Summary- Only 6 bird-kids in existence? Think again. What if there was another? Meet Storm. A story packed with secrets, betrayal and (for the first time ever) 7 bird kids! Watch out flock, there is a new bird in town... Please R&R soon!!

Chapter 1- Arrival

I began my day pushing through the bustling human traffic of New York. All the noises were hurting my sensitive ears. I plugged my noise cancelling headphones in. Beautiful silence. I passed hundreds of beautiful stores. Each window was modelling a different shoe, handbag or exquisite dress. And was I interested? Nope, nope and (surprisingly) nope. Well, I s'pose I can't complain, since I am walking through one of the commercial districts on Earth. I sighed and kept on walking.

I always felt awkward, being on the ground. I wriggled my wings, hidden beneath my jacket. 'Soon' I whispered. I not looking where I was going, I accidently bumped into a bunch of six kids. The tallest was blond, and looked blind, though I couldn't properly tell. Standing next to him was this black-haired (emo?) kid and next to him, an aggressive looking blonde. Playing behind them, were three other kids who couldn't possibly be older than 12. Weird. Even weirder, they all wore big jackets over themselves, even in the middle of summer. Just like me.

I casually swung my long black hair over my shoulder and walked away. Weirdos. I quickly brushed the thought aside and began to ponder over my real mission. Who am I?

Who am I? Good question. What am I? No clue. Why am I here? Instinct.

My name is Storm (well, at least I called myself that after, y'know...). I think that I'm 14. Possible 13 or 15- who knows? All the memories I have of my 'previous life' were waking up in the middle of a storm, totally drenched, on the ground with my wings out and open (ouch). Well, I assume the sound I made before then would have been 'SPLAT!' (But going on...). I am here because in 4 days, there is a board meeting of people (mad scientists actually) who could have some answers to my problems (Specifically- WHO THE HECK AM I?).

I walked, silently, into a deserted alleyway and took off my jacket. Suddenly, my black and silver wings unfurled to bask in the golden sunlight. It was so beautiful! I dropped my jacket and continued to stand there. Heaven, or so I thought.

I bent my knees and jumped which sent me into the sky (or maybe higher up the alleyway) and hovered. Oh yeah. Finally, this is so fantasti-. A dark shape hurled itself near me, or to be more specific, at me! It grabbed me around the neck and we both began to plummet. My mind screamed at me- splat, splat, splat! I struggled and at the last moment succeeded to shake the creature off. I watched it hit the ground. Splat. I slowly cruised downwards, surveying the bloody scene. I noted the wolf-like appearance and the sharp teeth. Eraser. I was sure of it. But why?

Everyone knows (well, at least me) that all eraser models were wiped months ago. Especially these ones. Wingless? Give me a break. What were they doing, least of all here! I bent down and felt his/her bloody chest. I jumped at least 7 feet in the air. Its heart was beating! I flew down and began to pace. The eraser groaned and an eyelid flickered. It's alive! A quick broken neck can fix all that, I thought. Crack, crack. All done! The Eraser was still again. I picked up my jacket, lying only a few metres away and wiped the blood off my hands. Now on with my mission.

As day turned to dusk, I was still wandering the streets of New York City. Almost time. Time for what? You'll see. I always remained faithful to my little 'bird navigation system' (BNS) which always pointed me in the right direction. Left, right, left, left, what? A police barricade! You've got to be kidding me! 'Crime scene', the banner read. Some kid probably got mauled by an Eraser. Not my problem. I walked away and chuckled. I walked into another dark alleyway (checked for erasers first) and, you guessed it, took off my jacket. It was time.

I jumped and began rise. I unfurled my wings to their full span. The silver streaks shone in the moonlight. I rose again and began to fly high over the houses, buildings, skyscrapers! It is truly great to cruise the skies of New York. Beautiful sight- how it must suck to be human! But what is that strange whirring noise? Crap. Bugger. Dammit. Police 'copters. Dozens and dozens. Why me? I dodged the weaving searchlights and found myself a nice tall hotel to spend the night. Remember; I don't sleep in the hotel- I sleep on the roof (hence the 'tall' part of the description). I slept, still pondering over the un-dead eraser and the six kids...

I awoke to no noise. Where was the noise? Cars, trucks, trains, people. And I thought I was not a morning person! I slowly lifted my body from the rooftop. I quickly checked for any injury (or a rope around my hands and legs). I only felt the bruising around my neck. Ouch. I suddenly remembered the startling events of yesterday. Un-dead erasers and the like. I gazed over New York. The morning fog still hadn't lifted, meaning I could only see above the fog, which I was. No cars, trucks or... Helicopters! I took my chances, immediately leaping off the roof, unfurling my wings in mid-plummet. So peaceful, even for me. 'East' my 'BNS' told me. I turned around and began to fly.

Since I had a little time on my hands, I decided to take a detour to my destination, in 'uptown' New York. As I cruised in and out of clouds I saw six winged figures on the horizon. What!? More Erasers? Flying ones? I decided it was best to follow the Erasers until they disappeared. As I flew closer, my superior hawk-eye vision gave me a different view of the erasers. They looked like... humans. Flying Humans? Maybe they were flying erasers, whose wings stayed on all the time- yeah that sounded alright. Flying eraser-humans...

Back on the ground, I sat in the deserted alleyway where I first met the un-dead Eraser. I tried gathering my thoughts. Similarities and differences began streaming through my mind. Six kids, six erasers, six kids, six erasers, six kids...

Stop it! I had to keep myself together. I needed to go for a walk. I heard the sound of wings. Six pairs of wings. I ran and hid behind the dustbin beside me. I could surprise them if I needed to. Then break their necks. Instead I heard the voice of a little girl. 'Maaaaaax!' she whined. 'I'm hungry!' 'Sweetie, we'll eat soon, just wait,' another kid replied, possibly called Max. There was another little girl voice, piercing the eerie whining. 'I'm hungry too. I wanna hotdog!' Behind those voices, were about 3 boy voices mumbling something along the lines of hungry, hotdog and eating a pepperoni pizza. I snuck a look around the dustbin. The six kids! My heart raced frantically. I looked again. Wings? They had wings? Six kids, six erasers, six kids, six erasers, six kids. That was it! Not six erasers- six winged kids! Just like me. People like... me.

I walked from behind the dustbin, jacket on. To their shocked, open mouthed faces I said 'Hi, I'm Storm'.