Hey guys! It is time, once again, for another update for this lovely fan fiction. I hope you are all as psyched as I am. On a totally unrelated note, how awesome is the song 'Poker Face' by Lady GaGa? I mean, really. It's one of my current favorite songs. Okay, well before we get to this chapter, I have the usual announcements. First, all of you Twilight fans should check out my story 'Solar Flare'. It's awesome. I'm putting a new chapter for it up today too. So, check that out. Read 'NeoFlock' and 'Deadline' by Talon666 and 'Dark Blue' by Madeline Cullen. Excellent stories, excellent authors, and excellent reviewers of my stories. Now, I'm starting band camp next week. Technically, it's not really camp, more like summer band practice, but whatever. I might not have time to update this story that often for the whole month of August, but I'll try. Okay, now onto our story.

I hung the phone up, but kept my grip on it. I swear it was the only thing keeping me standing. I had just told my parents that I wasn't coming home. Ever. I just broke their hearts. I knew they understood, but I still felt like crap. Worse than crap.

"Heads up Princess!" I heard someone shout at me from way behind.

Before I had the chance to turn around, something knocked me in the back of the head, hard. I managed to turn around and I saw Skye, doubled over with laughter. On the ground, rolling away, was a bottle of water he had obviously just thrown at me.

I rubbed my sore head and went chasing after the water. I caught up with it, opened it, and took a swig.

"Nice aim!" I yelled at Skye. "You should be a pro baseball player!" I shouted sarcastically.

He walked over to me, gasping for breath. "Hey, I gave you fair warning."

I rolled my eyes and hit him in the head with my bottle. "Stop calling me Princess." I muttered darkly.

He shrugged. "Whatever you say… Mel." And then I swear I heard him mutter back, "You know you like it."

I hit him in the head again. He howled, "Ow! What the hell was that for?"

"Language." I growled at him, noticing Jewel walking out of the gas station. She was grinning at us, mischievously. That girl really made me wonder. Just what was on her mind?

Jewel walked over toward us, all smiles. "So, what are we going to do now? Where are we going?" she asked, very curious and overly perky.

I ran my fingers through my hair, groaning. I hadn't the slightest clue of anything. Max and the flock had reasons for going places. We were just wandering around aimlessly. I missed solid goals.

"What?" Skye asked, smirking. "Our brilliant leader doesn't know what she's doing?"

I glared at him evilly. Did he really have to do this? Yes. Yes he did. A brilliant idea hit me at that exact second. "We're going to Chicago."

Skye frowned. "And just what, pray tell, is in Chicago?"

It was my turn to smirk. "Jeb Batchelder."

"Who?" Skye and Jewel asked simultaneously.

"He's an ex-whitecoat. Max's father, or so he says. Hasn't proved it yet." I had learned at a young age to be wary of Jeb, but I had no choice. What else could I do? It was either get advice from Jeb or wander around until either the School caught us or we dropped dead from hunger and exhaustion.

"So, let me get this straight." Skye said, incredulously. "You expect us to trust an ex-whitecoat who, from the sound of it, you don't even trust."

I nodded. "Yeah. Yeah, that sounds about right."

Skye threw his head back and waved his arms at the sky. "Are you crazy?!" He looked at me and then went on a rant.

I tapped my foot until he was finished with his little episode. "Are you quite finished?" I asked when he was through.

"Yeah."

"Good." I said. "I'm leader. What I say goes. Jeb is our only hope. He helped the flock and he's going to help us. So quit your whining and get to flapping!" I ordered.

"In broad daylight?" he asked, skeptically.

I smacked my forehead. "No not in broad daylight." I took another sip of my water and started walking to the place where we had landed earlier. Jewel and Skye fell into step behind me.

We silently took off, headed for Chicago. Did I really believe that Jeb could help? I wasn't sure, but I thought he could at least reassure me that everything would be fine. At least we'd have a place to sleep for the night. Nice warm bed, hot shower, a decent meal, and possibly some nice clean clothes.

Of course, I didn't know if I could really trust Jeb. Not even the flock was completely sure he was absolutely trustworthy. And I was still wondering how the School knew where to find me. I had figured out why they hadn't gotten me at my house. They would've had a run-in with the flock. Not fun.

"Hey Mel?" Jewel asked me after a while.

"Yeah? What is it?" I asked, sneaking a glance over my shoulder at Skye who was flying quietly behind me, scowling.

She pulled up as close to me as she could get without hitting me with her wings on the down beat. "Skye doesn't hate you. He just has a hard time letting people get close to him, you know after Tanner and Willow and all."

I swallowed and nodded. "Sure."

She gave me a 'look'. "Really Mel. I mean it."

I ignored her and looked at my watch. Yikes. We'd been flying for quite a while. We had to be getting pretty close. I dipped down lower and looked down below. We were in Chicago alright. Now if only I could remember exactly where Jeb lived.

I nodded to Jewel who understood and signaled Skye to follow. We found a vacant alley way and landed, tucking in our wings.

Jewel looked at me, expectantly, and I knew it was time to put on my leader face. I looked around and, deciding the coast was clear, led them onto the street.

"So." Skye said, as we walked along the street. "Where's this Jeb guy live anyway?"

I turned around to scowl at him, but I stopped when I looked into his eyes. I shook my head and said, "Well, he has an apartment around here somewhere, but I've never been in this part of the city. It might take me a while to find him."

He snorted and mumbled, "Figures."

I rolled my eyes and looked straight ahead. I wasn't going to look back at him until we got to Jeb's. He knew I had no idea where I was going and was enjoying making me look like an idiot.

After about half an hour of walking through the city, I noticed Jewel was lagging. I sighed and turned to Skye. "Hey Sticky Fingers. Got any money left?" I asked grudgingly.

He pulled a wad of cash out of his pocket and started counting. "'Bout twenty bucks."

I nodded and led them to the nearest Burger King. When we entered the restaurant, I noticed heads turn to stare at us. I supposed we must have looked pretty dirty and beat up. I told Jewel to grab a booth and Skye and I went to order.

"Can I help you?" the cashier asked me. He looked a little older than me. Probably his first job.

I nodded, looking at the menu. "Yeah, uh can I get a Tendergrill chicken sandwich without tomato, a couple large orders of fries, two medium Sprites, a Whopper Jr., and…" I turned to Skye. "What do you want?"

"Uh…" he shrugged, "How 'bout a medium coke and a Double Whopper?"

I nodded. "Yeah, that'll be good." We needed more, but this would hold us until I could find Jeb. Besides, we were running out of money. Fast.

"For here or to go?" he asked me.

"Here."

He nodded. "Okay, let's see. That'll be $10.95." Skye handed him the twenty dollar bill and he handed back our change.

I walked to the booth Jewel was sitting at while Skye got our food. I slid in next to her silently. Sinking into that seat made me realize how very tired I was. It felt good just to sit down in a nice, cool restaurant.

Soon Skye, assisted by the cashier, carried the trays of food to our table. They set them down and Skye slid into the seat opposite me and Jewel.

I turned to the cashier, smiled, and said, "Thanks."

He just smiled back, nodded, and walked away, but I noticed he kept looking at me. Great. I had an admirer.

I grabbed my sandwich, my stomach growling loudly, and took a huge bite. It was so delicious and warm. I swallowed and took a gulp of my Sprite. I didn't say anything until I had eaten everything.

When I was finished, I wiped my mouth with my napkin and looked out of the window next to our table. I saw a lot of people walking. Nothing too interesting.

I turned back to Jewel and Skye. "So, you guys ready to go?"

I got two nods, so I stood up, stretching. Jewel slid out after me and Skye followed suit. I threw away our garbage and we walked out. I was feeling better than I had when we landed and I thought Jewel and Skye were too.

We walked down a few streets when we came across a building that said 'Irving Apartments'. I thought the name sounded familiar, so I led Jewel and Skye over there.

We walked in and went up to the front desk. The man behind it gave me a puzzled look and asked, "Can I help you kids?"

I nodded. "Yeah, actually you can. Does a Jeb Batchelder live here?"

He looked at me and slowly asked, "And who are you?"

I sighed and said, "I'm Melody Smith." Then I added, "His great niece." I think anyways.

He nodded towards Jewel and Skye. "And them?"

"My friends."

He grabbed a phone and dialed some buttons. "Sorry to bother you Mr. Batchelder, but there's a girl here to see you." He paused. "Says her name's Melody Smith. Your great niece." He paused again. "Uh… 'bout 5'6, tan, dark brown hair, blue eyes." He paused again. "Just a couple friends. Boy and a girl." Another pause. "'Kay. I'll send em' up."

He hung up and turned to me. "He's on the third floor. Room 302. Take the stairs. Elevator's broken."

I nodded. "Thank you very much sir."

He nodded back. "No prob."

Jewel, Skye, and I ran up the stairs. "So, wonder why that guy at the front desk was so… uneasy about letting us in." Jewel said.

"Jeb's number one on the School's list of people to hunt down and torture for information." I told her. "He has to be very careful. Moves around a lot. Probably gave that guy orders to be careful about letting people up to see him."

"Yeah." Skye said. "But, why did he need a description of you?"

I sighed. "Well, anyone could say they were Melody Smith. He needed to be sure it was me. He's still probably not sure."

We got up to the third floor and I asked Jewel, "302, right?". She nodded and I knocked on the third door.

The door opened a sliver, still chain-locked, and I saw Jeb's worried face peek out of the crack. "Melody?" he asked, unsure.

"Yeah, it's me. If you don't believe me you got me a camera for my tenth birthday. Digital. Kodak. Silver." I said, giving a description. That way he'd know it was me and not a clone.

"Who's that with you?" he asked, still unsure.

I sighed. "Jewel and Skye. My friends." Crazy old paranoid man. Guess the flock had to get it from somewhere.

He backed away from the door and unlocked it. It swung open and he said, "Get inside. Quickly."

We walked in and he shut the door quickly behind us. "They got you didn't they?" he asked me, studying Jewel and Skye. He must have known they were experiments and not normal kids.

I nodded, looking around the messy apartment. "Yeah. 'Bout a month ago."

"Sit down and tell me about it." he said, motioning towards the couch.

I sat down and began recounting the story of my capture by Itex. I didn't leave out a single detail. The story was longer that way, but if Jeb was going to help me then he needed to know everything.

Well, that's all for this riveting chapter. I hope you enjoyed it. I really, really am going to try to update this story next week, but if I can't I just want to apologize in advance. Anyway, keep reading and reviewing. Send me any pictures you draw of any of my characters. See you next Tuesday. Bye.