Nudge knew that this had been her choice. She was sick and tired of running all the time, of never knowing when her next meal would come or even if it would come, of never knowing if she would even see the sun rise the next morning. She wanted to be normal for a change; she wanted to laugh and play with kids her own age, and finally act like a kid should. Kids shouldn't have to fight to the death every other day; kids should be able to go to the mall, hang out with friends, talk about boys, anything.
Then why did she feel so bad?
She was finally getting what she wanted, but it all felt so wrong, because the flock wasn't there to share it with her. Iggy and Gazzy weren't there to make stupid jokes and blow things up, Max wasn't there to yell at them, Angel wasn't there to make her smile and Fang wasn't there to make sure Max didn't strangle them all. She had made this decision to stay here; she wanted it. She had even made friends! But she knew that she could never be truly normal.
She pushed herself off the window ledge and let herself fall. She snapped out her wings and pushed herself higher and higher, until the school was just a dot below her, even with her raptor vision. She closed her eyes, and found herself smiling in spite of the turmoil still stirring inside of her. Flying always did that for her. She could picture Fang in front of her, flying next to Max and glancing her way whenever she wasn't looking. She could picture Angel holding Total and talking to him even in mid-air. She could picture Gazzy talking to Iggy, even if all he did was nod and pretend to be listening. And for a moment it was as if she was back with them again, flying and talking and laughing.
"You guys, I think-" She opened her eyes, and they were gone. She was alone again, and she fell silent, something she almost never was. She closed her eyes and turned slightly, back towards the school.
She would never be normal, not truly; it was just like Max had said. She was different right down to her DNA, and she couldn't change that, not even if she cut off her wings. She folded in her wings and shot downward, feeling the wind whip her hair around her face. But could she ever really give this up? Give any of it up? She bit her lip and spread her wings out again as the ground rushed up faster, and soon she was back up in the clouds, but she was still alone. She wondered what the others were doing now. Were they safe? Had they found Max's mom yet? She landed lightly on the ground outside of the school, folding her wings in tightly against her back.
A life of running and fighting. It wasn't something she wanted, but her flock was part of it, and they were still doing it now. She thought of her friends here, and knew suddenly. They could be her friends, but they'd never truly understand her. No one but the flock could do that, because they shared what she did. She closed her eyes tightly, wrapping her arms around herself tightly as if to hold herself together.
She opened her eyes and jumped, spreading out her wings once more. She missed Angel's laugh, Max's scowl, Fang's rare smiles, the way Iggy could always seem to make her laugh when she didn't even want to smile, the way the Gasman's eyes lit up when he looked at him. She wanted to see them again.
She pushed herself higher and faster, and she didn't look back at the school. She knew where she was going now, and it was somewhere else.
She was going back to her family.