The wind rushed through my hair as the same as it has been for the past century, yet it still never ceased to fill me with exhilarating energy and excitement. Bella's weight on my back felt like nothing as I weaved through the trees toward my familiar home. However, something about the forest today was different. I wasn't receiving the usual amount of thoughts from the hikers. It felt as if something was interfering with my mind and thoughts. What was it?

"Edward, why are so tense?" Bella asked shifting her weight a bit. "Did I do something that might upset you?"

"Bella, you never do stuff to upset me. I am just—fine."

All was quiet again. I had a strong feeling that she didn't buy the lie; however, I did wish to know what she was thinking. How ironic it is that the only person's mind I couldn't hear was my dearest love and also the person on my back. As for the interference, I guess I'll ask Alice if she'd seen anything when we get to the house.

Why did I get that creepy feeling that I was being watched? I started to speed up. I couldn't detect humans nearby besides normal hikers climbing up the mountain trails. But, I did detect a strong aroma of bird. Maybe there were a lot of extra eggs that hatched.

"Ok, stop," yelled Bella. See must have noticed the change in my speed. Knowing her, she still probably thought I had something against her.

I slowed down. We were now 1 mile from my mansion. "Yes?"

"Something is bothering you and I want to know, now," she said and dropped off my back.

"It's just," I started, trying to think of an excuse for why I was so angst. Maybe I was being overly worried and protective of Bella like I usually am. "It's just—I was just thinking of us getting married. You seemed not to like it and it made me frustrated with myself that I got you into it." That's only half true. I don't agree with my actions, but I also know that she is okay with it.

"Oh Edward, we already went over this. It is fine; I want to get married," she replied. Then we continued on. That actually comforted me a bit. I always like it when she speaks.

When we got back, Alice as usual was waiting for us. Her thoughts gently reached my mind. She was planning to give Bella a full-blown make over today. Bella was really going to enjoy it. I couldn't see if Alice saw anything or not about the interference. Maybe I am just getting old. I chuckled and then greeted Alice and walked into the house to meet a huge surge of thoughts, verbal talking, and eyes. I decided to concentrate on what they were saying.

"What do you mean you saw flying people, Jasper?" Carlisle questioned, looking curious, but not the slightest bit frightened.

"Just that. I saw kids in the sky with wings. At least that is what they looked like that—"

"What were they doing here?"

"Did they look like a threat?"

"How many were there?"

The questions continued to bombard Jasper and he answered them, as best as he could, but eventually he yelled, "Please, not all at once!" They all got quiet.

"I have no idea why they are here. I do not think they're a threat, and if they were, I don't think they would be a challenge. And there were 6 of them, but one of them seemed to be carrying some small item. I would guess that it was a dog."

What were these bird kids doing here? I hope this doesn't mean another war.

"Rest assured. If they were a threat, they would have been more stealth and not as out in the open. If they were obvious on purpose, they would have attacked by now and—," Carlisle stopped. Everyone in the room turned to Alice. She had the strange blank look on her face when she was getting a vision of the future.

Just then, she woke-up and shook her head. "They will arrive on our door step in 10 seconds. I don't know why I didn't see them earlier and I can't see why they are here or what will happen, but we should prepare for the worst and—." She stopped and everyone froze and turned toward the door as the doorbell rang.

Carlisle walked to the peephole and opened the door.

There stood a brown haired teenage girl who looked sheepishly through the door way at all the people. "Hi, I'm Max Ride. I have no idea why I'm here, but there's supposed to be trouble—somewhere—near." Wow, pretty confident in front of a group of people she doesn't know, especially for a non-vampire.

"Hello, Max. Why don't you and your friends come on in and make yourselves welcome," Carlisle gestured for her and the others hiding behind her in the immense yard. They walked swiftly into the room, all of them gaping at the size of our house, like everyone else does. They all sat in 2 of the main room couches. These were the bird kids all right. Most of them were thinking about hiding their wings. Max was contemplating on whether to show us, or to keep it secret, although it wasn't really secret.

The strawberry blond hair dude was thinking, These guys look very suspicious. Let's see, I have a couple wires and a battery in my pocket. Oh! I have a lighter. If I can just get into the kitchen maybe I can find some vegetable oil. Who the heck was this guy? A terrorist? Well he isn't going to have any luck. Vampires don't have much food, needless to say cooking ingredients. Also, he probably couldn't get far with us being super fast and all.

"May I go to the kitchen?" asked the blond dude. "I am hungry." Yah right.

"You're not going to have much luck. We're low on our food supply," Carlisle answered.

Suddenly I received the thoughts of the smallest of the kids. The little girl was thinking, Whoa! That guy can read minds? Dang. What's he thinking now? Suddenly my mind became haywire. It was if a mirror was looking into another mirror. All I could hear was what she was thinking, which was what I was thinking, which was what she was thinking— and on and on. I bent forward in pain. My head was going to explode. The searing agony I was going through made me wish that I were dead. Just let it end, please. I took a glance over to her and she was in the same position as me and in pain. Then, the pain cleared. She must have directed her thoughts somewhere else. Max suddenly got up to check on the little girl.

"Angel, are you all right?" How ironic that she can cause on much pain for me, yet be called an Angel. I guess I have experienced worse than a head ache but…

"I'm—fine," they then stared at each other. That guy over there, the one named Edward, he can read minds just like me. And when our minds clashed—so much pain—I don't like these people—they're vampires. Real vampires— they know who we are. They know we can fly— I want to leave. What was she doing? Sending Max thoughts? Is that possible? That's not good. Our secret is out.

I'm sorry, we can't sweetie; if they are vampires, they seem like nice vampires, otherwise they probably would have killed us already. The voice in my head told me to come here. I have never disobeyed it, when it gives a mission, I think. These people are weird. They shouldn't be here.

"Are there squirrels in the back yard that I can chase?" asked the dog. Wait, WHAT? The dog just talked? I cleared my ears to make sure it wasn't his thoughts. Everyone else had the same puzzled expression. Talking dog, what a surprise when it comes to this family.

Stupid dog. Just get the mission done and let's get out of here. Gosh, Max looks beautiful when she's concerned. So, the dark haired dude was in love with Max?

Must not fart. Must not fart. Must not fart. Whoa, this guy has issues. His face was slightly crunched up in concentration. I chuckled a bit.

"Hey, I was just—Oops," the dog suddenly crawled back into the shadows.

"Um, yah. We have a talking dog. Doesn't everybody?" Max was starting to blush. Her cover was broken.

This is so not good. I mean not like little not-good, but like seriously bad not-good. This is going to be hard to get out of here. Oooo, the staircase is very pretty. Did that girl, just like get the most beautiful manicure or what? Why is that guy staring at me? I looked away when I saw the dark skinned girl make a strange face. Alice was looking at her nails. I guess that other girl must have noticed.

Talking dog, cool. I hope these guys leave so I can give Bella a manicure. I now turned to the actual conversation, if you can call it one. Everyone was shifting around awkwardly in the silence. That blond dude was doing something behind his back with the wires and the battery.

"Ok, fine. We aren't being completely honest on who we are. We are—genetically grafted kids. 2 of our DNA is avian. The rest is human. But that small part has given us all special—gifts." Max was standing up and pacing around the room as she talked. "We were created at a place called the 'School.' They treated us like lab rats back there. We escaped and being trying to find ways to destroy the school and to help the world. We are orphans and don't really have a constant home because we've been on the run for like a year or so. We are never safe and sometimes, we have had to fight to the death. Only Iggy and I know our parents."

"What kinds of special powers to you people have?" asked Carlisle, still with his normal blank face.

"Well, we can all fly, but you already know that. Angel here can read minds and can send out messages to all of us. She told me that you guys aren't exactly normal either. Um, that you guys are—vampires?" She paused with a doubtful look. Everyone in the room tensed. Only I knew that they knew. I connected my gaze with Carlisle's.

Go ahead Edward. Our secret's out; show them what you are capable of. Carlisle nodded and I turned m gaze back to the guests. Then I dashed over to behind Max at Vampire speed.

"Yes, we are vampires," Max jumped at my words, "But we are not going to harm you. We have trained ourselves to resist human blood. Welcome to our home," I smiled at her, and she started to back away.

"You have our word Max," Carlisle confirmed. I zoomed back to place next to Bella and listened to the guest's thoughts.

Yes, Max. This was a brilliant idea in coming here. Vampires that move at 200 MPH, yes, real smart. Where are we anyway?

"You are in Forks, Washington, Sir," turned to the dark hair guy, who was surprised to hear the answer to his question.

"My name is Fang," said Fang.

Oh, great. Another mind reader. Let's see, what am I thinking now huh? He then pictured six juicy burgers on a plate with steam rising from it. Yuck.

"You are thinking of 6 hamburgers," I was amused as his face contorted into something that looked like fear.

"Just like you guys, we have special gifts as well," started Carlisle, then his face turned serious, "The following conversation remains secret. We are in hiding and trying to blend in with our surroundings. Edward can read minds and is the fastest vampire, Alice can see the future, Jasper can feel and control the feelings of everyone around him, and Emmett is the strongest. Around here, I am a 33-year-old doctor known as Mr. Cullen. When actually, I am over 100 years old and so is Edward." Everyone turned to me. I kept my face blank, trying not to laugh at the look on their faces.

Everyone was quiet for a moment then Carlisle spoke again. "Are there any questions, from both sides?"

Hey, I got one, when can we get out of here? Thought Fang. What a strange name.

"You can go whenever you like," I said, answering his question. His face now looked annoyed rather than fearful. "We will not stop you. We, however, would like emphasis the secrecy involved in this situation. You must not repeat us to anyone."

"We aren't leaving. We have come to help. This area is in danger from attack," Max no looked a bit worried.

"Alice, have you seen anything?" Carlisle turned to Alice.

"Sorry, I have not," she answered, obviously wishing she could.

Everyone was quiet, again. This was extremely uncomfortable.

"Well, what are we waiting for? Lets prepare," Everyone turned to the blond guy.

"Where do you propose we start, Iggy?" asked Max.

"Well…we could build our defenses," he held up the miniature bomb that he had assembled. Apparently, he had covered some of it with battery acid. "And, we could check out the full capabilities of each other, maybe?"

"Sounds like an idea," Carlisle clapped his hands together. "Let's get started."