After everybody had eaten their fill (and the new bird kids had complimented Iggy on his cooking, Eckl via using his finger to trace a checkmark on Iggy's arm), I herded everyone into the living room and sat on the couch, across from Evan, Emma, and the twins on the other one. Dylan was on my left, Nudge on my right, and Angel on her right. Eckl was in-between Gazzy and Iggy on the third couch with Esme in his lap. I was surprised at how fast he had befriended those two. Even now he was writing in a notebook for Gazzy and moving his finger around on Iggy's arm and hand.

"Okay," I said, "question time. We ask you a question, you answer it truthfully, then you ask us a question, and we'll answer truthfully. I'll go first. What lab are you all from?"

"What was it again? The acronym was BIRDS, but what did it stand for..." Erin snapped her fingers as she tried to remember.

"The Blackstone Institute of Recombinant DNA Specimenology." Eric supplied.

"Yes! That's it."

"She's not known for her memory." Emma said.

"Our turn." Evan said. "We were going to ask you before, but now seems as good a time as any."

He took a deep breath.

"We wanted to know if we could join you guys, become part of your flock. We've needed a place to 'roost' so to speak ever since we left the Institute."

"Wait, wait, wait, you left? You didn't escape?" I was confused.

"And does that count as your next question?" Eric asked.

Twerps. "Yes, fine."

"No, we didn't escape. They actually treated us pretty decent there, but after the call went out to exterminate any and all recombinants, the scientists wouldn't kill us. So they changed all the computer files to terminated, closed the lab, and let us go. But now, we can't go back to the Institute or get access to the stuff they did for us. We're on our own."

I thought it over for a moment. "Flock, huddle."

"I like the twins." Nudge whispered. "They seem nice, and they showed me how to do some tricks."

"Eckl is pretty cool, too." Gazzy said. "He's been teaching me sign language."

"He's taught me some sign language too, just the Helen Keller kind. Yes, no, Iggy, Eckl, hello, Gazzy, Esme, cat..." Iggy rattled off all the signs Eckl had taught him.

"Evan and Emma look okay to me." Dylan said.

"I read their minds, they're alright." Angel reassured. "Evan and Emma are good; the twins' minds are confusing, but they're okay; from Eckl, I caught a little English and a snatch or two of fish out of all the animal sounds in his head, but what I understood was good."

"All in favor of initiating the new flock members, say 'Aye'."

Six 'Ayes'. It was unanimous.

"Well guys," I said, turning around to face the five new bird kids, "we voted, and since it was 6-0, you are now..."

I held up three fingers, then two, then one.

"officially"

"part"

"of"

"the"

"flock."

"Welcome to the nest." Gazzy joked.

I glanced at the clock on the wall. Good grief, was it really that late?

"Okay everybody, it's late and we need to get our newest members to bed. Who wants to share?"

"I call Emma." Nudge said.

"Evan can stay in my room." Dylan said.

"Dibs on Eric." Gazzy said.

"You can come with me, Eckl." Iggy said.

Eckl quickly scribbled something in his notebook and handed it to Gazzy.

"Here's another one, Iggy." Gazzy read aloud. "Thank you."

Eckl curled Iggy's hand into a fist, then unfolded his first and second fingers.

"You're welcome." Iggy replied. I had never seen Iggy smile that big before.

Erin was kind of off by herself, and since no one else had asked, I went up to her.

"It's me or Angel, Erin, and believe me; Angel snores way more than you would think a 7-year-old could."

"I do not!"

The change in Erin's expression was instant. "Thanks Max."