Chapter 2

Tact was the most important thing in her life, she had to be tactful or her enemies would jump at the first chance to destroy her. Jackie Hutchinson knew that she would have to lose that tact if she was able to get out of the Huntsclan Academy unseen. The Huntsmaster had given her one day to leave and never look back. He was a fool, yes, but he was a fool with power and Jackie wasn't so vaunted that she didn't understand that. And after throwing everything that was important to her in a bag, she was ready to obey that mans ultimatum. But she had a few things to take care of first. It was night, and the crickets were chirping, but Jackie Hutchinson was wired and completely and totally alert. She stopped at every turn to be aware of her surroundings, she would shoot anyone who found her and she would kill anyone who tried to stop her.

With her mask over her face, she slung her bag over her shoulder and made her way down the corridor that led to her daughter's quarters. There were a few things that she had to say too Erin and she intended on doing it face to face. Looking up at the identification of each room, she silently counted the numbers down until she reached the quarters of Erin Hutchinson. She used to share quarters with Jackie, but that was before she had given birth to a child and thus needed a much larger living space. Knocking gently at the door, she frowned. Erin was sure taking her time with all of this.

After about two minutes, the door's slid back and reveled the drowsy green eyes of Erin Hutchinson, "Mama? What is it? Do you know what time it is?"

"The time's come Erin and I really need to move fast if I'm going to make it out of here," Jackie said in a hushed tone.

Her eyes widened and the younger Hutchinson scratched her head, "What do you mean, the time has come? Do you mean …?"

"Yes sweetie," Jackie nodded, her eyes began to glisten, "He gave me twenty four hours, I've got about two left to leave with my life."

Erin rushed forward and wrapped her arms around her mother's warm torso. If this was the last time that she saw her mother, she wanted to remember what it was like to hug her mother. For all of her life, her mother had been rock, been her source of strength in the rough times. When she was pregnant with Johnny, Jackie had been supportive and had even taken care of her. Erin knew that her mother had a whole different side to her, and she was sad, angry and disgusted that it was because of her mother's other side that she had to leave. She had so many questions for her. Where would she go? How would she live? What would she do? Would she ever see her again, "How are you going get along Mama? You don't have any other skills then killing."

"I don't have to work," Jackie smiled kindly, "You're father was rather wealthy and he left a lot to me in his will, I'll just draw my money on that."

Crushing her face into the crook of her mother's neck, Erin began to sob quietly, "W-when will I ever see you again?"

"I don't know," The elder Hutchinson rubbed comforting circles on her back, "If you'd wise up and leave soon, you could come with me. But I know that you're staying around for my precious little grandkid. You just take care of him. Keep his father in line and most of all you need to take care of yourself."

Erin tore herself away from her mother, "Do you want to see him?"

Jackie nodded and followed Erin into the quarters. She had grown attached to little Johnny since he was born two months ago, and she would be damned if she didn't see him one last time. The quarters were ornately decorated. Pictures of her daughter, the Huntsgirl, of Paul and various others were full on the walls. It was really a homely place compared to the outside. Following her daughter into a small room that was adjoined with her bedroom, this was the nursery that she had helped set up with her bare hands, her one token towards her grandson. Stepping towards the crib, Jackie leaned on it and peered down at the sleeping bundle, "Hey little man, I know you're sleeping, but I have a few things to tell you …"

She swallowed the lump in her throat and quickly glanced back at Erin with a sad smile. There was so much that she wanted to say, so much that she wanted to get off of her chest, but she didn't want to push her daughter over the edge, so she resigned herself to three simple things, "Keep your shirt tucked in, respect your Mother at all times, and when your big enough I want you to knock your Daddy around. I love you, Johnny and your Mother …"

Erin lightly dabbed her eyes, she had started crying towards the end. Even to that day, even with reuniting with her mother after leaving the Huntsclan all those years ago, it was still fairly traumatic. Until that time she had never been apart from her mother. It had always been Jackie and Erin, but when it had just become Erin, everything went to hell. Paul had turned from a lovable guy to a monster and she hadn't had her mother there to defend her. Sure, Rose had been there to keep Paul in line for a few months, but then Erin herself had left. There was no need to cry over it anymore, that part of her life was over and she had gotten out of it rather unscathed, "Erin. Are you alright?"

She looked up to DJ and smiled at the compassion of that kid.

"Yeah," Erin nodded her head as she lightly dabbed her eyes again, "I'm sorry, I always get emotional whenever I think about it …"

"I have something to add onto that," Rose spoke suddenly, drawing Erin's attention to her with wide eyes, "I ran into Jackie as she was leaving the dormitory section."

The younger Hutchinson scowled for a moment and then an intensity came to her voice, "Why aren't you talking yet?"