Note: This Chapter is Max 3rd person. Don't ask. Just read. Then review. =^..^=
Max stared. Even after seeing some of the creatures the whitecoats cooked up at the school, this girl looked odd.
She was average height, looked about thirteen, and had light skin. Anything normal ended there.
She had wings, like the flock, black ones. They looked like Fang's, except they shone gold, not purple, in the light. Her hair was cut almost boyishly short, and was jet black.
But Max knew this wasn't the strangest thing about her.
She had cat ears. Black ones. They were pricked forward.
The new girl even had a tail. A cat tail, that twitched nervously about half a foot above the ground. She shuffled her feet and glanced anxiously up at their expressions.
Max heard Iggy ask in a low voice, "What is it?"
Nudge quietly responded, "A girl, about average height with short black hair, walked out of the trees. Where the twig snapped. She has wings, like us, and a, um, tail. And cat ears."
Iggy whistled softly, obviously impressed.
Fang looked at Max, eyebrows raised. She knew what to do.
Max raised her chin. "Who are you, and why are you here?"
Yeah, it sounded cheesy even in Max's head.
Angel tugged on her sleeve. "You know I can tell you that."
"Right. Let's let her explain for herself."
The new person looked up, the light showing the flock slightly slitted pupils.
"I'm Spark. You freed me from a School. In New York."
Ah. Now Max remembered.
"You didn't see my ears or tail; just my wings."
Gazzy was curious. "How? We would've seen them."
Spark's eyes flashed. "I have my ways."
Then, Nudge piped up, "So, what ARE you, exactly?"
Max glared at her. "Nudge, that was rude."
She didn't seem to mind. Spark answered her question, "I prefer… flying cat-girl. I was mixed with a black cat and a golden eagle. I think."
Gazzy snorted in amusement. Max ignored it. "Why are you here?"
She looked coolly at her. "I told you, you rescued me a while back. I wanted to find you."
"Uh…Sure."
"Max, she's okay! She doesn't want to hurt anybody, and she really has a good mind."
She looked at the tiniest member of the flock. Her eyes were huge and pleading.
Spark's ears twisted back uncomfortably. "I…. want to join your flock." She blushed and looked at the ground.
Max looked at Fang. "Let's discuss this in the air."
She looked up. "You might wanna go really high," Spark explained, "I have kitty hearing."
One by one the flock extended their wings and leaped into the air, flapping powerfully until they were high above Spark and the ground.
"Okay, what the heck? What should we do?!?" The flock had never had a request like this before.
Total, who had stayed silent so Spark wouldn't be startled by the talking-dogness, piped up. "I like her. Although she's a cat," he shuddered, "she seems nice."
"Spark does seem to be nice. Angel? Any thoughts on her that we should worry about?"
Angel shook her head. "Nope. I say we should give her a chance. She's loyal, and could be a valuable member of the flock."
This could be the fastest a member was accepted into the flock.
Of course Max had to ruin it.
"Guys, the flock is already getting lots of trouble. One more person, who we don't even know is trustworthy, and we could be attracting more trouble than she's worth."
Fang nodded. The rest mumbled unhappy agreement.
Except Iggy. "But does she have any other place to go?"
Max glared at him. "What do you mean?"
He, being blind, didn't notice her ferocious glare. "I mean, if we turned her away, could she live anywhere else? She not only has to hide her wings, but her ears, and her tail. Would she be able to start a life, without our, um, being famous to help hide her weirdness?"
This was… a tough decision to say the least. A year ago, she would've said no flat out. But now… Max had to consider more, what with her letting Total, a flying, talking, dog, and the love of his life. Aikla, the non-flying, non-talking, white Malamute. Yeah, that pairing completely works out.
Spark was down on the ground, stroking Aikla and occasionally dabbing at a butterfly that flew past. She looked completely innocent.
Yet Max couldn't trust her. Not yet.
Iggy pressed on, "I'll bet that Schools want her. After all, we're avian hybrids. And look how much they tried to catch us."
Nudge added, "And she's an…." She paused for a moment, trying to think. "Avian-Human-Feline hybrid!" She said, finally coming up with a word for it.
Why did they want another member? Max had no idea. But Nudge and Angel were giving her puppy eyes. "I'll think about it."
The flock cheered. Then, one-by-one, they streaked down towards earth.
"Hey! I haven't made a decision yet!" The flock was acting like Max had said yes.
Landing lightly, they all faced Spark. She stood up from Aikla, and looked us straight in the eyes. She still looked a bit nervous, though.
"Max will tell you what her decision is!" Gazzy proclaimed loudly. One of Spark's ears twitched.
"And that'll most likely be a no…" Total muttered softly. He knew Max too well.
And then, to all of their shock, she replied, to Total, showing no form of surprise at a dog talking, "I hope not."
Everyone's eyes widened to the size of saucers. Spark looked around, confused, until she dropped her head into her hands with a groan.
"Ugh. I should've known better. NORMAL people don't talk to animals. Normal people don't understand them. Of course, you aren't normal, but still."
She didn't notice the flock still staring dumbstruck at her, at the fact that another non-flock member didn't freak out over Total talking.
"You can WHAT?!?!?"
The exclamation came from Nudge.
Spark shuffled her feet, even tenser than before. "I can, erm, talk to animals. They understand me, I understand them."
"Total speaks human." The comment was Angel's. She alone seemed unfazed. She had probably already read it in Spark's mind, though.
"Ah. That explains why you looked spooked."
At that moment, Max realized that Spark had no place to go. Like the flock. She was used to the weird. Like the flock. And she had all the special skills, all the requirements of being a flock member.
"I've decided about what to do with her."
They all looked at Max intently.
"She can come with us."
Okay, guys, I hope you enjoyed that piece of writing that was incredibly hard to write. I don't like 3rd person anymore…..
Anyway, the rest will probably be in Sparks POV. Remember, Read and Review!