I'm back! New York was fun, but I am glad to have internet connection again. Here is the next chapter! Please enjoy and review!
Speakin' of reviews, a big TY goes to Kiliro, VenomShadowCatt, and 11twilightcrazy.
Nina's POV
From the top of the stairs you could see practically everything that happened in the whole house. If you looked down and to your left you could see the living room, and (unless the doors were closed) into the downstairs bathroom and Ella and Iggy's room. You couldn't see the entire kitchen because of a wall, but you could see most of it through the doorway.
The stairs had no backing, so you could look through the steps into a sort of study. There were two bookcases, one full of hard leather bound novels and the other covered with maps, stacks of papers, and photographs. The one with the maps contained all the research on where Max, Occi, and I may be.
The desk next to the window had a fancy computer like thing on one side, and a stack of seven books on the other. Olli had shown me the books earlier. Apparently they were written by Max. I already knew everything that happened in the first five books, but the last two were interesting to read. It was sort of like seeing the future.
The upstairs hallway curled forward on the right and left, and doors lined the maroon colored walls. My room was at the head of the stairs, and Olli's was to the right of mine, Occi's to the right of his. Next to her room was a guest room Nudge was using.
Fang's room was the farthest to the left, a guest room for Gazzy on the right of it, followed by my grandma's room, and the upstairs bathroom.
I had been spending the twenty minutes I had been out of bed watching Iggy and Ella make breakfast. They were too busy cooking to realize I was awake, and they thought the fabulous feast they were preparing would be a surprise for me when I woke up.
I am sure it was a complete coincidence that I happened to feel the need for fresh air at the same time that Ella called Iggy "her Blindy Bear," and he replied to his "Ellakins."
There was a platform directly above me, suspended a few feet below the ceiling by thick ropes. A few good wing strokes got me to a comfortable perch on the edge of the ledge. Above me I flicked aside a little latch, pushed up on a sort of door, pulling myself up and onto the roof.
The wind ruffled my feathers, and I closed my eyes, pretending that the hair that blew in my face wasn't black. My hearing, which was as good as Max's, if not better, picked up loud footfalls in front of the house, and out of curiosity I cracked my eyes open.
Occi's face was hard and stiff - a side effect of years of trying to hide her emotions. She strode confidently towards the front door, and despite that her expression was cool and collected I could tell by the way her feet kicked at the ground and how her fingers picked at the hem of her sweater that her anxiety was barely concealed.
Without even a falter in her step she swung open the door and walked inside.
"I'm home!" she shouted, and I heard Ella's intake of breath from outside.
"Occi!" Iggy shouted. I leaned over the edge of the roof so that I could see through the window, and watched as Iggy ran across the room and pulled her into a hug, lifting her off the ground.
After a second Iggy let his daughter down, and he stared at his own hand. A small line of blood had formed across his palm, dripping red onto the white carpet. Occi stared at him, and I could tell she was angry at herself for letting it happen.
"Sorry," she muttered, and at the same time I noticed that Ella was heading upstairs to wake the others.
Crud.
I pulled my head up, and I felt the blood behind my ears pound. After a running start I jumped into the air and flew behind the house in seconds.
The window didn't open willingly, but I was able to get it wide enough to squeeze through. I was halfway inside when Ella opened the door.
"Hey sis," I said cheerily, attempting to both pretend that I had no idea why she was here, and that having a wing and a leg out a window was a completely natural position. "Er, Aunt. Tomato, tomahto, right?"
For a second she gave me a questioning look, but she quickly came to the conclusion that what she had to say trumped whatever I had been up to in importance.
"Occi is here! She's back!" She shouted, and as soon as the words were out of her mouth she was out of my room and down the hall.
The sound of Ella exclaiming over Occi carried to me from Nudge's room. They were all so happy. Did they forget that she had disappeared for over seven years? How about that she had not only stabbed me when I was eight, but tried to kill me just two day ago?
Inadvertently I had been walking out of my room and down the stairs. Iggy, with a band-aid on his hand, was talking to Occi elatedly. Olli was standing off to the side, looking a little wary but still smiling. When he saw me his grin faltered, and he looked almost… scared. If the expression had ever been there, it was gone a second later.
Occi sent a quick look at me, bit her teeth down into a forced smile, bowed her head a little, and then turned back to her dad and brother.
With the exception of me standing awkwardly in the corner, the entire thing reminded me fairly vividly of when I had first come to the island. Everyone was smiling and hugging, but at the same time wary and cautious.
After a few minutes Occi called everyone to silence.
"There is something I've got to tell you guys." She looked morosely around the room, eyes resting on me for a minute. "A while after I left a lady took me in to live with her. I learned later that she was a white coat. She was the one that gave me my wings, and she did the experiment that gave Nina Max's memories. I didn't know it at the time, but during the operation Max was killed. Laura feels terrible about it. She didn't mean for Max to die."
For a minute there was silence. Everyone just stared blankly at Occi, waiting for her to laugh and say "just kidding!" As her expression turned from apprehensive to concerned, we seemed to all realize at the same time that she meant what she said.
"No." Fang came forward and took Occi by the shoulders. "It isn't true. You're lying." Fang was practically shouting. Occi refused to make eye contact with him. It felt like I was watching it all through binoculars. They were all so far away. Max couldn't be dead.
It felt like Nudge, Ella, and my grandma's sobs were far in the distance. I faintly heard Fang and Iggy shouting at each other, Fang steadfast to his belief that Occi was lying.
"She is dead! She is dead!" Iggy shouted tactlessly back at him, more trying to convince himself than anyone else. Occi stood off in the corner, and I watched Olli walk slowly over to her and put an arm over her shoulders.
She sighed, looking around at the mayhem her news had brought. She shook her head and turned away from it, walking up to her room. I don't know why I followed her. Maybe it was just to get away from that one painful thought that the Max part of me had. The old me was glad that after five years of Max being MIA, Fang would still not accept her death as a possibility.
On the other hand, my mom was dead.
Occi walked sternly into her room, Olli at her heels. I jumped inside right before the door was slammed behind me. It was obvious the room had not been altered since the six year old Occi had left. The bed in the corner was made out of wood and covered in a substantial layer of glitter. There were several fuzzy, dust covered, purple blankets balled up in the center.
In the corner were a few stuffed animals. A parrot and a crab were carefully set atop a blue pillow in the shape of a heart. To the side there was a unicorn and a giraffe.
There was a minute where we all just awkwardly stared at each other, listening to the muffled sounds from downstairs. Eventually I sat down on a pink foot rest by the door. Occi seemed to sit as far from me as she could, and Olli sat next to her.
"How long has she been dead?" I broke the silence.
"Five years." She replied curtly, looking pointedly at her feet.
"Do you know anything, any details about it?"
"She had been at her old home in Colorado. She was showing it to you. They found her, and brought both of you to the lab. As far as I know, it was quick. She died during the surgery. No one had told Laura that the bird DNA had affected the layout of your brains. It's a miracle you didn't die too. "
In a second I changed courses. "Did you know Angel?"
She squinted her eyes, trying to remember. "Not well. That's more Olli's area of expertise. I remember her shape shifting for me. It beat peek-a-boo royally. That's really all I can remember." She paused for a minute, but when I opened my mouth to talk she seemed to predict what I was going to say. "My only decent memory of Max was when she flew us to a park in Maine. That's all."
A wave of homesickness hit me. "Do you have Celeste with you?" I questioned more out of wanting to be talking as opposed to thinking, then out of genuine curiosity. She nodded understandingly and reached into her bag. Was this the same girl that had started screaming about killing herself in a fast food joint?
When she pulled out the "white" bear Olli reached to take it, obviously with the intention of handing it to me.
"It's fine" She muttered attempting to duck past him. He grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her back.
"How can you act so calm? How can you just walk towards her?" He was angry at her, trying to pull the bear out of her hands.
"I can't do anything about it. God knows when the time comes I will fight, but am I supposed to look around every corner until I get there?" She had either absorbed some of Olli's irritation or found some of her own.
"YES! The longer you check the corners, the longer you have!" He shouted back
Occi jerked the bear out of his hands and took the step that cleared the distance between us.
"Look, I went all the way over here and I am still alive to tell the tale! Things happen when they happen, and because you know how they will occur doesn't mean you can prevent it. Stop trying to win the argument, I know I'm right." She stepped in my direction, intent on handing me the stuffed animal. Olli lurched forward, his expression beseeching her.
"Fine!" she shouted, her shriek mixing with the yelling still coming from downstairs. She stomped towards the door and tossed the bear towards Olli. In the same few seconds, Occi had slammed the door behind her, and Olli stepped forward to catch Celeste.
The angel bear flew above his head, and he flung up a hand, catching it by the foot. His hand wrapped around it and I heard a small crack. An instant later a blue liquid appeared, soaking through the cloth, dripping between his fingers, and running down his arm.
Gasp! Didn't see that coming!
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