This next chapter is going to be less depressing, I'm done with the depressing chapters. Until they are needed once more. Bon appetite. :D

Mini's POV

After I left the rest of Max's flock and our dad in the living room, I climbed the stairs in search of the bathroom. A few minutes later Nudge found me wandering from door to door and she helped me find the right entrance, the last door of six, located on the right side of the hallway. I thanked Nudge as I entered the room, closing the door behind me.

My eyes stared at the objects that sat in front of me. On my left hand side there was a long counter with two sinks that were ten inches away from each other. A mirror stretched across the counter that met the ceiling and the corner of the wall- a full-length body mirror. All four walls were beige. On my right was a pale blue toilet against the wall, and following the toilet was a bathtub that held a shower head inside. I walked to the shower and ran my hand against the light blue shower curtain.

I threw the shower curtain back and grabbed the knob for the water temperature, pressing a long silver button that caused the shower head to spout warm water. A grin spread across my face and I temporarily forgot about the past hour with everybody in the living room and its happenings.

About an hour later I was clean. Sparkling clean. The kind of clean when you lose your dirt tan. Your skin is soft but not yet dry. And honestly, it felt great. I couldn't remember the last time I took a shower, or got clean, period. I left the shower and put my clothes back on, my hair dripping down my back and onto my eagle-like wings.

I walked back towards the entrance of the bathroom, feeling considerably happy, altogether. It was hot and foggy, and frankly, I loved it. I walked to the door that led to the hallway, reached for the knob, and turned it. When the door swung open, Angel was on the other side, shifting her weight on each foot as she played with a strand of long blond hair.

"Uh... Hi," I said, startled by the sight. Why is Angel here?

"Hi, Mini," Angel greeted with an innocent smile. "I was just gonna tell you that everything is gonna be okay. And to not worry." She turned and walked down the hallway, and I trailed her. We stopped at another door.

"Thanks for saying that, Angel. It means a lot to me," I replied to her, and gave her a thankful hug. Why not? She was only a kid, and kids deserve hugs.

"You're welcome, and this is your bedroom door. Max is already in there," Angel said. She skipped down the hallway to the stairs, disappearing as she went down to the main floor.

"Silly child," I muttered under my breath with a slight grin as I entered the bedroom that Max and I would be sharing.

Max jumped from her bed, which sat against the left-hand wall. She walked over to me, wearing red duct tape around her wrist. I took a step into the room and closed the door behind me smoothly.

"So, what's the tape for?" I asked calmly. I walked over to the lime green bed, in the opposite direction of Max's. Hers was a forest green with dark brown pillows.

"For separating us," she said with a slightly evil grin as she stretched the red duct tape six inches out and smoothed it on the fluffy, light-brown carpet. As Max rolled the tape out onto the floor diagonally, I stood in shock.

"The side you're on, is your side. I won't pass the duct tape line to your side if you do the same for me. So, don't pass this line to get to my side of the room, " Max claimed after she was done separating us with the duct tape.

I sank down onto the foot of my bed, nodding my head. "But why?" I pleaded; I didn't understand why she was doing this. It came down to all those years of being separated by scientists, but now Max was separating us by her own choice. This wasn't supposed to happen.

"Because... I'm still not sure what to do with you," she replied quietly, and she turned and left the room, leaving me by myself.

I grumbled cuss words under my breath; Angel wasn't right about 'everything is going to be okay.' Cause it wasn't.

I stood up and walked over to a dresser that was near my bed. I changed my raggedy jeans to pale blue ones that only had holes at the knees and my t-shirt to a black under shirt with a burgundy tank top over it.

I left the room, making a point of crossing the red duct tape line, feeling like a rebel. In my goal of getting lost inside the house I went downstairs, to the basement. When I reached the basement door I grinned. Nobody would be able to find me here. I didn't even know if I would be able to find my way out either.

I walked down the half part of the stairs in the dark and onto the landing. I turned left to go down the other half flight of stairs, but instead I managed to slam my whole body into something solid, something that was pure muscle and flesh.

We should have tumbled down the stairs, but instead, Iggy's pale left hand grabbed mine as his other hand grabbed the landing rail, stopping the velocity and motion of our fall.

"Wow," I mumbled as I sat down on the landing, my feet on the steps.

"You have no idea," Iggy mumbled, taking a seat next to me, looking dazed. After a moment of awkward silence, we started laughing quietly to ourselves. Our conversation began awkwardly, and I wasn't quite sure why it felt so weird until I realized that the entire time we'd been talking, Iggy hadn't once looked directly at me. It made me upset for a moment, but I forgot about it when he asked me why I had ended up in the basement in the first place.

My response: "To get lost." I muttered the words under my breath, slightly embarrassed.

"Why?" he asked carefully, his pale fingers brushing over the tips of mine, making them tingle.

"Cause... I felt like it," I said evasively, standing up. I saw a light switch and flicked it on- the basement lit up like a burst of sunlight. "Besides, I haven't checked out the basement yet."

Iggy stood up as well, towering over me. "Well, how about you show me around," he offered, grinning in the most adorable way ever.

"But…you've been down here plenty of times before, right? Haven't you already seen it?" I asked, confused.

"It's a bit hard to see when your blind," Iggy said, instantly clearing up a lot of my previous confusion. My jaw dropped. I hadn't been expecting anything like that. No wonder why he seemed so perfect, in my eyes.

"I dont know what to say," I whispered as I walked down the stairs, Iggy following me. When I looked over my shoulder at him, Iggy seemed kind of bummed. I bit my lower lip, feeling bad. I turned my head around, looking for a distraction. I took another step and peered my head around a corner.

It was perfect- a brand new punching bag. I grinned. "Hey Iggy. I'm curious; for a blind guy, you must be a good fighter, right?" I asked him as I turned around, making my voice persuasive. It worked. Iggy strode over towards me and placed a hand on my shoulder, grinning.

"I'm the best blind fighter that you'll ever meet," he said proudly, looking ahead at the wall. I stifled a giggle as we walked over to the punching bag. I led Iggy to his side of the red bag, and then walked over to mine.

"Alrighty, uhm..I'll ki-" I stuttered, but was quickly cut off as Iggy spun to attack the punching bag with a roundhouse kick, and of course I was on the other side of it. The bag swung swiftly and slammed into me, throwing me back a few feet. Using my fist, I wiped the right side of my jaw and stood up.

"How's that for a blind guy?" Iggy asked smoothly, leaning against a nearby wall, his arms crossed against his chest and his hair flopped over his eyes. I looked away before I started to drool.

"You're decent," I grumbled. I walked back to the bag, Iggy doing the same. I took my usual fighting stance and waited for Iggy to take his. But instead he merely stood there, hands in his pockets. What the heck? "Aren't you going to get in a stance or something?" I asked carefully. Iggy shrugged his shoulders and smirked.

"With the way you fight, I don't have to," he said. My face flamed red hot, not only from the embarrassment of being insulted by a blind guy who was at least six inches taller than me, but from actually liking it. I grumbled a few choice words and took a couple steps back. "Are you okay, Mini?" Iggy asked softly, realizing his mistake. His sightless eyes got all soft around the edges and it looked just so darn sweet.

"Hmmnhmghh," I muttered. "I suggest you back up." I raised my hands in the air. Iggy took a half step back, still in his lanky position, hands in pockets, yawning. I threw my hands at the ground, putting as much force and effort into my front handspring as I could. Once my feet where in the air, using my strength, I shot myself directly at the punching bag, nearly flying without wings.

The punching bag swung at Iggy, but he easily dodged it, sidestepping to the left. I landed, crouching, in time for my fighting partner to punch the bag with a very strong force.

This went on for an endless amount of time, our punches and kicks speeding up and then slowing down as we grew tired. Even though Iggy was barely breathing hard at all, I was struggling for breath. It amazed me how I could run for miles without a problem, but when it came to fighting, I was having a lung attack.

I sat down on the carpet, my head between my knees. I wrapped my arms around my knees and steadied my breathing rate. I didn't even register the fact that Iggy was sitting next to me until he spoke up.

"I have to admit, fighting against the Queen's twin sister was a lot more fun than I expected," he said as he stretched out his long legs. I laughed stiffly, closing my eyes.

This is horrible, I thought to myself sadly. I'm falling for somebody who is practically off limits because I was still technically 'grounded' from Max.

"So you're saying that you thought I was a boring person?" I asked him, turning my head to peek out at Iggy, who was 'looking' down at me.

"I never said," he replied defensively, sounding hurt.

Oh really, I thought, rolling my eyes. "Then what did you mean?" I asked, sitting up fully so that I could meet his stare, even though it was technically pointless. I guess it's a habit to look at somebody when you're arguing with them.

"What I mean is that...you seemed upset earlier. So I expected you to be upset all day," Iggy explained, choosing his words carefully. He sounded so sincere that it urged me to pet his strawberry blond head and say to him, "Good boy, have a cookie," but I didn't. Maybe after a few weeks, when we were good friends, or maybe something more.

Like I could even plan that far ahead. I didn't know if I was even allowed to stay with them at all.

"Eh. You have a point," I said, rolling my head from side to side, listening to all the little bones in my neck pop. I glanced sideways at Iggy, who was smiling, as if my neck popping amused him. "Getting a kick outta my neck popping skills?" I asked him broadly. Our past conversation seemed to have already faded into the distance.

Iggy's sightless eyes stared back at my eyebrows (okay, so he was pretty dang close to my eyes) and he grinned. "Actually, I can hear your bones move around in your neck. If you ask me, I think it's hilarious."

I didn't register the act that Iggy seemed to lean closer. I should be expierneced enough to know when sombody is going to kiss you. I blame Todd.

Then agian... why am I thinking of Todd when Iggy is right here, right now... kissing me? Of all people.