Angel sat up, heart pounding widely in her rib cage. It was the same, terrible dream every night and she greedily sucked in a few large gasps of air before she was able to calm down. Her hands were curled in the sweaty sheets and she felt something warm pressed against her side.
It was Max, of course. They little girl had been climbing into Angel's bed at night for a few weeks now and stubbornly refused to say why. Angel suspected that Max was having bad dreams of her own. Sometimes she woke up to the six-year-old's thrashing and cries for help. In these instances Angel would do her best to calm Max down, stroking her tangled brown hair and hugging her close.
Angel was only grateful that her own nightmares were quiet and didn't wake Max up. She didn't want to frighten the little girl any more than she needed too.
The fourteen-year-old yawned and squinted at the large bay window across the room. It overlooked the Colorado mountains, creating a stunning view. The sun had just barely started to crest over the peak putting the time somewhere around 7:30 a.m. Angel deemed this an acceptable time to get up (she was a morning person) and started to gently shake Max's shoulder. "Come on sweetie, time to get up."
"Nooooooooooo!" Was Max's response as she buried deeper into Angel's duvet.
"Max."
"Noooooooo."
"Maaaax."
"NO!"
"If you don't get up, I'm gonna tickle you." Angel threatened and watched as Max mulled it over. The girl hated being tickled.
"Fine." Muttered Max, who finally sat up and yawed, showing off her mouth in all its gap-toothed glory. Angel subsequently got a whiff of Max's breath and coughed, screwing up her nose. Kids had the worst morning breath.
"I'm hungry." Max announced, as she watched Angel pad across the floor to her closet.
"Brush your teeth and I'll make you something to eat." Angel said, pulling out her favorite sweatpants and T-shirt. The pants were purple and fluffy and the shirt was white and had the word 'angel' scrawled on it in shiny pink letters.
By the time she was finished getting dressed, Max had vacated the room. Angel followed suit, stepping out into the hallway. The air inside was warm and humid and Angel guessed that Iggy and left his window open again.
Angel made her way to the kitchen and found her twin Gazzy at the table, fiddling with a couple of wires.
"Don't blow anything up." She warned as Gazzy shot her a blinding grin.
"What do you take me for? An amateur?"
"You set the TV on fire last week." Angel reminded him.
"That was Iggy!" Gazzy protested, rolling his eyes.
"Sure sure, blame the blind kid." A third voice entered the argument as Iggy shuffled into the room, drunk with sleep.
"Iggyy!" Gazzy exclaimed. "I'm sorry, come hold this wire for me?"
"No, Iggy!" Max giggled, joining the threesome in the kitchen. "Make me pancakes."
"Yeah, Ig." Angel laughed. "You heard the boss, go make her pancakes."
"No." Iggy muttered, flopping onto the couch, aim impeccable as always. Max pouted and stalked over to the couch, scrambling up onto Iggy's chest.
"Pleaaaaaase?" The little girl placed her hands on Iggy's cheeks and squeezed. "Please Iggy?" And because no one could resist Max's little girl charm, Iggy sighed and agreed to make pancakes if someone else could hand him things. Max was recruited for that job and Angel told Gazzy to set the table.
"I'm going to go get Nudge and Fang up." She said watching as the kitchen's members bustled into action.
Angel knocked on Nudge's door first, calling to her in an annoying sing songy voice. "Nudddgieee! Time to get up!" From beyond the door Angel heard a groan and a muffled thump as something soft hit the door.
Now for Fang. Max and Fang shared a larger room at the end of the hall. Angel was surprised to find the door propped open (as both little kids preferred it closed) and she peaked in curiously.
Fang's bed was on the left side of the room, covers bunched in a heap on the floor. "Fang?" Angel called quietly and jumped at the boy's resounding "Yes?"
Somehow Fang managed to sneak up behind Angel. He had obviously been up for awhile as he was already dressed for the day, fluffy dark hair brushed behind his ears. She let out a shaky breath. "Quit sneaking up on me Fang." The eight year olds blending ability made Angel nervous, although she was loath to admit it.
Fang frowned, dark eyes narrowing into a wary squint. "Max likes it when I sneak up on her."
"I'm not Max." Angel pointed out. Fang shrugged and turned on his head, slinking towards the kitchen.
Most of the time Angel didn't really know what to think about Fang. She loved him, obviously, but he was definitely an odd kid (even for someone like them).
Angel followed Fang back to the kitchen, intercepting Nudge who was just emerging from her room. She was dressed stylishly like always, and despite her endless complaints about 'how tired she was' and that 'this was way to early a time to get up', she looked bright and eager.
In the kitchen, the others had already started eating and Max had pancake batter all over her face. Angle dug in, savoring the delicious taste of the pancakes. Iggy may be blind but for some reason he was an amazing cook and Angel was eternally grateful.
"After we eat can we go exploring?" Max asked, with a mouth full of half chewed food.
"Of course sweetie we'll all go." Angel responded, winning a golden smile from the little girl.
Max's favorite thing in the whole wide world (or so she claimed) was exploring. She loved the woods that backed the house and would play there for hours, normally with Fang by her side. Last summer the two had discovered a strawberry patch that instantly became a huge source of food for all of them.
After Jeb had disappeared, she and Gazzy had started ordering food online. But every once in awhile it was nice to get something fresh like the strawberries. (Or 'strawbebbies' as Max liked to call them)
Angel carefully picked her way through the heavy woods, letting her pure white wings bask in the pre-summer sunlight. The rest of the kids seemed just as content as she was, and Max, Fang and Nudge had even decided to race. Iggy chattered happily to Gazzy (probably about something destructive) and Angel let herself watch, just glad that the kids were happy.
"They're not ripe yet!" Max called from somewhere far away, disappointment clear in her young voice.
Angel guessed that she was at the pre-mentioned strawberry patch and called back. "They will be in about a month or two." Angel knew that the berries usually ripened during the middle of the summer as opposed to the beginning.
She caught up to Max, Fang and Nudge at the patch, Gazzy and Ig right behind her.
"Can we go to burrow?" Max asked, turning her big brown eyes on Angel. "Please?"
Angel shrugged. "Why not?" It was a bit of a walk to Max's burrow, but it was a gorgeous day and the kid's needed the walk. As they walked Max went on and on about the cool things she and Fang had added to the fort and how she thought that they should maybe make a tree house addition and could she and Fang have a sleepover out here tonight, please?
"I don't think so." Angel responded to Max's last question.
"Whyyyy notttt?" Max wined as Fang shot Angel a frown.
"It get cold at night. Plus if something goes wrong you're to far away from the house."
Max sulked for awhile but cheered up once they got to her fort. The burrow was definitely a cool find. There was a small cave that opened up at the foot of a large tree. A gurgling brook wound itself around the cave and the whole thing was very relaxing.
Max and Fang spread their wings and flew up to the top of the tree, heads bowed together as they talked. Gazzy took out his apparatus with the wires and he and Iggy instantly got to work. Nudge said she was going to walk around a bit more and Angel herself started to read a book that she had brought from the house.
Angel guessed that she had been reading for about twenty minutes when Max shouted down from her perch.
"Angel! There's choppers in the sky!"
"What?" Angel knew that planes normally never flew down this low.
"I can hear them!" Iggy exclaimed head cocked upwards. "There getting closer!"
"Max, Fang! Get down!" Angel yelled to the kids. In a floosh of flapping wings they both landed in front of the older girl.
"What's going on?!" Max asked worriedly as the roaring sound got louder and louder.
"I don't know." Angel admitted and then Max let out an earsplitting scream. The next thing the blonde girl knew was that they were under attack and she had to fight.
Her fist shot out and connected with a… muzzle? Her eyes widened as she instantly recognized the assailants, they were from the School! Her stand in father Jeb Batchelder had taught them to fight, to react, but Angel's muscles locked and she couldn't do anything but stare at the mess around her.
The attackers where what the kids had nicknamed 'Erasers'; half wolf-half man creatures from the school. They were guards and why they were here, Angel had no idea! Jeb had promised that they were safe at home!
Gazzy and Iggy were working together, clapping their hands over the wolf-men's ears. An Eraser had Max in a headlock and Nudge came up from behind and clubbed it over the head with her fists. Fang was like a bullet, shooting from Eraser to Eraser leaving destruction and groaning men in his path.
"Hey freaky!" She heard Max call as the little girl gave it a good roundhouse kick. Angel cheered silently elbowing another Eraser in its gut. He fell back hacking up blood and retreated. Angel stepped forward as an Eraser came up behind her and swung a heavy fist into her head. Angel's vision dimmed and seeing spots she used the last weapon at her disposal; mind control.
The younger kids didn't know Angel could do this, and up until recently Angel didn't know she could do it either. One particularly stormy and cold night she was trying to get Max in bed. The little girl, of course, refused, and stuck out her tongue at Angel, causing the already annoyed elder girl to snap. In her head she commanded Max to go to bed, and it… it worked. Max's eyes took on a hazy, distant sheen and she smiled and nodded. "Okay, I'll sleep now." She climbed into Angel's bed and promptly fell asleep.
Angel used this tactic now, taking on Eraser after Eraser. Using mind control was very effective and worked 100% of the time, but was just tiring as physical fighting to implement.
Just then, as if from nowhere, a heavy Eraser landed awkwardly on Angel's back, knocking the wind out of her. Angel struggled but went limp when she heard that horrible piercing shriek. At first she thought that the cry belonged to Max, but no, it was Fang. Angel watched as the Eraser holding him jammed his clawed hand against Fang's shoulder, effectively popping it out of its socket. Fang's dark eyes rolled up into his head and out for the count, he slumped against the Eraser as it chucked in glee.
Horrified, she succumbed to her headache and then everything went dark and quiet and Angel drowned in it.
