I woke up the next morning to…. Silence. Except for the flock breathing. If they weren't breathing that would be very bad.

After I checked outside via window, where the sky was lightening, tinges of pink against the black, I did self inventory. After all, I was going on a long flight. I would like all of my key survival parts to be intact.

My wings were clean and feathers pristine. They felt strong and flexible. No kinks in my tail, which I used for balance, and my ears were in excellent working condition. No problems.

Then I checked my claws, my beloved weapons. Oh, dear. They were not in the best of states. I had dried blood on some of them, and dirt on others. I even had some tiny twigs stuck.

This was dumb. So, I did what all great felines do in times when their claws need cleaning.

Silently slipping out of the house, I went to a nice tree, with soft bark and a clean trunk, and sharpened my claws. If you saw me, you'd realized I did this exactly like a cat.

Unfortunately, I didn't realize I was being watched.

Max stood at the door, arms crossed, one eyebrow raised questioningly.

I looked at her in surprise, then checked my claws. Ah, nice and clean. Perfect sharpness, and cleanliness.

Max continued to give me a slightly puzzled look. "Well?"

"I was sharpening my claws."

"You looked like a cat."

"I am a cat."

"Only 6% of you!"

"But I still have to sharpen my claws!"

She ran her hand through her hair, obviously frustrated.

I pressed on, "In order to keep my claws sharp and good weapons, I need to clean them."

Again, a raised eyebrow. "I thought you were sharpening them."

I was really mad now. Didn't she see cats do this? "It does both. At the same time. That's why cats sharpen their claws. Trees grow back their bark." I decided to address any concern about the state of the tree. "It. Will. Be. Fine."

Max sighed before turning back inside to the house. I just then remembered a piece of advice that the wolf pack had told me; Don't challenge the Alpha. I guess Max was the Alpha. Whoops.

I could already tell that this was going to be a very long flight.

- - -

After my claw sharpening, wing grooming session, I decided breakfast should be ready. I could smell pancakes from the kitchen. I hope it wasn't Max cooking. I heard it was bad. I actually valued my life. I am not emo.

Thank goodness I didn't scent her in the kitchen. Instead, who was there gave me more of a surprise.

Iggy, the blind one, was cooking. Excuse me, what?

And nothing was burning.

And the rest of the flock was treating this as normal.

WHHAAAAAAAAATTTTT?!?!?!?!!?

*ahem*

So, eventually, after I get lotsa pancakes and the flock explain that Iggy is the only one of them that can actually cook, I calm down.

And then it's time to go on our epicly long flight from Arizona to Miami. In two weeks. With me, who is not the best long distance flyer, in tow. Also, we'll have Max as leader, who I will probably end up challenging, the silent Fang who seems to talk to Max, the Nudge Channel, Little Miss Mind Reader, the blind guy who can cook, and Gazzy. Curse those scientists for giving me a cat's sensitive nose.

Yep, this was going to go extremely well.

- - - -

"Okay, gang, move out!" Max's call made me stop fingering my backpack. Finally we were on the move.

Max, Fang, and Iggy took off first. The younger flock members followed suit. I was last.

I had a running start, ready to jump high so I could catch the wind in my wings. I ran, leaped….. and managed to trip over a rock just as I got off the ground. Hey, I may be a cat, but I'm not that graceful in normal, non-life threatening situations. So I ended up getting thrown flat on my face just as I was trying to take off. Note to self; That's the opposite way you want to go when you're attempting to fly.

Fang and Max snickered. Nudge openly giggled. And Angel and Gazzy valiantly tried to hold in their laughter. And failed. Even Iggy, who's blind, could have heard the whump that was me tripping.

…And I dearly hope that this is not what the rest of the trip will be like…

But, actually, once I succeeded at getting in the air, nothing of consequence happened. Yet. Emphasis on that one word.

I was happy, soaring through clouds like a bird, a little way away from the flock. Yeah, I sometimes felt like a human, or a cat on the ground. But in the air, I was a sky queen, a majestic golden eagle, made for soaring. I hardly had to flap, because I found some nice currents.

We actually flew for a while. I was getting a little hungry by the time sun-high (noon for humans; I picked that up from Nuri and Nova) came around. I'll bet that the others were more tired than me, cause they had to flap a lot more.

So we were just flying along happily, a tailwind to my, uh, tail, and a lake about fifteen, twenty miles ahead of us. I could see it.

And then, I picked up a strange scent from behind us. It had obviously been carried far on the wind, because it was faint. But the scent was fresh nonetheless. It was…. A strange scent, that was like dogs were to wolves, except with humans. The scent was the wolf.

I sniffed again. Human, but with a tinge of blood and ferocity. And feather-scent. The flock, and birds have feather-scent. Everyone's feather-scent is different. But they all tickle your nose.

I looked over at Angel questioningly. She was concentrating, but she suddenly gasped.

Max was instantly flying close. "What is it?"

Angel looked scared. "M-Geeks."

All I thought was, "What's an M-Geek?"

Angel must've heard my unspoken question, because she answered, "A ninja, sorta. They attacked us not long ago, when we were in our adventures under the sea, and once during an air show."

Okay. So these M-Geekie thingies were bad.

Then Angel proceeded to add to the heightened tension by commenting, "And they have wings."

Well, that's just dandy.

"Can M-Geeks swim?" The question was Gazzy's.

Iggy brightened. "I'll bet that we can dive under the lake, wait for them all to come in after us, and then they won't know not to swim with wings. Then, they won't be able to fly so well, and we can escape."

"And, if we need, we can bring it to a fight." Fang spoke. Weird.

Now, I had a question. "Can these things die if they bleed too much?"

Hey, I fight using my claws. I need to know how they die.

"Yep." Thank you, Nudge.

"Okay, guys, aim for the lake. The plan is, we swim under, and dive out again." Max's plan sounded great. Except for one teensy little problem.

"WHAT?!"

"I said-"

"I know what you said! But I-" my voice faltered.

"What?"

"I…. can't swim…." I was actually terrified of water.

We could see the M-Things if we looked back now. And they were gaining on us. FAST. And our only escape option is to swim. Well, there goes that plan. So, what could I do now? Spazz time!

- - - - -

Oh, dear, Spark can't swim….. That could be a problem….

So, review, tell me what you liked and what can be improved!