I swallowed. "Wish me luck," I muttered under my breath to the air, though part of me hoped that Jeb could hear my plea. Me, begging for luck. See, if luck was on my side, I wouldn't be in this mess. But it isn't, and so I am. I held my breath and took a nose-dive towards the shattered sky-light. I entered it and had a fraction of a second to spread open my wings before I would've gone either 'splat' or 'crash,' and neither one sounded too pleasant at the moment. I landed gracefully on my two feet, crouched low to the ground, and my night vision turned back on, scanning the room with a bit of discomfort. I may be able to see in the dark, but I'm not made to do this for so long.

As I searched the darkness of the attic, or whatever you'd call this, dismay coursed through my entire body, from my head to the tip of my wings. The enemy, whatever it was, had gone without a trace. The boxes were stacked up neatly once more, and the ceiling panel that had been broken a few feet from my position now had been replaced. I stared for a moment longer and sighed. Had the danger already passed? Had it ever really happened? Don't you hate questions like those? They always jinx you.

Suddenly at least three dozen of the huge monster creatures leaped over the stacks of boxes, their lips curled back to reveal their dagger-like fangs, and their eyes glowing a menacing amber. I scrambled to regain my composure, backing slowly away from the advancing brutes as they cornered me. This was a terrible, horribly bad situation, and so naturally a few curses flew from my pale lips.

"The bird brain has a naughty mouth," a low voice cackled deeply, and I recognized it as the voice of the first beast that had attacked me.

I snapped uncharitably, "Why not fight fair? Maybe shed some light on this stupid situation?"

The wolf's glinting eyes showed obvious amusement. "Does the darkness frighten you?" he chided, and amused hisses came from his followers in a soft wav of sound.

"No," I argued instantly, my feather's puffing out indignantly, "it just gives you an advantage."

The monster's chest heaved out in a deep-throated, unnaturally venomous chuckle. "Unfair advantages are how champions are made, dove." His body lowered to the ground in the beginnings of a spring, his powerful body rippling with lean muscle.

I sighed in an annoyed tone, "Allow me the privilege of knowing what in the world you are before you tear me to pieces."

He smirked, his dagger-fangs glimmering in the darkness, and he leaned back into a comfortable yet action-ready sitting position. "I, my avian snack," he began, "am an Eraser, as are all of my troops. We are an advanced race of creatures created by the same organization of tacky old ladies and gents who created you."

My icy eyes widened in dismay. "The School?" I breathed softly. Even such a small bit of information was making my head spin in circles. Why would the School send these guys after me?

The Eraser laughed, interrupting my thoughts, and he said brightly in his gruff voice, "Bingo!"

My eyes flickered with doubt and curiosity as I murmured questioningly, "But why would they—"

His tail lashed, and his hackles rose as he snarled coldly, "Enough! If you think that's bad ponder this little tidbit carefully. We Erasers were born and bred to hunt down and capture or kill escaped subjects of the experiments like you."

I stared unbelievingly back at him and he continued, amused by was he said.

"I bet you'd never guess what love-life monster assigned us to take you down, little dove." He cut himself off, his voice lowering, and a soft, whisper-like laugh came from his dog lips. "It's your dear, sweet, beloved Jeb."

I wouldn't give that brute another advantage over me, so I stifled my pure shock and dismay he'd instilled deep in my soul. A wave of cold flooded over me as my second heart, the ice heart, began to thump to life and cool my body. Burning with cold fury I lunged at the dog with a battle-cry.

Obviously the stupid brutes don't know all about me. Oh, no. If they did, they would not have infuriated me with such a lie!

I felt power blazing through my fingertips, and my eyes glinted with deadly and pleased fire as a young and foolish Eraser leaped to his paws and lunged in front of his leader, defending him as best as he could. Too bad his boldness would cost him his life.

The young Eraser felt my hands connect with his neck, and at that point he stopped his cry of battle and began to howl and cry out in pure pain and misery. I dug my nails into his skin, my fingers burning through his fur and skin as though dry ice had been injected into his blood. The next sight was eerie, and the other Erasers were stunned.

The Eraser and I had collapsed to the ground, and I trembled violently as several quaking waves of freezing power flooded from me to him, turning his body into a clear and perfect ice sculpture of a screaming Eraser.

I rose to my feet, still holding him in my hands, and I let him drop to the floor; his frozen body shattered like a glass cup, and the shards scattered across the floor. I cracked my knuckles and gazed around, gasping for breath and daring another beast to come at me.

The Erasers all stared, whimpering in fear and cowering away, but the main dog stared evenly into my eyes. He could hear how ragged and shallow my breaths had become, and he could see the quaking in my knees as my power began to very slowly regenerate itself.

"Seems like one percent ice and two percent incomplete has done you some good," he murmured. He crouched low, his broad shoulders flexing, the muscles rippling under his thick black fur.

He and I were both aware that there was no way I could conjure up the destructive ice sculpture attack again without killing myself in the process, but there was no way he was going to underestimate me like his late friend had.

He lunged at my feet, slashing his forepaws at my shin, and I easily leaped over the strikes, not bothering to stay up for long; the ceiling was low, and he could easily throw me down. I dodged to the left, avoiding a downward slash, and then to the right, avoiding an upward one. The next move was obviously predictable, but somehow I hadn't seen it coming.

The massive black Eraser, right after the first two missed, used his head and butted me right in the nose; the bone crackled, and I staggered backwards, a gush of the special ice heart's blood flooding out. I was dazed, and the Eraser took advantage of it. He leaned back and propelled himself upward at me, shoving my shoulders with his paws and knocking me flat on my back. He pinned me, his claws buried into my collar bone. The bleeding stopped, and the bones fixed themselves, melting and re-freezing.

I struggled beneath the huge dog-thing, and he remained unmoved. I growled in pain as his claws dug in deeper, and he raised one paw, bringing it down onto my temple with nearly crushing force. At that point I could no longer keep my eyes open, and so the next few moments, maybe minutes or hours, flew by, accompanied by a flicker of light and changing scenery. It didn't seem like long enough to have gone anywhere, but by the time I awoke everything had changed.

I stared out the windshield of a fast-speeding car, my head still wrapped in a thick fog. I was in the backseat of a very fancy, shining, clean car with red leather upholstery; my bright white hair and silvery-white wings stood out like fire in a snowstorm. My head was staring between the driver's and passenger's seats, and my wings were curled tightly around me.

I sat up slowly, my eyes locked on the driver of the fancy car. He was unnaturally handsome, with long, sleek black hair that was down to the base of his neck and rested just above his eyes. He had beautifully tan skin, and gorgeous gray eyes. He glanced back to stare at me in the rearview mirror.

"You're awake," he murmured softly in an angelic but still gruff voice. "That's good… Make yourself presentable."

His left hand slid off the wheel to a pad of buttons on the handle of the car. He pushed a pale glowing blue one, and the seat rose and turned over where my head had been; the seat had turned into a tray of a first-aid kit and cosmetics.

I lifted up a silvery mirror with intricate rose designs along the edges, examining my face where the Eraser had struck me. There was a very dark bruise and marks where the claws had pierced my skin. I traced the wounds with my fingertips, and winced in pain.

The driver looked back at me again. "That's the only truly noticeable wound. Your nose healed just fine."

I set the mirror back on the tray, and my blue eyes narrowed suspiciously. "How did you know what—"

He smiled devilishly, and his pearly white teeth showed the same vicious points as an Eraser's jowls did. "I'm sure you can remember if you try hard enough, dove," he sang in an amused coo.

I pulled in a quick, short breath, my teeth baring in anger. "You're the Eraser, the head of the pack."

He cackled that same eerie laugh. "Bingo. Now get yourself cleaned or I'll scar your pretty little wings, too." His voice showed he wasn't kidding about the threat. "The director doesn't want to see how badly you fight."

I wanted very dearly to defy him, but I knew if I didn't treat the wound soon it would become a permanent scar, or, even worse, become infected. I instantly took the anti-bacterial wipes from the first aid kit and cleaned out the gashes. With no more dirt and debris inside them they began to slowly close. Like dear little Max, I have quick healing, as long as no debris is in the wound.

It didn't take long to clean up the wound and get it covered up with make-up. I'd done it before, when I'd gotten into a fight with a gang of kids at school. Well, several times. The wounds were still small scars, and I suspected they'd always be there, but the cover-up hid them well.

The Eraser man stared back to the mirror again, staring softly across my face. "You did a good job. I can barely tell how badly I beat your butt in the attic."

I scowled at him and said tartly, "You and I both know that you cheated."

"Oh, did I?" he replied innocently.

"Yeah, you did!" I retorted, my eyes flaring. "You made me have to fight in the dark, and you knew I couldn't see in the dark like you and your mutt friends can."

"Oh?"

"You cheated," I muttered again, folding my arms across my chest and turning my head to stare out the side window. His only reply was an amused chuckle.