A/N: It's snowing where I live right now! I'm so happy!

Sooo — once again, I'd like to thank all my lovely reviewers! I haven't had much time to muck about online so I don't know all your usernames. Please accept my sincerest apologies in that I will not be giving personalized comments this time around.

Disclaimer: The sad but probably true fact is that, despite my wishes, if I had written this story it probably wouldn't be this popular.

Chapter Seven —

"…and teachers, be sure you stay with your fourth period classes whenever we leave the hotel. We are now arriving at the hotel we will be staying at. Students, please get into the preordained teams you have been assigned to. Once your entire group is together, you may come up to me and hand me your ticket, and I will hand out your keys. It is recommended that you get situated as soon as possible, because we will be meeting at the lobby in one hour, at which point in time we will be getting dinner. Thank you."

Wiping the sweat off my forehead, I suppressed the urge to tear off my clothes and jump into a lake. It was so freaking hot! Why the fu did I come here?

Just then, Isabelle, a girl in my fourth period class I had sort of made friends with peeked over my seat and looked at me. Glancing at Ella, who had already changed into shorts and a t-shirt, she raised and eyebrow at my sweatshirt and jeans ensemble. "Aren't you hot wearing that, Max?"

"She is pretty hot wearing that, huh?"

I spun in my seat and stared at Fang, who had been sitting across the aisle from me. "Excuse me, F—Nick? Could you repeat what you just said?"

"I said you're probably pretty hot wearing that, huh?"

"No, that's not what you said."

"Yes it is."

I sighed, and decided to attack from another direction. "Like you're one to talk, Nick. If my eyes don't deceive me, that is a sweatshirt you're wearing?"

"Uh-huh. But who's the one sweating her pores out?"

He did have a point. Despite his black on black sweatshirt and cargo pants, I could not detect a single drop of sweat on his face. That boy was insane. Did he just not have any sweat glands or what?

"Max, are you sure you should be wearing that?" Ella plucked at my sleeve worriedly. "What if you got heatstroke or something?"

"Nah, I'm fine." I forced out a smile. "We're nearing the hotel anyways. I'm sure most of the places we're visiting have air conditioning…"

"But why don't you change?" Isabelle gave me a sidelong glance, cocking her head. "Did you not bring any summer clothes or something?"

"No…" I paused, at a loss for words. How would I explain to her that it wasn't because I didn't want to change, but it was because I simply couldn't change?

Luckily, I was spared a response as our bus hit a speed bump. We had arrived at the hotel.

"Woohoo! Gotta love air conditioning!" With a flying (not literally, of course) leap, I crashed into the bedroom and bounced onto the bed. A completely un-leaderly display, of course, but it was just so good to get out of the heat.

Nudge ran in after me, with Angel and Ella following close behind, and the four of us were soon all sprawled out on various beds and chairs, immersing ourselves in the amazing embrace of the air conditioner.

Now, you may ask why the four of us are in the same room together. Didn't the supreme leader, a.k.a. Principal Hanley, assign us to hotel rooms according to our fourth period groups? Well, that's a good question. Let's just say a little angel flew down from heaven and altered her thoughts slightly while my back was turned, and we'll leave it at that.

"We should probably unpack now, huh?" Ella was the first to recover, as she was actually wearing summer clothes. "Dinner's in an hour."

"Yeah…" Sighing, I got off the now slightly wrinkled covers and sat on the corner of the bed. "Here, you guys — girls — unpack. I'm gonna look around the room first…"

Jumping off the bed, I first went and locked the door, and then I started scouting the room for any spy or surveillance equipment. None.

"I think it's safe," I called out to Nudge and Angel, and at the same time, I let my wings loosen a little. It felt awesome, because they had been tucked in tightly for the entire bus ride, and they were feeling extremely icky and gross. Think skin feels sticky when it's humid? Try feathers.

Hyper with the joy of being able to finally relax, I hopped over to the bed and started unpacking my suitcase as well. "So do y'all know what we're gonna do after dinner?" I asked as I unfolded my favorite pair of jeans. "I know we're going to visit Taipei 101 later, and that one place… Palace History Museum or whatever?"

"I can't wait to go to the night market!" Nudge grinned hugely as she dumped everything out of her suitcase. Some of her clothes fell from the bed and onto the floor. "Oops." She bent to pick them up. "Anyways, I heard that you can get all sorts of cool things there, and for really cheap too! I can't wait! I wonder what they have for sale…? I'm looking for something unique, you know? Like, what does Taiwan stand for? What do you first think of when you think of Taiwan?"

"China…?" Angel blinked slowly, fluttering her long eyelashes. "I dunno."

"Pandas." I paused, thinking. "Or maybe that's China too."

"Drugs."

We all turned to stare at Ella. Not looking up from her methodical unpacking of her luggage, she said, "No, seriously. Did you know that Taiwan is shaped like a tobacco leaf?"

"Huh." I shrugged.

Suddenly, the door swung open with a bang, and all four of us jumped. However, only three of us immediately tensed and got into fighting positions. One guess as to who they were.

"Ha! I knew this was their room!" Gazzy strode in with an air of supreme dignity, smirking at someone behind him. "I'd hate to see what happens if those other girls tell Principal Hanley that you burst into their room, Iggy!"

"Oh, come on, give me a break. It's not like I can see."

Fang walked in quietly after Gazzy had already flopped down on the only comfortable chair in the room and Iggy (now with almost no sharpie stain left on his face) had cautiously felt his way in. "Yes. But they were changing."

"So? I couldn't even see them."

"They don't know that though."

"Well then, they won't know who I am, so they won't be able to report me even if they wanted to." Iggy gave a sigh. "If only I could see. I wonder if they were hot?"

Okay, this was going too far.

"What exactly did you do, Iggy?" I gave him my meanest glare — though it was sadly wasted on him — and stomped up to the wall he was leaning on. "You chauvinist pig. Did I just hear you say that you burst into a room of girls while they were changing?" I shook my head as Iggy opened his mouth, the denial showing on his face. "On second thought, I really don't want to know. If I don't know, I can't get in trouble for it. You three need to get out of this room now."

"How are the three of you guys sharing beds?" Angel smiled up at Gazzy as she tactfully changed the subject. "Since there are only three of you in the room."

"Oh, we did rock-paper-scissors and Iggy lost, so he's sleeping on the floor."

"I still say you guys cheated. How should I know who won and who lost? Stop picking on the blind kid, okay?"

Fang grinned. "You did lose though. And anyways, were going to ask the front desk for an extra mattress, so you won't be sleeping on the floor."

"Okay, seriously guys. Get out. I'm gonna be changing soon. And are you guys actually done packing?" Looking at the three of them with fresh eyes, I noticed that they had all changed into lighter clothes. "Fang, turn around."

Raising a thin eyebrow, he did. The (black) t-shirt fell loosely from his shoulders and brushed his back gently, but did not show any unnatural bulges. "How did you do that, Fang?"

"I tied my wings down."

"What!? But what if we have to make a quick get away?" I paused, shaking my head. "And how? With what?"

He blinked twice, and then slowly lifted his shirt hem. I blushed as I realized that my question pretty obviously asked him to show me what he had done.

Glancing out the peephole in the door, Fang made sure there was no one outside, and then… he took his shirt off.

The first thing I noticed was the smoothness of his back and the gleam of his dark feathers as they poked out of the natural crevice along his spine. Blushing, I peeled my eyes off his broad shoulders and looked lower, refusing to be distracted by his long arms or even the elastic of his boxers which were peeking out of the waistband of his jeans. Staring intently at the unnatural band over his wings, it took me a second before I could gather my thoughts enough to realize what it was.

It was cloth — a long strip of black cloth that was wound around his chest many times. It flattened his wings more than they would naturally go, so that they appeared connected to his back and not unnatural projections at all.

"We're all wearing one." Gazzy interrupted the silence as the three of us plus Ella stared at Fang. He pulled up his shirt as well, and turned his back to us. His mottled wings were also strapped down by a thin strip of cloth. "It was Fang's idea. This used to be one of his shirts, actually."

"That's dangerous." My voice was hard, and I imagined the further dangers of going around with our wings strapped down.

"They don't put us in anymore danger than we are in already." Fang turned and quickly put his t-shirt on again. I purposely didn't face him. "If I'm wearing a t-shirt without wing slots, it would still be a hassle to get my wings out, bound or not. And anyways, if I really need to, I'm pretty sure I can just rip the cloth apart as I unfold my wings." He pointed to the cloth on Gazzy's back. "They're thin strips for a reason."

I hesitated, torn. Nudge cleared her throat and walked over to me. "Uh, Max," she leaned over and whispered quietly, "we might have a bit of trouble with those." I frowned, looking at her. "You know. How it's wrapped around their chests… and we're girls…"

It took me a second to understand what she was trying to say.

Huh.