Eleven
It was late, and we all stacked fists – with Bree and Liz watching curiously – before the boy's departed for their own room. Fang smirked at me as he left, and I pulled a face at him as I shut the door, locking it.
"Bed." I said, turning around to see the three girls watching me. Angel nodded, and we set off towards the rooms.
There were two, one with a double bed, which Angel and Nudge took, and one with two single beds; A family apartment place. I made sure Angel and Nudge were settled, and wandered into the room. Liz was sitting on one of the beds, the one opposite the door. She'd left me the one by the window. I sat down on it, and waited.
"I'm sorry about what Bree did." She sounded sincere enough.
"Me too." I said, smiling slightly as I tugged off my jumper, then my top, wandered over to the mirror in my tank-top (I'd shut the curtains) to check out any damaged he'd done to me. My feathers were all spazzled up. Damn. Stretching out my wing, I set myself the difficult task of settling the feathers back into place. Smiling, Liz got up cautiously and came over, gently settling them back the way they were supposed to be.
"Thanks," I said softly, and she grinned, before brushing her fingers across a small section on my left wing, near my shoulder.
"What happened here?" She asked, frowning. I twisted my head.
"Oh, I was shot." I said it all matter of fact, and she hissed.
"By who? Why?" She sounded shocked as she examined the small scar on my left wing, then came around to stand in front of me, and motioned for me to extend both wings.
"Some crack-pot kid." I answered absently, spreading my thirteen-foot wingspan before her appreciative eye. I guess she was comparing me to Bree, or possibly herself, though I'd heard no comment about her having wings.
"Sweet…" she whispered, and then froze. I stiffened as I saw her eyes widening, expecting to hear the snicker of one of the boys or something behind me at best, the snarl of an Eraser at worst… I was dressed in my jeans and tank-top, my shirts thrown carelessly on my bed.
"Liz?" I asked quietly, retracting my wings and turning to see what she was staring at. I couldn't see anything – What the?
"Did you know that was there?" She whispered, her face ashen, and pointed at something in the middle of the hall, pointing right at us.
I swore. "No. Go and wake the boys. I'll get the girls up. We're leaving. NOW!" I added loudly as she continued to stare at the security camera that was zoomed in on us.
She nodded and dashed past.
Twelve
Throwing on my shirts, I gathered up mine and Liz's things, and ran into Nudge and Angel's room, tugging the blanket off them; I threw their cloths at them, talking rapidly in a Nudge way.
"Up, get dressed, we're leaving, now. Hurry up, girls. Quick!" Angel – reading my mind, no doubt – picked up on the seriousness of the situation, and I shook Nudge gently, and half dressed her as she tried to wake up. Total danced around our feet, looking worried though not speaking. I had them up and ready to go in five long and stress filled minutes.
"Max? What happened?" I looked up, seeing Fang standing in the doorway to the room Nudge and Angel had been in, frowning. He was dressed and alert – probably hadn't been asleep to begin with. Iggy and Gazzy were with him, looking ruffled. I could hear Liz talking quietly to Bree in the lounge room.
"I'll explain later, we need to go. C'mon, let's go." I shoved Total at Iggy, and put my own back-pack on, leading Nudge out of the room – she was still way out of it – and over to the window.
There was a knock on the door.
I froze in the act of shoving them towards the window. Liz came up beside me, looking terrified as another knock came on the door.
"I've taken them all out. They can't see in here any more. We locked the door, but they'll have a master-key. We need to go – now."
"Max?" Fang said urgently, fingers brushing my arm. "What happened, Max?"
I looked over at him, pursing my lips, and then pointed at the now broken security camera that had been surveying the rooms.
"That,' I said slowly, scowling, "but I'll explain later. Gazzy, Angel, Iggy, Nudge, OUT!" And I shoved them, as I spoke their names, at the window. Obediently, they all launched out of it. "Meet us on the coaster tracks." They nodded, and Nudge led them off.
"We are entering now," came a deep voice through the window, and I gestured urgently for Bree, Fang and Liz to all get out the window.
Bree went first, hovering just outside the window, he held his arms open while Fang and I frowned at him, and caught Liz as she threw herself out the window and at him. They followed the rest of the flock. Fang gave me a 'what the hell?" look, and then slipped out the open window like a dark shadow. I climbed up onto the window to follow him just as the door opened, and about twelve people all came pouring in, guns held up and ready. I froze, wings half unfurled, and stared at them. They stared back.
"Bye, boys." I said sweetly, and dropped out of the window head first, straight down. I heard a shout – we were on the 7th floor – and then they were staring out the window. I used the darkness to hide me, dropping down the building; I then followed a dark path and went around the building the long way to where the flock was waiting for me.
"Max!" Nudge called, relief filling her voice, as I landed lightly on the track behind them all. I hugged her when she threw herself at me, smiling slightly.
"I think its time we left Disneyworld, my friends." I said softly, and got some very serious nods in return from the younger kids, but Fang just gave me a 'you'd better explain soon' look.
"I'll explain later." I promised to the group at large, meeting Fang's gaze, and he nodded slightly. "Ok, let's get out of here."
I shot up into the air, the flock following me, Bree again carrying Liz, and we headed off in the Northerly direction of New York.
Thirteen
We only flew for about 200miles, so we were only in the air for a couple of hours. It was long enough for it to get dark and cool though, and we were all shivering while our wings felt hot. Well, everyone except Liz. I was still confused about her being carried. She either didn't have wings or didn't use them, and I was beginning to think it was the former.
"Town," Fang said quietly, pointing to the lights coming off the settlement below. I nodded.
"We'll find somewhere to stash for the night there, then." Fang nodded his agreement, and we called the flock to order, leading them down to land in a thick group of trees with shrubs below them. Fang pulled out a heap of bars from his back-pack and we snacked on these, hot wings tucked into our backs and arms wrapped around knees as we huddled on the branches. Gazzy came and sat in my lap, since Angel was the only one Fang would let that close to him; Iggy and Nudge were sitting beside each other on a branch just below me. Bree and Liz were to my right, and Angel and Fang to my left.
I took first watch, after battle of the glare with Fang, and stared boredly at the world below, watching as the lights in the town faded away and everything went black. I was about 3 in the morning when Liz woke up - I was supposed to wake Fang for his watch, but couldn't be bothered finding something to throw at him.
"You're still awake?" Liz whispered from the confines of Bree's arms, looking over at me. I nodded quietly, feeling Gazzy's easy breathing under my own arms. His blonde head was just below my chin.
"Do you want me to take Watch?" She whispered again, sitting up a little.
I shrugged, "I can't sleep - Too much on my mind." I saw her red head nod agreement.
"I'm sorry," she murmured, and I almost smiled.
"Yeah, me too." I said instead, looking over at her. Her green eyes were wide and sad. "It wasn't your fault." I added, just to clear that up.
"Perhaps, but there was so much that could have been done to avoid that… And now they have a video of us – you and I – and I'm already classified as missing, and you're like…" She fell off, not sure what to say.
"A mutant freak?" I supplied, and she gave a bitter snort.
"That'll work."
I felt my neck prickle a moment before Fang spoke, and so he didn't make me jump. Liz, however, did. "What do you mean, you're 'already classified as missing'?" His dark eyes were narrowed.
"I was kid-knapped." Liz said quietly, looking down at her knees. "Bree rescued me when he escaped to come and warn you." Her voice was low. "I don't know what they would have done to me… He brought me along to find you. Said I could help, and he didn't mind carrying me."
I stared at her, my feelings confirmed. "You're human." I stated. She nodded, and I felt more than heard Fang say "I thought so."
"I should have told you," she said softly, and I thought yeah, "But I was worried you would send us away if I did, and with Bree damaging your wing…" I felt Fang stiffen and tuned to look at him.
"He hurt you?" He mouthed, and I smiled, shaking my head.
"I was repairing feather damage to my wing. Liz was helping. That's why we had to go. The security camera saw my wings. I had my back to it. Liz saw it first. It was zoomed in on us…" I faltered to a stop at Fang's murderous look.
"Brilliant. You'll be all over the papers…" He sighed in a resigned manner, and I glared at him.
Liz smirked, "Yeah, and she's not got much on." I flushed scarlet in the darkness, glad they couldn't see, and saw Fang's eyes widen. Liz laughed softly.
Time for a change of subject, I think.
"What's the time, Fang?"
He stared at me for a moment, and then pressed the button on his watch to light it up. "Four thirty." Ok, I was an hour off. "It was my watch over two hours ago." He scolded, and I shrugged.
"I thought it was only three."
"That still means it was my watch." I shrugged again.
"When will we leave?" Liz asked, heading off the impending battle of words. I turned to look at her.
"Seven, seven thirty. Let the kids sleep a while longer."
"Okay. You two go back to sleep. I'll finish the watch."
I shrugged, but Fang looked ready to do battle.
"Your watch is over in like, twenty minutes. Don't worry. I'll wake you up at seven." Liz spoke sweetly, and I smiled secretly into Gazzy's hair, closing my eyes.
"Let her take the watch, Fang." I didn't get a reply, but it didn't matter, Liz would watch and I would sleep.
Fourteen
Liz's POV
I could feel Bree's arms around me, and snuggled closer to him as the Max and Fang both went back to sleep. I felt guilty about Max and her wings being caught on video. She'd be all over the news by the end of the now dawning day. Everyone would know that there was at least one winged person in the world, and they would all know what she looks like… And they would know what I looked like, the missing kid, stolen away on her way home from school shows up with winged girl. Life was already unsteady, and now it would be doubly so, because people would recognise me and Max.
I sighed lightly, watching as the moon faded away, and the town lights started to come on in houses, as the street lamps turned off, and the sun rose on the horizon. It was really cool to watch, and I would have enjoyed it if I hadn't been so stressed.
I turned to wake up Max and Fang, but found the latter already awake. He was staring over Angel's head with a concerned expression on his face. Wow. Even in the few hours I'd been with the group, I'd discovered that Fang didn't show emotions. He sighed softly, and then turned to face me. I smiled slightly, a sort of good-morning, and he frowned at me, before nodding slightly. Wow, cheerful fellow, in't he?
"Should we wake her?" I asked, indicating Max. He shook his head, and detangled himself from Angel. The little girl woke up, blinking, and Fang stepped away along the branch, telling her to go back to sleep. She nodded, looked at me, smiled and then closed her eyes again.
"I'm going to go get the newspaper." He said softly, I nodded, and he dropped to the ground, and started walking towards the town. It was probably about 5am.
Max's POV
I woke at about seven thirty, much to my disgust. Most of the flock was awake, and were talking quietly on two of the close together branches. I frowned; Fang, Gazzy, Angel, Bree and Liz were all sitting together. Iggy was sitting on his branch still, blind eyes open and looking in the group's direction, with Nudge still asleep against his chest.
"Morning Ig," I whispered. "Wake her up, we'll leave soon." I saw him nod, and then turned back to watching the others. They were discussing me, I could tell. I heard my name once, and crept along the branch above them, looking down with a curious expression.
"Crap!" I swore, loudly, looking down at the five, or six, newspapers all displaying my pictures: me dressed in tank top and jeans, wings half spread, eyes wide. My back, wings spread to their full thirteen feet. Liz and I, with her fixing my feathers – all of them were displaying large amounts of skin and feather.
I leaned down and snatched them all up out of their shocked grasps. I'd surprised them, and they all looked up at me.
"Oh, my, God," I whispered, shaking. The whole of the damned world probably had these. Me! Half dressed with wings out. The whole damned world would see my wings. I wanted to cry – how embarrassing… terrifying.
"It's okay, Max." Angel said softly, joining me on my branch, and patting my shoulder softly. "You're beautiful."
Liz's POV
Fang got back shortly later, his olive features slightly pale; he was holding an armload of papers. I woke Bree quietly, and we both dropped down a branch, which Fang joined us on. After a moment, Angel and Gazzy also came over to join us, and Fang looked seriously at us all.
"This is a nightmare." He said quietly, and spread the papers out on the branch before us, each of them showing images of Max, up close and clear. They were gorgeous photos – Max is very photogenic – but that isn't a good thing, remember. Each photo showed her face, and large amounts of pale skin. Perhaps the most worrying, though, was the thirteen foot wingspan that erupted from her shoulders and spread across the page. Each feather could be counted, her wings fully spread, half spread - My face looking over her shoulder. You could see the bullet wound on her left shoulder and wing. It was Gazzy who noticed his first.
"What's that?" He asked, pointing to the scar on the largest image of Max – Her standing with her back to the camera, wings spread fully. Gazzy looked at Fang for an answer, but he only frowned and leaned closer to the picture.
"Max didn't tell you?" I asked quietly, and they all looked at me. Fang shook his head. "She said she was shot."
They all stared at me.
"When?" Fang asked, sounding tense.
"I don't know. She didn't go into details." Fang looked like he was thinking over what Max had been up to, when we heard a loud "Crap!" and all started. The next instant, every paper was gone, and we all looked up to see Max above us, staring wide eyed at the papers, looking like she was about to hurl.
"Oh, my, God," She whispered, and I glanced at her flock, trying to read their reactions to Max. Gazzy looked unsure, Fang looked impassive, and Angel jumped up to crouch beside Max, who was above us.
"It's okay, Max. You're beautiful." I think that was supposed to be comforting, but really, I don't think it did anything. Max still looked like she was going to cry.
"What is it?" Iggy asked, landing just beside Angel, and Nudge scrambled across the branch, on Max's other side, looking woozy with sleep.
"Max got published." Gazzy said quietly. "Flashing her wings."
"That's not all she's flashing," Bree added smugly, and I punched him in the arm as Max went scarlet.
"Shut up," I hissed as Fang glared at Bree, who continued to look smug.
Fifteen
Ten minutes later – after I'd shoved every paper in the area into my backpack and sworn to bomb every newspaper publisher in America, and we'd eaten our delicious power bars – we took off into the sky, flying straight up and then heading once more towards New York.
"How far to New York?" Iggy asked, drifting past me, blind eyes facing ahead.
"Some 800 odd miles." I replied.
"Okay, so, like, 8 hours?" He asked, now looking at me with his non-seeing blue eyes.
"More, depending on when and how long we stop for."
"Cool."
We flew mostly in silence – that meaning Nudge talked and we all put up with her – for most of the day. -We got quite a way, only stopping when we had to, and even then it was well outside any town or people areas. I was a famous person – bird – mutant – now, so anyone could suddenly go 'My, you look like that flying chick in the newspaper' and I'd be busted. Liz wasn't allowed anywhere near people, either. I don't know what they planned to do with us when we got to New York, and didn't bother asking.
"Ma-ax" Here it comes, brace yourselves, "I'm hungry. Are we stopping soon?"
I turned my head to look at Nudge, who was coasting along on my left. She was playing with her nails, but looked up at me hopefully when she felt my gaze on her.
"Sure, I think we could use a break. Keep an eye out for somewhere to eat, then." She grinned at me, eyes bright, and dropped a couple of feet, eyes locked on the ground.
"You're not going into any towns." Fang said, gliding in beside me after Nudge left, obviously having been listening to us.
I glared at him. "Too bad."
"And what are you doing to do when someone recognises you?" He glared back at me.
My eyes narrowed, "What, so I'm going to sneak around outside New York, then?"
He smirked now, looking smug. "Only until we find one of those hairdressers that will give you and Liz one of those free make-overs." He sounded so smug about it, and that pissed me off. Glaring at him, I snarled something at him that I don't wish to tell you, and put on the turbo speed, rocketing out of there. I heard Liz exclaim in surprise when I zipped under her and Bree – they didn't know about my super speed.
I went for a long time, stopping only when I knew I was more than far enough away from the flock, hovering I looked down. I was over a forest, and I dropped down into one of the trees, feeling guilty now. I shouldn't have gotten angry at Fang, or left the Flock on their own. I had the credit card in my back pocket, so Nudge would be upset when I get back… She'd have to wait to eat, since no one else had any form of cash. I sat down heavily on the thick branch. I was quite high above the ground, and listened absently to the call of the birds around me, watching the little ones hop around on branches, or flitter through the leaves. It was very peaceful, and helped to calm me.
"Why, hello, little Birdie."
Oh, damn.