Solace: Chapter Three - Replacement

Our guests were beginning to fill the house, although most were ten to twelve years old, making it hard to believe we were throwing a party for an eighteen-year-old. Fang had to open his mouth a few days ago and tell the two youngest kids that they could invite anyone they wanted. So of course they told everyone they knew. I'm not entirely convinced that Angel didn't have something to do with his sudden urge to crowd the house with kids.

There must have been twenty people here already and I didn't have a clue where or when Angel and Gazzy had met them. I was still waiting on Fang and I knew that Nudge invited her boyfriend, Peter, who also hadn't arrived yet.

My eyes were scanning the sky for the birthday boy, sending my thoughts back to what the Voice had told me. You already have what he wants. Yeah, about that… what? Considering the Voice seemed to get impatient with me earlier today, I'm assuming I should have figured this out by now.

And who was the one person that could surely help me? The little girl who was staring at me right now with the most devilish grin imaginable. Could that possibly be a good thing?

"Angel?" I asked cautiously. "What are you doing, sweetie?"

"I want to help you." She walked up closer to me and motioned me to bend down to her level. "Fang's present is in your room," she whispered.

"What are you talking about? I put it in the living room with everyone else's." She moved it back to my room?

"No. I found out what he wanted and now you can stop worrying about it." She turned to run back to her friends, but I grabbed her before she got away.

"Are you saying you bought a different gift and put my name on it?" She nodded. "Well, what is it, Angel?"

That devilish grin hadn't left her face yet, but now it grew into a wicked smile that was just downright creepy. "Don't worry about it. He'll like it. That's all you need to know." And then she got away.

I wanted to run to my room and find out what this new gift was, but another car pulled into our driveway, so I mentally shrugged and decided that it didn't really matter. Any gift would have been better than that stupid watch.

Nudge came bounding down the steps then and ran to the arriving guests. Peter stepped out of the passenger's side of the car and caught Nudge as she slammed into him. Personally, I wasn't so sure about him, but as long as it's keeping her happy, I'm not going to ruin her fun.

When the driver stepped out, he looked around for a minute before walking over to Nudge and Peter. I watched him suspiciously. All of these little kids I've never seen before… I could deal with them. But when someone closer to the adult age range appears, I get a little nervous. He could have been one of the surviving Whitecoats for all I knew.

But then the three of them were walking up to me. I started to get tense. It's been over a year since we've had to fight anyone. If this turns into something…

Whoa. I lost my train of thought when I caught a glimpse of Angel and I think it's safe to say that the girl has made it to the top of the list of Things That Scare Max. I wish you could see the scathing look she's directing at Nudge right now. Actually, no, I take that back. You would surely have nightmares.

What's up with those two? I'll have to worry about it later. Right now, I have to focus on defending myself.

"Max, this is Peter's friend… I hope you don't mind that I invited him," Nudge said.

"Uh… No, I don't mind." I guardedly held my hand out to shake his. That's what you normal folks do, right?

Apparently not.

He started forward with arms spread wide and I crossed my own arms, taking a step back.

That didn't stop him. He advanced toward me, speaking with an accent, "Hello there, love! Name's Ray…"

He sounded Australian. I've never met someone from there before… It took me off guard for a split second, but that was enough for him to wrap his arms around me for a moment before I quickly pulled away.

"Who's this?" I heard a voice say from behind me, followed by a hand on my shoulder. Fang.

For reasons I can't explain, I whirled around to face him and threw my arms around him, shouting, "Happy birthday, Fang!"

The moment turned awkward with Fang holding his arms limp by his sides and, feeling heat flush through my cheeks, I let go, turning to face Nudge, Peter, and Ray again.

"This is Ray… Peter's friend," I said.

"Yo," is all Fang said. It looked like Ray was going to throw an embrace at him also, but he must have realized Fang would have punched him in the face if he tried anything touchy-feely.

Hours later, after everyone socialized for a while, we sang Happy Birthday and had Iggy's sinfully delicious cake – all 'special' candles had been replaced by normal wax candles, for the sake of all the non-mutants in attendance.

Turn on some dramatic music for this next part: Now it's time for the birthday bird to open his gifts…

Angel immediately jumped onto the couch to sit next to Fang and threw me another one of those creepy smiles. I opted to linger by the doorway and lean against the wall. The other kids were scattered haphazardly around the room to watch, except for Gazzy, who had been elected to bring the presents from the pile and hand them to Fang.

I took a deep breath and sighed. Of course, Gazzy had chosen mine to give him first.

Why I was freaking out over this so much, I don't know, but I almost didn't want to look when he started opening the box.

But then it was open and he stared at it for a few seconds before reaching in. Yet he didn't actually take it out. It looked like he was reading something… or maybe he was just mesmerized by it… whatever it was. I couldn't really see it from where I was standing across the room.

Jeez, what is he doing? Lift it out of the box, Fang!

I tried to find some answers from Angel.

Ugh! Angel! What did you get him? He's acting like there's a rattlesnake in the box…

No answer. Naturally.

He started closing the lid of the box, but I had to find out what I got for him, so what do I do? I'll tell you what I did. I went hopping over to the couch like an idiot and plopped down next to him, almost crushing Angel. But I saw it.

It was a small black wallet.

Well, it hadn't occurred to me before, but I guess he could use a new wallet.

"Like it?" I asked.

He hesitated for a moment before turning to meet my gaze and nodded. He had the strangest look of confusion in his expression, which I wasn't so sure about, but he added slowly, "Yeah… Thanks." That was just enough for the relief to wash over me. He liked my gift.

But wait a minute…

Voice? Voice, are you there? I don't get it. You said I already had what he wanted… I didn't have that wallet though…

Again, no answer.

Fang opened the remaining presents fairly quickly, thanked everyone, and the party ended, just like that, even though it was only 8pm.

Once everyone began leaving, I started helping Nudge clean up.

Peter came to say goodbye to her, followed by none other than his Aussie friend, Ray. I'm not sure if it's a custom of his to offer hugs repeatedly, but he tried it again when he was saying goodbye to me. This time, Fang appeared next to me before he succeeded in his attempt again. I didn't look, but I can only guess what kind of look he threw him because Ray backed off, only saying, "Right then. Catch you later, love."

I didn't know what to expect when I chanced a quick glance at Fang, but I was surprised to find he still wore the same peculiar expression when he looked at me.

When just us bird-kids were left in the house and mostly everything was acceptably clean, Gazzy asked, "Is there any cake left? I'm really hungry."

Iggy laughed and told us to follow him. So we did. And there on the kitchen counter were plates of cookies. Chocolate chip cookies.

There were various shouts of joy that followed the discovery.

"Iggy, I don't know when you had time to make these, but thank you. You're amazing," I said, giving his arm a small squeeze.

He grinned wickedly. "I try."

It grew quiet in the room, except for the sound of bird-kids stuffing their faces with chocolate chip cookies and gulping down milk.

Until…

"It looks like Gazzy ate shit!" Nudge yelled. At the same time I whipped my gaze to her and shouted, "Nudge!" there was an outburst of laughter from Iggy. Even though she was fifteen, I didn't want ten-year-old Angel to pick up Nudge's potty mouth.

But I had to admit that she was right and I stifled a laugh. Gazzy had an awful smile plastered across his face; his teeth were covered with chocolate and he indeed looked like he was guilty of her accusation.

"Hey guys, why don't we fly over to the field? We've been cooped up all day with all of these normal people. I need some air," Iggy asked after the raucous laughter began to dwindle.

"Yes!" I heard Angel and Gazzy shout at the same time. Angel knocked over her glass of milk when she punched the air with excitement.

It didn't take long for everyone to throw on shoes and coats and head out the door.

Fang and I were left in the kitchen putting the plates and glasses in the sink.

"Max, you have chocolate…" Fang said, pointing to the corner of his own mouth. I could swear he was still looking at me curiously, but I tried to ignore it because I wasn't sure what he was wondering.

I licked my lips self-consciously and, sure enough, I tasted the mess that was left from shoving cookies in my mouth like a barbarian.

"Still there," he said, the smallest hint of a grin appearing on his face.

I wasn't going to stand there trying to lick food off of my face all day, so I started to take a step towards the counter to get a napkin, but without realizing it, I walked right onto Angel's spilled milk and slipped.

In a fraction of a second, I swung my arm out, but missed the counter top when I tried to grab it to catch myself, so I squeezed my eyes shut, waiting for the impact of my head hitting the floor tiles.

But I didn't hit the floor. I opened my eyes slowly, wondering what stopped me from crashing onto my back. Fang, of course. How he was able to catch me so fast was beyond me, but I didn't question it. I just said, "Thanks," as he helped me steady myself on a dry patch of the floor.

"Erasers attacking you, not a problem. Flyboys, no big deal. A little spilled milk shows up and you're defenseless," he said, shaking his head. The grin that appeared before had widened noticeably.

"Yeah, yeah, go ahead and laugh." I scowled halfheartedly at him, then took an exaggeratedly cautious step closer to the counter, still trying to get a napkin to clean the mess from my face, but Fang's hand slipped over mine before I picked one up. With his other hand on my shoulder, he pushed me into the stool behind me and I sat.

"Uh… Fang?" I asked. His eyes were piercing mine as he leaned closer, one hand still on my shoulder, the other one trailing up my arm.

"Still some chocolate…" he breathed, just inches from my face.

Oh. My. God. Is he going to do what I think he is?

I felt an odd warmth on my lips as I closed my eyes…

And then…

"Max! Max, you'd better not have a concussion!"

"Ow," I managed, opening my eyes to the bright light of the kitchen. Fang was leaning over me, watching me as I grabbed my head. "What the hell?"

"You slipped and hit your head on the stool," he said. "How do you feel? Can you stand?" He offered a hand. Then I realized I had only suffered a quick hallucination a moment ago. Is it wrong how disappointed I am that our little exchange hadn't been real?

The strange warmth on my lips was still there though, so I put my hand to my mouth. When I took it away and looked, I saw a faint smear of blood on my fingertips. "Crap. I think I bit my lip."

Fang just nodded, then said, "You were only out for about five seconds, so you should be fine, but you may want to lay down for a while instead of flying to the field."

I shook my head and started to get up. "No, I want to go to the field. It's pretty at night…" I trailed off, remembering the false scene that played a minute ago, as I reached again for a napkin, this time to wipe the blood off of my bottom lip.

"Let's go then. I think the others are already in the air," Fang said, motioning me towards the door.

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