Hey guys. Time for an update. I had a lot of time to write this over Thanksgiving break. This chapter is major. This is where everything changes. I never expected that I would be doing this when I first started writing this story, but things kind of happen that way. Ok, getting off this subject for a second. Did anyone see New Moon? I haven't gotten to yet, but I'm going soon. My friends tell me that it was amazing, so I can't wait to see it. I'm really excited about Eclipse coming out in June. It's my favorite. Seth helps Edward rip Victoria to shreds. It's great. Yeah, if you haven't figured it out, I'm Team Seth. I can't help it. However, that doesn't mean that I don't think Taylor Lautner isn't hot. The commercials make it hard for me to breathe. Okay, back on topic… sort of. I've decided I'm making two more Twilight fanfics. They both sort of go with 'Solar Flare'. They are 'Sparks' which is about Brady and 'Like Lightning' which is about Collin. I won't be posting them until I get a little farther in 'Solar Flare' though. On another note, I'm having a little trouble starting 'It Takes Two', my Harry Potter fanfic. Just a slight case of writer's block. Hope I can shake it. So, read 'NeoFlock' and 'Deadline' by Talon666 and 'Dark Blue' and 'Maximum Ride: Wings vs. Wands' by Madeline Cullen. These guys are awesome. Oh, yeah. Thanks to Sonya Rivers for pointing out something about Mel's power. I fixed that problem in this chapter. It's funny, trust me. So, be on the lookout for some of my new fanfictions and I really hope you enjoy this chapter. Like I said, this changes everything. I hope you like it. I worked my butt off on this.

"No, okay, okay. I admit it. Today was pretty awesome. Jewel certainly seemed happy." Skye laughed.

Our perfect day was at an end and I was on watch. Skye had decided to stay up with me, so I was leaning against him and let me just say that he was very comfortable. We had been talking about our day for about an hour. I liked when Skye let his guard down. He was sweet.

"I told you it would be great." I reminded him, turning my head back to look at him.

He sighed. "I actually felt normal for once in my life." He looked into my eyes and my heart stopped. I could see the glow of the firelight reflected in them. "Thanks for that Mel."

I smiled softly. "You're welcome." My heart had calmed down and stopped trying to jump out of my chest. I still couldn't believe that a few days ago I thought Skye was the biggest jerk on the planet. Funny how quickly things can change.

"What?" I asked when I noticed he hadn't stopped staring at me.

He smiled devilishly. "I really want to kiss you right now." he whispered in my ear, sending a chill down my spine.

Without warning, Skye brought his lips to mine. I still couldn't believe this was happening. I was half expecting someone to wake me up and throw me back into reality where Skye hated me. But that didn't happen. This was no dream. This was real.

Skye pulled his lips slowly off mine and I caught my breath. We both stared at each other for a minute and then sighed contentedly and sank into a deep, comfortable silence.

Suddenly, Skye broke the silence by laughing his head off at something that only he knew about.

"What?" I asked when his laughter had subsided to a simple chuckle. "What's so funny?"

He gasped for breath. "I just realized the most hilarious thing in the entire world."

"Well, I would enjoy knowing what it is."

He continued to laugh for a second. When he had calmed down once again, he said, "You'll think this is so funny."

"What?" I asked, getting a teensy bit exasperated with him.

"You could've used your new power over water to draw the water out of our clothes instead of making us change." he said, waiting for my reaction.

It took me a second to figure out what he was talking about. However, I did figure it out and I must admit that I felt pretty stupid. "Well duh." I muttered. "Why didn't I think of that?"

We both burst into sidesplitting laughter. It was so obvious that I could've done that and I don't know why I didn't think to do it.

A twig snapped in the distance and we both tensed up. Even though we were fairly certain nothing was going to happen, we still had to pay attention on watch. We needed to be quieter. Not only so that we could hear what was going on around us, but also so that no one lurking around would know we were there.

"What was that?" Skye whispered. It was easy to see that he was really freaked out. I admit that I was too, but I was the leader. I had to keep a level head in a situation like this.

I took in a deep breath. "It's nothing. Probably just some animal. Or it could've been a figment of our imaginations brought on by stress." That had to be it.

Skye nodded. "Sure. That's all. It's nothing." He wrapped his arms around my middle and pressed me closer to him. "Everything's going to be just fine kiddo. You'll see." he whispered. I think he was trying to make himself feel better without admitting that he was scared.

I heard another twig snap and I swore I had heard someone cuss. With a slight flick of the wrist, I doused our fire with my new power. I then reached for my bag and pulled out a flashlight.

"Who's there?" I called into the darkness. I got up and Skye went over to Jewel to shake her awake.

"Mmm?" she asked, propping her head up. "My turn for watch?" she muttered sleepily.

"Jewel, someone's here." Skye whispered urgently.

Jewel bolted up. "How? How'd they find us? Are you sure? They couldn't have found us." she whispered quickly.

I put my finger to my lips, telling them to be quiet. They both walked over to me, getting into defensive positions. I was ready for all hell to break loose pretty damn quickly.

"I know someone's out there!" I yelled again. "Show yourselves! Come out and fight!" I was acting much braver than I felt. I was actually resisting the urge to turn on my heels and run for my life.

Skye, Jewel, and I just stood unmoving while we heard three sets of heavy footsteps approach us. My eyes had now adjusted to the dark and what I saw made me want to scream. What I saw was three Erasers. It looked like the School had decided to bring them back.

"What the heck are those things?" Skye whispered while the Erasers watched us with apparent interest.

"Erasers." I whispered back, not taking my eyes off them.

"Wait, what?" Skye asked, confused.

"Human lupine hybrids." I explained, still whispering as softly as I could.

"I repeat: What?"

I sighed. I forgot that he wouldn't know what Erasers were. "Wolf people." I explained to him. "The School used to have them in Max's day. Guess they brought them back."

The Erasers hadn't taken their eyes off us. The bigger one in the middle who had his arms folded was staring straight at me. I noticed the way he looked at me and the smirk on his face. I had seen that smirk before. It made my stomach lurch.

"Tanner." I said.

"Caught on have you Melody?" Tanner asked, inclining his head. "Took you long enough. I thought you'd be smart enough to figure it out. Guess I overestimated you."

"Tanner?" Skye asked as everything sunk in. "What the hell?"

"Allow me to explain." he said, coming closer to us. "Willow, Flint, and I also have new powers. Amazing what a little liquid injected into your veins can do." He flexed his arm. "I told you that we get all of the best perks."

Suddenly, everything made complete sense. Willow with her claws and her fangs. It fit. But how did it happen? Then it hit me.

"The 'E' virus." I whispered as it dawned on me. "It did this. 'E' stands for Eraser. The Director injected you guys with it." Then I remembered something that made me want to cry. "And Willow…" I couldn't bring myself to say it.

"Yes Melody." Tanner said, confirming my darkest fear. "Willow injected Skye with it."

"That explains why he was sick." I muttered to myself. I looked up at Tanner with a smirk of my own. "But I healed Skye."

Tanner let out a hollow laugh. "No. You only delayed the process. Skye's about to turn into an Eraser. You see, we morph when we get mad and we're making Skye morph by just standing here."

Skye had been quiet for far too long. I whipped around and saw him down on his knees with tears streaming out of his eyes. He looked like he had when he got sick the last time.

Jewel and I dropped to our knees. I put my arms around Skye, trying to keep him calm. "Skye, it's ok. I'm here. Everything will be fine. I promise."

Tanner laughed. "Don't listen to her Skye." he told her. "She hates you, remember?"

Skye shook his head. "She… loves me." he growled through clenched teeth.

Tanner laughed again. "No Skye, she doesn't. It was all a lie. She lied to you. She thinks you're useless and stupid. Remember?"

Skye started shaking more violently and Jewel and I jumped up. Tanner was making him mad. He was making him hate me. I watched as Skye morphed into an Eraser. It was the single grossest thing I'd ever seen and the single scariest so I'll leave out the details.

He was still bent down on the ground, but he didn't look like Skye anymore. He looked like the enemy.

"Skye?" Jewel whispered nervously. She was in a state of complete shock.

Skye turned his head up at us, his blue eyes burning with anger and unbridled rage. He looked over at Tanner, waiting for orders to be given before he struck.

Tanner looked at me. "Look at him Melody. This was your doing. You did this to him. If you joined me all of this could've been prevented. I told you that you'd be sorry. Now I'm going to let your true love destroy you."

Skye's ears pricked up at this. He looked almost happy. I felt like I was going to throw up. I'd have to let him kill me. I couldn't hurt him and Tanner knew that. I was doomed.

"Rip her throat out Skye." Tanner ordered.

Before I could even blink, Skye lunged at me. I dived out of the way, but he had still managed to rake me with his claws. I fell on the ground and looked up at him. He was loving my pain and fear.

He turned back to Tanner. "Can I kill them?" he asked his new leader.

Tanner looked thoughtful and then shook his head. "No. You better not."

Jewel crouched down over me and then looked up at Skye. "How could you do this?"

Skye chuckled. "Easy."

I could tell Jewel had tears in her eyes. She couldn't believe that this was happening. Skye had been like her big brother almost her whole life and now he was asking their worst enemy if he could kill her.

"You love her." she growled at him. "And you're my best friend."

Skye chuckled again. "Yeah, I loved her. Once. She never loved me though, so this was easy. I hurt her just like she hurt me."

I heard a faint beeping noise. Tanner pulled something out of his pocket. "We gotta go." he told his cronies.

Flint took off first, followed by Willow, and then Tanner. Skye stayed on the ground for a second. He walked over to me and touched my face. I looked into his eyes, but they were still cold. Then he stomped on my arm, breaking it. I gasped in pain and he just laughed.

"Catch ya later Princess." he told me, his teeth gleaming in the moonlight.

Jewel hit him from behind and he whipped around and knocked her to the ground. I watched as her head hit a fairly large rock and Skye laughed again. He then took off after his new friends, leaving Jewel and me alone and heartbroken.

Jewel slowly sat up, her head was bleeding. I just stayed on the ground. None of this made any sense to me. Skye just hurt Jewel. It was like someone had dropped me into some alternate universe.

Suddenly, my cheek stung and I cried out in pain. It was then that I realized I had been crying and that the salt from my tears had been making the place where Skye had cut me hurt worse.

"No." I whispered. "No. No. No. No." The shock was too much. I couldn't handle it. I just wanted to die. It made no sense. A few minutes ago Skye had been kissing me and now he was gone. He had left me. I was alone, broken, lost. And suddenly I knew how much I truly loved him and that just made me hurt more.

My whole body felt numb, not just the arm that Skye broke. I could heal myself, but what would be the point? I'd still be hurting on the inside.

I heard Jewel crawl over to me and say something to me, but I was too upset to make any sense of it.

"Mel?"

That made sense. It also sounded familiar. Oh, right. That was my name. Somehow, this whole thing seemed sort of familiar. It was like I had read it somewhere before, but it was different.

"Mel, we have to do something." I could feel Jewel shaking me. I realized she needed me. I couldn't feel sorry for myself. I had to make her feel better even though the world had stopped.

I slowly sat up, but didn't bother to heal my face or my arm. I still couldn't see a point in it.

"Mel, we have to go get him." Jewel told me.

I shook my head. "He's gone." I whispered, my voice cracking. "And I mean completely gone."

Jewel took in a shuddering breath. "Maybe we can snap him out of it." she said. "I mean, Tanner's the one who talked him into hating us. Maybe we can get him back to normal."

I shook my head. "He's gone." I whispered again.

Jewel looked at me, dumbfounded. "We have to try. We can't just sit here and do nothing."

"Sure we can." I told her.

"So, we're just going to give up?" she asked me incredulously.

"There's nothing else we can do."

"You're Maximum Ride's niece." she reminded me.

"I know!" I shouted angrily at her. "But I'm not Max! I'm not my mom! I'm not my dad! Skye was right! I have no idea what they went through! I can't do it! I can't save Skye!"

I started crying again. I didn't know how to make Jewel understand. I was just a scared little kid. I couldn't help her. I never should've fooled her and myself into thinking I could.

"Mel, snap out of it!" Jewel yelled at me, exasperated. "You don't have to be Max or your parents. Being you is enough. Who got Skye and me out of the School? You. Who showed us how to survive? You. Who showed me that I could do anything? You."

I stopped crying. Jewel was right. I had done all of those things. I had proved to myself and everyone else that I was just as good as Max and the rest of the Flock. I could do anything. I wiped the tears out of my eyes with my good arm.

Jewel looked at me, knowing that she had gotten through to me. I placed my hand to her forehead and healed her. I then put my hand to my face, healed where Skye had scratched me, and then healed my broken arm.

"Who are you?" Jewel asked me, smiling.

"Melody Isabelle Smith."

"What are you going to do?"

"Save Skye."

"Why?"

"Because I can and because I love him."

"And how are you going to do it?"

And suddenly, my new confidence in myself evaporated. "I don't know." I whispered. "I don't even know where he is Jewel. What was I thinking?"

Jewel rolled her eyes. "Mel, don't you feel it?"

"Feel what?" I asked, looking up at her.

"That tugging at your heart, telling you where to go." she said. "I feel it."

I looked at her and suddenly, I could feel it. There was something telling me where to go. It was like I had a compass in my heart that pointed towards Skye. I slowly nodded.

Jewel smiled. "We have a connection to him."

We certainly did. However, I was far too tired for a rescue mission. Besides that, I didn't have a plan.

Jewel sighed as if she knew what I was thinking. "We'll go after him first thing in the morning. I'll take watch. You need sleep."

I took in a breath. "Okay." I told her. "First thing in the morning."

Jewel grabbed the flashlight that I had dropped on the ground and went over to the tree that Skye and I had been leaning against earlier.

I sighed and laid down right where I was. I was still hurting a lot and I had a strange, nagging feeling, but soon sleep overcame me.

Told you everything was going to change. I hope that was long enough for you guys. It was sixteen pages on Word. So, I'm updating next week. And Jewel will be updating Mel's blog, so you need to check that out on max - dan - wiz - ASAP. Leave me some nice long reviews guys. Catch you later.