Chapter 29: Iggy

Iggy's P.O.V.:

Today was finally here. The day where we would all leave our makeshift hideout and head out again to roam freely. Sure, we all enjoyed the time that we were able to get just to relax and have fun for a while, but none of us liked being cooped up in a house for very long. Personally, I think that I was the most anxious to leave and be out in the sky again. Being the only blind one in the group, I would be the only person who could tell how annoying it is to memorize the exact number of steps to the bathroom. At least in the air, I would only have to worry about directions.

I was in the kitchen, lost in my own thoughts while eating what was most likely the last bag of cherries that I would ever get without stealing from a grocery store when I heard the two sisters going at it again.

"Can I go? Can I, can I??" begged Melody to Ember as they noisily came down the stairs. She had been this excited since last night when Ember had made that announcement. From what it sounded like, she was bouncing off the walls like a kid on a sugar high from having too many pixie sticks.

"I said no! The plan was that we would leave later tonight so that we won't be seen. I'm not going to let you go out in broad daylight just for the sake of browsing a store" replied Ember, who sounded irritated beyond belief.

"It's just going to be a quick look at what they have! Nothing's going to happen, I swear. In fact, I could go by myself if I wanted to" said Melody confidently.

"Absolutely not! You are not going alone!" replied Ember sternly.

"So that means that I can go?" asked Melody with hope in her voice.

"I never said that" answered Ember, instantly crushing it.

Ah, the joys of having a sibling.

I chuckled while knoting a cherry stem in my mouth.

"Oh, come on! It's just to the store. And if it makes you feel any better, I'll take Fang along with me" continued Melody as I heard her footsteps take her to where I presumed the couch was in the living room.

"Don't drag me into this" he replied. This was the first time that he had said anything since he and Ember came home last night. I noted the way his voice sounded detached, as if he was mulling over something, and I made a mental note to ask him about that later.

"I wanna go, but there's some clothes upstairs that I reaaalllyyy want to take with me..." said Nudge. I glanced in the direction where her voice was coming from and raised an eyebrow in disbelief. "What? A girl's gotta at least have some options" she replied.

"I also want to go, but can't. Got some last minute bombs to pack" Gazzy said, and at this, I smiled. For the small amount of time that we were here, the Gasman and I had worked pretty hard on bigger and better bombs.

And, if I must say so myself, they are pretty damn awesome.

"Fine. Then I'll go with Iggy" Melody announced as her footsteps came closer to me and she unexpectedly held on to my arm. I almost choked on the pit that was in my mouth.

Why must she hold me like this? Her sister is gonna think that I seduced her or something. Does she really want to transfer Ember's rage to someone else besides herself?...But then again, this may be a good thing. If I go with her, then we'll be alone and finally able to talk about those things that she told me.

So... do I go with her and possibly face the wrath of her protective sister?

Or should I chicken out and live to see another day..." I thought to myself. The answer to this only took me a couple of seconds to come up with; I was too curious to pass up this opportunity and this would be the perfect chance to get out of the house early.

"Sure, I don't mind going" I said with a shrug.

"Yay!" said Melody as her grip tightened and I felt her head nuzzle against my arm. A faint blush began to emerge on my face.

This girl was trying to get me killed.

"I still don't want you to go..." mumbled Ember, which completely confirmed my previous fear. She might as well have said "I forbid you from going with Iggy,". Yes, Ember and I were friends, but when it came to Melody, Ember saw me as a regular guy who didn't have 2% avian DNA drafted into his body. She made it almost sound like we were going out on a...date.

Another blush made itself known.

"Ah, relax. I'll totally be safe with Iggy. And if you let me go, I'll make sure to get you your favorite cookies!" said Melody enthusiastically.

Would she really cave to a bribe? I highly doubt it, I thought. To my very surprise, there was a slight pause before Ember said anything else.

"...What kind of cookies?" she asked.

"Oreos, of course" replied Melody.

"What flavor?"

"The originals."

"...Fine. You can go" Ember said flatly.

"Sweet!" I heard Melody say next to me before she released my arm. I was feeling a touch of disappointment that she had left my side but it didn't take me long to guess that she was hugging the life out of Ember.

Unbelievable...she was easily bought by Oreos. I'll have to remember that one, I thought to myself.

"Iggy, this girl better not leave your sight" I heard Ember choke out.

"I'm pretty sure she can handle herself. And keeping her in my sight will be kinda hard..." I said nonchalantly, although if I could see, I would have no problem keeping my eyes on her.

"Iggy..." Ember began, her voice now taking on the warning tone of an angry mother.

"Yes, yes, I understand" I replied quickly to avoid any injuries on my part.

"I wanna go, too!" I heard Angel say from the upstairs room that we all slept in.

"Fine, fine. Just be careful," said Ember.

"C'mon, let's go before Mother May I changes her mind" said Melody as she grabbed my hand and pulled me out the door with Angel following close behind.

So much for it just being the two of us.

O::O::O::O::O::O

On the hour long trip that it took for us to get to the store of Melody's choosing, I thought of ways to ditch Angel so that I would be able to finally talk to Melody about the "secret that I was sworn to keep under any circumstance. Including her sister". She did emphasis that part really well. It really got me wondering what this secret was if she couldn't tell Ember.

Maybe those scientist freaks did something to her at the School. My mind started to guess on its own accord; things that girls would be afraid to tell others.

Did they somehow manage to get her pregnant?! I had a bad feeling about that thought. If that was the case, then I knew I would be in trouble with the over protective sister. I could already feel my skin crawl at the thoughts of the numerous ways that she could and would without a doubt torture me. But I don't see how she would find that possible since we've been in that same house and in her line of sight almost every second.

Either way, I ran the floor plan of the house through my mind several times to make it easier to cook up an escape, if I even managed to make it out alive with my limbs still attached to my body.

But before I even had a chance to get one word in edge wise with Melody, Angel bolted down the aisles with her, effectively keeping her away from me. I tried to follow them but only got as far as the cash register. I mean really, what chance did I have? A blind avian hybrid boy walking around a store that he couldn't even tell where the nearest window was, much less anybody else. Those were not good odds at all. So I just leaned against what I deemed as the counter where the cash register was, considering the number of grumbles I heard the person working say, including "I need a raise…".

The only chance that I had to talk to her was when she had managed to slink away from Angel and dragged me to the candy aisle, where she proudly presented me 5 snickers bars in each of my hands. I was elated; one, because she had known that my favorite chocolate bar was snickers, and two, because there was so much of it at one time. Thinking she was just messing with me, I asked her how she proposed to pay for this, considering that Ember "forgot" to give her any money. It was hard to miss the smile in her voice when she coolly said, "I snagged a 20 when she wasn't looking."

I rolled my eyes. This little girl was manipulating and sneaky…and that's what made her awesome.

Before I could really talk to her, though, Angel came bounding around the corner and grabbed Melody and started talking about the several different types of makeup in this one aisle before snatching her away from me, once again leaving me standing there like an idiot. Why in the world would they even need to acknowledge that makeup even exists, much less look at the varieties? Well, it might come in handy if we ever happen to find ourselves on the run in Japan.

The girls could dress like geishas…I wonder how Melody would look like in a kimono…or what she looks like in general.

I sighed, blowing over the momentary depression and waited for what felt like an hour, just listening to both of them go through aisles of food and criticizing each one. After they had finished perusing the store, Melody paid for our stuff with her stolen money – all of them being snacks – and we made our way out of the store and in the air in a matter of minutes. I could feel the heat of the sun soak through the back of my clothes and my feathers and I treasured every moment of it; nowadays, it seemed pretty rare to feel the sun on my skin at all, mostly because the skies were usually clouded over, not even allowing a tiny speck of warmth to seep through its chilly and dense atmosphere.

The girls immediately began eating their snacks and debating about which one is better, so I turned my attention to the rest of the world, paying close attention to the sounds of the weirdest bird calls that I have ever heard not even 40 feet behind us.

Maybe I should get into bird calling… I thought, just before the silence had registered in my brain.

The girls were still right by my side; I could hear their almost synchronized beating of wings close by. Just the fact that they had stopped talking so suddenly put me on edge, and I was about to open my mouth to say something when Angel beat me to it.

"So, are you going to tell her?" she asked Melody.

"Who's her? And what are you going to tell?" I asked, now utterly confused.

"Yeah, Angel. What are you talking about?" asked Melody, sounding just as lost as I was.

"You know exactly what I'm talking about. That thing that you were planning on telling Iggy, but you 'never got around' to saying it," Angel replied with absolute certainty in her voice. My full attention reverted back to the conversation as a moment of silence hovered over us.

"It's really rude to read people's minds, you know," Melody said, dropping the innocent act.

"I didn't really read your mind. You have that ability to block me out for the most part like your sister," Angel corrected, and I could imagine the small pout that appeared on her face when she didn't get exactly what she wanted. "But I knew that you were hiding something. And apparently I was right."

"Hey, does someone mind including the blind kid in this discussion?" I asked, now feeling agitated. I hate being left out of important things. There was a small pause before Melody let out a small sigh.

"Well…how should I put this…" started Melody in a different voice; one that sounded exactly like Ember's, but in a higher pitch. "This may be a little hard to believe but…I'm not just Ember's sister…

I'm her twin."

.^"^.^"^.^"^.^"^.^"^.^"^.

Author's Note: Woot! First chapter in months!! Isn't it exciting? Ok, not really, lol. I'm not going to apologize for this chapter coming out so later, mainly because I've already apologized in my previous chapters, so you basically get the idea XD.

Next topic for discussion. I know some of you may be like, "WTF? That was so random!" I know I would. But please, before you completely dismantle the chapter/story (if you already haven't), wait for the next chapter. I've been planning on the perfect way to introduce this for months, so therefore it also comes with an explanation. If it doesn't make sense after that, then I give you full permission to rip it to little tiny pieces in your mind. ^.^

And finally. For those of you who nominated my story and put it up against the ingenious works of the other fanfiction works in my genre, I absolutely appreciate you with all of my heart (at first I thought it was some kind of joke when I got the email. Then I began to hyperventilate for no reason whatsoever. Typical me. XD ).

Oh, and one more thing. Comments. Now. (And votes will be adored also).