I gaped at her like a dead fish, a whole whirlpool of emotions swirling in me, each fighting to be expressed first. Indignation won out.

"What video?" I repeated. "What video?! The video you posted on Fang's blog, the one that lead us here, the one that-"

The girl - who'd I'd started thinking of as Goldilocks, because of her golden hair - glared at me, catlike eyes slitted. "That wasn't me."

"Of course it was!" I exclaimed, throwing my hands up in the air. "Who else -"

"I said, it wasn't me!" She snapped with equal vehemence.

Anger rose in my throat, and I opened my mouth to say something scathing when Iggy's head snapped up. "Something's coming." He warned. "I can hear engines. In the sky."

Goldilocks tilted her head. "He's right." Her emerald gaze swept over us, eyeing us critically. She seemed to make a decision, frustration and fury warring across her face. "Follow me." She snapped. She opened her enormous bat-like wings - massive black things that seemed far too big for her frame, arching high over her head - and leaped gracefully off the cliff.

I spun angrily on my heel, marching over to Fang. "What do you think?" I said, suddenly too tired to make decisions.

His dark eyes flicked almost imperceptibly in the direction Goldilocks had gone. "She saved us." He said softly.

"She might have an ulterior motive." I countered.

He met my eyes evenly. "Do we have a choice?"

He had a point - unfortunately. Now I could hear the engines, too - a high, keening wail that grated on my eardrums, even at this distance.

Something tugged on my sleeve. "What." I snapped, looking down. Angel's light blue eyes looked back. "It's okay, Max." She said calmly. "You can trust her. She doesn't want to hurt us. In fact, she feels kind of bad for us. She wants to help, in her own way."

I rolled my eyes. "Right, cause she's a touchy-feely softie like that." I said sarcastically.

"She hates being alone, so she doesn't want us to be alone." Angel said simply, her big blue eyes pure and earnest.

I gritted my teeth. "Fine. Whatever."

I turned back around, snapped my wings open, and dove after her, my flock right behind me.

Goldilocks lead us across the canyon, to the north-north-east, up onto a broad expanse of uninhabited rolling hills, mountain crests peaking out over the top. She stopped directly in front of a blank cliff-face, smooth and white.

I stopped a little ways behind her, hovering more or less in one place. Her wings beat much slower and stronger than mine - they had to be almost twenty feet across. They glinted in the sunlight, not scaly, but not furry, either, just… something in between. She waited impatiently for the rest of the flock to catch up - not that it took very long, gosh - then shouted, "Watch closely!" She landed on a tiny ledge, fingers gripping onto the rock face, right next to a large chunk of rock clinging to the cliff. She leaned forward and - disappeared.

I gasped, then frowned, staring intently at the rock. Where had she gone? Then my eyes shifted focus, and I realized what I was looking at. In the shadow of the boulder ran a deep crack, wide enough for a person to fit through, if he or she was very skinny - which all of us are, not to brag or anything.

I did my best to emulate her actions, landing on the ledge, managing not to fall off, awkwardly crawling across the sheer surface, and forcing myself sideways through the crack. Looking up, it got wider at the top, sunlight peaking through in select places.

"Where are we?" Nudge said behind me.

"In the hall of the Mountain Queen." I said dryly, trying not to smash my nose into a rock wall.

I jumped, stifling a yelp, as something grabbed my wrist. Looking down revealed sunlight glinting off Goldilocks' luminescent jade eyes, staring up at me. "It's through here. Watch your head."

Crouching down, I felt a tunnel leading off to the side. I could hear Goldie crawling through it, on hands and knees, it sounded like. Muttering unhappily under my breath, I got down and followed.

The tunnel sloped gently upward for maybe fifty feet, then leveled out. I cautiously stood upright, feeling along the walls for the roof. I couldn't find it.

"Where are we?"

My voice echoed back to me, loud in the quiet. I could hear the sound of water dripping, and a droplet landed dead-center on my head. As if in response to my question, a spark jumped twenty feet away. I pressed my back against the wall, hissing in irritation when I realized it was wet, until I heard Fang and the others crawling out behind me. A tiny flame flickered, then grew bigger until I could see Goldilocks standing next to the growing fire, her eyes reflecting the flames. "Home." She said simply.