Chap 84

"You finished them?" I asked Bree. "Yes…I have metal barrel on the other side of the house." I nodded and went back outside and rolled it out in front of the door and Bree dropped shreds into it. Afterwards, we set it ablaze and watched the papers burn to ashes. I sighed.
"You feel bad about locking her in that room, don't you?"
"Yeah," I said softly. "But it was for her own protection. Who knows what Roc would do to her."
"Very true…but I can't help but thing that we've already fueled a growing fire," Bree said. I raised an eye brow. "Pun not intended." She remarked.
I nodded. "We'll check on her before we go."
"Okay."
We doused the fire and dumped the ashes in the woods then headed back inside.
"We'll clean up when we get back," I said waving my hand at the mess we made. The two of us walked down to Ana's room. I knocked. "Ana? Are you alright?" I know that was a very stupid question. "Ana?" I repeated. There was no reply. I quickly unlocked the door and cautiously walked in. This was totally surprising…my sister spontaneously vanished into thin air. "She's gone!" I snarled hitting the door frame with my fist. "But how did she get out?" Bree walked in behind me and look around the room. There was no window. On the far side there was a closet, which looked like it hadn't been used in a while. "How the hell did she do it?" I muttered, opening the closet and staring at rose of dusty shelves.
"Oh no," Breeaka breathed, she pushed passed me and switched on the light. "Ah! How could I have forgotten!"
"What's wrong?" I asked. She pointed to ceiling, where a square opening was uncovered.
"What is THAT?"
Bree sighed. "I modified this house so that I could keep those I chose to out. But I also knew better than to not trap myself in my own home. I made a few escape routes incase I was cornered…Ana must've discovered one of them. She used the shelves to climb up." Bree smiled "Smart girl."
I glared at her "Well I hope you're proud of yourself …NOW she's in trouble. Next time I make the modifications."
"I'm sorry PC! But this house is Eraser proof! Not hormone driven teenager proof!"
"Where does it lead?"
"Outside, the air conditioning unit acts as a step down."
"Come on. We need to get to Roc's house and quick!" I said, transforming. As we left the house and I was fuming. "Ohhh…if Ana wasn't my sister I'd probably kill her too, along with Roc."
"Come on, I know a different route to Roc's. It's quicker." Bree said hastily. She guided me to a trail and we both took off running. ….

Ana:

"Ana what's the matter?" Roc asked me. He had been trying to get me to tell him what was wrong, when I arrived at his door step crying my eyes out, covered in dust and dirt. But so far I couldn't get the words out, I was so upset. He held me tightly against him as we sat in his living room. I had a cup of water in my hands that I had completely drained. Rubbing my back he asked "What happened?"
"PC locked me in my room….h-he didn't want me to see you anymore, because…he-he said." I buried my face in his shirt and then withdrew. "He said you were the snitch…the one that was selling them out to the School. I told him, he said those things because he saw us kissing and didn't like it."
Roc hugged me tightly. "I'm so sorry, Ana," he said tenderly, running his fingers through my hair. "So sorry."
"You don't need to be sorry," I sobbed, wrapping my arms around his torso.
" No..no I do.."
"Why?" I asked, looking up.
"Because," he whispered into my ear, his breath warm. "What PC said…is true." I choked off my sobbing instantly, and my eyes grew wide. Roc's arms tightened around my body, pressing me against his. I wiggled and tried to get away. "Shh…don't struggle Ana…I'm going to take you to your parents. They're on their way here." The front door burst open. I felt strong arms pull me away from Roc's grip.
"Take her!" PC said as he passed me to Bree.
"Are you okay?" she asked concerned, shaking my shoulders. I nodded.

PC:

I turned on Roc full of fury and grabbed him by the shirt and slammed him onto the floor. I buried my knee in his guts.
"PC, nice afternoon isn't it?" he coughed.
I growled viciously at him. "Don't play cute…I know what you did. What I want to know is why?"
"I have my reasons," Roc replied smugly. I picked him up and slammed him onto his desk, Roc gritted his teeth as it creaked under his weight.
"Wrong answer," I said. "Now tell me!"
Roc frowned at me. "Because of you…It's your fault," he said his teeth clenched. "You took something precious from me, the night we went to rescue Bree."
"Is this about your wings!" I exclaimed. "I told you not to come with me, but you insisted. If you have anyone to blame, it's yourself."
"It wasn't just that, it was Bree too…You never appreciated her. You left her alone to go off and work for the School . You never once thought how'd she feel. I thought with you out of the way—."
I slashed his face. Roc cried out in pain, blood seeping from the cuts. "Breeaka." I said placidly "Get, Ana out of here…I don't want her to see this."
"PC don't!" she warned.
"GO!" I roared.
She nodded and whisked Ana away. I turned back to Roc and transformed to my human self all expect one hand that I kept clawed and secured it around his throat. "You have a lot of nerve…I'll give you that. But I would've preferred it if you settled your score with me one on one, instead of pulling others into it. That's a bit selfish don't you think? Bree wouldn't approve."
Roc chuckled. "Very true.…but you see that is what makes me a villain…I don't care what you prefer." Roc quickly jabbed me in the side with an empty syringe. I yelped and recoiled. He slid out from under me and ran for the door. I yanked the weapon out of my side and chased after him. I followed him around the side of the house. He turned on me again, stabbing with another syringe and this time pushing the plunger on it down, pumping something into me blood. I yanked it out again and punched him. Roc kicked dirt up into my face, thousands of grains stinging my eyes.
"You'd better worry about Ana and Bree," Roc taunted and then dashed off. I rubbed the dirt out of my eyes the best I could. Then I picked up the dirty needle and examined it. What every the substance was it left a yellow residue inside. All of a sudden screams split the air and I ran toward it…

Chap 85

PC:

Man this was frustrating, how is it that every time me and Bree execute a plan it always winds up going to pieces? Bad luck I guess. I'm surprised I hadn't dropped by now, with that stuff floating around in my bloodstream. Me running just made it spread faster, but I had no choice. I couldn't walk to someone's rescue, that was something only Mercy could do. The screams took me to the center of the town. It was deathly quiet there was no one out on the streets all windows and doors were locked up tight. As I arrived, Bree was trapped inside a glass box, with Ana hiding behind it. Bree pounded on the glass and it wouldn't give…it must've been very strong, because Bree can kick through glass very easily. She clawed at it with her nails; the glass screeched but didn't give way.
"Ana are you okay!" I shouted, coming close to her.
"Look out!" she screamed. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a flash and three shards of glass were launched at me. Two hit me, in the left forearm the third grazed my ear I turned, eyes wide, there was only one person I knew who could do that. "Rafmire?" I muttered. Sure enough there he was, his dark and brooding self. He looked different now, his hair was slightly longer, but he still wore those black converse and black shirt and jeans. I also now remembered that he didn't have wings anymore. Although I don't think Rafmire held a grudge against me for that loss. His arms were crossed over his chest and he nodded to me. "PC, it's been a while."
"What are you doing here?" I asked pulling the glass pieces out.
"Isn't it obvious," he said, showing his Ring. There were several puncture marks on his wrist where the Ring hung.
"You've come to collect me right?"
Raf snorted. "Don't flatter yourself. I've come to collect your sister…YOU are just an added bonus. If I can get you alive, kudos…if not" He shrugged. "...kudos." I didn't like his tone. It was colder and more apathetic than usual. "Now let's get to it, I've chatted enough as it is. Give me the girl."
"You know I can't do that."
"You're no match for me, PC…you see the shard that missed you? It was aimed for your head. So don't try to fight me." Raf pointed to a window and it rippled. Slowly a being that kind of resembled a person crawled out of the rippling window; it was made of pure glass. Raf pointed to another window and another appeared. They flanked their master on either side, and then Raf snapped his fingers and the two glass figures sprouted sharp claws from the nubs that could be considered hands.
I swallowed. "That's a new trick," I pointed out, trying to hide the squeak in my voice. Raf smiled for only a minute then it disappeared. "I don't want to hurt you, PC. Anymore than I already have."
"Neither do I, but if you try to take either of them, I will," I said. "What's in this for you, Raf? Back at the School the Whitecoats used to be afraid to be in the same room with you. Now you are following their orders. Why?"
" A lot of things happened while you were gone…Chase was going to be killed for letting you have access to Level 3. When Kane told me this, I reported it to a group of Erasers that I recently hung out with. I helped bust Chase out for them…I got caught…I think you can guess what happened after that," Raf said tugging on the neck of his shirt to reveal a twisted scar. "They MADE me see it their way. Enough talk…either fight me or surrender." I moved to attack. Raf pointed to me and the glass figures intercepted. I shattered their heads, kicking one and punching the other. The two figures collapsed to the ground and lied still. Slowly the shattered pieces reformed the heads on their shoulders and they came at me again. One swatted with its claws missing me by inches. It was hard to fight two at the same time. Every time I dodged fists from one, the other's would be only a few seconds behind. I backed off and put some distance between me and them. One of the figures ran forward. I charged it and rammed it into the window it came out of and slowly, it sank back in. I whipped around and was met by a glass spike, slicing my face arching over my right eye and missing my temple by inches. I moved around the second glass figure and tried pushing it into the window. It elbowed me in the face and then knocked me down. It trapped me under its "foot" and then brought its spikes down on me. My throat was precariously placed between two claws, while the points were firmly planted into the ground.
"That's enough," Raf commanded. The glass figure froze and became dead weight, putting pressure on my chest.
"They've been teaching you too well at the School," I grunted pushing the glass figure off of me. It shattered on the ground and its pieces instantly returned to the window where it came from.
"I think so too," he said standing over me. I sat up rubbing my throat to make sure there were no cuts. Raf extended his hand to pull me up. I took it and yanked him down and started to punch him. He glared at me angrily and grabbed my fist and squeezed it tightly. I tried to jerk away, but he held me. Raf forced me to back up and then he was on top of me. Crazed with pain I tried throwing a punch with my free hand, but he grabbed it and bent both of them back."
"PC!" Ana shouted, she began to come toward us.
"NO! Stay there!" She stopped and stayed with Bree, who was still fitfully trying to get out of her glass box.
"Why take her?" I asked through my teeth, Raf's weight crushing me. "She….she's completely human; it took me a long time to become Purple Cat. Do my parents expect her to gradually change overnight and be able to take on Max and her flock?" Raf bent my fists back more, I groaned.
"I don't know…I'm just the delivery boy...you'll have to get your answers from your rotten parents." I snarled and head butted him. I had to hit him two times before he would recoil. I got to my feet and kicked him in the ribs. He grunted and rolled away from me and got to his feet and slashed at me with his claws. I dodged a swipe and punched him in the stomach. He fell to his knees.
"You're stronger than me? That's a pretty bold statement," I remarked.
"I didn't want to hurt you…much," he said, holding his stomach. "If I wanted… I could've made minced meat out of your friend over there."
"Sure," I panted and began to walk away. Raf got to his feet and attacked me again, coming at me extremely fast. I don't know what set him, but he attacked me savagely. All of his movements made it look like he was toying with me before and now had gotten dead serious. He charged and grabbed my neck and slammed me into the ground. Man he got even stronger, I felt the ground give under me as I collided with it. Numbness circulated through my body as my special ability took affect. However I felt something else, I didn't know what it was, but it made my muscles tighten painfully. What ever it was it seemed to be coming from Rafmire and I needed to get away from it. His clawed hand tightened around my windpipe, stabbing and choking me at the same time. I groped at his arm to get him to release me. I rolled my head away as Raf's other fist crashed into the ground, hard. What frightened me the most wasn't the crater it left, but the fact that Raf didn't even flinch when he missed. Bloody knuckles and all collided with my face, the force rattling my brain and teeth. He got off of me and held his hand out towards Bree.
"Give up or I'll kill her!" he shouted.
I got to my feet slowly. "You wouldn't dare," I hissed. Bree screamed as spikes shot out inside the box, on phasing her forearm.
"You know I don't bluff…so don't push me," Raf warned….

His whole body was shaking and his breathing was ragged…what was wrong with him? We needed to get out of here. All I had to do is to knock out Raf….but how?
"Raf, leave her out of this," I said. COME ON! THINK! …This situation was sticky…the hard truth about Raf is that if he's bent on killing somebody he will. He has no qualms with it; he's like an Eraser in that fashion.
"Can't do that…she is just as part of this little drama as you are," he replied. I sighed heavily and dropped my arms to my sides. I bent my head so that my hair flopped forward, shadowing my face.
"Fine then, take me," I said. I watched Raf carefully, as he lowered his hand. His shaking had slowly stopped, but his aim where the ring was attached still trembled slightly. Then without warning I shot out and tackled him to the ground. We wrestled each other, each of us trying to stay on top. Raf tried extending his arm towards Bree, but I pushed it back. "You picked the wrong person to threaten." I snarled. Raf frowned and punched me, then pushed me off, using his feet. I landed on my back and snapped my feet out, hitting Raf in the mouth. Next I rolled backwards and got on all fours and bent my back legs to make my body level. Then all of a sudden, bones started to pop and I began to change. I don't know why, but it hurt so much. What was even more surprising is I hadn't chosen to change at all. But I didn't mind the pain, right now it would help me move better. I charged Raf and pounced on him and bit the arm that he kept trying to extend toward Bree. He yelled and tried to yank his arms away. I held on, because the walls of the glass prison were beginning to weaken and my teeth had sunk in deeper than usual. After some effort, I pried my fangs out of Raf's arm just as Bree broke the prison that held her. "Bree! Get Ana out of here!" I shouted, getting to my feet. But I stopped midway and collapsed on the ground. I felt all the energy being sucked out of me. What was going on?
I looked at Raf for an explanation all he said was "I'm sorry…Roc must've gotten you." I roared at him, the sound of a lion mixing with an eagle's shriek.
"PC! Help!" Ana cried, her arms were twisted behind her by Roc. I didn't know who upset me more, Roc, who sold us out to the School, because of jealousy or Rafmire, who didn't care who he hurt as long as he took care of himself. I felt anger burn inside my chest...it was fitting that I had changed to my cat form. I looked for Bree, who was standing a few feet away. I knew if I charged, Raf would try to stop me. Bree and I communicated to each other silently through our eyes. Our plan was set. I mustered the strength that was slowly being stolen from me and bounded forward, my limbs trembling and lungs straining, crimson eyes locked on Roc. Like I had anticipated, Raf tried to stop me. Summoning another glass figurine this one skinnier, to head me off, but luckily I had back up. Bree dashed for it in a blur of speed and sliced it to ribbons with her sharp nails. She had seen these things reform and just as she crushed, it she ran for it's creator. I attacked Roc in the same fashion that Land Sharks did, picking up speed than leaping and slamming all of my weight into him, making sure to bury my claws deep. The three of us went down in pile of flailing limbs. I acted quickly knowing I wouldn't have the strength to fight Roc for long, even though he was already a weakling in my eyes. "Go!" I told Ana, my voice sounding deeper and more like a growl, as she got to her feet. She hesitated at first, but then ran off down the street. Raf moved to stop her, but was kept busy by Breeaka. I stared into Roc's eyes, fangs bared, my ears flat. My fury built as I remembered all the times I saw Roc hug and kiss my sister, with such fake affection.
"What are you waiting for," Roc asked smugly.
"Did you love my sister?" I asked.
"A little but she was always a job to me." I roared and bit down on Roc's shoulder harder than I ever had before. His screams and the crack of one of his collar boneswas so distant to me. I withdrew and snarled at him. Roc whimpered beneath me, he was trembling and rank with fear. Then almost instantly, energy rushed out of my back legs, making me falter. Roc grimacing at the pain pushed my off. He clutched his wound tightly blood oozing through his fingers. "You freak," he hissed.
"Takes one to know one," I said grinned, weakly. I was feeling light headed and extremely hot…and I knew it wasn't because I had fur all over me in the middle of the summertime. I began to lick my lips constantly and unconsciously drool, with blood mixing with it, I looked both dangerous and pitiful.
Roc gave me a grin of satisfaction and shakily got to his feet. "That little injection I gave you is starting to take affect." The image of the syringe with yellow residue inside flashed before my mind's eye.
"What did you do to me?" I growled. I was shaking uncontrollably; my arms were the only thing that could support me.
"What I injected you with is a special cocktail made just for you."
"So kind of you," I said.
"It is made mostly from Howler saliva, which is where all the symptoms you are feeling now came from. It's slow to act, but none the less efficient." I looked for Bree, who was no longer fighting Raf, but had disappeared from sight. I assumed that she had gone after Ana, to protect her. Roc came toward me and kicked me hard." A little something for the road." I growled ferociously and struggled in vain to counter.
He moved to do it again, but Raf stepped in. "He's had enough, so back off."
Roc obeyed and gave him a smug look. "You could have helped me instead of standing there."
Raf shrugged. "I thought you two needed to sort things out."
Roc frowned and looked at me "You'd better stop him from thrashing around like that, at such a high concentration that stuff can kill him. Now where is Ana?" My arms gave and my world became a haze, before I blacked out I muttered. "Run girls…run."……

Bree:

"Stay close to me!" I shouted to Ana. As we darted down the street it was frustrating that Ana didn't run as fast as I did, so I had to slow down so that she could keep up. Erasers were swarming everywhere. The town appeared to be empty as if no one had lived here at all. But I had a good guess at what had happened to all of the town's people. I have heard that in small population towns, the School makes a call to the mayor or who ever is in charge they order everyone to stay in their homes if they don't, they are said to be arrested. But in actuality if anyone came out they are more likely to get killed in crossfire. There were three Erasers behind us two regulars and one Jawz. All of them I could out run easily but not Ana. Tranquilizers and bullets whizzed passed our heads. Thankfully no Wraiths were present. I rounded a corner.
"Hit the deck!" I shouted. WE dove down as Erasers shot at us. I rolled forward, running low to the ground; I poured on the speed and slashed the Achilles tendons. The Erasers screamed as their legs failed them. I grabbed Ana's wrist and we continued to run. More Bullets whizzed passed our heads "Oh what I wouldn't give for my guns!" I snarled bitterly. "Can't you go any faster!"
"I running as fast as I can," Ana said irritably. I squeezed Ana's wrist tighter. Suddenly I felt strange. I looked for darts in my skin, but there were none. I felt as if some of my speed was being transferred to Ana. She gasped as she looked down at her legs, they were moving in stride with mine. She looked at me in amazement.
I grinned deviously "let's go." We bolted past Erasers leaving a massive back draft in our wake, knocking them over. Suddenly a black car screamed into position in front of us.
"Get ready Ana we're going to jump…don't worry you'll be fine." I felt my blood surging through my legs and my whole body tingled. I enjoyed the rush. Pushing off the ground and soaring over the vehicle, I felt like I had wings too. "Start moving your legs," I instructed. As we hit the ground the force was jarring but it didn't stop us. We plowed forward knocking Erasers over like bowling pins. I saw the exit, in a couple moments we would be free. I saw the open road; on flat ground no one could stop us. I heard Erasers yell at each other. Then just as suddenly as my hope appeared it vanished. I saw two black blurs out of the corner of my eye. They rushed in front of us and solidified. We were going to so fast we didn't have time to slow down. The two Wraiths simply pushed us back, using our own momentum against us, Ana and I went flying. I saw one of them catch Ana before she hit the ground. But I didn't expect them to offer me the same courtesy. I tried to recover before I hit the ground, twisting my body, but before I could more than that WHAM! The impact shocked my body, jostling my bones and knocking the wind out of me. My back burned as I slid across the street and finally stopped. A Wraith was coming towards me; I screamed at it and lashed out with my nails trying to cut it. I tried moving but my body was on fire. The Wraith hissed to me as if it were trying to calm me down. I continued to scream, my cries sounding more bird like than ever. It winced at my shrieks, I noticed Ana was already knocked out and was being taken to a black car that had rolled on to the scene. A white van, arrived a few minutes later. A man came out of the car and was ordering the Erasers around. I saw Roc approaching, his shoulder bloody and Raf towing PC behind him with effort.
"What do you want us to do with him?" Roc asked.
"Put him in the van," the man replied.
" Miiiisssstttterrrrrr Skyyyyynnnarrrrddd," The Wraith that was hissing to me called. The man approached in a navy blue suit, and serious looking face. "Whhhhhaaatttt aaaabbbboouut herrrrrrrrrrrrr?" it asked.
Mr. Skynard looked down at me. "She's got no part in this…kill her."
"NO! WAIT!" Roc said, trotting over.
"What is it?" Mr. Skynard asked. "Is this the one you said he likes?"
Roc nodded. "Yes sir." The man stared at me calculatingly.
"I guess we can take her," he said, after a long while. Oh please just kill me! I'd rather be dead than saved to go to the School. Roc smiled down at me and trotted away with Mr. Skynard like a yippy little dog. I closed my eyes and let the drowsiness from the tranquilizer take me………

Chap 86

Ana:

I opened my eyes to a white ceiling instead of the afternoon sky. What had happened? Everything went bad so fast…I sat up on a comfortable bed. Softer and the sheets weren't as scratchy as Bree's. There was no window in the room, but a fern sat on a table in the center. One the far side was comfy looking couch and then there was the door. It had a glass window wrought embedded wire. I ached, but I was okay, I only had a few scratches and bruises. But there was I? Where were PC and Bree? Then the door opened two people walked in, with beaming eyes and smiles on their faces. I clutched my sheets and I couldn't help but smile.
"MOM! DAD!" I shouted. They rushed toward me and embraced me. "What are you guys doing here?" I exclaimed, hugging them, feeling their warmth and smelling their scent.
" It doesn't matter," Mom said tenderly. "You're alright and with us now." She was right, I really didn't care where I was, I had found my parents again and everything was going to be alright. Tears pooled in my eyes.
"I thought I would never see you again." I whimpered.
"We thought so too, but here you are," My dad said.
"Mom? Dad? What is this place?"
"You're where we work." Mom said.
"Your work? But how did I get here?"
"Well we got a call that authorities had caught some people kidnapping you. They were arrested and you were taken to a hospital. When we arrived you were still unconscious. SO we took you back here."
"We have some business to finish up here and then we will head home as a family." Dad said.
"You'll be back in school and everything will be alright." Mom said stroking my head.
"Oh, so you're not going to turn me into some kind of mutant freak?" My mom and Dad chuckled.
"No where did you get an idea like that?" My father asked.
"My friend PC told me…Do you know what happened to him?" I asked.
"Who?"
"My friends, Breeaka and PC. They were there trying to protect me." Mom looked at me ruefully.
"We don't know about them…but I'm sure we can find out," my father said rubbing my back. "Are you hungry?" My face brightened at the mention of food and I nodded vigorously. My dad took me by the hand and helped me up and I left with them. Once we were in the hallway. My mom left us saying that she had to take care of some things first…..

Bree:

I paced the room I was in anxiously. It was infuriatingly small it only took me four big steps to move across and about three steps towards the door. When I woke up, my wounds had been bandaged and stitched, which I was grateful for in a way because there was no way I could make an escape and be injured. That is only something PC could do. The room whirled around me as I furiously changed direction from left to right. I felt like a caged tiger, eyes always watching the door. Yellow light from a lone bulb in the ceiling highlighted the grey giving it a nasty green tint. Footsteps entered my ears and like a bird my head snapped instantly towards the source. The slit in the door, slid back and a pair of eyes peered in. They were soft and maternal blue eyes, she almost seemed like she could be my own mother.
"Hello," the voice said, it was definitely female.
"Who are you?" I asked.
"My name is Lee Ann, dear."
"Lee Ann…your PC's mother."
"Yes dear." Her gentle tone was chilling. PC had filled me in about his first meeting with his parents. From what he described they were manipulative and cunning. I knew this pleasantness was a ploy.
"What do you want with me?" I asked.
"Oh honey, don't you think it's little rude to not introduce yourself?"
I frowned. "My name is Breeaka."
" I see , beautiful name. It suits you…you are a beauty…I can see why my son likes you." I had to find PC, get Ana and then get the heck out of here.
"Where's PC? What have you done with him?"
"That isn't any of your concern."
"It is." I said dangerously. "If you don't tell me,"
"You'll what?" Lee Ann asked, her maternal glow gone in an instant. I darted forward and slashed at the slit with my nails. Lee Ann cried out in a surprise and backed away then returned. A small cut appeared over her right eye. "I'd watch yourself if I were you. You are only here because we need you in order to control PC. Don't push your luck." "Hmph. I half expected you to take me to Roc."
Lee Ann shrugged. "There is no reason to. As long as PC behaves you will never see Roc. Now the same principle is applied to you. Behave and if my daughter happens to appear down here, say nothing or PC will suffer in turn." Lee Ann said, icily and slammed the slit shut.