Mitchie was swimming. Ok, not that unusual. (Besides the fact it was around 3:00 AM) The freaky thing was, she was flipping backwards, like a fish. I swear I saw something silver glinting on her neck. Oh, God, she was one of us. What did they do to her?

Nudge was whispering nonstop about how it was so cool, how it was so great, bla bla bla. I could care less. All I wanted to know how Mitchie had escaped. Or was she from somewhere else? She didn't seem super paranoid, like the rest of us. What had she said about running away?

I grabbed the two and dragged them behind some rocks when I realized Mitchie was coming back to land. We watched her between a crack between the rocks, my hands on both of their mouths. She looked pretty normal, although I could see a few glittering scales randomly on her skin. Her glasses were gone, and her hands were webbed. It looked like the extra skin flaps sort of disappeared when they dried, because she was rubbing at her hands.

"I know you're there," she suddenly said. "Come out." She apparently wasn't talking to us, because someone stepped out from behind some other rocks. More than one someone, actually. It was Max and all the others. "What do you want?"

"Who did that to you?" Fang asked quietly. "Was it them?" Mitchie scowled.

"I don't know who you mean by 'them', ok?"

"Was it the School? Was it Jeb?" Avery put in. Mitchie glared at him, her eyes filled with an emotion I knew very well: pure and righteous hatred. She pointed a menacing finger at him. I noticed her nails were pointed and slightly curved.

"Don't. Ever. Say. That. Name. Again." She spit out the words like they were something slimy in her throat. Moony quickly yelped, "Then you know them?"

Mitchie frowned. "'Know them'?" Ha! They've been on my tail for so long, I can't even remember when I first met those creeps."

"Do you know Bella too?" Avery quietly asked. Mitchie nodded and replied, "Ohhhh, yeah. She's a bitch." Yay! Someone agrees!

"So, you can breathe underwater?" Gasman asked.

"Yup. Plus I can swim for much longer than the average human being. Of course, we're not anywhere near your average human being. Hey, you behind the rocks. I'm referring to you too, you know." Again, she wasn't talking to us. I wish she were. A couple Erasers appeared, Bella leading them. Just our luck.

"Experiment 25. You're alive," Bella said. God knows how tempted I was to jump up and slice her to bits.

"Yeah, so are you, unfortunately. Did you hear my comment about you being a bitch?" Mitchie snarled. Bella's face hardened, her hands curled into a fist. She snapped her fingers and the Erasers leapt down to where the others were.

"You can take that as a yes."