We stayed in Angel Fire for another day before taking off. There was a little clothing store down the road that seemed to have a couple cute shirts. They also had shoes, and I was in desperate need for them. Since it was high desert, cacti were littered almost everywhere, and I managed to step on at least two of them in the past hour. Speck and I conjured up a plan to grab some before we took off. She would walk in to the store, look around and act like she's just browsing, then come back and tell me where things were. Once she walked back out, I ran in, using my speed, and grabbed what I needed. The clerk didn't see me coming at all. Now I was walking around in some yellow converse; not exactly the best shoes, but enough to keep me from scratching up my feet.

"I also grabbed you a shirt," I handed her a small green T-shirt that had a small frog print on the left sleeve. She stuck her tongue out at me, but she knew it was better than wearing all black all the time. She quickly changed and slipped it over her small shoulders. I couldn't help but glance at the scars on her back and up and down her arms.

Once she zipped up her jacket she looked up at me, narrowing her eyes, "What?"

"Nothing," I quickly answered, fishing out the map from the backpack. I traced my finger to where we were, and looked for the nearest town. What I really wanted was a city, then I could find more info about my real family. My stomach lurched at the thought and I had to pinch myself to keep myself from crying again.

"You okay?" Speck placed a hand on my arm.

"I'm fine, just..." I let out a soft sigh. "I'm trying to look for the nearest city."

"Hm," she peered over the map, looking as well.

"There," I pointed at the city that seemed pretty far from where we were. "Colorado Springs, we should head there next." With that, I folded it up to the best of my ability, but ended up ripping the edges. I winced a little before stuffing it into the full backpack. I started zipping up the leather jacket I managed to grab. It was a little tight, but it was better than nothing.

"That seems pretty far, you think we'll be able to fly all the way there?" she pulled out the straps from her backpack forward a bit, then clipping them together across her chest.

"We'll see," I softly smiled. We walked a ways, out of sight of the townspeople before I took a running start and leapt into the air. The wind felt good against my wings, and I hit a fairly warm thermal before angling back down to scoop up Speck. She readied herself as I dove down, arms open, and snatching her up into my arms. I faltered a little bit as she adjusted herself, but eventually smoothed out into a good coast. The sun was lowering behind the mountains as I angled myself towards Colorado Springs.

We landed in a small forested area just north of the city. Well, landed wasn't the right way to put it. I was more like hurtling down to the ground, as I was packing some heavy cargo. I soared as close to the ground as I could, dropped her off, and braced myself for impact. I tucked in my wings and went sliding, almost ten yards, before coming to a complete stop. My shoulders were burning, and it felt like I had flown across the entire country. My arms were numb from carrying Speck the entire way; but I did it. This must've been the longest I've ever flown, with extra baggage mind you.

"Coast is clear," Speck walked up to me, pulling me up by my hand. She had her jacket wrapped around her waist. I undid my jacket a little and rested my hands on my thighs, taking in big breaths.

"Okay, let's go," I straightened up before leading out from the forest. We were nearby a main highway, which seemed pretty dangerous so I kept us close to the outer edge of the trees. I watched the cars and stuffed my tail down my pants, pulling my warm wings against my back as well. I could see a big cluster of buildings in the distance: Colorado Springs. Finally, now if I could just get to a computer...

"So... why are we here?" Speck piped up as we walked.

I stumbled in my steps, almost twisting my ankle on a rock. I could feel the wind of the nearby cars blow my hair into a mess. It reminded me of when I actually had bangs, back before I was mutated. Now my hair was extra-long, which made me think of grabbing some scissors to cut it short, or at least grab a hair tie.

"Uhm..." I tried to think. How do I explain to her? That I'm desperate to find my twin brother, who is also mutated, and probably locked up somewhere in another lab, and the only way I can do that is by getting a computer?

"Does it have something to do with your past life?" she inquired, which made me second-guess my thoughts on her only being a kid. She was smart, and was able to read people.

"Yeah," I exhaled, trying to keep my composure. She was right. I wanted to know who my real parents were, as they would lead to me finding my other half; my twin to be exact. He was out there, probably stuck in the same situation as me, and struggling to survive. "I want to know who my real parents are."

"Hmm, well you'll need a computer, but I don't know how we'll do that," she pointed out. Again, she was right. All I could think of was going to a local library, but what if that wasn't enough? They would probably block certain sites as well. I needed something mobile.

"We could steal one," I said. We were closer to the city now, and I could start to see more people milling about. It made me tense up. We were still outsiders, freaks to them. As much as I could hide my mutations, neither of us could hide our skin. It also didn't help that it was pretty warm out for it being fall.

Speck laughed, "Steal a computer? What, with the tower and everything?"

"I mean like a laptop," I sneered back. "Then we could take it anywhere we want."

She nodded, "That could work. I could even hack it to- no wait."

I stopped walking and looked at her. She sighed and shook her head, "No, I thought I could hack into ITex's files, but I'm not that good yet. I was still in training back there. And if I did, they'd probably trace us easily if that's the case." Her tawny brown eyes looked up at me with worry. "It'd be too risky."

I ruffled her hair, "Risky is my middle name."