81

Iggy

There's a difference between being "home-free" and "free."

It's just that, not many people know the fine line to be crossed when you are "home-free" to being just plain old "free."

The difference is, "home-free" isn't necessarily free yet. You're not there, just so close you can definitely taste it.

Kem was still holding my hand, so I could "see" in the metaphorical sense.

"C'mon, just a little longer," Kem kept urging us as we ran out the doors and into the field where seven months ago, Kem and Lupe escaped their School.

It's very ironic that we end up in the same fenced-in area when we're escaping, only natural for us.

Skye took off into the sky (see, I made a pun!) first and was followed by Kem who was followed by me, brining up the rear. Kem flew up under Skye, who was more than a little wobbly, and told her to let her carry her for a while.

I wasn't touching Kem anymore; I didn't need to. I could "see" in my way perfectly fine for now.

The dark cloud shrouding my senses was finally starting to lift a bit, and I began to think of all the jabs I could get into Lupe when we got home. I allowed myself a small snicker.

That's when my increasingly yellow bubble popped due to three things.

The very loud explosion, usually given off by a gun.

The bullet given off by the unusually loud explosion popping my happy bubble.

The bullet punching a hole in my wing.

I started spiraling towards the earth, a hole in my wing, making me very un-aerodynamic, and 100% sure Kem was following me down, too because of the cry she gave out and because of the words she said to Skye before throwing her, Fly to the south, and you should meet with Lupe.

Oh, shit, I'm so freaking screwed.

82

Kem

"THIS IS ASSUALT AND BATTERY!! THIS IS CHILD ABUSE! YOU SICK, TWISTED, SPAWNS OF SATAN!! WHAT DARK, DESOLATE HOLE DID YOU CRAWL OUT OF?! THE NINTH CIRCLE OF HELL?!" I was shouting and banging on the bars of my crate, trying to make as much noise as possible.

I'd gotten shot in the thigh, and Iggy'd gotten suckered in the wing, and our little healer had gotten away. I was glad she did, but we were pretty much screwed for about four days without her. Super regenerative powers or not, this was a bullet in my hopes. No pun intended.

"Kem," Iggy said, rubbing his temples and looking so beaten, it brought tears to my eyes, "can you please stop it. You're giving me a headache." He continued rubbing his temples with his eyes closed.

"Sorry, but the shit we were previously in, just got a helluva lot deeper," I said, sighing and curling my legs into my chest, resting my chin on my knees.

He stopped rubbing his head and gave me a strange face.

I raised an eyebrow, momentarily forgetting that he was blind. "What?"

He shook his head in genuine surprise. "I just never thought I'd see that day that you actually curse."

I thought back to what I'd said, wondering if it slipped out. "Wow, congratulations, you've officially corrupted me. You must be so proud," I said sarcastically, mentally slapping myself in the forehead from our predicament. I still had my suit; no one had wanted to de-suit me, conscious or otherwise.

Iggy, on the other wing, had been stripped of his color-changing super-suit and was back in his previous clothes. Sucks for him.

"I am. I would muss-up your hair if our cages weren't around three feet apart," Iggy said, shifting his position so he was hunched over and sitting on his legs.

"How would you know how far apart they are?" I asked, knowing fully well he was trying to distract me from our situation.

"My blind intuition. Magical, isn't it?" he said sarcastically.

I laughed once and rolled my eyes, thinking about when the flock was going to get here, knowing that they definitely would come and that Skye was going to run into them on the way.

83

Max

Well, this certainly does suck in more ways than one.

For one, we have only an inkling where in Maine we're going, and we're being led there by a hybrid made with three different species. We don't know if Iggy and Kem are still alive, since we were cut off so suddenly by the phone they were talking on snapping shut. We haven't fought anything in about six months, need more of a tolerance for pain, and we have Total with us.

Lord, help me and my recurring migraines.

"Shouldn't we stop soon? I'm hungry," Nudge asked, coming to fly beside me.

I mentally smacked my forehead and gave into the Bambi-eyes. "Sure. We need to be rested if we're storming the School."

We flew down into a clearing and pulled out some of the canned items we brought with us, passing them around.

We scarfed (no idea how to spell it) food down for about twenty minutes before taking back of into the air again. I estimated we'd been flying for about… a good and solid four hours.

We flew for another hour before Total started complaining about his wings getting tired. No one would carry him, so Lupe got stuck with him. Sigh.

W were nearing the five-hour mark when Lupe said, "Guys, I hear something. It's flapping, but not with feathers, kinda like leather."

"A bat?" Nudge offered. A pretty big bat for Lupe to be able to hear it this far away. Besides, it's day-time.

Lupe shook his head and tilted his head to the side slightly. "No… it's too big for that. And awkward," he said a few seconds before a wobbly blew dot was visible on the distant horizon. And saying it was a dot meant it was pretty far away; even our raptor vision couldn't give us features.

Angel flew in next to me. "Max, can we fly a little closer to the blue thing? I wanna see what it's thinking," Angel said to me, blinking innocently.

I wanted to see what it was thinking too, or what it really was too. But my self-preservation instinct stopped me from actually allowing Angel to fly ahead of the group and towards the possible threat that had to have absolutely no idea how to fly judging by the wobbling in mid-air.

But of course no one decides to listen to me and starts to dart ahead, leaving to bring it up behind. Whatever happened to respecting your elders? Don't these kids listen to me anymore?

The blue dot was coming forward quickly and soon became more distinguishable from the blue, flying dot we perceived it to be at first. It grew arms, legs, a head, and a pair of leathery wings. Could this be Skye…? If it is, where's Kem and Iggy? How did only this little girl get away if Kem and Iggy don't seem to be with her?

"Angel!" I yelled. "Can you get a read on it?!"

Angel turned her head to look at me and nodded, her eyes confused. "I can and it thinks differently from us. I mean it sees things differently. And it's a girl," Angel replied.

Lupe started to beat his enormous wings faster and harder, speeding up. He flew ahead of the flock, gaining on the little girl who may or may not be the Skye that Kem told me about.

"Lupe!" I shouted, pouring on the speed. I gained on him fast and soon overtook him.

"Wait, Max! I know her!" he yelled, sounding more cheerful than he has all day. He tossed me Total, who yelped in surprise and unfurled his wings, beating them fast.

Was he sure this was Skye? I looked more closely, peering with all my might, wondering if Lupe's eyesight was better than mine. But his other senses were more developed to help with the identification of things I would other wise miss completely. Okay, I'm starting to give myself an inferiority complex.

The details were unmistakable now; she really did look like a fish. She had large scaly wings and had scales framing her face. Her eyes where a deep blue and her hair was black. She was wearing normal clothes and her skin was pale, but the scales were blue, like a fish's.

She was now about two hundred feet away and gaining faster, though more of the speed came from our part rather than hers.

"Hey Max! She has scales!" Nudge exclaimed, flying faster.

"I know," I told her and I signaled for everyone to fly faster; she was starting to get into the dangerously-shaky department.

When she was about ten feet away we stopped in mid-air while Lupe continued to shoot forward and crashed into her. She would've fallen if Lupe hadn't caught her and started to land while hold her.

We started to follow them down and when we hit the ground, Nudge could barley keep her mouth from flying off.

"Wow, Lupe do you know her? Where's she from? Is she from your School or somewhere else? Is she covered in scales? Wow, they're blue! She's really cute; how old is she? Does she have bird DNA, or something else? Does she know where Kem and Iggy are? Are those gills!? Wow, I've never seen gills like that on someone. Max, Fang, and Angel have gills, but not like th-mmmmphfft," Nudge said all in one breath and probably would've continued if not for Gazzy's quick thinking and his hand.

"Nudge, before my ears bleed, please," he said, but was staring at Skye curiously.

Skye had her eyes closed, but snapped her head around when I moved over and inspected her over.

84

Skyler

I was the only one who got away, and Kemmy and Iggy got shot, so they have to stay a little longer.

I wasn't that good at flying, so it was very hard for me to get away from the School and go where Kemmy told me I'd meet with Lupe. I just hope I can not disappoint her and make it there.

I was flying for an hour or two before I started to get tired. (She's getting tired because she's never really flown before and her muscles aren't that developed from it.) I wondered how to land and just decided to just keep going to see if I made it there before I had to.

I was flying slower and for another hour before I saw a small group of different colored specks in the distance, so I decided to fly a little faster and shut my eyes.

The world around me entered the black and blue space it really is when I'm not looking for it. The specks gained shape and I could see them up close.

One was definitely Lupe and the other five I didn't recognize. Lupe was holding a dog who could talk and had wings; there was a girl named Max who was really stressed; there was a girl named Nudge who liked to talk and had a sweet heart; a boy named Fang who was the silent type; a girl who looked to be around my age named Angel who could read minds; a boy named the Gasman who was worried but still had a joking heart.

I guess they were friends of Lupe, Kemmy, and Iggy.

I opened my eyes and saw they were really close and coming towards me fast. It was definitely Lupe, who was flying towards me and was going to crash into me.

Everyone else stopped flying and Lupe smashed into me and I would've fell, but he caught me and started to land.

On the ground I could see everyone's features, and not just a blue lit-up shape of them.

The one named Max was tall and had brown hair and eyes with a pretty, leaderly, and kind-ish face. The girl named Nudge had very dark skin with flyaway hair, brown eyes, and a curious face. The boy named the Gasman had spiky blonde hair and big blue eyes and looked like the little girl named Angel who looked innocent, but had a dark side. The boy everyone called Fang was tall and dark in all senses of the word, but he had a deeper side. The dog, who was named Total, cared about everyone here, and had a lot of heart.

The girl named Nudge came down to the ground asking a lot of questions.

"Wow, Lupe do you know her? Where's she from? Is she from your School or somewhere else? Is she covered in scales? Wow, they're blue!" Her talking was starting to make it difficult to pay attention to seeing and listening so I closed my eyes. "She's really cute; how old is she? Does she have bird DNA, or something else? Does she know where Kem and Iggy are? Are those gills!? Wow, I've never seen gills like that on someone. Max, Fang, and Angel have gills, but not like th-mmmmphfft," Nudge said really fast and had a hand clamped over her hand before she could finish talking.

"Nudge, before my ears bleed, please," the boy named the Gasman said with a curious voice.

I knew it when Max walked over and started to look at me so I opened my eyes and looked at her.

"Who are you?" she asked, not curious, but clarifying something for herself. (Skye can't read minds, but she can just tell some things about people. Like when she looked at Iggy and knew he was blind without anything giving her a hint. Iggy's eyes aren't clouded as some people think they are because he wasn't born blind.)

"You should know that already," I told her and Lupe smiled down at me.

"Skyler?" Max said, looking at Lupe.

"Yeah, that's her," Lupe told Max.

"So you can breath under water too?" Angel asked, coming up next to Lupe and looking up at me.

I nodded and tried to jump out of Lupe's arms so I could go see everyone else and talk to them. Probably realizing what I wanted, he let me go and I fell on my butt as I tried to get down.

Angel smiled and laughed at me a little. I tilted my head to the side and looked at her with confusion. "Hey, you can read minds."

She narrowed her eyes and said, "Yeah, and you… can see a person's soul?"

I stood up, brushed myself off, and looked her in the eyes. "I wouldn't call it that, but I guess so."

Max sighed and put he head in her right hand. "Creepy child showdown."

"More like a skill examination. We have to get going," Lupe told her, getting ready to take of into the air.

"He's right," Fang said, nodding once and jumped into the air. Everyone else was soon in the air too, and Lupe was holding me.

We were going to get Kemmy and Iggy.

85

Kem

"So how's your wing?" I asked Iggy while we were waiting for the whitecoats to set up the design for the maze they were having us go through.

"Hurts like hell. How's your leg?" he replied, shrugging. He was used to pain.

"They gave me some "designated painkillers" so I could run, but they could still shock me if I don't go fast enough," I replied as a whitecoat came in and led us to the door to the room.

"Hmm, I could use one of those," he commented as we were pushed into the room and told to "go."

We started running and hit a dead end, got a shock and turned around.

"This," Iggy pointed out as we ran, "sucks."

We hit another dead end and got a more powerful shock.

"They made sure to bind our wings so we couldn't just fly over the walls," I observed.

"No shit Sherlock," Iggy muttered.

We stopped for a second to listen for echoes, and we got shocked.

My eye twitched in annoyance and my eyes watered in pain as I ran towards where I heard an echo come from, certainly indicating the door at the end.

I ran harder, pumping my legs so I could get to the end and rest for a few seconds. I heard panting next to me and saw that Iggy's face was pail when they should be flushed from running so fast for so long. He was hurting bad.

We finally made it to the end of the maze and collapsed in a panting heap onto the floor while the whitecoats around us fluttered and fussed with the maze.

God, I hate it here… I thought to myself.

Okay, I know it seems like I've died and forgotten about my story and all that, but be glad I'm not at a hospital right now with some sort of weird bleach-related disease. My mom went a little crazy with the kitchen walls, so my eyes have been burning all day. Sorry for all the POVs being obscenely short, but I've been going a little crazy with anime and slept till two today, but with my reasons,

So peace, love, happiness, cookies, reviews would be nice (I posted the first hunk of my other story, so check it out if you wan to, so be sure to check it out,

RustyW1ngs.