-Chapter 1-

In Autumn's Grasp

Prologue {September 19}

This was the worst rain all year for this thriving city. For one boy, it couldn't get much worse. He's been separated from his friends- no, his family; he's lost in an unknown territory, yet worst of all, he's blind.

-Iggy's PoV-

I don't know what time it was or even what day. It's not like I could see a clock to help me. Damn my blindness. I knew it was only a matter of time before I became separated from them. Do they even know I'm gone? Who knows how far they've gotten. I told them, I told them we shouldn't fly in that storm, but no one listens to the blind kid. Out of anger, I punched a nearby wall… a nearby stone wall. I could feel the warm blood flow from my knuckles. I don't want to do anything, go anywhere, so I pulled myself onto the wall and just sat there in the pouring down rain with my already soaking clothes. This itself wouldn't be so bad it I hadn't gotten struck by lightning out of the sky. I could barely take the pain. The bolt hit my left wing and hurts too bad to even move.

Softly, there was a twig snap a few feet away. My ears perked up but I remained stationary.

"Are you okay?" a smooth flowing voice asked me.

"Go away."

"Do you need help?" the girl asked again.

"I said, Go away." I grit my teeth.

I felt her hand wrap around my arm. "But it's pouring down rain, you're soaking wet, hurt, and in an alley."

"That doesn't mean anything, nothing matters anymore."

"Don't say that." She clenched tighter, but I tried to pull away. "I won't hurt you. My name's Autumn, I'll take you to my house and you can call someone."

I shied away. "There's no one I can call." Sure, I lied, but I just wanted this girl to get away from me.

I heard her quietly bite her lip. "Well, if you can't call anyone, at least you can warm up at my house. Please?"

"No."

Autumn huffed. "Then I'll bring you by force!" She tugged weakly on my arm.

"Just how old are you?" I questioned, but her strength already tells me that she's about 10.

"14."

I broke out laughing, though it caused my wing to hurt severely. "But you're so weak!"

"Hahaha, now that you're done insulting me, will you please come with me? I can't stand seeing someone in need." Autumn begged.

Why? Why do I feel like I can trust this girl? But, it's either her or a hospital, and I'm definitely not going to a hospital. If I do go with her, I will be able to rest my wound off for a few days. I also may be able to call Max's mom and get some on the flock's whereabouts. Though, there may be a trap involved, yet my instincts are telling me to trust her.

"Okay," I agreed, "I'll come with you."

When we arrived to her house, I already felt warmer. I could hear a fire crackling nearby. Autumn applied a light pressure to my hand.

"Can you hold that towel there? I'm gonna make you some soup." I heard her walk away. Feeling the towel again, I could tell it was green, you know, because of my "feeling colors" ability.

"Wouldn't you're parents be upset about you bringing a random boy home?" I cracked a grin. She laughed.

"There're out of town for two weeks. It's their anniversary~." Autumn sang merrily. "I never caught your name."

Shit, what should I do, what should I do? "It's uh… James…"

"Okay James, can you help prepare dinner?"

I had to resist that urge to say yes, I just had to! I can't let her know I'm capable of much or she could get suspicious. "Uh, I'm blind." I set the towel on the table, my wound already starting to heal.

"I saw, and I feel really bad about that, but you just seemed the cooking type. Sorry, my mistake."

Autumn didn't say a thing after that. I cracked a grin. This is good, for the less attached I get to her, the better it is, for the both of us.

Autumn lead me over to the fireplace and wrapped a red blanket around me. She handed me a bowl of soup. Neither of us said anything.

"Hey… Autumn, what city am I in?" I asked her and took a spoonful of steaming hot soup to my mouth.

"Cincinnati, Ohio."

I'm really far off from New York for the award ceremony in a few weeks. Oh well, it's only a matter of time until the flock returns for me. I guess a few days with this girl wouldn't hurt considering we've been danger free for weeks on end.

"Oh… your jacket… why is it singed?"

"… I got hit by lightning." I remarked sourly back.

"Oh my God, that's terrible!" I heard her leapt off the couch and run to another room to get some medical supplies. A shiver went down my spine.

When she came back and asked me to remove at least the top left portion of my clothes, I urged her not to and that I'd take care of it. It's just too risky at the moment. She finally let me be and handed me extremely large clothes.

Autumn also lead me around the guest bedroom so I didn't trip or get hurt in the middle of the night. She also showed me the layout and organization of the other rooms in the house in case of an emergency.

"Can I see what you look like?" I asked her. I could bet a million bucks that she'd be raising an eyebrow right now.

I, shaking, ran my long fingers through her silky hair. Her hair was a sweet honey auburn that was close to the color of an autumn leaf and was quite long too, maybe middle back length. My fingers then moved down her child-like face. Her skin was somewhat pale, but also was torn up with little scratches. I raised an eyebrow.

I felt her face getting slightly warmer, indicating she was blushing.

"Anyways, g-good night, J-James." She quickly left to her room.

Though there was so much more I wanted to ask her, it's just best to keep a low profile.

"Autumn…?"

Author's Notes: I am a huge Maximum Ride fan, and even more, Iggy's. No one really spotlights him as much as Max and Fang and so on. I know this fist chap. my seem boring, but it'll pick up, first chapters aren't always the best. Please Review! {Thanks for Reading!}