A/N: Sorry this chapter isn't as interesting. I'm scared this isn't living up to Gray Like Ivy's standards! Any suggestions? Just bear with me, and things will get more interesting as it goes on. Oh, and what about Chase/Ivy? Yes/no? Tell me in a review!
Avery came out, wiping her still wet black hair on a towel. I smiled at her, but she looked at me suspiciously. She hadn't said a word to anyone outside of her flock. Who knew what that little girl had been through?
Chase had also taken a shower, and he ran his hand through his damp dark hair, spiking it up again. Ivy also cleaned up, and they all looked presentable. Ivy's flock had been pretty impressed with the hotel I had chosen. They were coming to know me as the cash dispenser.
Now that Ivy didn't have a layer of grime on her, I could see how much she had changed. Her face wasn't as round, and she looked like she had been in the sun a lot. Her skin was a little more tanned, and she had freckles. Last time I saw her, she was fresh out of her lab, after spending her life in a cage. I saw that her hair, finally combed, had loose curls. Before, it had all been a messy tangle.
Ivy hopped onto my bed. Chase was right behind her, but Avery hesitated. Ivy motioned to her, and she stepped closer. I chuckled.
"So you're the leader of your flock?" I asked Ivy. She nodded proudly.
"Chase is my second-in-command." Chase smiled. He smiled a lot, to the difference of Avery. She seemed shy and scared. Ivy used to smile more, but she was more serious now. She had assumed her leader's responsibilities.
"Do you have a home?" I asked Ivy. She nodded.
"It's in an abandoned parking lot. You can only get there if you have wings," she said. I hadn't really thought about wings. I knew Ivy had striped hawk wings, but we had actually walked to the hotel. I looked at the two other kids carefully.
"Do you guys have wings?" I asked. They nodded, and Chase snapped out a pair of brown wings. They had patches of lighter rusty-colored feathers, and white secondaries. Avery, taking on the cue, unfurled white wings speckled with black. They were just like a snowy owl's.
Avery folded hers back first, suddenly self-conscious. Chase followed.
"Do you?" Avery asked. I was surprised at her bravery. I grinned and snapped out my huge wings. Since I was so much bigger than them, my wings were twice the size of theirs. I smiled at the awed look on Chase's face. I closed them a little, but left them mostly out, just hanging. I was tired of having to hold them pressed to my back for so long.
I lay down on my bed, trying to relax after a long flight. Chase and Ivy were talking quietly, laughing once in a while. Angel had fallen asleep on Fang's lap, Gazzy was reading a comic book, and Fang and Iggy were absorbed in their respective electronics. Nudge crept up on me and sat on my bed. I turned to face her.
"Chase and Ivy totally like each other," she whispered, a smile on her face. I looked critically at the two. They were just talking.
"They're five," I pointed out. Nudge was barely listening.
"I know! Aren't they so cute?" she squealed. I rolled my eyes and turned onto my stomach. Nudge sighed and went back to her bed and her magazine.
"Is it still far?" I shouted over the wind. I was following Ivy and Chase, who had taken the lead, showing us the way to their "house." I say it like that because at "it's in an abandoned parking lot," I was starting to think this wasn't really an acceptable living space.
And boy, was I right. I swooped down into a rotting building. It had levels and levels of empty floors, meant for cars, not kids. In a corner, there was a small area, all with white walls. It must have been meant for some kind of staircase, but was big enough to be like a hotel room. Ivy walked in a roughly cut door, and turned on a lamp that was in the dimly lit interior. It was strange, how she could have a lamp. There sure wasn't any electricity in there.
The flock went in after me, wondering what the hell this place was. Iggy was happy, glad to be able to see again against the white walls. The whole place was in the dark, and Angel moved closer to me. Ivy's flock didn't even seem fazed.
"How do you make the lamp work?" I asked, watching it flickering glow grow stronger. Ivy smiled widely.
"Oh, I forgot to tell you. I got a new power on my fifth birthday," she said. She put a finger to the wall and the whole place erupted in electricity.
The walls glowed blue, and lamps placed strategically around the "house" started to turn on. The whole place was illuminated, and everything made of metal was crackling. The lamps were surrounded by what looked like miniature lightning. The crackling blue glow died out.
"Whoa," Gazzy breathed. I couldn't speak.
"I can make lighting, control electricity, and electrocute things," Ivy said matter-of-factly. Chase raised his hand and she high-fived it. There was a small crackle.
"Ow, you shocked me," Chase muttered.
"Sorry," Ivy said, already moving around her home. I looked more closely at the walls and saw they had been drawn on. With some kind of charcoal, Ivy had drawn a northern scene. There were swirls of snow, and northern lights flashing at the top. Under was a team of dogs pulling a sled.
They looked like they were in motion, some of them with their tongues lolling out. One had tilted its head back to howl at the moon. The runners cut through thick snow as a man's hands tensed around the sled's top. He was grim-faced and determined, a furry hood hiding most of his head.
"The walls are beautiful," I told Ivy. She smiled at me.
"It's not finished," she answered. I noticed a blank wall where she had started to sketch a wolf, standing over the scene. She finally motioned everyone, to the two beds they had.
"I usually sleep on the floor," Ivy said, seeing how I was looking at the beds. She was such a good leader. I'd like to think she took after me.
"Your place is really nice," I said. "Do you want to stay here instead of the hotel?"
I was greeted by a big "NO!" from Iggy, Nudge, Chase, and Ivy. I sighed.
"I guess we're flying again," I said, defeated.
Nighttime. Finally. I stretched out of my cozy bed and walked over to the door. I was about to open it when I felt a shadow behind me.
"Where are you going?" Fang whispered. I rolled my eyes.
"To the moon. Flying, genius."
"Then I'll come with," he said. I shrugged and opened the door. I ran downstairs, feeling claustrophobic again. I really needed to just get out, and leave. Fang ran with me, no one in the abandoned lobby. I burst through the front doors, laughing now.
I unfurled my wings and shot up into the sky. I looked back for Fang, but he had already passed by me, and was in front of me. I concentrated and started flying with super-speed. I overshot and ended up too high, so I tucked my wings in and barreled towards Fang.
He moved out of the way at the last moment. I laughed at him, and he shot after me. I didn't dodge in time, so we ended up hurtling down together, screaming our heads off. He finally let go and I spread my wings out like a parachute then beat them fast to regain altitude. Breathing hard, I decided it was time to go back. I yawned widely, stretching in mid air.
"We need to go back," I said. Fang nodded, and I shot down. I went into the hotel room right through the window. Everyone was still sleeping. I walked quietly over to my bed, and dropped in, dead tired. I could finally sleep.