The fact that I had ran a length of approximately two football fields in less than ten seconds both amazed and pleased me. Yet, Max was just gaping at me, probably more shocked than a person could be.

"You're not lying," she stated.

"Neither are you."

We paused, staring at each other, trying to fully understand. As much as I wanted to, I didn't read her mind-it just wouldn't have been fair.

She was so much like me that it scared me slightly. There she was, another child of an X5 and yet, she was a child of the world. Like I, she was able to blend in with society until she absolutely had to give herself up. I wanted to hug the girl, really I did, for I had finally found someone that I could relate to, someone who would understand me.

"Look, Alanza," she began. "I don't know whether to thank you or kill you for telling me."

"Not the latter, I hope," I replied with a smile.

"No, look," she told me, glancing down at her digital watch, "I have to get going, but do you think we could meet up somewhere?"

"Here, I'll give you my phone number," I said, as I searched through my pockets for a piece of paper.

"Do you really need to?"

"Oh, yeah," I replied, slightly embarrassed that I had forgotten her ability to memorize things so swiftly. After rattling off the apartment's number, I hopped back on my bike, riding away as she walked in the opposite direction.

It was close to noon, and I realized that there was an appointment that I needed to attend with Mom. Riding down the streets, I wondered what Mom's reaction was going to be when I told her that I had met up with another X-5 protégé.

Surprisingly, when I arrived back at the apartment building, Mom was waiting for me, ready to go. She glanced at her watch, then back up at me.

"A little later than I hoped, but before noon, nonetheless."

"Yeah, I got a little sidetracked."

"Uh-huh," she stated, then swung a leg over her bike. "Let's go." As usual, she hurried off, leaving me unable to ask or tell her anything when I needed to. She definitely needed to calm down. Cut back on that caffeine, girl. But, not even giving my engine time to cool down, I started back up again and followed Mom down the streets.

We arrived a couple minutes later at another large building. I came up behind her, letting my engine idle before shutting it off completely.

"Hey Mom," I said, taking off my helmet, as she gazed up at the building. "Guess who I ran into today?"

"Who?"

"Max, Jace's kid."

She turned to look at me, her eyebrows bunched together. "Max?"

"Yeah, I guess Jace named her after you."

Mom smiled, then laughed slightly. "Well, well, well, what a small world it is after all." She then turned back to the building and headed inside. "C'mon, Alanza."

The building was much nicer than ours was, and in better condition than I had hoped for. I wondered whom Mom was planning to see. A rich multimillionaire to solve all our problems? Hmm, that would be a nice change for once.

We stopped in front of a neatly stained oak door, and Mom knocked sharply on it, before stepping back and waiting. I watched her closely, unsure what to say. From my previous experience, I learned that asking her anything was going to get me nowhere because she just ignored my questions.

The door slowly opened, and there sat a man in a wheelchair. He wore gold-framed glasses, and his golden brown hair was showing traces of silver. Quizzically, he looked up at the both of us, studying. Then it clicked. He smiled broadly, opening the door all the way. "Max!" he cried, happy to see her.

She went over to him, hugged him muttering something about "good to see you, too" before releasing him and turning to me, resting her hand possessively on my shoulder.

"This is my daughter Alanza."

He smiled and extended his hand to me, which I accepted. "And I'm Logan Cale."