Chapter 8: Changes

Ari POV

I had been summoned to the Director's office. Finally! I wanted to know why I hadn't been able to go after the flock! They had been out in the forest, having fun for the past 3 days and he was letting them! It wasn't fair, them being outside, me being cooped up inside. It should be the other way round!

I arrived at his office, in the East Wing of the facility, where all the big business deals went on, as far away from the West Wing, as possible, where all the experiments and laboratories were. I knocked on the door and immediately they opened. I stepped into a gigantic room, the ceiling at least 3 stories high. The only way to describe the room was grandeur. Elaborate statues and polished wooden furniture everywhere. At the end of the room I could see the Director sitting behind his giant chintz desk. He was talking to someone on a video monitor on his desk. He looked up as I came in and in his loud authoritative Italian-American voice, he said "Yes sit down, sit down. I'll be with you in a minute."

I sat down in the lone chair he gestured to in front of the desk and waited for him to address me. He had greying black hair with a styled quiff and tanned skin. He was wearing a dark pin stripe suit, rimless glasses, and his signature gold Rolex. Although I couldn't see the person on the video monitor, I recognised that calm, reassuring voice, Jeb.

"So what are we going do about the girl?" I heard Jeb ask.

"We are going to move her to Facility B, for safety reasons." the Director replied.

"Can I ask what those safety reasons are Sir?" He asked.

I saw the Directors eyes flick up to me and then back down to the screen. "No not at the moment. Can I ask how you're coming along with bringing the suggestion program back online?"

"We should have it back up in the next couple of weeks, sir." I heard Jeb reply.

"Very good. I'll speak to you later." Said the Director and he pushed a button on the screen which turned it off. He put his hands together, leaned forward and spoke. "Now, Ari, the reason I've summoned you here is the little problem with the 'Flock'."

"Actually Sir, I was going to ask about that. Why haven't you let us get them back? Give me 6 Erasers and I'll guarantee them re-captured and in their cages by sundown." I said earnestly.

"Actually, that's impossible now." said the Director. "For you see you are the last Eraser left." I looked at him, confused, his dark eyes drawing me in. "I ordered their extermination 2 days ago. They are outdated now that we have developed an upgrade. The only reason you weren't among them was by request of your father." My father? What did he care if I lived or died? He hasn't cared about anything else I have done in my life. Unless you count turning me into an Eraser for his own experiments. Which I don't.

"Now you, you are strong, independent and have shown your resourcefulness on multiple occasions." Was he talking about me? "You are going to lead the upgrades. As a General of sorts. We need someone to keep them in line. And I believe you are suited for that role."

I was silent. I had no idea what to say. Did I just get promoted? "Can I ask what these upgrades are?" I breathed; shocked at this act of generosity from someone who is renowned for being brutal.

"No," he smiled. "I'll do you one better. I'll show you."

Fang POV

I was cold. Extremely cold. There was ice, everywhere. Darkness and ice. There was a rock on the floor. I picked it up and the coldness intensified, running up my spine, down my arms and into my hands. The rock froze in my hands. It dropped it and it shattered into a million pieces. It was so cold. I heard a voice. "Hey!"

My eyes opened. There was figure standing over me. It was dark. My eyes began to adjust to the light. I could make out a face. Will. "What do you want?" I said sleepily.

"Why don't you trust me?" he asked loudly. "I heard you speaking to the others earlier. What did I ever do to you?" It was a good job I slept far away from the others tonight. This would have woken them up for sure.

"Nothing." I said harshly. "You've never done anything to me as far as I know. But I just think they trust you too much. You've only been around us for a little over 2 weeks and they're accepting you. They keep saying that you're in it just as much as us, but you've only been like this for around 6 months maximum! We've been like this for our whole life!" I was getting angry now, all my frustration was venting out of me. "I feel for you losing your sister and everything, but so far you've done nothing for us! We've been helping you, you've been living of us and that annoys me!" I was almost shouting myself now. Will was staring at me, shocked but still with anger on his face. "The fact that all the others have accepted you so quickly too! They've just blanked me out!"

Will was staring, looking at me hard. After what seemed like an eternity, his face softened and he said "Look, if you think I'm trying to take your place n the flock or anything, I'm not. I just want to get my sister back and then get back to my parents. But I need you to do that. I'm thankful for what you have done for me, but when I get my sister back, I don't want anything to do with this world of experiments and powers and wings. I just want to get back to my normal life!" His face was angry yet sad. He looked like he might break down.

"Well that might be hard, because the others are becoming quite attached to you." I said quietly.

"Yeah, well too bad because I want to get on with my life. Now I don't know where you stand, but if you aren't going to help me then say so now, so I do know!" he shouted, his voice starting to crack.

I was silent for a long time. Did I want to help him? I wanted him out of our lives; let us carry on with ours and him with his and to do this, I would have to help him.

"Ok. I'll try and help. If it'll get rid of you quicker I'll help." I said.

"Fine." He said, sounding slightly confused as if he wasn't expecting me to say I would help. "Good!" and with that he walked off back towards the camp.

Max POV

Last night we decided that we were going to go to England to try and help Will. Fang did not like the idea. He didn't trust Will for some reason. If he just spent some time with him, maybe he would. Something was going on with Fang lately. He never usually spoke a lot, but he had been even more reclusive lately.

I haven't seen Fang since last night. I presume he had slept away from the camp, to angry or embarrassed to face us. This was strange too, Fang never shoed any emotion. He was always very steely and dark. He hardly ever expressed any of his emotions; it was even a rare sight to see him smile.

I went over to Will. He was asleep. He was murmuring his sister's name again. I had decided to tell him about his parents. Angel was right; it wasn't my place to keep it from him. He was murmuring and unsettled. "Hey Will?" I whispered, trying not to shock him. His eyes opened quickly and he sat up suddenly and shouted "I can't!" Then he looked around and saw me. "What just happened?" He asked. He was covered in sweat.

"It was a dream." I said reassuringly. "Everything's OK." He looked at me, wide eyed. "Come on, let's go for a walk." I helped him up and we walked into the forest towards the stream. When we were clear of the camp I began to speak.

"We talked about what we were going to do last night and we agreed that we would try to help you get to England, find your sister." He just looked at me, with no change to the expression on his face, as if he already knew. "But that's not what I wanted to say." We had reached the stream. "You see-" but he cut me off.

"Angel?" He called. I looked to where he was staring and saw Angel, leaning over into the water. She looked up at us and stood up very quickly and skipped over to us, her curly blonde hair, swinging in motion with the skipping. She reached us and looked up at us.

"Hi!" she said in her sweet innocent voice.

"Angel what were you doing?" I asked suspiciously.

"Oh, I was just looking at the fish." She said innocently. "I'll see you later!" and she skipped off back towards the camp. I watched her go, staring at her suspiciously. Then I looked at Will and him at me and he gave me a 'Don't ask me!' look.

Then he asked "So what was it you were going to tell me?"

I looked down at the ground, unsure of how to break it to him. "Umm, well you see-" I broke off. I couldn't do this. Will was looking at me, frowning. How could I just tell him his parents were dead? I prayed in my head for something to get me out of it. As if some higher power was reading my thoughts, I got it.

"Just tell him Max. He deserves to know." My eyes went wide and I took a step back. Was that what I thought it was? That is impossible!

Will looked at me, even more confused now. "Max, are you OK?"

"Max, tell him. Just do it." With that I unfurled my wings jumped up and flapped. I went 30ft in the air, and heard Will calling, "Max?! Where are you going?!" I tucked in my wings and then shot off as fast as I could, using my supersonic speed to my full ability. The world was going past in a blur as I sped up.

"You should have just told him Max." I screamed out in anguish, still speeding up, knowing that no matter how fast I flew, I couldn't get away from it.