Chapter One

I'm sure everyone has dreamt about flying. About the feeling of being totally weightless, not restricted by anything. Sure, you can get pretty close on a roller coaster, but you're still held in place. You're still held down.

With flying, you're free.

I close my eyes and feel the ground drop away from beneath my feet. I know, it's a stupid little game we always used to play when we were little, but it's still exhilarating. Falling down backwards, wings tucked tight in, feeling the air whipping around you, gravity at work. Then the swoop up, out of the dive, and you explode it the night sky.

I must say: Having wings is awesome.

I headed back to our Roost, as we call it. My sisters and I live on top of a deserted building, right in the slums of town. I kinda wish it was a cathedral or something in London, but it's not. It's just an old library in Aeros, New York. Nothing too special.

"Braiden, I told you to stop doing that!" Laila shouted at me. She's my elder sister, and acts the part.

I come in for a quick landing, and find my self once again in the dark, safe, confines of our roost. The other two, Sade and Gi, are sleeping next to the heater Laila managed to find.

I hate this place.

It's still a prison. However, it certainly beats our last home. Unlike Max's generation, our wings were grafted on when we were older, leaving very painful memories and scars. They made sure to brainwash us so we wouldn't get away. They also had us guarded as we sat in our pens. Sure, we have super strength and stamina, and also some extra talents that I'll talk about later, but we were sapped of the will to do it.

But then, we were saved. I don't know by who. It may have been Max herself.

I remember the windows breaking. Glass was everywhere. And then, light, and a voice. No one else had heard it, but I did.

"Fly away Braiden."

Suddenly, Laila snaps, hitting me with her wing.

"You don't have to do that every time," I say, rubbing my shoulder where she hit me.

"Yes I do. You don't listen if I don't."

"Well, I guess you're going to tell me to go to bed?"

Laila nods. "Yes, you have to go to bed. I will take first watch."

I sigh. We have to keep watch, just in case some random hobo sees us up here. Not that he'll shout: "OH SNAP! KIDS WITH WINGS!" Because it's kind of dark up here.

I sit down next to Sade, wishing there was some kind of fire to go to sleep to, not just a heater. I remember fires, from when I was very young, still living with my parents. I know I lived with them until I was two. Then I was taken.

I'm sure we went on camping trips, sang songs...

A tear falls down my cheek, but I furiously rub it away. No use in crying over things that are in the past.

We have been out for four years. Laila is 15, I'm fourteen, and Sade and Gi are both 8. You know, I've never thought it was weird that I live with three girls. I'm not the odd one out or anything. Still, sometimes I wonder what it would be like with a winged brother. Someone to teach, or learn from. Be nice if he was older than Laila.

I lay down, wishing I could see the stars. Maybe it would spur a recollection of my father pointing out constellations in the night.

Slowly, I drift off to sleep, my dreams beginning with the deep voice of a man, and changing to the less reverberating voice of a boy. An elder brother...