Chapter 1

I could feel the cold air rushing past my face. My dark red hair was streaming back behind me. I looked down and saw buildings, houses, cars, little dots that were people. So this is what its like to be flying I thought. Yes, I was flying, no I wasn't in a plane or helicopter or anything like that. I was flying with my wings.

I was brought back to reality by the beep of a car horn. Instead of being up in the air I was on the ground. Walking. But one thing was true about my daydreams was the wings.

Yeah, I have wings. I'm not a fairy or anything, but quite the opposite. Most people, who don't really like me, call me a "genetic freak", but I prefer "avian/human hybrid". For those of you who do not know what that means, I am half human half bird. Actually I'm 97% human and 3% bird, but that's just a bit technical.

I was not born with wings. Instead, bird DNA was grafted into mine when I was a baby. But that's not the normal way to do it. Usually the DNA is put in through the mother when she is pregnant. But the scientists at the School (it's what they call their "evil" lab, which is in California) saw that the DNA wasn't working right, (or so they thought) and gave me back into my parents. My parents, Eve and Charlie Evans, were very grateful to have their baby back even though it was two years later.

But the year they gave me back I started developing the things I was supposed to: vision like a hawk, an enormous appetite, very strong muscles, and of course, wings.

By the age of ten I had 11ft. wingspan, was 4ft. and 8 inches, I only weighed around 75 lbs. I tried my best to be normal at school and stuff, but holding your wings in tight for like, 7 hours gets old pretty fast. The good life didn't last long. Somehow the scientists at the School found out about me and thought it was a good idea to kidnap me again. I soon learned that instead of being put back in the School, I was brought to New York to the Institute.

I think I was there for about 3 years or so until Maximum Ride and her flock rescued me. She was a bird kid like me. She wrote books documenting everything but I asked her to say that instead of me staying with her, I went off with the other "mutants".

I stayed with her flock for a while. They taught me basic survival skills, how to defend myself and some flying lessons. It was nice but I had to go back home, which meant I had to find my parents.

I'm not going to bore with the looong process of me finding my parents but eventually I found them. They were so so so happy to have me back. So I now was living a "normal" life. Well, as normal as you can get when you have 15ft. wings.

Here I was, Charlotte Elizabeth Evans, walking to my house. But now I'm not alone. A modelish looking man in a suit was following me. If you just glanced at him you'd think he is just some businessman, but I know better. I'm a human/avian hybrid. He is a human/lupine hybrid, or wolf man, and trust me, he is no picnic.

The two most successful DNA recombinant life forms are Human/Avian and Human/Lupine. These wolf men are basically the School's own private army. They are trained to hunt and kill their prey. And right now I'm pretty sure I'm the prey.

One of his regular strides was equal to two of mine, and he was walking fast. Soon he was only a couple paces behind me. I broke into a run with him trotting after me. My stupid backpack was slowing me down, but I just couldn't drop no matter how much I wanted to. I wasn't fast enough and he placed his beefy hand on my shoulder, the moment I felt his hand my blood ran cold. I stopped in my tracks for two reasons one I was terrified and two his grip on my shoulder was very strong. So once he stopped I was forced to stop.

The Eraser whipped me around to face him. I tried not to show my fear but I bet it showed in my eyes.

"Hi there, little girl" the words sounded like they were dipped in honey, but they made chills go down my spine.

"I was wondering if would come to my car with me I have a puppy who-"

"Skip the crap and get your meat hook off me." I interrupted. I glanced pointedly at his hand.

"I mean a puppy? Really? That is the oldest trick in the book!" I said on a roll.

"Did you think of that one all on your own? Actually no I take that back, I doubt your brain is big enough to think!" He was clenching and unclenching his fists. I was about to say something else but I was cut off because the Eraser lunged towards me. Luckily I saw it coming and dodged, unluckily my arm got scratched, drawing blood by the Eraser's sharp claws. I looked up at his face and saw instead of good looks: lots of hair, a snout, and a row of very, very sharp teeth.

"Oh great." I muttered and I jumped up and snap kicked him in his wolf face. That kick could have broken a normal persons jaw but it only made him stagger. Not even a whole step, more like a quarter of a step.

Chapter 2

Backpack I thought. I quickly grabbed it from the ground. I spun around and then let go of the strap. It connected with my target and I heard a satisfying "Oomf!"

Thank god for textbooks I thought as I hurled myself upward and unfurled my wings. Gradually I rose higher. I looked down at the Eraser who was clutching his stomach.

"We'll get you!" he shouted at me.

"Yeah? I'd like to see you try!" I retorted and with that I flew away keeping as high as possible.

I got home about five minutes later (flying takes WAY less time than walking) I went into the bathroom to see if there was any damage.

I had a split lip, a couple bruises and cuts, and my arm still stung from where the Eraser raked me with his claws. I splashed some cold water on my lip and put band-aids over my cuts.

Pretty soon my mom came home with my baby sister who was two. My mom was busy fussing over Alice that she didn't see my injuries. But once she did she freaked out and shrieked

"Wha- how did this happen? Should I call the police? Oh, are you okay?"

"Mom! Calm down! I'm fine. Don't worry. I just met an Eraser on my way home. And pretty please don't call the police! It would make things so complicated!" I told her, trying to sooth her best I could, but she started fussing over me.

Once I finally convinced my mom that I was fine, I retreated to my room, and stayed there until my dad came home. Apparently my dad found my backpack on his way home from work and thought that something bad had happened to me. He was relieved to see me and then freaked out like my mom at the sight of my scrapes and bruises, also how the Eraser had found me so easily.

Dinner was a silent affair, and Alice, who likes to make as much noise as possible, didn't even squeak. Finally my Dad, with many reassuring looks from my Mom, broke the silence

"Charlotte? Your Mom and I have been thinking, and we agreed that instead of walking home from school, Grandma Beatrice will give you a ride home."

"Aww dad, why?" I moaned.

Now, Grandma Beatrice is not your average grandmother. She is your average cat lady. Her house smells like mold, cat litter, and moldy cat litter. Every time I go over to her house all she talks about is her cats. Mr. Fluffy this, Mr. Fluffy that. What I don't understand was how could Grandma Beatrice's driving could be safer than walking home. She is 79, can barely walk, is going blind and yet she still has her license. I swear, whenever she drives it scares the living daylights out of me.

"Walking home is perfectly safe!" I tried to tell my parents

"If it's perfectly safe then you wouldn't have been attacked!" my Mom cried out. I was thinking of how to best answer that when my Dad said

"Honey, you have to realize that this is all for your safety. We also called the police, we have to find the man who attacked you" I sat back a moment, at loss for words and then the realization hit me

"You called the POLICE? What! Why? That is the worst thing you could have done! The Erasers and Whitecoats ARE the Police! Now they can track me more easily!" I wailed.

My parents sat there looking at each other horrified at what they had done

"We didn't know, we were only trying to protect you," my Mom said quietly.

"I understand, but I warned you not to call them." Now it was my parent's turn to be tongue-tied. I finished my third taco and went into my room. I flopped onto my bed and layed there thinking, until I fell asleep.

Chapter 3

"BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!" I was startled awake by the sound of my alarm clock. I sat up and rubbed my eyes. I had fallen asleep in my clothes and on top of my covers. I glanced at my clock and saw that it was 6:40. I gave a squeak of alarm and jumped up and dressed in a rush. I was ready to go by 7:20.

My mom dropped me off at school and I ran to my homeroom, and made it just in time. I'm in Eighth grade, which at my school is the boring year. You don't go on any fieldtrips or do any fun things. Luckily I have the best science teacher, he is hilarious, tells lots of stories, and is just plain fun. Math is different; Ms. Nissen is a racist old hag. She also loathes kids, which makes people wonder why she is a teacher. She tells us every time we have her that she hates her job, her husband, and us.

I don't entirely remember what had happened all day; I just went through the day in a haze. At lunch I didn't realize that my friend, Ellie, was talking to me until she yelled my name around 5 times.

"Oh! Um sorry… what were you saying?" I asked not really caring "Well I was saying-" I zoned out again and didn't hear the rest of her sentence.

I'm not what you would call popular but I'm not a nerd. At my school there are the Populars which consists of snooty rich kids that are your best friend one minute and then talk behind your back the next, but there are some double crossers in the Populars, they just go back and forth from the Populars to the regular kids. I'm in the regular group where everyone is nice and they don't really care how much money your parents make. And then there are the hopeless cases, which are a bunch of nerds, dweebs, loners, and all of those people.

I came back to my senses in English class because I really had to go to the bathroom. I looked up from the worksheet we were supposed to be working on and stuck my hand in the air

"Ms. Wasserman?"

"Yes?"

"Can I go to the bathroom?"

"Sure, here take a pass."

"Kay, thanks"

I walked out of the classroom and out into the deserted corridor. I headed towards the bathroom…

Chapter 4

"Ughh" I groaned as I struggled to raise my head. Once I pulled myself into a somewhat sitting position, I took in my surroundings. I was in a dark windowless room, with a cold tile floor. And just to make matters worse my arms were bound.

I tried to remember what had happened. I was walking to the bathroom and then someone grabbed me from behind. I tried to scream but found my mouth covered by what seemed to be a hand. I tried to struggle but someone placed a rag over my nose and mouth. I had no choice but to breathe in the sickly-sweet smell. Everything went from clear to fuzzy to dark.

At that moment I felt a strange sense of déjà vu, I took a deep breath and smelled a chemical/disinfectant odor and immediately froze. Oh no, please please no… I thought desperately. But it was no use there was only one place I could be: the School.

I started shivering, even though it wasn't cold, and fear gripped my heart. Images flashed through my mind: cages, Whitecoats, exhausting tests, shots, and of course all of the other DNA recombinant failures I had seen come and go.

I have to get out of here now. I tried to stand up but once I did the world was spinning and I almost threw up. I quickly decided not to stand up for a while.

As soon as I sat down a door opened and the bright light temporally blinded me. Before I knew what was happening, rough hands dragged me out of the room. Once my eyes adjusted to the light I saw Whitecoats flitting around, but once I passed by most of them turned their gaze upon me

"Didn't your mother ever tell you it's rude to stare?" I snapped at them but they acted like I didn't speak.

I was brought down a long hallway and into a room where the hallways were lined with cages. Some of them were occupied with the saddest things I have ever seen. All of these genetic mistakes.

I was stopped in front of a medium sized cage, unbound and then was unceremoniously shoved into the metal bars of the cage. The door was closed and locked with a metallic click.

It was cold, dark, all the grotesque creatures surrounded me and to top it all off I was in a cramped cage.

The hairs on the back of my neck started to prickle so I turned and looked to the left of me and almost screamed. Two bright yellow eyes with pupils that were just slits like a cat were staring, unblinking, at me. The eyes seemed to come closer and closer. I saw with the little light that there was that the eyes belonged to a boy who looked around my age. He had shaggy dirty blond hair, and a lot of freckles.

"Er, hi. My name is Charlotte." I said uncertainly. The boy seemed to be debating whether or not to answer me. In the end he said rather stiffly

"I'm Ariek." He looked me up and down

"Why are you here?" he asked bluntly

"You don't look like some of the mistakes they bring in here." I was taken slightly aback

"Well neither do you." I pointed out.

"So? Are you gonna talk?" I sat there glaring at him for a bit then gave in and said,

"Fine." I extended my wings out as far as I could inside the cage. "Holy shit" he said in an awed voice.

"So your one of them" he gaped. I didn't really like the emphasis on the word "them".

"What do you mean 'one of them'?" I asked not really sure I wanted to hear the answer.

"Your one of the bird kids! The second most successful DNA recombinant life forms! You're like a superhero! You're the only hope we have!" he cried and then murmured to himself "The only hope I have."

"Huh. Now why are you here?" I asked him. In about five seconds he had cat ears on top of his head, a long tail and when he smiled at me I saw that his canine teeth had elongated and looked lethal.

"Whoa!" I exclaimed,

"Oh, you haven't seen anything yet." Ariek said as he held up his hand and instantly where his fingernails were there were claws. "Retractable claws." He said smiling with his teeth flashing.

Chapter 5

Get away from me, you monsters!I thought. I was lying on the tile floor, panting. You think you got it bad, try sprinting for 40 minutes, without stopping. I was sweaty, totally exhausted, and hadn't had decent food in about 42 hours. Best time to have people take blood samples, right?

Once I saw the Whitecoat come near me with a syringe I bolted up as fast as my tired limbs would go. I was a bit disoriented by standing up too fast and the bright lights. So it wasn't to long when two Whitecoats had me pinned to the ground. I struggled vainly but I knew that it was no use.

"This is isn't right! You think it's for the greater good but really you're just destroying the lives of children!" I screamed at them, wanting them to know how wrong their experiments were. But as usual no one seemed to hear me. I felt the sharp sting of the needle going into my arm. Blood test number 18, I thought bitterly. Once they finished I was pulled to my feet and pushed to my cage. Once secured in the metal bars of my cage I fell into a fitful sleep.

I… have… to. escape... I thought desperately. I was running through a maze that was made out of big tall hedges. I was just turning in different directions, not having a clue where I was going. I was being whipped across the face by branches that came out of nowhere, but I ran on. Left, left, right just when I thought I was free, I ran into a dead end.

"NO! NO!" I screamed as I pounded my fists against the wall. There was only one way out and that was the way I came, but that exit was now blocked by a ginormous Eraser. My heart jumped to my throat

"Ari." I breathed. Ari smiled evilly and with three steps covered the distance between us, his arm outstretched towards my throat…

"Charlotte! Wake up!"

"Whazhappin?" I said thickly.

I looked up to see Ariek with a look of apprehension on his face.

"You were mumbling in your sleep and then you started thrashing around and so I woke you up."

"Oh… Sorry, I just had a nightmare, that's all"

"You kept on saying someone's name over and over; I think it started with an A or something"

"Ari?" Just saying the name sent shivers down my spine.

"Uh-huh. That's the one. Who is it?"

But before I could answer I was interrupted by a voice I haven't heard in about 2 years

"Your worst nightmare." There was the real Ari standing a couple feet away.

"Hi love, miss me?" I recovered just a teeny tiny shred of my courage and said,

"No, I can't say that I have, Ari." Ariek's face went white as he grasped that the huge Eraser was Ari. Then Ari walked right up to my cage and leaned in close so that his face was just inches from my own

"I'm just so glad that you're back. We can have lots of fun." His tone was light and conversational, as if we were discussing the weather. I was interrupted, yet again by a voice I dreaded almost as much as Ari's.

"ARI!" the voice roared,

"Just what do you think you're doing? This room is off limits!" the voice's owner then stormed into the room and started dragging Ari out by his collar. Ari's big head was in the way so it was a while till I saw the man's face. It was Jeb Batchelder. He was one of the main guys in the Whitecoat's plot to rule the world or something. He had dark brown hair that had twinges of gray, glasses. I also knew that Max hated him, so I did too.

Once Jeb had semi successfully thrown Ari out of the room he caught sight of me. He basically ran to my cage and asked breathlessly

"Do you know where Max and her flock are?" Yeah, like I'm going to tell you.

"Who? Are you talking about that one tall girl with the, like brownish hair? And all the other people, I forgot what they looked like…"

"Yes, that's the one I'm talking about. Do you know where she went?" he asked through clenched teeth

"How am I supposed to know? She just took off after she had opened the cages and everything."

Ari then chose that moment to jump into the room and yell, "You're lying through your teeth!"

Jeb looked as though he wanted to throttle me. But I squared my jaw and glared at him, silently daring him to ask more. He stood up, turned on his heel and marched out of the room. Ari thought it was his chance to continue our "conversation" but Jeb yelled from down the hall

"Ari! Get out of that room!" but Ari made no move to get out until Jeb yelled again

"NOW!" As Ari was leaving I said sweetly

"Bye-bye!" and waved. He turned and blew me a kiss and stalked out the door.

I let out a long breath; I didn't know I was holding.

"Thank god that's over." "Who was that other guy? The one with the glasses?"

"Jeb Batchelder. Not the nicest person you will meet. He had people try to kill me like seven times." Ariek just stared at me, confused. So I launched into my life story.

As I was getting to the part where I got kidnapped at school, two Whitecoats came in and one was carrying something in his arms. As they drew nearer I saw that it was a child. She had a cascade of dirty blond hair, a ton of freckles…

Ariek knew who it was at once "Karyanna? Kary!" he yelled, but his sister didn't answer. I looked closer and saw that her arms and legs were limp and her head lolled to the side. "What have you done to her? Let her go you-" Ariek called the Whitecoats something I do not wish to repeat. The Whitecoats just ignored him and shoved Karyanna into a cage a few feet away from Ariek's.

Chapter 6

Ariek was a mess, he kept glancing over at his sister, but she never stirred. He also kept punching his cage in anger. He wouldn't stop until I pointed out to him that his knuckles were bloody.

About 15 minutes later Karyanna finally came to. She sat up and rubbed her eyes. Then she took a look around the room. Her little face went from carefree to confused to petrified. She finally caught sight of Ariek and her face flooded with relief

"Ariek, is that you?" she asked in a timid voice.

"Yeah, it's me. Are you okay?" Ariek asked but Karyanna didn't answer, she was too exited

"Ariek! I've missed you sooo much! Wait, where am I?"

"I've missed you too. You're in a terrible place called the School. Now I want you to tell me how you got here." Ariek said with difficulty.

Just as Karyanna was about to start her story, a Whitecoat walked in and knelt by her cage

"Oh, good you're up. You are wanted in Lab 4." Kary's face went white so her freckles stood out even more. He opened the door of the cage and attempted to pull her out. But she resisted with all her might

"No! What the hell are you gonna do to me? I wanna go home!" gone was the timid voice and in its place was a steely one.

I then learned that Karyanna was a biter. She chomped down on one of the Whitecoats hands and refused to let go. Even when he dragged her out of the cage and was shaking his hand around in an attempt to get her off. While the Whitecoat was dancing around, Karyanna slipped her hand into the inside pocket of his lab coat. I didn't see what it was when she pulled her hand out, but whatever it was she put it in her pocket. She released the Whitecoats hand, which he promptly used to slap her across the face. Kary fell to the ground and curled up into a little ball, with her hand pressed to her face.

Ariek was livid; he kept ramming himself against the bars of his cage, in hopes of getting out. He also yelled, really, really loudly "You asshole! Never touch my sister again!" Then just to make matters worse, none other than Jeb Batchelder walked in.

He looked at the Whitecoat who was standing there like an idiot then to Karyanna who was still curled up on the ground then to Ariek who stopped yelling but was very red in the face and then back to the Whitecoat.

"Scott, what happened?" Jeb demanded. Scott just then seemed to be very interested with his shoes and mumbled

"Well, um it bit me, so I um, er…" Jeb then lost his very short amount of patience with the babbling man.

"You didn't hit it, did you? Scott! You could've damaged it!" Jeb yelled at the Whitecoat.

During this conversation Kary sat up and looked almost as furious as her brother.

"Excuse me! Did you just call me an 'it'?" Jeb was taken aback and didn't answer, which suited Karyanna fine. She stood up and faced Jeb,

"If you can't tell, I am a girl! A girl who doesn't like being called an 'it'! You think you're so special that you can just walk all over people. Wanna know what I think? I think you're a washed up loser who takes pleasure in keeping CHILDREN locked up in freakin crates!" Jeb was surprised at first and then turned angry "Now you see here-" but his speech was cut of by Karyanna

"I wasn't done! Don't you have a test tube to polish or something! Go get a life!" and then she spat in his face

"Oh and by the way 'Scott' just ran out. So I'm going to give you 5 seconds to get your ass out of this room NOW!" when Jeb didn't move Karyanna pulled herself up to her full height and stepped forward a bit, even though she was a couple heads shorter than Jeb she was still frightening.

Jeb backed away slowly and then once he was out of the room he sprinted down the hallway. I let out a low whistle

"You're pretty scary, you know that right?" Kary just laughed and said with a shrug

"I learned it from him." And jerked her head towards Ariek. I turned to look at him

"Wow." Ariek just smiled sheepishly.

"Speaking of things I learned from my brother." Kary said while digging her hand in her pocket and pulled out a key ring with about 2-dozen keys on it.

"You taught a thirteen year old how to pick-pocket?" I asked him in disbelief

"Well first of all I didn't exactly teach it to her and second she isn't your average thirteen year old." Ariek said defensively. "When you've finished," Kary interrupted "We need to think of a plan."

"Well Charlotte and I are kinda stuck in these cages."

"Yes, thank you Captain Obvious. Anyways do you know which key it is?"

"Here, let me see." Kary pushed the key ring through the bars of my cage and I started searching through them.

"This one." I said holding out a plain silver key that had a piece of duct tape on it.

"Are you sure?" Kary asked.

"Well it says 'cages' on it so I'm 99.9 percent sure it will work." Kary looked at the key and sure enough on the piece of duct tape was the word "cages" on it in an untidy scrawl.

"Wow. That was easy."

Chapter 7

"Ok, everyone know the plan?" Ariek and Kary groaned and gave me exasperated looks.

"Yes! We went over it like 50 times!" Ariek said sounding extremely annoyed and Kary nodded in agreement.

"Sorry, I just don't want anything to go wrong." I explained, and then something hit me

"Wait! What about the other kids?" We all looked at each other until Kary took matters in her own hands

"Don't just stand there! Start unlocking!"

Five minutes later, almost all the kids were out and Kary was rounding them all up. Then out of nowhere Jeb ran into the room "What... escape… fired..." I looked at Kary and Ariek and they both nodded at me. I snuck up behind Jeb who was still muttering things like a madman. I tapped him on his shoulder and he spun around to have himself be punched in the jaw. I heard a cracking noise, which meant my fist, had done its job. "That's for keeping me in a cage." I growled. Then I kneed him in the stomach and he doubled over

"That's for trying to kill me." I clasped my hands together and brought them down on his back and he fell to the ground.

"And that's from Max, asshole."

Chapter 8

"Go left! No! Your other left!" I yelled. We were running down a deserted corridor, well it was deserted until we heard footsteps behind us.

"Uh oh" Ariek said, "Guys, it looks like we got company."

We stopped and looked wildly around for a place to hide. Kary opened a door to her right and peeked inside

"Quick get in here!" and we all piled into the room. We listened quietly while the footsteps grew louder and louder until they stopped at our door.

"Wait, where'd they go?" asked one voice.

"Uh, maybe they went down this way…" said another. The footsteps started up again but this time growing fainter. And when we couldn't hear them anymore we stepped outside and continued our escape.

15 minutes later we were out of School and into fresh air. There were only a few minor setbacks

1) We were in Death Valley, which is sort of in the middle of freakin nowhere

2) We were a group of mutant children with no place to go

3) It was scorching hot and we had no water or food

4) I had no plan whatsoever

So those weren't exactly "minor", but the answer to one of them hit us right in the face. Literally.

"What the hell?"

"Okay, that's the second time that's happened to me today!" "God, that hurt!" all three of us exclaimed simultaneously. Then a new voice piped up

"Yo mutants! Down here!" we were all looking around for the cause of our discomfort. But once we looked down we saw a very impatient toddler.

"Did you just slap all of us?" Ariek asked in astonishment. "Maybe" the toddler said with a shrug

"But that's not the point. All the other kids were justa wonderin were we was goin?" Ariek and Kary turned to look at me

"Uh, well its kinda funny-" I began but was cut off by the talking baby

"You don't know do you? Well we just gonna leave ya to your thoughts and find someplace safe, Kay?"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Ariek exclaimed

"You're gonna to lead a bunch of mutant children into the middle of Death Valley?"

"What? You gots a better idea?"

"Yes I-" I stopped in mid-sentence, realizing that I did not in fact have a better plan. "Well no. Not really."

"Thought so, well adios!" and with a jaunty little wave, he and the other mutants went off in search of a safe place to go.

"I'm starting to think we need a 'that was easy' button." Kary said.

Half an hour later we were at some skuzzy diner at the edge of a freeway. We sat at in the back, in the most secluded booth we could find.

"So what can I get for y'all?" asked our waitress, who had the most impressive wad of gum I've ever seen.

"Uh, could I get the All American Burger with a side of fries, the Mac 'n' cheese, a bowl of the Chicken Noodle soup, and two glasses of lemonade please?" I asked avoiding the stares coming from Ariek and Kary.

"You orderin' for the whole group Hun?" the waitress asked. I smiled politely and shook my head. As Kary and Ariek ordered food in normal quantities, all three of them kept shooting strange looks at me. And with one last weird look at me the waitress left.

"So what was all that?" Ariek demanded.

"All what?" I questioned, feigning innocence.

"All that food you ordered! Do you know how we're gonna pay for all that?" Ariek practically yelled.

"Okay! Okay! I burn through calories really super fast, so I need to eat a lot of food to keep myself from crashing." Just then the waitress came by with our drinks. I sucked down the ice-cold lemonade in about 2 seconds. I grabbed the other glass, but this time taking smaller sips to make last longer.

"Where do you think we should go after this?" Kary asked. She and Ariek were looking at me, expecting to hear my master plan about how we were gonna take down the School and all that shit.

I quickly glanced around and my eye fell on the TV that was playing a baseball game. It was the Florida Marlins against the San Francisco Giants.

"San Francisco." I said feeling the rightness of it. Ariek nodded in agreement and Kary kept repeating it softly to herself, trying it out for size.

"Ok, All American Burger, the Lasagna, and the Chicken Tenders? The rest of your order is comin' soon Hun."