N: :) Chapter 3. Sorry to those who get irritated by chapters lacking names, I've barely got time to type this, let alone think up a name for it. Also, sorry this took so long, I had a few weeks where I couldn't bear the site of my writing. Major block. That, and this, truthfully, I feel isn't my best work. I'll work harder, and make it better, I promise. I hope you guys like this chapter though!

I left Rikki's shortly after that. Bella had wanted me to stay, but I didn't. I just needed to get out of their. Too many people, to many unfamiliar, possibly hostile faces. I needed to find some remote place to stretch my wings, somewhere nobody would find me. But where? All I know of this place was the house, and that Rikki's place. And not very well either. It's not like I could find my way from point A to point B. Well, they hadn't given me a curfew, so if I got lost, no sweat. Wait till dark, then fly for it.

Wandering, I found an empty stretch of beach and smiled. If it was empty for long enough, I could take off and fly just above the clouds, where nobody could see me. It'd be a nice difference from flying inside a building, where I have too little room for my liking. Shrugging, I bent and rolled up my jeans, my feet slipping in the soft sand of the beach and walking quietly, looking around.

Jakob had said I'd be in my senior year of high school here. I was guessing that either meant last, or pretty darn close to it. It was January, so I was hopping in during the middle of the school year. Which mean I was the new kid. Fun. That was never good. Plus, I must be expected to wear a jacket anytime I'm not in that house, and it was going to get really hot in the summer. At least it was generally okay at the moment. Nice and cloudy. I was fine as long as it didn't rain. Rain would flatten out my jacket, and make my wings visible, not to mention the fact it would wet my wings that I doubted were even completely dry from the shower yet.

Looking around, I saw nobody was in sight. Smiling, I pulled the sweatshirt over my head, stowing it under a bush, and putting the cell phone with it. Then, smiling, I slowly opened my wings, reveling in the feeling of fresh outside air running through my feathers. I ran towards the water, flapping my wings lightly, my feet already being lifted from the ground with the wind. I jumped just as I stepped into the water, my wingtips brushing the waves as I rose quickly into the air, and just as a head popped up above the water, only about twenty feet or so above me.

I yelped. A bad decision, as the person looked up. Turning my head quickly away so he, or she, couldn't see me, I shot towards the clouds, only glimpsing a short-haired blonde head, and muscular shoulders before hitting the clouds, zooming through the air a such a speed my wings only grew slightly wet with the cloud water. News flash to those of you who have always wanted to jump on a cloud. You know who you are. Clouds are, and always will be, of water. No matter what you think, they're not soft. You can't lay on them, and I don't suggest trying to, unless you're suicidal, and want to die a terrible death.

Ava, I thought. You. Are. Dead. You've barely been here one day, and you've already given one person a nice clear eye-full of your wings. All I could do was hope the scientists never found out. That boy would be around town before you could say deoxyribonucleic acid, raving that he'd seen an angel. Or whatever he thought he saw, considering most angels don't have black spots on their wings. Even worse, if he saw me and town, he might recognize me. Maybe I should cut my hair, I thought, running a hand through my windblown brown locks.

Sighing and rubbing my eyes, I saw a, a... something in the distance. Looking again, I realized it was an island. An island completely covered in trees. An island that looked completely uninhabited. A perfect place to rest my wings, a wait until dark, when I could go back and retrieve my jacket and cell phone. Diving back below the clouds, I landed quickly on the shore, folding my wings and scanning the trees, looking for anything relatively human related. Seeing nothing, I walked carefully towards the trees, slipping a bit on the soft white sand. The island was beautiful, and I sat down at the edge of the trees, unfurling my wings, laying them out to dry. Leaning my head back against a tree, I closed my eyes.

Suddenly, I heard a sound like a motor engine. I lifted my head, seeing the sun had moved a long way across the sky. How long had I been asleep. Wincing, I stood quickly, pulling my wings in and running to the trees, crouching underneath a bush and looking out. A boat was fast approaching from the west, the water trailing in its wake a froth of white bubbles. My wings twitched nervously, and I backed up slightly as they came closer, not stopping until I was sure I was completely hidden, my feet pressed against a tree, and my body underneath a thick bush. I had a near perfect view from under the fronds.

"So," one said as the boat came ashore. It was a boy with dark brown hair. He messed around with something on the control panel. "We check on the Moon Pool, set up the camera, and the head out."

"Why do both of us need to do this?" the other one asked. I felt a little jolt as I recognized him. It was the boy who had seen my wings! I sunk back further underneath the fronds, if that was possible.

"Cleo wants to see if anything different is happening during the full moon to the Moon Pool after the meteor thing. And we're both here because the camera isn't that easy to set up," the first boy replied, hauling some equipment out of the boat.

"Well, we need tu hurry. I've got things I need to do."

The first one rolled his eyes. "Come on, then," he said. They both walked towards the woods, and despite myself I pressed my face to the ground, my wings twitching involuntarily. I winced at the noise they made, rustling the bush they were pressed against. I tensed, ready to leap and make a run for it. After all, I was faster and stronger than any human being. As long as they had no guns on them, I was safe.

"What was that?" the blonde one said, and I let out a string of curses in my head. This one would be the end of me. Why was it always the blondes? First that Rikki chick, now this guy.

"Will, come on!" The other one said, waiting impatiently.

Will waved an arm at the other boy and came closer. I watched, my breath held. Crisis after crisis seemed to hit me today. When Will reached to put his hand in the bush, I rose up with a strangled yell, of which both of the guys copied, stumbling back. Normally, I would've laughed at that, but now I was far past. The branches were too close, and if I flew, they'd get a good look at my wings. I set off at a run. Better them see wings on my back and assume it was a strange jacket than actually see me fly. I heard footsteps after me, and grumbling, then another pair of footsteps. I sighed. And here I had hoped they'd be too stunned to follow. Silly me. Humans are just to curious to do what you want.

Running through trees isn't easy, and the only reason Will and the other boy kept up with me was because I was constantly having to jump over bushes and dodge trees. Not to mention resisting the urge to just open my wings and fly away. No Ava! I told myself. Do that and you're dead!

"Hey, you! Come back!" one of them said. I was unsure which. Voices tend to blend to me, after years of making sure I ignored all that was spoken in my direction. I noticed a break in the trees ahead, and frowned. There was no way they just followed me across the island. It had to be bigger than that, by the stretch of the beach.

Suddenly, the trees changed to rocks, and I nearly fell face-first on the smooth, flat stones. I hopped over what seemed to be a small river, over shooting my landing, and falling not on hard rock, but falling right into a suppressing darkness, which quickly turned into a muddy slide.