I wake up to the sound of birds chirping and the gentle swaying of my hammock. Plus the sun's in my eyes. I get up and stretch. Today I start learning how to fly. I get up and walk into my room, then up the stairs. Mom is making eggs and bacon.

"Morning ma." I yawn.

"Morning kiddo. Keep an eye on those eggs for me, will you?" She asks. I nod and scratch at the pot with the wooden spoon, making sure they don't burn. When they finish, I turn off the burner and move the eggs over to a different one. Mom finishes up with the bacon and puts it on paper towels to soak up the grease.

I grab paper plates and put the eggs on them. While they cool down, we wait for the bacon to not be as greasy. Then we put the bacon on the plates and sit down at the table. My wings touch the ground in a relaxed position as I eat.

"How'd you sleep?" Mom asked.

"Fantastically, like a baby. You?"

"I slept well too, thanks for asking." Mom replied. "The man that'll teach you to fly is going to come in about thirty minutes. You ready?"

"Heck yeah!" I say excitedly and shovel my food as fast as I can. I decide to wait outside for the guy, so I sit on the front steps to the porch with my wings folded against my back. I hear the car before I see it, and in droves a blue pick-up truck with some sort of motorized hang glider in a trailer and a four-wheeler in the bed.

It parks, and the man exits the truck.

He has graying hair and blue eyes. He's pretty tall too. He looks around and spots me. I get up and walk over to him.

"I'm Hank, you must be Ace, right?" He says and shakes my hand.

"Yes sir." I grin, "pleasure to meet you."

"That's some grip you got there son, some killer claws too." He laughs. I hear mom come outside.

"Hey Hank." She waves.

"Morning Lisa." He waves back, then looks at me. "Let's see what we're working with, eh?"

"Alright." I nod and back up. Then I turn around and extend my wings.

"Wow..." he trails off. "Never seen anything like this before." He sounds amazed. He inspects my feathers and my wing shape. "Looks like these babies are built for maneuverability and distance. Almost eagle and seagull-shaped. Means you can fly higher, flap less, and dodge and change directions quickly.

"That will definitely come in handy one day." I laugh. Hank laughs too.

"Maybe. So, let's start working on your flight skills, yeah? Let's move away from the cars a bit." He says and we walk towards the river. We get a ways away from the house before we start. "Alright, so I take it you know atleast how to flap those things, right?"

"Yes sir." I nod. I've been watching videos of birds flying and hopping around in the backyard, trying to get some air. "I've made it three feet off the ground once."

He nods, "good. Great place to start. Let's see what you've got."

I nod and ready myself. I raise my wings in the air and jump while flapping down as hard as I can. I keep flapping to hover unsteadily for about twenty seconds before I drop. "That's what I've gotten so far."

"Do it again. Bend your back farther forward so you're not trying to propel yourself backwards. Birds fly with their wings parallel to the ground, you should too." He explains. I nod and try it again, bending forward more. I jump and flap down hard.

It's a lot more comfortable to fly like this now, definitely an improvement. I stay in the air longer before dropping down.

Hank claps, "much better!" Now try going as high as you're comfortable with. Don't worry, your wings will catch you." He says. I nod and take off again. I climb higher than three feet, almost hitting six, then I stay there. Hank watches from the ground. "You're doing great! Try flying in different directions!"

I lean forward a bit and find myself flying forward. Same with backwards. I laugh a bit and fly higher- only by like, six inches. "This is awesome!"

"Try landing!" Hank calls. I carefully try to lower myself to the ground, only to fall three feet before catching myself. I inch my way down after that, then stop flapping my wings after I get about three inches off the ground. I stumble back to catch myself and my wings spread out to keep me balanced. "You did pretty good for your first time kiddo! Let's try that again."

I practiced for hours flying and landing. I think I've gotten good at vertical takeoffs. Hank finally left and I went inside for lunch. Mom had out the makings for PBnJ, so I grabbed them and loaded up a sandwich.

"You're doing fantastic kiddo! I'm so proud of you." Mom hugged me.

"Thanks ma." I hugged her back, my sandwich still on the counter.

"Come sit with me in the livingroom. There's something we need to talk about." Mom says. I grab my sandwich and oblige. I sit perpendicular to mom and look at her.

"What's up?" I ask.

"You know who the Sentinel Services are, right?"

"I've heard of them." I shrug. "Don't know who they are though."

"The Sentinel Services are a government agency that tracks down and monitors mutants." Mom begins. "Those mutants... they're never heard from again. It doesn't matter what they've done. If a mutant sneezes wrong, they'll lock them up for it.

"Wait-"

"I want you to know." Mom continues, "that if Sentinel Services comes to our house, you run. You run as fast as you can and fly as far away from here as you can. There are people who can help hide you, I promise."

I nod silently and hope and pray to God she's right.