Chapter Twelve

I flopped face-down back on Makayla's bed, bored. Matt was reading Fang's blog, which had bored Makayla, so she sat down next to me. He had also read the Maximum Ride books, trying to understand more about my past. We had edited for Makayla.

"Can I talk to Angel?" Makayla asked, turning her big brown eyes on me.

Weeks had passed since the first found out about my wings, and we had fallen into a casual routine of relaxation. Even though Matt and Makayla hadn't told anyone one yet, and didn't seem to be planning to, I didn't want to tell anyone they knew.

"Um, not right now," I answered Makayla, biting my lip.

"Can we go for a flight?" Another thing I didn't want to tell anyone else about; I had taken Matt and Makayla on flights. Matt admitted flying was cool, but after the first one I took him on, he didn't want to go anymore. I figured it was because it was embarrassing to him for a girl to be carrying him.

Makayla, on the other hand, loved flying and wanted to go daily. She looped her arms around my neck, and it gave me warm feelings in the cockles of my heart. She screamed and laughed with joy when I loop-de-looped with her, or divebombed. Which, in turn, had made me laugh.

"Not right now. Lots of people are outside; they'll see us." Makayla sighed and flopped down on her back.

"Guys," my mom said, poking her head in Makayla's room. "Dad just got back with dinner." Makayla jumped up and ran downstairs, and Matt and I followed her. He had driven through McDonald's on his way home from work for us. Once all the food was passed out and everyone had ordered, and after the ketchup was passed around, we started eating.

"So, what'd you guys do today?" Dad asked, taking a bit of his cheeseburger.

"Oh, noth-" Matt and I started together, when Makayla interrupted.

"Monique took me flying!" Matt and I gaped at her in horror. Luckily, Matt, more experienced in the parental department than me, recovered.

"Makayla! You weren't supposed to tell them about the kite! It was supposed to be a surprise!" Mom and Dad seemed to buy it, but Makayla frowned and opened her mouth again. I kicked her under the table, light but firm. Her facial expression changed almost instantly to a sheepish one, I guessed it was from our almost-blown secret rather than the "kite" but it worked.

"Oops, sorry Monique! Sorry, Matt!" Mom and Dad just chuckled and continued on eating as Dad changed the subject to a minute-by-minute of his riveting day.

I ran my brush through my wet hair again, hoping to get all the tangles out of it, once and for all. I was in my room, fully dressed in shorts and a t-shirt, getting ready to tackle my summer reading project.

"Monique?" Came my mom's voice from the other side of the door. "Can we come in?"

We. That meant her and my dad.

"Uh, yeah," I called back, sitting up and pulling my wings in. The door opened, and my parents glanced at one another before continuing in.

My mom came and sat at the edge of my bed, legs off the side, and my dad stood behind her. Subtly, the atmosphere changed to a tense one from whatever it had been before. I didn't know what it was, I guess it was the body language, that made me suddenly want to thrust open my window and out into the night air.

That's stupid, I thought to myself, these are just your parents. Dr. Martinez used to do this all the time... So why was this so different?

"So, when Makayla said that you guys were flying today?" My dad said, letting his voice trail off, resting his hand on my mom's shoulder as he spoke.

I laughed lightly. "That kid. She did mean the kite, you know. We were practicing flying it so that next time we went to the beach as a family, we could surprise you."

"Look, Monique, this is going to sound like a really, really, stupid question, but, do you have wings?"

She stared at me, and something in her expression told me she was conflicted. Part of her wanted me to say "yes", part of her wanted me to laugh.

"Just tell the truth, Monique," my dad encouraged.

I decided that this was it.

I wouldn't live hidden anymore. They would either accept me, like Max's mom, or I would leave... if we couldn't come up with some sort of compromise or something.

This was it.

"Yes." And I was proud of myself. I'd spoken that one word so strongly, boldly and clearly. And told the truth.

My mom burst into tears and my father looked at me, long and hard.

"Very well then," he said, and something in my clicked.

My father lunged at me, and tackled me to the ground.

"Alexander!" My mother shrieked. "Stop! Stop it! We can lie to them, they don't have to know!"

"No, Nicole," my father spoke, pinning me effectively. "It wouldn't be worth it. Not everything." That stung. I didn't know exactly what they were talking about, but my father- my father had just said I wasn't worth it. All my dreams of us going to father-daughter dancing and warning me to stay away from and someday walking me down the aisle to Micha, holding his newborn grandchild and being overwhelmingly happy... All gone.

It stung like the worst bee sting you could imagine, one thousand times over, all in three words. A slap to an already-bruised face. With a whip.

I shoved him roughly off of me and scrambled to my feet and downstairs, noting that the window was shut.

I was to my door before he was up on his feet again.

I ran down the hallway, past Makayla's room, past the bathroom, past my parent's room and past Matt's. Then down the stairs and out the door, I reviewed mentally.

"Nudge!" A voice yelled in panic, forgetting to keep up some pretense that my mind had already forgotten for the moment.

Someone caught my arm, and a sense of deja vu swept over me.

I gasped, terrified of being caught and being sent back to the School, and jerked my arm out of the person's hold.

It was then that my brain caught up.

"Matt? Oh, Matt! I'm so sorry!" I quickly caught him in a hug and ran into the living room to give Makayla one last hug, too, patting my pockets. I was grateful I had become more of a normal teenager; I always had my phone on me, even during homework time.

"Goodbye, Makayla. I'm going to miss you so, so much! Both of you!" Mom and Dad came running down the stairs and I ran back past Matt before they were down them.

"Matt, call me! I promise I'll explain!" And I was out the door. I unfurled my wings, wincing, and shakily took a running start down the middle of our street.

Once I was safely in the air, I was calling Dr. Martinez, hoping she wasn't busy.

She picked up on the third ring.

"Hello? Nudge?"

"Yes, Dr. M, it's me. I'm just calling to let you know that I'm coming back to Arizona. Things... they didn't work out so well in North Carolina."

"Yes, okay, Nudge. Get here as soon as possible, we all miss you."

"I will," I replied, knowing I would do good on that promise.

Matt hadn't called or texted yet, so I stuck my phone back in my shorts pocket and rocketed onward to Arizona, wondering mildly if I'd run into Fang.