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All these updates! This goes out to all the lovely people who are reading this, just hope you don't murder me by the end of this one. Anywho, let's get on to the story.

~Jayfeather
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I was not letting go of the blanket. As soon as Justin told me we had arrived, they opened up a huge hatch in the back of the cargo hold, and a gust of cool air blew in. I didn't know where we were, but it was below freezing.

I pushed from behind, the sudden pressure on my back made me jump, I winced and whipped around. Nobody touched me near my wings. But it was just doctor Howard, or Jane, as she had insisted.

"You're jumpy," she remarked.

"S-sorry," I stuttered.

"No matter, come inside, we've got cocoa and air conditioner."

I turned back around to see a cluster of building that closely resembled white blocks, few with windows, in a barren snowy land.

"Wh-where are we?" My teeth chattered.

"That's a good question, I have no idea, they won't tell us," remarked Justin, clutching on to his hat to keep it from being swept away.

The group of us, most with heavy parkas I noticed jealously, tromped on the short walk from the plane to a long tunnel, sheltered from snow and wind, not from the cold. There where huge double doors, made out of metal, just like at the Lab, I shivered. But these seemed strangely welcoming, and the heavily built men pushed them open with a soft creak.

We all filed inside a smaller room, with another set of double wooden doors. All men and women with coats began taking them off, and placing them on convenient hooks. There were so many people in this small, cramped, and slightly damp room. I could feel the icy bite of fear coming back, my hands shook at my sides.

A warm hand graspsed my shoulder, and I twisted around to see Justin giving a concerned look. "Dude, you okay?"

I blushed, embarrassed by my irrationality. "Fine, it's just a small room."

"Well come on, we don't have wait for these knuckle heads to undress, let's go meet my uncle now!"

I smiled gratefully at him. and he pushed open the doors. I noticed with some relief it was much warmer on the inside, and dropped my blanket on a chair as we walked by. No one would notice.

I admired the inside, the walls were made out of old and tarnished wood, with what looked like Victorian style baseboards and trimming. Occasionally one found a rug beneath their feet, the old and faded kind. I liked it, it kind of reminded me of my old house, before I ran away and my normal life ended.

Justin veered left suddenly, I nearly walked right passed him as he ducked into a small room.  I followed hesitantly, not sure what I would meet beyond the door.

It was furnished similarity to the outside. Just a small room, with a bench on wall facing a desk, where an young man was scribbling something on a piece of paper. He looked about forty, with his hair turning gray at the edges. The man looked up as I walked in and smiled at Justin, who plopped himself down on the parallel couch-bench.

"Hello, your name is William right? I trust you've met my nephew Justin." He smiled at me warmly, holding out his hand, I shook it.

"My name is Richard, or Mr. Wales like most of my students call me. Please sit."

As I sat, Justin winked at me and passed me some saltwater  taffy. I took it rather greedily. Richard coughed and I looked up again.

"Now, what can you do? What makes you special?" Mr. Wales looked at me with eager eyes, and I swallowed, preparing to speak.

"Um, I have, wings." I stood up again, and shook them out, but this room was to small to properly expand them. I enjoyed the feeling though.

His eyes widened, and he hastily made another note of his piece of paper. "Anything else?"

I blushed, not particularly liking this conversation. "Well, sometimes I hear peoples thoughts."

He looked up at me immediately. Beside me Justin stiffened, looking like he wanted to ask another question.

"Like, in your head? Did you hear anything on the way over?" He asked, standing up and staring me straight in the eye.

"No, I didn't want to." I held my hands up.

"That's extraordinary! What am I thinking of right now?" Asked Mr. Wales.

I sighed, then closed my eyes and concentrated, easily picking up on the principal's mind. Then with ease I dove in.

Can you hear me? 

"Yes," I replied.

Mr. Wales sat back in his chair with an impressed smile. I sat back down, hoping I wasn't that impressive.

"What am I thinking?" Asked Justin, giving me the weirdest look, like a mixture of anger and fear.

"If it's okay with you, I don't particularly like reading minds." I replied, folding my arms.

He gave me one last suspicious look, then sat back down. What was his problem?

Mr. Wales wrote down one last thing and handed me the paper. "Here is your syllabus, it also has your room number. We do dormitories here so don't be surprised if you end up sharing a room." I opened my mouth but he continued. "Don't worry, all the kids here accept people like you, in bed by nine, and lights out by ten. Justin will show to your room."

He gave a stern look to his nephew. "And no complaining."

Justin shrugged and took my paper. "Why would I-" then he saw my room number.

"No way, you promised!" He complained.

"You need to make more friends, it's so stuffy in there anyway. A roommate will give you company." His uncle explained.

Justin shoved his hands in his pockets, then tugged me out from the room fuming. I guess I was sharing a room with him by the sound of their conversation, though why he was so angry confused me. I was pulled along through a long hallway of doors, stopping at the last one. And the door was thrown open and I was pushed in.

"There make yourself at home." He growled.

The room was huge, and shaped like a triangular prism. The huge steeping walls connecting at the top. There was one bunk bed, and it looked like the one on the bottom had been slept in.

Thank goodness, I wanted the top. And the walls were painted blue, which reminded me of the sky. I loved it. I shook out my wings, noticing there wasn't a ladder to the top bed, and I quick flap brought me to the top.

I ran my hand along the wall, noticing there was some sort of substance stuck to it. Like little pieces of tin foil, but I could peel it off, now that I thought about it, my hand seemed to go through it, I couldn't touch it.

Justin had stormed in and collapsed on his bed. I hung my head over the edge, my hair sticking up like it was staticky.

"What's this stuff on the wall?" I asked.

He stiffened. "Nothing."

I sat back up, hoping to ask him again when he was in a better mood. Then I leaned back onto my pillow, like an actually fluffy pillow, it had been weeks since I had seen one.

Then I plopped my backpack to the side and started to go through it for a snack. Maybe there was still some beef jerky left? I had just found my prize when my hand brushed against a slip of paper.

It was folded, so I pulled at the sides till I was looking a small sheet of paper. There were words written...

Swiped these for you. Only ones I found. Do me a favor and give Tyler his.
                                    Casey

I nearly dropped it. This note was from Casey, before she sacrificed herself. I felt a pang of sorrow looking back on it. And apparently she had swiped something for me...

I dug around in the backpack for a bit, and found more paper that I didn't find there before. My brow furrowed as the words   CLASSIFIED, caught my attention. It was a folder, yellow and filled with paper.

I opened it, and it felt like my heart stopped. They were files for experiments, one in particular caught my eyes. It had the numbers, 2856303 written at the top, below, was the name William Gilligan.

My name.

I flipped through the packet, it had all the information about me, the exact date and time the serum with bird DNA was given to my mother. What type of bird it came from. How high I could fly, even how many calories I could burn in a day. There was a letter that the Lab had sent to my parents convincing them to try the serum, and their reply. The entire background and work hours of the administrator, Lucy Green.

My hand clenched on the paper as I thought back to the witch who tangled me in this nest in the first place. Her look of surprise when I first opened up to her, she had known all along, and she had keeping contact with James. Most of the information in this packet probably came from her.

There was another folder, probably Tyler's by the sound of Casey's note. I opened it up, again, it started with number 143, and then below was his name. And I could believe my eyes.

Tyler Santos.

There was a picture attached, three triplet babies in a crib. It looked just like the one I had found in Alex's room, the one that I stole.

I ruffled through my back pack as fast as I could, and sure enough, it was still there along with the other pictures Alex had just given me. It was  perfect match.

Mrs. Santos had some explaining to do.

The look she had given me the night I was shot, it had been so strange, but now it all made sense. Especially if her third child was missing. I flipped through his packet till I found an acceptance letter similar to mine, only it wasn't addressed to Faith Santos, but Harold Reprimenze. It wasn't asking about serum injection, but acceptance to the Lab.

A small thought pushed it's way up, something Casey had said;

"Poor kid was raised in a freak circus..."

How had he gotten there? Unless...

Mrs. Santos had given him up. And when I arrived, she felt guilty and wanted to take care of me. Now she was regretting it. Looks like there was more to her pretty face than meets the eye.

I would call Alex in the morning, apologize for taking his picture, tell him what I could about his lost brother. If I ever saw Tyler again, I would give him his file. Right now all I wanted was a nap 

I started to feel drowsy, it must be late. I need to slee-