have been difficult to find. But Lazuli's blazing blue should have been clear…

A chorus of clicks alerted her inhuman ears just in time, and Pyre spun out of flight, crashing down into the grasping fingers of the forest. A hail of bullet sheeted by just above her.

She spun out of control through the canopy, twigs shattering against her skin, many drawing blood. The space was too tight; she could barely move her wings to stay aloft, let alone try to steer. She had no clue where the enemy was; she only hoped she was flying away.

It was a shock to realize she no longer knew which way was up, nor down. Before she could react, she crashed into the ground, head first.

For the shortest instant, everything went black. And then pain split her skull in a blinding flash. Her entire body stiffened in a scream of agony, her wings beating helplessly against the dirt. She didn't care that the Erasers were coming for her. She just wanted the pain to end.