A/N: Ha! Okay I lied, couldn't resist updating so soon. Now it might take me a few days to update, and I'm not lying this time! Anyway, drum roll. Let's welcome a new character! Enjoy!

Nari Streeter

Chapter Five: The Undertaking

The waves churned beneath Nari's feet, black streaked through with highlights of silver. The rain had stopped altogether, leaving the sky streaming with waterfalls of fog. Nari scanned the crests frantically, the muscles in her shoulders screaming from forcing herself to hover for so long.

Pandora didn't resurface.

Nari sucked in a huge breath, bracing herself for the slap of cold water.

Wolf darted under her, flaring his wings open and forcing her higher into the sky, away from her goal under the black waves. "What do you think you're doing?" he snapped, flaring his soaking wings again.

Nari tried to dodge around him, trimming her wings closer to her sides, "She's going to drown!"

Wolf grimaced, lunging upward and slamming bodily into Nari's side. He wrapped his arms around her waist, smashing her wings against his chest. He beat at the wind, pushing both of them away from the lake.

"Pan!" Nari screamed, digging her nails into Wolf's cold arms.

"She's gone," Wolf growled in her ear, flying for both of them into the clouds, "let it go. She's gone."

An icy needle pricked behind Nari's chest, filling her eyes with bitter tears. She pounded heedlessly against Wolf's grip, "She's not dead! Let me go! I have to save her…" her screams trailed off, dying hopelessly in her throat. Nari felt her tensed muscles slacken, slowly turning numb.

The ground rushed up to meet them, the evergreens capped with a crown of fog. Wolf landed lightly on his feet, releasing Nari and rubbing his arms where her nail marks were turning a faint red.

Nari pressed her back against a tree, slowly sliding down to the forest floor. Pan was dead. Gone. Dead. Killed. Murdered…

She wrapped her arms around her chest, feeling the empty place where Pan had clung her as they lifted free from the School. Wolf stood silently several feet away from her, his chest heaving from the effort of having to carry both of them. Nari choked back a sob as his gray eyes locked onto hers.

"I didn't even know her," she said hollowly, a wave of hopelessness tightening around her throat. Pandora. She'd been the only thing Nari had that was familiar. In the moments where it seemed like the entire world was going to end, Pandora had been the only thing that mattered.

"Then why," Wolf panted, collapsing to his knees next to her, "was she so important?"

Nari pressed her forehead into her knees, feeling the cold droplets in the air rush up her nose and mouth as she took a deep breath. "I thought," she started, tearing at a patch of grass next to her foot, "…I thought…that if I could save…just one. Maybe…"

"You'd make a difference?" Wolf finished quietly.

A twig snapped in the darkness, tearing Nari from her numbness.

Wolf tensed next to her, his eyes scanning the dark trees, a low growl building in his chest. Nari could hear the low mumble of fury lying dormant behind her breastbone, ready to break free at the first sign of an Eraser. Ready to take revenge for Pandora's death.

A dark shape flashed by them, Wolf leaped forward like a white arrow, ramming his head into the shape's abdomen, sending both of them crashing to the ground. Nari rushed to her feet, leaping to Wolf's side in a heartbeat, the blood pounding in her ears. She pulled back her fist, ready to smash in the face of the intruder.

"Wait!"

She stopped herself just in time, twisting slightly so her punch slammed harmlessly into the dirt floor next to the intruder's head.

He looked to be a few months older than Nari, his dark blue eyes wide with fear as he tugged at Wolf's hand around his throat. A patch of dark blood matted one side of his jet-black hair, the red stain stretching down to his neck to reveal a large gash on his shoulder.

"I'm sorry," he blurted, trying to gain purchase on the cold ground with his bare and bloodied feet, "I didn't know you were here! I'll leave, I will! Just let me go!"

"Bastard," Wolf snarled, rolling away from the boy's trembling body.

The intruder scrambled to his knees, leaving a smear of blood against the pine needles on the forest floor. His eyes were dilated and bloodshot, his chest heaving unevenly as he rubbed his throat.

Nari crouched on the pads of her feet, taking deep breaths to calm the adrenaline that had worked its way into her blood. "Who are you?" she snapped, hoping to look intimidating in the half-light of the forest.

"My name is Nickoli," he stuttered, his eyes darting over the wings on her back, "y-you're…like me, too?"

Nari almost smiled as she watched Nickoli unfold the dark wings overlapping his back. More had escaped than she'd hoped; and they were going to make it. They were going to live.

Wolf sidled closer to Nari, his eyes cold as he looked over Nickoli's matted wound and torn clothes, "We should go," he said low enough that only Nari could hear.

"Wait…" Nickoli whispered, slowly pulling himself to his feet, "…let me come with you. Please."

Wolf growled, his iron fingers latching around Nari's shoulder, "Just us," he spat.

Nickoli bowed his head, shivering slightly in his thin shirt, "Please," he repeated, "please…let me come with you. I can't…look; they're going to kill me. I don't know where to go," he glanced at Nari, his eyes pleading, "…please."

Nari stared at him, frozen on her feet. Wolf's grip tightened on her shoulder, his touch hot against her cold skin. "Wolf…" she started, running a hand through her hair.

"No!" Wolf snarled, "No more! The more we take in. The bigger a target we are."

Nari shook off his hand, cautiously extending her hand to Nickoli on the ground. His face melted into a relieved smile as his fingers slid into hers.

"Pan's gone," Nari said flatly, ignoring the prick of sadness that came with the words, "now…we're back to three." She dropped Nickoli's hand, turning to face Wolf instead. She twisted the edge of her shirt through her fingers nervously, wondering how he'd react, "Please?"

Wolf's gray eyes switched back and forth between Nickoli and Nari, his fists clenching and unclenching in a steady pattern. "Fine," he said through clenched teeth.

Nari smiled, relief flooding through her, "Thank you."

The anger washed from Wolf's face and in seconds he was grinning from ear to ear. "You said 'we'," he laughed, raising his hand and traced Nari's jaw line with the tip of his finger, "does that mean you're coming with? You'll help me find Max?"

Nari shivered at his touch, hoping she hadn't given him the wrong idea. "Yeah. If Nickoli comes too," she glanced at Nickoli beside her, eyeing the gash on his shoulder.

"Don't worry," Nickoli said quickly, tugging the edge of his shirt over the cut, "I'm fine. I fly fine. I can keep up, I promise."

Wolf smirked, dropping his hand from Nari's face and unfurling his wings, "We'll see." He took off in a single bound, his wide wings perfect for standing takeoffs. Nari glanced back to Nickoli and he gave her a nervous smile, running a few feet before lifting off into the air himself.

Nari hesitated, her gaze lingering over the sparkling edge of the lake between the tree trunks. "Pandora," she whispered, "I promise…I promise you'll be okay. I'll make everything okay…just for you."

The wind rushed under her wings as she leaped into the sky. Wolf and Nickoli were high above her, circling each other warily. Wolf pure white. Nickoli pitch black. Nari soared up to meet them, her clothes crusty and stiff from the salt of the lake's spray.

"Where do we go?" she asked, just as the sun broke over the horizon.

"New York," Wolf said confidently, "we go to New York."