(One of the Winged)

So we headed to the zoo. All of us. It was okay, we bought tickets and entered like we were normal people. Or at least tried to. Carter kept looking around like one of the animals was suddenly going to turn into a Stencil or something. I didn't think so though, all the animals were so cute- what kind of sweet thing would turn into one of those monsters?! Not the little bunnies I'm staring at, that's for sure.
Jim was telling Wendy all about the species of peacock and she looked THRILLED. Max was watching the tiny animals with me. Simone was blabbering on and on and on.... nonstop talk. We had been walking all morning with no encounter with anyone who looked like they wanted to imprison us. But we all double checked when we looked at someone. It was fun, but a little bit tense- if you know what I mean. Everyone was on edge and ready to jump into action whenever necessary. Even I was a little careful around these guys. You couldn't be sure if anyone of them was a stencil in disguise. Max told me they can look and appear to be a human. Great, just what we need.
"So, you must really like small animals," Max commented beside me, knitting his eyebrows together. I shrug, sitting up. I was kneeling and watching the animals now.
"I guess but I feel a little bad..." I mutter, looking at them. I answer his question before he asks it. "I feel bad because we're free....and they're not." Max looks a little thoughtful. I push my hair out of my face, getting up. There was a few illegal ways they could come out but I doubt we needed more trouble, especially with the law. I never want to get arrested and don't plan to now.
"Well, not everything can be free. Sometimes it's best they be in custody or else they could get hurt." Max says quietly and I sigh. I still know how great it is for me to be free... I bet it would be great for them too. But he is right about that. It could be worse for them. They don't know how to survive out in the wild. If I hadn't found the Winged... I wouldn't be able to survive either.

*******

"Come on, it'll be fun!" Carter tried to convince me. They wanted me to try out a water ride. I never wanted to go on one and I'm not starting now. I can't imagine how getting wet could be...fun. You got on nice and fine and come out soaking wet and cold. Not to mention how our wings would feel. They'd probably weigh ten times more than they did before. 

Wendy put an arm around my shoulder, "There's a story line to it." I look up at her. "They tell you the story as you go. It's supposed to be about a selfish princess." Hm... Well, I do love stories. I think she knew she had hooked me because before I could say another word, she pulled us all into the ride. The boats were cheap plastic things and very small. Carter, Jim, and Wendy sat in the one behind Max, Simone and I.  I pulled on my seat belt that was required in the tiny boat. I think the boat was supposed to be an Indian boat; it had a weird bowed shape and was painted a yellow that I suspected was supposed to be the color of different grasses weaved together. Really, it just looked like a giant banana- if you wanted to truth. But the dark, fire illuminated walls were showing pictures and drawings of Native Americans fighting, worshipping, and hunting.

As the boat lurched forward, I gripped the safety bar. I looked over to see Simone doing the same but Max looked as if he did this everyday. As we were enveloped in darkness, a voice echoed in the whisper filled air. 

"There was once a powerful family on the island.

They had a king,

a queen,

and one of the most beautiful princesses."

A light illuminated the area in front and we all gazed upon a redheaded girl with a mask on. She was sitting in a room and braiding her hair. She was dressed in fancy beaded clothes and I suspected she was the princess. The boat twisted and sprayed everyone with glittery water.

"It was the princess' birthday tomorrow.

Her father asked her what she should like for her birthday.

She answered-"

Then a sweet voice filled the ride. "All the birds on the island." It seemed to be raining from the ceiling as the sound of flapping wings filled the air. 

"The father wanted to please his daughter.

He knew he could not capture all the birds without help,

so he sent out people to do it for him."

A light illuminated a stage where there were knights putting birds in cages and taking them to the masked princess, who sat upon a mountain and watched all this play out. She actually looked pretty tiny.

"The princess got her wish and had all the birds on the island.

But she was not satisfied. 

She wanted more than just the birds."

What I saw next scared the cranberries out of me. 

(One of the Winged) Waking up

I don't even remember going up to the room. I just woke up in a bed I knew wasn't mine and in the dark. So, I might be a little freaked out, right? I don't know where I am-it's dark- Stencils and Rachel...... I have a lot to be worried about. So, you might imagine that when I woke up, I screamed. Real loud.
"Christy?! What?!" Someone beside me shook me and before I tried to punch them, I noticed it was Wendy. I stopped screaming. But I had a sneaking suspicion I has woken everyone for the next block up. Great.....just what we need. Angry people, stencils, Rachel, police, and the rest of the Idiots. This just gets better and better. I can't help noticing how large the list of enemies has gotten for me in.....three days. Wow, and I'm sure there are more I don't know about.
I sat up, wincing. I had roused the cut on my side where the stencil had gotten a lucky hit. "Sorry...."
Jim sighed and a light was turned on, making all of us wince. "It's okay.....why'd you scream?"
"I was in an unfamilar room and it was dark and I value my life....." I rush out. Carter burst out laughing, having to have Max clamp a hand over his mouth before he woke up any more people. Max shushed him and Carter pried his fingers off.
Simone spoke up next, sounding tired. "Well, your safe, we're not going to let anyone take you. Ever...." She fell back asleep right after. I looked down at my hands, not at anyone or anything. Wendy put an arm around my shoulders and I was surprised I didn't flinch back because of the warmth. She spoke quietly, leaning her head on my shoulder. "Your one of us now. A family. We don't let them mess with our family anymore." I can't help but notice she said, 'anymore', but I keep quiet. I hug her, surprising even myself.
"Thank you....." I mumble, my throat closing up as I fight back tears. She pulled back, looking at me.
"Always." She got up, stretching. "It's morning Simone." She shakes her, tickling her stomach. Simone giggles and sits up, rubbing at her eyes. Carter kneels down on the floor, yawning. Max gets up and goes to the bathroom. Jim  sits on the couch. Wendy turns on the TV, flipping the channel to the News. And what do I do? I sit down and watch the TV because it was huge and, really, never had much experience with TV's. Since I lived THERE all my life.
I must have looked pretty awestruck because Jim comes to sit by me, startling me enough that I fall off the side of the bed, landing on my butt. He helps me back up. "You okay?" I nod, running a hand through my hair. "Never seen a TV like this before, am I right?" He asks, pointing to the TV. I nod again, sitting down.
"Where are we going today?" I ask, because I'm assuming we weren't going to lounge in the hotel room all day. But, just assuming here. I could be wrong.
"I was thinking..... well, there's this place I wanted to go to......"
"Where?" Wendy asked, sitting beside us. Anymore people and we'd be like a sand-which.
Jim answered quickly. "The zoo." The zoo??? Why the zoo? Maybe he'd never been to one. Maybe he thought it was a nice day and just wanted to go. Maybe he wanted to see new animals he's never seen..... there were a lot of possible answers. Might just want to hear his....
"I wanted to see the zoo this time of year." He said, making me have to start thinking. Oh, it's Spring. "I hear there are a lot of new animals." He keeps going, practically bubbling over with excitement. Wendy nods,"To the zoo it is."

Jake (in the beginning)

Scarlet

I froze, staring at the boy. He had dark hair, eyes like coal. But even more important were the black, slender appendages coming out from his back. He had wings, just like me...

“Hey, hey, hey! They’re over here!” Called one of the EDs. He came around the corner and about ten more followed- armed with guns. Now, when ten dudes run over to you with guns, you might just want to run in the opposite direction. Just maybe. I’m not saying the people who wouldn’t run are evil or something- just that I personally wanted to run. But where was there to run, we were cornered! I was going to fly off but never got the chance. Because suddenly a large figure landed in front of me. He was facing away, with wings stretching up behind him. His wingspan was roughly thirteen and a half feet across!

Then suddenly all the EDs in the area started screaming in pain, gripping their heads. Most made a run for the gates of the junk yard. The rest hid underground, in the sewers-until there were no more EDs in sight. They had fled…… because of the guy kneeling in front of me.

“Who…..are you?”

Suddenly someone ran around the corner, and screeched to a halt like one of those cartoon characters. She stopped and stared. Then two identical people also ran around the corner. Bright red hair and eyes, freckles. That was about all I could see, and then the fact that they were pretty short, because they ran into the dark haired boy. They fell back and then looked up at him. “Wow, who are you?” they said simultaneously. It sounded like two recording systems playing at the same time. It was freaky to tell you the least.

“Who are you guys?” Asked the blond girl who had run around the corner.

“Time for introductions later- for now, we have to get out of here.” Said the boy in front of me, standing up. I walked backwards, about to try to fly off again. “Unless you want them to catch you, I wouldn’t do that,” The guy turned around and his looks alone were enough to stop me in my tracks. Now, I don’t usually stop and stare at boys, especially since I have no time to. But this guy…… gee, it was like an angel fell. “Who…..are you?” I ask hesitantly.

He sighed. “Jake. Just call me Jake. I know who those guys were- and they were trying to get you guys-“ Jake started but the dark haired boy interrupted him. He stepped forward too and…..I had to admit, he had looks too. “We already know that they want us- what I want to know is why you care.”

Jake ran a hand anxiously through his hair, looking around. “Well…..let’s just say I have a long past with them.” He sounded reluctant, unsure even.

“So do we all,” Pointed out one of the ginger headed twins. We all nodded, he had a point. Weren’t we all mutations because of these jerks?

“Look, can I just explain when we get out of here?” Jake said hurriedly and we heard the sound of metal against metal. Jake looked worried, glancing around again.

“Say we go with you- what would happen? Where would we go? How would we get there?” I asked and everyone stared at me like I was crazy. No doubt thinking ‘was she really going to just go along with this stranger?’ Well, maybe people. That was my answer. Getting away from EDs seemed like a pretty good idea to me.

“We’d just travel around a lot. Watch each other’s backs. We’ll fly to our first destination.” Jake explained as another sound rang through the night. A yell. Then another yell. Pounding feet and a screech from the gate.

“Okay, we’ll go! But how are we going to get in the air?! Some of us don’t have wings.” Rushed in the blond girl, walking closer to our little group. It figures that Jake had an answer for that. Did he just plan all this out? He seemed to know what to say every time….

“You’ll grab the twins-“ He pointed to me. “Dark boy and I grab the blond girl. Let’s go!” We all got into action. The boys rushed over to me and I only twitched when they wrapped their arms around me. I did the same, pumping my wings. We lifted up quickly, as if I didn’t have two teenage boys hanging on to me for dear life. I followed after Jake, feeling a dart fly past my ear. Close one. We all flew higher, where darts couldn’t hit.

“Okay, from here on out, we head East.” Jake called back to me and I changed track also.

In the Beginning (continued)

Marco

          They didn’t have minds anymore. Their thoughts were a jumbled mess of orders from the “big guy” that was in charge. Every time I focused in on one thought, it slipped away into the chaos of their mind.

          I heard bullets bouncing off metal and looked at what was happening. They were shooting at a cement tube. Okay, I thought they were stupid before but now-wait. I focused in on the tube. There was something behind it.

We need to get out of here!, one voice yelled.

Duh!, said the same sounding voice. I knit my eyebrows together. It was talking to its self but…… It felt like there were two people behind there.

Yes! I read a mind behind me and flipped around. There was a girl standing there. But she wasn’t like normal girls. She had wings. Pure white appendages that seemed to glow in the moon’s light. I had wings like that also, only black. She turned around, catching sight of me and gaping. I gaped back.

          “Hey, hey, hey! They’re over here!” called one of the EDs, coming around the corner right next to me with a gun