So, we all threw some stuff in backpacks. It's safe to say that while we were trying to stay away from the crazies at the Institution we didn't take many vacations, and therefore had no reason to have bought actual luggage. Once we had packed, we put on our backpacks and headed out.

So, I think I should explain the order of authority in the crew. I am called the leader, but I think Bones is more of the leader. I only get called the leader because I come up with the plans, but Bones is the one who talks about the plans I come up with. I'm...well, I guess you could call it shy, but I wouldn't. I just don't like to talk much. No point in it half the time. So Bones is the one who says everything. I can kick butt like nobody's business, but if you ask me to make a speech, I'll freeze up. All in all, I think Bones and I are at about the same level of authority. Danny's next, because he's been through a lot more than any of us without his eyesight. No one knows how he lost it-he never talks about it. And one of the only reasons I'm not nominating him to be the top in authority is because his eyesight problem is a drawback, and I wouldn't want anyone from my crew to get hurt because I wasn't brave enough to take the position they gave me. Fudge, Sonny, and Anita are all on the same foot too. They get their say, but Bones, Danny, and I make the ultimate decisions.

Being hidden in the middle of nowhere hasn't given us a lot of chances for romance, if you know what I mean. But, I think that Sonny has a crush on Fudge, and...I...never mind. It's not important.

Anyway, we had no idea where we were going to go. We were in Nevada, somewhere close to a desert. I don't know how long we flew before Sonny's eyes lit up.

"Look, Sil! There's Las Vegas! Can we go, please?" Sonny asked. I looked over at Bones, and he instantly knew what I was thinking. Don't ask: it's just a think we can do. We can look at each other, and get the gist of what the other wants to say.

"I don't think that's a good idea, Sonny." Bones said.

"Why not? We've never gone anywhere else, and we're right above it!" Sonny argued.

"Yeah, and there's showgirls in Vegas!" Danny added.

"We don't have a place to sleep, that's our main priority at the moment." Bones said.

I hadn't even known we were above Las Vegas, but when I looked down I saw a sea of nothing but florescents, and roads with a ton of ant-like cars. It was stunning. I'd never seen anything like that. It must have been...seven o' clock in the morning and the city was already busy. Just so you know, it's about mid-December so the sun hadn't risen much yet.

"Please?" Anita asked, looking at Bones with big, wide, innocent eyes. I could literally see his resolve crack as he looked at her.

"Fine. We can look around Las Vegas, and stay the night there." he said. The softy.

"Yes!" Sonny said, pumping his fist in the air.

"Last one there's a rotten egg!" Danny shouted before quickly falling towards the city. He was followed soon after by Fudge, Sonny, and Anita. Bones and I lagged behind.

"Why do they continue to ask me what to do when we all know you make most of the decisions?" I asked Bones.

"Because everybody knows you're the brains of this operation. You're the one who's studied more geography, history, math, and science than all of us put together. You're the one who fixed the internet when it crashed, you're the one that stopped Danny from eating those poisonous berries that everyone had mistaken for blueberries. Face it, Sil, you have leadership material. All you need to do now is come out of your shell." I hated it when Bones got all...intellectual. It always made sense, and normally it made sense against me.

I sighed. "Yeah, but what if I mess up? Make the wrong decision at the wrong time?"

"Then we'll all help you get us out of the mess you got us into. You know that. Why are you doubting yourself now?" Bones said.

"Because, back home we were in familiar territory. I knew everything about our surrounds and what should be where, the difference between what looks right, and what shouldn't be there. Now, I'm completely out of my element, and to top it all off, I have five other people who depend on my decisions." I answered.

"Well, how about this: you do your best to lead us, and I'll do my best to make sure you don't mess up?" Bones asked, smiling.

I smiled back. "Ok. It's a deal." And with that we caught up to the rest of the crew, who had landed in a shadowed alley.

"So, we need to find a place to stay..." I said looking around after we landed.

"Wait." Sonny said. "What are we going to do about our eyes? Red, black, yellow, purple, pink, and white aren't exactly regular eye colors."

"This is Vegas Home of the strange and flashy. Most people will probably think they're color contacts." Danny answered.

"Yeah, you're probably right." Sonny said, the shock he felt at the conclusion showing in his voice. Danny was always goofing around, and rarely ever answered with a straight answer, and even rarer still, a right one.

"Come on guys, let's walk around a little. Look for a place to crash." Bones said. Even though it was no later than eight o' clock or so, we had been up extremely early, and everyone was showing signs of fatigue.

Everyone agreed that sleep was a good thing, so we walked around. If there is one adjective to use when talking about Las Vegas, it is HUGE. I mean, even with the flashy lights starting to turn off, it was still freaking gigantic! There was people everywhere, and a ton of advertisements. After we had been walking for about an hour, Bones at the front, and me taking up the rear, Bones lagged behind, and fell into step with me. "How are we with money?" he asked.

"Well, we still have about a thousand dollars left from Jacob's closet." I said. When Jacob had disappeared, we dug through his things, and found a ton of money under a flap of wallpaper in his closet. We tried to use as little as possible, so we still had quiet a bit.

Bones nodded. "Then how about we just find some cheap hotel? The guys are look like they're about ready to pass out on their feet."

I glanced up at the rest of the crew (I had been looking at my feet, nothing unusual) and they did look really tired. Honestly, I was pretty tired too, so I agreed, and we booked a room at the next cheap hotel we found.

The room had two beds and a loveseat. "Ok. So, how about Fudge, Sliver, and Anita share one bed, and Bones and Danny sleep on the other. I can take the couch-thing." Sonny offered.

"First," I said "It's called a loveseat," there was a collective groan from the whole crew. They hated it when I corrected them on anything (I guess that makes some sense since I do it often). "And second, how about Sonny, Anita, and Fudge, and Bones and Danny. I'll take the loveseat." I said, emphasizing the correct term of the chair.

"Nope." Bones said. "Danny and Silver. Fudge, Sonny, and Anita. I get the couch-thing." and with that, he laid on the loveseat-not couch-thing-and refused to move, so that's how we slept.

Now people, get your heads out of the gutter. The only reason we didn't have girls in one bed, guys in the other, is because the three smallest people fit better together than to have me sleep with Anita and Fudge. I got on the right side of the bed, and Danny got on the left. Fudge, Sonny, Anita, and Danny fell asleep as soon as their heads hit the pillow. But I could see Bones tossing and turning. I would have fit better, but for whatever reason he was being stubborn. So you know what? Let him wake up with a sore back!

I took out the small net book Jacob had bought each of us about a year ago. Mine was black. I had stuck it in my backpack, because our journals are computer generated. I typed up the following entry:

Dear Diary,

We've moved, and I don't know if we'll ever be able to go back to our house. The Razen found us. Today has been the scariest day in years. I had thought that the Institution had forgotten about us, but apparently I was wrong. They want us back. We're more mutated than Max's flock, more freaky, and they want to brag about us to the School. They want to use us. We're never going back there as long as I'm alive. Last time I checked I was still breathing.

I'm even more scared for Fudge, Sonny, and Anita. They act tough, and they are, but they're also still pretty young. I was hoping that when Jeb broke us out of the Institution they could live a semi-normal life. Seems like the Institution is determined that we don't live at all.

What did we do to them anyway? Why did they come back? They should just leave us alone. What's scarier still, is that the Razen's reappearance has shaken everyone up. A scared crew is a crew that's waiting to get captured. Tomorrow Bones and I are going to have to work hard to build up everyone's moral again.

Danny snores like a truck driver...his trucks engine. Not like a regular truck driver snore, no, he sounds like the freakin' engine.

I can see Bones watching me out of the corner of my eye. He really should get to sleep. Actually, I should too.

Keep Breathing,

Silver

I then decided to quickly check Fang's blog. Yes, I follow that, don't tell Bones, I'd never live it down. This is what I read:

Yo. The flock and I are somewhere in west America. We're still not sure about what we're doing, but you know what? It's been a week since there's been any Flyboy attacks, so I think we're ok.

I'm going to take this opportunity to reply to some comments:

FlyGirl#1 says: What can I do to get some wings? You guys sound like you have some sweet adventures! I want to join!

Fang says: You must be insane. Believe me, you don't want to join.

SoccerSt4r says: Dude, how do you think you'd do in soccer?

Fang says: Tried it. Hated it.

SilverMoon says: How do you do it? How do you keep up your moral? I mean, the things you guys go through is horrible. It must get depressing.

Fang says: Yeah, sometimes we get down. But I like to think that at least we're all together and in one piece (well mostly) so that's got to count for something.

This has been Fang. Peace out.

-Fly on,

Fang

Isn't it strange how just when I was feeling low, Fang's blog had the answer? Yeah, it's totally on my favorites list.

But it got me thinking. Yes, we have nowhere to stay. Yes, we're lost. But we're also all together, and none of us are hurt badly. (The crew, if you didn't catch what 'us' meant.) Maybe there's hope after all. I posted a comment:

Thanks. That helped.

I got woken up with a pillow to the face. "Rise and shine, Sleeping Beauty." Bones said. I moved the pillow off my face to find I was the last one awake.

"Did you just call Silver a beauty? Are you sure you're not the one that's blind?" Danny said. I threw the pillow at his face, but remarkably he caught it. Jerk.

"Yeah he did. And you know what? He's right." Anita said. She's so cute when she tries to stick up for me. "Hey, I'm fierce, not cute!" she said. Oh, she'd heard.

"Right. Of course." I said, laughing on the inside. All my face showed was calmness.

"Can we look around a little? I really want to see the bright lights." Fudge said. I looked out the window. We'd slept all day. It was dark now, maybe nine o' clock, and Las Vegas was lit up.

I shrugged. "She said sure." Bones said. Out of the whole crew, he was the one that could interpurt my actions the best. A shrug generally meant yes.

"Thank you, Sil!" Fudge said, her face lighting up.

"Yeah, thanks Sil. This'll be fun." Anita said, smiling.

I got up, and changed in the bathroom quickly. Black long sleeved shirt, and a black skirt that fell a little above my knees with tights underneath, if you care to know.

Everyone put on a jacket too. See, being part chameleon, we get cold easily, and therefore, we get sick easily if we don't wear a jacket all the time.

Once we stepped out of the quiet hotel, it was like another world. The streets were full of people from tourist-looking people, to people who looked like they just got out of the circus. The buildings were lit up top to bottom, everything was a whirl of color. I hated it. There were too many people, and everything was too bright. I could see Danny struggling to retain his composure. All the noise and people must really effect his overly active senses. I looked over at Bones. He nodded.

"Guys, let's find somewhere to take off for a little while!" he shouted over the noise of cars and people. We found an alley, and shot to the sky. As soon as we were away from all those people I felt a lot better, and I saw Danny's face calm.

I was able to appreceate the city more from the sky where I wasn't being crowded by people. It was really beautiful. It was like the city was a dot of color, and everywhere else was dark. Sure, the surrounding places had lights, but nothing compared to Vegas

Then it all crashed at a sound. A yell. Bones' yell.

I swung my head around to his direction quickly. He had cried out, clutched his head in his hands, and was loosing altitude. Fast. My blood ran cold, and everything stopped. All I saw was Bones plummeting to what would surely be his death. I didn't pause or think. I raced after him shouting, "Danny! Bones, southeast, fifty feet!" Danny'd know where. It was something he could just...do. He was good with direction, even if he was blind.

I caught Bones, and slowed down his pace. We were still falling-I wasn't strong enough to hold him all by myself-but he wasn't about to die anymore. "Bones! What's wrong?" I asked him, concern in my voice. I heard Sonny gasp. I rarely said anything with emotion. I could smile and laugh on occasion, but I never showed anything in my words. I didn't feel like it was necessary to announce to everyone what I was feeling. They knew that if they could tell I was worried, something was wrong. Bones suddenly became much lighter when Danny got to his other side. Without acknowledging it, we both started to find somewhere to land.

"Head...hurts." Bones managed to choke out. There were actual tears falling down his face now, and upon seeing them I felt a flare of anger. What was making Bones cry? If it was a what, I had to stop it, if it was a who, I had to kill them. That was the thought that came into my mind. It surprised me, but the surprise was quickly replaced by the anger. Bones shouldn't hurt, nothing should hurt him.

We landed on the roof of a building, in one of the darkest places we could find-not easy when all of Vegas was lit up like the fourth of July.

As soon as his feet touched the roof, bones folded in on himself, curling into a ball. I kneeled down beside him, and pushed some of his hair back from his face. The crew formed a circle around us, their backs to us, and facing outward, standing guard. They knew something wasn't right. "What happened? Do you know how this started?" I asked Bones gently. He shook his head.

Without knowing why, I wrapped my arms around Bones, and tried to comfort him by rubbing his back. I didn't know what to do. That made me feel so helpless. My best friend, the one who knew me best was hurting, and there was nothing I could do.

I don't know how long we stayed like that. It could have been, seconds, minutes, hours, I have no idea, but eventually Bones took a deep breath, and opened his eyes. I took my hands away from him, and placed them in my lap. "Better?" I asked him. He nodded again.

The crew loosened up, and turned around. Bones quickly wiped his eyes with the back of his hand as Danny asked, "Dude, what happened?"

"I don't know. I was flying fine, and then suddenly I had a killer headache." Bones answered.

"We have something to do now." I said, standing up. "We need to figure out what happened to Bones, and we need to keep it from happening again. I already said we could walk around a little bit, so we will, but come tomorrow we'll start researching." The crew nodded.

"We don't have to walk around right now, Silver." Anita said quietly. "We can go back to the hotel, and let Bones rest. We can look around some other time."

Bones stood up. "No, I'm fine. We can walk around." he said.

"Yey!" Anita said happily.

Bones smiled, and picked her up before setting her on his shoulders. Anita was the lightest of all of us, and really easy to carry. Bones had been giving her rides on his shoulders ever since we left the Institution. I couldn't help but smile too. I had been really worried. I hadn't known how worried I'd been until the worry left. When I saw Bones falling, every mental wall had fallen. I was going to put them back up. But for tonight, I was just going to have fun with my crew.

We used a ladder on the side of the building to climb back down, and we walked. None of us were old enough for jobs, so I knew we had to be very careful with our money. It was because of this that I told Sonny no when he asked for a toy race car. Bones walked up to me-we were in a toy store-when Sonny had left to put it back. "Let him have it. They don't have any other toys." he said.

"You think? I don't want to run out of money, and have them starve instead." I said.

"You won't run out of money by buying him that one race car." Bones said.

"Oh, yeah. Let him starve, but he'll have his race car!" I said, sarcastically.

"Silver, I promise you, Sonny won't starve if you buy him that race car." Bones said.

"And if he does, can I kill you?" I asked. I was only partly kidding. If I didn't kill him, I would severely injure him.

"Yes." Bones said seriously. I nodded.

"Sonny?" I said, walking over to where he stood in front of a race car display.

"Yes, Silver?" he asked, turning around. He knew why I didn't want to buy the car, and he understood it, which is probably the only reason why he wasn't mad at me.

"Look, I talked to Bones, and we decided that you can have the race car, and if something happens because of it, I can kill him." I told Sonny. I watched as his face lit up.

"Thanks Sil!" he said happily, and threw himself at me. Normally I'm not very huggy, so when he realized what he'd done, he tensed, but I hugged him back anyway.

"No problem." I said, smiling.

Sonny picked the car up again, and ran over to where Bones stood, and started explaining to Bones why they car was so cool, and Bones listened attentively, nodding, or saying 'Mm'hm' every now and again.

I knew it wasn't fair to give Sonny a toy and not everyone else, so I found Fudge, Anita, and Danny, and told them that they could have one cheap toy. Fudge and Anita replied with enthusiasm while Danny concentrated more on the things he was touching so he would get something he actually wanted. Once that was done I walked over to Bones. "And what do you want?" I asked.

"Nothing. I have everything I need." he answered, and blushed when Anita came over and cleared her throat. What the heck?

"Can I have this doll?" Anita asked. In my head she said. Don't worry about it. In response to my 'What the heck?' thought.

Okay... I thought, before saying, "Sure."

"Yes!" she said happily, and left to show Fudge.

"What was that about?" I asked Bones, referring to the blush.

"Nothing. I mean, Anita just caught me thinking about Las Vegas showgirls. No-wait, that didn't come out right She-I-oh, never mind." Bones said.

"Ok, whatever you say, Bones." I said. That didn't make any sense. Showgirls were the kind of thing Danny would think about. Not Bones. But, I let the subject drop anyway, though we both knew I didn't believe him for a second. "Let's go pay." Bones said, changing the subject, and making sure it stayed off him. Smart move, I must say.

In the end, Sonny got his race car, Anita her doll, Fudge a tiara, and Danny a fuzzy ball. He said he liked how it felt. I really have no idea what he means. My only guess is that with his heightened senses, the ball felt different to him than it did everyone else.

After about another half hour of walking-we'd been in that toy store forever thought I guess it's to be expected since that was the first time we'd ever been in a toy store-Anita yawned. "I'm tired." she said from atop Bones' shoulders.

"Tired? You're not the one walking!" Bones said, jokingly.

Anita laughed. "So? I still have the right to be sleepy."

"True, dat." Bones said, and held his fist up for a knuckle touch-or whatever you call it.

"Who else is tired?" I asked. Everyone's hand went up. It was almost morning. I couldn't believe how many places stayed open all night. "Then let's go back to the hotel." I said. We collectively turned, and started walking back towards the hotel.

When we got into the room, I ran towards the loveseat, and laid down on it. "HA!" I said when Bones stepped into the room. "I sleep here. You sleep with Danny."

"I could push you off." Bones said.

"I'd like to see you try." I said, narrowing my eyes.

"Fine. But if you wake up on the floor, I didn't do it." he said, before he got in to he and Danny's shared bed. Everyone fell asleep soon after, but I opened my laptop again. What? It was my rule, I should follow it. I made the following entry:

Dear Diary,

Today something happened to Bones. I don't know what, and I don't know why, and that scares me more than I'd like to admit. Bones is the only thing keeping me from locking myself in a closet, and not coming out sometimes. The leadership thing is hard, you know? I just don't know what I'd do without Bones sometimes, and I don't even want to think about it. What it I hadn't caught him? What if he had fallen to the earth? I don't think I could've bared it. Sure, I'd stay leader because of the kids, but it wouldn't have been the same. Bones can't die. He can't. I wont let him.

He also talked me into getting the toys for the kids. That made them really happy. Even Danny got something. I want to try to get them into school. Next week-I read it in a paper-school starts again, and the Christmas holidays end. I want to see if I can get us enrolled by then. It'd be fun, right? Going to school would be a new experience. Christmas is in two days. Before we went to sleep, I gave everyone ten dollars for presents and/or supplies to make presents. Tomorrow we'll go out and buy some stuff. I want to have as real a Christmas as possible. This will be our first Christmas without Jacob. Last Christmas he helped us cut down our own tree and-crap, I'm getting tears on my keyboard. Double crap, I think Bones just woke up.

Keep breathing,

Silver

I quickly closed my computer, and tried to pretend I was asleep. I must be a really bad actor though, because soon Bones was kneeling right by my head. "What's wrong?" he whispered.

"Nothing." I whispered back, not wanting to wake anybody up. He nodded towards the door, and walked out. I sighed, and followed him.

"Now, why were you crying?" he asked in a normal voice. The crew couldn't hear us now.

"I wasn't crying." I said, wiping my eyes in an attempt to erase all evidence.

"Yes you were. Why?" He asked again, in a softer tone.

"I was just remembering that Christmas was in two days, and that this'll be our first one without Jacob, and that last year we all went out to pick a tree, and now this year he could be d-d-dead for all we know." I said. I was crying again by the end of my sentence. Bones wrapped his arms around me. It was...different. He'd never done that before, but I couldn't help hugging him back, and crying into his shoulder for a couple of minutes.

When I stopped crying, he pulled back a little-though not letting go of me-and looked at me. "You probably think I'm weak for crying. Especially since it's been so long." I said.

"No. Never. I'd never think that you showing any kind of emotion was weak. You're human." he said. Then he added, "Unless you're and android, and are about to say 'Take me to your leader'." he said.

I laughed, "No, I'm not an android."

"Good, because I couldn't do this to an android." and without any warning, he leaned in and kissed me.

Oh, my freaking gosh, Bones just kissed me! I thought. Then I kissed him back. Holy crap! I'm kissing Bones! Was my next thought. I'd never given much consideration as having Bones be more than a friend. Kissing him felt...right. But at the same time I felt more emotionally exposed than I ever had in my entire life, and that scared the crap out of me. I quickly stumbled back.

"I-I-I oh, my god." I said as I bumped into the wall, and slid down it.

"What? What was wrong?" Bones asked.

"Nothing. Everything. I don't know. I can't tell you. I'm confused." I said.

"Well, aren't you just a bundle of contradictions." he said. I could tell he was highly amused by my reaction. "How about this? I'll leave you this," he kissed me on the cheek "to think about, and get back to me when you're less...confused." and then he went back inside the room, leaving me sitting in the hotels hallway.

But just...dammit, I don't know. I'd be lying if I said I didn't like kissing Bones, but it'd be another lie if I said I was comfortable kissing Bones. Which doesn't make a lot of sense, I know. It's just that I've known Bones my whole life, and he'd never shown one ounce of interest in me. And when I was kissing him, I felt...so exposed. Like he could see all my feelings, like he'd gotten past every wall I'd so carefully put up. That was so scary. I didn't know whether to ignore what happened tonight, or to confront him about it later. I fell asleep in the hallway like that.

AN: Ok, seriously, I really want reviews. I think this is one of my best chapters, and definitely the longest, but I want to know what y'all think!