Ok, so I had another crazy week! Junior year is killing me…literally. I think I just flunked my chem. test today…fun stuff. Chemistry is the bane of existence. Haha…oh well, at least there's writing.

Anyway, let's continue shall we?

Enjoy!

Nightwings93

Chapter Nine: Fang POV:

I waited a few minutes to make sure that Max had fallen back asleep before reopening my hand and looking down at the smooth white teeth I held in my hand. They were all canines. Sharp fangs of numerous animals.

I had a snake fang, a lion fang, a crocodile fang, a tiger fang, and the fang of a wolf.

I arranged them in my hand and stared and them as if they could somehow bring me closer to my dad. Like, if I arranged them in the right patter, he would somehow jump from the shiny canines and talk to me one last time and maybe tell me how to stop Ari.

I snorted at my own ridiculous dream. It's absurd. My dad's dead. He's been dead for a long time. It's useless wishing for things that can never be. Yet, I find myself always wishing for three impossible things.

Max POV:

Nudge and I were roughly pushed through the doors to our small room. We had just finished another day of brutal testing.

It's my third week in this hellish place. My body was used to starving everyday, I could survive on very little water, and my muscles had slowly become more flexible so the dancing tests were about one eighteenth less painful than when I started.

Every part of my body felt different. There was something happening to me but I didn't want to tell anyone. The change had started with the surgery. Some part of me seemed to be leaking out of my body. It was like part of me was searching for something. Wanting a connection with something else that was void.

I kept quiet about the changes I felt and just tried to live one day at a time. It was the only way I could handle things.

"Max?" I small voice asked above my head.

I popped my eyes open, jerked out of my thoughts. I looked up to see Gazzy hovering over me with some gauze. I struggled into sitting position and looked around me briefly.

Iggy was helping Nudge clean the rope burns around her wrists, ankles, and necks. Fang was sitting against the wall monitoring everything while Angel slept soundly on his lap. Fang looked up at me as if he could sense my eyes watching him. We locked eyes for a moment before Angel stirred from her nap and occupied Fang's attention.

I looked back at Gazzy and gratefully took the gauze from him. "I can do it, thanks Gaz."

He nodded and went to sit by Fang and his sister.

I watched Angel intently while I wiped my wounds clean and applied some rubbing alcohol to stop infection. Angel was sitting on Fang's lap, holding onto the front of his shirt, smiling sweetly up at him. The way Fang was looking at her I could tell they were having a conversation in their minds. In some ways, I was jealous. What would it be like to hear Fang's deep, soft voice in my head and my head only?

I shook my head. I really shouldn't be thinking such weird things.

Sighing quietly, I finished dabbing some rubbing alcohol on my neck burn and lay down on my back, watching the white ceiling as if it would somehow change into something more interesting.

Oddly enough, it did. The door above my head burst open and the perfect white ceiling was interrupted by the ugly, pale faces of shark men. This wasn't type of interesting I had in mind.

"You," a shark man barked at Fang. "Come with us."

Fang nudged Angel off his lap and gave her one last warning look as he walked out of the room with the shark men.

Nudge gasped when the door clicked shut.

"What's up?" Iggy asked scooting closer to Nudge.

"I just heard one of the scientists say something about surgery," Nudge mumbled.

I bolted back into sitting position. "Surgery?" I cried. "Why would he need surgery?"

"His body has already been altered," Iggy muttered. "His bones were restructured…"

"Bones?" I asked. "What do you mean?"

Iggy looked in my general direction. "When they do surgery here, they do more than give you wings," Iggy began. "They hollow out your bones so your body will be light enough for flying. They add extra air sacs in your lungs so your breathing is more efficient."

I gaped at Iggy. So that was why my body felt weird and light after my surgery.

"Fang is the first one they ever operated on. He's the original model. They figured out all the changes they would have to make to our bodies through Fang," Iggy informed me. "He's always the one they do new surgeries on to see if it will help or hinder our bodies."

"Why do they even bother altering our bodies?" I demanded.

"If they just grafted wings on our bodies, we'd be too heavy to fly," Nudge replied.

"But what does our ability to fly have to do with those dancing tests?" I questioned.

"The wings…well, we don't really know," Nudge muttered. "But, what I do know is that they are trying to create some sort of super-human ballet troop."

"Come again?" I was totally lost. Super-human ballet troop?

Nudge nodded. "That's what Fang told us. I think he knows more but he won't say another word on the matter."

"Oh, okay," I mumbled. I was even more confused than when I first came to this place. What the hell is going on here?

"Can you hear anything?" Iggy asked.

Nudge shook her head. "You know Fang never makes a sound. Oh…wait…they are giving morphine to ease the pain but they don't have any anesthetic to give him so they can't put him under. Um…something about feathers. I don't really know what they mean, though." Nudge stopped talking and bit on her nail as she listened intently to the conversation that was going on in a cold operating room down the long white hall.

I shuddered thinking of the time when I was taken away to have surgery. Pain flared in my back at the memory.

I closed my eyes and leaned against the wall.

This sucks.

I heard a voice that wasn't mine whisper in my head. I popped my eyes open and looked around wildly. Iggy and Nudge were quietly talking to one another while Gazzy and Angel played a hand clapping game.

Maybe I'm finally starting to lose it.

What are they doing to my wings?

I heard the voice whisper again. It sounded faint and sleepy but slightly afraid and almost…bored? as if they had gone through this a lot and just wanted it to end.

Not opening my eyes this time, I just focused on listening to the faint voice I was hearing. Crazy, I know.

But, for some reason, I felt more at ease when I could hear this strange voice in my head. It felt like that connection that my body was searching for had been found and I was complete again. Like, the part of me that leaked out had attached itself to something and in turn, part of whatever I was now attached to, was now attached to me.

I felt a sharp pain in my wings. It felt as if someone was ripping the feathers at the bottom of wings out. I looked down at my wings. They were fine. Somehow, I knew that the pain I was feeling was not my own but the pain of the thing I was newly attached to.

I started to see a picture in my mind. I picture of who I was attached to. I shoved it away. I was having such ridiculous thoughts lately.

The door banged open again.

We all looked hopefully at the door. Fang wasn't back. Of course not. He hadn't been gone that long.

"You," A scientist snapped pointing at me. "Come with us."

"She already got tested today!" Nudge shouted in protest.

"Yeah, you can't take her!" Iggy exclaimed. He moved to get up.

"Don't worry about it guys," I said standing up. "I don't mind."

It was the truth. Maybe if these tests kill me, I can finally rest and be with my parents again.

I followed the scientist and the three sharks he had brought with him down the long hallway. We went into the dance room with all the mirrors.

It was true I didn't mind being put through more tests, but I had hoped I wouldn't have to dance again. I stopped in the middle of the dance floor and waited for the ropes to drop down.

"Don't stop," the scientist growled angrily. "This way."

Cautiously, I followed the scientist towards the mirrors. He placed a hand on the last mirror in the wall. It slid back. The scientist disappeared into the room behind the mirror. I froze. I didn't want to go in there. I was getting comfortable with the dancing tests…as comfortable as I could get. I didn't want a whole new set of horrors unleashed on me.

One of the sharks behind me pushed me through the doorway. "Get in there, birdie," the shark hissed.

I stumbled into the room and gaped. I was in a costume room. It was stuffed with ballet tutus, leggings, ballet shoes, and a whole horde of other costumes along with sewing machines and mannequins.

"Let's fit you into a costume," an oily voice said.

My head snapped away from the beautiful clothing and I looked in the direction of the voice.

"Ari," I greeted, my voice dripping with venom.

"That's no way to welcome me after not seeing me for a few days. Didn't you miss me?" Ari asked, pouting slightly.

"Oh, yes, I don't know how I managed to survive without you for those few days that we were apart," I replied, sarcasm coating my voice.

Ari scowled at me. "You know, if you keep giving me lip, I'll have your mouth sewn shut."

I glared at Ari but didn't say another word. I wouldn't put it past him to sew my mouth shut.

Ari smirked and clapped his hands. An old woman walked out from behind a rack of costumes. She had frizzy white hair, a measuring tape, and a pin-cushion wrist band with a few pins sticking out of the tomato shaped cushion.

"See if she fits the costumes," Ari commanded.

"Of course, sir," the old woman replied bobbing her head.

She grabbed an exquisite white costume that was beaded and had a large white fluffy tutu. She walked over to me and held the dress up against my back. She made a displeased noise.

"I don't think it'll fit, sir," she muttered.

"Nonsense," Ari hissed.

"Her rib cage is slightly broader," the woman said.

"Well, make it fit," Ari snapped.

"Shall I let out the costume I bit then, sir," the old tailor asked.

"What? No! That's ridiculous!" Ari shouted angrily. "Make her fit the costume! She has to fit the costume. She has to."

Ari spun on his heal and marched out of the costume room.

The old woman sighed and shook her head. "Sorry about this, honey," the old woman sighed. "Ari is very particular about some things. He wants you to fit in the exact costume she wore when she was dancing the part of Odette." The old woman shook her head. "Turn around please and take off your nightgown."

Turning slowly so my back was facing the seamstress, I took off my nightgown. I looked back at the old woman. She had taken out a giant needle, some metal rings, and purple ribbon.

"Sorry, love, this is going to hurt," the old lady muttered.

The old lady grabbed the base of my neck and jabbed the oversized needle into the base of my back.

Ok…so I've been writing this chapter since last Friday. Seriously. I'm sorry it took me so long to get it out. I just haven't had time to publish it! Sorry!

Nightiwngs93