"Hello Rafmire…how are you today?" a Whitecoat said to me. She was tall and skinny with brown skin and really…really…REALLY…long hair. Her name was Dr.Brook, but don't let her happy demeanor and sparkling smile fool you. She wasn't cruel and mean like some Whitecoats but she could talk your ear off like you wouldn't believe.
"Is that a trick question?" I asked, regarding her with same air of indifference as I did everyone.
She giggled and pursed her lips and said "You're so cute." I stifled a snarl and said nothing. After an awkward silence Dr. Brook said "Let me see your wing." My wing burned as I positioned it so that she could look at it. "The wound is pretty clean and stitched well." She commented as she examined it "But it's still infected…you'll need antibiotics." Dr. Brook moved away and went to a medicine cabinet on the far wall of the examination room. She sifted through the little labeled bottles and pulled one away from the group and handed it to me. "Take one of these two times a day…one in the morning and one at night." I tested my claws on the lid to see if I could open it. Thankfully it was a container that I could pop the top off. I had pocketed the bottle and was about hop off the examination table when Brook stopped me "Dr. Risa requested that you should be examined."
My temper flared. "What the hell for?" It was bad enough being stuck in a room with an intelligent chatter box and NOW I needed to be EXAMINED. Brook jumped when I raised my voice slightly.
"It's just for records…that's all," she said to me. That was bull it had to be…but there was real no way out of it and I didn't want to get confrontational so I consented…

I don't like being poked… prodded or even TOUCHED for that matter. But I cooperated with every little test Dr. Brook conducted. She talked my ear off through most of them. Complaining about her life , her job and revealing details to me that I just didn't want to know. The tests that I was put through were pretty standard. I was weighed, measured, and Dr. Brook took blood... The Whitecoats don't seem to bother me as much. PC seems to act more hostile towards them than I do. As long as they didn't rub me the wrong way I really didn't care what they did to me.
"Okay Rafmire, one final test and then you can go," Brook said writing down her data.
"What is that?" I asked.
"Dr. Risa has taken particular interest in your wings. She wants a full report on your flying capabilities." I let out a sigh of annoyance and shifted my gaze to a beaker that sat on the counter in the room and it instantly burst into a million piece. Shards flew everywhere and Dr. Brook cried out and brought up her arms to shield her face. After several minutes of holding up her arms defensively she slowly lowered them and looked at me bewildered.
" Why did you do that?" she asked trying to remain professional.
"No reason," I replied, staring at my claws.
"Be careful Rafmire, you know what happened the last time you did that." I had blocked that memory from my mind…it was the one; of the die I had unlocked my ability to manipulate glass. WHY did she have to bring that up? I gave her a dirty look and the glass shards began to tremble on the floor, but after a moment they stopped.
"It's late." I said "Let's get this over with. What do you want me to do? I can't do much because one of my wings is out of commission."
"I 'm aware of that...this analysis will take several sessions," Brook said.
"How long is that?" I asked.
"A month."
""Why so long?"
"I can't tell you that at this point."
"Figures"
"If its any comfort to you. PC is going to go through the same examination as we speak." Dr. Brook said calmly.
"PC? He has no flying capabilities all he can do is glide. What's the point in testing him?"
"Again I am not at liberty to say."
"Fine. Keep your little secrets. Let's just get this over with." Dr. Brook picked up a measuring tape and said "Take your shirt off and fully extend your left wing."….

I didn't get done with that meaningless examination until late at night. The Lab was usually quieter at these hours because most of the employees didn't live hereand had gone home to live their "other" lives. Only a handful of men and women lived at Lab 7 including Dr. Risa and the Erasers of course. My plan for rescuing Gozbud was still being formulated in my head, but no matter what kind of plan that I devised I wouldn't be able to do it alone…I could, but my odds for success were significantly lower.
After a warm shower I threw on my pajamas, which consisted of a white t-shirt and some pajama pants with bananas on them and wandered down the hallways, to Raf's room, which consequently was on the other side of the Lab 7 compound. The Whitecoats had finally learned their lesson about keeping us experiments in close quarters with each other. This new arrangement was supposed to deter close camaraderie. The distance also allowed security to track our movements just incase we decided to do anything sneaky but off course there were loopholes. How do you think I was able to dispatch the early avian eraser prototype? Anyways as I turned down another hallway I saw a girl leaning against the wall arms crossed over her chest. She was short with white hair streaked grey. The girl had one blue eye and one violet almost lavender colored eye. As I approached she tossed me a wolfish grin.
"Good evening PC," she said.
"Wondering around in your PJs again?"
"Hi Lilac," I said walking passed her, hoping that she would get the hint that I didn't want to talk.
"How was your last mission?" she asked walking beside me.
"Fine," I said, looking straight ahead. "How have you been? Having fun, commanding and bullying your pack?" She punched me in the shoulder. She meant it to be playful but it hurt, compounded by a colossal bruise I had sustained from fighting Lyle. Lilac could control her strength she just didn't bother to try.
"Of course…Rancor used to say I was Napoleon incarnate."
"I was thinkin' Hilter," I muttered.
"What'd you say?"
"Nothing."
"So where you off to?"
"Raf's room."
"Oh," she said flatly "Mr. Johnny pissed off."
"You don't have to come if you don't want to, Lilac. I'm sure you can find one of your pack to torment for a while?" She laughed and slapped me on the back.
"They didn't want to play, tonight," she said. Suddenly a Wraith appeared in front of us. It nodded its head to Lilac.
"What is it?" she asked.
"Rrrrriiiiiisssssaaaa….hasssss….calllllllllll-l-l-led-d-d….a meeeeeeettttttinnnnnnnnggggggsssssss." It whispered.
Lilac frowned "Fine." She walked to the Wraith's side. Before leaving she turned and looked at me with a bright creepy smile, one that I was all to familiar with and said " I'll see you around PC…by the way nice pajamas."
And then she was gone.
After a moment I sighed and shook my head "That chick is just as psychotic as her brother." I thought about Fox as I continued on my way to Raf's room. It was morbid to think about him, but I did. He was a very nice guy in the beginning and his sister, Napoleon…now known as Lilac, was nice too. It's weird how they both turned out to be the stuff that nightmares are made of. I realized that I had never taken vengeance on Fox for his betrayal of the Network and now I never will. I had received word from Bree months ago that Roc and her found the pack of Erasers that had slaughtered the group of experiments that I lived with and had exterminated them. Betrayal and Vengeance are ambiguous concepts to me. Little did I know that in the month ahead I would be well versed in both……………

I finally made it to Raf's room and knocked on the door.
"Go away," I heard him say from the interior. That is his way of saying "come in." Luckily for me the door was open. All the lights were turned off except for a lamp and the television. Raf sat on his bed back against the wall with a crossword puzzle in his lap and others piled in front of him. He had his pajamas on too, they were like mine only they were grey and had pictures on them. Raf looked up from his crossword and glared at me. "I thought I told you to go away," he said looking back down at his work.
"Was the exam that bad?" I asked.
"No…I'm just in one of my moods that's all…What do you want?"
"Nothing I came to talk."
"Well talk I'm listening." I sat down at the foot of the bed and picked up one of the many puzzle books on the bed and flipped through it. The pages were covered in words and not just the ones for the puzzles. I tried reading them…but the phrases didn't seem to make any sense and some I couldn't even read.
" I wrote it that way." Raf commented…he seemed to read the expression on my face." The letters…I wrote them that way so no one would be able to read it but me…quit being nosy."
I plopped the book back on the bed and said " So …what did Dr.Brook tell you? Did she say why you needed to be examined?"
"No. Did your doctor tell you anything?"
"No, nothing useful. It's not uncommon for them to withhold information, but ever since…" my eyes flicked over to the direction where a security camera was concealed.
"Ever since that last experiment was caught things have changed. I know it's to early to tell what they are planning, but it's safe to say that what ever it is…it's BIG." Raf sighed and tossed the finished puzzle book into the pile of others.
"There is nothing they can throw at us that we haven't already experienced before. I wouldn't worry about it, if I were you."
"Yeah…can I have a crossword?" I asked.
"Sure," he said. Then Raf did something unexpected, his left wing moved and grabbed a new puzzle book and held it out to me. It took me a minute but I finally took it.
"That's new…I didn't know you could do that," I said picking up a crayon from the bed. "There is a lot you don't know about me PC."
"Yeah I know, but you don't know much about me either."
"You're right about that."
"How can you do that?"
Raf fidgeted for a moment and said "Let's play a game, PC. You ask me to reveal something about myself and I will ask you something."
"Fair enough. How can you do that?"

"My wings aren't built the same way as bird kid wings…some of my feathers also act as fingers so that I can grab things. So In essence if I for some freakish reason lose use of my arms…I have an extra pair. I can conceal my wings well because I am able to flatten them against my body."
"Wow this is the most I have ever heard you talk ."
"Okay, my turn to question…Did you have parents?" Of all the questions he could have asked he had to ask me that.
"Yes I did. How about you?" I asked.
Raf pressed his lips into a line " I don't remember…This game isn't fun anymore."
"Yeah I agree," I said. I finished writing something down in my puzzle book and then handed it to Raf and said " Did I do this right?"He picked it up and read the message I had written in the boxes. For about ten minutes we exchanged crossword puzzles with messages in them and made comments to each other about correct spelling, so that it would look like we were doing nothing shady in the sight of the camera hidden in the room. Our exchange looked something like this:

P: I need to ask you for your help.
R: My help with what?
P: I'm going to try and release Gozbud.
R: Are you insane?
P: Possibly…Will you help me?
R: My mom told me never to converse with Crazy people
P: You said you didn't remember your parents.
R: I'm joking…As for helping you I don't know.
P: Why not?
R: why not? PC we've pulled some crazy stuff together but this takes the cake.
P: What makes you say that?
R: Because…sabotaging that Avian experiment would have landed us either in " the hole" for the rest of our lives or the "chop block"…if we get caught pulling this stunt it may not affect me much, but it will sure as heck affect you and your little Network.
P: Why should you care?
R: Because…you're the only friend I've got and I would be stupid to jeopardize that even if your cause means nothing to me.
P: I see…so will you help me?
R: Depends…you have a plan?
P: I'm working on one
R: Okay come and visit when you've got a complete one. In the main time I suggest you don't go anywhere near Gozbud that will keep away suspicion.
P: Gotcha.

"PC? What's a 26 letter phrase for lying?"
"What? 26 letters? A phrase? Crossword puzzles don't have phrases, that's why they call them crosswords."
"Well it says 'phrase' here."
"Let me see that," I took the book and read the question. "You would think the Whitecoats would have written these questions…. Who published this crap?" I flipped to the first few pages while holding Raf's place with my thumb." I read through them and then smiled "Ha! I figured. Only he would've thought of a question like that." I held up the book and pointed to it "Copyrighted to Jeb Batchelder." Raf smiled and shook his head.
"Do you know the phrase though?" he asked.
"Yeah…its counter attitudinal advocacy."
Raf raised an eyebrow "Really?"
"Really," I said handing the book to him. "I'm, going to bed I'll see you later."
"Alright."…..

BANG! BANG! …I rolled around in bed.
"Who the—." BANG! BANG! BANG! I opened my eyes slightly and noticed the door to my room was rattling. I closed my eyes again and covered my head with my pillow. "Maybe if I don't respond they'll think I died and leave me to rot," I muttered. But still the banging continued and I was getting annoyed. BANG BANG Darn Jawz don't they know anything else besides beating the snot out of stuff. After the tenth bang I had had enough. I threw the covers off my bed and slammed the door open. "WHAT!"
A Jawz leaned forward and roared in my angrily in my face. Man they were ugly I kinda wished they had a human form. "Dr. Risa wants to see you."
" Oh does she…" The Jawz nodded. I stood there for a minute and sucked on my lower lip pensively.
"To bad," I said and quickly slammed the door in his face and locked it. But no sooner had I done that the Jawz started knocking again…persistent bugger. "What?" I asked not opening the door.
" Dr. Risa wants to see you. She told me if you didn't cooperate I could use you as a chew toy."
I sighed "Be right out…bossy old hag." I put on some clothes and opened the door again. "Ready to go?" the Jawz asked flecks of saliva fluttereing into my face.
"Sure." It was early in the morning, most of the laboratory lights would be on by now . When we arrived outside Dr. Risa's office Raf was standing there with Lilac as his escort. His expression was even more annoyed than usual and I noticed that he was hiding his wings again.
" Morning," I yawned. Raf snorted and said nothing.
Lilac knocked on the office door " Ma'am, PC and Rafmire are here,"
"Send them in," she said, her voice smothered by the closed door. Liliac smiled at me and the Jawz pushed us inside...

I had decided to move in with Roc ever since PC called me a couple of days ago. I knew it was for the best even though I hated moving into town. The people were nice to me and I was able to still maintain a job and send messages through my birds. Then word of Gozbud's capture reached me and it sent shockwaves throughout the Network. We had all assembled at PC's old warehouse in the north. Within 24 hours all eight of the remaining Ghosts were present, Reynard, Mercy, Rashmed, Chris, Olga, Feather, Card and myself. PC's warehouse was located in a little port town in Boston. It was quite large and housed over twenty experiments that he had taken in years ago, it was empty now.
Rain was pounding on the roof of the old structure and lighting flickered outside the large glass windows. Bullet shells and burn marks were still present even though the slaughter that occurred here was so long ago. Roc and I sat at a large table with the other Ghosts ,which was located the supposed "dining area". I couldn't tell what the others were thinking, as we sat there in silence for a moment. Only Mercy had a telepathic ability, which she wielded well.
I stood up and began the meeting " Friends we are gathered here because of some disturbing news that I trust you all received."
"Yes, Gozbud has been captured. If I read the message right," Mercy said her sharp black eyes glaring up at me.She was a cross between a human and a raven, which you really couldn't tell because she didn't have wings but her hair was littered with feathers like mine.
"This is a disaster. What if the School finds out about us? It's all over if they do!" Reynard said.
"Calm down. They won't get anything out of Gozbud," Chris said, her black button eyes glittering in the light of the room. Chris was a shark hybrid and she was always thankful that she didn't have a shark head. She was pretty in her own right with dark blue skin and webbed fingers with long claws at the end. Chris could breathe air like a human but could also breathe underwater as well. When she smiled you could see large white triangler teeth characteristic of a great white shark.
"How can you be so surrre?"Olga asked, she was a leopard hybrid and one of the few of us that retained her human façade, although she had spots on her skin and a pair of impressive canines. Olga always held out the "r" in words when she speaks so it always sounds like she's always growling. Rashmed nodded in agreement with Olga's statemtn he was a tiger hybrid and couldn't speak.
"I'm positive, Olga. Besides even if Gozbud were to let some information to slip that wouldn't harm us as much if they got information out Breeaka or…"

"PC" Reynard said. Everyone nodded in agreement. I gave Reynard a warning glance. He was always the one that complained about PC doing something wrong or how his actions endangered the Network. The two of them have always had a strained relationship, why PC puts up with him is beyond me. "PC, he's always putting us at risk…he claims to still be on our side, but if he was why is Gozbud locked up at Lab 7?"
"Are you implying that this is his doing?" Card asked. He was a cross between armadillo and human. Surprisingly he never developed a shell and he had a human face and body. His skin was tough though and not just anything to could penetrate it.
"That's exactly what I am saying," Reynard said.
"How can you be so sure?" Feather asked, brushing her long hair out of her face. "For all we know it could have been someone else." I smiled; Feather was the youngest of us and had a big heart. She was willing to see the good in people. Feather was crossed with a horse, fortunately for her she didn't wind up looking like a centaur. She had a young ageless face with hair that grew out of her head like a mane. Her hands and feet were still human, but her fingernails and toenails were thick and were shaped like horse hooves.
"I agree with Feather we don't entirely know for sure if it was PC who captured Gozbud."
"Who else would it be, PC is the only one besides us, who knows where he is unless he was tipped off,"Reynard said eying me.
"What? Are you saying I did this?"
"You are the one he confides in the most, Bree and don't deny it." I fell silent for a moment…had PC used me on purpose to capture Gozbud…if he did…the next time I see him…ohhhh I'll kill him. "You see. PC is a threat to all that we stand for. We need to do something about it I say we."
"Shut up fox boy. I am the highest rank here and I will decide what we do or don't do. Understand," I said venomously. As you could have guessed Reynard was a fox hybrid but he didn't look it at first until you saw the red fur on his hands, his fluffy tail and fox feet.
" I don't think you are in any position to lead us, Breeaka," Mercy said flatly.
"What?"
"Unfortunately she's right, Bree…your feelings for Purple Cat cloud your judgment," Reynard said trying to sound professional but I could sense he childish disdain. The other Ghosts began to whisper among themselves. This wasn't good I needed to maintain control.
Roc rose from his chair " Now wait—." I held up my hand.
"Sit down, Roc."
" But—."
" Sit down."I said between my teeth as I stood up."Now you all listen to me and listen really good because I am not repeating myself again. My feelings for PC are SEPARATE from my duty to this Network. That's the way PC has always run it and that is the way I have been running it."