Chapter 4

It was nighttime by the time Mackenzie arrived at God-knows-where and she was exhausted. She surveyed the city from the top of a building, already missing the fresh forest air.

Not wanting to bring any attention to her wings, Mackenzie quickly scaled down the side of the building, though it didn't make much of a difference, as most of the lights inside the building were already off and the citizens would be asleep.

She walked along the sidewalk, the street lamps casting her shadows of her tall, slender body against the buildings.

She was decked out in a black windbreaker in case it was cold, an olive green t-shirt, cargo pants and a pair of old sneakers. Her reddish brown curls were tied in a high ponytail out of her face in case she needed to run and her side swept bangs pushed to the side.

She had run out of money in the last town, so she would probably pickpocket a few people in the morning.

Mackenzie immediately found a nearby park and climbed up a large oak tree, checking to make sure that no one would be able to see her through the leaves. Yawning, she set her herself in a comfortable position and closed her eyes and the last thing she thought of before she went to sleep was the intense gaze of the small, blonde, blue-eyed girl.


Everything was burning, the fire spreading to anything nearby. The few buildings left were crumbling to ashes and all she could was stand and watch. This nightmare was different.

She couldn't move, her body was immobilized and there were voices, quiet whispers that said, "Let it burn! Burn it to the ground!"

She struggled against the invisible restraints.

"No!" she yelled. "Let me go!"

There was a dark laugh as a voice said, "Beware, my little flame. This is just the beginning."

Mackenzie shuddered awake, her skin breaking out into a cold sweat. Goose bumps ran up and down her arms, reminding her of the new nightmare. She pulled her legs up to her chest to stop the trembling and murmured to herself.

"Something big is going to happen. Something bad."


The next morning Mackenzie made her way to the city plaza. There were business men milling around late for work, sightseeing tourists looking at brochures, and people just passing by walking around the area. The corners of her lips twitched upward. It was the perfect day for picking pockets.

She immediately set out, keeping a similar pace to the people around her, occasionally bumping into them and apologizing, brushing her hand against their pockets and taking out their wallet. After taking out all the cash, she would place the wallet back into their bag or coat pocket. By noon, she had enough money to last her for the next week or two and headed to the nearest café for lunch.

As she walked along the cobblestone pathway, she heard frantic footsteps from behind as a figure slammed into her back, knocking her over. She landed on the floor with an 'Oomph' and quickly climbed to her feet, backing away from the person who had knocked her to the ground.

Had someone seen her pickpocketing? Was it the police? She brushed her bangs out of the way and looked at the culprit.

Standing in front of her, was a boy. He was slightly taller than her, probably around her age. His strawberry blonde hair glinted in the sunlight, making it look almost like a golden red. He was panting, obviously out of breath and it looked like he had been running for a while. A spark of recognition shot through Mackenzie.

"You're-" she started, only she never got time to finish her sentence as the boy grabbed her by the arm and pulled her into a nearby alley.

"Hey!" she struggled against his strong grip, "What are you doing?"

He pressed Mackenzie and himself against the wall.

"Listen," he whispered, "I'm really sorry about running into you. Could you stay quiet for a moment? Just until I say otherwise?"

Mackenzie huffed, but stayed silent as he said. They stood there for a few minutes, hidden in the shadows, the silence becoming more and more unbearable for her. Finally, just as she was about to say something, another voice interrupted her.

"I swear I saw him go this way."

"How could you have lost him already?"

"Me? You insisted on stopping for an ice cream cone!"

"He's the blind one isn't he? I didn't think he would get very far."

"You're such an idiot! This was our chance! The others have already lost the rest of them. If you hadn't been in the mood for Ben and Jerry's, we could've caught this one and gotten high praise from the scientists!"

"I'm sorry, okay? Let's just meet up with the rest of the pack and go back."

The two arguing figures walked past and Mackenzie held back a gasp. Not because they were large and hairy and would scare anyone on the street. Not because she knew that before they morphed they looked like tall handsome businessmen. She held back her gasp because she hadn't seen an Eraser in 3 years. And she thought they had all died in the fire.

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