A/N- I'm writing this off the top of my head so… when anyone reviews, pass along some ideas 4 me pleaz!!! (Angel is 8. Gazzy is… I think he's ten. Nudge is twelve. Iggy, Fang and Max are 16)

DISCLAIMER: No. I don't own the MR series. I will not make a big deal like everyone else. See?!!!!

??? POV

I watched the flock of bird kids sit around a small fire. One of them was cooking something. The oldest, I think, a girl, was sitting next to a little girl who was hugging a bear to her chest. Another girl was rambling her head off. Another boy, the oldest of the three boys I think yelled out, "Nudge! Shut-up!" They all burst out laughing.

A different boy was leaning over the fire, holding a small flaming stick in hand. The older girl knocked it out of his grasp and into the flames. "Gazzy," she scolded. "We don't need to start a forest fire over here!"

I turned away and delved deeper into the woods. How I longed to be them. They had wings too. All six of them. I spread my wings to their 12 and a half foot span. They were silver, with little specks of gold on the feathers. They'd never accept me. Ever. My wings are too different from theirs. Way too different. Theirs looks like real bird wings. I just look like a misplaced angel.

A. Misplaced. Angel.

Max POV

"Gazzy!" I cried. "We don't need to start a forest fire here!" He stared at the twig that was now smoldering in the fire. "Jeez,"

Nudge stared up at me from her place on the ground. Even Iggy had looked up from the food he was cooking. "You alright Max?" Iggy asked. "You seem a little… uptight lately."

"I am," I snapped. Even Fang let a little emotion of surprise crawl through his mask. I sighed. "I'm sorry guys. I'm gonna go fly a bit. Might take away some of the… tension." Egh. Tension my butt. It was more like a thousand bricks on my shoulders.

Max, maybe you should tell them about your new power.

Ugh. The last thing I need. My voice trying to convince me to tell the Flock about it. No. no. and no!

I took off into the air and flew around a little, ignoring the fact that I could go super-speed if I really wanted to. And then I felt something brush my wing. I looked up to see Fang. Jeez! Did he always have to follow me?! "What," I mumbled.

"Max, what's the matter?" he asked curiously.

"Nothing Fang. I'm just a little nervous. Erasers seem to be… less now. It's scaring me." God! I thought. How on Earth do I end up telling him everything anyway?!

Fang smiled a little; just the edge of his lips turning up though. His perfect lips… NO! "It's not only that Max. I know you better than you think." And then he flew off. What the…?

??? POV

I woke up again in the morning. Someone was near. I could hear their feet crunching in the leaves. On instinct I leapt up into the highest branch of a tree. Perfect timing. The entire flock was walking underneath me.

"I could've sworn I heard something around hear last night," one of the boys mumbled. He was the one that was cooking last night.

"Are you sure?" the older girl asked.

Suddenly, the youngest girl froze. "Max," she whimpered. Oh no, I thought. Please don't find me. Please don't find me. Please… "I'm hearing someone else's thoughts. I think they know we're looking for them." Her voice sounded afraid.

And then the boy, the oldest of the three, who had told one of the girls to shut up last night; his head snapped up to where I was hiding. Or trying to. "Come down," he commanded. I froze in fear. "Come. Down." He repeated. His voice was hostile. The whole flock was staring up at me, they looked ready to fight. Slowly, I dropped down and landed on my feet. I looked at them, my whole body wracked with shivers of fear.

"Who are you?" the oldest girl asked. I didn't reply. I couldn't. It seemed as if someone had taken my tongue and ripped it out. "Are you an Eraser?" she prodded.

I flinched back against the tree. "No!" I cried. They looked surprised. "I… I can't stand those things. They… they took my family away. Or me away from my family. No." I continued saying no, over and over again.

The older boy finally shouted, "Shush!" I froze, cringing. "We're not going to hurt you. So as long as you tell us about yourself." I thought about his bargain.

I looked down, tracing patterns in the dirt with my tattered sneaker. "I'm one of you," I mumbled.

"Show us."

I looked back up, nervous. "You'll never accept me." I accused. Nobody would accept me. I thought painfully.

"Try us!" the younger girl cried. It was obvious now that she could read minds. I looked to each of them now, spreading my wings to their fullest wing span. They all gasped.

"I told you," I whispered. "I'll go now. I'll never tell anyone about you. I just saw you guys flying and thought you were like me but…" I trailed off. I was rambling.

The one girl who was babbling the night before finally piped up. "Ohmigosh! Your wings are so cool! They're like angels! They're so pretty! Can I touch them? I bet they're really smooth!"

"Nudge!" the other girl cried. "Be quiet." Nudge shut her mouth. "You thought we were like you and…?" she prompted me to finish my sentence.

"And I thought I could be part of your family. But I'll just make it worse. I'm sorry. I'll… I'll go now. I'm hungry and I need to get some new—I'll just leave," I began to turn when the boy who was cooking grabbed my arm.

"Don't." he said. "We'll feed you. And we'll talk. You can explain everything then." Everyone stared at him acute shock. I stared at them all, thankfulness washing over me.

Max POV

When we found that girl, I was instantly nervous. Eraser? Maybe not. She was literally shaking with fear. Her eyes darted to each of us. I wanted to cry out in joy when she didn't swoon over Fang. But her wings, oohhh her wings. If I found out Fang liked her I would tear him to shreds. And then her.

The girl was so nervous she wouldn't even tell us her name. When I mentioned Erasers she just kept saying no and shaking her head. And then Iggy, sensing where she stood, grabbed her arm. He offered her to eat breakfast with us. I guess it wasn't what I expected from Iggy. It wasn't what any of us expected.

When we were finally all seated around the little fire pit Gazzy had made Fang spoke up. "So uh—you gonna tell us about yourself?" he asked. The girl looked up from the eggs we had bought and scrambled. She looked as though they were the greatest thing she'd ever eaten.

And then Nudge began to talk again. "I'm Nudge. This is Angel. She's only six. And that's Gazzy, short for Gasman if ya don't get it… that's Iggy. He's blind but he's a really good cook and really good at fighting Erasers," The girl flinched when Nudge said Erasers. "That's Fang. He's always super dupers quiet so don't expect much out of him. And that's Max. She's like our mom- person. She leads the Flock. She's a really…"

"Nudge!" I finally yelped. "I think she gets it." I muttered. Nudge shut her mouth with some difficulty.

"Should I start my story?" she asked quietly. The almost-muteness of her voice startled me. We all nodded.

"Alright. My name is Kayti Ashton. I was four when I was taken away from my family by Erasers…" she shuddered before continuing. "They gave me a whole lot of tests and injected something into me. It's called the School, if I'm right. By the time I was five I had a pair of full- grown wings on my back. The… the Erasers beat me. They hurt me to test my strength. I didn't dare show any resistance when they strapped me down for monthly tests. Electrical shocks hurt. Everything was really uneventful from then. They had this maze I had to run through. If I stopped for a mere two seconds, I'd get zapped. It tested my speed and reflexes.

When I was seven I got kidnapped again, but this time it wasn't anyone wearing a horrid white coat. They told me that there were others. Others like me. I asked, 'with wings like mine?' Of course not. It was a joke to ask that. They said no, but with wings. That I had to find them. And protect them.

After I turned eight those people began to train me. But they were more merciful than the white-coat-wearers at The School. I raced the fastest person on campus; I flew as fast as I could with a speedometer on me. When I turned ten, they turned me onto the world. I began to get Erasers all over me. They'd been searching for me.

I fought every one of them that came my way. Ever since the first Erasers I'd found, I knew I had to find the others like me. I was tired of being a freak of nature… alone. I searched every corner of the state. Everywhere I went. But no bird kids. And then… the night that I had found you guys. I had given up.

I'd concluded that I'd been lied to. But then I saw you all flying, so I decided to follow. I thought it would be rude of me to step in and say, 'hey I'm one of you. Let's be friends!' So I just followed you. I was going to introduce myself when I wasn't scared anymore… but this little one, Angel heard my thoughts and you guys found me."

We all stared at her in shock. Holy crap. Talk about life storyIggy was staring at Kayti. Or where he thought she was sitting. "Wow… so—are you okay now? Did you get attacked again?" he asked.

Kayti shook her head, but remembering that he was blind; she spoke. "No. I still have a few cuts and bruises but I'm fine." She paused. "Not to be rude but… can I have the rest of the scrambled eggs? I haven't had a real meal in 4 years."

Gazzy's jaw dropped. "Did you like—Dumpster Dive?" he breathed.

Kayti gave him a weak smile. "Sort of. But I could only eat in certain places. Most of the time when I took off, I had an almost empty stomach." She explained.

Nudge began to talk again. "Ohmigosh! I could never live without eating that long. I get really, really mad and cranky when I get hungry. Sometimes I get even more annoying and…" she stopped talking after I gave her a look.

"We're looking for Angel's parents. We got taken away from them too." I began to explain. (Quick A/N- I forgot where Angel's parents are so bear with me! I'm going to say somewhere in Virginia, Kay?) "We're gonna fly south, somewhere in Virginia and look for them there. If… If the Flock is okay with it… you can come too?" I offered.

It was quiet before Iggy said, "I'm in for it. And don't take this offensively, but you sound like you could do with a little bit more food."

"I'm in." Gazzy said too. "You seem like a cool… mutant freak to me!"

"Me too!" Angel squeaked. "I like her!"

"Yeah! She could totally be part of our flock and fly with us everywhere and kick Eraser butt and eat ice cream and help Max save the world!"

"Yeah," Fang muttered, putting his fist on top of everyone else's.

I glanced around, smiling. "You're in," I grinning, placing her fist on top of everyone else's too. She did our stack. She was part of the Flock now.

Fang's POV

We were flying south again, away from New Jersey, where we had found Kayti. The girl was quiet. Really quiet. I could barely hear her flying! That was even scarier than me! If I was quiet, then this girl was practically mute! I could feel Max's jealousy rolling off her in waves. But I could tell she felt bad for this girl. That was probably the only reason I accepted her into the flock. She was like a stick with wings. And silver- blue eyes. Weird.

Kayti swooped around occasionally, enjoying herself. Her hair was like a silver blonde color. It was kept in a tidy bun, a few wisps slipping out and whipping behind her.

Total was unnaturally quiet in my arms today. He had fallen asleep really fast last night. I wonder if Angel picked up anything wrong with him. Hm…

Max flew up next to me. "So are you really okay with her being in the flock now?" she whispered over the wind. I nodded. "Her wings are weird, huh?"

"Yeah. Kind of cool but… different." Max did not want me to like this girl and personally, I didn't. I liked her because I had to. She needed a family. That's us. She needed to find someone to protect. That's us. She needed to be the protector. Of us.

Yeesh…