"So Madame dumped you with the Icarus." The Hermes said as he sat down beside me.

"Yes, Chris, she did." I replied with a sigh.

The Hermes had been able to escape his duties for a short time. He looked more than exhausted and I understood why. He was great at his job yet he was forced to play a lowly part that was beneath him. I also preferred Institute business rather than the facade I put on for the public.

"Who is the survivor?" The Hermes asked. "He may be strong enough to be the first Icarus to survive more than a week."

"Tobias Berenson." I answered. "He wasn't a soldier and yet he has done better than most."

"What name did the Institute give him?"

"Daedalus."

"Not the Institute's finest moment."

"They probably thought he wouldn't last long enough for it to matter."

Again I thought that this Hermes and myself could be friends. There were too few people I could hold a proper conversation with and he was always nice to talk to. But I was a Fenrir and he a Hermes. I would have to use him for the good of mankind sooner or later. Much easier to do that if I didn't think of him as a friend. Being attached to people tended to cause problems.

THE BOOK