Just a random little plot line that popped into my head and wouldn't get out. It contains many, many crossovers, from obscure and not so obscure books (sorry Twilight fans, I haven't read it …yet). It starts out as the flock playing beach volleyball and then spins out of control. It will be very long, even broken into chapters. I think I will introduce one or two sets of characters per chapter.

Planned Characters

The Flock (umm…duh)

Kel and Neal from Lady Knight

Beka, Rosto, Kora and Aniki from Terrier (and Pounce.)

Candy, Boa (separate), and Diamanda's ghost from Abarat

Ali, Nawat, Alanna, George and Dove from Tricksters Queen

Zoey and Nala from Marked (vampire book)

Briar, Daja, Tris and Sandry from Circle Opens

Disclaimer: None of the above books are mine.

We were in California. Again. But fortunately, we were in the sunshine state because we wanted to be here, not, say, because some evil genetic laboratory had kidnapped our youngest member of the Flock. Yes, I said evil genetic laboratory, yes I said Flock, no, I am not crazy (I hope.). We were taking a break our traveling to rest, staying in a cave by the waterfront. Today, we had decided to play beach volleyball. I can hear you asking now. Do any of us know how to play volleyball? Well, actually, I had taken a couple of gym classes with JJ back in Virginia, so I knew the general object of the game. I suck at it though.

"Hey Max, it's your serve!" Nudge called.

"You're in for it now!" I teased.

I hit the ball up, and it zoomed straight into the old fishing net we had strung up in place of a proper net.

"Dang," Fang said, his dark eyes amused. "You killed 'em with that one."

I shot him a glare that would have made any sane person run for cover. Fang, however, shrugged, and executed a perfect pass to Angel, who hit the ball over the net, scoring for our team.

I did a small victory dance. "Uh-huh, in your face!" I whooped.

"Max, shut up!" Iggy hissed urgently.

I instantly quieted. "What?" I whispered back

"I heard something."

Listening closely, I realized I did hear something: laughter. Instinctively, we all flew up into the sea caves, still listening intently. I heard a gasp, then, a slap.

"Rosto, you crack-nobbed looby!" A woman's voice shouted.

"What? I thought I was doing a lonely mot a favor." That was presumably Rosto.

"I told you I would hit you the next time you tried something like that! You're just lucky I don't have my baton with me, or you would be getting a nap tap." The angry woman shouted.

Mot? Baton? Nap tap? What the h-e-double toothpicks did that mean?

"Beka, calm down, it's Rosto. We all know how you fancy him." Said another woman.

Their figures were coming into view now. There were four of them, plus a smaller animal, maybe a cat.

"Pox and murrain Kora! You've cracked straight down the middle!" Beka said. Even from a distance, you could tell that she was fervently denying something that was obviously true.

"Then why does it say so in your journal?" The last woman was speaking, a teasing tone in her voice.

"You read my journal!" Beka shouted. "You sarden scummer-nobs! You filthy, thieving, pox-rotted mumpers!"

I didn't know what those terms meant, but I was reasonably sure they weren't affectionate. By now, the strangers were quite close, and we could see them well. The woman who had spoken first, Beka, looked only a bit older than us. The others were adults, but still quite young. They all wore old fashioned clothing, cotton pants and loose, long shirts. The cat was small and black. It looked straight at us, its eyes piercing through the dark of the cave. I noticed its eyes: they were an unnerving shade of purple.

"Holy shit." I breathed. I nudged Fang. He nodded. He had noticed too.

"Wait," the man, Rosto presumably, put an arm out. "I heard something."

Stupid, stupid, stupid! I berated myself silently. I signaled the flock to stay very quiet and not move. I felt them responding, fading deeper into the shadows.

The cat went over to the girl, and seemed to talk to her, but all I heard was cat noises.

The girl, Beka, looked up at the cave, straight at me. "We got company." She announced. She shifted her belt, and I noticed a small sheath tucked into the leather.

"Whoever you are, come down, quiet-like, or we make this messy." She called.

One of the four had her hand on a handle near her belt, attached to…Wait a minute, was that a sword? Holy crap, it was.

"Guys come down, they're not Erasers. We may as well see who they are." I called. I didn't like showing our wings to outsiders, but what choice did we have? I bet that the muscled one with the sword could've scaled the cliff wall. It wasn't very high.

The flock swooped down, and the newcomers gaped at our wings. They murmured under their breaths, and did something on their chests that looked like Christians crossing themselves, but different.

When we landed, the smaller, brown haired woman spoke up. " What are you?" she asked, her face displaying both fear and awe. "Are you Gifted? Or maybe some mages pet?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about." I said, "But we're genetic recombinants."

When all four looked blank, I went on. "You know, DNA experiments. Freaks."

They still looked a bit clueless. "You're experiments?" the armed woman said.

I rolled my eyes. "I'm Max, that's Fang, the red head is Iggy, that's Nudge, that one is Angel, and that's the Gasman. The dog is Total."

That seemed to wake them up. Beka started. "I'm Beka Cooper, the white-haired looby over there is Rosto, that's Kora and that's Aniki. My cat is called Pounce."

Rosto scowled at her. "My hair is blond, not white. Blond."

Pounce introduced himself to Total, who gave the cat a doggy glare. Then he jumped.

"Oh my God! That cat - eyes! Purple! Now that's just not natural."

"And you're one to talk about unnatural." I said, rolling my eyes at the dog.

Rosto, Aniki and Kora looked as though their eyes were going to pop out of their heads.

"The dog- Great Mithros, the dog talks!" exclaimed Rosto.

"Yes, the dog talks." Beka and I said that at the exact same time. We smiled.

"You sound unsurprised." I said.

"I've known a few talking animals in my time." She said, shrugging.

"Can I pet your kitty?" Angel asked. Beka nodded. I don't know what it was about he strangers, but they made me feel comfortable, like I had already known them for all my life. That was really weird, because that adorable paranoia of mine almost never leaves me alone.

"So, now that we're here, just where is here?" Aniki asked. "I mean, this place is hardly Corus, which we were until someone decided to try a little magicking." She glared at Kora, who shrugged.

"I don't know what went wrong. It was a simple seeing spell." She said.

"Wait. Spells?" Fang asked. "You mean, like magic?" He sounded very dubious.

"Of course. What, you've never heard of a mage before?" Said Kora.

"Umm… I think you'd better explain who you are, where you're from before we go any farther." I said.

"We'd better sit, this might take a while." Beka said. Once we were all seated, she began. "We come from a realm named Tortall, in the capital city of Corus…"

Ok, this is the randomest crossover ever. Actually no, that Iggy/Harry Potter one is, but this one is close! Please stay tuned for the next batch of characters, hopefully from the list! Trickster's Queen next. I wonder how Beka will react to seeing her descendants! This should be interesting…

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