"PROBABLY SHOULD HAVE THOUGHT THAT OUT BETTER!" I screamed as I fell eight feet, landing on top of Ari. He fell with a roar of pain. I got up and brushed dust off my jeans. "Actually, I landed right on him. I take that back."

"Snow!" and Nudge, Max, and Angel have me in a group hug. I hug them back.

"You didn't really think I was going to permanently leave, did you?" I smile, rolling my eyes a little.

"I didn't know!" exclaims Nudge.

"What if you couldn't find us?" points out Angel.

I laugh again. "Okay, I have a radar thing inside me that finds you guys. I can always find you."

Angel looks guilty. "I'm sorry I drove you away, Snow."

I shake my head." No sweetie, it wasn't you. Actually, I found some answers on my own-"

"OWW!" Yells Max in anger. She turns to Ari, who has just punches her hard in the stomach. My eyes flare up, and I jump on Ari. I won't tell you all the fight details, but let's just summarize: bloody lip, broken ribs, black eye, blood. And I was fine.

As I turn successfully, I smile. "Let's go, my work here is done." And I start to walk away.

"Snow, look out!" Max yells suddenly, and blocks Ari, throwing him to the ground and stepping on his neck for good measure.

Then we hear the unmistakable 'SNAP!'

And Ari lies motionless. Nudge shrieks, and Angel puked into the wall, which was really gross. Max looked pained, but quickly recovers.

"Let's go, let's go!" She urges us, grabbing Angel by the hand as we all turn and run.

"Max!" The voice of Jeb Batchelder comes from behind us.

I glare in his direction. "Fuck off!" I scream at him.

He ignores me and continues. "Max, you killed your brother!" His voice is full of pain as he cradles the dead Eraser in his arms.

Max stops for a minute, but I grab her other hand and pull her on. We come to a ladder, and start to climb.

"What did he mean?" Max asks, sounding dazed.

"I don't know," I reply truthfully. "I can't read his mind."

"Me neither," adds Angel. We continue climbing in silence, and just get the hell out of that sewer.

Nudge comes out first, then Angel, then Max, then me.

As I come out, I grin. "I know how much you boys missed me," I tease gently.

Iggy laughs and comes over, lifting with up in the air with a hug. "Snow, you're back!" He grins.

I smile back. "Yep, and I've got news to share with you guys."

So I hugged Gazzy, and fist bumped Fang, and then I realized something.

"Fang?" I asked.

He nodded, which meant "Yeah?"

"You have a dog… in your arms," I said slowly.

He sighed, and nodded. Max rolled her eyes. "Apparently we have a dog now."

"Angel saw him and she wanted him, so we got him," Fang added quietly.

"His name is Total," chimed in Angel.

"All right then," I say. I look around, and notice a few different things.

One: We have a dog

Two: Angel has a stuffed animal bear

Three: Everyone has highlights in their hair and new clothes

"Wow what did I miss everyone's so well dressed," I look carefully at everyone.

"Actually, you missed a lot," piped up Nudge.

"Well fill me in," I smiled, extending my wings. Max nods at everyone.

"Ready to fly, guys?" She asks, extending her own wings. They nod, and we take off.

On the way to…. Wherever we're going….. Nudge fills me in on stuff that's happened:

They got free makeovers, discovered a branch of Itex, ate honey roasted peanuts(hey me too!), Max got a voice in her head? That's weird…. Oh, and Angel got that bear by influencing a woman to buy it for her.

I frowned. "I don't think I can influence minds, just read them."

Nudge shrugged. "Oh, I almost forgot. Right after you left, we went to the beach, and went swimming, and Angel discovered that she could talk to fish and breathe underwater!"

I smiled. "Wait until I tell everyone what happened to me."

Max looked back at everyone. "Guys, everyone's been talking about parents, and we got those files….."

"What files?" I interject. Probably something Nudge forgot to tell me.

"We got files about where our birth parents are," Max says slowly. "And I was wondering if you guys wanted to go find them? They all live around Virginia so we can go to DC and start from there."

Everyone looks at Max in disbelief. Then Nudge screams "Yes! Oh please Max, if I find my mom she'll probably be so happy because she thought I was dead but I'm alive!"

"Our parents gave us away," Gazzy said sadly.

"Well maybe they were out of money, and the only way to keep living was to sell us, but it was the hardest decision of their lives," points out Angel.

Gazzy looked pained. "But we don't know that for sure!"

"There's only one way to find out," Angel says seriously.

Finally after a few minutes, Gazzy nods as well. Fang says nothing. Typical.

Iggy looks upset. "But I'm blind now," he said sadly. "And isn't my mom dead? And I doubt my dad will take me back, since me being born led to her death."

"Well if he doesn't take you back, you still have us," Max said firmly. "I don't even know if I have parents, so I'll still keep the flock together. Flock of one and counting."

"I'm staying with you Max," I said immediately. "I found out some things about my parents, and…..well, they're not very good."

Max looks upset. "I'm sorry, Snow."

"It's okay," I said, although it wasn't. I could still picture my grandparent's faces when they went…..well you know.

Max smiled gently at me. "Let's find somewhere to land so you can tell us what happened."

"Okay," I replied unhappily. I wasn't looking forward to reliving the pain, but I knew I needed to tell the flock everything.

….A FEW MINUTES PASS…..

We landed on a beach. Everyone gathered around me as I sat in the sand. Then I took a deep breath.

"Okay," I started and told them everything, starting with flying there and sleeping on the beach, to getting pushed off and discovering gills, and then the man-made tidal wave pushing me out.

(now Snow's going to actually speak, not just summarize.)

"Then this old couple saved me, and asked about my story. They told me about their daughter, Cindy, who had disappeared out of nowhere with her husband and baby. I asked what gender was the baby, and they said girl, and I had a feeling it was me, but I didn't say anything yet.

Then they kind of, "adopted me" and I had a great six days with them, they bought me the ingredients I wanted so I could cook, they had a guest room that I slept in, they were nice, but on the sixth day, I knew I had to come find you guys.

So I started the day by making pancakes, eight for me, and three for each of them. We had a great day, played Scrabble, which I was surprisingly good at, went fishing and I caught one salmon, and Gramps caught two.

Then we went to the store and bought fresh pasta, and for dinner I made salmon and pasta, which was really good, but anyway I couldn't eat since I felt bad. So they asked me what was wrong, since I never pick at my food, and I told them that I had to leave, and told them that I thought I was their granddaughter, and showed them my wings.

They gasped and I told them that I had been told that my parents were murdered and I was kidnapped. They didn't know Cindy was dead, and they were sad, then I told them I had to leave, and….. they went insane. Literally insane, you could see something changed in their eyes, it was awful."

And then I burst into tears. "My only family left, and I drove them insane!" Then the flock wrapped me into a group hug, even Fang joined in, and Total the dog laid his nose on my shoulder, and Nudge was crying, too.

"I'm so sorry, Snow!" She wailed along with me.

I realized I forgot something. "Oh I forgot one thing," I said, rubbing my eyes.

"What's that?" Asked Iggy.

"My real name, it's Annie. That's what my grandparents told me when I said I was Cindy's daughter," I said.

Nudge smiled a little, although her eyes were still teary. "My real name is Monique."

Max smiled, too. "I don't know what my real name is, neither does Fang, Angel, Iggy, or Gazzy."

I felt better. "Hey Angel, since we can both breathe underwater, I think it would be really nice if I learned how to swim. Mind teaching me?"

Her eyes shone. "Of course I'll help you Snow!"