The Angel Experiment

Escape

"Food." Nikki whispers. We all turn to face the opening doors. today is Thanksgiving, meaning that the lab will give us more than just a few crackers and a coffee cup of soup. We actually get full meals today!

"Alright, girls… Does anyone know what today is?" Dr. Franco opens the door, releasing the wonderful fragrance of a roasted turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes with gravy, sweet potatoes, fruit salad, lasagna, alfredo fettuchini, and much more into our dog cages. I know, I know… Why the heck are we in dog cages? Well, because we're awesome, of course! No. I'm kidding. Because we're mutants and they don't want us to escape. Escape what, you may ask. Well… The Angel Experimentation Lab.

"Thanksgiving!" We all shout. Franco nods proudly.

"Do you smell that?" He asks. He receives seven nods. "You're about to get the biggest meal of the year." He smiles and unlocks the cages, one by one. As soon as he does, we stand and stretch weakly, waiting for him to unlock the chains attached to our feet, and the straps that hold our wings still. I gasp, then sigh in relief as they snap outward and I can relax them. Our room opens straight into the cafeteria, and I grin at the huge feast sat across three different tables.

"Mmmm!" I run to the first table I see and grab a plate, filling it up with a little of everything. When I'm finished, I sit down and wait for the rest of the girls. Nikki and Darcy are last, sitting in the middle of all of us. "You girls ready after we eat?" I send Nikki the thought and she shares it with the others. they all nod in response. "You know your jobs, right?" Again, all nod. "Good."

We eat quietly as always, because that's what we're expected to do. Turns out that our stomachs got much smaller since last year, so none of us eat all of our food. The bell rings as the staff signal, where all of the workers come to get their own lunches in the middle of our lunch, and we all make eye contact. As usual, I pick up Darcy on one arm, and grab her tray with the other, and as soon as they've been dumped, I wink at Christy and Natalie as 'the signal'.

All of the workers in the building freeze at Christy's command and I grab the giant key set from Franco before Natalie can shrink them all to flee size. The lab didn't know we could do these things just yet because we haven't taken our tests in a month. Good thing.

"Come on! Who knows when it will wear off?! Let's go!" I shout. We all run toward the doors of the building and gasp at the cool air and the burst of sunlight into our eyes. But then we look around and realize were in the middle of the woods. "Wings in. Let's run." I hold Darcy tightly in my arms as we use our super speed to maneuver through the woods.

After about an hour of running, we sit down, breathing heavily. "Where are we, Natalie?" I look over at her. She closes her eyes to picture her mental map.

"We're in… Cheshire? Holmes Chapel, Cheshire… in… England?!" She looks around. "How'd we get here?! I thought we were in America!"

"Obviously not, Nat." Christy sighs.

"I'm hungry!" Darcy cries. I look down at her.

"You just ate an hour ago, baby. It'll be alright." I smile at her.

"Guys! Shut up!" Nikki shouts. We immediately quiet down and look at her. "There's people close by. Five… boys. They're talking about fans… Screaming fans?"

"How would a fan scream?" Darcy giggles.

"No, no, chéri. A fan is also a girl or boy who really likes something or someone. And a fan base is a group of those people." Shaunda explains. Did I mention that she's the smart one? She's like a talking dictionary. She also speaks every language, which is why she calls Darcy chéri which means darling.

"One of them is talking about food. I like him." Nikki giggles.

"Shh... Jackets on. Cover your wings." I pull a bunch of jackets from a supply room that I stole a bit of stuff from. All the girls nod. "Invisibility. Use it." I tell them. We all slowly and invisibly walk toward the boys who are sat around a camp fire, talking happily.

All our eyes snap toward Jessie who trips and falls over a branch on the ground. I quickly help her up and we all hide, no longer invisible as the boys stand and walk out to look for us. I hold a hand over Darcy's giggling mouth, but it doesn't help, because then she starts whining for me to let go.

"Who's there?!" A tall boy with brown eyes, a side buzz with a quiff, and sweet brown eyes shouts. I notice his bit of scruff on the sides of his face.

"Nobody!" Darcy shouts, and I groan, slapping my forehead in annoyance.

"Hi there." A boy says from my left, making Jessie and I scream in surprise. This boy has pretty blue eyes and crazy brown hair. He also has scruff as well as the boy standing behind him, who looks quite Asain in the dark. We suddenly have hands over our mouths.

"Please don't scream. We've had a magnificent evening free of fans. We're not far from Holmes Chapel, so let's please be quiet."

"Get your hands off of me before I rip them off." I growl through his fingers. He nods, pulling away quickly. "Girls, you can come out." I tell them.

They nod and step out, the boy with crazy hair, looking at me skeptically. "Are you alright? You're so… skinny." He says.

"Yeah. Just hungry." I laugh, but there's no humor in my voice. Natalie and Christy run up to the two boys and Shaunda runs up to the first boy, Jessie also finding her way to a blonde boy with blue eyes.

"Hello." I turn around to face the most attractive person I've ever seen, literally. His green eyes and curls captivate me and I forget that I'm supposed to be watching Darcy.

"Oh- Um… Hi?" My voice is rough, and I squeak from being so nervous.

"I'm Harry." He smiles at me. It's a beautiful, full teeth, dimple showing smile that puts wrinkles under his eyes.

"I-I uh… I'm-" I stutter and  get a slap in the back of the head.

"To dumb to know your own name? Or too dumb to talk to a boy?" Christy walks around me and smiles at Harry with the Asain guy trailing behind her.

"He's Pakistani and British." Nikki corrects me, mentally. Oh.

"Her name is Alina. Nice to meet you." Christy walks back to the guy she seems to have taken a liking to.

"You're very beautiful."

"Thank you." I look at my feet and blush, trying to hide my smile.

"Um… Do you wanna go sit at the fire?" Harry asks. I nod, noticing that the other girls are doing the same.

"Sure." I whisper, then pick up Darcy. He smiles down at her. "Her name is Darcy." I tell him. He nods, and I notice that his eyes widen a bit.

"She looks just like you, mate." I turn around to see the blonde boy and Jessie. Instantly, I feel protective over her. "That's a bit ironic."

"I know…" Harry seems as if he's in a trance. He looks at every bit of her, studying her.

"Harry? Um… What are you doing?" I pull her into my chest. She giggles and pulls on my hair.

"She just- I- Never mind." He sighs and grabs my free arm, walking me to the fire. Then he tells me all about him… And his world-famous band.