Hi everyone! I apologize for not putting an A/N in the first chapter. I was in a little bit of a rush, and wanted to finish it before I went to bed. Of course, after that, I stayed up writing this chapter with my book light. So, I guess not having enough time to put an A/N isn't a very good excuse.

Sorry.

Anywhoo, I should probably just get all the formal stuff over with.

Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride. Sadly. I don't anything else in here that, um, I don't own. I'm not sure what I'm gonna mention in here, so if you recognize it, it's probably not mine.

Claimer: I do own all of my OC's. I'm not sure why I put that there, but it felt right. Oh well. Ignore it if you want.

Note: I'm not sure if my line between the A/N and the story will show up. It didn't on my Night World Fanfic. So, everything after this statement and above the footer is the story.

Kiera's POV

I tapped my pencil excitedly on the graffitied desk and waited for the bell to ring. It had been a long day that had gone by pretty quickly.

Did you catch that? That was my attempt at an oxymoron. We learned about them in English class. Y'know, I'm not even sure if that counts as an oxymoron. Oh well. I think it's pretty clever.

But really, it was a long day. It's only the second week of school, so everything's still getting worked out. And I swear, every single year I get with one of the oldest lockers in the school that jam nearly every time you try to open them. At least after two years I've finally perfected the kicking-your-locker-so-hard-it'll-swing-open technique.

I glanced at the clock again, and sighed. There were still three minutes left. My science teacher, Mr. Schmidt, was on his laptop, angrily poking it's screen while his face slowly turned beet red. Poor Mr. Schmidt. Sadly, touch screen computers hadn't really hit the fan yet. Nothing "technologically advanced" had. We were still stuck with the technology of twenty years ago.

Two minutes. Other students were sleeping, spacing off, or reading. Ugh, reading. Now, don't get me wrong, I love books, but I might be more of an avid reader if all the books in the library weren't geared for a younger age group. Seriously, they all have titles like "Race to the Faerie Flower Garden" or "Monster Truck Adventure". See why reading isn't one of my biggest hobbies?

One minute. My pencil tapping sped up, becoming more and more erratic. I exchanged a glance with Anna, and she gave a smile that said that she was just as anxious to be released as I was. We had plans for after school, mostly involving going to her house and playing MarioKart until I had to be home for dinner. Which was like, any time before 10:00. But I would be home before then. Anna's life ran on a normal schedule. But at least I wasn't going straight home. My younger brother, Jayden, had been bugging me for the past couple days. I'd rather avoid him.

My eyes fixed on the clock. 5…4…3…2…1… Freedom! I burst out my seat, grabbed my backpack, and raced out of the door with Anna at my heels. We maneuvered through the crowds, bumping and shoving our way through the mass of people smushed together. We ran out the front door and across the street. After that we slowed down to a normal pace for the four-block walk to Anna's house.

"God, Social Studies was terrible, wasn't it?" Anna said breathlessly.

"Totally. We're STILL," I put emphasis on the word, "learning the junk we learned in fifth grade. Do they think we're idiots?" I said as I hitched my backpack higher on my right shoulder.

"Probably. Remember, the teacher had to show Andrew Renaldi how to hold a pencil the other day."

I laughed. My class did have several problems. There was Andrew, who was nice and gentle but a little daft. Alexis, who had the talent of managing to fill the entire class period with discussions of absolutely nothing. Me, the bird-kid with "special" talents (I'll explain those later). Elise Zipetti, the absolute WORST person in the entire world. (I got back at her once by pushing her into the school pool. Yes, with her designer clothes on.)

We walked down Anna's street, filling each other in on our day. Nothing special, so I won't bore you with the details. As she swung open her front door and we walked inside, I caught my reflection in a mirror. My hair, black with subtle brown highlights, was still in its sleek, high ponytail. My tan skin practically glowed in the reflection, and I stared at the thin scar on my right cheek that I got from sparring with my "cousin" Vivian. She's Aunt Nudge and Uncle Iggy's kid, and only ten, but boy, she must file her nails to points or something, because when she scratches you, it HURTS.

Anna and I threw our backpacks in the living room and headed into the basement and turned on her Wii. After popping in the disc, we stayed down there until 6:00 whupping each other at MarioKart. (there's your answer for what the cool kids do after school) Anna had to eat dinner with her family, (they make a big deal about family time there) so I headed out the door. My house was about four miles away, so I could be there in around five minutes.

Conveniently, there was an empty for sale lot about a block away from Anna's house. I ran over, and did a once over on the deserted street. After seeing no one, I whipped out my wings and took off.

I spread out my arms and inhaled the sweet evening air. I knew that I was one of the luckiest people in the world, being able to do this freely without being stuck in a plane. A quick burble of laughter escaped my lips as I twirled through the air.

I landed on the deck of our large house, quickly noticing that almost all of the windows were dark except for my parent's room. Something was wrong. Either that or I was just being paranoid, but still. I lived with the entire original flock and their children, so it was highly unlikely that they were all being chummy and hanging out together in that one room.

Trying to be as quiet as I could, I slid open the door and stepped inside. Taking off my shoes, I treaded carefully on the carpet, making next to no sound. When I reached my parents room, I paused. Should I even open the door?

Of course I should.

Taking a deep breath I opened the door. And I most definitely didn't like what I saw.

Because there was a man, and he had a gun to Angel's daughter Chloe's small blond head.

So how was that? I'm happy that I finally have a second chapter to one of my stories. Because sadly, I'm pretty sure that I'm not going to continue on Needlephobia (if you haven't read it, don't. It's not… the best.), and I'm not sure what I'm going to do in Wild Power. I'm still trying to figure out what the prophecy means.

Urgh. So confusing.

So… R&R?