Today, danger took the form of two lovesick, perfect Osprey-human recombinant DNA life forms.

I dodged around trees. I shoved past branches. I jumped over bushes, using my wings to lengthen my leap, even though I couldn't fully fly with them. Something crashed behind me, but I didn't stop. I just kept running, my breath hissing painfully in and out of my lungs.

My supplies barely stayed under my shirt. Good thing I'd had the foresight to tuck my shirt into my jeans, giving me a lumpy stomach.

The crashing sound drew nearer, and I tensed to fight. But the person who jumped next to me was . . . Clue.

"Tiny . . . stop . . . running . . . so . . . fast." He panted out, racing after me.

"You idiot! Stop following me!" I shrieked at him, my voice high pitched with exertion and fear. I glanced back, and saw that Ravyn and Hunter sprinted swiftly after us. Even the way they ran was perfect.

"But I have your sweatshirt," He told me, keeping pace with me easily.

"I don't care!" We broke free of the trees, and I skittered to a stop. Clue almost ran into me. We both gaze in horror over the edge of the huge canyon in front of us. A thin log led from one side, to the other. Crossing it would mean thirty feet of fun.

I turned swiftly to see Ravyn and Hunter burst out of the trees behind us. Hunter held what appeared to be a flamethrower. Great. We got a cigarette lighter, and they got a freaking flamethrower!

There is no God, that's all I'm going to say.

I jumped onto the log that stretched the length of the canyon, and tottered, losing my balance. The bark dug into my skin. Clue grabbed my shoulder and held me steady.

Don't look down, don't look down. I took a step, gritting my teeth.

Don't look down, don't look down. I wobbled. He clutched my arm before I could fall over the edge, but I'd already caught a sight of the ground. Crap!

My stomach lurched. A hundred feet below me, a thin stream of blue twisted through rock. And thousands of cubic feet of open air. Suddenly, it seemed like I was going to topple over.

I froze. I couldn't keep going. I just couldn't.

"Tiny! Run!" He kept his hands on my shoulders, but he pushed me forward. I took a hesitant step, then another. Together (unfortunately) we ran over the canyon, and jumped onto the other side. My bare feet felt so much better on sturdy grass, instead of two hundred feet in the air.

Clue and I turned to look at the Death Dealers. They seemed to be having some trouble following us. Ravyn stepped hesitantly onto the log. Contemptuously, I kicked it, and she wobbled, and jumped back onto her side of the canyon. She and Hunter whispered to each other, and then spread their wings wide in an obvious preperation to glide across the canyon.

I knew I had to act quickly, or they'd reach us.

My fingers wrapped around a stone to throw, but my gaze landed on a pinecone at the edge of the slight clearing. I ran over to it, and grabbed a bundle of them.

"Clue! Give me your goddamned lighter!"

Clue threw the lighter at me without hesitation. I clicked it furiously-I'd never used one before-and a small flame burst from it. I held it to a pinecone, and half a second later, smoke furled out of it.

It singed my fingers and I juggled it back and forth between my hands, "Clue, throw this at them!"

"But it's hot!"

"Do it, idiot!" I tossed the pinecone at him. He grabbed it, yelped, and threw it straight at Ravyn.

She screeched (in a graceful fashion, of course) and ducked under it. I grabbed another pinecone, lit it afire, and tossed it to Clue.

He threw the second pinecone, forcing Hunter to duck.

"Come on, run!" I ordered, and set off at a dead sprint. He followed me obediently, and I wondered how the hell I had ended up with him.

We ran.

We ran, and we ran, and we ran.

I didn't let us slow our pace. Whenever Clue started to look tired, I would shoot him a death glare, and he would nod and quicken his footsteps.

I don't know when night fell. I just remember collapsing to the ground.

I leaned against a tree, panted heavily, and managed to spit out to Clue, "It'll take 'em a while to find us."

The sound of running water met my ears. I closed my eyes. Dehydration sucked, but we had a counter to it. I allowed myself to rest for one moment, and then went into Survival Mode.

I dug the box of fish out from under my shirt and slapped it on the ground. He peered quizzically at it, "What's that?"

"It says fish on the side," I said in my "duh" voice.

"I can't read," He said with a shrug.

Oh. I'd forgotten. Jeb had taught me to read a while ago, but no one had ever bothered to teach Clue, because he was, well, clueless. I gritted my teeth. He was not stupid! He just had some attention issues.

I shivered. The unbearably hot summer's day had turned freezing cold, drying the sweat on my skin almost instantly. The sweaters had been a good idea, after all.

"Clue, can I have my sweatshirt?" I asked.

He tossed it to me. I drew long slits in the back with my knife to let out my wings, and then pulled it on. I wished I could fly. Instead of an angel, I was a shrunken, skinny girl with empathy issues.

He had already started a fire, and was now roasted the fish over it. I shivered again, but less violently.

"Wonder how the Death Dealers are doing," He mused.

I stared at him. I hadn't remembered either Ravyn or Hunter grabbing a jacket, and lighting a fire with that flame thrower would be interesting . . . with their tall, willowy bodies, they must be freezing! Clue and I, with our more compact, small bodies, would be much more able to tough out the cold.

I grinned, and wrapped my wings around my body. Hah.

"You smiled," Clue said cheerfully. His one eye looked at me.

I winced, "Uh-huh. So what?"

He grinned at me, "You never smile." He handed me a piece of fish. I took it, juggled it between my fingers for a minute, and then took a bite.

"I've really missed you," His abrupt words caused me to jolt up and look at him.

"Why?" I couldn't possibly think of a reason, although I could think of many reasons why he would want me very, very far away.

He shrugged, "'Cause we're friends, Tiny."

It was all I could do to hold in my snarl, "Friends, Clue-less? How could we possibly be friends? Here, in this world," I swept my arm around to indicate the surroundings. "Friends don't exist. People who survive exist."

He looked at me as if I were crazy, "You can't survive without friends, Tiny."

Our eyes locked over the fire for a minute. Finally, I heaved myself to my feet, and said, "I'm going to go get some water."

"No! I'll do it!" Clue volunteered eagerly, jumping up.

I shook my head, "No, I've got to do it." I grabbed the now-empty box of fish and stalked in the direction of the sound of running water.

The stream was about thirty feet away from where we'd halted. I stomped to the water's edge, plopped myself on the ground, and scooped water in my hands. The icy touch of the snowmelt sent a jolt through my spine; I splashed it over my face. Wake up, wake up, Tiny.

Why couldn't Clue get it? Why couldn't he understand? Was he really clueless?

Why didn't he hate me?

I plunged my head briefly into the stream, yelped underwater-promptly inhaled H20-and came back spluttering. I had to get a grip. It didn't matter what Clue thought. I only had to kill Ravyn, and then I'd survive.

I shook my head. My super-short hair flipped over my scalp, and water dripped down my face. I filled the fish box with water and stalked back to Clue.

He drank the water I thrust at him with his usual docile expression, and then handed it back to me. I glared at him.

"Why'd you drink it all? I have to go back and get more, now!"

He looked surprised, "Oh! Sorry! I'll go get more!"

"No, you idiot!" I parked myself against the true next to him, leaned back, and closed my eyes. The fire had sprung five, ten feet into the air during the time I'd been gone, and it roared. Fingers of heat pressed against my skin.

"Who's taking first watch?" Clue asked. He didn't even sound tired, even though we'd been running all freaking day.

I opened one eye. He sat with his head cocked, a cheerful, questioning smile curving his lips. His hands pressed to his thighs.

"Watch?"

"Like when we were little. In the cages, at the school," He said slowly. As if I were the clueless one.

"And we had to be careful, in case the erasers came and tried to kill us. The way they killed Ant," He faltered.

I opened my other eye, "Ant?"

He shrugged in apology, "You probably don't remember him."

I racked my mind, but I couldn't. To be honest, I could hardly remember taking watches. I could barely remember anything, except a warm, happy glow that being with Clue had given me . . .

I clenched my fists. That warm, happy glow was going to get me killed.

"I don't remember," I closed both of my eyes.

"Oh," He said. He remained quiet for a moment, and then spoke once again. "Well, we'd split the night into two halves. There was a clock above your cage. We learned how to tell time pretty early. When one of us was being taken away for an experiment, we would wake the other person up. That way, you'd know that the other person hadn't been taken away to execution, remember?"

I did remember. I opened one eye just to peer at him. He was still smiling. How could he smile, thinking about all of that?

"And I," He said with a laugh. "I'd always end up taking the longer watch, because you wouldn't wake up. But I'd let you sleep, because you were so little and small." He grinned. "Like a teddy bear."

I aimed metaphorical daggers at him with my eyes, "I was not like a teddy bear."

Clue shook his head, "No, you were. You were really cute, too." He examined me carefully, propping his chin on his palms. "What happened to all that cuteness, Tiny?"

I threw a stick into the fire, "I grew up. It happens, sometimes." The fire crackled. It ate away at the darkness like a ravenous beast. I stared at it so I wouldn't have to look at him.

He missed the sarcasm in my voice, "You were such a nice little girl," He grinned. "Always fooling around with me. We played games, when we were lumped together in cages." He frowned. "But now you're harsher."

"Of course," I snapped. I picked a stick up off the ground and started peeling the bark off it with a jagged fingernail. "Because that's the only way to survive, Clue."

"You survive by everyone helping everyone." He corrected.

I jumped to my feet. The stick snapped in my fists, "Yeah, and look what happened to you! It's my fault, Clue-less!" I snarled out the words.

I still remembered it. Still remembered the laughing Eraser. We'd been seven and five. He'd been chasing us, trying to kill us. Simple, easy, and it always happened.

Only I'd slipped, fell, and the Eraser had tried to kill me. I yelled for Clue to help. And he'd saved me.

And he'd gotten that scar.

And we hadn't seen each other since then.

And I'd learned. I'd learned that you should never, ever help people. Because they'll only get you killed. And your life is always the number one priority.

"It's not my fault," I added. "Clue, it was your fault. You shouldn't have come back and saved me. You should have let me die!"

He looked at me like I was crazy, "That's not how it works, Tiny. An eye for a life is a more than fair exchange," He shrugged. "Heck, two eyes for a life is good in my book."

I threw both halves of my stick at him. They smacked against his skull. He looked at them in surprise as they tumbled into his lap, and then grinned. Like I'd made a freaking joke.

"I was weak," I snarled at him. "Never save the weak. Save the strong."

He scratched his head, "But the strong don't need saving."

"Exactly!"

Clue sighed, "Tiny, jeez. People can't survive without people. I need people, you need people. I needed you to survive, so I made it so you survived."

"Do I look like a person?" I shoved up the sleeve of my jacket to reveal my arms and their layer of feathers, "Both of us, we're freaks on our own! We're not people!"

"We're not on our own." And he yawned and leaned against the tree, "You take first watch."

I sat back down in a huff. Why was I paired with this idiot! He'd get me killed with his stupid ideas about helping people. He was clueless, like always.

And an idiot.

A crunching, crackling sound met my ears. I jolted into a standing position, rubbing sleep from my eyes. The fire had cooled to embers, and I had terrible night vision. I peered into the darkness.

WHAM!

Something slammed into me. My head hit a rock on the ground, and sharp pain sliced through me. I couldn't even feel the huge weight on top of me; all that consumed my body was the agony roaring through my skull.

After a few seconds, I became aware that a person pinned me down. Erasers! But it wasn't an Eraser. In the dim light, I recognized the dark amber eyes of Hunter.

"Bastard," I growled.

"Sorry," Hunter panted out. "But the only way for Ravyn to live is for me to kill you."