Disclaimer: not claiming, disclaiming, not, bad, claiming, just, kidding, max, ride, nope, nuh Uh, disclaimer, Santa, what?, wait, how, did, he, get, in, here?, oh, jeez, this, is, getting, ridiculous.
Max POV
Fang convinced me to get back to the library. I nodded soullessly, a bit shell-shocked. Fang had an air of superiority about him, which I guess was because if the dangers of the book. My book.
Anyway, we went back to the library. Except this time, Fang Googled, and I read Kate's diary. (A/N: "Googled" is now officially a word. My computer doesn't want to correct it!)
I sat down on a beanbag chair, staring at the front cover. It was blue, shiny, embossed with curling things that I think were supposed to be flowers but in reality looked more like weeds. I flipped open the magnetic flap and opened to the first page. On it was an address.
The next page said, in large letters:
-I DON'T KNOW WHY YOU'RE READING THIS. GET THE HELL OUT YOU CREEPER. WHO GOES AROUND STEALING 13 YEAR OLD GIRLS' DIARIES ANYWAY. GOD STALKER, JUST LEAVE ME THE HELL ALONE.-
I smiled a bit. Then I turned to the next page.
Look, seriously, can you get out? This is my stuff. I don't want you reading it.
It went in for like seven pages. Then I got to the first entry. It said:
-Tues Nov. 11 7:23 pm-
-Dear Max-
-Every day, this happens. Every single day. Why cant I make it stop? Why?-
-Okay, let me explain to you. This morning at breakfast it was the usual. Cathy had just gotten out of the shower and mom was trying to French braid her hair. Except for it was, like, 7:50 and Cathy was still eating breakfast. Mom was yelling and Cathy was crying and I was just like get me out of here, you know?-
-I grabbed my backpack and stormed out the door, and then just stood there, looking at the sky. I had on my Αστερία jacket so I turned up the collar cos it doesn't have a hood. And I looked up at the sky and wondered again when you'd come for me.-
-I look for you in the sky every single day. My friends all love you and the flock, they think y'all are wonderful but they don't really know how obsessed I am. When I finished book 2, I checked my back for wings literally every five minutes. I ran outside and screamed at the sky because I just couldn't hold it in any longer. I think about you guys all the time. Whenever I go to school I usually have at least one of your books in my backpack for various reasons. And every day I wish that you'll come for me.-
-I have to tell myself sternly that y'all aren't real. Whitecoats aren't real, Erasers aren't real, wings aren't real. Well, they are, but not attached to humans.-
-I want so badly to meet you guys. To know you guys instead of just seeing them through your eyes. Er...not that I have problems with your eyes, Max. I just...yeah.-
-I promise that I won't rant on like this again about you. But it doesn't really matter. I'm the only one who'll be reading this. The only other person I'd let read this is you, and you're not real.-
I handed the book over to Fang. "She thinks none of it's real," I whispered.
He glanced at the date. "Yeah, she did back in November," he informed me. "But she sure as hell doesn't think that now."
"But, I mean, how does she not know about us?" I asked. "We used to be everywhere."
"We never really came to Georgia," he reminded me. "Except for that one time when we were going to Disney World. And that was when we were trying to stay hidden."
He flipped through the book, stopping about midway through. He read the entry, and he paled.
"What?" I said, trying to take the book away from him.
He held it close. "Nothing," he said. But it was obvious that it wasn't nothing.
"What?" I asked, getting my hands on it. I tugged it out of his grasp and opened it to the entry.
"She knows things about me," he whispered, looking at his hands. "I never told anyone about Holly."
"Holly?" I said sharply, looking up. "Who's that?"
"Just read it," he mumbled.
-Thursday, Feb. 10, 5:32 Pm-
-Dear Max,-
-Actually, I should be addressing this one to Fang, so Dear Fang,-
-I came up with a really good idea for my FanFiction story Typical Mutant. It's about Holly, right? I just figured out that she's your sister! I'm going to make you guys meet when you're at Anne's. But obviously Max can't know or else it would mess up the storyline. (Sorry JP, you suck. You shoulda put Holly back in. Now it's just another plothole that we authors have to work around.)-
-Anyway Fang, if you ever read this, I hope you'll read my story and find Holly to your satisfaction.-
Oh. My. God. I was shaking.
"You."
Fang was sitting with his head bowed, actually looking a bit ashamed for once.
"You have a SISTER?" I screeched. Everyone in the library went "Ssh!" all at the same time. The librarian headed toward us, so we split.
Once we were outside, Fang seemed to have composed himself. He sat on a bench and looked me dead in the eye.
"You. Have a sister." I took a deep breath.
"She's my twin, actually," he said. He seemed to be enjoying himself now. "Identical, you know."
I gaped at him. "Isn't that impossible?" I stammered.
He shrugged. "I thought so too. Apparently not."
"And you met at Anne's. Did she go to the school?"
"No." Now he looked a bit confused. "She was in the woods. Starving. It was weird, because we look exactly alike, but she has pale blond hair and light blue eyes. But our faces look exactly the same." He paused. "It's weird...I never told anyone about Holly. Not even Angel knows about her. So how did Kate find out?"
I paused.
"Yeah, that is more than a little bit creepy," I admitted after a moment. "Maybe we should read the story to see if she really did get it right."
Then I remembered that I was mad at him. "But God, Fang, why didn't you TELL me?"
"She didn't want you to know," he said. He shrugged. "And I had to respect that."
"Yeah, but it's been almost three years since Anne's," I reminded him. (A/N: They're seventeen now.) "Were you ever going to tell me?"
He shrugged again. "At first it seemed really important, but she made me promise not to tell you. Then, as time wore on, my promise faded a bit, but it didn't really seem important anymore. So I decided just not to tell."
I dropped my head onto my hands. "Jeez..." I mumbled. "Any more life changing secrets you'd like to share?"
He froze for a second, then grinned. "Nope."
I glared at him. "We should definitely check out that story," I said. "And if it's all true, maybe we should talk to Kate."
"Yeah…" he mumbled. "I just don't like the idea of talking to some random girl with a strange obsession for evil, mind-blowing things."
I put my hands on my hips. "The last time I helped a random girl, she turned out to be my sister," I said.
"Kate is not your sister," Fang told me icily."No matter how much you might wish it were otherwise."
"I don't wish she was my sister!" I yelled. "And I know she's not my sister. We saw her dad, didn't we?"
He shrugged. "Cousins, then."
I growled under my breath, grinding my teeth. "We need to stop focusing on this kid," I said, "and start focusing on our flock. They need our help, and we're the only ones who can help them. We need Dylan…" I turned and started muttering.
Fang didn't answer me. I looked at him to see him looking frozen, betrayed and white-hot with anger. "Did you just say that we need Dylan?" he spat at me.
"N-no," I said. "I said we need Iggy." Downright lie. But Fang was so angry I was afraid that the top of his head would explode and leave his brains lying in a gushy mess on the sidewalk.
…Okay, I did not need that mental image.
"No, you didn't." Fang's voice cracked. I stared at him. "You need Mr. Perfect. And you need him more than you need me." He stood. "Even though you tell me over and over that all you want is me, I guess that's just it. You want me. But you need him."
"No, Fang, I –"
-am having a really hard time coming up with an argument to that one. Because thing was, he'd hit the nail right on the head. My soul ached for Dylan in a way that it had never ached for Fang.
Wait, WHAT? No. No, no, no it didn't.
"It's okay, Max," said Fang. He put a hand on my shoulder, but it wasn't lovingly. It was more like he was a businessman comforting his partner. "I understand. So we'll just get the flock now. And then you can be with your soulmate." His eyes were flat and hard, but I saw his Adam's apple go up and down as he swallowed and took his hand off my shoulder.
"Fang…" I said, and was horrified to find myself crying.
Fang looked around to make sure no one was watching, and then vanished. I stared in horror at the place he'd been, then looked around wildly.
"Fang!" I yelled at the top of my voice. An old guy looked at me curiously. I heard a rustling noise – wings.
I sat down hard on the bench. Then I heard a sharp intake of breath, and for a split second he became visible, his wings spread for flight, before he vanished again.
"Fang!" I said again, lunging at the place he'd been a second ago. My hands closed on air. I heard his footsteps running down toward the street, and then they stopped. He'd taken to the air.
Something landed on the back on my neck – a single black feather. One of his primaries – he must have yanked it out. It was long – longer than my forearm. I stroked it, my tears making glossier spots on the…feathery bits.
For the second time in my life, Fang had left me.
For the second time in my life, Fang had left me.
For the second time in my life, Fang had left me.
And this time, I don't think he was coming back.
I put my head in my hands and cried my little mutant heart out into that huge black feather.
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