Chapter 9 Max's POV.
Fang supported me as I walked out of my room and kept supporting me all the way to the living room. I expected him to let go when we got to the living room, but he didn't. I guess he could tell I still needed support. As we got to the doorway of the living room, we froze. Now we've been through a lot, but nothing could have prepared me for this. Nine bird kids were yelling and arguing with each other. Iggy was running around in a panic, and trying to calm everyone down. "STOP!" I yelled, and they all froze in place. It was actually kind of funny. Iggy was unbelievable relieved to see me; he actually tried to hug me! He almost ended up knocking me over, but it was the thought that counted. I calmed Iggy down, and then ordered Devin over to me. Well actually, I ordered the oldest person in Fang's flock over to me, but Fang said that the oldest boy's name was Devin, and that he was 13. A boy with chestnut brown hair and green eyes came over. He was about my height, and his cloths were a mess. Actually all of him was a mess. "Name," I said sternly. "And don't you dare even think of giving me a fake one." Devin raised his eyebrows at me, and looked at Fang. Fang nodded, and I raised my eyebrows. Fang had trained them well if they wouldn't even give their name without permission.
I was testing them to see if I could trust them. Angel was verifying everything they said by looking into their brains. He said his name was Devin, so I was right in my guess. I then ordered Devin to give his age. He looked at Fang again, and then said he was 13. That fit what Fang had told me, and Angel said it was as close as he could guess to his age. I ordered Iggy to take care of him. Devin didn't seem too happy about that, and I figured he wasn't exactly the trusting type. None of us bird-kids were, but he seemed even more on guard, more like Fang or I then like Nudge or Angel.
Devin was probably going to have to bunk with Iggy, because Iggy and Gazzy had "accidentally" set of a stink bomb last month in the closet where we kept all the sleeping bags and extra blankets. "Next!" I called. A girl came up. She had curly black hair that just barely touched her shoulders and green, green eyes. She was a little taller then Gazzy, and she was in about the same state as Devin, meaning she was a mess. I guessed she was Hannah. "Name and age?" I asked. The girl looked to Fang for permission, Then said she was 10 and her name was Hannah. I told Nudge to take care of her, and Nudge beamed.
"Got it Max," she said, and I knew she was happy to see me taking charge again. I had really just left them to Iggy for the last four months. That would have to change, even if Fang did leave again.
"Next!" I called again. A boy with the same black hair as Hannah came up. His eyes were brown, though, and his feature didn't look anything like Hannah's, so I was guessing they weren't siblings. He was a little bit shorter then Gazzy, and was in the same state as Devin and Hannah. In fact now that I looked around, I saw that they all were. This must be Jason. He looked at Fang, and Fang must have decided that he was tired of telling them that they had permission to tell the flock things because he said they had permission to tell the flock about themselves. The rest of his flock nodded. "OK," I said. "Now what's your name?" I said.
"Jason and I'm eight."
"Gazzy," I said. "He's all yours." Gazzy nodded and walked off with Jason in toe.
A little girl with blond hair, and the bluest eyes you've ever seen came up then. She was the same height as Angel. In fact she looked like she could have been Angel's double. "My name is Elizabeth, and I'm six," she said.
"Good," I replied. "Angel you get to make friends with Elizabeth." I desperately hoped that Angel would be nice to her. Angel had mostly gone back to the way she had acted before she had gotten kidnapped by the school, and I loved having my baby back.
"Yea!" said Angel and the two girls skipped out hand in hand. Now all the original flack was gone, and there was still Heather and Evalyn to take care of. They were obviously sisters. They both had brown curly hair, which had been wet for some reason. I looked out the window and saw that it was storming really, really bad. That was probably why Fang was here in the first place, because his flock couldn't fly in this mess.
"Come on let's go see if Angel has any old cloths," I said. Eva was half asleep already. I was still really tired from flying earlier, and weak from not doing anything for 4 months, and I was sagging just holding up my own wait, but I picked her up and carried her into the girls' room. Eva laid her little head down on my shoulder and went to sleep. She was the second sweetest thing I had ever seen. The only exception was Angel when she was this age. It would be nice to have a baby in the house again.
