The Erasers arrived about ten minutes after Stephanie ended the call, pulling up in a sleek, yet undoubtedly lethal car. A scientist was with them, and although she wasn't wearing a lab coat, her evilly intelligent gaze was betrayed her. A few Erasers stepped out of the car, dwarfing her and I reconsidered. She was human. And although the Erasers currently looked like male-models, I could tell that they were definitely not. There was something under the surface, below those attractive features, something that reeked of savageness and death. I had compared Stephanie to an Eraser, but seeing them now, Stephanie, even a snarling, animalistic Stephanie seemed like a playful puppy dog. I was suddenly very glad that I work for the School, not against them.

An Eraser with thick black hair stooped down and scooped up bird-girl as if she weighed nothing and passed her to the scientist, who lay her down on the grass and shone a light in her eyes. "Pupil dilation looks normal," the scientist murmured, as if to herself. She slipped the light into her pocket, and raised the bird-girls limp wrist, presumably checking her pulse.

The black-haired Eraser waved a hand in front of my face, and my attention was instantly redirected towards dangerous wolf-man.

I faced him, assuming what I hoped was a respectful posture, trying not to recoil. He smelled bad for one thing, like a wild animal, and his sheer size alone was impressive, making me feel tiny. "Yes?" I asked politely, trying to add an undertone of deference.

From the expression on the Eraser's face, part annoyed, part amused, I had obviously not succeeded. "What happened here?" he asked, skipping over formalities, though he sounded relatively calm and stable, at least not about to rip my head off.

"I thought Stephanie told you guys," I replied, hastily adding, "sir."

He grinned, showing off eyeteeth that I knew he could easily morph into fangs.

I swallowed, and my claws instinctively came out, and although I knew from personal experience that they were sharp and lethal, I also knew that if the Eraser decided to kill me, my claws would perhaps delay my death five minutes.

Laughter shocked me from my morbid thoughts, and I looked up, a flush coming to my cheeks. The black-haired Eraser was laughing at me! I frowned, slightly relieved that he found me so amusing, but annoyed at the same time.

"I'm sorry," he apologized, resuming an air of cool professionalism with ease, all traces of humor evaporating into the air like water droplets falling on a car heated by the noon sun. "And no, your partner, Stephanie," he pronounced her name oddly, almost curiously, "only call to communicate your success. Congratulations by the way."

"Thanks," I said. "And bird-girl, er, the target didn't really put up much of a fight."

"'Really'?" the Eraser asked, picking up on the word.

I flushed again pulled my claws in and out. "She was sort of strong," I muttered, "I underestimated her, that's all."

"Nothing… unusual about her, then?" the Eraser asked.

I frowned, confused. "Huh?"

The Eraser locked eyes with me for a second, before cocking his head, a slightly puzzled expression forming over his features. "Never mind."

From the ground beside us, the scientist raised her hand. With a start, I realized I had nearly forgotten about her, and the bird-girl still unconscious beside her. "She's fine," the scientist said, "And if she had any connections to the others, I'm certain we'll be able to find out."

The Eraser nodded to the scientist. "Put her in the car," he ordered and the other two Erasers that had come with him and the scientist picked up the bird-girl and opened up the trunk of the car, and flung her inside, slamming the trunk door down over her.

"Careful," the scientist chastised lightly, standing up.

The black-haired Eraser turned back to me and inclined his head towards the car. "Get inside, you two," he said. For a second I was confused. You two. Oh. Stephanie. Right. I blushed for the third time in the last ten minutes and spun around melodramatically, taking hold of Stephanie's hand and dragging her towards the backseat door of the car despite her protests. Flinging open the door I realized that one of the two seats in the very back was already occupied. Stephanie's hand slipped out of mine, and before I could accuse her of mutiny, she was in the front of the car sitting beside the driver's seat. I sighed heavily.

Sitting behind an evil scientist and an Eraser while sitting beside an Eraser with an unconscious bird-girl in the trunk the car was, despite what some may think, not the most pleasurable experience in my life. Quite the contrary actually. The scientist was worse than the black-haired Eraser, shooting off questions about the bird-girl at a rapid-fire pace. When she finally realized that I couldn't give her the exact length of time it took for the bird-girl's wings to expand to maximum length, of the amount of time it took before she was able to process that I was a threat, she went on to asking questions about me. I took these questions a bit more seriously; I worried that if I couldn't give her the answers she might just get a bit too curious and try to find out herself. Fortunately, after a couple of questions about my daily calorie intake, she seemed to grow bored and fell silent. Unfortunately, I only had a few seconds the process the new quiet before I realized that my conversation with the scientist had distracted me from the Erasers that were in unnervingly close proximity to me. The black-haired Eraser was driving, and it was a shame, too, because although he had intimated me, at least I hadn't been terrified. The other Erasers terrified me. They didn't speak, but their foul scent radiated off of them like a cloud of poison, and every so often one would stare at me, a hungry glint in his eyes.