Intuition

"You," I snarled, and lunged forwards.

Immediately, four Erasers sprang from where they had been crouching behind the massive desk, and grabbed my flailing limbs, forcing me down into one of the five seats in front of it. They held my arms down as metal clasps clicked into place over my wrists, and I yelled as the same happened to my legs, my ankles.

Then they turned on Anastasia, who had been screaming a stream of insults at the Superior and struggling with Subject twenty-seven the entire time.

A moment later, she was locked into the seat beside me.

I felt ridiculously defenceless, vulnerable.

"You can go now."

The four Erasers each dipped in a little bow, before leaving, shutting the door behind them.

"Who the hellwould bow?" I wanted to know. "And to you of all people."

"Shut it," barked Subject twenty-seven.

"No, no," said the Superior lightly. "Be nice to them."

All three of us froze. Anastasia and I were staring, slack-jawed, at her. Subject twenty-seven looked even more incredulous, and was literally gaping at her, his mouth opening and shutting like some kind of retarded fish.

Then again, he was part frog, so he did have the whole water-creature thing going on.

Be nice? Be NICE?

That was like telling Gandhi to kill a million kids; like opening a box of cereal and finding hand cream inside.

In other words, utterly unexpected.

"Sit down, Tee," she went on in that same, adoring tone.

She was pretty head-over-heels for this guy. Although, looking at him now, in his mutant form, I really, really couldn't understand how. Human, he was good-looking. Otherwise, not so much.

He sat.

"I'm certain you want to know why we let the flock go," she said, "When we had the upper hand, and could've easily taken you all, or even destroyed you."

Both Anastasia and I bobbed our heads. It wasn't like I could throw her a thumbs-up. If you hadn't noticed, I was completely plastered to that freaking chair.

It's enough to make any girl mad.

"Tests?" suggested Anastasia. "Eraser chow?"

Subject twenty-seven looked up, somewhat hopeful, at this. It was obvious he knew no more than we did about what the Superior was going on about. He had just stuck to orders.

"None of the above," she answered.

My eyes popped wide open.

What was going on?

Not tests? Not Eraser chow?

I couldn't keep my mouth shut any longer. "Then what're we going to be doing here? You want us to be slaves, or something?"

Subject twenty-seven nodded vigorously. "Great idea, S."

"S?" I echoed, spluttering with laughter.

"S?" Anastasia was furious.

"Sorry, Anna," apologized the Superior. "I knew you liked him. But I liked him more, you see."

"Don't," she snapped, "Call me Anna. And no, I never liked him. He was a freaking screw-up. He's part toad, for God's sake! You wanna be the one going around shacking up with a frog prince, be my guest."

Subject twenty-seven pulled out his gun in one swift movement. "Why, you little–"

Anastasia shot him a sarcastic grin. "You're not going to do it. If you wanted to kill me, all those times you'd threatened to, you would've."

"You think I don't have the guts?" he spat.

"Do frogs even have guts?" she shot back.

But before he could answer, the Superior cut in again. "Like I said. Be nice."

This was all getting a bit fuh-reaky.

"Wait," I said. "I need you to tell me something, before you… go on. We burned you to a crisp. You were ashes. So how come you're… alive?"

She beamed. "Easy."

Subject twenty-seven echoed her grin. "But she's not going to tell you."

"Not unless you agree to my offer," she added quickly.

Anastasia glowered. "What exactly is this offer?"

"You know me, Anastasia," she said smoothly. "So I'm going to ask you to guess."

"Okay," I growled. "Stop pissing around, and just tell us."

From her expression, it was obvious she wasn't going to.

So bloody frustrating, I thought.

Anastasia seemed to be even angrier than I was, and was currently steaming away in her seat, staring daggers at the woman sitting in front of us.

So, Stace? Can you guess?

Anastasia, she corrected. And no. I've got no freaking idea. This is probably all some big joke between the two of them.

I need to know how she came back, I thought. So come on. Otherwise I'll just take it from you.

Meaning I could simply slip into her mind, because it was so familiar to me, and just catch a glimpse of her ideas.

No! Anastasia thought furiously.

It was a sort of unspoken agreement between us that we wouldn't do this. Thinking and feeling each other's emotions and moods were enough. This was the only privacy we could have – hiding our deepest and darkest thoughts –, since the two of us were the only ones who were able to conceal those, only not from each other. If either one of us wanted to see the other's darkest fantasies, dreams, nightmares, it was easy.

Just not right.

You can't do that.

I don't want to, I thought. But I can.

You wouldn't dare.

So just give it up, Stace–

DON'T call me that.

Sorry, it just slipped out.

Then keep it IN.

I almost sighed. I just want to know. Come on. Be a nice twin, won't ya?

You want to know the truth?

Dude. Are you kidding me?

I. Have. No. Freaking. Clue.

Ha, ha. Funny. You're just hilarious.

I know. One of my many specialities. But it also happens to be the truth.

RIGHT.

God, if you don't believe me, then take a freaking look. Go on.

No, I won't. I was never going to in the first–

Then just trust me.

A hesitation. Did I believe her?

Answer: duh.

Fine.

I didn't even know about this place, underground. Like I said, they never told me anything.

I believe you.

Thanks.

We both looked up at the same time, and the words flowed out of her lips.

"I guess that you are the reason people in this world have abortions."

Subject twenty-seven's legs flexed, and then he was standing in front of her, lips pulled back in a horrifying snarl. Anastasia, taking one look at his face, cracked up.

God, I was proud of her.

The Superior frowned. "Tee, sweetie. I don't think now's the time"

Looking defeated, he slunk back into his chair.

She turned to us. "Not quite. Without me, the world would be a very different place."

"For one," Anastasia chirped sarcastically, "Bird kids would be able to live in peace."

"Without me," she replied icily, "There wouldn't be any bird kids."

I glowered. "So just hurry up and tell us what you're planning on doing with us, because I've no idea what's going on, and you're wasting time."

She smiled widely.

"I want you two," she said, "To be my children."

Gazzy POV

"Whoa," Max said as we landed. "You sure did a hell of a job, Gaz."

I didn't answer. Instead, I began to rummage around, throwing bits of debris everywhere, and showering Max and Fang in dirt, dust, and shards of glass.

Fang's eyes flashed, and he shot a look at her.

"Oi!" she shouted. "Stop throwing. Just look. Otherwise I'm sending you back, even if I have to take you there myself."

I glared. "You wouldn't."

"Huh," she said. "Try me. I've only got the flock's best interests at heart, which doesn't involve throwing around bits of broken glass."

I looked away, furious. "Fine."

She hesitated, and her voice softened. "Gazzy, I'm sorry. It's just… I'm stressed, and so I just snapped, I guess."

"Apology accepted," I growled.

We kept on looking in tense silence, and occasionally, someone would find a clipboard or whatever with bits of writing on it. My heart would skip a beat, and they'd read off numbers, letters, meaningless codes.

This wasn't going anywhere.

Max realized this an instant before I did, and turned to us. "D'you reckon we'll find anything here?"

Fang spoke one word, a suggestion. "California."

I swallowed. Even though I agreed with them, I had some strange feeling about this place.

"I think," I began, "That we should stay here, in Virginia. But right now, they obviously know we're here. If we stick around, but hide, maybe someone will come, and then we can pump them for info."

Max shook her head slowly. "Gaz… I don't think they're here."

"Well," I said. "I have a feeling. Incubation."

"You mean intuition?"

"That's the one. I have it."

Avian/American intuition was nearly always right. We relied on it for practically everything.

Max looked half-swayed, but finally gave in. "We'll stay two more nights."

"Thanks," I breathed. "We will find something."

And we flew up, up, as if we were leaving, but then spiralled quickly down on a diagonal, so that we pierced the side of a huge tree's leaves, feet first, and landed softly on the boughs.

The only way anyone could see us now was through the large hole, and, as Max covered it with bits of broken wood, I knew it was almost impossible.

I grinned. For the first time since my sisters had disappeared, I felt hopeful.