Chapter 10- Iggy's Chapter

I remembered where every creak on the staircase was, and I avoided them like the plague. My I-Pod was stuffed in my pocket, just for support I guess.

Leave it up to the blind guy to turn crazy.

When I heard all the snoring in the living room, I thought to turn back around and just go back to sleep, but I couldn't. Max had a tendency to let "flock-only" discussions take us into another time zone, most likely never to return. Well, I couldn't leave. Not yet.

Making sure to step lightly and not on whiney Lane, I went over to the couch. "Hey… Drew?"

I heard shuffling, so she must have sat up. "Iggy? What're you…-"

"Wanna go outside?" I offered before she went back asleep.

Somehow I knew she scowled. "Outside at four in the morning?"

I shrugged. With a sigh, she stood up. "Give me five minutes to get ready."

She agreed? Really? I wanted to start cheering, but waking up Ford wouldn't exactly ensure success on my mission. Geez… mission? I've been hanging out with Max too often.

Someone- crap, was that Ford!?- groaned and creaked up. "What are you doing now?"

I was silent. Maybe the overly-protective brother was just talking in his sleep? No. Of course he wasn't. "Where's Drew?"

"Uh… upstairs?"

"You chose to go on a date at four in the morning?"

My face went red. Hopefully the dark covered that. "I might not be here tomorrow!"

Shoot. Wasn't supposed to let that slip. He stood up and scratched his head. "Well… just don't keep her out too late. Or… early, I guess." Ford then stumbled into the kitchen. My stomach growled too, but Drew was already back downstairs.

I wanted to see her. So badly. That one day in the snow wasn't good enough. Drew had dark red hair and pretty brown eyes, but I couldn't remember if she was tall or not. And what was she wearing right now? Obviously not pajamas, but still. Drew took my hand I hoped she was smiling. "Where to?"

"Anywhere you want," I answered, giving one of my own smiles.

Ford snorted in the kitchen. "Remember, be back before seven!"

"Isn't the rule 'back before eleven'?"

I could feel the sharp glare. "Seven thirty."

I shrugged and we rushed outside. "Ever flown before?" I asked as I unfurled my wings. I hugged her close to me. "I promise not to drop you."

Her voice was just a little shaky. "That's reassuring. Selene isn't exactly a steady flier." I laughed and zoomed upward. Drew screamed at first, then it slowly turned into a laugh. I smiled into her red hair. It smelled like apples. "There's a big, empty field just to your right. We could go there."

"Dang it," I suddenly said, "I should have brought breakfast."

Drew laughed again and I landed. "A picnic in the dark. Well, I guess that just means we'll have to be pigs when we get back."

"Shouldn't be too hard." I kicked some snow out of the way. She followed, and soon we had a Drew-and-Iggy sized hole. I pulled out my I-Pod and solemnly handed it to her. "This is partly my pride and joy. Choose well."

After a few minutes, she finally found one.

Check yes, Juliet, are you with me? Rain is falling down on the sidewalk, I won't go until you come outside. Check yes, Juliet, kill the limbo. I'll keep tossing rocks at your window. There's turning back for us tonight. Lace off your shoes, here's how we do.

Run, baby, run. Don't ever look back. They'll tear us apart if you give them the chance. Don't tell your heart, don't say we're not meant to be. Run, baby, run. Forever will be you and me.

"What's this song called?" I asked quietly.

"Check Yes Juliet, by We the Kings."

I nodded to myself. Find a song: check. "So… come here often?"

"Every now and then," she joked. I put my arm around her and she leaned her head on my shoulder. Find a perfect moment to relive later: check.

When she sighed, I knew that something was wrong. No one sighed like that unless there was a touchy subject coming up. "What's wrong?" I asked, turning to her. Again, I wished I could just see her face. Just one more time before I left. Just once….

"Why are you leaving tomorrow?"

My breath left me. She heard? I squeezed my eyes shut and shook my head. "I don't want to go. I'm to try as hard as I can to stay."

Prepare to fight against Max: check.

* * *

Nudge knocked on Iggy's door, ready to try and talk him out of whatever plan he had to try and avoid Max's thing. She was also aware that talks like that usually resulted in them leaving, but this time it was really important. Erasers were back, Max was really scared, and something was just plain wrong here.

He didn't answer. "Iggy?" Nudge softly called. It wasn't like him to sleep so soundly. Iggy would have been able to hear her walk down the hall. "Are you there?"

Nudge opened the door and squealed. No! He couldn't be gone already!

She ran down stairs to only see that Drew was also missing. "Oh, no," she moaned.

Ford irritably turned to her. "What are you doing up so early?"

"Have you seen Iggy? I really need to make sure that he's not going to try something stupid like run off somewhere just because of tomorrow and tell him that we're not going to leave, just talk, and that everything will be alright and-"

Ford paled a considerable amount. With a quick look at the clock, he noticed it was barely five-thirty. He couldn't just go and ruin their moment. Drew really liked him, and when he wasn't blowing something up, Ford sort of liked Iggy too. "Hey… Nudge?"

"Yeah?"

"Let them have the moment. Iggy and Drew will be back at seven. Well, they should be. You can do all of that then. And don't tell Val or Jo," he said.

* * *

"Hey… Iggy?"

"Yeah?"

"We need to go," Drew said, slowly sitting up.

I sat up too, again wishing I could see what was going on. "What's-?"

Drew screamed.