Free, for now

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Chapter 1

The face was familiar, the fair hair, the pale skin. In all of them she wore the same expression; cold, determined, as if she knew what she wanted and would achieve it at all costs. I knew what she wanted, too, but I would never allow the Director to find my family.

Pain lanced through my head, from temple to temple and a faint voice echoed through my mind.

'She must be stopped.' That one sentence replayed on repeat, over and over again, steadily growing in volume as the pain also increased.

It was becoming unbearable and I opened my mouth to scream.

I sat up in bed, sweat dripping from my forehead even though we were deep in the midst of winter.

I sighed, partly in relief that the dream was over and partly in frustration. That wasn't the first time I had had that dream, in fact, it had become a nightly occurrence over the past few months. To tell the truth, it was really starting to piss me off; sleep was supposed to be peaceful and serene, not full of images of evil women that apparently must be stopped.

Tossing the dark blue bed covers aside, I swung my feet over and onto the floor, wincing as they came into contact with the cold wood. I pulled the socks I had been wearing the night before back onto my feet and silently padded down the hallway.

Unsurprisingly, Fang was already awake, fully clothed, of course, and looking as if he had been awake for hours. He was sitting on one of the kitchen stools and looked up at my approach, skimming his eyes over my pyjamas before raising an eyebrow.

I gave him the finger and ignored the resulting smirk, grabbing a glass out of one of the kitchen cupboards and filling it up at the sink. I didn't know who was paying the bills and, to tell the truth, I didn't really care; as long as everything kept working, it was all good by me.

I was still unnerved by the dream, though; I didn't want to be reminded of my time spent at the School and I really didn't want to be reminded of my so-called mother.

It had been around a year and a half since our miraculous escape and it seemed that I was still having a hard time forgetting the past. Either that or my subconscious wasn't letting me forget.

The sun hadn't quite risen yet and I stared out at the dark landscape through the window that we were all too lazy to wash. It was the second winter we had spent away from the School and yet every morning I was still surprised to wake up and be able to see outside. To be able to see the snow. The others had adapted to freedom easily, only I seemed unable to let things go. Fang had relaxed somewhat, but was still wary sometimes, still unwilling to trust. His conversational skills hadn't really improved that much either.

I sighed and turned away from the winter wonderland outside, slowly drinking my water and placing the glass in the sink.

Fang was still there, leaning casually against the pale wall that contrasted starkly with his dark clothing and hair. He was still watching me but now his gaze was curious, almost frustrated.

I turned back to the kitchen, opened a cupboard and pulled out a loaf of bread. "You want toast?"

"Not if you're cooking."

I turned to face him, eyes narrowing. "Very funny." At this point, I was considering belting him with the bread but decided it wouldn't be worth the possibility that the loaf might get squashed.

We had found out pretty soon after moving in that I wasn't a good cook. Okay, that was an understatement; I was a terrible cook, usually I just stayed away from the kitchen. This morning, however, Iggy, who had taken on the role of head chef, wasn't up yet which was why I was offering to make Fang breakfast. An offer that I was now beginning to regret as a smirk spread across his face.

The canned food we had found in the house hadn't lasted long, so now, whenever we needed more supplies, we stole stuff from the holiday cabins that were spread out across the mountains. We made sure not to target any particular cabin and always left them in the same condition we found them in, minus the food and other stuff we took, of course. We had some morals, or at least I tried to pretend so for the kids' sake.

I put the bread on the countertop, deciding that maybe I wasn't actually that hungry. Fang was watching my movements with the same slightly frustrated look he had on his face before, he had been doing this a lot lately, increasingly so.

"I'm going for a walk." I told him and walked out of the kitchen.

On my way out, I met Iggy. His reddish gold hair was sticking up every which way and he, too, was still wearing his pyjamas. He was fifteen now and freakishly tall, even for one of us.

"Hey, Max," I really didn't know how he could tell us apart, I mean, how did he know someone was there at all? I thought I was pretty quiet walker, stealthy even, not quite as stealthy as Fang, but you get the idea.

"Not having breakfast?" He continued.

"Ah, no, I'm not hungry."

He narrowed his sightless eyes at me but not meanly, more as if he was trying to figure something out, figure me out. "You've changed." He blurted out.

My eyebrows rose in surprise. "We've all changed, Ig; we were apart for a long time." God, I hope this wasn't something to do with the dreams.

"No, recently; the past few months." Crap, he was onto me.

"Changed how?" I asked, trying to act like I didn't know what he was talking about.

"You just seem different somehow; quieter," He paused, searching for the right word. "Preoccupied, or something. Don't try and deny it either, Fang's noticed, too."

I guess that would explain the weird looks that he's been giving me but I wasn't about to let on that I knew something was affecting me.

"Huh, I hadn't really noticed I was acting any different." I was lying through my teeth and Iggy obviously knew it, his pale face creasing into a frown.

He opened his mouth, probably to accuse me of something else but I interrupted him. "Sorry, Ig, I've gotta go; want to go for a walk before the sun's fully up." With that, I walked away.

I walked out onto one of the balconies that overlooked the canyon and spread my tawny wings. Sure, I had told Fang and Iggy that I was going for a walk but that was only because flying was banned during the hours that the sun didn't shine. It had been a group decision; flying at night was dangerous; visibility was reduced and many evil things could creep up on you using the shadow of night as a cover. However, I enjoyed doing it and frequently broke the rule, secretly of course. Flying in darkness was just, I don't know, exhilarating or something.

I stepped up on to the railing and jumped off, letting the wind catch my wings and propel me forwards and upwards. Pumping my wings, I flew away from the house, being careful not to fly in front of any windows where I might be spotted by a certain dark-haired bird kid.

It was cold out and I was already regretting not changing into some more appropriate flight wear.

The moon was still up, making the smooth, untouched snow gleam eerily and causing the needles on the nearby pine trees to shine silver. I had mostly come out here to relax, to try and forget the dreams, the past, basically everything. Out here, high up in the sky, I actually felt free, unburdened, I guess you could say.

My breath was puffs of white against the dark sky and I shivered as a breeze blew through my thin cotton pyjamas.

I sighed in regret; it was probably time to head back anyway. I had been out here for quite and while and the younger ones were probably beginning to wake up. Not to mention that Fang would freak if he found out I was flying around out here. Breaking one of the rules I had helped to create.

The trip back to the house was uneventful, as always, though a bit longer than I was expecting, I must have flown further than I thought. The only mishap was when I tried to land on the balcony railing; I had forgotten, somehow, that it was winter and that there would be snow and ice on the wooden rail. So, of course it was slippery, and of course I slipped and fell painfully, and loudly, to the wooden decking of the balcony.

Profanities of all forms and sizes spewed forth from my mouth and into the pristine, mountain air, only halting when I noticed Fang watching me from the doorway.

He raised his eyebrows, "What are you doing?" Just his tone made me feel like an idiot, and I don't like feeling like an idiot.

I thought that would have been obvious, Fang, I'm lying in a pile of extremely cold slush on the balcony floor whilst in much pain, was what I thought. My actual answer, however, was a little more polite.

"I fell off the railing." I told him, slowly climbing to feet and trying to ignore the bruise that I could already feel forming on my hip.

He looked sceptical. "Why were you on the railing?"

"Um," I bit my tongue. "I was testing my balance." Great excuse, Max, very ingenious.

"Couldn't you have changed out of your pyjamas first?" Why must he always notice these things? "Besides, I thought you said you were going for a walk."

Cursing, mentally this time, I replied. "Yeah, I did, then I came back and wanted to test my balance."

I could tell he didn't believe me and I think somehow he knew I had gone flying but he just nodded and told me to change clothes before I came to breakfast. After that, he walked away.

I looked down at my pyjamas, they were pretty wet, but what concerned me more was the fact that they had gone see through.

I swore again as I realised Fang must have noticed. I had stood there talking to him whilst he could plainly see my underwear.

Today was just not my day.

A/N: So, I actually managed to get this written a lot faster than I expected, which surprises me.

Anyway, my English teacher says I make my sentences too long so I have tried to fix that. I know not much happened but it's sort of an introductory chapter.

Please review and tell me what you think. Is it better or worse than What if? Is everyone in character? Did my line break work? If not, does anyone know how to get line breaks?