Chapter Twenty-Four: Maggie

"You ready to go burn down your School?" Kayla asked me as soon as I woke up on my second day with the new Flock.

"Wha-?" I asked, blinking back the sunlight from my eyes.

"You snore really loudly." Ben spoke up, almost afraid that he might be heard by anyone, but I just nodded.

Fang and Maggie looked like they were annoyed by this fact, but I couldn't help that I snored. I didn't see why it upset either of them since they weren't even sleeping near me last night.

"Yeah, I know." I said, shrugging my shoulders and forcing the sleep from my body. "What can I say? I'm a noisy sleeper."

I wanted nothing more than to curl back against the tree that had been my bed for the night, but that wasn't a possibility now. Everyone else was already down below, except Kayla who was on the branch next to me. Sleeping in a tree was oddly peaceful, though that was probably the bird part of me.

Kayla rolled her eyes. "Anyways, are you ready to burn down the School you guys escaped from?" She asked again and I put two and two together finally.

Angel had claimed that we ran away from a School facility and the Flock had said yesterday that they were on their way to the same one and mentioned something about "fireworks."

"Um, yeah I guess I'm ready." I lied, not sure what answer was correct so I settled with mild contempt.

Was burning down a building something that the original Flock enjoyed? Should I be more excited? Should I not care at all? Judging from the look on Kayla's face, excitement and/or revenge was what was expected. Or, at least that's what her eye color reflected.

"Well, once we get there, you'll feel differently." Kayla promised, more to herself than to me though.

Before we blew up "my" School, I wanted to talk with my father so I dropped down to the marsh land, not bothering to extend my wings at such a short distance downwards. When I landed gracefully, I looked up at Kayla who had utter shock in her eyes. I stared at the tree and was surprised that she was two stories or so up. It had looked like a lot less when I jumped.

"What are you crazy!" Kayla asked, extending her wings and flying to where I was at. "That's suicidal, Lexi! You can't do a jump like that!"

"Weren't you scared?" Ben asked with wide eyes, reflecting the fear that he assumed I should have.

Apparently this batch of experiments was taught not to take risks. I, however, was not one of them. I was a second generation Avian who never set foot in a lab. I dared to be daring and difficult and different.

"No-pe." I said, popping the 'p' sound and defiantly put my hands on my hips to prove it. I ruffled my hair with one hand while keeping the same look on my face, as if to say, 'you thought that was impressive, just wait.'

Maggie gasped and Fang tried to hide his expression, but apparently whatever I did was enough to cause a reaction in both of them. Even Angel had difficulty hiding her surprise, but she recovered sooner than the other two.

"Where's my breakfast?" Ben whined without meaning to, looking at his mother hopefully but she just shook her head.

"Sorry, kid." Maggie said, ruffling his brown hair. "There's just not enough money for three meals a day anymore."

Ben sat down in defeat, glaring at 'Ginger' and me. He had every right to, if we had in fact used any money since we'd arrived, but as it was, we dumpster dived for our meal yesterday.

We took off soon after that, since there was no food to be had or luggage to pack. I noticed that everyone had a backpack, but no one had opened theirs to change outfits so I didn't either. Whatever they needed clean outfits for must be good and I wasn't going to miss out on it.

I flew towards the back today, observing instead of trying desperately to participate. Angel chatted politely with Kayla, Ben flew in the middle all by himself, and Maggie seemed to be trying to talk to Fang. He let out a word or two in response to her paragraphs and eventually she quit trying.

She flew back to the rear with me and tried talking to me instead.

"So..." She began, obviously having something on her mind.

"Yes?" I asked impatiently.

She dropped her voice low so the three in front of us couldn't hear and whispered, "you aren't really from that School, are you?"

"What?" I asked, faking defense. "I'm an experiment, just like you." I lied through my teeth. "I was raised at the School and escaped with Ginger not too long ago. The scientists were evil and the other creatures were sometimes worse."

"Then you knew that my son was part Eraser?" She asked, trying to trap me since I had no idea what an eraser was, other than the thing on the end of a pencil, and I was pretty sure she wasn't talking about that.

I shrugged, trying to play it diplomatically and BS my way through this conversation. "I didn't really care what he was mixed with."

"Who are you?" She asked with a scowl. "Anyone who actually participated in one of the School's experiments is terrified of Erasers. That's why your friend is so jumpy and won't come within two feet of Ben."

"I told you. My name is Lexi, I grew up in the School, I..." I said, but Maggie cut me off.

"Save it." She said angrily. "I don't know why you want to infiltrate our Flock, but I won't let you succeed in whatever mission you have planned. It took me too long to convince Alex to let me and Ben join this group and you are not about to take that away from us."

"I wasn't trying to..." I started, but my words got caught in my throat. What was I supposed to say to her without giving away who I was?

"I don't want to split up the Flock." I said, hoping I looked as sincere as I meant it to be. "Ginger and I just want to destroy our School."

"The threat remains all the same." Maggie said, her brown eyes piercing mine. "Whatever angle you have, save it."