A/N Again, it is somewhat late over on this side of the pond, and it seems to be the only time I can write, so apologies for any typos or whatever. I'm kind of aiming for a chapter per day, since I want to get the whole thing finished before Nevermore actually comes out - that way if I've put anything in mine that JP has put in the actual one, no one can say that I just copied the book.

'So what exactly is this School place?' Ratchet asked. We had all made our way down to the kitchen, and now we sat around the table. It seemed that none of the newbies in the group had ever had the unfathomable joy of having visited the School before, having been experimented upon in what were no doubt lovely alternative locations, so those of us who had our membership cards to hand were giving them the lowdown.

'It's a secret facility in California, probably just like wherever it was that they played inventor with each of you guys. We grew up there.' I grimaced as memories from our time in the School washed over me like a rotting washcloth being swept across my face. 'It was where they gave us our wings, where the Erasers were made-'

'And that's why you think that we need to go there. Because the Erasers are back?' Iggy mused, his fingers playing across the wooden surface of the table.

'Partly. That, and the Voice showed me some stuff.'

Kate frowned.

'The Voice?'

I started a little, surprised by the question, then glanced around at the rest of the flock; their raised eyebrows told me that they'd made the same assumption I had about our newest recruits.

'You don't know about Max's Voice?' Nudge established. 'I can't believe that no one told you about that, or at least that it hasn't come up just in conversation or something. It would've been obvious before, when she used to get the brain attacks with it, 'cause those were really scary, and to miss them I'd say that you'd have to be blind, but Iggy definitely noticed them so you'd have to be even more than blind an-…' Her voice trailed off as I gave her a 'this-is-all-highly-amusing-I'm-sure-but-can-we-get-back-to-business-now?' look. She sent a small, sheepish smile back at me, and I grinned at her.

'It's been a while since I've had to do that. Nice one, Nudge.' I turned back to the others, who looked a little taken aback at the blur of information they'd just received. 'So, yes. I have a voice that speaks to me sometimes. Y'know, in my head. It tells me stuff every now and again about what we need to do next.' I decided to leave out the comments about my love life. 'It's been around for about a year, and like Nudge said I used to get pretty bad headaches when it first started up. But those have stopped now, and… Yeah,' I finished awkwardly, not quite knowing what else to say.

'You have a voice in your head?' Kate asked, her eyes narrowed slightly as she processed what I'd just told them.

'Yeah.'

Holden muttered under his breath.

'Cool.' Then, in a louder voice when Star turned to him with one eyebrow raised: 'What? It's kinda cool!'

She shook her head at him despairingly and looked at me.

'And this voice told you that we need to go to the School now?'

I stood up and paced my way across on side of the kitchen; suddenly my feet didn't feel like staying still.

'Not exactly. It's never very direct in what it says-' Fang snorted a little at that. '-but it showed me a bunch of pictures and stuff, and it all seems to add up to the School. Plus, it kept telling me that 'history repeats itself'. The School is definitely our history.'

'And it's someone else's history, too.' Dylan's voice sounded out surprisingly close, and I turned out of my pacing to see that he'd gotten up too and was standing just a couple of feet in front of me. He took one of my hands and I could feel my face growing hot, could feel everyone's gazes on us. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Fang shift just slightly in his seat.

'Max, Jeb used to work there, didn't he? Are you thinking that might be where he and your mom went?'

I took a deep breath in because, yes, that was exactly what I'd been thinking. Not for the first time, I wondered if Dylan had been fitted with some kind of telepathic doohickey.

'Perhaps,' I said, keeping my face as straight as possible. 'It's a factor. But I'd be saying we should go even if I didn't think they could be there.'

He looked my dead in the eyes, and as always his expression was easy to read; his forehead was creased slightly, and I could tell that he was concerned. Concerned about me.

'You're sure you want to do this?' he asked me, his voice deliberate, the way a parent might talk if they were trying to convince their child not to jump off the top of the jungle gym, knowing that it would likely end in a crying kid and a good mess.

I swallowed. Dylan had heard the stories about the School, knew how much it had affected all of us. He knew what we'd be going back to.

Then again, he also knew not to talk to me like a child.

I pulled away from him, moving back towards the table to address the group as a whole.

'Look, this isn't about wanting to do anything. But we need a next step and this is the one that makes the most sense. I understand if anyone doesn't want to come; no one's going to force you to pay a visit to an evil scientist clubhouse. I'm going. If you're up for it, come along.'

There was barely a pause before the whole group broke into confirmations that they weren't being left behind. I'm fairly certain I heard some discussion between Iggy and Gazzy about the last explosive stunt they'd pulled in the School's parking lot, but I chose to ignore it; bigger fish and all.

'What's the plan, then?' Holden asked me, then winced slightly and turned to Fang. 'Sorry. I mean, you're still kind of our leader and all, and…'

Ratchet laughed loudly.

'Man, loosen up. I'm sure the guy didn't take it too hard. It's pretty clear who wears the pants around here.'

The corner of Fang's mouth quirked slightly, and when he looked at me there was a gleam of something in his eyes.

'She's the tough one,' he remarked.

I narrowed my eyes at him, holding back a smile as a scene flitted through my mind; a tall, dark-haired boy leaned against a wall, staring impassively at a sandy-haired man sporting a white coat and a thick German accent:

'Is dere anysing special about you? Anysing vorth saving?'

'Besides my fashion sense? I play a mean harmonica.'

Oh boy, this was gonna be a fun trip.

'Can I make an observation?' asked Iggy, sniggering slightly at his own choice of words before sobering up. 'How exactly are we planning on getting there? Four of us don't have wings, and that last I knew we weren't packing anything with a combustible engine. Seems like finding a mode of transport should be the first part of any plan there might be.'

'We've got a van,' Kate said. 'It's a bit beat up and probably about fourth-hand, but it works. We left it about a mile away from here.'

I looked at her questioningly and she shrugged.

'Thought it would be best to hide it. So it's sitting on an old dirt track a little way into the woods over there.' She jerked a thumb towards the front of the house.

'Well… Great,' I said; when you've gotten used to everything having that extra twist to it, making it that much harder, it can come as a surprise when something's actually easy for once. 'So that's transport sorted. It's not going to be a relaxing journey. It'll be long – a couple of days or so – but we'll be resting up when we can; no point getting there and being so tired out that we can't do anything. Those of us with wings will fly overhead of the van and keep watch in front for any changes in the road. Any questions?'

'Actually, yeah, now that you ask,' drawled Star. 'What exactly are we going to do once we're there?'

There was silence. My mind worked furiously, thinking through everything that I knew about the School, everything I'd heard, everything the Voice had shown me.

'A few things,' I said, injecting confidence into my voice. 'First off, we're going to scout out the area, find out what's happening there that made it so important we go. We'll work out how the School's connected to the Doomsday Group and all that One Light rubbish. The Voice showed me something about alterations before and after birth – they could be connected to Generation 77. Maybe we'll find my mom and Jeb along the way. I don't know. But with any luck, we're taking the School down.'

'About time,' muttered Gazzy.

'And there's one more thing,' I said, frowning as I thought back. 'There was something about a referee.'

'Like an umpire, like they have in sports?' Nudge asked. 'Why would evil scientists be playing spor-'

'No, Nudge, not like a sports referee. It sounded like this was some sort of trial or measuring scale they use as a point of reference for all the experiments they churn out. It said that each subject was 'tested against the Referee to determine value'. So clearly that's something that's important to them; they use it to decide what they're going to do with everything they create. If we can take it from them – steal it or break or something – then that could be a huge setback in whatever their twisted little schemes are.'

My words were met with nods, some more enthusiastic than others, and I felt a swooping in my stomach at the thought of getting out of the house and flying, willingly, right back into danger again. I was nervous, worried, and yes, even scared, but at the same time I felt kind of… Excited. This was what I was comfortable with. Dealing with emotions and depressed zombie flocks and living quietly? That was difficult. Making plans to infiltrate and destroy a top-secret psycho playpen? That was something I could do.

'Basically, the plan is get in, find out what's going on, and knock the place down,' summarised Fang.

I rolled my eyes and huffed irritably as some of the others laughed.

'Always the way with words,' I muttered. Then I spoke louder so that everyone could hear me:

'Alright everybody. Let's dance.'

'Please don't, Max,' Gazzy sniggered, then his voice dropped to a stage whisper. 'It's not a pretty sight.'

A/N Don't forget to review! Reviews make me happy. :D