What? We shall see! And I swear, you don't need to know squat about the books. Still don't believe me?

But as I said...

Chapter 11: We Shall See...

When I got downstairs, the flock was hooked on a tiny TV set against the wall of the room. So much for Harry Potter. The guy who claimed to be him was in the connected kitchen, eating lunch with the other two.

Fang met me when I stepped out of the stairwell. He looked at me, and I could tell from his dark eyes that he wanted to chat.

I stepped around him and cleared my throat loudly, getting the attention of the three members of the Time Association. "Excuse me, but I think I will step out for a bit."

They shrugged, and the turquoise-eyed boy said, "Have fun."

I led Fang out the door. The magic sealed it up as we walked away.

"Max." He wanted to get right to the point.

"Yes?" I said, smirking.

Fang crossed his arms. "Is it real?" Oh, right. He had listened at the door before.

I shrugged out my wings. "I don't know about real. If you're asking if the conversation really happened, I'm pretty sure."

"Max. You know that it's crazy." His dark eyes bored into mine.

"Yes," I replied. "I know." With that, I took to the air.

He followed after me, shadowy wings spread wide. We soared over the town for a while, then dropped down in a fast food restaurant for some burgers. What would America do without greasy, deep-fried fat food?

When we made it back, the flock was spread out on the chairs, asleep, exactly as we left them, except…

"Why the heck do they have plates?" I said disbelievingly.

The three guys of the Time Association popped up from the kitchen counter, looking incredibly worn out. "They eat like horses," the supposed Harry Potter said, grinning.

"You fed them?" I exploded.

He stopped smiling. "Well, yeah. What?"

My outburst awoke Nudge, Gazzy, Iggy, and Angel. "Uhh," said Gazzy groggily. "Max?"

I rounded on them. "And since when do you accept food from complete strangers?" And sleep near them?

"Sorry," said Nudge meekly, shaking the sleep from her eyes. "We were hungry."

Unbelievable. I sighed and glared at the ceiling. "You'd better not have food poisoning."

The three time travelers glanced at each other. I almost felt bad. They had no idea what was going on.

Just then, the fourth member of their group came downstairs. "Good afternoon," he said pleasantly, nodding at me. "How are you?"

I fought the urge to strangle him. "How am I? Really? Didn't I tell you that we wouldn't be eating here?" I snarled.

He did not even blink. "No, actually. If I recall correctly, you said that you yourself would not be dining with us. Not," he waved a hand at the others, "you all."

I practically growled at that. "You haven't even told us your names, for goodness sake! Why on earth should we trust your food?"

He met my glare evenly. "Wait and see if your family drops dead. I highly doubt that will be the case."

I clenched my teeth so hard I thought they would break. "Whatever." Then I just plopped down on an empty plush chair, trying to ignore him.

"Wow," said the brown-eyed boy from the attached kitchen. "She's got quite a temper."

Fang nodded. "Try living with her."

I nearly lost it on him, but just then, something distracted me.

You want to know the other boys' names, Angel said in my mind.

That was out of the blue. But yeah, I did. And the Harry Potter-impersonator's.

With a touch of annoyance, Angel continued, He is Harry Potter. I told you.

Riiight. She wasn't going to convince me no matter what, so I told her to move on.

The one with the sea-colored eyes is named Percy. Sound familiar?

No. It did not. At all.

Percy Jackson. Remember, Nudge watched the movie last fall?

I frowned. I did remember. It was something about mythology. A boy with magical water powers. The most insane plot ever invented. Honestly. But that character being real was almost less believable than Harry Potter.

Ma-ax, she sighed in exasperation. I won't make you accept it. But really. Think about it.

Nope. Even so, I glanced at the guy. He was in the kitchen, speaking to "Harry Potter."

Angel sighed aloud, drawing a glance from the flock around her. I knew she was disappointed with me. But I didn't care; it was stupid having a six-year-old be smarter than me.

Maybe a part of me accepted what she had gained from her mind reading. But not a big part.

Would you like to hear about the others? Angel whispered in my mind after a few minutes of silence watching television.

I was tempted to turn her down in resentment, but I knew that would hardly help matters.

Good, she thought at me, a hint of smugness in her voice. Max, the brown-eyed guy is named Jacob Portman. Do you know who he is?

That one stumped me. I had no clue.

Neither did I until now. He is peculiar, let's just say that.

Whatever that meant, I doubted Angel would tell. She obviously knew everything about all of them, but my lack of compliance made her not share the information.

But what about the boy with the dark blue eyes? The one who really got on my nerves?

Angel was about to answer, but at that moment, the topic of our mental conversation said, "I do believe it is time to set up the rooms." He motioned to the one called Jacob. "Call our other faction. Let them know about the recent developments."

Somehow I had a feeling the recent developments included us.

He headed upstairs with "Percy" and "Harry." Jacob stayed in the kitchen to use the landline.

Landline. How old was this place, anyway?

Since the tiny kitchen was connected directly to the living room in an open concept style, the flock had the fortune of hearing the entire conversation.

"Hello, H –" he started, but quickly stopped speaking. A presumably loud voice emanated from the phone. "Sorry, sorry," he apologized. A pause. "Yeah, we do." This was proceeded by a summarized account of the day's events. I resisted the urge to run out of there right then when he mentioned us. Finally, Jacob finished, "Got it," and hung up.

He regarded the flock spread out on the plush chairs. "Well, I'll be up there," he said, walking upstairs to join the other three.

We sat in silence, each of us thinking something different.

Iggy reached for the remote and turned off the TV which was still showing colorful cartoons. "This is crazy, you know."

"What is, watching TV?" Nudge asked, confused.

"No," he said, irritated. "Although for me, absolutely." He scowled at her, then returned to the topic at hand. "But I mean, since when are movie characters real?"

I realized with a start that Angel must have had the same mind conversation with them that she had with me.

"They were books first," Fang mentioned casually.

"Nobody cares," I spat at him. I was not forgiving him from his earlier comment that easily.

The rest of the flock ignored me. "But, guys," said Gazzy, "so much has happened so far. Why should this make less sense?"

I stared at him, and then at Angel, who was wearing an I-told-you-so look on her innocent face. I gritted my teeth.

"Fine. It might possibly be true."

A/N:

So Max is in denial, sort of. Typical of her.

I just want you readers to be all annoyed that Max still doesn't know Artemis's name. Soon, I promise.

And "H-" is not important. Just Captain Holly Short. Yep, she and other characters are there; I just don't know if I will bring them into it. Probably not.