Of Birds and Wolves

Even though it felt like she had just fallen asleep, someone was gently shaking Leara awake. “C’mon sleepy, it’s your turn,” Fang’s gentle voice whispered.

Hiding her giddy feelings, she sat up and stretched. “Alright, I’m up. Now you need to get some rest. I’ll wake everyone up at sunrise.”

Only nodding, Fang laid down by Nudge and he was out almost as soon as his head touched the floor.

Leara had noticed he barely said anything to her after he woke her up. Did she do something wrong? Was it something she had said or done?

Boys have to be the most confusing creatures ever…

A few hours of keeping alert and letting her mind wander went by horribly slow. The sun was starting to peek past the horizon and Leara was getting ready to wake everyone up.

Suddenly, a neighbor dog began to bark, causing Leara to jump. But as soon as it started, something shut it up. There were no voices yelling at the dog either.

Fang rolled over onto his other side, facing Leara. “We’ve got to go,” he mouthed. Waking everyone up silently, they were up and out within no time.

On the outskirts of the suburbs, choppers were dotted along the sky. “They’re waiting for us to leave,” Bryce muttered. “Isn’t there a subway in town? Maybe we could hide there.”

Though when they finally found a station, trying to read the map was a different story. Fang was definitely getting annoyed with it until Nudge came up and read it with no problem. For a motor mouth, she still comes in handy when we need her.

Along the subway rails, they found an old unused maintenance station. Thankfully it was also unlocked. “Score!” Pigeon shouted triumphantly, as everyone let themselves fall to the ground and take a break.

Fang and Nudge broke out some granola bars and other snacks while they rested. “S’not as good as the tree house,” Bryce spoke with a mouthful of food, “but it’ll do.”

That night, Bryce and Nudge decided to take watch so Fang and Leara could catch back up on their sleep. The younger ones had crashed way before the older kids. But after talking and making some small plans, they too fell asleep one by one, until it was just the watchman left.

But a sickening sound woke Fang and Leara at the same time. Nudge had been on watch and was driving herself into an Eraser’s chest with full force. There was the crack of breaking bones as the Eraser hacked up a little pool of blood of collapsed, shaking violently.

Another Eraser came around the corer, but before he could pounce, Bryce tackled him to the side. By now, the other kids were awake and ready for a fight. This Eraser put up a good fight until Fang kicked him into the third rail. Now they knew why there were warning signs all over the walls as they watched the Eraser go up in flames and explode.

Kaylee and Lacey both covered their eyes and made faces. “Oh, that was gross!” Kaylee complained. The air was filled with the stench of burning fur and flesh.

Motioning to the quivering Eraser, Fang pick-pocketed him and found a wallet. There were fake licenses and over two-hundred bucks. Fang couldn’t help but smirk.

Though they had been behind schedule, the extra cash helped pay for a couple bus rides into DC. It was four in the morning at a coffee shop as Leara watched Fang pull out a laptop while munching on his fifth donut.

“What’s that?” she asked curiously, trying to sneak a peak at the screen.

“My blog. Max thinks it’s stupid,” Fang muttered, reading through messages scrolling down the screen.

“Mind if I take a look?” she asked politely. Surprisingly, he turned the screen towards her. Reading all his posts and the comments, though ignoring all the totally obsessed normal human girls, she nodded and turned the screen back to him. “I don’t see why Max hates it. I think it’s a good idea.”

Fang smiled a little and whispered, “Thanks.” He continued reading and replying to his hundreds of messages and comments as the flock finished their breakfast.

Along with the fake licenses, there were business cards in the Eraser’s wallet. The first card was trash, but the second had a lead. The front of this building was an electronics store, but the back had a shiny plate that read “Institute for Higher Aeronautics”. “That’s not suspicious at all,” Nudge rolled her eyes. “Also explains why there are so many Erasers around here.”

During the day, this Institute was pretty quiet and vacant. At night, though, it’s a different story. Erasers were streaming into the doors non-stop as the flock his in the shadows by the edge of the parking lot.

Since there was too many flock members for them all to infiltrate the building, they instead set off every car alarm in the parking lot. They watched the chaos from the safety of the shadows, and Fang decided to be the one to slip through the crowd of white coats and Erasers into the building.

After a couple minutes slowly ticked by, Nudge took some change to a nearby payphone and called various numbers.

Nudge and Fang both returned to the flock at the same time. “I called for back up,” Nudge smiled. “The police, fire department, paramedics, and a few different pizza delivery places are all on their way.”

Though it was a long flight, the flock had rested well throughout the day and made a silent journey back to the tree house in New Jersey. And of course, the youngest ones were passed out as soon as they touched the floor.

“That was kind of fun,” Nudge whispered to the older kids. “I’ll take first watch tonight.”

“Though I want to know what all those Erasers and white coats were doing at the building,” Leara pondered.

Next to her, Fang nodded. “Same here. Nothing good, probably.” No one could see that he had his hand in between Leara’s shoulders, massaging around her wings.

Or so they thought no one could see. “Alright you two,” Bryce was looking directly at Fang and Leara. “You two need to go outside with me for a minute.”

Thankfully, the tree they were camped in was also surrounded by other trees, giving them perfect coverage. “What did we do now, Bryce?” Leara crossed her arms in a questioning manner and from the cold wind.

“You two need to have a little bit of alone time, that’s what. Fang and Nudge have to go back at some point. So, just do what ever you guys normally do when you’re alone.” Before Bryce flew back up, he turned back and said, “Just keep it clean and between you two. We don’t want to know.”

Turning deep red, Leara bit her tongue and turned to Fang with a sigh. “Bryce is right. You guys have to leave tomorrow, don’t you?”

“Yeah, Max would kick my ass if we weren’t back in time.” Fang shoved his hands in his pockets and wouldn’t look into Leara’s gaze. But he did notice how quiet she was after he spoke. Leara was sick of hearing Max’s name.

“C’mere,” Fang whispered, pulling her into a tight hug. He had one hand on the back of her hand and the other around her waist. “I’m sorry…”

Muffled because she had her face buried in his shoulder, Leara said, “I just… am really going to miss you. Just hearing Max’s name, though. God, she makes me so angry… Fang, do you really have to go back? Can’t Nudge just go back by herself?”

Fang tilted her face so she gazed into his deep, dark eyes. “I have to go back, you know that. The flock is like my family. Keep on our tail when we travel and I’ll be sure to get away for a little bit; somehow.”

Leara couldn’t hide the smile that crept on her lips. “Are you sure? I wouldn’t want you to get in trouble.”

“Nah, Max probably sent me to DC so she and Angel could talk about what to do with me,” he was looking away into the woods as he spoke. Feeling a little better, Leara buried her face into his chest.

“Oh, and maybe you should put in a good word to Max for Bryce. He probably wouldn’t mind Max beating on him to take out her anger about us,” Leara smiled.

After a few minutes of silence, Fang was pretty sure Leara was getting tired. He pecked her forehead, picked her up and flew back into the tree house. Lying down next to her, he fell asleep with his hand on her waist, despite the little kids all around. Nudge looked over, but realized it was none of her business.

The same dog from a couple days ago began barking and woke Leara. This time, nothing shut it up and never before had she been so happy to hear a dog that wouldn’t stop barking. Sighing with relief, she noticed a weight on her side; it was Fang’s hand. She blushed as she realized Fang had fallen asleep like that. Hope the kids didn’t notice… But they probably already know something is going on.

Seeing that she was the second one up after Kiera, she began to wake up the rest of the flock. Almost every bird kid whined and pleaded something along the lines of, “Five more minutes…”

All the snacks that were left over served as a quick breakfast while Fang and Nudge began to pack. Nudge was conversing with Kaylee and Lacey while Fang and Leara spoke in hushed voices.

“You know we’re headed to DC. Get a head start and beat us there. I can find you later,” Fang muttered as he ate and shut his laptop.

“Remember the woods on the outskirts? I plan on hiding out there. The woods are so small though, it shouldn’t be hard for you to find us.”

Bryce and Kiera both came up, with sheepish looks on their faces. “Uhm, Fang, do you think you could, I dunno, talk to Max? You know, about me. It’s like she sees right through me and I just want her to know I exist…”

“We’ve already talked about it,” Fang smirked while Leara shook her head. “And Kiera…?”
“Uh, kinda same for me… Except to Iggy, not to Max! I mean, yeah…” Kiera sort of twiddled her thumbs as she looked away.

Fang kept nodding as he threw his pack onto his shoulders. “Alright Nudge, you ready?”

“Not just yet,” she said. Surprisingly, she gave Leara a huge hug. “Thanks for coming. Fang is so quiet; it would’ve been like traveling by myself. If you want, I can keep this a secret from Max. But it won't be easy. She can be real intimidating, you know? That's why she's the leader, though, 'cause she's the best. Well, I don't mean the best leader; you're pretty good, too...”

Fang cut her off and lead her to the window. “C'mon, Nudge. We need to leave.” He watched her take off and began to climb onto the window sill as Bryce decided to give him one last comment. “You're not gonna kiss her good-bye? That's sad,” he teased as he put on fake puppy-dog eyes and stuck out his bottom lip.

Fang looked back at Leara, whose cheeks were pink, but she shook her head. “No, you need to get going. Don't listen to that blockhead.”

“Besides, Bryce would only think to himself, 'Oh, how I wish that was Max and I!'” Kiera scoffed. Bryce's jaw dropped as his cheeks turned red. “Nuh uh! It's not true! How can you say that when I'm right here?!”