Tara awoke with a gasp. No...she was still in a cage. Still in the School. And, she still couldn't fly. With a disappointed sigh, she gazed down, catching sight of her face in a puddle of water on the concrete floor. Her face was dirty and scratched, her eyes dull with sadness and her hair limp and greasy. Nothing like the pretty girl in her dream.

"Oh, Tara." Camille called from the smaller cage next to her. "Don't look, it does not help with ze sadness."

That's right. Tara constantly forgot that beauty-concious Camille was an empath.

"Does anything help? We'd might as well give up." Akakios grumbled in his gargled speech. His features were wolfy, not the fashion model Tara saw in her dream.

"X2009 seems to be progressing." The sound of the Whitecoats made Tara's head pop up. They had just walked into the small closet-like room that she, Camille and Akakios shared. "Can you speak?"

Duh, Tara thought, have you not heard me? To get on their nerves, she let out a small "Squaak!" The Whitecoats looked astonished.

"I suppose not," The second said. "But, F6284 is. Her skills at identifying others' emotions is unmatched by any other experiment."

"True. Let's move on to the next room." They walked off, scribbling furiously on their clipboards. Akakios almost looked bitter that they had said nothing about him.

"Lucky you, Camille," He growled, his blonde hair turned brown by grime. "You're so perfect. Powerful. Un-deformed." Akakios slumped into the back of his cage so shadow covered half his face.

"Akakios," Camille purred, "You are not deformed."

"What do you call the face of a wolf on the body of a man? I'm a mess-up. An Eraser they forgot to eliminate but kept around to torture."

"You're not an Eraser," Tara piped in. "You're more advanced."

"Ha! I don't have wings! I can't turn into a panther and fit through the smallest spaces! I can fight, and that's all. I can fight and scare the pants off of anyone who sees me!" Akakios was nearly screaming now, the veins in his thick neck popping. Whitecoats rushed into the room, looking concerned, and holding...oh no. Syringes, never a good sign.

Akakios let out a tortured wail as they stuck a syringe in his arm. He went unconcious immediately. Camille began to shriek, until she went out too. Finally, the jabbed it into Tara's arm. "What-" She slurred as things began to go blurry. "Can't take a little...noise?"

- Well, thanks for the reviews! I hope this clarified things. Maybe I should have had her awaken in the first chapter, or post them both at once? Hopefully it may be overlooked, and I hope to continue!