Me: I think I am the most fail Fanfiction Writer when it comes to updating.
Fang: You have a job and school. You have priorities. You're not in high school anymore.
Me: Still...
Fang: -sigh- Well, let's make you feel better by updating something!
Me: I'll give it a shot...
Lark's POV
"That's typical Max." Iggy said, rolling his sightless eyes. I recognized him from pictures on the CSM website. "When faced with a battle, she charges in. When faced with an argument, she starts screaming. Throw emotional baggage at her? She disappears into the clouds."
"I was kind of afraid she'd do that..." Fang muttered, pouring himself and Annie drinks from a pitcher in the fridge.
"Well, you did mysteriously disappear, ditching all of us without saying goodbye and refuse to keep contact." Iggy pointed out. "But I guess that's not really the big deal here..."
"Thanks, Ig. My guilty concscience needed that." Fang said
"Just stating a fact." Iggy told him. I could practically watch the feelings of betrayal dripping off Iggy's words. It hadn't occurred to me until now how... Uncomfortable this whole reunion could be. The Flock, strangers to the rest of us, had some major resentment towards Fang right now. Our little Flock of four were going to be the outsiders here.
You'd think I'd be used to this.
"I give up. I can't get ahold of Max." Angel said. She had been trying to reach Max for the past twenty mintes using her...Telekinesis? Teleprompter? Oh, whatever you call it, I could never remember the word... Either way, her powers couldn't be all they were cracked up to be. If they really wanted Max here bad enough, I could just follow the twisted trail of mixed-up emotions she'd left in her wake. Right now, from what I could sense, she was a little less than a mile off, flying high above the treeline. I was amazed. I usually couldn't sense emotions that far off, but hers were so strong... For someone who relied on stealth, Max was sure broadcasting to the world with her feelings.
We sat in silence after Angel's comment, no one sure what to say. I think Iggy was trying his best to glare, sitting with his arms crossed in front of him, but his eyes were pointed more towards the top of Fang's head, like he just really hated Fang's new haircut or something. Gazzy stood next to Iggy, trying to imitate Iggy's glare. His aim was right on, but a glare from this little pipsqueack could only be thought of as cute, at least to me. Nudge was sitting, looking down at the floor. Even without powers like mine, I think the girl was sensing the tension in the room. From the way that she sat, farthest from the rest, her body twisted slightly away, it was like she was trying to escape the crushing emotion around her.
Then, there was Dylan. Leaning against the wall, his glare was spot on and there was nothing cute about it. The emotions rolling off of him had anger, but most of it felt...Protective. He didn't want Fang to hurt anyone twice.
Now that I saw the kid in person, I couldn't quite get what was so special. Honestly, he looked like Zac Efron meets Saint Michael the Archangel. So, unless you were a psychotic tween or a devout Catholic, I couldn't see the attraction. I mean, sure, he was good-looking, but in an unreal sort of way. He's the kind of guy you see on TV. You can look, you can dream, but you can't touch. Except, he was...Touchable. But somehow, instead of seeming like a dream come true, it seemed...Wrong to me. He just wasn't a real guy. He was too perfect.
I moved my attentions to my own group, the unfamiliar feelings of The Flock beginning to overwhelm me. But my group wasn't much better. Fang's stance was much like Iggy's, except he was staring at the ceiling, feeling highly uncomfortable. Anita, shyness kicking in, seemed determined to try to hide behind Toby's huge frame. Toby put an arm around her, protective feelings of his own mixing with the strong ones Dylan projected.
The swirl of emotions, all of them negative, was beggining to be too much. I was starting to feel sick.
My eyes darted around the room and I was thankful for my sunglasses, so no one noticed. I needed a distraction or I was going to barf all over The Flocks lovely (-cough- Horrible -cough-) algae-green rug.
My eyes landed on Angel, the only, calm-looking person in this room. Angel, from what I had learned, was dangerous. She did not always use her mind powers for good. She had tried to become Flock leader more than once. She turned Fang over to the side of evil and almost got him killed. Ok, she did get him killed, but his being brought back to life somehow nullified that.
But she was calm. I needed that calm. I needed distraction.
I needed some noise.
"So, dudet, I hear you go mind-surfing in your spare time." I told her. As soon as the silence broke, the short confusion of emotions brought me some instant relief. "Tell me, honestly, is there really anything going on in this dude's head." I motioned to Fang. "Or is he as braindead as he acts sometimes?"
Angel smiled. I had a feeling she wasn't happy with the silence, either. "Oh, he has stuff going on up there. It's Iggy we worry about."
"Hey!" Iggy exclaimed. "Since when am I the braindead one around here?"
"Since you tried to use Dr. Martinez's digital camera." Angel told him.
"Hey, I bet I could've gotten some awesome pictures!" Iggy said.
"If you'd remembered to take the lens cover off.." Nudge said.
"Shut up." Iggy said, amid a couple snickers from the Flock side.
"I had a camera once." Anita said, the conversation making her brave. "But it was a throw-away one and it ran out of film."
"Did you take any good pictures with it?" Gazzy asked her.
"Just some of different animals, mostly goats. I was trying to get a picture of la chupacabra, but I couldn't find him."
"What's that?" Gazzy asked.
"It's a monster who sucks blood out of goats." Anita said. "Es muy mal."
"I'm guessing you're from Mexico, am I right?" Dylan asked Anita.
Anita froze up, her eyes quickly darting to Fang. I looked at him, too. We hadn't really discussed how much of our lives we wanted to disclose. Did he want The Flock to know where we were?
Slowly, Fang nodded.
"Yeah, Mexico." Anita said. "My parents were from there, but I was kidnapped when I was a baby. A nice scientist returned me to my village, but my parents didn't live there anymore. That's where Fang found me."
Sparks of curiosity began to glow around The Flock's side of the room.
"How about you?" Angel asked, her eyes fixing on Toby. "How did you and Fang meet, uhh..."
Toby grinned. "Name's Bruce Wayne, kid."
Our whole side glared at him.
"Kidding! Jeez... My name's Tobias. Toby." He said. "Fang picked me up on the streets. He made some comments about my current living technique, I made some about his street savoir faire, he made me an offer I couldn't refuse, and I took it. The rest, as they say, is history."
"Talk about brief and mysterious, Toby." I said.
He shrugged. "Maybe Fang's rubbing off on me. I'm becoming like him, only funnier. And sexier." He grinned and I rolled my eyes.
"Sounds interesting." Angel said. "What about you, Lark, right?"
"Yeah, Skylark." I said, feeling a lot more comfortable as emotions evened out. "Kinda the same deal. Fang got me off the streets. I was on the run from some whacked-out whitecoat dudes. Fang won me over with pizza."
"Key to every bird-kid's heart." Fang said.
"Guess we can't say you're leaving was all bad, Fang." Angel said. "These guys obviously needed some help and you gave it to them." I didn't like the way she said 'needed'. "I wish you had given us more warning, though."
"I just... Wasn't sure..." Fang said, trying to take off his jacket as he spoke, streching his wings. "I didn't think, if...Anyone begged me to stay, I'd be able to leave. And I needed to leave."
"Debatable." Iggy said.
"It doesn't really matter now, anyway." Angel said. "What's done is done, right? The past is gone. Right now, we have some present problems to fix."
"Do you have any clues about what happened to Ella?" Fang asked. He lowered himself into a nearby chair, probably to get more to Angel's level.
Angel shook her head. "We don't have much. She went out for a walk and never returned. We found the ransom note shoved in our door the next day. We don't have enough information to pin it on anyone yet."
"Great..." Fang muttered, rolling up his long sleeves. Strange, I didn't think it was that warm in here. I looked to his face and saw beads of sweat forming. Was he that nervous? Why should he be? He didn't feel that nervous...
Then, I remembered how Fang described to me how he felt right before his brain attack.
I turned to Fang again, ready to ask him if he was ok, but the words never left my mouth. I watched his eyes widen, his hands shoot to his head. I had about five seconds to shut my emotions down to his, barely avoiding an onslaught of pain.
The entire Flock were out of their chairs as Fang slid out of his, clutching his skull and letting out a high-pitched whine. I dropped to the floor where he landed, instinctively pulling him into my arms.
I saw Anita begin to run towards us, but Toby grabbed her, lifting her off of the ground and holding her close. His eyes looked right into mine, begging me to do something.
The fear and tension in the room was bearing down on me. The confusion from the Flock wasn't helping. I couldn't calm Fang with all these people freaking out around me.
"What's wrong with him?" Nudge asked worriedly.
"We don't know." Toby answered her. "He had an attack like this once before. He'd been sick the day before, and he recovered the next morning."
"We need to get Max." Gazzy said.
"Yeah, well no one knows where she flew off to!" Iggy said.
"Northwest." I called out.
The Flock turned to look at me
"She's flying northwest of us, getting slowly closer." I told them. "I can tell by the confused emotions she's broadcasting to the freaking universe."
"What are you talking about?" Iggy asked.
"I can sense her emotions." I told him, my patience wearing thin. "I'm an empath. Now, get the Hell out of here and go get her! Your panic attack is driving me up a wall."
Fang: I know what's gonna happen...
Me: We've already had speaks over the predictableness in this story. -sigh-
Fang: What now?
Me: I can't update this yet. It needs another chapter. I just feel it...
Fang: Alright, then we'll write another. In the meantime...
R&R?
