Not dead! I actually don't have an excuse for the delayed post of this. In my defense, it's long. So um...anyway, this isn't the last one. That one's coming. Enjoy!

In the next second, Shell was no longer touching me, and I felt her weight on the other side of the couch.

"Wha—?" I started, befuddled.

"A.J.!" she exclaimed. "What are you doing here?"

A.J.? What the heck?

The guy stormed furiously into the room, his feet slamming with every step; he was coming dangerously close to us. "Are you cheating on me?" he shouted bewilderedly.

I suddenly recognized his voice and footsteps. It was the guy I'd heard with her a few days ago on the sidewalk. The one she said was her makeshift brother.

"Cheating?" I echoed in confusion. "What the—?"

"No, A.J., I swear—"

I heard a yelp and a hard smack of a huge fist on flesh. There was a crack and I smelled blood. Did he just punch her?

"Don't you ever think of cheating on me!" he shouted, hitting her again. She cried out in pain, and I found myself standing next to them, a look of anger molding itself on my face.

"Stop hitting her!" I demanded the guy.

Miraculously, he stopped. I hadn't expected him to. At first this confused me, but then I felt a hand grip the collar of my jacket and lift me up off the ground. He must've been at least six feet to do that.

"No!" Shell cried, her voice cracking. "A.J.–"

"Shut up!"

"A.J., he's blind!"

I could almost feel him grin, and my dislike for this punk deepened further. "Then this oughta be fun," he said.

What a jerk!

I sensed a fight coming on. I think in slow motion when I fight. It's the only way I can fight. Thinking in slow motion gives me a chance to smell where someone is by their sweat or blood, to hear where they're breathing, to feel every turn in their muscle so I know what's coming. My thoughts slowed down.

Right now, I felt the muscles in the hand holding me shift a little, his arm tilting just enough so that I knew he was pulling his other hand back to punch me. Sure enough, I heard it whizzing through the air, and, much to his astonishment, I blocked it. I grabbed hi fist, now hanging in midair in his hesitation, and twisted it as far in a circle as I could.

He yelped in surprise and dropped me. His mistake. I punched where I'd heard his yelp come from, and felt little wet shards of teeth splinter beneath my fingers, and blood spurt out under my hand. The funny thing about that was that the punch was only half-strength. Humans are so breakable.

He staggered back, then held his ground.

"I though' you thed he wath blin'!" he shouted furiously at Shell, and I couldn't stifle a hysterical laugh.

I whirled and roundhouse kicked him. He staggered again, but this time, out of the desire to actually fight, I heard him pick up something glass.

"A.J.!" Shell exclaimed. "No, don't!" I almost forgot she was there.

I heard the faintest grunt from him, an almost inaudible noise, and I ducked simultaneously. The thing flew over my head and I jumped at him before it even hit the wall and shattered to a million pieces in a huge crash. I caught him by the shoulders and he fell to the ground. I pinned him down and punched him over and over again, until his breathing became ragged and the smell of blood overcame that of the unbearable candles.

The whole thing wasn't fair at all. He didn't stand a fighting chance.

Something was tugging on my shoulder. "Iggy, stop!" Shell pleaded, almost reluctantly. "Stop it, he's my boyfriend! Besides, my parents'll kill me if there's blood on the rug." Although, to tell you the truth, I was pretty sure there already was blood on the carpet.

I stopped. "Boyfriend?" I echoed.

She hesitated. "Yeah," she answered sheepishly.

God, I was stupid. It couldn't have been more painfully obvious. I almost kept going on him, but now Shell had my attention.

I got up and, leaving his bloody mess behind, stalked off to the general direction where I thought the hall we'd come through was. I walked into a lamp. I muttered angrily to myself, rubbing my nose and continued walking with one hand out.

Well. I should've seen it coming anyway. Every time something good happens to me, it ends in lies and betrayals. I should've known Shell was too good to be true.

Shell grabbed my arm and I shrugged her off. "Wait, Iggy, let me explain," she pleaded. I stormed off, ignoring her.

"Look," she tried again, this time her voice coming from in front of me. "A.J.'s a jerk. I'm sorry. I was hoping he wouldn't end up coming in, but he did, and that kind of messed stuff up–"

"Kind of messed stuff up??" I shouted. "Look, I don't know a single thing about what couples are supposed to be like, but I do know that if something gets someone wanting to beat me up, someone messed up."

"Iggy, Christ, calm down, lemme explain!"

"No!" I shouted. "Dammit, what is wrong with everyone?" I let out a noise of aggravation, then took a breath, trying to keep from blowing up again. "I have to go home. Bye, Shell."

"No!" she protested. "I'm going to explain. You looked different to me ever since I met you, and I knew that if I wanted to be alone with you, it would have to be when A.J. wasn't around, since he's such a jealous bully. Then you said you were leaving, and I knew I wouldn't have another chance at you after that. So I took anything I got. Happy?"

I'll admit, I didn't see that coming. I was still too mad at her to let it phase me, though. "You don't even know me," I growled. "All I want is to go home. Are you going to move out of the way, or do I have to make you move?"

I didn't hear her move, so I assumed she was being stubborn. "I don't usually want a guy in particular," she said. "You should be happy."

"You're full of yourself," I spat. Okay, she was hot. Okay, I really liked the whole idea of a hot girl liking me. But now was a really bad time. I didn't need any more betrayal. I shoved past her, storming off down the hall.

I was just touching the front door's doorknob when she grabbed my arm again. "Wait, I just remembered something," she said. I opened the door, ignoring her. "Right before A.J. walked in, something weird happened," she continued quickly. I kept ignoring her, pushing open the screen door. "Right at the bottom of your jacket, I felt something kinda soft, kinda like a feather."

I stopped. I could almost feel her smiling in triumph. I walked through the doorway, shoving past her. No way were we about to get into that.

"Iggy, come on!" she wailed, still walking alongside me. I sped up, trying to lose her. Pest.

"Do you have any dignity?" I wondered. "Stop following me."

"Not until you tell me what that feather was about. It felt like it was attached to something. You have an Indian headdress or something under there?"

Okay…weird question…

"Go away. Nice knowing you. Have a great life," I said, trying to shake her off.

"No. I'm going to follow you the whole way if I have to."

That's just what I needed. Another person I couldn't trust with me.

"You can't come with me where I'm going," I told her.

"I don't plan to. I just want you to tell me what's going on."

"Get over it."

"No."

"Yes!"

"No!"

"Fine!" I shouted, whirling on her. "You wanna know?! You wanna know?? I'll show you!"

I wasn't totally sure what I was doing. I needed to get to Anne's – that was where the flock was. Then I remembered that the private school we went to let out a lot later in the day than Shell's did, so they were still in school. Not that it mattered, I'd still have to get to their school. Flying would get me there faster than walking and I wanted to be there ASAP. So flying it was.

I ran, pulling off my windbreaker as I ran. If she wanted to see, if the neighbors wanted to see, if those scumbags that might be my parents wanted to see, they could all see. To hell with them. See what I care.

I unfolded my eagle wings, catching little currents of wind and propelled into the sky. The wind whipped my face, and my wings almost cracked in the strain of having been unstretched for days. My hearing picked up a faint gasp behind me. I soared into the sky, leaving little sounds of suburban life behind, higher and higher, way up.

"Iggy! Wait!"

And that was the last time I ever heard the voice of the one girl who liked me.