Authors note: It's finally here! Sorry I haven't updated in a while. I'll get myself motivated for chapter 6. Please Review! Thanks fpr reading :)

Chapter 5:

Landon rapped his knuckles on Kalo's bedroom door which was slightly ajar. The door swung open and Kalo looked back at him one side of her face slightly flushed.

"I'm I bothering you?" he half smiled.

"Oh," she rubbed her cheek with the grey sleeve of her sweater. "No, I was just sort of dosing off. What is the matter?"

He shrugged. "Just wanted to talk I guess. Um want to walk around or something?"

"Sure," she said taking his arm and walking beside him down the hallway. "So what did you want to talk about?"

"Well..." he started. "I was wondering where Victor is first of all."

Kalo shrugged and brushed a feather from her view. "Out I suppose. Why? I'm not his keeper."

Landon chuckled at her. "I just wanted to talk about the dance." he replied as they walked into one of the larger rooms of the building that had actually been two separate rooms at one stage. He walked over to one side and turned on a small CD player that started to play a vastly slower song compared to the one that had been playing at the dance before they had left.

"What about it?" Kalo's cheeks started to burn as Landon rested his arms over her shoulders.

"I had resolved to tell you something that day," he started as he begun to sway his hips slightly. "And I was going to tell you at the dance but we got interrupted. It's really been nagging at me too that I really should tell you soon."

She relaxed a bit and placed her arms on his shoulders. "And what would that be?" she breathed.

"That I ..."

"Kalo!" Victor yelled from a distance.

Landon raced away from Kalo turning off the radio and putting his legs together as Victor entered the room. Kalo giggled slightly at Landon's reaction.

"What are you two doing?" he growled more to Landon than to Kalo.

"Just talking." Kalo smiled taking his arm and turning the other way and looking back at Landon for a split second. "Nothing important. How was your day?" she asked leading him out of the room waving to Landon with her free hand. The blonde smirked to himself and quietly snuck away with his CD player.

Shang peeked out from behind a metal pillar. He glanced at his 'prey', Taya, who was currently occupied with making herself a sandwich. He turned around again flattening his back to the metal as he quickly formulated a plan. He took a deep breath as he run his plan through his head a couple times then turned around and sprung in the direction of his quarry. Taya quickly side stepped and avoided her stalker. Shang landed on the dusty floor with a muffled thud.

"Ow. Don't you know how to stand still?" he grumbled to the ground.

Taya chewed on her food eagerly. "Not for you." she replied. "Besides that you're really noisy. Don't forget, wolf ears, and your breathing is heavy." she pointed to the grey ears on her head

He sat up slowly on he knees and rubbed his head. "You're so beautiful. You take my breath away." he grinned as his tail swung through the air.

"Sure," she rolled her eyes at him turning to leave. He got up quickly and followed behind her.

"But, Taya, really you do." he whimpered grabbing her free hand. "Please, just a kiss? I'll be good!"

Taya scoffed munching away. "Last time I heard that was when I was at your house and then you tired to... no. I told you okay?" she looked down at her hand and threw his hand from hers. "And don't whine at me either."

Kalo sat on the roof top looking out at the city in the half light of the slowly setting sun. She put her head on her knees which were pressed against her chest with her arms folded around them to protect her from the cool breeze blowing. Her golden eyes ran over the fiery hues of the few clouds that dotted the skyline. A door opened and shut behind her and a figure stood behind her admiring the scene she was looking at.

'Beautiful, isn't it?" the voice smiled from behind her.

She stood up and dusted her legs off. "Hey Landon." he turned around. "I suppose this means it's time to go back inside?"

He chuckled quietly. "Well, not necessarily."

"Oh," Kalo replied quietly turning around once again.

He put his hands on her hips. "I just wanted to ask a question," he leaned forward and whispered in her ear "do you fly?"

"What?" she blinked and his arms wrapped her torso and with a powerful thrust they where in the air, the ground looming below them. "L-landon?" she squeaked clenching his arms.

"I promise I won't drop you." he said as they spiraled upward on one of the last diminishing thermals of the day.

She gave a small nod, more in appreciation of his statement than agreement. She stared down at the city in awe, it was like and ariel view that you might see on TV or in the movies. Seeing it now with the chill of the wind against her skin and in the arms of Landon made it seem strikingly surreal. The lights of office buildings glowed with a pale green an yellow color. The cars and street lights working like clockwork. Kalo blinked as often as she could trying not to get totally memorized by the eerie glow of the city. Before she knew it they were back on the warehouse. He looked up at Landon as she tried to regain her balance. She took a step forward almost collapsing over Landon and grabbing onto his arms.

"Ah," he smiled and laughed. "No more beers for you."

"Right," she rolled her eyes at him. "No more flying with telling me what you're going to do first." she grinned at him. "So what exactly was that all about?"

He leaned toward her and whispered in her ear. "I love you Kalo." he said simply. She blinked ta him in confusion. "I want you to go out with me."

She looked at him with a stupid expression. Now, lets keep our wits about us Kalo, her conscience told her. "Huh? I- I mean... what?" Great job... her cheeks started to burn. Landon only chuckled ta her and brushed his hand through her hair. "I love you too, Landon." she said hugging him tightly.

"Awww, look at the love birds." a voice cooed from the corner of the roof. "How sweet."

Kalo's cheeks ran red as she glared at Taya. "Don't tell me you orchestrated all of this?" she muttered.

She sighed and shook her head with a grin. "I wish you two are absolutely adorable!"

"Taya," Landon looked at her and jerked his head to one side. She shrugged in reply and went back inside. "Sorry to embarrass you." he grinned at Kalo.

"It's okay." she leaned her head on his chest and they stood in silence for a few moments. "I don't want you to tell Victor, okay? Don't tell him anything at all, I"ll tell him. Later."

"I understand." he nodded. "We should probably go in before everyone starts wondering."

Kalo smiled up at him and let him go. "Yeah."

The couple walked downstairs to see an impatient Victor pacing around like a caged tiger, or more apporopitley, a caged wolf. He head was down and his hands behind his back as well as his ears flattened against his head showed Kalo that something was deeply bothering him. Kalo carefully distanced herself from Landon as they came closer.

Victor looked up wiping a look of concern off his face. "Hey, what's new?"

Kalo shrugged and inconspicuously looked to Landon. "Nothing really. Where have you been?"

"Slinking around." he replied. "Uh hey Zilla's busy hacking something and we need some food you wanna go out and get us some food?"

"Sure." she smiled lightly. Victor handed her some money and Kalo left in the process of tying her hair up so that it would look more normal to the unobservant eyes of the city-people.

Victor watched her disappear out the door and turned to Landon. "So bird boy, what have you two been up to?"

Landon gave the wolf-boy a sleezy grin. "Oh you know, just drifting around."

"On thermals?" he frowned unimpressed. "I saw you from my bedroom window. How many others saw you?" he challenged.

"Hey Victor just cool it." he chuckled. "We weren't too noticeable. The light was poor and there were some clouds in the sky. I just would of looked like a really big bird."

"Don't tell me to 'cool it'." he growled throwing his shoulders back in a display of dominance. "If we get found out because of you then I'll..."

"You'll what?" he snorted.,"you'll skin me alive? Just try it. We gotten away once, and we weren't even trying that time. We'll get away again." the feathers on his wings rose as he started to get angry.

"Don't get caught." he muttered and shoved past Landon hitting him with his shoulder.

Kalo walked into a grocery store taking her gloved hands out of the front pocket of her hoodie and picked up a basket. She walked through the aisles looking for something pre-cooked that didn't have to be refrigerated for their lack of such a novelty. She picked up a packet of salad and a few pieces of fruit then walked slowly to the back of the store to pick up a packet of pre-cooked meat. Chicken, she smiled as thoughts of a much younger Kalo and old family came to mind. She shook her head and continued on her way. Kalo noticed a small crowd of people looking up at one of the TV monitors that were placed throughout the store. "Blah blah blah." Kalo's eyes widened in shock and she tried to calmly finish shopping but her efforts only turned to haste. As she neared the cashier at the register she took a deep breath and closed her eyes momentarily. She opened them once again with a slight hesitation. Her bright yellow iris was only a thin sliver now and her pupil compensated for the missing color. She placed her basket on the counter and was greeted by a cheerful 'Hi." from the cashier.

She smiled at her. "Hi, how are you?" she tried to sound as cheerful and polite as possible.

"Good," she replied as she swiped the foods across the bar-code reader. "That'll be thirty dollars and fifty-two cents."

Kalo handed her two twenties. Her stomach turned uneasily as the cashier took her time. I have to get back to the warehouse, she thought taking the change with a sullen expression. She walked out onto the streets pulling her hood over her head and shunning the urge to rush. The walk back seemed to take ages but once she reached the door of the old building she shoved the door open and let it bang on the inside wall. Taya who was standing nearby jumped with surprise and looked over to her.

"What's the matter?" she asked urgently seeing her friends frightened expression behind the shadow of her hood.

"Where's Victor,? Where is everyone? I have to..."

Victor walked in interrupting her followed shortly by Landon and Shang who where chuckling together over a joke. The latter two quieted quickly and looked up sensing something was wrong. Victor stared at Kalo with his piercing emerald eyes as he waited for her to tell the news.

Kalo took a well needed breath. "Everyone knows about us."

"What?"came a chorus of voices.

Victor spoke in a calm tone. "How do you know?"

A silver haired Zilla appeared from the shadows of the building. "This is how," she opened the screen to her laptop which showed a stream of the news report of the group. "...These 'halfers' as the students of the school now call them appear to be normal teenagers with some strange, animalistic, qualities." the announcer said as some pictures of Landon flashed by with his wings unfurled. The news report went on showing the footage of Victor and Landon at the dance with short glimpses of Taya and Kalo along the edges of the screen. A blonde haired news reporter appeared on the screen with microphone in her hand. "As you may know genetic engineering was banned on humans five years ago when a military doctor was found to be conducting experiments on..." Zilla turned the volume down and the computer screen flicked to the normal news page.

Landon's expression shifted from the remnants of a smile to that of grim uncertainty. "This could be bad." he muttered to himself.

"What do you mean 'could be Landon'? This is bad." Taya growled looking up at him.

"Well..." the winged male started cautiously before becoming lost in his thoughts.

Victor's eyes flickered across the screen for a moment before speaking. "We shouldn't panic. As far as we know the military hasn't authorized this broadcast. All it has it a bunch of interviews from the school and people gawking at us." he said looking at the group as he stated his opinion. "I think if it were military it would have a couple of facts about us in there."

"They looked pretty unprepared when they came to get us last time. How much would they know about us?" Kalo spoke up.

Victor shrugged and turned back to her. "Nothing to everything. My guess is they're doing as much research as possible on us now that they know we'll resist."

"So what are we gonna do then?" Shang asked loudly. "Are we going to leave again or what?"

"I say we stay put and see what happens. We can fend them of a second time if needed."

Victor growled unhappily. "I agree with bird-boy. Let's just stay put for now." he muttered and stalked off to his room.

"Sorry to put everyone in a panic." Kalo smiled uneasily, taking off her hood and wringing her hands uncomfortably.

Taya returned her smile with one more confident. "It's alright Kay, I'm sure the rest of us would of done similar."

"Sure would of." Zilla agreed.

Kalo sighed in relief. "Thanks guys."