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"Cain?!"

"I'll explain on the way. He's after us."

I shake my head in amazement as he takes off into the air. My wings spread out and fill with air, and I zhoom (shzoom) off after him. After I've caught up with him, he begins to explain what's going on with Michael and the muggers and everything.

"So, he said something about he had an argument with you earlier and you had gone too far? Anyways, he said he wanted us to capture you alive. Something about torturing you and I couldn't follow through with that. After all, you're my friend."

"Soooo....what? We have to lay low for a while? Stay quiet?"

"Probably. Michael has friends in the VirtNet Security and he could have us put up as criminals."

"And his friends won't stop him?"

"Nobody can. Remember, he was a Tangent, and he knows this place better than any of us. He's also a hacker close to the level of Kaine, and a gamer on the level of Gunner."

I make a sound of disgust and spit at the ground, ironically hitting a Tangent who was on the sidewalk below us. "I'm a gamer on his level, and I'm more logical than him."

"You're right," Cain agrees, surprising me. Ordinarily, he'd disagree with me on that. That means that he's in a wierd mood.

"Hey, are you alright?" I ask, concerned.

"I'm fine." Cain grunts as a burst of wind attacks us, then mutters something under his breath.

"What?" I ask.

"Nothing," he says louder. "Something private."

I snort, but don't question him further.

"By the way," he asks, "you have wings. Why didn't you use them when Michael cut your parachute. Now that I think about it, why didn't you use them instead of the parachute?"

"I don't know, maybe because I was trying to keep them a secret?"

"Why?"

"Because they're my biggest weapon, and rarest. Apparently, there's only a one in one million chance to get wings as a wolf."

"Really?" Cain asks, interested.

"No, I over exaggerated. But it's legit rare." I flap them slightly, loving the feeling of the wind through my fur. I decide not to question him further, but a line of pain slices across my right shoulder blade, causing me to cry out in pain as my right wing collapses. "Put shields up!" I yell at Cain as I fall.

I close my eyes and concentrate. Shortly afterwards, lines of code run across my eyelids. They start flying around as I construct an invisibility shield and a protection shield. I open my eyelids and the code fades away. I murmur a few words under my breath and feel the pain in my shoulder fade away. I flare my wings and feel an incredible strain as they fill with air--then a pop as all of the muscles and tendons in them snap. I cry in pain again just before I hit the ground with a meteorite-force impact. A cloud of dust flies up, and I groan. With my energy reserves this low and this many injuries, I won't be able to heal them all, I think. I have to do something, but what can I do?

Then I remember. I pull on the energy of a few of the Tangents near me and murmur the same few words, feeling a blessed relief of the pain. My vision turns black, and a white line flashes through the blackness. I frantically hack the code, typing and trying to hold off and/or repair the damage done by the offensive hacks. Despite my best efforts, the flashes continue to come faster and faster, until my vision is just a completely black screen. Then white letters repeatedly flash against the darkness, spelling out a message:

I'm watching you.

Then:

You know, I've never had a wolf on my team, or a dragon. You'd think with all of those people that I'd convinced of the rightness of my Mortality Doctrine, I'd have at least one of each, right? But no. So I'm particularly interested in you two. Come, join me, and I will make you two of my highest lieutenants.

It was signed with a wierd symbol that looked like a book in a tree. Maybe a doctrine in the tree of life? To represent Tangents inheriting Earthly bodies? I don't know, but it's terrible either way, especially when nobody knows where the conscience of the real life person goes.

The black fades back to color as the VirtNet reappears. I squint and blink, raising my arm to block the light of the sun. Cain enters the image, trying to pull my arm down and saying, "You need to relax. You've broken close to every bone in your body and the paramedics are on their way."

"Screw broken bones and injuries, I'm fine. Help me up and let's go." He backs away a little. "Then I'm just gonna get up on my own."

Cain makes a sound of disgust and holds his hand out. I flap my wings a little to help him out, and all of a sudden, I'm standing. Then I say, "We need to go."

"Why?" Cain asks.

"I have a modified invisibility shield on. Only you can see me so if the paramedics get here and see you talking to your imaginary friend, they'll be pissed." I flap my wings once, anxious to be off.

Cain nods, understanding. "Let's go, then," he says, and shoots off into the air. With a powerful flap of my wings, I follow him.

"So what was that all about?" Cain asks once we reach a comfortable height and speed.

"My avatar was hacked." I can't help but grimace as I reimagine the pain from the past few minutes.

"Who hacked it?" Cain appears to not have gotten the same message.

"Who do you think? There's only two people--maybe three--who are powerful enough to hack an avatar, especially for that length of time."

"Who's the third?" Cain asks. "Just for reference."

"Agent Weber."

"Yeah, not her," Cain says immediately.

"I'm not so sure. You remember how she took Michael, right?"

"The two guards?"

"Yeah," I say. "I wouldn't be surprised if this was her, but I think we can rule her out, yeah."

Cain frowns. "Then was it Michael."

I shake my head, extremely serious. "Not Michael, but I wish to heaven that it was."

Cain's jaw dropped, his mouth open, as he turns his head to face me. "Was it... Kaine?" he asks quietly, and I can tell that he's fervently hoping that it isn't.

I feel my features droop--I don't want to disappoint him. "Yeaaaahhh..." I say, dragging the word out and giving it the same tone of despair that I felt.

Cain simply nods, rearranging his features. "I guess that makes sense. What did he say?"

"That he hasn't had a single wolf or dragon as his henchman, and that if we followed him we'd be his first lieutenants."

"But we aren't Tangents!!" Cain exclaims.

I nod. "I've thought of a different theory. My guess is he's looking for real life people who he can trick into giving their bodies for his Tangents."

Cain shakes his head, disgusted. "Who'd follow a maniac like that?"

"You'd be surprised," I say, acidic and bitter.

Cain stops, surprised. "Who?"

I snarl in disgust. "Everyone in my family. I hope they didn't get this message or they'll be dead or worse in a few hours."

"I'm sure they'd figure out his ploy," Cain says.

"Says you," I say, bitter again. "You don't know exactly how obsessed my family is with Kaine and his dang Mortality Doctrine." My lips curl up. "I'm the only one who sees how morally flippin' wrong that is."

"You sound pretty vehement," Cain notices.

"That's because I am!" I shake my head. "And I have MPD."

"So you knew it was Kaine because the Mortality Doctrine was mentioned?" Cain asks.

"Yeah, he said the only people convinced of it were humans." I snort. "Of course, that's because animals have more ingrained cunning than humans."

"Hold on a sec," Cain says, scouting the ground below us. "Aha!" he mutters. "There it is." He drifts down and lands inside of the forested terrain below us. I follow him and find myself in a beautiful landscape of jungle trees and vines and tropical flowers. On one of the trees in front of us is a ladder extending up into the canopy of leaves. There must be multiple layers, because even though I can't see it from down here, I can't see it from up in the sky either. "This'll be your home sweet home for the next few days."

I look up. "Why couldn't we just fly up to it, if it's a tree house?"

Cain moves very close to me, and I can feel his breath on my ear. It flicks briefly in annoyance, but he whispers, almost too softly to hear: "Because over the years, I've layered it hundreds upon hundreds of lines of code and spells designed to keep it hidden and protected. It's only accessible by climbing up this here ladder. Each time I think of another way someone with mavolent intent could peirce the veil, I design a new line of code to protect it." He backs away and raises his voice. "Hey, I need to go. My family's gonna be worried about me, and I have business to attend to in the Wake. I'll see you later, man."

"See you later," I say, but he's already fizzled out of existence in the Sleep. I sigh and turn to climb up the ladder. As soon as I put my hand on the first rung, I feel a shifting in the world around me, and a voice whispers in my ear: Colton McGaven. Friendly. Allowed in the house. Please climb up the rungs. Bedrooms will be on the right, dining and living rooms on the left, and sports fields and courts straight in front. Please, enjoy your stay!

I decide that it would be better to obey the voice, and began to climb up the rungs. While I climbed, my mind turned to the fact that nearly everyone had someone who loves them and shares their belief. I have many people that are either one or the other, but nobody who's both.

And so, that afternoon, as I clamber up the rope ladder, I make a wish on the sun and stars above:

"I wish I had someone to love me!!"