The next day, Hank taught me how to do a running takeoff, so I spent the rest of the day pretending to be an airplane. That was fun. Day after that we went over virtical and running takeoffs, and flew through the air. Today, Hank and my mom are getting into his motorized hang glider and are gonna fly beside me.

Hank hands my mom a headset that protects her ears and allows communication between the both of them since the air will be really noisy. Yesterday mom went to a nearby hardware store and got me some goggles to help protect my eyes. I don my goggles and stand near the glider while Mom and Hank buckle in.

"Ready?" Hank asks. I give him a thumbs up and take my shoes off. It'll be easier for me to go faster without them on, now that my feet are more like bird talons.

He starts it up and I run after them. When they're going too fast, I flap my wings and pull up my feet so I'm following parallel to the ground and about a foot away from it. I flap harder as they rise up until they stop going higher. I open my wings and keep them open, cruising on the thermals.

"THIS IS AMAZING!" I yell and watch the world shrink. I flap my wings a few times to stay above it before continuing to cruise. I've never been this high before, and I love it!

I can feel eyes on me and I look over to my mom. She watches me astonished. I pump my fists and put my arms back to my sides. We fly for a while, until Hank gets low on gas and we turn back around and land back at the cabin.

"Well done my boy!" He pats me on the back. "You're doing fantastic!"

"I was like an eagle! It was awesome!" I pump my fists into the sky. I can't believe that I've only been here a few days, and I'm already cruising thermals like a pro!

"Your mom asked me to teach you how to maneuver quickly, sharp turns and all that incase you need to escape a bad situation. For the rest of the day, we're gonna plan out an obstacle course through the trees and mountains. That should help you dodge buildings and cars when you start out flying low." Hank explains.

"That's a good idea." I nod. Hank pulls out a bunch of little flags and colored tape. We start it infront of the house, down the pathway going between the flags, over the river and through the woods, then loop back around to grandma's house we go! Just kidding, but not really. After that, we wave goodbye to Hank and start heading back inside.

My toe-claws click against the wood floors. Mom and I sit on the couch and turn on the TV. She switches it to the news. It's all nonsense, but then it switches to... mutant attacks in NYC? Looks like there was some sort of explosion from mutants. I lean on mom and she holds me close.

"It'll be okay kiddo." She runs my head. "I'll make sure nothing happens to you. I promise. You... you'll be safe." We sit there in silence and watch everything as it goes down. I hope everyone is okay, and I hope that I never get into a situation like that.

After a while, I get up and tell mom that I'm gonna start on the obstacle course. She wishes me luck and makes me promise to take it slow, so I promise and go outside. I start off at the bottom of the front steps, then dash as far as I can to the first tape line. I launch myself 3 feet into the air and fly through the poles, over the river, dodge trees and turn around, fly back over the river, dodge more trees and land back at the cabin.

I do the course again. I keep in mind that I may have to use my wings to save someone one day, so I kept doing the course. When I got tired of that, I looked up parkour excercises and did those with my wings in the harness. It probably doesn't help that I can dig my talons into walls and such, so I put on shoes and leather gloves I found lying around to make it harder.

Mom's watching me closely. I don't know if she knows what's going through my head. She probably does. I keep doing the jumping excercises and try to climb straight, tall trees wearing leather gloves. Not an easy task.

Mom called me to dinner and I came. We're having spaghetti tonight. I scooped myself a plate and sat down at the table with her.

"I'm glad you like it here so far. I think it's been really good for you." Mom smiles. I grin back.

"Yeah, I think so too. Pretty sure the last couple weeks of school I was going a little stir-crazy." I laugh a bit. "Hank is gonna be surprised to see that I've been practicing. Though I do still run into trees and stuff. Picked out a couple splinters from my forehead earlier."

Mom makes a grimace, but nods. "Glad you're okay. Being out here all summer will toughen you up, maybe calm you down. You know, think about what you're doing before you punch someone."

"Maybe. Still won't keep me out of trouble though. The principal is out to get me." I take a bite. "He probably thinks I'm a mutant. He's not wrong, but I'm a kid. He doesn't have to be blatantly obvious that he's species-ist."

"I know kiddo, but remember, you're moving to the Junior High this year. He won't be your principal anymore."

Well, she's right.