another filler chapter:( iggy is in this chapter, and the rest of the flock will follow. it would be longer, so i can get to some action sooner, but i'm really busy! so sorry! hope you enjoy:)

5 years later

The house was big, and there were hundreds of fields surrounding it. Not all of the fields were Brooke's, but most were.

I was treated nice here, but for some reason I never really got along with anyone very well. They were all friendly to me, but not friends. But I didn't feel lonely. I had my brother and Brooke. The three of us got a long great!

So I lived happily, worked hard, and saved up my change, I'm not sure what I was saving for, but it felt very important. I would keep two of my coins, and give the rest to Brooke.

I picked up the coins, and looked around my room. It was a simple room, but I loved it. it had a bed, a closet, and nightstand, and then you could put anything you wanted in it to personalize it. I had a carved elephant on my nightstand that my brother had carved for me a year ago on my 13th birthday. Almost exactly a year ago, I turned 14 only nine days ago.

And now I was going to see that world, well not exactly the world, but I was seeing a city. I don't really remember my time as a slave, and I remember less of my time as a normal child living with my parents, so I was excited to see something new.

My brother carved little figurines out of wood and would sell them for money, and the trip I was invited on was to sell his trinkets, and to buy some groceries.

"I would love to go with you guys!" I yelled excitedly. Being 14 was awesome, I got to travel.

"Ok, your brother wants to sell his trinkets, and our little town is too poor to buy them for any reasonable price, so were taking them to a bigger town."

"It sounds really wonderful. And so exotic," I said, trying to imagine it.

"Maybe we will take home a few friends too," Patience said, "If we make enough that is."

I nodded, and felt my money in my pocket, it was heavy, and clinked when I walked, I was sure I would buy a slave their freedom today. I was excited to.

We had driven for quite some time, I'm not sure how long, because I fell asleep, leaning on Patient's shoulder, but I woke up about an hour from the city.

"Now, before we enter the city, I think I should… prepare you for what you might see. There was a strange occurrence 15 years back in this city, nobody knows for sure what happened, but suddenly some children born, were born with wings. Not only with wings, but with super human strength. They frightened the people of this town, even though it was only a few children who grew them. So they claimed that the children were possessed by daemons and made them slaves. They are given drugs to slow their reaction time, and weaken them a bit; also they break their wings so they cant fly away. I'm telling you this now to mentally prepare you. You've never been exposed to true cruelty Love, and if you have, you can't remember it."

I was horrified, tears pricked at my eyes, and I didn't know what to do or say. "So they are all… a year older than me?" I asked. It was hard to believe that people could have wings, but the look in Brooke's eyes left no argument whether she was or wasn't telling the truth.

"Or younger."

"Younger!" I asked amazed.

Brooke nodded, "Love, you were going to be a slave at a more tender age than that, don't act so surprised," she snapped. Then she sighed, I could see her looking stress, and that wasn't something she usually looked like, "Sorry for speaking so harshly."

"It's ok," I mumbled.

Once we got to the city, I thought I was mentally prepared. But I wasn't.

First I was taken off guard by how magnificent the city was. There were huge towers that touched the sky, beautiful buildings with intricate designs carved onto them, huge murals painted everywhere, on walls, and ceilings.

That wasn't the only thing richly decorated; the people wore huge, sparkly, shiny, poufy dresses, their noses in the air, and their hair in crazy do's. I saw a few slaves, and it wasn't how I imagined it.

They had collars on, and were even more outrageous than the owners. They had painted bodies, and their hair was all different colors, their outfits had feathers, and flowers, and everything else imaginable on them. I saw one wearing snakeskin, and another actually had rocks on her dress.

And for all its grandness, and the people's wonderful, and crazy outfits, people still bought Patience's wooden figurines. They were really popular actually.

Once we had sold all the nicer ones, we moved locations.

We had been on the rich side of town, and now we were moving into the poor side. Once we got their, Brooke told me to keep my eyes on the ground, and to not look up.

I did, keeping my eyes on the street. It was dirty, the cobblestones were cracking, and it looked slightly damp. And suddenly it hit me, the street was damp, I was walking on a thin layer of blood.

I felt like puking, and gripped Patience's shirt, feeling uneasy.

The people didn't help my queasy stomach either, I would see them out of the corner of my eye once in awhile, ugly, messy, missing teeth and hair, but mainly smelly, and packed together like a can of sardines.

Then we went down a less crowded street; well it was more like an alleyway. The deeper we went, the less people there were. Brooke said it was a short cut.

That is when I heard the sound of a whip. I knew that sound, I had never felt it myself, though when I was 9, many others around me felt it, and Patience had felt it many times.

I looked up, the alley was deserted beside's a man and us with a slave, he couldn't have been much older than me. And he was laying on the ground, the man above him, yelling and whipping him.

The boy who was lying on the ground only had a thin, dirty pair of shorts on, and the man wasn't whipping what should be his bare back, he was whipping wings. The blood left from the whip clumped with soft feathers, and the blood drained from my face.

"Get up boy!" the man yelled, whipping him over and over again, "Pick up the box!"

And that was the last straw the broke the camel's back. I jumped in front of the boy, holding my arms in front of me to protect my face.

The whip coiled around my wrist, squeezing, and then it smacked my arm, and I cried out in pain, it stung so horribly bad, how did the boy stand it?

Then I tried to lift the box, but couldn't, and Patience walked over and lifted it. though he was older, and more muscular than the boy, he could barely lift it to, they must have super human strength like Brooke had said.

I ran over to the boy, the man was standing there, shock and confusion on his face. I felt the money in my pocket, and looked up at the man, "How much for the boy?" I demanded.

"Seven dollars," the man said sarcastically, "Or, you can kiss me," he said grinning, showing nasty, dirty teeth. I knew he was just playing with me… well I hoped so.

"I have two dollars," I lied, I had ten dollars, but I wanted to save it.

He looked surprised, not many girls my age had money. "Fine," the man said, and I handed him two hundred pennies. I only had pennies, and a few half pennies.

"Here, have the whip to, it's the only way to make this boy do anything," he said, throwing it down.

I nodded, "I bet its useful," and whipped his face, "Your right, I do like the whip," it left a deep gash in his cheek.

The man stepped foreword, and Patience stood in between us, Patience isn't much for action, and never hurt anything, but the look in his eye said that he would kill the man if he tried to touch me.

"Give me the box," The man said, Patience dropped it, and the man dragged it off, muttering under his breath.

I turned back to the boy, and he looked up at me from the ground.

"Can you walk?" I asked him kindly.

He didn't answer, just glared at me, I could tell he trusted me just about as much as the man, maybe even a little less.

So as a peace offering I set the whip on the ground next to his hand, "I won't whip you, you can have the whip if you what."

He wrapped his hand around it, and slowly sat up.

"I'm love, that's my name," I said, offering him a hand, which he didn't take.

He stood up gracefully, and quickly, "What do you want with me?"
"What do you mean?"

His glare depend, "What are you planning to do with me?"

I sighed, "Well, but you some new clothes, I mean, a free person doesn't dress like that, and then we will have to get you out of the city without anyone being able to tell you have wings… it will be difficult, but I'm sure we can do it-"

"Free?" and I saw the hope on his face.

Hope transforms people, his dull blue eyes turned bright, clear blue, like the sky on a cloudless day, and his mouth smiled, though the corners didn't go up, his face seemed to lighten. And I realized, that he was handsome. I wasn't sure what color of hair he had, or if he had freckles, or he was just really dirty, but he was still handsome.

"Yes, soon enough, we have to leave the city first. I have to tell you about my family, and you can come with us and join our family, or you can leave, it up to you."

He nodded; the hope still there, but there was also doubt.

"Patience, lend me some money, me and… what's your name?" I asked.

"Iggy," he said quietly.

"Ok, me and Iggy are going to look for some clothes," I said, smiling.

Patience handed me five dollars, "Meet me and Brooke at the town hall at noon," he said, and ruffled my hair playfully. Then left with Brooke, Brooke didn't say anything, just smiled approvingly at me.

"Ok, Iggy you need to stand up straighter, and look more confident. Look like your some rich snob," I said kiddingly.

He nodded, "as you wish," and stood up straighter, like a puppy sitting for its master.

I rolled my eyes, "Don't as you wish me, come on," I said starting to walk foreword, and Iggy followed a few paces behind.

"Iggy, could you direct me to a clothes shop? You know the town better," I said, smiling, "Make sure it's not too expensive."

So he walked foreword, and I followed a bit behind, we got stares, but I didn't care.

I told him about the "family" farm, and he listened respectfully, I almost wanted him to butt in with a question, but he had grown up as a slave, it would take a little longer to heal than me I guess.

"Any questions?" I finally asked.

He nodded, "Can I save my money, I want to buy a few friends," he said.

I smiled, "I can buy them! How many?" I asked.

"There are 5 of them. They work at the mine, you can get them for cheaper than 2 dollars, they get them for ten cents at market."

"Do you think you could bargain for them?" I asked, I was lousy at it.

He nodded, and picked up a green, simple tunic. I smiled at him and nodded, and we bought it.

After he got it on, and washed his face (he did have red hair and freckles that looked awesome with his shirt) we went to the mines where Iggy use to work.

Not exactly to the mines, but there was a guard stationed at the entrance that we talked to. I walked up to him, and curtsied, as Iggy bowed extravagantly, "Hello," he said warmly, "Me and my companion," he said, motioning to me, "Are from the theater."

I smiled charmingly, "And we are looking for some back ground people for our play, do you think you could help us out?"

He looked me up and down, and I felt a shiver run down my back.

"Who are you?" the man asked me.

"I am James, at your service," I said, trying to act like the actors that I had seen.

He nodded, "And who is this pretty lady?"

"I'm Love, that's my name," she said, smiling, and taking the hand that was offered to her. The guard leaned down and kissed it, and Love blushed in surprise.

"It's a lovely name, that belongs to a lovely woman."

She didn't answer, just blushed, and looked unsure how to react. "So, do you think you could help us out? Were looking for a dark skinned teen, two blonde haired kids around the same age, a tall, dark handsome man, and a blonde haired, brown eyed girl, who is also a teen," I said to him.

"That I specific," the man said, thinking, "But I don't think I was doing business with you," he pointed out. He turned to love, and leaned close to her, "Why don't you and I… talk about this deal in private, I'm sure I can think of something that would be worth a few slaves."

"I'll pay you a dollar per slave," I said coldly, all my charm gone, stepping in between the two. "I know that is a lot more than you get them at market."

He glowered at me for a second, then shrugged, "Ok then, the miners are done at sunset, come after then."

"Let's go Love," I said, grabbing her hand and walking away.

"Thanks," she mumbled, then changed the subject, "So do you think we should just stay the night here, I'm sure the other two wouldn't mind," she said.

Suddenly I looked up at the sun, "It's past noon," I said quietly.

"Oh no!" she said, running, her hand still in mine. I don't know why, but I trusted Brooke, maybe because she was just so innocent, you couldn't help trusting her, and this is coming from a guy with a trust issue.

We got to the square, and Love released my hand, to wave at Brooke and Patience. They met our eyes and hurried over to us.

Brooke was hugging Love, but looking at me when she said, "I'm so glad your safe," so I felt it was directed to the both of us.

"Brooke, we need to stay till sunset, then we will buy Iggy's friend and leave," Love said.

Brooke nodded, "We are spending the night anyways, I already have a room, I'll just have to get another one. I have to visit a friend here; I wouldn't have come if it weren't for that. We will visit here tomorrow, I think Love has her work cut out with healing Iggy's wings," Brooke said smiling.

Love turned and smiled at me, "Let's go Iggy, were wasting daylight!"

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