Sage's POV

Max, Nudge, and Angel had gone to a local market to get food, which left me, Fang, Iggy, and Gazzy.

I guess Gazzy is about eight. He didn't look too much older than Angel.

Fang was in his own little tree. What a loner. Kind of emo, actually.

Just then, I heard the branches of my tree rustling.

"Who's there?"

"It's Iggy, can I come up?"

"Um sure"

Now I got to see Iggy up close. His eyes were a grayish blue, and he was pretty thin. He wore a plain, dirty t-shirt, and grubby jeans.

Since we were on a pretty wide branch, I scootched over to make room for him.

"Welcome to the flock, I guess. I mean, if you're gonna join us…."

"I'm not sure, maybe I will. So, tell me about you guys."

"Well, I think all of us, including you, came from the same place. Creepy white coats, dog cages, endless misery, basically."

Then he paused.

"That's how I lost my sight….they were trying to improve my night vision. But they ended up ruining everything."

He chuckled bitterly.

"Iggy, I'm sorry." What else could I say?

The next thing I did was pretty stupid.

I hugged him. He tensed up before hugging back.

Then we heard Fang, "Ooh flirtatious! Iggy's getting some action!"

"Ha-ha you're so funny!" said Iggy before playfully throwing a piece of bark at Fang.

They both shot into the sky and began to taunt each other.

"Come get me, blind guy!"

Iggy darted toward Fang, but Fang dodged him.

"What's wrong, Fang? Afraid of a blind guy?"

"Okay, enough!"

It was Max. She had the other two, Angel and Nudge.

Between the three of them, there were quite a few bags.

Finally! I was starving!

Iggy's POV

The other girls had left for some food and left that new girl, Sage, with me, Gazzy, and Fang.

Smart move Max, real smart move. I could tell Sage was uncomfortable.

I heard her move like, every other minute.

I was going to talk to her. Get to know her. No promises, but the way Fang described her made her seem cool.

I began climbing her tree, and she kinda panicked. I told her it was me, though.

We talked a bit. About her, about me. I told her why I was blind.

Then, she hugged me. As in put her arms around me and held on.

I wasn't sure what to do at first. Well, I know what I wanted to do, but Max had always told us "think with your head, not your emotions".

Okay then. So I hugged her back. For all I knew, she liked me. Maybe she felt bad for me. Either way, it was a hug.

I never wanted to let go. It felt different then hugging Max, Nudge, or Angel.

I wanted to keep her in my arms forever, never to let go. Even if the world fell down around us….okay now I'm getting all mushy. I think you get the point.

Anyway, Fang wouldn't let that happen. He just happened to notice Sage and me, and the taunting began.

Fortunately, Max got back with the food before I killed Fang.