Shortly after we met the new mutants I found a nice hard rock to sit on and think for a bit.
Change is a constant in out lives, if we didn't have change we wouldn't be us. But, still, it was kind of hard to swallow 2 new bird kids (I'm counting Dylan in this), 2 bat kids, and 1 snake kid all in one month.
The others were off doing stuff. Stuff that probably required sight. Besides, if it was important Max would let me know.
I was now tuned into my iPod, putting it on shuffle. I'd like to think I have a broad taste in music, I love classic stuff from the 70's and 80's, and also some current hard rock.
I let myself drift into a state where I wasn't really paying attention to everyone else, but to the music I was listening too. I guess it's my form of meditation.
After about an hour of that I was getting kind of hungry, and I was sure that the new mutants were hungry too. They looked like they had even less regular access to food than we used to. That made me get angry at those stupid White-coats all over again! They were the ones who thought it would be fun to experiment on humans! Alter their body parts with no regard for the possible side effects, be it blindness, deafness, or even death. Sure, the operation was shut down, but those scum-bags were still alive, and there are still tons of other non sciecetist nut cases out there. That's one advantage of being a bird-kid, you can kick the asses of those idiots who need serious mental help.
When I found the Flock I heard Nudge say "Oh, good! The whole Flock is here now! Now, we can start the meeting!" I walked closer to where her voice was coming from, and waited for Max's instructions.
"Okay, this is my first time breaking the whole 'Maxocracy' thing, but I just got an idea we should do this," Max said in her fierce, leader tone.
I was almost certain that when Max said 'I just got an idea' she meant Angel put the idea in her head. That kid scares me sometimes.
"What is this meeting about?" I asked her.
"Well, it's the first bird-kid election – Not for Flock leader. That's my job. But, if we should let Rate, Brooke, Night, and Sarrah into the flock." She replied forcefully. "So, everyone in favor of letting them in raise your hand."
I raised my hand quickly. There was a brief moment of silence, I think Max was counting the votes.
"It's unanimous!" Max announced. "I'll go find them, and tell them. We are gonna spend the night here after dinner, then fly back." Max said, as if she had known this plan for years.
I followed the direction – north, that the sounds of the Flock's feet moving were headed. I was pretty sure that we were going to tell Brooke, Sarrah, Rate, and Night that they were accepted into the Flock.
"Hey, guys," Max said casually, trying her hardest not to come off as... well... herself.
"Hey yourself..." Sarrah said quietly. "I don't know if I ever said this, but thank you!"
I knew what she meant, about a year ago when we were at The Institute For Higher Living we rescued a bird-kid. I never put 2-and-2 together, but it made sense. She was the weak little bird girl that Max carried out before she killed Ari. The first time he died.
If you don't know about that, sucks for you. Read the books Max wrote.
"Oh," Max was taken aback by the tone of her voice. "No one belongs in a cage EVER. I lived years in a cage. We all did." She was starting to sound real emotional. "Listen, Sarrah, can you get the others in your group?" Max asked regaining her compositor
"Sure!" Sarrah said in a sunny voice. She reminded me of a mix of Nudge (minus the annoying talking) and Angel (minus the potential to become evil).
About 3 minutes later she came back, walking through a few desert bushes with Night, Rate, and Brooke.
"We, the Flock, would like to ask you to come join us." Max said waisting no time.
"We'd reaaaaaly love to have you in Colorado!" Nudge added.
They paused thinking for a quick moment, then almost all in unison Brooke, Rate, Night, and Sarrah said "Yes."
"Good," Max said. She then proceeded to tell them the plan.
We all the flew into town, besides Rate (Who seems to have super-human speed, or some power like that) for dinner.
We folded our wings in neatly and walked into a diner.
When we entered it, it was probably every stereo type that you could imagine for a small town diner. They had 50's music playing in the background, old ladies yelling out things like "Jack and Jill with a hill!", and walls that were an awful shade of pink. I really didn't feel any of the other decor But, just imagine a stereotypical diner and you have where we were.
Dylan (who despite being annoying and younger than us can probably read better than Max) whispered the menu to me.
As we sat down at their family size table, a waitress walked up to us and gasped. My guess she recognized us from one of many places where our faces had appeared. Willingly or not. Most of the time not.
"W-what can I get you? Anything you want!" She said, I think there was a bit of fear in her voice.
"I'd like 4 grilled cheese sandwiches, 2 strawberry milkshakes,and 3 fries! Oh, and a Dr. Pepper!" Nudge ordered.
As she went around the table and collected the orders it took her 3 sheets of paper to write it all down.
"Is that it?" She asked, sounding a bit exhausted
I nodded. I wasn't sure if the others did, but I heard 2 or 3 "Yeah"'s.
About 15 minutes later our dinner was ready.
The food was really good, I can now understand why people like small town diners so much.
Today had actually been a good day, and I couldn't wait for what our future could bring. For once.