Hank was pleasantly surprised to find that I'd been practicing, but requested that I save the obstacle course for when I can be monitored by an adult so I don't get seriously hurt. He makes a good point, so I agree. He shows me videos of birds flying to catch prey to understand how they flap their wings to dive. He explains that the exercise should help me make sharper turns.

He instructs me how to do the maneuver by moving my wings the way they're supposed to go. Then he gets out a dog toy and suspends it by a thread. I fly up and dive down the way he told me to. I end up falling on my face and eating dirt more times than I care to mention. Eventually though, I get the dog toy and fly up fast enough to not hit the ground.

Hank and mom clapped for me and I grinned sheepishly.  After a while, we take a break and I preen my feathers. I let little bugs get the stuff I can't reach. After I finish that, I shake out all the little bugs by flying as fast as I can upwards. I glide back down like a vulture and giggle about it to mom.

"You'll have to do it again for me later kiddo." She rubbed my head and turned on the TV. There's a report about how cleanup is going. They're talking to a representative from Sentinel Services.

"I promise," the man started, "that the mutants responsible for the attack will be brought to justice. And all other mutants out there," he looks directly in the camera, "I promise that you will be found, and you will be apprehended." He looks back at the lady. "Mutants are too dangerous to be out and about unregulated. They're a danger to the American population."

I frown angrily at the TV. I'm not dangerous, I'm just a kid! Mom has an arm wrapped around me and is rubbing my arm to get me to calm down. I huff and keep watching.

"There are rumors that there is some sort of 'Mutant Underground'. What are you going to do about them?" The news-lady asks.

"The extremists will be found and brought to justice. I will not allow them to harbor terrorists. They all need to be brought down."

There's a mutant underground?

"If Sentinel Services comes to our house, you find them and fly there as fast as you possibly can. Don't stop for anything, and never look back. You hear me?" Mom looks at me. "I'm human, they can't do anything to me. I'll be fine, you just run away as fast as you can, alright?"

"Yes ma'am." I nod my head. Mom continues to rub my arm as we watch the news. When the program ends, mom and I make a plan.

If Sentinel Services comes to our house, mom will send me the letter 'X'. I then have three minutes to grab a pre-packed backpack, climb out my bedroom window into the backyard, close my bedroom window, and fly five blocks away. When I get there, I send mom the letter 'M' and take out my sim card, then let my phone die and dispose of it. After that, I fly to NYC and look for any mention of the Mutant Underground.

If I find them, or they find me, I go with them and stay there. I'm supposed to never come back to Parker, PA no matter what I do. Just thinking about the plan makes me sick to my stomach, but I know that it's necessary for me to stay away from Sentinel Services.

I went back to practicing with Hank for the next couple of hours, including another fly-around, until he went home. I started doing my parkour excercises. I jump up onto a bench with my feet together that's about waist-high, then jump down. I keep doing that, about thirty to forty-five times. Then I start running for cardio.

I need to be able to regulate my breathing to keep flying for long periods of time- shit I need to exercise my wings for that too. But I already did that today so I'm good. I keep running because, well, what if my wings are injured? Or worse, strapped down and I can't take off whatever is holding them down?

I run until I'm winded, which is about thirty minutes later. I walk back to the cabin with my hands on top of my head to maximize my oxygen intake. When I get back, I find a tree with a sturdy branch parallel to the ground that's a little bit higher than I am tall with my arms outstretched.

I jump up and grab it, then I start doing pull-ups with my hands on both sides of the branch. I do it in ten pull-up intervals. Ten with my hands on the inside, ten with my hands on the outside. I do that until I've pulled thirty on both sides and drop.

By that point, my arms feel like noodles. Let's do my abdominal muscles too because those are important. I get down on the porch and into the plank position. I hold it for about thirty seconds before I drop and stay there. I'll do my legs tomorrow. I reluctantly get up and start stretching to prevent lactic acid from forming in my muscles. It helps.

Then I go to the kitchen, stick my head under the faucet, open my mouth, and- just kidding. I grab a bottle of water from the fridge and do that crazy cool thing where you crush the bottle and drink the water in one gulp.

Definitely gonna feel that later. That was a bad idea.