The week after the blood testing proved quiet and pleasant in Drywater's old research compound. The armed guard at the front desk, who everyone called "the chief," allowed Soleil and the other children to roam through the grass beyond the laboratory. This gave them a great deal of space, and playing in the grass helped keep the animals' anxiety at bay. The only drawback came from the armed guards who stalked the perimeter fence; they always stared with the greatest of suspicion.

Soleil wasn't so much into playing. After exploring the unrestricted areas of the facility, she spent much time lying in the grass and staring to the sky. She'd wonder what was happening to her mother, her father, Minnie, and the other animals. It was frustrating to have no idea how any of them were doing. Even worse, there wasn't any way to check up on them; hardly anyone visited or wrote letters to Clive or the guards. Soleil began to think they'd all be stuck there forever, cut off from civilization and forgotten.

On the sixth day, Soleil was lying by the tower when the chief appeared over her. His face was dark and serious.

"Someone's going to be here in a few minutes. They're bringing another one of those furry friends of yours," he said.

"Oh yeah?" Soleil muttered.

"They say this one's been a little dangerous. You'll have to go back upstairs while we deal with it. Just for your safety, you know."

Soleil gazed back toward the sky and wondered if "furry friend" meant the big monstrous creature that captured her from Sanctuary. That thing was strong and frightening; she'd definitely hide if they were bringing it to the compound.

Clive led the children across the hall, where the other half of the top floor housed a doctor's office. They passed through a dusty old waiting room into a small operating room. The facility was cold, dark and neglected like an ancient ruin. Unclean tools laid about the counter, and there was a thick stain of blood on the operating table. The faint odor of blood lingered, which disturbed the animals.

Soleil and Joscelin sat together on the chairs against the wall. Clive laid a cloth over the operating table and had the four animals sit over it. He then searched through a cabinet for tools and materials. A feeling of dread and unease filled the air. Whether it was the suffocating musty smell or the upcoming operation, Soleil could hardly blame them for feeling this way.

"Here we go," Clive said some minutes later. He pulled out four empty syringes, bandages and a pair of scissors.

"I need to shave some of the fur off to get the blood," he explained. He took to Donald first, trying to bunch up and cut at the fur just below the boy's shoulder.

"Why do you need our blood anyway?" Donald asked, wincing as the fur fell off his arm and drifted to the table.

"Preliminary testing. We're supposed to wait until you're older, but the people I work for are too impatient."

"But what are they going to get from our blood, and why are they so interested in us at all?"

Clive's stoic face fell into a frown. "It's the reason you were hidden in that Italian farm. They did explain why they put you there, didn't they?"

In facing an indefinite amount of free time, Soleil walked along the bookshelf lining the laboratory, hoping to find an interesting read. She tried random selections from the shelf. They were all reference guides and encyclopedic information about biology, all beyond the technical comprehension of a nine year old. It was a shame to have so many books that she couldn't even understand. Nevertheless, the laboratory compelled her to explore. She just had to find the right place to begin.

A dusty brown notebook jutted out from the bookshelf halfway across the back wall. Soleil felt drawn to it even from a distance. When she reached up and pulled the notebook down, a torrent of dust flew everywhere. She waved the storm away with the flimsy book and browsed through several random pages. It was a journal, and this poorly handwritten entry caught her eye:

We are making good progress. I could hardly believe it when we confirmed our ability to manipulate the deoxyribonucleic acid. The difficult years examining it paid off. It's only in theory so far, maybe we're being a little too hopeful, but we're now working to create a process for modifying an existing being's physical properties. It's still a mystery, but we're getting there. For now, we're going to conduct our genetic manipulation tests on fetuses before birth. Allowing the modified experiments to grow from birth seems to be the safest way, but we'll have to wait until after puberty to run the appropriate research. I wonder if we'll still be here after a decade. Not everyone thinks so.

The author signed this entry with an illegible scribble and marked the date as March 1903--about twelve years ago. Something about the entry seemed strange and unreal, as if she were reading a fiction novel rather than a real person's journal. However, thinking back to Sanctuary and the unusual inhabitants it once held, concepts like "modifying an existing being's physical properties" no longer seemed so far-fetched as usual.

Minnie and the others are the ones they've been waiting for all these years. I wonder why they're doing this. Why make humans into animals? Soleil thought.

There was a heavy thumping noise from close behind. Soleil spun around to look. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary in the room--until she heard a timid young girl's voice. "W--Who's out there? What do you want from us?"

A Ford car rolled through a dirt path outside the city of Rouen. The sky was clear and luscious green hills spread in all directions. The sun worked hard to scorch the landscape with heat, but the wind flowing around the car kept its two inhabitants cool. The road itself was the real problem. It was unsuited for such a fast vehicle; the bumps on the ground tossed the car around like a wild horse. Soleil held on tight as the car bounced her around the leather seat in the back. She feared the car would send her flying at any moment.

"Sorry 'bought the road," the middle-aged driver said as he secured the top hat against his round head. "Keep tellin' em they need to pave it. Car's gonna fall apart one of these days."

Soleil hadn't said a word in response to the man before, and this time wasn't any different. It wasn't that she found him to be disagreeable, but he was bringing her into enemy territory. There was no trusting anyone now, even those who acted as harmless as this man.

They soon reached a more stable stretch of road and the car's travel smoothed. Soleil relaxed her grip from the edge of the car and folded her arms, staring down to the dirt-infested floor. Whenever the driver turned to inspect her, she tried her best to stiffen up and pretend she wasn't afraid. When he wasn't looking, she shivered a little and wished they hadn't taken her mother elsewhere.

The fire that consumed Sanctuary Mansion exhaled horrid black clouds of smoke into the air. What was once a sky filled with bright stars was now a putrid ashen darkness. The blaze of fire lit everything in the valley with an unsettling flicker of orange and yellow shades. Angelé's life was falling apart before her very eyes. First a monstrous animal attacked her--which she only barely subdued--and now some military spontaneously arrived to set her home on fire. There was still hope that she could get at least one thing accomplished tonight. She absolutely had to find Soleil at all costs.

Minnie had given some directions to Soleil's hiding place, but there wasn't anyone there. Angelé called out for the girl, but received no response. Only then did she barely catch a glimpse of footsteps on the ground. She knelt down to take a closer look; there were quite a few sets, and they all joined at one point. The trail led northward along the inner edge of the forest. The military camps were in that direction. Angelé tried her hardest not to think of the more pessimistic possibilities these footprints represented. She hoped that her failure as a mother hadn't led Soleil straight into the military's hands--or worse.

Following the trail, Angelé happened upon a string of the military's shabby green tents. There were no lights around; only the distant fire lit the camp.

"Soleil?" she called out several times. There was no answer.

Angelé stepped to the first of the tents and pressed her head through the half-closed flap. The tent was entirely empty. She inspected the other tents to the same result.

Angele folded her arms tight and shuddered. If Soleil wasn't here, there weren't many possibilities about where she could be. The soldiers might have dragged the girl out with them. Angelé was not much of a religious person, yet she prayed now more than ever that Soleil was anywhere other than with the soldiers out there.

I can't risk walking right into a military squad to get her. If they're in league with Drywater, that would be suicide, Angelé thought.

Donald's escape plan came to its conclusion when he approached a set of large bushes.

"This is it," Donald said. "You've got to hide in here."

There was a small hole. Soleil pushed her way inside to inspect the innards. The bush was hollow inside and it was too dark to see anything that might hide inside. Feeling around, it seemed far too small to hide anyone beyond the age of five. Was he expecting her to fit in such a terribly uncomfortable little space? She turned to Donald and raised an eyebrow.

"Maybe it'll be better if I just run into town or something," she said.

"You can't," Donald said, and frowning to the sound of shouting in the distance. "I checked things out before I came to get you. That human army's got patrols all around the forest. They'll catch you leaving the valley."

Soleil watched the bush again and still couldn't imagine wedging herself in there and hiding for hours. Thinking of the bugs possibly occupying the bush didn't help matters. Yet if Donald was right, there was no choice--she'd have to deal with it. Then she suddenly realized a problem with all of this. If she hid in the bush, Donald wouldn't have a place to hide.

"If I go in here, where are you gonna hide?" she asked.

The sound of boots stepping on nearby brush and a young man's voice calling out surprised them. Soleil and Donald spun around to see a group of four soldiers armed with rifles. Their spherical moonlit helmets and thick uniforms of blues and greens were distinctly German. They were approaching with their eyes fixed on Donald. They seemed excessively cautious and uncertain--as if they expected the dog to spring on them at any moment. Soleil on the other hand stuck very close to Donald, unsure of what the soldiers would do.

I dreamed that I saw a notice on deviantart message center that claimed I had "1 eff." Upon investigating this, I discovered that a user had sent a large real life package to all of the people on a certain person's friends list. It seemed that it was a package of exquisite wines, and a thank you message. A moment later, another "eff" arrived from the same user. I opened this second one first. Inside I found various clothing items for a costume, as well as an object that resembled an ice cream cone topped with a heavy clump of oreo cookies.

I took the oreo-thing to a nearby party where I began eating it. While I was working on that, a celebration was going on. A religious man was preaching that it was against God to eat such things as the oreo ice cream. Despite this, I continued to eat it and eventually finished the snack. After this, someone set a large plate of broccoli on the table. I ate that quickly and left the party.

I returned to the packages in my house. This time I opened the first one with the wine. I was severely dismayed to see that there was no wine at all. Instead, I found a bunch of Barbie-like dolls. They were wearing a miniature version of the costume I received from the second package. I considered putting the costume on, but this never happened.