The Flock meeting split up soon after our debacle. Fang had already left, and Nudge stormed off as well. The rest of us dispersed across the house, Gazzy and Angel to their room and Nudge and I outside to fly around (as much as we could, seeing as my wings were partly injured).
"Don't mind Max and the others. Max is just precautious, and Fang hates everyone before he gets to know them. Iggy is just being safe, and trusts the older people's judgement above mine and Gazzy and Angel's. I think he trusts you, though," Hearing that from Nudge comforted me a little bit. She definitely knew them better than me.
Nudge had grown on me in the past week that I had been here. Sure, she had her quirks, and she could sometimes talk non-stop, but she reminded me of myself before I had lost Eden. In fact, she reminded me of my brother more than I'd like to admit.
"Hey, Nudge, can I tell you something?" She nodded, looking up at me curiously. "I probably shouldn't tell you this but I trust you more than the others. I mean, I trust them, too, but seeing as half are against me-"
"Just tell me!" Oh yeah, Nudge and I both ramble too much.
"Well, I have a brother. I haven't seen him in four years, ever since I left the School, but he'd be about your age right now, come to think of it. And I think the Flock could help me rescue him, if they would actually get along with me." Now Nudge was the one to look at me with scepticism.
"A brother? And you haven't thought to mention this before?" She seemed thoroughly insulted, and I actually kind of felt bad.
"Hey, I'm sorry I didn't tell you before, but you refused to tell me about your wings, remember?" I said, referencing our conversation the day after I arrived.
"Oh, yeah. Well, I guess we're even now." She went back to her bubbly self, smiling widely.
"Anyway, his name is Eden, and he's four years younger than me. I… I loved him, but of course when we escaped together, he was caught by the School, and brought back. I even tried to go back for him, but without a group of people it's a suicide mission,"
Nudge yawned. "Well, that's interesting and all, but I'm kind of tired. Hey, is your brother cute? I've never actually talked to someone my age before, can I become friends with him? Is he nice? I wonder what the rest of the Flock will think of this-"
"Nudge, you can't tell anyone about this yet! I... have some serious trust issues, and if your friends end up being part of the School, I'll be so mad at myself," Nudge nodded, a bit confused, then went to go sleep on the couch again.
That left me alone with, well, myself. Yay. Time for another flashback. Like I said, it's dangerous to let myself think too much, and that's essentially everything I'd been doing over the past week.
The rain had left a fog over everything, and I could barely see as I flew through the mist, my small wings working extra hard with the wind being how it was. I made my way all the way back to the School, tracing my steps from two days ago. I had to do this. I was doing this for Eden. He deserved to see the outside world, the world that I had been robbed of me when I was three. His life would not be labs and experiments until he died.
Erasers stood guard over the School, nestled in a valley of rock and boulders. My partially damp wings blended into the blues and greys of my environment, and I flew to the roof of the School without problems. I smirked, watching the Erasers sniff the air and try to find where my smell came from.
Stupid wolf humans. I went into an experimenting room through a creaky trapdoor, praying that nobody was using it. Thankfully, it was abandoned, with a few plastic chairs stacked against the wall and the lingering smell of chemicals that filled the entire School.
I ran through the halls aimlessly, grabbing a white coat on the way, so I didn't seem as suspicious. Hopefully none of the scientists remembered what I looked like.
Finally, I found a hall I remembered. It was dusty and unkempt, but go down, turn left, and you'll find them. Rows upon rows of cages, housing thousands of unsuccessful mutants. Turn right, and you find the successful ones. Cat mutants. Chameleon mutants. Spider mutants, all in different rooms. I needed the last one. There it was.
Avian mutants. I turned the corner, running and kneeling to Eden's cage. His limp figure already looked paler, and his blonde hair had been getting whiter by the day. Cuts were strewn across his arms and legs, and he was curled in a fetal position. "Eden! What are they doing to you!"
He coughed weakly. "Ad- Adalyn. You're back," he spoke in a whisper, and I could hardly hear his voice.
"Yes," I grabbed his arm through the cage.
"You must… you must go. They're c-coming," he held tight into my sleeve.
"I can't leave you here,"
"You have to," he let go of my sleeve, looking up in terror. Three women emerged, wearing the white coats that labeled them as the School's scientists. They grabbed me, and Eden, throwing us into a new room. "I can unlock this door, but they have a tracker on me. If I leave the school, it'll explode on me. You have to go!" Eden pushed me toward the door, unlocking it. He was amazing at that, really.
That was the last time I saw my brother.
