As I struggled back to consciousness, I could hear someone groaning in pain. Oh wait. That someone was me. I closed my mouth and opened my eyes.

Kai and Nya were peering down at me, faces twisted in concern around steadily-blackening eyes and bleeding split lips.

"Hey," I tried to whisper, but it came out hoarse and croaky. I cleared my throat and tried again, my first thoughts ones of concern for how they looked. "Hey. How is everybody?"

"Banged and bruised, but we'll live," Nya answered. She held out a hand and helped me up, continuing as I stood, "Not sure if Zane will if we don't get him back, though."

That's when all memories of this morning returned: waking up, going to pick strawberries, the Serpentine, the fight, Skylor, then darkness. I felt like I was going to drop right back down to the ground and black out again. They had Zane.

The Serpentine were ruthless, savage, and ferocious, and the whitecoats they reported to were even more so. Unbidden, a memory rose to the front of my mind of being maybe eight years old and watching the Serpentine train in the courtyard, watching them beat each other up for the slightest provocation, watching them learn not to value life but to value their own bloodlust and to value, above all, their orders.

I didn't know what their orders were now, but those orders at least extended to kidnapping Zane, and that wasn't something any of us were going to stand for.

Woozy from pain but steadying myself on Nya's shoulder momentarily, I looked around at my family. They were all beat up and bloodied, but we couldn't wait to get better. We didn't have the time. The clock was ticking on how long Zane could survive, tick tock, tick tock. Standing up straight on my own now, I stated, "We've got to go after them. We've got to get Zane back. Everybody ready?"

"Ready," Jay said shortly, for once not rambling on.

"Ready," Kai echoed, raising his chin.

"I'm up for it," Nya agreed.

"Me too," Cole added.

We were beat up, but not beaten down. We would fight on. We would never quit.

Tears of pain and pride flooded my eyes. Swiping them away, I resolved not to break. I couldn't afford to do so. Zane couldn't afford for me to do so.

That's when Cole tilted his head to one side. "Guys?"

I put a finger over my lips, waving my other hand for everyone to be silent and listen. After a moment of tense silence, I picked up on a quiet sound.

"That way!" Cole directed with a pointed finger.

We raced toward what we could just barely hear, and as we went, it became more audible, clearly becoming the sound of a muffled engine. We ran through the forest, coming to a steep cliff far overlooking a grown-over former road. I watched the road tersely, hoping against hope that the sound would come this way.

Then it did. A dirty, banged-up van came into view, rattling over the bumpy road. My heart sped up in my chest. Zane was in that van. He had to be. He was in that van, and he was on his way to our worst nightmare.

I couldn't allow that to happen. I wouldn't allow that to happen.

"Let's move," I ordered, backing away from the edge of the cliff. The others did the same, getting behind me. Starting toward the cliff edge, I picked up speed, going faster and faster.

Then, as I reached the edge of the cliff, I jumped.

I went over the cliff edge.

I began falling.

Then, I opened my wings and started flying.