"Awwwwww! Why do we always run into this guy?" Tyler groaned.

    "What are you two doing in a candy shop?" I accused.

    Lucy blushed, James coughed and took a step away from her. "Uh, um, that's not important."

    Will clenched his fist. "What have you done with Genevieve?"

    James recovered and smirked. "That's what we're here to negotiate."

    He made a sound that resembled growling. "I said, what have you with her!"

    He charged at the older man looking ready to kill. I leaped forward to grab his shoulders, holding him back from disembering Worthington.

    He smiled coldly, only inches away from Will's face.

    "Touch me and she dies."

    He stopped, breathing hard and his face was flushed. I would've been scared if he were facing me with that look on his face.

    "Now listen to my offer, or she dies." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a large photograph.

    It showed four kids, one was Genny, with her blonde hair cut short, no longer going past her shoulders, and a determined look on her face. The other three I didn't recognize. But there was a tall, dark skinned girl with jet black frizzy hair and wide scared eyes. The third was a skinny boy with short blonde hair and a annoyed scowl.

    The last one made my breath catch in my throat. It was a small girl, she looked only eight years old. She had dark chesnuty auburn hair, and eyes that seemed to be staring right at me. I don't know why she called my attention so boldly, she just did. It made my hands shake.

    "Each one of you hold a connection to our hostages. Our offer is simple, turn yourselves in, and we let them go." Worthington suggested.

    "Your promises are empty." Tyler hissed.

    I glanced at him warily, he had his finger balled into tight fists. He looked like he was trying in vain to control the monster inside of him.

    "Then we'll experiment on each one until they are no more than mindless animals." Was it just my imagination, or did he look unsure of himself?

    I looked to Will. He appeared to be deeply concentrating. Of course! Something must be going on inside of Worthington's head right now.

    "Well, you're not lying." He said dryly. "Why do you want just us?"

    James smiled again. "It's mostly just him."

    To my horror he pointed straight at me. I paled considerably, hoping beyond life I stayed visible.

    "Why him?" Will continued, eyeing me suspiciously.

    Worthington looked confused, them he let out a small laugh. "You mean you honestly don't know?"

    "What is he talking about Justin?" Will interrogated.

    "I..." I stuttered. "I don't.."

    "Oh this is perfect!" Worthing laughed. "I'll just let you figure it out, and reshape the deal."

    "If you willingly give him up, I will let all four hostages go." He offered.

    "Give a few days to think." Will snarled.

    "Very well then, meet me on the roof of your father's building at six o'clock, five days from now." James and Lucy turned and left.

    Will didn't catch it, but Lucy mouthed 'I'm sorry' at his turned back.

    Instead of questioning me, Will sighed and leaned against one of the walls, rubbing his forehead. Tyler was crouched on the ground, a few feet away, with clenched, white, sweating fist and gritted teeth.

    "Are you okay?" Will asked him.

    He nodded. "Just give me a few minutes, it's hard to control."

    Then Will turned to me.

    "Can I trust you?" He questioned.

    "Yes!" I answered instantly.

    "Can you trust me?"

    I wanted wanted to say yes. But as I opened my mouth to answer my tongue turned to sandpaper.

    "I... don't know."

    "So this secret you're keeping is really that bad?" He raised an eyebrow.

    I bit my tongue. "It's complicated."

    Will took a deep breath, then let it out. "Fine."

    "What? You're not wondering if I'm a traitor? You don't want to turn me in to the Lab? Even for Genny?" I questioned, stunned.

    Will expression darkened. "I won't betray my friends, giving you up would hurt you, her, your uncle, and me."

    "But if you really wanted to know, couldn't you just read my mind?" I gaped, taken aback.

    Will smiled a bit. "That's the thing, I can't read your mind. Your thoughts are about as loud as a fish's breath."

    "Nice analogy." Commented Tyler from the ground.

    "Thanks, I figure we should probably head back early and help your uncle with the loads of sunscreen he needs to buy."

    I stood gaping as they started too walk off. Will couldn't read my mind? Well that makes me feel a ton better.

    "Did you guys recognize anyone in the photograph? I mean, Worthington said there was someone each one of us cared about. I didn't recognize anyone beside the blonde girl, her name is Genevieve right?" Tyler asked suddenly.

    Will tripped suddenly, nearly falling flat on his face. He coughed and righted himself. "Um, yes, she was taken just a few days ago."

    "What about the others?" He continued.

    "Uh, well, the tall dark haired girl is... Gratuity, um, Santos, I met her before I met you guys. Otherwise I don't know anyone else." He said nervously, eyeing Tyler.

    "So why did Worthington say there was a person for each of us? Not to mention there's three of us and four of them."

    Will blanched, stuttering over some words I couldn't hear. "Uh, about that, Gratuity is actually-"

    He was cut off suddenly as a man's loud voice shouted suddenly, making my ears ring.

    "There you three are! I've been looking all over for you!" My uncle had his arms full of plastic bags and was rushing over trying to look inconspicuous with all the loot he carried. Which was hard because it looked like he had just bankrupted the stores sun screen department.

    "I just bought all the sun screen on this block, which I think is enough to hold us for a few days. You three had wandered off and I wasn't sure where you went, plus none of you have phones, so I thought the best way to handle this situation was to hunt on foot." He said, smiling rather proudly.

    "Why didn't you drop off the bags first?" Tyler inquired, raising an eyebrow.

    Richard Wales blushed in the fierce sun. "Uh, I've lost track of where I parked the car..."

    I snorted. "Don't worry I know where it is."

    He put his hands on his hips, as much as possible with all the stuff he was carrying. "Well, thank goodness for my nephew here."

*

*

*

    The trip home was mostly spent in silence, with the occasional crunch of Tyler picking out which candy he would eat first. We had silently agreed to leave my uncle out of this. He had enough stress trying to run a school with just over a hundred kids. I didn't think we needed his help much anyway. The day passed slowly until later that night, my uncle had insisted we all try to keep the same dorms to ensure things stayed generally the same as they had been back at the original school. Well, normal except there were only two beds left in the rooms the three of us were forced to share.

    "There's only two beds?" Tyler gasped.

    "I call top bunk." Will announced before springing up and nearly hitting me with one of his wings. The room was smaller and could definitely not hold his wingspan. I took one glance at Tyler, who stared at me for a moment of hard defiance the we both lauched ourselves at the remaining small cot.

    "It's mine!" Tyler cried, trying to push me off as an epic battle started to take place.

    He held down my arms while flapping his dark wings in my face. I panicked, I wouldn't say I did it on purpose, but before I knew it my skin disappearing before his eyes. He swore colorfully and started waving his hands around in the air. I knew my invisibility would only last while I was completely still. If I moved I would become visible again.

    I grunted and shoved Tyler off the bed. He made a surprised yelp and tumbled to the floor.

    "You are a mutant!" He mumbled, dazed.

    I opened my mouth to reply, but seeing there was no excuse handy, I shut it again.

    "It's okay Justin, if you really don't want to tell us, no pressure." Tyler shrugged. "Besides, you won the bed fair and square, and I've slept on worse places than the floor."

    I sat there dumbstruck by his raw honesty for a few seconds. No cheeky reply or smack on the head, just, 'it's okay Justin'.

    I shook it off, if they knew they would judge me. A small painful twinge from my back reminded me of that.

    "I'll be right back," I announced darkly, before rising from my spoils of war and exiting the room.

    I found a bathroom easily enough. I made quick work unwrapping the bandages around my torso. There was a swish, and my huge wings fell to the floor.

    Standing, the tops of wing wings could reach my ankles folded downwards. When I stretched them out, they didn't rise above my shoulders, instead they went outwards, longer than my arms could reach.

    I had tried flying before, back when I was younger, seven or eight. my wings didn't flap, they buzzed. It took a lot of energy to stay aloft and I usually felt fatigued and starving after thirty minutes. Which was better then being half hummingbird, who needed to have liquid sugar every eight minutes or else they would start to shut down.

    Should I turn myself n for Genny's sake? What if she was the person I was supposed to care about? I would've thought she had been Will's hostage, ever since he admitted he had developed a small crush on her. Ever since I heard him stutter and stumble of this other girl's name, Gratuity, I wasn't sure.

    There was a sudden knock at  the door and it made me jump.

    "I'll be out in a minute!" I shouted angrily.

    I would keep me secret for a bit longer.