I sat at the school lunch table alone, picking at the watery macaroni, stale bread, and rotten apple. I felt the stares of my fellow students on me, but I ignored them and stared down at my food. Word had gotten around of my arrest, and Eve had begun hanging out with others to avoid me. She even moved out of my house, and went to another. My life was miserable. I didn't have any friends, everyone was either mad at me or disgusted, and when my mom had heard Eve got kicked out, she extended my ground to 2 months. I regretted the incident with NSRF all the way, but it still didn't wipe away my interest in the door. But discovering what was behind the door was a lost cause.

I sighed, stood up, and walked to throw my trash away. Then I went back to the table to retrieve my bookbag. I picked it up and at the last moment I notied the graffiti on my bookbag. There, in big black letters across my bookbag, was the word CRIMINAL. I gasped and the whole lunchroom errupted in laughter. It was a prank. I tried to keep the tears falling from my eyes as I walked out the lunchroom, but they poured out and I ran. I ran past lockers, classrooms, and out the door. I didn't care if any of the teachers, or even the principle, saw but I knew I needed to get away.

I headed toward home, even thought it was 3 full miles away, and my subway card was with my mom, who had made me ride with her to wherever I needed to go. I grumbled and trudged on, crossing roads and intersections. I saw something flash above me, and looked up. Lightning. Dark, cumulonimbus, clouds had rushed in and it began to drizzle. I cursed the weather. I didn't have an umbrella, and my house was more than a mile away. It began to pour, and then it began to rain cats and dogs. I began to see familiar sights and soon found the alleyway that served as a shortcut. I turned into it, but stopped, eyeing the man warily. He was leaning against the old, red, brick and smoking a cigarette. He was maybe in his 40s, had a spikey mohauwk, and wore baggy clothes. He turned, and eyed me back. I flinched; he was looking at me like I was prey. I slowly backed away, but he came at me. I turned and ran, but I was jerked back by my bookbag and fell against the ground. Rain cascaded into my eyes, blinding me for a second, then I scrambled backwards into the wall.

The man stood over me, and smirked. I frowned, this man was not going to steal my money or do anything else to me. My day had already gone bad enough, and I didn't want it to get any worse. I swung my leg at the man's ankles, causing him to fall down on the ground. I leaped up and sprinted past him, but then I felt a hand land on my ankle and I fell face forward onto the hard cement. My head got the worst of the fall; it slammed into the ground and stars flashed in front of my eyes. I felt another pain in my wrist and tried to move it. I cried out in pain; my wrist was broken. But I would have to worry about that later. I glanced back at the man, who was struggling to stand up. He glared at me, pulling out a knife, then spoke.

"She took my son away, your mom." He knew my mom? "And now, I'm going to take you away from her." He lunged forward at me, ready to kill. I closed my eyes and braced myself for the impact, but it never came.

I cracked opened my eyes and gasped. It was Xavier. Xavier had tackled the man to the ground and was punching him constantly, even though the man looked knocked out. I tried to croak something out so he would stop, but I was too weak. I tried to crawl forward, but a sharp pain errupted in my wrist and I let out a groan of pain, then curled up on the cold, wet, ground. My whole body was in pain, especially my wrist and head.

"Lacuna?" I heard Xavier say. He knelt over me, slid his arms under me, and picked me up. I curled up in his arms and leaned my head against his chest. Then I drifted away.

(^._.^)

"Hey," I said to Eve, as I laid in my bed.

"Hello," she said, closing the door behind her. "I heard what happened, and I'm sorry. I'm sorry about what happened at school, earlier, too. They were being jerks. And I'm sorry about shunning you too." She looked down at the ground. I sighed.

"Apology accepted. Now come here." I held out my arms, and we hugged.

Xavier had taken me to the hospital after the incident, and when my wrist was fixed they sent me home. The man was arrested, and it turned out he was a former NSRF worker. The question though, was why he said my mother had taken his son. It wasn't like she was a criminal or anything. Or maybe he was referring to her adopting his son. But she hadn't done that either. So what had she done?

"So, I heard that your prince charming came and swept you off your feet!" Eve said, interrupted me from my thoughts. I blushed at the thought of Xavier being my prince charming.

"Well, I wouldn't word it like that. He did save me, but he is not my prince charming."

"Oh, come on. You know you like him," she teased.

"No, I don't." I lied. I still wasn't sure of my feelings toward Xavier.

"Ugh, whatever. So where is he anyways? Why didn't he stay here and comfort you or something?"

"He's with his mom at their place. And it's not like he would stay here with me when I'm basically a stranger."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. So what do you want to do?" Eve hopped onto my bed. "Your mom said I could sleep over here if I wanted to, so I am, and you cannot argue."

I groaned. "You can stay if you don't badger me about Xavier." She rolled her eyes. "We can watch some movies if you wanna. Or we can just chat. Whatever you want."

"Okay, movie it is." She stood up and walked toward my book and movie shelf, skimming for what movie to watch. "Ooh, I haven't seen this one." She pulled out Black Trees, a movie about the world coming to an end due to an alien invasion. "Is it good?" she asked me. I nodded. She slipped the CD into the TV's movie system, sat down at the foot of my bed, and the commercials began to play.

"How about some popcorn?" I asked her. She glanced back at me and smiled.

"That's a great idea." She stood. "I'll go get some." She left the room and skipped down the stairs. When I was sure she had gone, I swung my legs over the bed and crept across the hall; my mothers room. I peered in, and it was dark, a sign that she wasn't there. I sneaked past her blue bed and into her little office, which used to be a closet. I glanced back, to make sure no one was there, and there wasn't. Then I went to her desk and began searching.

There wasn't anything important in the first two drawers, but in the third I found something that registered as odd. Pulling out the file, I opened it and found multiple papers transcripted with photos and names of random people I had never seen before. But the oddest thing was that the title was TEST SUBJECTS PROJECT 19. Were the people the test subjects? I had thought the NSRF didn't experiment on humans, but maybe I was wrong. Before I could search for other information, the doorbell rang. I jumped, and quickly shoved the papers back into the drawer. I rushed out of my mothers room, closing the door behind me, and stopping at the top stair that overlooked the front door.

"I'll get it!" Eve shouted. I climbed slowly down the stairs and into the foyer. Eve appeared from the kitchen, as I reached the floor, and opened the door. There stood Xavier.

His eyes swept from me to Eve, then back to me again. I could tell something was troubling him.

"Where's your mom?" He asked me. I was a little disappointed he had come for my mom; not me.

"She's..she's..somewhere. Do you want me to get her for you?" I didn't wait for him to answer. "Mom!" A few seconds later, my mom emerged from the bend. She looked at Xavier standing in the doorway.

"Hey Xavier, what's up?" She asked.

"Have you seen my mom lately?" He asked. It was an odd question. His mom should've been done with work and at home with him.

"No, I haven't. Why?"

"She called me while she was still at work, saying she wouldn't get home. And then the line went dead and I didn't know what had happened. She sounded like she was crying so I rushed over there and the place looked a mess. Glass was broken, things smashed, and there were no gaurds. It was like they had just..disappeared. But my mom wasn't there."

"Are you sure? Did you tell anyone else about this?"

"Yeah, I'm positive, but I didn't tell anyone except you guys."

"Okay, I need to call the others." She turned to us. "You guys stay here. Stay in here until I call you back," she paused, grabbing her purse. "If I call you back."

"Wait, mom. Where are you going?" I asked.

She turned to me, her eyes full of sadness. "I'm going to find Peregrine." Then to Xavier. "I'm sorry, but I have to do this."

And with that, she was gone.

More to come, and the secret is revealed in the next few chapters.