Ch. 10

A little Fang and Jack Bromance hereJ hope y'all like it! Ok, not the best chapter, kinda short and filler-y, but the next might be longer. That being said, read and review!

Fang's P.O.V

I burst through the doors of the dojo and run out to the woods behind it. I fly to the top of the tallest tree, desperately wracking my brain about where to go from here. I need to clear my head and figure out what to do from here.

It would have been much easier to leave before we showed them our wings. It would have been easier before Gazzy got hurt. It would have been easier before Max found that packet and we spent two days trying to crack it. But those things happened, and now it's practically impossible.

As much as I trust these kids, we can't leave them here if the Black Dragons are tied to the whitecoats. If they find out they helped us, Jack and his crew are headed for things much worse than death.

Besides, the kids will never agree to leave. They won't want to leave a relatively normal life in a normal town. And why would they? I wouldn't either. I'd love to stay here, with loyal friends and a close-knit community. Hell, even Max wouldn't mind. Except for these stupid wings.

Suddenly it hits me how much of a normal life I've missed out on. I've never had a normal school day, I've never had time to learn to ride a skateboard, I've never sat in a roach-infested falafel place after school every day with the girl I love and my best friends in the world. And I'm never going to. Stupid School. Stupid Institute. Stupid Itex. STUPID, STUPID, STUPID WINGS!

I punch a branch in my frustration, and it gets torn off the trunk and crashes down. As blood flows from my knuckles, I numbly realize there's a hundred splinters embedded in my hand.

"Hey, watch it!" A voice calls from below. I snap into a fighting stance, making the branch I'm sitting on sway under my weight.

Jack appears through the branches. His face and hands are scratched by the rough bark of the tree. He heaves himself up and perches across from me. "Why'd you come up here?" he asks, having the good grace to avert his eyes from my wounded hand.

"For the view," I snap sarcastically.

"Been a rough couple days, huh?" he asks sympathetically.

"Why'd you come up here?" I ask. Why is he so calm?

"To see where you went. Make sure you weren't hurt."

What is it to him?

"I can take care of myself."

I am usually a very calm, put together person. I never lose my temper. I have never, ever met someone calmer than me. It's irritating. "I don't need your help"

"Yeah, so can I," Jack says gently. "I don't need help either," he pauses. "But you helped me anyway. You stopped me from making the biggest mistake of my life. So now I'm going to help you, whether you like it or not."

I don't say anything. What do you say to that? A simple 'thanks' sounds washed out and wimpy.

"How'd you get wings?" Jack presses. Jeez, he is more persistent than Max with cookies.

"Doesn't matter. I got 'em."

"Tell me. Man to man."

More like, mutant bird kid to self-proclaimed super hero I think to myself.

"Genetic engineering. Grafting human and Avian genes together, I've had them since I was a baby," I say.

"So they kept you in, like, a zoo and had you fly around?"

"No, actually, they kept us in cages and did experiments on us. Why do you think Iggy is blind?" I say, a hard edge entering my voice.

"Why?"

"Beats me. Why did they put wings on babies? Why did they make Erasers? Why did they mess with genetics in the first place?" I ask. Officially the most questions I've ever asked out loud.

"What's an eraser? Max thought I was one."

Max thought Jack was an eraser? I wonder why the thought never even crossed my mind.

"Half wolf, half human. Judge, Jury, and Hangman for the scientists that made them. Killing machines, if you will."

Jack isn't an eraser. My gut would have warned me.

"How'd you get out?" he sounds genuinely awed.

"One of the wackos turned good long enough to let us out, and then went back to the dark side. He got us out, but Max kept us out."

"What about your parents? They let that happen to you?"

"They don't know us, we don't know them." I answer shortly.

"But you're looking?" Jack asks. "The packet? Is that what's in it?"

"We haven't cracked the code yet." I remind him. I don't want to talk about this. At all.

"One last question," Jack says slowly. "The dog, Total, he doesn't fly, right? 'Cause that would be too terrifying to handle."

I smirk and shake my head no. "He talks, though. And believe me, that's much, much worse."