"Are they awake yet?" I called out quietly to the footsteps approaching from behind. Yes, I should probably be freaking out, but I figure if the idiot comes from behind without shooting me, it's either a good guy or someone even a squirrel wouldn't have to worry about.

"No," Rachel whispered, settling beside me on the ground, shifting on the sticks and stones under our blanket. Her red hair glinted with auburn streaks as the blaze of the fire flickered. Rachel stared down into the lit embers, concern filling her features. "I'd don't like the sister," she said quietly, shivering still in the warmth of the fire. "There's something about her, something unnatural. It's unnerving." She glanced towards the other side of the fire the lumps curled up on the ground. Sometimes the light would catch the boy's and girl's faces and you would see the bruises and cuts covering them.

I followed her gaze, unworried. Even if there was something up with the girl, she would be a valuable member to his little group. After reading the files Nudge had found long ago, he had found some interesting characters, including these young siblings. "What are you picking up from the boy?" I murmured.

"The usual," observed Rachel. "Pain, misery, loss, protective over his sister. Not that his sister needs it."

I raised an eyebrow at her answer, and she sighed in return. "What I mean is," she told me, "she has more power than she realizes. That, my friend, I can definitely tell you. How is the question." I opened my mouth to answer her remark, but she just raised a hand, motioning me silent. "I only see things I don't know, Fang. There's something none of us know, and that's what's got me on edge. Whatever it is, it's going to make a big bang in our small little group."

I shrugged silently, still staring at the figures. It had been easy to rescue these kids. They had already been put in a pile of cages, the children inside them about to be exterminated. Fang had wanted to rescue the experiments, but Rachel had told him they were going to die soon anyway. Still, it took all of his will to turn his back on the helpless creatures. In all, the whole plan went as smoothly as possible for an escape from the School. There were only a few scientists in the white halls, and no Erasers. That didn't bother him; recently, he'd learned each branch specialized in certain types of "production" and this certain School was for the "retirement" of unwanted experiments.

"So what next," Rachel asked curiously, turning her back to the brother and sister. "Is the plan still going to Arizona?"

"Yeah." I picked up a stick and poked the flaming logs. Sparks flew up in the air like tiny fireworks. "We just have to be careful. Max and the others are still there," I murmured. Even these days, I was still trying to stick to being a man of few words. "Jeb's still waiting to give the signal."

Rachel's eyes widened in surprise, and she gasped. "Seriously?" she questioned. "Does he have any idea how important this is? It could-." Her voice was starting to escalate.

My hand jerked over her mouth, and I tensed when the sister rolled over in her sleep. "I know," I whispered. "I'm already on it. If I have to, I'll tell Max myself. But for now, we still need time." Removing my hand from Rachel's mouth, she blurted something completely unexpected.

"I want to look for my mom."

I sighed, gazing down at the ground. I guess I should have expected soon enough. "Rachel…"I trailed off. "I'm not sure this is really the best situation to start searching."

She bit her lip, tracing figures in the dirt absentmindedly. The drawing started to take shape as people and places, and Rachel's movements became more urgent and jerky. Hissing under her breath, her foot shot out and scuffed the dirt before I could make out the figures. Suddenly her eyes flew open. I hadn't even noticed she was falling asleep. "They're waking up."

WwWwWwWwWwWw

Max

The rest of the morning went by without any problem. I got through boring lectures, tests, and I was ready to eat a horse. With sauce, of course.

BOOM! The table shuddered as I slammed down my tray of oh-so awful tasting cafeteria food. Tess and Kevin glared at me protest. Evie, on the other hand, had a complete spaz over spilled milk. Literally. "I was almost done!" Evie shrieked, picking up soggy paper with her scrawl written in tiny lines. She blotted it helplessly with a napkin for a few moments before she gave up and glowered at me. "15% of my grade," she growled at me, flopping the milky sheet of paper in my face. "15% of my grade!"

I quirked an eyebrow at the sopping mess. Milk was running over the edges of the table, and Kevin had rescued his lunch from the terrors of milk puddles. Tess sat there, feet from the mess, smirking. "Don't you have a copy on the computer?" I asked calmly. Evie stood there, staring at me like a deer in the headlights, before what I said finally connected. She slowly reached down to pick up a milk logged sandwich and raised it to her lips. Taking a bite, her face squished up and she spit the chewed up piece of turkey into a trash can; the other part of her lunch followed suit. "You owe me five bucks," she told me, sitting down in a huff. In response, I started chugging down my own soda.

So, now you've met my friends. First, there's Tess, who I met after accidentally catching her shirt on fire during Health Class. WHAT? I told the teacher I couldn't cook, but no, it was half my grade to grill some grilled cheese. How was I supposed to know you had to take off the plastic?

Next was Kevin. During some boring lecture about the export of rubber, I had managed to flick a pencil 10 feet at the teacher's head. Kevin, thinking this was some sort of game, threw another pencil at the teacher's nose. We spent most of detention playing 20 Questions.

Lastly, Evie, the psycho of the group. How I met her? She skipped up to my locker to tell me that she just got new shoes. Why? Don't ask. I'm sure it will turn out to be some long debate about the meaning of life. But she's a great friend, once you get over the oddness. Just to clear it up, none of any of the flocks' friends know about our wings, or powers. We agreed with all the publicity we're already getting we should keep low profiles. So, now I'm playing the part of a regular girl who just moved here from New York, partly because the group's been there a number of times.

"Did you finish the homework in English?" Tess asked, chewing a shiny red apple thoughtfully, her dark eyes trained on me. Her long dark chestnut colored hair was swept up in a messy bun.

I smiled. "I finished that in class." Kevin stared in disbelief at me, and Tess just stared expressionlessly at me.

"Of course you did," Tess sighed. She rolled her eyes, taking another bite of the apple.

I was about to retort when Evie shot up, staring wide eyed at the clock. "OMG! I have to leave!" she screeched, drawing half of the cafeterias' attention on her. Not noticing the stares, she threw all her stuff in a bag, and tossed her bag over her shoulder. "See you guys later," she called, jogging toward the doors. "I have to go feed Mario!"

"Who's Mario?" I asked Kevin. He shrugged, already over the slight drama.

"Don't ask me."

"Fine." And with that, I started eating my scrumptious mystery meat.