It wasn't too hot in Las Vegas that day. That's why, I'm sure, no one looked at Max and her flock as they stood waiting for me. I felt bad for them, standing there, looking uncomfortable on the crowded sidewalk, and obviously trying to hide their wings as much as possible. Okay, it was obvious to me, who had known them since we were old enough to speak. Before, actually. I didn't speak in anything resembling a human language until I was six years old—eight years ago. Before then I could only speak in meows and hisses. The whitecoats were upset by that; they thought for a while that they had put too much feline and serpentine DNA into my genes. It wouldn't be the first time—I was the only surviving specimen with two extra sets of DNA in me. Max and her family were just avian-human hybrids, but I was an extra experiment; feline and serpentine DNA combined.

But that was in the past. The very recent past, since I had just escaped the School two weeks before, but it was still the past and something I would very much desire to forget. I hissed a word in what I like to call snakespeak and a globe of Light filled my hand. It was something I assumed came along with my new genes, whichever set it was. I hissed another word and released it, letting it disperse to the human eye and float down to where the flock was. It was a simple listening Charm. I trusted them well enough, but from my prolonged exposure to the School, I was beyond paranoid.

"You sure she's coming, Max?" Iggy asked and I felt a stab of regret and guilt. I still remember how the whitecoats tried to "fix" his eyesight after seeing how I could see so much better than normal. He had been blind for so long, I'm sure he learned to cope, but it was still a disadvantage wherever he was.

"I don't know, Ig. She said so, but I don't see her." Max craned her neck over the heads of the humans around them in an effort to look for me. I suppose none of them remembered how much I liked heights.

"What's the chance that Vic actually got out? I mean, she doesn't have wings like us, and the Erasers have just gotten more and more deadly," Fang said quietly, but my Charm picked the words up and transmitted them to my ears as clearly as if he had said them right next to me. I didn't blame him for his unbelieving words, even if my pride hurt a bit. Just because I didn't have wings didn't mean I couldn't run.

I summoned my Light back beneath my skin, having no use for it anymore. Carefully, I lowered my body over the edge of the flat roof and let go. I fell quickly, landing on a balcony a couple stories down silently. I climbed over the railing and dropped the last couple stories easily. Landing in the shadows at the base of the building, in the alley leading onto the sidewalk where Max and her flock was waiting, I checked instinctively to make sure no one saw me drop down. No one was there.

I slinked out of the alley, my pupils immediately changing size in response to the light and I whipped out a pair of shades. Contacts had advanced, but not enough to explain away my cat eyes. I brushed my fringe of black hair out of my eyes—I cut it when I got out, but it grew fast—and fingered the top of my scar. It was white, only showing up when I was furious enough to turn red, but it ran from my right temple to under my jaw on that side, barely missing my eye. I got it two years before, when I was being very naughty and needed some punishment. Erasers could be very efficient in dealing out punishment.

I stopped a couple yards away from Max, a clean contrast from her sweatshirt and jeans with my form-fitting long sleeve and loose Bermudas. "Hey, Max."

Max spun around, obviously thinking I was an Eraser. I half-smiled and shuffled my feet nervously. I knew my chances for survival outside the flock were damn small. It was a miracle that I'd survived this long on my own, especially without inside help like the flock had been given. Speaking of that, I was sure they knew that Jeb was a traitor. I wasn't in the same room as they were when they were captured again, perhaps a few months ago, but Jeb had visited Max. It was almost as bad as what happened with Ari. No where close to what happened with Luke, but still bad.

"Vic?" Nudge asked, from beside Max. I nodded, suddenly not able to talk. Nudge stepped forward and then suddenly I was hit by three different kids: Angel, Nudge, and Gasman. I wrapped my arms around all three, thankful as ever that they weren't dead. They weren't my real family—I didn't have one—might have once—but they were the closest I would ever get. Even if I hadn't seen them for four years.

"Thanks for coming, you guys. I know how dangerous this was," I said when the flock let me breath again, meaning every word.

Max stepped forward and replied, "Well, we couldn't really let you be killed by Erasers. Especially since you're on our side. If we didn't come, it would be pretty hypocritical of us."

I smiled wryly, knowing that any reply that I could have to that would be slightly, or very, insulting. When you're in love with sarcasm, good manners really block off half your replies in a bad situation. Suddenly, a bad small permeated the general haze of smells that was taken in by my hypersensitive nose. I wrinkled my forehead and tried to find the source of it.

Max and I turned at the same time, spotting the same man at the same time, opening our mouths at the same to whisper, "Eraser."

"Up, up, and away," Max added and the flock retreated into the alley to unfurl their wings and fly away. When Max stopped to grab my arm, I shook her off. I had a better way to get out of there. She seemed to understand and said, "Meet six miles directly north of Las Vegas."

I nodded and scampered off as she flew up. I hoped that the alley would lead to another and so on, like they did in Rome, but that was too much to hope for. I glared at the wall blocking my passage and wished that the School had thought to give me wings, and not fur, a tail, fangs, cat eyes, and reflexes. Being a cat-snake was good in a fight, but when it came to the School, if you were fighting, then you were as good as dead. Better to run away to live another day.

I turned around, trying to see if there was a jutting windowsill that I could jump up to and climb to the top of one of the buildings. I saw one and quickly calculated the distance—twenty-seven feet. I could jump about twenty-five feet straight up, and there was no room for a running leap. I could hear the Eraser behind me, and by now, it was plural. I would have to use my Light to get out.

I took off my sunglasses, pushing them up on my head. When using my Light, I preferred to see it without tinting. My eyes rolled up into my head as I concentrated. Finally, I formed the Charm in my mind and it waited for my Command, my word that would snap me into space, following the currents of Light swirling around everyone and their grandmother. I opened my eyes and smiled, even though I could see the Erasers now. They were walking, believing that I could not escape now. Not without a running jump.

I could feel the pressure building up around my Charm. Holding Light always tired me and I wondered how much longer I could hold it. I waited as long as I possibly could, until the Erasers were three meters away—no, eight and a half feet—before I finally whispered my Command in snakespeak. Snakespeak worked better with Light than catspeak, I knew that. But when talking to animals and calming down people, catspeak worked better. Perhaps it was because snakes were too cold and impersonal, whereas cats were friendlier. Not as easygoing as dogs, but still calming and soothing. Not expecting something from everyone. Independent. Animals liked that attitude, as well as most people these days.

I felt squeezed—as if I was waking and doing my ritual stretches, contorting farther than I ever had before—and then relaxing slowly, falling back into my real shape. I stumbled as I landed; my legs not used to standing after being stretched like that. It was only my third time using the light as transport, and it was getting more and more familiar. The first time I'd tried it, I couldn't walk for an hour afterwards. So just stumbling this time was almost a miracle for my adaptation skills. Surviving did that to you.

I shook myself, getting used to my body again. I was hypersensitive, and all for the better. If something was wrong, it would stand out like a red light on a field of green. But no; I could feel each black hair on my back and front, could feel my tail trapped in my shorts and against my skin, could feel my fangs waiting to swing down and elongate and bury them in my enemies' necks—no! I was not an animal, who would let my instincts rule me.

I shuddered as I locked the animal up again inside of me. When I used too much Light, sometimes that would happen; the whole wild-animal thing. I hated it, but I always had the nagging feeling that I should just let it go and let the transformation take over. I straightened and checked my coordinates in my head. I was off a bit, so I'd have to run a bit to get where Max and the flock were. I didn't mind that. Less explaining to do.

With a sigh of relief, I started running towards the flock. Running was simple. You put one foot in front of the other. No stupid decisions, no others to mess it up. If you tripped or slowed down, it was your own fault. Nothing else could interfere once you had your concentration.

I saw the flock land in the distance and I sped up. I could go mighty fast at a sprint, and at a very nice moderate pace at an endurance run. Perhaps seventy for a sprint, and fluctuating around forty-five at endurance. Yes, those are miles-per-hour. That was pretty darn strong DNA, whatever it was.

When I got to my friends, I saw them looking at me strangely. I checked behind me, just in case there was a three-headed llama standing there, or something. There wasn't. I looked back. Max said, "Spill it. We didn't see you running. Even you can't run that fast, especially for a full six miles. Besides, it should have taken you much longer, since you weren't even on the outskirts of Las Vegas when you started. Tell us or split."

I paused. Could I really trust them with my Light? I mean, I knew they all had special abilities, but it mostly built on what they already had. How did the Light tie in to my DNA? Neither snakes, nor cats, could transport themselves through space like I could. Would they turn me in—no. They couldn't humanely give me over to the School, not after being there themselves. But they could abandon me. Which would be worse? Them knowing the truth and abandoning me, or just leaving? I weighed the options and calmly cleared my mind.

Finding my center was easier when doing it the second time in a day. I built the Charm up, and again it was easier. I opened my eyes and whispered a word in snakespeak. I felt myself squeezing along the channels of Light again, disappearing to human eyes. I reappeared behind the flock and appreciated the sight of them looking completely stunned before falling on my butt from my balance issues.

"Merde," I cursed, drawing the attention of the flock again. "Yeah, so that's what happened. They chased me into an alley, I went poof, and appeared about a hundred feet away from here. Savvy?"

Obviously, it wasn't, but I wasn't going to wait for them to call me a freak. Unwisely, I tried to stand up and almost fell down again. But Max and Fang caught me before I could slip. I looked at them, unwilling to hope that they actually accepted me. "Aren't you all going to call me a freak, or something?"

Nudge snorted and Angel said, "Who would we do that? Just because you can bend time and space to your will and create miniature wormholes doesn't mean you're a freak."

I stared at Angel now, wondering who shot up her brain with steroids. She laughed and said, "I've always been this way. Just more so in the past three years. You just haven't seen me very much in that time frame."

"D'accord," I murmured, regaining my feet. Max and Fang stepped back and I cast my gaze over them. All of the flock looked rather haggard, and dirty as well. They could all have used baths very much. I looked down at myself. To be honest, I could have used a bath as well. I checked my internal coordinate system (oh, didn't I tell you? It's like GPS, except much less explainable) and found a canyon nearby. Nearby, as in, within 50 miles. Funny thing, that coordinate system. Maybe I was intercepting data from satellites. Or something.

But I didn't say anything, because I still wasn't sure whether Max would take me in. After all, I didn't have the wings the way they did. I couldn't fly like them. Wait, maybe I could! Angel said that Light bends time and space to my will; with enough of it, surely I could fly as well?

"You know, you can't really travel with us all the time. You don't really have wings," Max voiced my concerns. Fang seemed very quiet, and I got the feeling that he didn't like me very much. Well, tough bananas.

"Well, we can figure that out in the morning. There's a cave system within flying distance. North by northeast, twenty-seven miles. Meet me there, if you want." I built up my Charm again and released it quickly. If they came, then they came. If not, I could always go to England or something. Get picked up by a foster system—or not. Foster parents meant doctors and check-ups. Exactly. But England—that was worth checking out.

I was stretched for a second before I collapsed on the floor of one of the caves I found. I stood up with barely a shake, smiled triumphantly, and brushed myself off. I walked to the mouth of the cave and grinned even wider when I saw that it wasn't a tourist canyon. I reached back, bending my back as I scratched a stubborn itch in the middle of my back fur.

Finished stretching, I sat down against the cave wall, just inside the mouth, to try and build a Charm for flight. I built up the wings—sparkling, white transparent things that looked as if they would barely hold a fly. But when strengthened by Light, they would hold. I thought about where they would actually attach to my body, in order to be able to fly properly. I tried to remember where Max's wings were placed and felt my design slipping away. I grabbed at it, but it was like it was being sucked into an abyss. I scrambled backwards in my mind and opened my eyes with a gasp.

I sucked in my air too fast and began to cough violently, feeling as if my lungs were trying to force their way up and out through my throat. My fit subsided after a few moments and I stood up, swaying as I did so, and saw Max and her flock winging towards me.

That night, after an absolutely delish meal of desert rat, we were all arranged around the dying fire to sleep. As soon as I closed my eyes, I was back on the edge of the abyss. I could see the glow of my wings design glittering down there, somewhere. I wanted to climb down to get it, but I held back for some reason. Then I looked around me and saw glowing tendrils of Light edging towards the abyss. My Light. Something was very, very wrong here.

I tried to build up a cover for the pit, so that none of my Light would get sucked away, but that just sped up the process and almost sucked my in as well. I heard laughing from the other end, high and clear. Then I saw a flash of green light—not light, but Light—coming at me from the other end of the tunnel and I woke up screaming.

I sat straight up, still caught in my dream. I heard words flying past at amazing speeds, saw people moving as if on hyper speed, and water. A lot of water. Then, at the end, an island. A very large island, very close to the mainland. And I suddenly knew that I was supposed to go there.

"Vic! Invictus Black, if you don't answer me this second, I will slap you!" I suddenly realized that Max was yelling at me. I turned to look at her.

"I think I'm going to go to England."

Haha! This is simply amazing, to be able to get this out there. I decided that Vic was a little to unrealistic. So, yeah. Now she doesn't have any wings, doesn't know about magic (yes, she's super advanced with it, but has no idea that Light is actually magic), and is... Je ne sais pas. Different? Yep, that should do it.

And, since this isn't a spoiler, I will willingly tell you what Vic has genes from.Her feline DNA is from a cheetah (and yes, I do know that they are poor climbers, but they're so darn fast at running), and her serpentine DNA is from a viper. Currently, I think that it's from a palearctic viper, since it's (according to Wikipedia) found in Great Britain. They are usually smaller, and Vic will be shorter than all the bird kids, and it also prefers a cold climate. Also, it's known as a common European adder. And that's about as far as I'm going on that subject. It might be important, and it might not. I haven't decided yet.

No headaches yet! But those are coming, and more of the creepy abyss.Lollies--o to everyone who can tell me who it is on the other end of the tunnel. Three chances, and the first two don't count. X

Oh, yeah, and since I'm getting better at French, I'll probably be having Vic speaking it. Because all freaky mutants need a signature. And you know what's pathetic? I've got a scene in my head where Vic slaps Vic, where she rants at Ron, and where she knows more than Hermione. But I still don't know who Luke is. Whatever.

Signing off. A bientot.