Of Birds and Wolves

New York came into view on the horizon as they flew farther into the late setting sun. Leara’s heart fluttered, seeing such a sight. She began to lose altitude and Fang quickly grabbed her elbows. “You were doing so well. Why now?” he mocked. Leara smiled, and said, “’Cause of the pretty sunset, that’s why.”

A concert nearby pounded loud music and flashed bright lights. Max smiled, and said, “There are a lot of people down there. Anybody want to go to a concert?”

The flock of seven landed near the crowd and made their way towards the back of the crowd. The feel of the crowd had the kids in a sweat, because of their claustrophobia. The music had them excited, as it was there first concert. Not every bird kid gets to enjoy such a thrill.

After a couple hours and the sky dark, the concert ended and people were shoving to leave the park. Max led the flock out of the crowd and into Central Park, the name they read on signs everywhere. The younger kids were yawning and rubbing their eyes, complaining of how tired they were. Trees surrounded them in the park, so Max decided to sleep in the trees, where no one could see them.

Leara had never slept in a tree before, but knew there was no other place to sleep. She climbed up the tree after everyone else, and lay on a thick lower branch, her back propped against the trunk. The other six tapped their fists like they had the other nights before going to bed. Her heart ached a little, feeling out of place. She felt forgotten almost, but remembered they had all been together since they escaped from the School. As soon as everyone else was asleep, she fell asleep, too, listening to the sounds of the city.

The next day, they woke up and started to walk around the streets. They were automatically on Eraser-search mode. You could trust no one in a huge city like this. Max had kept saying something about this “Institute”, and kept losing Leara whenever she spoke of it.
As they all walked down the sidewalk, still looking for this “Institute”, a man dressed very oddly stopped them. His hair was spiked straight up and he wore a lot of studded jewelry and black. “We doing free make-overs since this is the grand opening of our store. How about it guys?”

Max smiled and looked to Iggy and Fang. “Sure. I think we all could use a good make-over.”
As they stepped inside, Leara watched as people had their hair dyed, their noses pierced and clothed. The smell of hair dye and ear antiseptic flooded her nose. She watched as a couple workers came and dragged Gazzy and Angel off to their stalls. One by one, they were all taken to be “remade”.

As the girl who was going to work on Leara showed her seat, she asked, “So, you have anything in mind?”

Leara thought for a moment. “Some silver streaks would be nice…” She imagined. “And like a purple undertone. I think I need a good trim too. But, I still want long hair.”

The lady smiled and threw some sort of plastic coat over Leara’s chest. “Anything else you wanted specifically?”

Leara shook her head. “Nah; what ever you want to do, I guess.”

After an hour or so, the lady changed Leara quite a bit. A make-up artist had placed dark colored make-up on her face, which according to the Gasman, made her look scary. A clothes designer gave her a shirt covered in multi-colored skulls, hearts, and music notes. She was given dark boot-cut jeans, but no shoes. Max let her get the side of her left ear pierced with a silver hoop. She looked totally different; the mop that had been her hair now swept over her left eye with silver bangs and her hair looked clean.

Everyone else looked different, too. Max beamed as they walked onto the street. “I knew that the make-over would be a good idea!”

Fang rolled his eyes as he walked in between Max and Leara. “That's why you looked thrilled when they make-up lady came.”

Max shrugged her shoulders. “I’ll sacrifice for the flock.”

Fang and Leara gave each other side-ways glances and smirked. They knew she didn’t mean it. Leara looked forward down the street, when her stomach growled loudly. She turned pink.

Fang chuckled under his breath, but Max hadn’t heard her, as she was speaking with Nudge and Angel.

Fang and Leara looked at each other from the corners of their eyes, until they noticed that it was just the two of them walking next to each other. They turned around to see that Max and the rest had stopped in front of a large building. Huge teddy bears sat on both sides of the double doors. The words over the doors read something about a “toy store”.
The younger kids squealed with glee and Gazzy began to describe the building to Iggy. The three younger kids begged Max to go inside and just have a look around. She finally gave in and they cheered.

Fang and Leara followed the rest of the kids inside the store. Angel, Nudge, and Max took off to a wall covered with stuffed animals. Gazzy and Iggy had disappeared to who-knows-where. Fang also noticed that they were already missing. His hand just briefly touched hers and he said with a flirty smile, “I’ll see where they went.”

Leara turned almost red again. Darn her easily-blushing face. She turned around and walked up to Max. Nudge and Angel were digging through the mound of stuffed animals.
Max gave Leara a hateful sideways glance. “Enjoy your little walk?” she muttered with a hiss.

Leara gave her a wary glance. “What?” she asked confused. Max didn’t seem to dislike Leara this much; why was she getting so worked up over Fang?

Max looked at her full on. “You think I don’t see you two walking together all the time? He was only helping you in the sky, not trying to hook up with you,” she hissed under her breath so the kids wouldn’t hear her.

Leara gave her a shocked look. “I know that, Max,” she replied. “I didn’t realize that you felt that way… I’ll go away if you want me to.”

Max shrugged her shoulders. “Fine by me; I could care less. This is my flock, and you haven’t been with us.”

Leara thought of some nasty comebacks, but bit down on her tongue. “Fine,” she whispered. “I’m leaving.” With that, she turned around and walked out of the store.

Max watched her leave. “Good…” she muttered under her breath. She looked around to make sure Fang wasn’t watching. If he was, he would be sure to run after her. Since Leara was quiet, maybe the younger kids wouldn’t notice for awhile