Chapter 1: Chapter 1

You know where there are these butterflies battering around in your stomach, before something big, something important? You can't sit down, you can't relax, and you're constantly on edge. Well, I had that feeling running through me like electricity, ready to electrocute anything or anyone who gets to close. We were about to break into a place called Arcanim. It's a company that has kept repeating on Itex searches. With more research, we found out it was an Engineering Facility that worked on machines for Biomedicine. Fang and I thought we should take a break from Real-estate and check it out. I was now sitting on a couch at a grisly motel, close to the giant 'bon fire' we had back in Austin. Iggy's been distant since we left Addison behind and Fang has been staring at me steadily for the last hour. I hated it when he does that.

I check my watch and sighed.

"Let's go, I can't take this anymore" I whined. I stood up and sat back down.

"We can't go now, wait till dark" said Fang, relaxed. I glanced at him, his dark eyes watching me patiently like a parent's. I looked outside the grimy window, watching the sun sink slowly.

"Look! The sun's already sinking, by the time we're there-" I started.

"Stop, Max" said Fang, with a steely voice. I glared at him for a moment and then looked away. He was acting more like a parent every day. I missed mom more and more every day, I also missed my step sister but I can't be weak now. I had a family to take care of here, my flock.

When night had finally set, I was ready to shave my head and call it a day. Fang found my nerves humorous and had this smirk on his lips. We had gone on Google Maps (high fives to the people who thought of that) and memorized the route. My built-in GPS was telling me that we were a few metres of route and I titled my wings to get back on it. The butterflies in my stomach eased as I coursed through the sky, the chaos in my head becoming more organized. When I saw the top of a large brick building I knew we had arrived. It was either my sharp instincts or the sign on the front lawn saying Arcanim but something about this building screamed Place of evil doings. The lights weren't on and it seemed quiet. We had no plan, just steely determination and that was enough for me.

"Ready, Flock?" I asked, over the roar of the wind. They all nodded and I titled my wings towards the building. We swooped in, in a triangular formation. Total was still have a rough time flying and glided a little awkwardly towards the building.

"You'd think they'd give a manual with these contraptions" he moaned, glaring at his little wings.

I landed gracefully on the top of the building, waiting for the rest of them to land. Total almost went face first if Angel's careful arms hadn't caught him. I put "Flying 101" on my to-do list for him.

"Okay, there's a window under us, I'll bust through and you follow" I said to them. I held onto the building's edge, feeling my hands burn on the concrete. I swung my feet through the window and the shattering glass fell to the floor. I jumped in and looked around. It was very dark inside the building, the moonlight was the only light available. Quiet thuds followed me and I checked that all of them were inside. Angel placed Total on the ground and Nudge was last to jump in. I turned left in the hall, moving quickly. The building was set out almost like a hospital, large florescent lights above and linoleum white tiles on the floor. I past a few doors with doctors' and presidents' names on them until I found the room I was looking for. My eyes had adjusted to the darkness quickly and I was able to move around more comfortably. The door was white like all the other ones but it was locked. I.T Lab was scrawled on it. I twisted at the handle and tried to push it open with my shoulder.

"Stand back" said Fang. Before he could hurtle his foot at me, I moved out of the way and it smacked the door into two. He went in first and I followed, gingerly. Inside there were several computers on desks, several file cabinets and what seemed a projection set up. My mind moved quickly, figuring out the next step in seconds.

"Nudge, follow me to the computers. Fang, stay watch with Angel and Total. Ig and Gazzy, see if you can watch the movie with the projector" I ordered. I moved quickly to the first computer and turned it on. A little blue window popped up, with a password.

"Nudge" I said.

"On it" she mumbled, placing her hand on the keyboard. She closed her eyes and I could see her brows furrow in the blue light of the screen.

"Try edmund2892" she said, her eyes certain. I typed it in quickly and the computer logged me in. We had little time if the building had a silent alarm and those damn scientists will have us soon if we didn't hurry. I could see a little flicker in the corner of my eye and I looked up to see Gazzy watching a movie on the projection screen. I left him to make sense of it and turned back to the computer screen.

I clicked on the little icon that had File Information under it. Another password window popped up.

"Why are people so secretive lately" I muttered sarcastically.

"I hear footsteps" said Iggy, a frazzled look on his face. My head shot up.

"How many?" I asked.

"I don't know, their kind of muffled. About seven" he said. That's when Fang burst through the door, with Angel and Total following.

"We gotta' go, Angel just saw people outside" he said.

"Nudge, hurry" I said, hastily. She placed her hand on the keyboard. She typed something than erased it then typed something again and erased that too.

"I can't, there are too many numbers" she muttered.

"You have to" I groaned.

"They're getting closer!" Iggy hissed through clenched teeth. Nudge closed her eyes again and typed in something else. She pressed enter. The window read and loaded the page. We both breathed out long relieved sighs. My eyes scrolled down the page until something caught them. N.O 157564089_Experiement Aviation it said. I double clicked on it and it popped up. I read over it and saw my name, Fang's and Gazzy's on it.

"Nudge, go to Cabinet 3, letter A and look for Aviation!" I said, reading it from the top of the page and pushing her toward the cabinets. She opened it, flipped through a few and pulled out a white folder. She handed it to me and I tucked it under my arm.

"Let's go!" I shouted, running for the door. Gazzy left the movie playing and followed.

"Their gaining!" shouted Iggy. "They must've heard us!"

"Let's split up! Fang, take Nudge and Gazzy downstairs and keep them distracted. I'll take Iggy and Angel up!" I shouted. He nodded and turned around. Total leapt into Angel's arms and now we were running through the halls looking for the broken window. When I found it, I helped Angel and Iggy out until they were in the air. I heard footsteps getting closer and wondered if they were the rest of the Flock's. I saw a few men running towards me and decided that they weren't. I was about to stand and fight until I saw the pistols in their hands. I ran up the stairs as quickly as I could, hearing bullets shooting past me. When I got to the top floor, my legs were starting to burn. There was a door leading outside on the roof. I pushed it open and went through. I had the folder under my arm and was ready to run and leap off the side of the building until I heard someone's voice being cleared. I turned around and sitting on the vent of the roof was a dark shadow.

"Hello there, nice night for a fly isn't it?" said a bell-like voice, a girl's voice. The shadow jumped from the vent and moved closer. Now I could see her face and it was surprisingly beautiful.

"Is there a chance of me seeing that little folder of yours?" she said with a smile. I hugged the folder, closer to my body.

"Who are you?" I asked her. My heart was beating hard but I kept my tone light.

"It's a secret" she said, with a cunning smile. She held out her hand in the moonlight. Her skin was pale, her hair almost black and her eyes were a sharp olive green. She watched me intently as I backed away.

"No, no. Don't do that! I might come after you" she said with a wink.

"I doubt that" I said, unfurling my wings. She looked at my wings for a moment, the expression on her face not wavering. Suddenly I felt something hard landing in the middle of my stomach. The air rushed out of me and I collapsed. There was this awful pain burning on my stomach. I looked up at the girl who was still standing where she used to be. She walked over, casually and picked up the folder. She was wearing only black and her dark hair was long.

"How'd you do that?!" I hissed at her.

"It's a secret" she said again. I got to my knees, grabbing onto my stomach when it ached. I looked at her again and that's when I saw the two long shiny black wings jutting from her back. My eyes widened. I couldn't get a question out.

"Seeya' around, Max" she said with a smile.