Bridget rushed first to Ash's side and felt for her pulse. "She's alive," she announced. She continued to evaluate the girl, checking for broken bones and other injuries. After a minute or two, Bridget had reached a conclusion.

"Her ribs are cracked, and I believe she might have some internal bleeding, hence why she collapsed," she continued. "Luckily, due to some recent advances in medicine, we have pills she can to take to help stop the internal bleeding, preventing a loss and lack of red blood cells and organ failure."

"What about her ribs?" "We can try to reposition her ribs then wrap them up. It seems like the best option," Dr. Dwyer replied. "But we'll have to reposition her ribs first though, if they're what caused the bleeding then we have to position them so they're no longer penetrating and circulatory veins and stuff. We need to fix the root of the problem before-," Bridgid interrupted me.

"Yes, but-." I finished for her, "If we do that though there's a possibility of causing more damage and bleeding. She would need to take the pills before repositioning but we would have to finish fixing her ribs before the medication got into her system." Let's just say growing up in a lab/school, you learn a lot.

"That would give us seven minutes tops to reposition them," she noted. "Then we just have to work fast." The others were staring at us incredulously. I rolled my eyes. "Okay, Bridgid go get the pills. Where is the infirmary?" "Third door on the left."

"Got it, Fang, help me move Ash to the infirmary," I barked as Bridgid jogged to get the medication. Ash was heavier than expected, although mainly Fang carried her. She was average height with practically hollow, avian bones. However, she had a lot of lean and lanky muscle, plus the added weight of wings too.

We placed her onto a cot. Dr. Dwyer arrived, "Ready?" Max turned to the younger kids in the room, "Iggy, will you get everyone else out of here? They really don't need to see any of this." "Sure," Iggy nodded and escorted the rest of the Flock out of the room. Any protests from Angel, Nudge, or Gazzy were silenced by a withering glare from Max.

"Okay, go," I positioned myself over Ash's torso, Fang and Max watching from the side. Bridgid popped the pills into Ash's mouth and I began to gently position her ribs. I was glad Ash was still unconscious, knowing she would probably scream or try to kill me again from the pain of it. Once they were at the angle they were supposed to be I declared, "We need gauze wraps or something. Max plucked a roll of gauze off a nearby cart and tossed it to me.

"Fang, lift up Ash's torso, Dwyer, help me." Once Ash's torso was hovering in the air, Bridgid and I began to pass the roll back and forth, wrapping it deftly around her rib cage. "Done," Dr. Dwyer let out a sigh of relief. "She should be okay, she'll probably wake up in a couple of hours."

"Thanks," I nodded in acknowledgement to everyone. "You're awfully good at that," Bridgid nicely commented. "You should do something with it someday." I shrugged, "It's not like I can be a doctor." I raised my wings to prove my point.

"True," Max noted. I looked to Fang to see what his response was, "Possibly." Vague as ever, I thought with an internal grin. But it saddened me a. It that I really couldn't ever pursue anything like a career, besides being in a flying freak show. Which sounded less than appealing.

We all stood there for a while, not knowing what to do. "So Ash was sent here to kill you," Max addressed the elephant in the room with a topic change. I nodded, "Apparently."

"I thought you said the School needed you, you were the last remaining test subject of your experiment," her voice was questioning. "I thought so too, but it seems as if they no longer need me."

"But, why?" Asked Fang. I scoffed, "Like I should know. I'm about as clueless as you are." "They'll probably send more people, eraser's maybe, to kill you since... Ash didn't," my stomach lurched at Max's words. "I should leave," I could hear the panic in my own voice.

"No," Fang's voice was firm. "But what about the kids? And the rest of-?" "You're not going." I suddenly felt sick with the mental image of Angel being grasped by an Eraser's claws, her innocent blue eyes filled with terror. Not only that but the Flock, all shaking their heads at me, asking me to leave. I was too dangerous.

"I have to." Fang's hand closed around my arm, "We'll just be a minute," he said, before dragging me out into the hallway. I couldn't help the way my skin tingled underneath his warm fingers.

"Stop it," Fang told me. "What?" I asked, not sure whether or not he meant arguing or trying to go. "Stop trying to leave, for fear of being left."

"I'm not afraid of-," I was cut off by Fang. "You are," he said. "And I can tell, in the way you tip-toe around us. In the way you do everything in your power to prevent yourself from doing something wrong, it shows. You're scared of being left."

"Shut up," I retorted. "Just shut up." "Why? Because I'm telling you the truth, because you don't want to admit anyone noticed-," I cut him off. "Shut up, Okay? Stop talking like you know everything about me, like you know me. You don't." My voice was breaking, his eyes softened. He looked pained to say the words, but it seemed as if felt like he had to.

"I can't figure out why though. It's a fear that should've been gone the moment we said you could stay with the flock, I mean, of course I can assume and make guesses, but I-," I don't know how many times I had interrupted him now, but I was mad.

"Why?! You want to know why?" I yelled. "Because everyone leaves me, no one wants me! My own parents even sold me because they didn't want me, they didn't love me. So yes, I am afraid, but I'm not some puzzle for you to solve. I'm not here for your amusement then to be tossed aside like nothing more than a solved mystery." I was positive Max and Bridgid could hear me, although I couldn't bring myself to care

"You're not a puzzle," he told me, meeting my gaze. I was trembling with anger and emotion. "You're not. And we're not going to leave you. I won't leave you." I tried not to focus on the last bit, tried to ignore the way my heart swelled with the words. "But you would want to... eventually," I whispered, looking down at the ground. "Why in the world would you think that?" Fang asked, softer this time.

"Like I said, everybody leaves. There must be something wrong with me, I must have some kind of fatal flaw that makes everybody go." He grimaced at my words. "You're fine, you're perfect," he breathed. Tears filled my eyes at the words. "There's nothing wrong with you, not a thing. You're parents were idiots, cruel, stupid idiots. They didn't know what they had. They didn't know who they had."

I stared up at him. I was confused, now more so than ever. All my life, I had understood people's motives. My parents, theirs was money and opportunity to get rid of me. Jeb's and the scientist's, that was for the advancement of science and whatever else they like to justify it with. But as I looked at Fang, I didn't know why he even cared about me.

I mean, he had kissed me, he gave me fluttering sensations in my stomach, and almost killed a girl protecting me. But why would he do those things? I was just as confused with the layers of him as he was with me.

Those were the thoughts that swirled my head as I ran outside, I needed to get away. I ran and ran until night sky was above me and I flew. I bolted into the sky, straight towards the stars.

I was free, I reminded myself, I wasn't in a cage or lab anymore. I was free, and that was all that mattered. I focused on that as I kept my eyes trained on the boat below me, knowing I had to go back down eventually.

But for that moment, I let the wind tousle my hair and tint my cheeks with the cold. All of it a reminder that I had wings, I could fly away. I could save myself. I wasn't a damsel that was locked up in a tower with nowhere to go. I was a winged girl that could jump out any window in a tower and plummet towards the ground, only to be lifted by the wings that were surgically implanted in my spine before I landed.

I could save myself. I could learn and live and love, and if I did that alongside the flock, that was okay. But I would never forget that I could always rely on myself.

After a few hours of trailing the slow moving boat from the sky, I landed quietly on the deck. Fang was leaning against a wall, hands in his pockets and a calm expression on his face. He stood up straighter when he saw me and began, "I'm sorry."

"It's fine," I responded, meeting his gaze. He looked as if he had been there the entire time I was flying. I smiled and he returned it with a grin. Yes, everything was fine as the sun began to rise, it's tendrils of light snaking onto the deck.

Author's Note: Hi guys! I hope you enjoyed that chapter, I'll try to have the next one up before the end of the week. Remember to review, favorite, and follow. Also, I've been trying to think of a ship name for Fang and Skylar but can't really come up with one. If you have an idea for one I would love to hear it. XOXO- Skai.