I frowned when Mason smirked at me. His presence had already dampened my mood, but the fact that he was sitting in my spot was unbelievable. But maybe I was just overreacting. But then again it was my spot.

"Get up!" I groaned, flapping my wings to hold my position in the air.

"What why?" His gaze shifted to Brianna and back to me. I hadn't realized she was sitting right there too. I was more focused on Mason's idiocy.

"Mason, seriously move or you are gonna get it," Brianna whispered, motioning for him to get off. Oh she knew.

"But why? I don't understand what I di-"

I sprung forward, pushing down on my wings. The tips almost touched on my downstroke. I flew at Mason, and shoved him off the tree branch. He fell to the ground and landed on his butt with a loud thud. His wings slowed his fall, but not enough.

I lowered myself onto the branch. Folding my wings in, I sat back and relaxed. This was the life.

"You know you could have just said it was your seat," Mason said as he brushed fake dust off of his shoulders. Though his pants were covered in dirt, especially his butt.

"And where's the fun in that?" I asked, laughing.

Mason simply rolled his eyes, and flew up to another branch, further away from me, watching me carefully.

"Is this anyones seat?" He asked, already sitting down.

"Yes," I said trying to hold in a snicker. It wasn't.

"Wait what?" He jumped up, and hit his head on the branch above him causing him to fall out of the tree again. Now I kind of felt bad. He was covered in more dirt now.

"Only kidding," I told him swinging my legs and looking towards the sky.

I tried to imagine the clouds as animals, but right now they only looked like ugly blobs. Some of them were turning grey as the moved across the sky. And slowly the white blob-like clouds darkened, a small drip of water falling on my nose.

"We better get back before it rains and gets too foggy to see," Mason said getting up.

He was right, but I liked the rain, and I wouldn't mind staying out for another 5 minutes. Though drying out my wings was a bit of a hassle. My mom hated it when I walked inside with wet wings. It's like if you were to walk inside covered in mud, of which I had also done.

"I thought you said you had the best eyesight for a flier?" Brianna asked smiling towards Mason.

"Well I mean I just wanna be safe," He shrugged his shoulders before turning to leave.

"Don't be such a Debby-downer! I bet I could beat you in a race through the fog!" I grinned, knowing he couldn't turn down my offer. I loved racing.

Turning around he smirked. I was right. He couldn't resist a race. We were always competitive like that. 

"You're on!" He yelled, leaping up and throwing out his wings.

"Well you guys have to wait for it to rain first," Brianna said in a 'duh' tone.

Oh right. Duh. Sometimes I didn't think things through. I nodded my head and started walking through the think brambles of trees. Some places the trees are so thick you can't fly through them. Much less see through them. I guess that is how we are so protected here. No one would dare get lost here.

"As soon as the rain stops we meet here to race," I said continuing to walk down through the forest.

The rain picked up, and eventually I was drenched before I even left the forest. I let it soak my clothes, my hair and my wings. I would have to dry them with a blow drier later. That took forever.

By the time I had reached the front door the rain had let up. The trees creaked and dripped with water. It was almost time to race. I was going to win, again.

Running into my room I pulled out a pair of leggings— they were light and agile—, a black tank top, and a red flannel. I put on some dry socks and dry shoes before running back outside. Thankfully my mom wasn't in the living room, so she couldn't yell at me for dripping water across the floor.

The rain was no longer falling from the sky, not even in drizzles. The sun was peaking through the clouds, lighting up the foggy forest in an ominous way. I could tell the sun was setting, so we would have to race quickly. Though I had good vision in the dark, similar to an owls, the fog canceled all sight out.

Opening my wings, I shook them vigorously, shaking off all of the water. Pushing down, I flew up into the sky and propelled myself forward.

Finding our tree in the fog was nearly impossible, as I ran into several other trees in the process. It must have taken me 10 minutes to see its familiar shape in the fog.

I found Mason hanging upside down from the tree. His wings were hanging below him, nearly reaching the ground. They were 15 feet across, bigger than mine. But I was faster.

Brianna was dangling beside him, hanging by only one foot, and trying to reach the ground with her hand.

"Took you long enough. I thought you'd bailed on the race."

"Never," I said grinning wildly.

"Well are you ready?" Brianna asked excitedly. I nodded and looked to Mason who nodded as well.

"You have to fly to Fugite Hill and back here. First one back wins! Now... GO!"

With my wings already drawn, I already flew off immediately while Mason stood staring. After he realized that Brianna had already said go he threw himself from the tree branch, opening his wings and flying after me.

I surged forward through the trees, banking sharply every time a new one came into my view. It was extremely hard to fly through the fog, so you had to be careful. Then there was also dodging the trees. Dodging trees was hard enough, but the several branches and vines that extended from them was even harder.

I'd clipped my wing once. That was extremely painful and it took a while for my feathers to grow back. I couldn't fly well for a few days.

Mason slowly caught up to me, as we drew closer to Fugite Hill. I could hear his quick wing strokes behind me. I didn't dare look back, afraid I would crash into a tree. Concussions are not fun.

Finally the fog had thinned, and I saw the meadow that lead to the hill in the distance. I pushed my wings further, trying to gain more speed.

I could see the hill below me and I dived down. I dropped my wings before I hit the ground sending me tumbling forward. I touched the wet grassy surface with my hand before lifting back into the air.

Looking behind me I didn't see Mason and I smiled triumphantly. That is until he popped out of the fog beside me. That was terrifying.

I grunted and pushed my wings faster and faster, so I was ahead of him. It was amazing how all of my feathers worked together to give me flight. And it felt amazing as it looked.

Again Mason was gaining on me. This time his wing grazed mine, causing me to swerve to the side. I would have to take a shortcut if I wanted to beat him.

Flying passed a large tree with an X on it I new I was heading the right direction. Any tree with an X on it marked hunter and poacher territory. It was strictly forbidden for nonflying Avians to go into there, and also children.

If caught I would get in trouble, but lets face it no one could see me in this fog. I could barely even see the tips of my wings now.

Mason stopped at the tree wearingly, but continued flying. He was slowly catching up to me, but every time he did I flew faster again, pushing my wings further.

Had he been practicing?

Slowing my wing stokes, I flew lower to the ground where the visibility was much better. The only problem was nothing around me looked familiar. I was completely lost.

"Well this was a terrible idea," I groaned, hovering in the air.

I lowered my wings to my sides, dropping down and touching the soil. I looked around again for anything familiar, but I found nothing.

Walking forward I heard a stick crack and a loud 'whoosh' sound. I completely freaked out at that point and ran the opposite direction, but that was where I made my mistake. Someone was standing there.

Slowly stepping backwards my left foot fell upon some unnaturally soft soil. Almost like someone had piled up a bunch of leaves.

Upon placing my foot there I heard a small beep before a huge net flew up around me. I screamed, as it flew up into the air quicker than a whip.

My wings were bent in a very uncomfortable manner, and I was scared to death of what would happen next. This was the worst idea ever.

Would hunters come and find me? Would they stuff me like they do animals and frame me? Or would they take me to a zoo, so everyone can stare at me? Why am I so stupid?!

Every time I tried to move the net grew tighter around my wings to the point where they grew numb in pain.

I whimpered and tried to conceal my tears. I wanted so badly to call for help, but I didn't want to risk someone that wasn't an Avian finding me. I didn't want to risk seeing whoever that was in the fog.

I had never been caught before, and I had never ever seen a human before. Every story told was that they were ruining their own world. That they were selfish, overbearing, and basically they were the monsters to our story.

I always thought the stories were true until I saw the innocent boy standing only inches from the net looking up at me in shock. His mouth was hanging agape and his eyes were like dinner plates.

I froze completely. I was gonna die today, or at least my free roaming soul was.