We had been flying for about four hours on our way to... somewhere. Now that there was no reason to be on the run, the flock had agreed to find a place to call home. Where that would be? No idea.

"Let's live in Disneyland!" Gazzy had offered before we had taken off. I laughed at the idea, mentioning that there would be a lot of people there and it wouldn't be free. His eyes presented glimmers of hope. "But maybe if we lived there, we could make more friends," He looked down at my shoes. I felt like a horrible leader.

I sighed to myself and looked to Fang, who had been very quiet and hadn't taken his eyes off of me since we had landed, for some help. He shrugged and I glared. "Gazzy," I started. He gazed at me, his sad blue eyes making me uncomfortably low. "I know it sounds fun, and yes, we would meet a lot of new people. But what if someone sees us? Sees our wings? We'd become a tourist attraction. People wouldn't exactly want to be our friends. They'll only want a picture with us." I felt horrible for being the bearer of bad news, but it had to be done. I was NOT going to live in Disneyland. The Gasman nodded solemnly and sat down on a rock.

"What about my idea?"

I glanced at Fang. "You found our island yet?"

"Maybe." My eyes widened. How could he have found an island, secluded and restricted, that hadn't already been taken over by the human population?

How could we been genetically modified to have wings?

Touché . I thought to Angel. Smart aleck. She grinned.

Fang stood up from the pile of rubble he had been sitting on and whipped out his laptop from his backpack. Setting it down on his ex-perch, he pulled up Google Earth. "Here." He pointed just left to the Washington Peninsula. "If you zoom, nothing is there. But, there's an island." I gave him my signature and-you-know-this-how?-look. He smirked. "Trust me?" he whispered so quietly that I doubt the rest of the flock, sans Angel, heard him.

"Um... of... of course," I looked at him suspiciously, as he packed his laptop away without taking his eyes off of mine.

"Then let's go" he looked to the flock. "You guys in?" They glanced at one another, then a chorus of Sures and What the hecks sounded. We unfurled our wings at once and jumped into the air. We were on our way home.

We were over Seattle and had less than an hour before we would arrive at Fang's island. Our island. I could hear The Gasman describing the Space Needle to Iggy behind me, and Nudge raving over how she wanted so badly to see the fashion of Seattle. "Seattle is known for its art, Ange." She babbled.

"Isn't Seattle known for grunge more though?" replied Angel. "Nirvana, Pearl Jam..."

"But who cares about grunge?" I imagined Nudge scrunching her nose at the thought of people choosing to wear the plaid flannel and men with long hair, rocking out to insane tunes. "Besides, music is a form of art. Therefore..." I decided to tune her out. I liked grunge music. Especially Nirvana. I had a special place in my heart for In Bloom and Smells like Teen Spirit.

I looked up at the silent one, who was flying right above me. He looked pale. "You okay?"

He looked down and I saw a hint of green in his complexion, but he hid any sign of sickness from his facial expression. "Yeah." That's Fang for you. Strong, Silent, and Stubborn.

"How is your head? Still hurting you?"

"Nope."

"Not even a little?" His expression changed. He was thinking. "You can tell me. I won't judge you for being in pain." I smiled up at him. "Have I ever before?" I saw a glimpse of a grin, but it went away as quickly as it came.

"Will you check it to see if it's healed?" I nodded and he shot forward and ducked to fly below me. I could see a large pink, puffy scar across the back of his head, right in the middle of his charcoal colored hair.

"It is healing."

"Okay, thanks." He flipped around so that he was flying upside down and circled so that he was above me again. I shook my head and looked down at city. The lights were beginning to turn on. The sky was darkening. I looked back at the flock. Angel looked exhausted.

I'm so tired, Max. Today was overload.

I know. I'm sorry we didn't give you enough rest after the whole Itex thing.

It's okay. I just can't wait to be home.

Me either.