Max's POV

Another day, another cave, another round of grumbling and another plan about to be told. Well, there would be if I had one anyway…

Iggy's officially sixteen as of yesterday which means everyone's another year older. Fang Iggy and I; sixteen. Nudge; thirteen. Gazzy; ten. Angel; eight. And Total is who knows how old… As the saying goes, who knows who cares?

That wasn't nice Max. Oh Angel, my Angel dear. When will she learn hat I'm not all that nice?

Thoughts to yourself. I thought to her.

She huffed audibly out loud and I quirked a smile. I saw Fang glance at me out of the corner of his eye. I raised an eyebrow, just barely and he nodded slightly. Yeah, we just knew each other that well.

Then, just like that, I had a plan. I grinned to myself. Oh boy, oh boy. Never had one of my plans given me any benefits until now. And Fang owed me from back when I was right about Ari switching sides. He couldn't protest at all.

"Alright guys, I've got our plan…"

"This I gotta hear." Iggy said, attitude filling his words as they always had when I said I had an idea. But this was different; I really did have an idea.

I glared at him uselessly and said, "We're going to go stay at my Mom's for a bit. How does that sound? Real beds and real food? Eh, eh?"

Fang opened his mouth to protest but I cut him off, "Fang, you owe me. Both you and I know it. Trust me." My voice and face were dead serious.

He sighed and nodded, though his eyes were tighter. He didn't approve. I shrugged it off mentally, he could deal with it. I looked around our shabby little cave. Then I walked over to the cave's mouth and peered over the edge.

Beautiful flowers were blooming in a small clearing surrounding the cave's rocky slope. Around the half circle of wild flowers, tall, powerful trees loomed; their tips almost reaching as high as the cave itself.

It really was beautiful, gorgeous. I sat down and swung my legs over the side of the cliffy edge. Tilting my face up, I let the wind catch my hair and blow it behind me, away from my warm neck. I inhaled deeply, and the smell of flowers tickled my nose, lovingly sweet. The wind brushed across my face and through my hair like gentle fingers combing their way through knotted string.

Then the sound of two kids, one ten and one eight brought me back to our heart twisting reality. I stood back up and turned to face Gazzy and Angel.

"What're you two fighting about now? Why can't you just love each other like you used to?" My voice was pleading.

"Max," Angel said, her voice whiny, "Gazzy won't give Celeste back and you said I can't use mind control on him!"

"Gazzy, your side of the story now?" I asked, patiently, because that's just how awesome of a leader I am.

"Celeste was dirty, I was going to go down the that stream over in the forest and wash him." Gazzy's eyes were wide and innocent as ever. But so were Angel's, and she wasn't innocent at all.

"Just give her the bear back and she can go down and wash him if she wants." After a moments thought I added, "As long as she brings Iggy or Fang with her."

Angel just grabbed the bear out of Gazzy's hands and shook her head, hugging it to her chest tightly, no doubt un a grip that could break your wrist. I rolled my eyes and turned around to Nudge.

"Speaking of cleaning things, it might be a good idea if you washed our clothes before we leave tomorrow. Iggy, you go with and help her." No in full leader mode, I turned to Angel and Gazzy and said, "You two clean up around the cave. No evidence we were here."

Finally I turned to Fang, "You and I need to talk." He nodded and followed me, out into the sky, circling down until we were in the clearing, then we started walking through the forest.

"Your mom's house?" He asked, reading my mind.

"It's safe, free, and big. Where will we find somewhere better than that?" I asked, defending the old house that my mom lived in.

"It may be big, and it may be free, but how do you know it's safe?" He asked, his tone accusing and questioning.

"Because, we've been there twice before and no one but us knows it. That's got safety written all over it." I was slowly giving up my defenders chair. I was going to lose this fight…

Then, Fang sighed, "Okay, okay. I trust you." He turned his eyes so that his dark, chocolate brown eyes looked straight into my milk chocolate brown ones. I think my heart melted into jelly and my stomach dropped down to my knees.

Then, I knew we were going to be okay, that is, until I heard Angel call me telepathically, Max! Nudge and Iggy! Quick!