Hey everyone. Time for another update. Before I get to that though, I have big news. I'm going to write two more stories. 'The Beginning of the End' is all about Dr. Charlotte Mullins. It begins with the day she runs away from home and, obviously, ends with her death. 'My Melody' is mostly a collection of one shots about Melody's childhood. Some stories will be continued, but not most of them. I may even make another one continued from this story. Okay, speaking of this story, I have something to tell you. I'm not going to be writing in ter Borcht's accent anymore. It's too difficult, especially for this chapter. You all know he's got that German accent, so pretend it's there. Alright, now that's all I will say about that stuff. Just read 'NeoFlock' and 'Deadline' by Talon666. As I have said countless times before, he is an amazing author. He supports me, so I return the favor. (He may say that he's the one returning the favor, but he's the better author.) Oh yeah, read 'My Life to the Max' by angelicreader6. She's just getting started, but I think it's pretty good so far. Ok, well here's that brand spanking new chapter that I promised. Enjoy!

I slowly walked into the dark office. The only light was coming from a lamp on the table. I could see ter Borcht in the light. He looked more creepy than usual in the orange glow of the light.

I walked over to the desk and waited for him to look up. When he did, he said, "You may sit.".

"What if I don't want to sit?" I asked, scrounging up all the Max I could.

"Sit." he ordered.

I rolled my eyes and sat down in the chair across from his desk. "So, what am I here for? Are you gonna tell me to join the Director or that I'm making a mistake by following my parents? 'Cause if that's what this is all about, then you are wasting your time."

"I don't care if you join the Director or not." he said. I could've sworn I heard him mutter, "Not that she'll be in charge much longer." but I wasn't sure.

"Then why did you make me come down here?" This was just a waste of time. They didn't capture me to get to my parents or anything interesting. They captured me to make me work for them, which wasn't happening. They seriously needed a new hobby or something.

"Because, you share a room with the biggest trouble makers here. Everyone else is either too scared to do anything or works for the Director." he said through gritted teeth.

Someone obviously didn't like the Director. Or maybe it was her use of the experiments. Maybe ter Borcht didn't like it that she was giving a few of them so much freedom. He was probably afraid they'd turn and help Jewel and Skye.

"So, you want me to spy on them?" I asked.

"Yes, that's exactly what I want. They are too rebellious. I must break them, crush their spirits." he growled.

I stood up and leaned over the desk and stared right into his ugly face. "No. Never. I'm not helping the Director and I'm not helping you."

Before I had a chance to pull back, he slapped me across my face, hard. My face stung and I could feel tears getting ready to fall. I wouldn't, couldn't let them. If I did, I'd be letting the flock, and myself, down.

"Get out of my sight! Filthy creature! You're just like those failures!" ter Borcht shouted at me.

"Gladly." I said huffily and walked straight for the door.

"I'll be watching your every move. Remember that." he said before I even turned the knob.

That did not sound good at all. I thought, as I shut the door and began my walk back to my room.

Ter Borcht said he'd be watching me. I'd have to be careful. And did I really hear him say that the Director wouldn't be in charge much longer? What was that all about? Something told me that I really didn't want to find out.

I soon ended up at our room. I was surprised at how quickly I seemed to make it there. I didn't even notice the walk back.

I opened the door. Skye and Jewel turned around, their smiles immediately evaporated, and their jaws dropped.

I closed the door and sat down on my bed. They just kept staring at me, their mouths hanging open. I finally got a little irritated and asked, "What?".

"Your…your face. He… he hit …you?" she asked, stumbling over her words.

"Oh." I said, a little relieved. I put my hand to my face and closed my eyes, concentrating. "There. All gone. Didn't even hurt that much."

"That was cool!" Jewel said, beaming. "It just went away, like it was never even there."

I then remembered my promise to Jewel. "Hey Jewel, come here." I told her. "I'm gonna heal that cut. Like I promised."

"Oh, right. Thanks Mel." she said, walking over to me.

I put my hand on the long cut that went all the way down the side of her face. I closed my eyes and concentrated on making it disappear. After a few seconds, I opened my eyes and examined her face.

"There. Gone." I said.

"Woah." Skye said, coming to take a look. "I have to admit that's pretty cool."

"Yeah, and now it's your turn." Jewel said, hopping up and dragging him down next to me.

"My turn?" he asked. "What does she mean my turn?"

"Mel's going to see if she can fix your black eye. She promised me she'd try." Jewel said.

"What'd you mean 'try'?" he asked, sounding a little nervous. It made me want to laugh.

"I've never tried to heal a black eye before. Trying won't hurt you." I said. "Promise."

"Fine." he said, sitting closer.

I took a deep breath. Keep calm Mel. I thought to myself.

I placed my hand lightly on his eye. I was so close I could see the exact color of his eyes. They were a deep, dark blue, like the ocean. I took another breath and closed my eyes, concentrating harder than I ever had before.

After a minute of holding my breath and hoping, I opened my eyes. It was almost completely healed. There was just a light purplish bruise right under his eye.

"Skye! Mel did it! Sort of. It's still there, but you can't really see it anymore." Jewel said.

"Really?" Skye asked.

I nodded and then realized I still had my hand on his face. I brought it down and hoped I wasn't blushing. "You're welcome." I said, quietly.

Skye just nodded and walked over to his hammock. He climbed in and laid down.

I turned my head down to the floor, but kept my eyes on him. I thought I saw Jewel smile slyly out of the corner of my eyes, but when I looked up, she was staring at the floor like I had been moments ago.

I laid down on my bed, staring at the bottom of Jewel's mattress. I rubbed my eyes and sighed. I tried to forget about how I felt, but so far that hadn't been very successful. I tried reminding myself that he was a jerk, but then he did something sweet for Jewel or smiled or laughed, even though he was laughing at me.

"Mel? Mel?" Jewel asked.

"Huh?" I said, coming out of my trance.

"I asked you what happened down in ter Borcht's office. What'd he do to you? What'd he want?" Jewel asked, a gleam in her eyes, like she knew a secret. She was really starting to remind me of Angel.

"Oh, right." I said, sitting up. I ran my fingers through my hair. "Uh, well he made me sit down and then he said he wanted me to spy on you and Skye." I said, turning my eyes ever so slightly to Skye. I knew he was listening.

"Of course I said no and so he slapped me. He yelled at me and then told me he'd be watching me." I said, watching Skye relax out of the corner of my eye.

Jewel shook her head. "I hate him. He walks around pretending he's in charge. In a lot of ways, he's worse than the Director. He zaps you with that stupid electric cattle prod for no good reason."

I just nodded. I wasn't going to tell her what I thought I heard ter Borcht say. Why make her worry about something I wasn't even sure I heard him actually say? He might've said something else or maybe nothing at all.

"Mel? Mel?" Jewel asked.

I must've been thinking again. "What Jewel? Sorry. What were you saying? I wasn't paying attention."

"I know." she said. "I was just asking you if it was okay for us to go to sleep. I'm kind of tired and it's starting to get pretty late and you've had a long day too. I was thinking it'd be good for all of us to turn in a little early. Maybe it'll help you come up with a plan quicker if you're refreshed."

I had forgotten about coming up with a plan for leaving. I'd have to worry about that too. "Sure Jewel." I nodded. "Sounds good to me. I could do with a few z's." Boy was that an understatement.

She turned off the light and crawled into her bed. I pulled the cover over me and turned towards the wall and away from Skye.

"I can't wait 'till we get out of here." Jewel said. "It sucks here. I hate ter Borcht, I hate Dr. Mason, and I hate every stinking whitecoat here. They treat us like garbage." I thought I heard her sniffle.

"It's a hard knock life." I said, half to myself.

"You got that right." she sighed. "Well, night Mel."

"Night Jewel." I yawned.

That night, I kept thinking about what was going to happen to Skye and Jewel after we got out of there. I supposed Max and Fang would take them in. Maybe in a nice environment Skye would stop being a jerk and would maybe…

Maybe what? Fall in love with me? Yeah right. Well, they did make flying kids so anything was possible I supposed. But was that possible? No. It wasn't. It was just a dream. A fantasy.

I heard his snores fill the room. He was in a deep sleep.

Wonder what he's dreaming about. I found myself thinking.

Not about me. That's for sure.

Ugh! Why was I tormenting myself? If he wanted to be a jerk and ignore me, then fine. I'd go back home and forget him. Maybe I'd listen to Felecia and ask Cory out. At least I knew he liked me.

But I don't want Cory. I want Skye. I thought.

But you can't have him.

This was ridiculous. I needed sleep. I punched my pillow a few times and laid back down. I tried to think about something else. If I had heard ter Borcht right back down in his office then, what did he mean. Was he going to try to get rid of the Director? That was something to think about.

I knew I'd have to be careful while planning this escape since ter Borcht said he'd be watching my every move. He wasn't going to stop me from going home. I didn't care how long it took or how dangerous it would be. I was going to get back home.

The last thing I remember before falling asleep was rolling over and looking at Skye's sleeping figure and wondering, once again, what he dreamt of.

Well, that's the end of another chapter. This chapter was brought to you by Talon666. He gave me the idea. Know how you can thank him? Read and review his stories 'Deadline' and 'NeoFlock'. You will love them. Trust me. Well, be on the lookout for another update to this story and the first chapters to my two new stories 'The Beginning of the End' and 'My Melody'. Catch ya'll later.