Chapter 9

The next few days were spent in caring for the Flock. Most of the injuries healed very quickly, but there were a few that gave Mom a hard time. However, everyone pulled through and soon they were all at the point where they didn't need help taking care of themselves and the injuries wouldn't need anymore care. Mom left soon after that to go home. She had Ella after all. I knew the Flock wanted to talk about what was going to happen next, but I didn't want to have to talk about it yet, so I put it off as long as I could. Finally, the Flock cornered me.

"Max, we need to talk." Fang stared at me, serious as ever. I mentally shrugged my shoulders and sat. The rest of the Flock followed suit.

"Max, we need you back. You saw what happened when we tried to fight those Flyboys. There were too many for us and we would have died. However, you were able to take them all out without a scratch. We've been limping along, but none of us think we'll last for too much longer. We don't really have any new arguments, only new evidence."

"I will stay with you for now." They all looked so relieved it was almost comical. "I will stay with you long enough to help you learn to survive and fight better. I will help you learn to feed yourself in the wild and I will lead you away from situations that I think are too strong. But do not expect me to stay forever. Once you are self-sufficient, I will leave again. I will not be your mother anymore, or your friend. I am your trainer and guide. The last time we had this talk I told you that you had made your decision and I was trying to abide by that. What happens now does not change that original decision. I'm just not cruel enough yet to just watch you die. Clear?" I didn't wait for their assent, I just walked away.

When I got to the mouth of the cave, I spread my wings and I flew away. Despite all of my brave words my emotions were beating at the surface again. Part of me wanted to be their mother, their friend. Part of me wanted to hold Angel and Gazzy in their nightmares again, part of me wanted to be held by Fang again, part of me wanted to love them and indulge them in the little things while we were on the run. But if I let that part win, I knew I would lose. I was so tired of losing. Maybe when they are ready to be without me again, I will join the secret service or something. Someone is going to want a girl with wings who can fight innumerable enemies without a scratch.

I heard wing beats behind me and I swung around to face the newcomer. It was Fang. Of course. "You probably shouldn't be flying yet."

"I'm not bleeding and nothing hurts, so I think I'm doing ok for now." He paused. "Max, I know that I can't take away the year that happened, but I need to know, can I change anything?"

My heart started to rush. "What do you mean?"

"The same thing I meant before. You said you wouldn't be the Flocks mother or friend, just our trainer and guide. Would I have any chance of changing your mind?"

"Fang, do you remember when we thought that Iggy was going to leave us to go visit his parents?"

He seemed taken aback by the change in topic but he nodded his head.

"We all tried to put a brave face on it, but we all felt like a part of ourselves was missing. None of us really knew what to do without him, even though we still had each other. We could only really count and depend on each other back then and so we held onto each other really tightly. We had been a unit. Then he had gone of his own free choice, but he had come back because he had felt the same thing that the rest of us had. We had needed each other. Do you remember that feeling?"

He nodded, a little slower this time.

"Magnify that feeling until it consumes everything and she might possibly feel what I felt back then. Do you really think that I want my mind changed? I've had a year to live without you, trying to die. What use would I have for that?"

I spun around in the air again and put on speed so that I quickly left him behind. I could feel him staring after me but I was so tired. He can take his emotions and noble ideas of trying to make me fall for him again and stuff it.

When I felt the tears on my cheeks again, I realized that I needed to work harder to keep my emotions in check. For the past year, I had only had to protect them from myself. That hadn't been too hard so I had stopped really trying. Now I had to work to protect them from others, and I wasn't sure if I was up to the challenge yet. But I would be. I won't go crying back to Fang if it is the last thing I do.

I hope you all liked this chapter and that it moved the plot a bit. I'm sorry that it's been forever, but life keeps getting in the way. Please review, your thoughts help!

~Flyer