Chuck had long ago promised himself never to get in a vehicle with a beautiful woman that he didn't either know or pay for. He never expected to break that rule. Yet here he was sitting in the back of Dr. Magnus's van with Serena, Blair, Nate and a monster-woman of some kind tied up on the floor. The van rumbled along to God only knew where, with Henry and Doctor Magnus in the front seat and the other four in the back with the unconscious Alison. The four New Yorkers were all huddled together despite their being a lot of room in the back. Alison was frightening even unconscious.

"Are you sure she's not going to wake up?" Serena called forward.

Dr. Magnus half turned in her seat. "The stunner is good for an hour. We're ten minutes away from the Sanctuary." Serena nodded, reassured. Dr. Magnus didn't look happy though. She looked past Serena to Nate.

"Are you all right?" she asked.

Nate didn't hear her. He had his eyes closed and his head slumped down onto his chest.

"Nate? Nate?" Chuck prodded him in the shoulder. Nate jerked his head up, whacking it on the wall behind him.

"Ungh! Yeah, I'm fine."

He didn't look fine. He was drenched in sweat and shivering. He drew a breath and everyone could hear the rattling sound in his chest. Chuck, usually the one to keep calm, at least on the exterior, was worried. Dr. Magnus had said organ failure. Was this...?

Dr. Magnus unbuckled her seatbelt and climbed into the back. She crouched in front of Nate and laid a hand on his forehead.

"Increased temperature. Abnormal breathing. How many fingers do you see?" She held up two.

Nate tried to focus on Dr. Magnus's hand. "Um... seven?"

"The toxin is working faster than it should." Dr. Magnus looked worried. She turned to Blair. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm fine," answered Blair. "What's wrong with him?"

"An adverse reaction of some kind. Is he allergic to bee stings?"

"Yes, how did you know?"

"The Varanus venom closely resembles the chemical formula of a bee's sting," Dr. Magnus took Nate's hands and tried to make him look at her. "Nate? Nate, do you have an EpiPen?" His eyes drooped.

"No," Chuck, his lifelong friend, answered for him. "The doctors said the allergy isn't severe enough. He's never had one."

"Damn, Henry! Step on it!"

The van's tires squealed around the corner and a huge gothic mansion loomed upon them. It was surrounded by a high wall but the wrought iron gate swung open as they approached.

Before they'd even stopped, the back door was wrenched open. Serena screamed. A huge hairy man stood in the doorway. He looked like the Sasquatch or wolf-man from a B-horror movie. If Chuck hadn't been so worried for Nate, he'd have made a snarky comment. The monster-man and Dr. Magnus ignored Serena.

"He needs to go to the infirmary immediately," Dr. Magnus said, as she handed him a now unconscious Nate. "Give him a dose of epinephrine and prep the Varanus anti-venom." The man picked up Nate like he weighed nothing and started for the door.

"Wait! Where are you taking him?" Blair jumped out of the van and swooned. Chuck caught her. "I feel light-headed." Blair blinked and shook her head.

"The venom is affecting you too," Dr. Magnus said. "Come on, all of you. Henry and Kate, put Alison in a secure cell." Dr. Magnus took Blair by the shoulder and Serena followed them inside. Chuck stayed with the van.

A dark beautiful woman had appeared seemingly out of nowhere. She must be Kate. Chuck was surprised that he hadn't noticed her. She was the type that you noticed. Then again, beautiful women had been surprising him all night. And not in a good way. At least this one wasn't holding him by the throat. Yet.

Kate wheeled a gurney over to the van, shoving Chuck out of the way with her shoulder.

"Out of the way, buddy," she said. She climbed into the van and she and Henry dropped Alison onto the gurney.

"Wasn't she just in here last month?" Kate asked Henry.

"Yup. I reckon Dr. Magnus will keep her for longer this time. Teach her a lesson."

Kate rolled her eyes. "Great. Should be fun feeding her in the morning."

Henry laughed humourlessly. Chuck followed them inside.

"What is this place?" he asked.

"You still here?" Kate glanced at him. "This is the Sanctuary."

"Sanctuary?"

"We're kind of like an orphanage but not just for kids," Henry said. "We take in people who have nowhere else to go."

Kate laughed. "Yeah, an orphanage with jail cells and guns and top of the line equipment."

"Aww, you're too kind," Henry smiled and blushed in the dim light.

Seeing Chuck's shocked face, Kate elaborated. "Not all our guests are here voluntarily," she gestured to Alison, still unconscious. "Case in point."

They had arrived in front of a cell with a sturdy window in it. Henry punched a code into the key pad and Kate pushed Alison's gurney into it.

They locked her in.

"What's your name anyway?" Kate asked. "I'm Kate Freelander." She held out her hand and Chuck shook it and introduced himself. He looked through the glass at Alison. He admitted to himself that she frightened him. This whole experience frightened him, though he would never say it out loud. A woman with retractable venomous claws, Dr. Magnus's strange gun, the man who had opened the van door.

"Explain to me again what the Sanctuary is?" Chuck demanded. He didn't like not understanding. "Exactly what kinds of orphans do you take in?"

Kate smirked at him. "See for yourself."

Kate and Henry led him out of a door at the other end of the hall. Chuck stopped and stared around in wonder.

Chuck didn't impress easily, but this room, this place. He'd never seen anything like it. The room was as big twice the size of a basketball court and round. A dozen screens hung from a round trellis on the ceiling. The room was styled to look old but it was filled with technology the likes of which Chuck had never seen, even on TV. The walls were divided by huge glass panels. Inside each panel was a huge room, the size of a house.

He stared at a chamber that contained water, like an aquarium. As he approached, a shadow appeared. A mermaid.

Chuck kept walking.

The next chamber was filled with mist. He couldn't see anything.

A huge tentacle with a suction cup on the end shot out and smacked the glass.

"Ah!" Chuck jumped back. Kate and Henry laughed. The tentacle retracted.

Chuck slowly turned around, his eyes wide. He saw a lizard the size of a horse in a chamber across from the tentacle. It belched fire at the glass.

"M-monsters?" he stammered.

"We don't use that word here," Henry said quickly. "We say Abnormals."

"We've got everything from Alison back there to the sorkel to Sally, the mermaid." Kate smiled at his shock. "The world is a much bigger place than you knew."

A voice boomed from loudspeakers overhead.

"Henry, Kate, is Chuck with you?" Dr. Magnus's voice boomed out.

"Yeah!" Henry called back.

"His friend Blair is asking for him."

"Blair?" Chuck looked around, half expecting to see her. He stopped and looked up, awkwardly addressing the ceiling. "Where is she?"

"I've put her in room 4. Serena is with her."

A few short minutes later, Chuck was sitting on Blair's bed. Blair had orders to stay in bed for a few hours while the anti-venom worked its magic. Nate was sleeping in the infirmary under the watchful eye of Dr. Magnus and Will.

Chuck tried to describe to Blair and Serena what he'd seen and learned about the Sanctuary.

"That's impossible!" Serena gasped.

"I would have said the same, but you saw the wolf-man who opened the van door. And Alison with her claws."

"Yeah," Blair pointed to the scabs on her neck. "Alison was definitely real."

The three were silent for a moment.

"How can this be true?" Serena said finally. "I feel like someone has un-blindfolded me. It's scary. This is our life, but it's... not."

"How many more are there?" Blair asked. She rubbed her neck absently. Serena grabbed her hand to make her stop.

"Kate says a lot," Chuck said. "She says that Abnormals, as they call them, are everywhere and that lots of them live with us and we don't even know."

"We wouldn't have known about Alison if she hadn't lost her temper," Serena pointed out. "She looks human. But..." It was so strange to be saying out loud.

They sat, trying to wrap their heads around what they'd just learned.