Chapter 9 I believe I can fly

Cornelia's POV:

*Why? Why did I listen to her? Why did I go with the plan?* I thought bitterly

I, Taranee, Will and a laughing Irma were now running as fast as we could. A howl was heard behind us. I looked back to see a bunch of wolves, looking angry and wet, running after us.

'Irma, I'm never going to listen to you!' I screamed at her as I ran faster.

No one's POV:

One hour ago (counted from our time experience. For the girls it would have been a sun block earlier)

The girls were now 12 months old. They had grown a lot during their time at the wolves. Cornelia learnt how to swim, with thanks to a very sorry Irma, and the girls were now capable of doing the full 50 laps. They were the best of the pack, but they never tried to gain a higher place than Mother, Father or Grandmother. They didn't thought it was necessary. Their powers had seemed to have grown with them. Will was now actually capable of throwing some lightning at targets, which made hunting easier, Taranee could now move her fireballs while they were in the air and could create four of them at the same time, Irma was capable of shooting water at targets and moving it through the air with ease. She also, if she focused hard enough, could turn it into ice. Cornelia could now grow plants with ease, trees strained her a little bit and she was capable of moving rocks and creating very small fissures.

Today was their last day at the wolves. Grandmother wanted to do one last training with them but Irma had other plans. While the girls were waiting for Grandmother to appear Irma turned to Cornelia.

'Cornelia, can I ask you something?' Irma asked.

Cornelia looked at Irma with a skeptical look.

'And what do you want to ask?' she asked suspicious.

'Well, since it's our last day.' Irma started. 'I want to leave with a memorable goodbye.'

Will and Taranee now also looked at Irma with interest.

'And you're planning?' Taranee asked interested.

Irma grinned at them.

'All you and Will need to do is to distract Grandmother long enough for me and Cornelia to do our jobs.'

Will and Taranee looked at each other. They both knew Irma longer than today and knew that she was up to no good. But then again, her plans were always fun to do so why not. They grinned and then nodded at Irma. Irma smiled and then turned to Cornelia.

'And what do you say, Corny?' Irma asked with a smile.

Cornelia growled at her and glared at her as well, but seeing Irma's face she smirked. If Irma had something planned it was bound to be funny. So, naturally, she nodded.

Half an hour later everything was set. Cornelia had managed to grow and bent some trees so that they ended up in a hammock sort of way and Irma had filled it with water. Will and Taranee distracted Grandmother long enough and now the four of them were hiding in a bush next to the drinking place. A smile crept over their faces as the pack came to drink. When all of them were standing near the river and bent down to drink something Irma nudged Cornelia. Cornelia nodded and focused once more. The trees slowly started to wave with the hammock full of water. With one powerful swing the hammock broke and the wolves got drenched. When the wolves figured out what happened they heard a laughter coming from the bushes. They went to take a look and weren't happy with the four laughing girls. When the girls noticed that the wolves had gotten over their shock they quickly started to run.

Cornelia's POV:

*Have. To. Run. Faster.*

I ran and ran.

'We have to hurry!' I heard Taranee say. 'If we reach the trees we'll be safe!'

The trees were coming into sight but the wolves were closing in.

'When I'll get my paws on you, you'd wish that Taylor had killed you a long time ago!' I heard Claudia yell.

We managed to reach the trees and quickly climbed into them. Irma needed a little push but we were finally out of their reach. I saw that the wolves were circling the tree and were looking at us with killing intent. We looked at them before looking at each other. A smile played on my lips and I saw that the others were as well smiling. We looked down one more time before breaking out into a laughter.

'Get down, you apes!' Brenda scowled.

We just laughed. The last day with my family and still being capable of pulling something like this off. Fantastic!

After some time, when we finally stopped laughing and the wolves slowly retreated, we went down. Immediately we got tackled by Mother and Father. Both weren't looking too happy with us. They motioned us to follow them and we did, knowing that we were in a heap of trouble.

We followed them till we were at the rim of the den. There, Grandmother was waiting for us, together with a now fully grown Lisa.

'You four just had to do that, didn't you?' Grandmother snarled at us as we all looked down. 'You should be happy that it's your last day here or else you four would have been in a lot of trouble.'

I looked up. This meant we were getting away with it! I couldn't believe my …err…our luck.

'But I'm afraid you have to leave now.' Grandmother said, suddenly sounding sad.

This shocked me. I mean, okay I knew I had to leave but still it didn't feel right. I glanced at Will, Irma and Taranee. The three of them just nodded. Of course, they didn't grow up here. I know every bush, rock and leaf. How could I leave?

Taranee walked up to me. She looked at me with sympathy. As if she knew what I was thinking she said: 'Everything will be alright, Cornelia. As long as we're together, right?'

I swallowed as I nodded. Will, Irma and Taranee then turned to Mother, Father, Lisa and Grandmother. They hugged them and thanked them for everything. Now it was my turn. I turned to Mother and Father. Both were looking with pride and sadness at me. I walked to Mother. Even though I was now bigger than her I still respected her. I hugged her. She placed a paw on my shoulder.

'I'll miss you.' I sobbed.

'I'll miss you too.' she said. 'You must know that I'm very proud of you and that you'll always have a place in my heart.'

I let go of Mother and then hugged Father.

'It's okay, little pup.' he whispered. 'You've got someone watching over you, it'll be alright.'

I then went to Lisa. She was crying.

'I'll miss you Cornelia.' she sobbed. 'Even though you were mean you were the best sister I've ever had.'

I smiled and hugged my little sister. I then looked at Grandmother.

'Hale.' she said. 'I think I can say that I couldn't be prouder than I am now.'

I smiled through my tears. I hugged her as well and then the four of us did one last saluting pose. We then walked away from the den. Grandmother had told us that our next destination were the owls. They lived over the mountains in a valley with lots of tall trees. There we would meet the last human.

*I wonder how big these owls are. I mean I've seen some owls around our territory but they were quite small.* I mused as I followed the other girls.

Irma's POV:

*Again with the walking!* I screamed in my mind. *As if all that running at the wolves wasn't enough.*

We've walked for sun blocks. The sun was setting and we still hadn't arrived at the owls. At least we had managed to cross the mountains. Boy, it was cold there. Now all I can see are ridiculously large trees and… What am I hearing?

We all stopped when we heard a faint noise. It sounded like a cry, but I couldn't exactly find the source. We looked around, hoping to see who or what was making that sound.

'Irma! Shadow!' Taranee warned.

I looked shocked down and saw a big shadow looming over me. And if I know one thing then it's that you run when you see a shadow underneath you. The girls ran behind trees and I started running on my own. The shadow kept following me.

'Look out, below!' I heard someone scream.

With that I felt that something fell on me, knocking me to the ground. Whatever it was, it wasn't a bird of prey or else I would have been hanging in its claws. (Irma doesn't know that she, at age 12, is way too heavy for a bird of prey)

'Oops, sorry.' a laughing voice said from my back. 'My bad, but you can't say I didn't warn you.'

The voice sounded female and extremely happy. It also felt terribly familiar.

'Irma! Are you okay?' I heard Will say.

I didn't exactly know what happened but I heard the voice gasp.

'Oh wow! You look like me!' she said.

I was tired of looking at the grass in front of me so I turned around, knocking the person off of me. Then I saw a shocked looking Cornelia, a surprised looking Taranee and a concerned yet happy Will looking at me and the person that knocked me over.

'Ouchie, that kinda hurt.' the voice said.

I turned around to finally see who knocked me over and I felt that my jaw dropped. The voice belonged to a girl my age. She had raven black hair, which was tied with some lianas, into two tails. She wore something that looked like leaves around her torso and hips and under her arms was something hanging that looked like wings, but then made of leaves. She looked weird, but extremely nice.

Taranee's POV:

I couldn't exactly believe my eyes. Was this girl, this girl, the last one? Our last sister? She looked weird and kinda scary.

The girl noticed that we were looking at her and I saw a big smile creep over her face while she got up.

'You must be those four Granddaddy talked about!' she squealed.

I raised an eyebrow. It certainly looked like she was our last sister. I glanced at Will, Cornelia and Irma. Cornelia replied with a look that clearly said: "Help me, I think I've lost it." and Will just gaped at the new girl. Irma stood up laughing while tackling the girl down.

'Ouchie!' the girl said again. 'Why did you do that?'

Irma grinned at the girl.

'Well sis, you knock me down, I knock you down. That's the rule.'

Now my jaw dropped. Was this really Irma? I mean when I first met her she was hostile. She accused me of different things and when we met Cornelia, she again acted hostile. And now she is smiling and laughing with a girl we don't even know the name of!

I looked at the others. Will was now smiling, as if she knew something I didn't and I saw Cornelia rubbing her eyes, as if to make sure that she wasn't dreaming.

The weird girl smiled back at Irma.

'Well, if it's the rule I guess I should follow it.'

Irma nodded. 'Yep, you better remember it. As long as you listen to me, you're alright.'

The girl smiled evilly at Irma and reacted by turning over and knocking Irma off her. She then jumped on Irma.

'How's that?' she said triumphant.

Irma reacted by struggling against her and the two started to have a wrestle match. The only thing Cornelia and I did was watching in disbelieve. What, in the name of the ancestors, was happening?

Will's POV:

*So she is the last one, huh? She doesn't look so bad.* I thought.

I looked at her and Irma wrestling. I saw the joy in Irma's eyes. The same as when we went to swim while we were at the turtles or when she wanted to pull a stunt with the bears or wolves.

*It seems that she finally understands why I've been acting so weird when we first met Taranee.*

I felt my stomach protest. We hadn't eaten after the lunch and I was starving. Besides I wanted to know who this new girl was. I walked up to both of them.

'Okay you two, knock it off.' I said.

They were completely ignoring me so I did what every sane and good sister would do. I joined the fight.

Cornelia's POV:

'Now I know I'm dreaming.' I muttered. 'Will is really fighting with Irma and the new girl…'

I looked at the three of them wrestling. First I thought that Will was trying to stop them but when they ignored her she just jumped in the fight!

*Am I really the only one who thinks this is weird.?*

'No, I also think this is weird.' Taranee said as she looked at the fight.

'Huh?' I said confused.

Taranee looked at me. 'You're right, this is weird.'

I gave her a confused look but I quickly looked back at the three fighting girls when I heard a scream.

'Ouch! Will, that was uncalled for!' Irma yelled at Will.

The three had stopped fighting. It seemed that Will was capable of grabbing Irma and the other girl at the same time and shock them. This made Irma look very annoyed and the other girl surprised. Will on the other hand, just smiled. She let go of Irma and the new girl. Irma got up and was rubbing her arm, still glaring at Will while the other girl was now jumping like a frog.

'You can do things too!' she squealed happily.

Not that I was surprised when she said this. Grandmother told me that everyone of us can do things. Will smiled at her and stepped forward.

'Yeah.' she said. 'Well, I'm Will and I can do things with lightning.'

The new girl hugged her. 'That is so spacious!'

I again looked at Taranee, hoping she would know something, but she only shrugged. Irma then stepped forwards but before saying anything she tackled the girl again to the ground.

'I'm Irma and water is my thing.' she said as she sat on the girl.

'Irma… Sounds familiar.' the girl said as she tried to struggle free.

'Irma, go off of her or else.' Will said threateningly.

Irma quickly got of the girl and Will pulled her up. Taranee went to her.

'My name is Taranee, I can do things with fire.' she said shyly to the girl.

The girl smiled at her and hugged her.

*Yep, this is weird.* was the only thing I thought when the girl looked at me. I sighed.

'I'm not going to tell you anything until you've told us your name.' I said stubborn as I crossed my arms.

I heard Will and Irma sigh and Taranee giggle. The girl looked at me and then slapped her hand against her head.

'You don't know? Oh sorry! I totally forgot!' she said. 'My name is Hay-Lin and I do things with air.'

She smiled at me. 'Now it's your turn.'

'Fine.' I replied. 'My name is Cornelia and I control earth.'

'Yippee!' Hay-Lin squealed. 'Now I finally met you! So sissy's, what are we going to do today? Jumping from trees? Swimming in the lake? Jumping from trees into the lake?'

I arched an eyebrow. I was right. This girl is weird.

Irma's POV:

I smiled. Hay-Lin was funny and innocent. I also had the weird feeling I knew her. I grabbed an arm of her.

'What about some food? I'm starving.' I said with a smile.

'Of course!' she said happily. 'I bet you guys are hungry like wolves! Oops… I forgot, you came from them, right?'

Will and Taranee nodded but I saw that Cornelia was still having some problems.

'Yeah, so what? Don't you like them?' Cornelia said rather harshly to Hay-Lin.

Hay-Lin seemed to be taken aback by her.

'Well I don't know. I've met one once, but he wasn't that nice to me.' she said awkwardly.

'Well maybe you weren't nice to him!' Cornelia countered.

'Oh boy, here we go again.' I heard Will mutter to Taranee who silently nodded.

I didn't know what she was talking about. This never happened before. I stepped in front of Hay-Lin, placing myself between her and Cornelia.

'Listen Corny.' I said. Immediately I saw a rage coming up from Cornelia's side. 'Hay-Lin is our sister. Can't you feel the bond? And if Hay-Lin wants then I'll be her sister! What about you?' I said.

I saw Cornelia's eyes widen.

'What's wrong with you?' Cornelia yelled at me, tears in her eyes. 'When you first saw me, you was all like, I hate you! And according to Taranee you did the same to her! Now a total weirdo comes up, and you hug and play with her as if she's been your friend and sister all along!'

I was taken aback. I didn't realize it until she said it.

'Guys…' Hay-Lin said weakly behind me.

'Not now Hay-Lin.' I said.

I then turned to Cornelia. 'That maybe true, but I feel a deep bond with Hay-Lin and if you can't handle that then you can lea…'

'Stop it!' Will said.

She went to Hay-Lin and slowly pulled her between us. She then gave both of us a stern glare.

'Now you three are going to listen to me!' she said sternly. 'I don't want to go search for Hay-Lin or Cornelia as well, because of your bickering!'

Cornelia looked confused at Will and I realized that we were doing the same thing as back with Taranee. Hay-Lin had tears in her eyes. Will turned to Hay-Lin, hugging her.

'Shhh.' she said. 'It's alright. What they say is not to hurt you or anything. Cornelia is just scared that we'll leave her for you. Irma had the same feeling with Taranee.'

Cornelia looked shocked at me and I turned away, a little embarrassed.

'Really?' Hay-Lin sobbed.

'Really.' Taranee said. 'She ran away in a storm and we had to find her.'

'Yeah, yeah. You can stop the happy memories.' I said annoyed.

Hay-Lin stopped sobbing and slowly loosened Will's grip. She quickly hugged Taranee and then went to Cornelia.

'Cornelia, I want us to be sisters.' she said. 'Please?'

Cornelia looked at Hay-Lin's pleading eyes. She kept looking stubbornly at her for some time until she finally gave in. She gave a small smile.

'Oh well.' she said. 'You can't possibly be worse than Irma.'

'Hey!' I said, rather offended.

Cornelia ignored me because of Hay-Lin's sudden squeal. Hay-Lin then hugged Cornelia and grabbed her and me at our arms.

'Yippee!' she said. 'Now come with me! The family can't wait to meet you!'

I laughed as I saw her happiness. I don't think Hay-Lin can be angry for too long and with her around, neither can I.

Will's POV:

We were following Hay-Lin through a maze of trees. The trees were all ridiculously big. I looked at Hay-Lin. She was laughing with Irma and Cornelia. I couldn't help but smile. They seemed really happy. Suddenly I remembered something.

'They are now acting as if they are your family, your friends. But when the time comes that you've found the fifth they will abandon you.'

I shook my head.

*No, that was just a nightmare. Nothing more. They wouldn't abandon me, they just wouldn't.*

I saw Taranee looking at me with concern. I smiled at her but she kept looking concerned at me. I didn't like it how she was looking so I quickly went to Hay-Lin.

'Say Hay-Lin, you live with the owls right?' I asked.

Hay-Lin turned her head and smiled at me.

'Yeah, why do you ask?' she said.

'Well, I was thinking.' I said. 'I've seen owls before and they weren't bigger than this.' I held my hand at my knees height. 'Are those who you live with also that small?'

Hay-Lin shook her head.

'No silly! They are bigger! The owls you've seen were branches from our family.' she said.

I wanted to ask her how big those owls were until I noticed another shadow.

'Shadow!' I warned.

Cornelia, Taranee and I immediately jumped behind a tree while Irma was struggling to take Hay-Lin with her.

'Hay-Lin, hurry up!' she said. 'We need to get to safety!'

Hay-Lin on the other hand was just standing there, looking at the bird who made that shadow.

'Calm down, it's just Daddy.' she said.

'Daddy?' we questioned.

The shadow grew larger and larger until we could hear wings clasp. I looked up and saw a giant Owl landing right next to Hay-Lin and Irma. The Owl was at least two heads bigger than Irma. I slowly came out of my hiding place while Hay-Lin hugged the giant Owl.

'Daddy! Look!' she said. 'My sisters are here! We're complete!'

The Owl looked at us one by one. I felt a little scared when he looked at me. He looked stern. He then turned to Hay-Lin.

'Hay-Lin, you know you aren't allowed to fly out while the sun is setting! It is way too dangerous.' the Owl scolded.

Hay-Lin hung her head.

'I'm sorry.' she said. 'But Granddaddy said I could go.'

'You should have asked your mother or me for permission, not Grandfather.' the Owl said sternly.

'But you say that I have to wait until I've got my own wings!' Hay-Lin moaned back.

'And you will.' the Owl said now reassuringly. 'In two months you and your sisters will know how to fly.'

Hay-Lin looked at him with big eyes while I was checking my ears. Did he really said that we would know how to fly? With wings? I looked at Taranee and Cornelia who were looking as confused as I felt. Irma was just smiling at Hay-Lin while Hay-Lin jumped like a frog.

'Yippee!' she squealed.

I shook my head when I suddenly felt a pain in my back. For at least half a moon cycle my back hurt and it really annoyed.

'Your back again, huh?' Taranee said.

I looked up and saw Taranee looking at me in concern.

'Don't worry.' I said with a smile. 'We all have the pain and my guesses are that our fur is too small.'

'Yeah, I think you're right.' Taranee said. 'Hopefully we get some new fur when we are at the nest, my back is really hurting me.'

'As long as we don't have to wear the leaves I'm okay with it.' Cornelia added softly.

I muffled a laugh and saw that Taranee was doing the same. Still it seemed that Hay-Lin heard us.

'You don't like my temporary fur?' she said with a pout.

'No! No!' I said quickly. 'It's just that… they seem a little cold.'

'But they look really good on you.' Cornelia added quickly.

Hay-Lin smiled immediately. 'Thanks! But I've grown out of my fur half a moon cycle ago and Granddaddy and Grandmamma didn't want to give me my new fur until you arrived. I'm really glad you are because these leaves are really annoying. My back keeps hurting because of it.'

Taranee, Cornelia, Irma and I looked at each other in surprise. Hay-Lin seemed to have the same back problem we had. Before any of us could actually ask any further the big Owl spoke.

'You can stand here all night long or you could climb on my back and get some food.' he said while looking at all of us.

Our stomachs started to growl and we all blushed a little. He chuckled while Hay-Lin was laughing. He bent forward, making it able for us to climb his back. Hay-Lin practically jumped on his back and held her arm out for Irma to grab. Irma looked a little suspicious at the owl but then accepted Hay-Lin's hand. Taranee and Cornelia on the other hand were looking as if they wanted to keep their feet on the ground and I wasn't sure myself.

'Are you three coming or what?' Hay-Lin asked with a smile.

'We're…going to fly?' I stammered.

'Of course silly!' Hay-Lin answered. 'It's that or walk another sun block and then climb the tree. This is way easier.'

'I don't know.' Cornelia said while Taranee nodded.

Irma sighed.

'Well, if you three are too chicken to come up I can understand.' she mocked.

'I'm not chicken!' Cornelia and I said at the same time.

'Then why don't you come up here?' Irma said with a mischievous glint in her eyes. She then made some chicken sounds annoying me and Cornelia.

'I will!' Cornelia said as she climbed on top of the Owl's back.

I looked at them. Cornelia was glaring at Irma while Irma had a cocky smile and Hay-Lin was looking concerned at us.

'If you're too scared to fly I'll walk with you.' she said as she made attempts to jump off.

*That's nice of her.* I thought.

'No, no Hay-Lin.' I said, stopping her from jumping. 'We'll come, right Taranee?'

Taranee looked at me as if I said that we would fight a bunch of hungry, false bears. I walked towards her and put my hands on her shoulder.

'It's okay.' I said. 'I'm with you, so no chickening out, understood?'

It seemed to work a little because she nodded. We slowly walked to the Owl and I went up first. I then took Taranee's hand and made her sit in front of me and right behind Cornelia.

'Now you won't fall.' I said with a smile.

She flashed a small smile but let out a shriek when the owl moved. The Owl got up.

'Ready?' he said. 'Hold on tight!'

He spread his wings, making Cornelia and Taranee shriek. Taranee grabbed Cornelia as if her life depended on it and Cornelia did the same with Irma. Irma and Hay-Lin on the other hand were roaring out of pleasure and I felt a little scared. He then started to flap his wings and suddenly we were shooting through the sky. I closed my eyes and I could feel that Taranee was tensing up. I finally noticed that we weren't ascending anymore and I heard Hay-Lin and Irma squeal in excitement.

I slowly opened my eyes and I saw Taranee's trembling back. I looked left and right and saw only clouds and treetops. I looked down and saw that we were very high in the air. Though I thought I would feel scared, I didn't. The air gave me a weird feeling of… I don't know… relaxation? I noticed that both Irma and Hay-Lin had stretched their paws like wings. I saw that Cornelia, just like Taranee, was tensed up. I let go of Taranee and stretched my paws just like Irma and Hay-Lin.

Taranee's POV:

I felt that we were going slowly up and down but I didn't dare to open my eyes. I felt that Cornelia was as tense as me. I could feel Will sitting behind me and that made me feel reassured but suddenly I didn't feel her claws anymore. I started to panic.

'Will! Will! Are you there?' I shouted against the wind.

'Calm down, Taranee' Will's voice said right behind me. 'You really should try this, it's fun!'

I slowly opened my eyes. I saw the treetops and clouds and immediately closed my eyes. I heard Will roar with laughter and I couldn't keep my curiosity in check. I opened them again and slowly turned around to look at Will. I saw her with her paws outstretched as wings and with her eyes closed. She really seemed to enjoy it.

Now that I opened my eyes, a feeling of peace settled in me. I looked down but it didn't scare me. I felt that, as long as I was in the air, I could do anything and not be touched. It felt great! I decided to do the same as Will and stretched my paws as well. Flying wasn't scary. It was great!

Cornelia's POV:

Taranee's claws suddenly left my shoulders. My eyes shot open and I turned around. I was expecting to see Taranee falling down, not to see her smile and have her paws outstretched as some wings! I noticed that Will did the same and when I looked forward I saw that Irma and Hay-Lin did the same. Were they insane? We could easily fall and then what? Though I couldn't help but feel happy. I may have been raised according the Path of Earth, but this was great! No obstacles, no nothing! Careless flying through the sky. I relaxed and closed my eyes, more out of relaxation than fear.

'Hold tied, I'm going to land.' the Owl said.

I moaned slightly and I heard the others doing the same. I opened my eyes to see that we were flying right towards a big tree. It was bigger than the others and broader as well. Right under the leaf roof a giant hole became visible. The owl slowly landed in the hole and lowered so that we could jump off him. We all landed safely and I immediately started to look around. We were actually standing inside a tree! You could see the forest really good from up here. I saw more Owls coming towards us and I also saw some nests out of feathers. I guess they are meant for us.

'Ughum.' a voice said behind me.

I turned around and saw the Owl who brought us looking expectantly at me. I noticed three other Owls standing behind him. Two of them looked old while the other looked around the same as the one who brought us. I quickly went to stand next to Irma as we waited for the introductions.

'Welcome, young ones.' one of the older Owls said with a high voice. 'You can call me Grandmamma. You've already met your sister Hay-Lin, is it not?'

'Yes ma'am.' I answered politely.

'Ah! So polite.' the other older Owl said. 'You must have been raised by the wolves. Tell me child, what is your name?'

I looked at the Owl with some suspicion but well… I was up here and there was no escape route except for falling so if he wanted to kill me he could do it anytime. So I could as well try to trust him.

'My name is Cornelia Hale, sir.' I replied.

He bowed his head to me.

'Welcome Cornelia. You can call me Granddaddy.'

He then turned to Irma.

'And what's your name child?'

Irma took a step forward.

'My name is Irma Lair!' she said proudly. 'I grew up with the Turtles.'

Granddaddy bowed his head.

'Welcome Irma.'

'And you my child?' the last Owl asked to Taranee.

'My name is Taranee Cook, ma'am.' she answered.

'Welcome Taranee.' the Owl said. 'You can call me Mommy.'

*Is it me or does this all sound terribly childish?* I thought a little annoyed.

*I agree with you on that part.*

I looked bewildered at Taranee. I could have sworn that I heard her voice inside my head.

*Taranee, can you hear me?* I thought.

*Yeah, I can do that for some time now. I just never thought I could talk to you with thinking.*

I smiled at her while she flashed me a grin.

*Are you going to tell Will, Irma and Hay-Lin?* I asked her.

*Later, now we have to focus on making ourselves comfortable.* she replied.

I grinned as I watched how Will was trying to introduce herself. I had to admit that it was kinda scary that Taranee could hear what I or the others think but on the other hand this can come in handy during hunts.

Will's POV:

Grandmamma looked at me expectantly so I cleared my throat.

'My name is W…'

But before I could finish a loud screech was heard. I quickly turned around and saw another Owl closing in on us. I ducked just in time to evade him. He flew right at Hay-Lin and tried to grab her. She dodged him and he flew against a wall.

'Eros!' she said angrily. 'You promised to stop doing that!'

The Owl named Eros got up.

'Well you should now when I'm lying or not.' he said.

Hay-Lin glared at him.

'Eros! Come here and greet your new sisters.' Daddy said sternly.

Eros seemed to shrink under Daddy's glare and slumped to us.

'Hey, I'm Eros. Your older brother from now on.' he said happily.

'I'm Will Vandom.' I said. 'And these are Taranee Cook, Irma Lair and Cornelia Hale.'

He unfolded his wings and folded them around us. He hugged us, I guess..

'Welcome to the family then!' he said while he let us go. 'Hay-Lin can show you where you sleep and some new furs are laying ready for you.'

Hay-Lin quickly pulled us to her and showed us our nests.

'Watch him.' she muttered. 'He loves to tease me and he will do that to you too.'

'I dare him.' Taranee said with a small smile. 'Let's see how fast he can fly with burned tail feathers.'

I laughed as I took one of the feathery nests. I searched for my fur but I couldn't find one.

Irma's POV:

I chose the nest next to Will and Hay-Lin. I saw that there was no fur laying on my nest so I turned to Hay-Lin to ask her where I could find it. I saw that Hay-Lin was busy searching in her nest and that she didn't notice that Eros was standing behind her. Eros bent forwards.

'Hay-Lin! Watch out!' I yelled but it was too late.

Just before Hay-Lin turned around Eros pulled on her leaf top, tearing it apart. Hay-Lin turned around angrily and thrust her paws at Eros. A sudden gust of wind came out of nowhere and blew him against a wall.

'Okay! Okay! I'm sorry!' he yelled.

Hay-Lin lowered her paws and the wind stopped. She bent forwards to pick up the leaves when I noticed something on her back.

'Hay-Lin, stand still.' I said as I neared her. 'There is something on your back.'

Hay-Lin froze and neared her. The thing on her back wasn't just some bug. They were…

'Wings?' I said confused.

'What did you say Irma?' Will asked me as she came to us.

'Wings!' I exclaimed as I pointed at the two tiny wings on Hay-Lin's back.

They were tiny about two times my hand (Two foot or 60 centimeters, whatever suits you best) and had a turquoise and black color. (Tiny Guardian wings) They flapped a little when Hay-Lin started to squeal in excitement but it was evident that she couldn't fly with them… not yet.

'Wings! I have wings?' Hay-Lin squealed as she started to turn on the spot to try to see them.

'They can't be wings.' Will said as she tried to touch them when Hay-Lin finally stopped turning.

Hay-Lin moaned slightly when Will touched them. Will quickly retreated her hand.

'By the ancestors! They are real!' she exclaimed.

Hay-Lin flapped her wings furiously and she actually managed to float in the air before landing on her butt.

'So you've found out?'

We turned around and saw Grandmamma and Granddaddy were standing behind us.

'I'm quite surprised that you didn't find out about this earlier.' Grandmamma said.

'What do you mean, find out earlier?' I asked confused.

'You're wings have been growing since half a moon cycle ago. The same time when..' Granddaddy said.

'The same time when our backs started to hurt!' I, Taranee, Will and Cornelia said.

We looked at each other and quickly started to take our tops off. When they were off we looked at each other's backs. We really had wings! Real wings! I flapped with them and also managed to get off the ground, only to fall back again.

'When can we fly on our own?' I asked eagerly.

'Over two weeks, then your wings are big enough to carry you properly.' Grandmamma answered. 'Then we'll start your flying lessons.'

*Real wings!* I thought. *This is great!*

'Now I guess you want your new furs. We've received these from the ancestors themselves. They will grow with you and your wings will go through them.' Granddaddy said as he motioned Daddy to come.

Daddy came with five packages of yellow/brown furs. The color reminded me of the lion fur. They looked exactly the same as our old furs but when I put them on they felt lighter and warmer and my new wings went right through them. Or at least I think they did because it happened with the others. I also noticed that my back stopped hurting. My stomach started growl again.

'Uhmm…' I said when the others all looked at me. 'Where is the food?'

And that was it. I hope I didn't disappoint you because I really tried my best. As you've noticed Will is still a little scared that the girls will abandon her and boy is she going to hate for what I'll do to her in the next chapter! But I'll stop with making you curious. Questions just ask them. Oh! Yes, after the next chapter you'll have to wait for a while because my W.I.T.C.H. girls are going for a meet and greet with Lexvan's Dragon Hybrids from his story Dragon Children. More information on that in the next chapter.

Though you people out there, some shameless commercial. Read Dragon children, Lexvan was inspired by this story and you would really please him if you read and reviewed his story. BTW, don't forget to review mine!

TTigerz signing out.