A/N: I believe this chapter is a little gory, so just a warning for those with good imaginations that have a tendency to kick in at unexpected times XD. Plus, sorry if this chapter ain't all that exciting or action-filled but I believe chapter... 20, 21, OR 22 will be better!

Chapter Nineteen

An Eraser was thrown against the wall of the courtyard, his back striking the wall as he dived back down to the ground, head first. A sickly crack emitted from his body as his head collided with the solid ground and then his body was lifeless.

Fail stood a ways away, her eyes glowing with rage and her teeth bared and hands clenched into fists. She let out a furious roar before whirling around to face two other Erasers that looked at her with wide eyes. If she had been able to cause that much damage, and perhaps more, just in human form, they could imagine what she would be like in wolf form.

She charged toward the two Erasers, her claws extended and her jaw wide open revealing her sharp teeth. She swung her arm at one Eraser, who ducked, just as she had planned, as her knee shot up, striking him in the face. She heard the satisfying crack as the bone in his nose broke and blood flowed from the wound.

The other Eraser swung at her with his half-changed arm. He scored his claws across her face, leaving behind three shallow cuts under her cheekbone. She growled at him, lunging for him to score her own claws across his stomach. He lurched forward to grab his stomach by instinct. Fail grabbed his hair and pulled down and to the left, causing him to drag on the ground, staining it with his blood.

He swiped at her feet, causing her to fall. She snarled at him before tackling him, clawing at any piece of flesh she could get. He yelped from beneath her claws and teeth. He held his arms up to protect his face and neck, but then his arms took too much damage, and they fell to his side as she stuck her hand through his throat, tearing the flesh, grabbing his artery, and tearing it away from his body. His blood stained her clothes and skin but she didn't seem to mind.

She turned around to face the other Eraser, to see he was lifeless on the ground. She shrugged, figuring the bone shards in his nose had been pushed far enough to puncture through his skull and cranium. She smirked, then scowled when she heard clapping. She turned to see Claude at the edge of the courtyard, though he looked uneasy, and she could sense that he was caught between awe and fear.

She snorted and shook her head "When can I get the flock?" she growled kicking the body of the Eraser she'd just killed, aside to confront Claude.

"Well... not just yet, but we've reason to believe that the half-blind one, Iggy, is somewhere nearby... in the city."

"Why is he there without the rest of the flock?"

"I believe he wants to kill you before you get to the flock, and to have the joy of being the one to do so."

Fail's bloodied hands clenched into fists and she looked away down to one of the dead Erasers.

"Where is he?"

"He's taken residence in a citizen's house, in Sinagua heights"

"and when exactly can I kill him?"

Claude grinned at her "Soon... very soon"

"He went looking for Fail" Max said as she looked down to the note the woman at the desk had just handed her. She said aloud what it said, translated from Pig Latin to English.

"Holding him back?" Gazzy said "Hasn't he said that before last time he took off on his own?" he said.

Max sighed and shook her head "Come on, let's go find him" She nodded to the woman behind the desk and stepped from the hotel to look for the nearest, concealed alley. They found one rather quickly and prepared to take flight.

However, all of them froze still when a familiar voice came from the end of the alley "Hello, Max" an Eraser stepped from the shadows.

"Ari" Max growled, narrowing her eyes at him "What do you want this time?"

"Oh, I'm just doing my job" he said, grinning widely "to stop you from going after your blind flock member" two other Erasers came from behind him to stand at his side, three shadows came from behind the flock, and four Eraser were on each roof of the two buildings on the side of the alley, whom would prevent the flock from taking flight.

Ari chuckled "Get them"

Iggy still gawked at the room as Isaac and his father explained why it was there. The room was large, and the floor was covered in feathers, ranging from a crow's wing feather to a cardinal's chest feather. A newspaper was taped up onto the wall, it was of the time he and the flock had spread their wings in a New York restaurant with a blurred picture of them flying around on the front page, the faces unrecognizable.

A desk was to the side and it had a large bowl of bird feed, and a hulking book of the various birds of the world. To one corner was perched a small bird, with an orange chest and gray wings, an American Kestrel. It chewed happily on a small chunk of tough meat and looked up when the door opened to allow access to the three beings.

There were picture frames hung all over the walls, carrying feathers, pictures of birds found in the wild, and rough sketches. There was a cage where a parrot rested and to one, overshadowed corner, was a makeshift home for some large, night time bird.

Golden eyes peered from the hole in the overshadowed corner, before the bird stepped forward to perch on the edge of it. It was a barn owl, taking on a milky color with a light, caramel-like, brown. Iggy looked over his shoulder to peer at his wings, and see that they were the same color as the barn owl. So he had two percent owl DNA? Or was it some other bird similar to it? But then again Isaac had said he had owl wings, so he was indeed a bit owl.

Then he noticed that the owl was giving him a wary look, if owl's could actually show expression, this one apparently could. It let out a small hoot that seemed to bounce off the walls and wooden floor of the room "We're sort of, like bird freaks, you could say" Isaac shrugged.

"We adopted the owl from a bird sanctuary a bit up north." Isaac explained "He was shot by a hunter and broke his wing, and he couldn't return to the wild since now he can't fly... so now he lives here. It's pretty much the same story for the kestrel, except he had been attacked by a larger bird, not a human." he shrugged "though I think Jasper has taken a liking to you, the owl." he chuckled lightly "usually he doesn't make friends with new people as quick as that."

Iggy smirked and shrugged as he wandered the room, peering inside a glass picture frame to see the sketch of a king fisher. As he walked feathers flew aside from his footsteps, clearing the way as he walked, just from the wind of the door being opened and his feet moving across the floor.

Next thing he knew he had a large owl perched on his shoulder with it's cool beak against his head. Jasper rammed his beak into Iggy's head three times before letting out a somewhat... happy, you could say, hoot. Iggy had his shoulders hunched and he winced slightly from the small jab of the owl's beak, but that only caused Isaac and his father to laugh.

"Yup, he definitely likes ya" Isaac chuckled.

Jasper let out another hoot and spread his wings and flapped them, in a gesture that he wanted to go back to his perch since he was unable to fly himself. Iggy grinned at the owl before walking towards the owl's home and let him perch at the mouth of the hole in the wall.

"So..." Isaac's father began "Can I see your wings?" Iggy nodded and let his wings spread to their full span, and the room around him still had plenty of room. Iggy heard Jasper give an excited hoot and he saw the kestrel look up from his meat chunk he had been busy chewing.

"Yup" Isaac's father examined Iggy's wings "definitely barn owl."