"We're not your enemies!" I say, struggling in Mr. Knives' grip. Oh, wait, I spoke too soon. Turns out it's not Mr. Knives, it's Mr. Claws. What I thought were some bad-ass knives were actually blades protruding from his knuckles.

"Oh yeah?" he says. "What are you doing so close to the school? Coming to throw rocks through the windows and graffiti the walls like the other delinquents in town?"

"No!"

"Max!" Angel is curled up in a ball, clutching her head. Gazzy runs over and kneels at her side, but he can't do much.

"Let me go!" I say, bending my knee and jabbing backwards with my foot. I feel it hit its mark (his kneecap) but he's unfazed.

"Listen, kid," he says in my ear. "I have orders not to hurt you or your little friends, but I can't promise anything if you do that again."

"Orders? From who?"

"Go take care of your friend," he says, avoiding my question. "But don't do anything stupid." He shoves me forward. I stumble, catch myself, and run towards Angel. Iggy and Nudge are too busy staring at the man, jaws hitting the ground.

"Guys!" I yell, trying to get their attention. The three of us rush over to where Angel and Gazzy are. "This was a mistake," I say quietly as we examine her.

Iggy makes an annoyed noise in the back of his throat. "I hate it when Fang's right."

"Me too."

Angel is still grabbing at her head, but her eyes are open and have a very slight look of understanding in them. She mutters something.

"What?"

"He says not to be scared."

"Who's 'he'?" Nudge says suspiciously

Me.

All four of us jump as the voice reverberates in our minds. I don't even have to ask the flock if they've heard it too; the freaked out expressions on their faces mirrors the one I know I'm wearing.

I apologize about Logan; he's merely doing his job. We've had some problems lately with vandals targeting the school. I want you to know that all six of your are safe here.

He said six. He knows there's one more of us.

Tell Logan that the professor has contacted you and that he requests your company in my office. Do it now. He's getting impatient.

Iggy turns to the man. "The professor told us to tell Logan that he wants to see us in his office," he says automatically.

"I'm not..." the man says, before closing his eyes for a few seconds. Then he opens them again. "Fine," he says angrily. He turns around and starts walking brisky toward the mansion. We watch him go. After walking a few feet he turns back around. "Come on!" he says impatiently.

"What do we do?" Nudge whispers as Iggy and Gazzy help Angel up.

I want to leave. But then I remember we have no money. Looks like tonight's dinner will be coming from trash cans until we can find some more wallets to "borrow". And we'll be sleeping in a tree, with one of us keeping watch every couple of hours.

I'm sick of that.

"Let's go," I say, starting after him.

An hour after they leave I'm still in the parking lot of that stupid museum, where I hadn't even wanted to go to in the first place. I'm sitting on a bench, watching some people get into their cars. There's a little kid who's crying because he dropped his ice cream cone on his mom's feet. His mom looks like she's about to cry too.

I don't know what I'm gonna do. I'm not ditching the Flock forever, but I need some time to think. I'm so pissed I can't even see straight. How could they be stupid enough to run off and join a mutant school? What's the purpose of that? We were fine on our own. Yeah, things got a little tense sometimes, but what's life without some conflict?

My stomach growls. I check my pockets for some cash and come up with two quarters. There's a gumball machine in the museum someone--I saw it near the mammoths. I get back up and slip by the guards at the entrance. I walk to the display and get two gumballs--green and pink. That's manly. I put both in my mouth and work them into a nice, chewy ball.

"Hey."

I don't even need to turn around to know that it's Max talking. I've been living with her for all my sixteen years--I could pick her voice out of a crowd of a million people.

"What are you doing here?" I say, focusing my attention on the mammoths.

Out of the corner of my eye she shrugs. "It wasn't what I'd thought it would be." She tugs on my sleeve. "C'mon, we're all waiting outside."

I follow her out the doors. I look around for Iggy--since he's the tallest he's usually the first one I see, after Max--but don't see him. The only person around is some huge guy walking around behind us. That's when the first little warning bell goes off.

"Where are they?"

"I don't know," she says, shrugging again. "Maybe they went to the bathroom."

Second warning bell. She would never be so careless about the Flock.

A van speeds up to the curb and the doors swing open. Some weird-looking guy with a greenish tinge to his skin is driving. In the passenger seat is a man who looks very old, but very strong. "Hello Fang," he says, looking right at me. He smiles at Max.

"Who are these people?" I say, backing up cautiously.

"It's okay," she says, looking into my eyes and smiling. Her chocolate brown eyes flash yellow.

Panic makes me turn around and run. I haven't even gone three steps when something huge slams into me, knocking me over. I yell as I'm pushed into the van. As I register what's happening to me I look into the face of my attacker. He has long shaggy hair, and wolfish features. His teeth, which are bared, are long and pointy. He snarls, and some of his spit drips onto my shirt.

"Ugh!" I yell, kicking and flailing my legs. It's all I can do. I look over his shoulder and see "Max" jumping into the van before slamming the doors

"Good job," says the old man in front.

"Get off of me!" I snarl, lashing out with my foot. It connects with "Max"'s knee. She just stares at me, before laughing. "Take him out," she says.

A fist connects with the side of my head, and everything goes dark.