Yola.

Glad you've dropped by.

No ownage here, by the way. Six flying mutants? Naw, I'm not clever enough to come up with something as awesomesauce as that.

Hope you enjoy.

Chapter 1: Reverie

You know all those Disney movies, where little orphan Annie finds a home, and Wendy is reunited with her parents after her adventure in Neverland?

Well, they're a load of crap.

I ought to explain. We were looking for our parents. Again. Kind of figures, doesn't it?

We were in a cave, in the United States (that's about as specific as I get). My brain was completely frazzled after spending even more fruitless hours poring over the documents from Itex. So far, they had not been map codes, and they had not corresponded with words in the Bible. Our only lead had been from a stroke of luck when I happened to see Iggy 's parents on the news, being interviewed about their missing son. I don't think Iggy's gotten over his disastrous "family visit". Even now, his fists are clenched as Angel reads the numbers on a sheet of paper out loud for him. Why is she doing this, you may ask? Because he's blind. And blind people can't see.

Iggy was not the only tense one. I looked over and saw Gazzy staring once again at a picture of himself as a baby that we had found at one of the addresses that corresponded with the Itex papers. He carried it around with him everywhere. I always seemed to forget that he really just was a little kid, and that he and Angel probably needed their parent's love more than any of us.

"Max?" Nudge's voice forced me to snap out of my reverie.

"Mmm?" I replied. But before she could answer, a loud rumble of her stomach gave her away. "You hungry?" It occurred to me that we had actually been here since last night and hadn't had any food for hours.

"Yeah."

"Okay, I suppose I'll just make a quick run to McDonald's. Back in a few."

"I'll come with you."

I started. I hadn't realized that Fang had been sitting right behind me, literally breathing down my neck. He grinned at my startled expression, and yanked me by the hand off the edge of the cliff.

Yeah, that wasn't a typo. Fang really did just yank me off the edge of a cliff.

For those of you who don't regularly keep up with our shenanigans, here's a newsflash: We're birdkids. That's right, folks – we have wings. Take a picture. It will last longer.

I'm the oldest – about fourteen. Iggy and Fang are the same age. Nudge is three years younger, at eleven. Gazzy and Angel, the only two blood siblings among us, are eight and six. We were all raised in a lab with DNA that's 98% human, 2% bird. Well, let's just say that 2% makes a big difference, seeing as we can fly. So after Fang committed the homicidal act of pushing me off a cliff, I simply snapped out my wings, and coasted on the warm updraft. Neat how that works, isn't it?

I was once again snapped out of my little dreamland, this time by the sound of Fang's voice. "I've been thinking – we've really hit a dead end. We're no closer on finding our parents. This saving the world crap that the Voice is giving you – would the world even need saving if humans hadn't screwed it up? I say we focus on something else, like finding a place to settle down."

After getting over the initial shock of hearing Fang speak in full sentences, I comprehended what he was saying. The Voice (Yeah, my Voice. My really annoying, idiotic, prophetic, usually always right Voice) had been bugging me about saving the world lately. (What? You don't save the world in your spare time?). Although the Voice could be useful at times, if I ever need pithy quotes, I'll just have Total do the honors.

Meh. Total.

Angel managed to pick up a talking dog on one of our bold escapes from Itex headquarters. Right now he was probably curled up next to her in the cave, dreaming about performing at The Globe (which, sadly, burned down. See? The History Channel works wonders on those who are challenged in the art of… er… knowledge.)

"Max?"

"Mmpphf?"

"I was just saying," Fang rolled his eyes, "what if we tried to find a home? A place to settle down… relax…" He drifted off into his own daydream of pina colodas and hot, practically naked girls on the beach (No, I do not read minds. That's Angel. I just tend to be very… insightful). This time, I had to wave my hand in front of his face to get his attention.

"You know what, Fang? I think that's a really good idea." Wait a second. Those words were not supposed to come out of my mouth.

"You do?"

Well, now I couldn't reverse the damage, so I continued on. "Yeah. I think the younger kids need a break from all this running around. Even I think it's getting a little stale." A smile played at the corner of Fang's lips – which was very rare, I'll assure you. "Why don't we talk to the kids, see what they think?" Fang grinned – a full-out, teeth showing, very attractive grin. Momentarily, I forgot to flap as his smile made my brain go fuzzy. I dropped down a few feet, and Fang reached down his hand to gently pull my back up to his height.

"Sounds like a plan."

RnR?