Chapter Twenty-Nine

Let's hear it for awesome reviewers! And convincing my mom to buy Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports and Schools Out-Forever for my brother for his birthday. Or for me to steal and read whenever I want, but who's talking? Hehe.

Irony is priceless, Mo :D Glad you enjoyed it

indescriable destruction-thank you! Really :D wow, I do a lot of emoticons…

14-I went to fictionpress and made an account! Thanks, I've been looking for somewhere like that. Thank you!!!

SilverLiningXofXLife-first of all, love your penname, and that means a ton!

Maddy, it's a quality film, I would suggest it :D Yes, Saint did write something with avian bird flu in it, though I thought this chapter up myself, so I was a bit concerned on whether I should use the same idea or not… Hehe, I wonder if I'll have Ella ask him that.

Rainie16-thanks! Updating!

Sky-Angel14-thank you! And here we are!

LovelyNBlue-I thought that might be amusing ;)

Kelsey Goode-a FAX scene is quite possible, seeing as I'm running low on ideas right now. Any others feel free to suggest them

And thanks, DracaCountess! Reviews like that make it worth staying up all night and getting up at seven the next morning :D

musikbabe-I'll work on it, if not in this chapter, than in the next. Promise.

1910tsuki-haha, glad you liked it

raikimonducktape99-you sound like me after discovering a good story, thanks so much! Hehe, I say epic a ton, too…

'K, guys, I loved all the reviews! 138, I think. That's totally, freaking, AWESOME. Any ideas you guys want to suggest, as I'm running a little low and don't want it to become boring with drudging video after video, feel free to put them in your review! Ah, and it's been decided. Any snide comments from Ella about cannibalism to Fang were Maddy's idea.

I don't think I've ever watched as many movies in my life as I did while we stayed at mom's house. After Fang and I finished the Prestige, Angel finally came downstairs and, hearing everyone's thoughts on the video Jeb had made of the E house, wanted to continue watching that. So, hopefully not using any of her abilities, she convinced the rest of us to sit down and watch some more. Then, she snapped at us because there had been a note on the back of the tape and we hadn't noticed it.

"Max!" She was still glaring at me with those baby blue eyes. "Do you have any idea how important this could be? What if it held some clue to saving the world, huh? Jeb must have left it here for a reason, I'm serious! Don't smirk at me!"

"Sorry," I giggled helplessly. "You sound like mom after I stay outside all night." Iggy roared with laughter, Ella was in hysterics, leaning on Iggy's shoulder for support, and Nudge and Gazzy were gasping for air as they lay on their backs on the carpeted floor. Fang managed a hacking sort of chuckle, and even mom was trying to disguise her laughter. I mean, it's not everyday you get a seven year old yelling at you about saving the world and your duties. Total was the only supporter, telling us that 'the girl's spot on!'

"Why don't you read it, Ang?" Fang asked her hoarsely. She pursed her lips, glared at us all once more, and glanced down at the note again. A sigh escaped her, then she pushed the note at me.

"I can't read it. Jeb's handwriting is messy."

"True that." I muttered, leaning closer to try and decipher the scribbles. Knowing Jeb it was probably another test-to see if I had enough patience to figure out what he was saying. "It's addressed to 'the Flock.'" I began, squinting. " 'After you hare'-sorry, 'have, watched these videos, which should be your ultimate priority as the fate of the'-screw it." I shoved the note at Fang. Angel could yell at me all she wanted, but I drew the line at a note informing me of my duties.

"'As the fate of the world rests in your hands, Max,' he sure isn't putting it on lightly." Fang muttered, scanning the note. "It's pretty much," he coughed. "Telling you that you should concentrate all your attention on saving the world, and how this was just 'comic relief' after the videos, which he described as 'unpleasant.' Screw him, I wonder if he'd find a snapped neck unpleasant…" Fang coughed again, not seeming to notice how Ella couldn't take her eyes off of him as he spoke more in front of her than ever before, while mom wisely averted her smile outside, though it turned into a grimace at the comment on Jeb's neck.

I wondered very much about that, too, Fang.

"He hasn't watched them, just mashed them together so it will be a little under three hours and a 'brief look on our childhood.'"

"How cute." I sneered. "Let's watch it."

"But Max," Ella raised an eyebrow in confusion as I slid the tape back in and fast forwarded to where we had been. "Doesn't he want you to figure out the videos first?"

"Exactly." I could nearly hear Iggy rolling his eyes.

"She refers to Jeb as the 'spawn of Satan.'" Angel said knowingly, past anger forgotten. "She won't do anything he tells her."

Got that right, sistah. Though I couldn't help but snicker as I sat back next to Fang. However, my laughing mood vanished abruptly when I realized that Jeb must have planted hidden video cameras to get half the stuff. It was what he was always warning us about, but I hadn't expected them in my own home.

In big green letters in the side of the screen, four words appeared.

"'Day One of Freedom. Oh nine hundred hours.'" Mom read aloud, not sounding very enthusiastic. "That's nice."

Jeb was holding a video camera again, getting a good view of the morning sunlight. It was probably around nine-o-clock, and we were in our old backyard. Pretty much a sparse clearing we used to play soccer, practice fighting, and everything we needed to do close to come. We had the whole Colorado Mountains for the rest of it. I was there, carrying Angel in a little backpack baby-carrier thingie and cautiously holding Gazzy's hand. Jeb was trying to coax us out a large, glass door. Nudge, Iggy, and Fang stood beside me, and all of us where watching Jeb warily.

"C'mon, guys." He called to us. "Trust me. The house is safe, remember how I went over it all with you?"

"Yes." I answered hesitantly. "But what the hell is a 'living room?' and a 'mattress?' Do we stay there until they slate us for execution or something? Where are all the whitecoats? Is this another test?" My voice was tiny, scratchy; as if unused to using it paired with being deathly scared. The camera didn't get a very good view of us, but you could tell that we were all pale (minus Nudge) and looking very concerned with the sudden freedom. Not to mention deathly skinny and undernourished.

"I've told you before, Maxie." Jeb explained patiently. "We ran away, we're not going back. The whitecoats won't find us. You're safe, and no, this isn't a test." He gestured with his hand for me to follow him out. I didn't move, and my friends were all watching me for what to do, so they didn't budge either. "Remember when I used to tell you about the outdoors and wildlife? You said you wanted to go there, right?"

I visibly brightened. "Uh huh! Can we go there? You said there was an Outdoors here, and you said there were Grass and Trees and Apples. Which rooms are those?" I turned to Fang and jumped up and down in front of him. "This is it, Fang! I used to tell you what Jeb told me, we're gonna see Outdoors!"

Damn did I sound pathetic. You could hear the uppercase letters on 'outdoors' and the others, like they were book titles or something.

"Max," Jeb held his arms open, "this is the outdoors. The wild. Where you can live, there are no walls here." He strode forward, a few steps ahead of where the stone patio ended, bent low, and picked some grass. "You see this?" He held it out to me, put it in my hand, even though I flinched visibly. "This is grass. It's green."

"Here, Ig." I put the grass in his hand, so excited that I nearly flung Angel out of the backpack. "This is-"

"I heard." He spoke for the first time. "There's not very much of it, though."

"No, Iggy!" As one, I tugged them all forward and pushed them onto the grassy lawn, at the same time feeling it for myself, experiencing grass for the first time. "There's a whole ton of it!"

"Can you eat it?" Gazzy asked Jeb, sniffing it experimentally. I laughed. Trust the Gasman to think of his stomach.

"Not this type." Jeb laughed, rumpling his blonde hair. "But you'll learn what you can eat and what you can't." I hated it. Hated the way he sounded so sincere, so happy for us as the six of us spread across the lawn, amazement on everyone's faces. Even Fangs. At one point, he even nudged me and pointed to the sky where puffy sheep clouds dotted the horizon. Jeb explained to us that they were 'clouds' in the 'sky.'

"Can you touch them?" Asked Nudge, sprinting over from a dirt patch. "They look really soft. I think I'd like to sleep on one of those, you know?" But Jeb had to ruin her moment by explaining what clouds really were; though I grudgingly admitted that it was good Nudge hadn't tried sleeping in one. That would have been problematic. Meanwhile, Gazzy was guiding Iggy around the clearing, each of them touching everything they could. Bark. Rocks. Bird feathers. Pine cones.

I didn't think I'd make it through the next five minutes of watching us, little lab experiments that we were, breathe deeply as if we'd never smell fresh air again and explore every nook and cranny we dared. It killed me a little every time Fang lifted a mushroom for Angel to touch and sniff, that we had ever been like that. That wasn't how real kids were supposed to grow up. Somehow, though, probably helped by Fang rubbing circles on my back, I did.

Then the screen clicked again, and more green lettering appeared. It was the same day, but fourteen hours later, and the E house was dark. After a moment, though, of sunset light streaming through a huge wall of window, I recognized the shape in the bed that dwarfed her. Me. I was sitting stark straight in the bed, looking out the window at the sun setting over the mountains, with my wings unfolded on the bed behind me. Then, I jumped nearly a foot in the air, fell of the bed, then was already spitting in anger and looking ready to kill someone when a shadow moved across my doorframe.

"Did you fall off the bed?" Iggy asked knowingly from the couch. "Then take apart a chair? Was that what I heard?"

"…Yes." I admitted grudgingly.

The shadow, though, wasn't a shadow at all. It was Fang, dark hair falling in dark eyes and dressed in dark clothes.

"Oh," I sighed, collapsing on the floor, my breath coming in rushes. "I thought…"

Fang shook his head once. No, he was not an Eraser, whitecoat, or other demonic thing trying to tear my throat out.

"Are Gaz and Ig settled? Jeb in bed?" I asked him after a moment. He hadn't moved from the doorframe, but from wherever the camera was hidden, you could see his eyes flitting around nervously. Ha. Little did I know that in less than a month I would be separating the two to make sure the house didn't burn down, that was after they had discovered the lighter.

Fang nodded.

"Did Angel wake up?" I continued, eyeing him continually as I pushed the broken contents of the chair aside after deciding I didn't know what the hell to do with them.

He shook his head.

This didn't deter me. After eight years of living with Fang, I was used to making conversation with myself. I hopped back on the bed and continued to look out the window.

"It's weird," I began, "isn't it? Like, I guess we're supposed to sleep in here. But… no one else is here. I can't hear Iggy snoring or Gazzy muttering or anyone breathing…"

Fang nodded.

"Why're you standing in the…" I hesitated. "Door space, I guess. Since the door isn't there. You can come in, you know."

He then responded by folding down on the floor just inside said door space.

"Man," Gazzy snickered. "Max, I think you're talking to yourself."

I snickered, glancing at Fang, who rolled his eyes, and characteristically, said nothing.

"You can sit on the…bed." My voice was so tiny, but I continued. You get used to that kind of stuff with Fang. He shook his head, and I just barely caught the slight shutting of one eyelid. Then it was wide open again as he continued to take surveillance. "Or," my younger self had caught him. "We can drag your mattress, that's what these things are called, Jeb told me, in here. We can share a room for a while. Want to do that?"

He hesitated, but then nodded once. It wasn't just me to see how relieved he was that I asked, so together, we trooped out of the room.

And came back a while later, huffing and puffing and me complaining about the weight of the mattress. Jeb had heard the noise, and after taking a brief look at the situation, helped us master the ultimate problem. Getting the mattress through the door. I then tossed down a blanket, and together, we watched the sun sink below the horizon. I must have fallen asleep, but after a brief blip where Jeb must have edited it to show a few hours later, Fang was not.

"Insomniac." I muttered, glancing in his direction.

"Home for wayward Voices."

I refused to admit he had a good point then watched as his younger self breathed a barely audible "Max?"

I shot up in bed all the same, though, breathing heavily and falling off the bed again onto Fang's mattress, who was so surprised he kicked me and I skidded back into the wall.

"Shut up, Iggy." We said at the same time, as Iggy, who had heard what happened, started laughing.

"What?" I snapped, getting up shakily and looking around the room again. "I finally got to sleep, this had better be important. Jeb said the whitecoats weren't coming back! He promised, we can trust him. Seriously, no Erasers either! He told me so." Fang waited silently until I had ended my groggy but still irritated rant, then got up quietly, pushed me back onto my bed so I could lie down and still look to where his finger pointed. Out the huge window and into the enormous Colorado sky, brighter than daylight with a full moon and stars speckled like sprinkles on a cupcake. Even from the slightly dingy camera, it was beautiful. On screen, Fang nudged me as if to say, 'is that important enough?' and I nodded once.

We didn't sleep the entire night, just sat in silence and stared at the sky.

Not that the video showed that, 'cause that'd be a rather long video. Instead, the screen faded to black, and the little green letters scrawled across the edge like in cheesy spy movies. I try to ignore how much said cheesy spy movies relate to my life.

" 'Day Sixty-Three of Freedom.'" Ella murmured to Iggy, who nodded once, ears pricked for anything that the rest of us might miss. "Err… one thirty I think, depending on how accurate that army buff was who gave us a speech about military time at school…"

"How long is that?" Nudge piped up. "Sixty three days? How many months? How long were we out of the School for?"

"About three months." Mom answered for her, voice sounding slightly tense. I stole a look at her, and saw how her hands were in fists, face more pinched than usual, and a familiar gleam in her eyes. One I had used oh too often. I smiled slightly at her, a classic 'it's okay' gesture. Her lip twitched, but she still-

"Max?"

"Yeah, sweetie?" She was eyeing Jeb on the screen, who was waiting impatiently at the bottom of the stairs. Probably for me judging by the way he kept calling my name. Just a guess there.

"Should I like Jeb? Now, I mean, like when he comes by?"

I froze instantly. You have no idea how hard it is for your younger 'sister', only seven, to ask you if they should like the man who you once wanted as a father, then thought dead, then wished dead? I couldn't influence her decision, even as much as I wanted to say, "hell no! That man's a bastard and an insult to humanity!" It would be wrong, as wrong as her asking the woman back in New York to buy Celeste, her teddy bear, for her.

Choices are important, Max. The Voice chimed in suddenly, but at the same time I didn't bother replying because I knew it would be long gone. Only making me more irritable.

"That's your choice." I told her aloud, my voice sounding hollow and almost overridden by the sound of me hollering back to Jeb that he needed to 'hold on a sec.'

Angel didn't say anything else after that, and that just made it harder for me to concentrate on the view unfolding before us.

"Maximum Ride!" Jeb called up the stairs. "Why on earth are you still in bed?"

"Because you haven't been yelling." My voice, tired and groggy, carried all the same. Jeb had to hide a smile, but rolled his eyes. "I'd still be asleep if you hadn't started."

"I know, Maxie, but the world-"

"Waits for no one, I know." My voice was getting louder and I soon could be seen, rubbing my eyes, and slowly stumbling down the stairs. "Where's everyone else?"

"Iggy and Nudge took Angel outside. I haven't asked what Gazzy's doing-"

"What?" I immediately woke, all traces of tiredness gone from my eyes as I splashed the bowl of cereal he had poured for me over. "He could detonate the house! And you let Iggy off on his own? It's so not my fault if they blow the house down. Please, please tell me Fang's watching them."

Gazzy, Ella, Nudge, Iggy, and Angel erupted in laughter. Mom even managed a tight laugh, and Fang cracked a smile.

Jeb's forehead creased. "What? Fang's asleep, why can't they be off-"

I was already sprinting through the house and outside, where a moment later there was a large bang, Angel crying, and the two pyro's and their immediate protests.

"Well it wouldn't have gone off it you hadn't scared me!" There was Gazzy.

"You made me spill all the ammonium sulfate! And sulfur! Max, you are the definition of dead."

"Oh really?" Came my reply. "I think you have us reversed. Explosives. Now."

Mom and Fang had cracked, the latter snickering quietly while mom joined in the hysterics that were taking place on the couch. I rolled my eyes, even though watching Jeb laughing in the kitchen just made the hollow ache in my stomach hurt even more.

"And I'll thank you," I snarled, pulling the two boys back into the kitchen. Both had their hair on end and faces covered in soot and God knows what. Fang had drifted silently downstairs, awoken by the yells from outside.

Fang raised one eyebrow, then turned to the counter to grab a banana. His eyes didn't leave Jeb.

"Fang," Iggy moaned, "tell her it wasn't our fault! It wouldn't have blown if she hadn't interfered-"

"Hell yes it would have, just not as soon." I snarled. "What have I told you about bombs and Angel?"

"Tell her, Fang!"

Fang smirked and took another soundless bite of banana.

"Jeb?" Nudge bounced over to him and grabbed his hand, shooting him the notorious Bambi eyes. "Can I have something to eat?"

"Actually, I'm sure Iggy wouldn't mind whipping something up for you. I need Max and Fang for a moment."

The half-eaten banana dropped to the floor with a muted thud.

"Oh?" Fang asked, his tone deathly quiet. It was that scary one he used, the one that just radiated 'don't mess with me, or you will regret it. That is not a threat. That is a promise. "So you need us?"

Everyone else in the kitchen had frozen; even Angel had stopped her crying. Beside me, Fang had stiffened into a birdkid statue at my side.

"Fang. I'm. Sorry. Truly, I am. You couldn't understand what would make me have to choose something like that, believe me. You have no idea how relieved I was that I didn't have to leave you-"

"Us." Fang jerked his thumb at Iggy. "Hopeless experiments. Failures."

"Well, no." Jeb bent down so he could be at Fang's height. Fang narrowed his eyes. "You must understand that even the best scientists make mistakes. I am far from the best, and what you're pointing out are just some of by biggest ones. It is true, I did say those things, but it was for a lack of information. Even now you have proved me wrong countless times. Look at yourself, in the past minute you've spoken nine words, that's more than you have in a month."

Iggy hissed from the couch. "Bad move. Very bad move."

"He had no sense of what to do with children, did he?" Nudge sighed, shaking her head. "Moron."

Yeah, they pretty much summed it up. Fang drew his foot back and snapped it forward, making Jeb tip onto the floor as his leg gave way. You could see my jaw stiffen, but I didn't make any move to stop Fang as he whisked from the room in anger, though he looked as calm as he had just moments before, eating breakfast. Luckily, Jeb caught the hint, and watched Fang leave the room without saying anything, then, staggering to his feet, he ushered me over. I glanced at Gaz, Nudge, and Ig who were watching and waiting for instruction. I jerked my head after Fang, back outdoors, and they quickly left the premises.

"Max, sweetheart." Jeb immediately launched into teaching mode. I pricked my ears and looked up at him, watching as he winced and took a moment to massage his leg. "One of the first rules of being a good leader, and one that you have already mastered much better than I, is to keep the peace between members of your group. You have to work as a team."

I waited, my brown eyes probing.

"Meaning you have to talk to Fang."

Instantly, my eyes narrowed. "Yeah," I told him. "Or I could just accept him for who he is, and not talk to him like you just did. Obviously I've succeeded in this area, my kneecaps aren't sprained." Then I turned on my heel, grabbed an apple, and stalked out of the room in the direction of the Flock.

"Sweetheart, wait a moment."

It was pathetic, really. It made me want to throw up a little inside. I hesitated.

"Practice your flying today, or fighting. We haven't done either in a while."

"You haven't done either in a while." I corrected him without turning my back. "I'm in bed till lunch because I don't waste the night sleeping. You know, flying, at night. Like you don't want us to do, but it's pretty awesome. I guess if it makes you feel better after being beat up by a 'failure' and 'hopeless experiment' though, sure, maybe Fang and I will spar later after I get him to calm down."

Then I slammed the door.

The screen went black again. Fang pressed 'stop' and the power button. We weren't halfway through the tape, and it wasn't helping to cheer me up at all.

Please, I prayed. Someone clear the attention from Fang. He doesn't deserve this.

His knuckles were white with the memory, etched clearly in my mind, of Jeb rushing into the lab and unlocking my cage first, then Gazzy's, Nudge's, and Angel's. Then pushing us out the door. When I realized what he was doing, I had ran back for Iggy and Fang and made Jeb bring them with us. Fang hadn't spoken in months. Iggy couldn't see. They had been slated for extermination.

"Max," Nudge began quietly. "I know you hate Jeb now, but you used to like him. I don't remember you fighting so often."

Again, these words tore holes in my heart. I decided to take a leaf out of Fang's book and shut it away, however the hell that worked. Or didn't. The only thing I succeeded in was a flat tone and a hell of a lot of pain in my chest. Was that how Fang felt every time he covered something up? The thought made me want to strange something, so I swallowed it down with lies along the lines of: of course not, Fang's indestructible, and the like.

"I only fought him when he was mean to my friends." I informed her as if telling her when her Wall Street Journal subscription would be arriving. All the same, I glanced at Fang. He hadn't moved.

"Why didn't he want you flying at night?" Ella asked, meeting my eyes. I smiled, quick thanks for diverting the conversation.

"Crashing into trees, etcetera. He was paranoid. We did it anyways."

"I got that. I think you ticked him off pretty nicely."

"Yep." I grinned. "It's a talent of mine."

"Just ask ter Borcht." Total snickered. "Remember when we went on that rant about how tacky their lab coats were? I mean, so last season. Ugh." He fluffed his brown fur in a shiver. I couldn't help the laugh that bubbled to my lips.

"Those lapels." I shook my head. "What do they do with themselves?"

"Doesn't Vogue ever offer them tips? Or were fashionistas not considered important enough for the By-Half plan?"

"I thought Mara had it going on with the spots." Nudge pointed out, snickering. "Quite the look. They could even have a whole faux fur line."

"Speaking of which, Max," Angel glanced at me, grinning, "you never got me one of those magic suit things."

"Dang," I sighed. "Sorry, sweetie. Nudge and I were otherwise occupied."

"Do I even want to know?" Gazzy groaned, holding his head in his hands as the boys, mom, and Ella watched the pair of us slowly reduce to hysterics.

"Oh, have faith, Gaz." I ruffled his blonde hair, "I mean, we were only promoting our new art gallery. 'Flock Splatter Art', I think we called it. Then we demonstrated how it worked. On the Director."

"You dropped her?" Iggy cackled. "Excellent!"

"Nah, we caught her with two hundred feet to spare." Nudge rolled her eyes. "Think she may have had a heart attack afterward though, combined with Max beating Omega."

"That would be quite possible." I mused. "ter Borcht, too. I told him to lay off the sweets."

"And where was this?" Mom asked faintly. "Wait, I think I agree with Gazzy."

"Germany." I replied promptly all the same. "At some castle."

"Castle?" Ella breathed, her eyes wide. "Was it cool? I've always liked medieval history, what with the heroes and knights and kings. Take away the plague and all that poverty and I think it could have been decent."

"Well," Total told her, "we weren't very good sightseers. I mean, we didn't get to any German museums! Only the French sculpture one, which we left because Maximum Charging Off Ultra-Paranoid Ride was afraid the sculptures would jump out and eat her. Then we were stuck in the castle dungeon, so sight seeing chances were slim."

"I wasn't afraid." I scoffed. "It was merely a precautionary action. And its just Max." I wouldn't lie and say I didn't charge off or wasn't ultra paranoid. I wouldn't. Like, a New Years resolution in the spring.

Fang managed a snort. I elbowed him.

"No," he snickered. "I think we should get you a birth certificate. Maximum Charging Off Ultra-Paranoid Ride. It has a nice ring."

"And we can get you one with Cult Leader Fangalator and find that blogger who called you that to give them partial credit."

"Cult Leader Fang would work." Nudge piped up over the laughter. "If he doesn't like the 'alator. Personally, I think that makes him sound like an alligator, but his blog's like a freaking cult. I remember those kids in Germany who had flaming arrows, it seriously was like the medieval stuff Ella talks about."

Fang simply raised his eyebrows.

"Since you weren't there, your bloggers were. Bashed the gates down. Chucked rocks and shot flaming arrows."

"Where were you?" Ella asked. "Was it you, Iggy, and Gazzy? You all seem as clueless as I am to what they're talking about."

Fang nodded, hesitated, then, "swimming."

"See," Gazzy began excitedly. "Flyboys were chasing us, you know? So he came up with this awesome plan and we rocketed like, straight into the ocean. Granted, we all had faces like plums afterward, but apparently water doesn't go over well in the Flyboy department."

I kept laughing long after Gazzy finished.

We had managed to talk about the separation without too much hurt or tears. What a nice change.

*******

Later that night, after we had gotten off our lazy butts and mom insisted Fang go outside if he couldn't stay in one room any longer, I stayed in the kitchen with mom while she began to trim my hair. Okay, I'll admit it. She had caught me with the scissors and a huge chunk already in the trash bin, then took over. I will also admit I was slightly relieved. We had been quiet for a while, listening to the soft snipping of the scissors and distant sounds of laughter from outside.

"Max," she finally asked me, smoothing the one side of my hair she had managed to cut to shoulder length, "I saw you during those videos. Are you sure you okay?"

I wanted to shrug it off, just ignore the burning sensation in the pit of my stomach, but then I could also feel the words bubbling on the edge of my mouth, just threatening to spill. I bit my tongue, trying to keep them in, and finally deciding on a short and snappy reply. Always a good option.

"I'm fine." I told her, sighing heavily. "It's just… kinda sad. You know?"

Mom actually laughed, though it was more like the laughter after someone tells a joke at a funeral. "Kinda sad, Max? Downright depressing. As a vet, I see animals raised in puppy mills where they never see the light of day, stay in crates when they're not abused, bred in large amounts just for profit so none are ever healthy. Then I also see the animals tested on, shampoo, toothpaste, dishwashing detergent, and I watch them as they flinch away from the crates in the waiting room at my practice." She cut another chunk of hair, but her hand was shaky. I felt the same way. "I watch as their owners have to carry them across the grassy path because the animals are afraid of plants. Of earth under paw. And I bet you'll guess what I'm getting at..."

"How much we reminded you of them." I closed my eyes. "Do we really flinch…?"

"At closed windows. Closed doors. Small rooms. I painted that bedroom upstairs, you know. It used to be a spare, you know. An off-white, until Angel chased Total up there and I found her crying."

Really? I held my breath, trying to keep from sobbing. She had never told me that.

"You've done a great job with them, though." Mom continued softly. "I know you're only fourteen, but you've taken care of them better than anyone could have. I just want you to know," she cut off another chunk of hair and began to even it out. "I'm proud of you."

I couldn't even manage a 'thanks.' I just nodded.

"But enough of this depressing stuff." After a moment, mom announced briskly, sounding back to her normal, peppy self. I smiled slightly. Moms are fabulous. "Is there anything going on between you and Fang?"

I couldn't help it. I giggled. "Don't go psycho over protective mom on me!" I laughed.

"There's no point switching to 'psycho over protective' mode," she grinned, "even if I wanted to, with you. I take that as a yes?"

"Well," I cleared my throat. "Kinda. Yeah. I guess."

"You don't sound so sure."

"It's just," I began, surprised at how the words felt ready on my tongue. "We've been best friends for so long. So even though, you know, I-"

"Love him. But continue." I blushed and nodded.

"Sometimes it's hard to get my head around it." I finished, my face red hot. I could feel mom's smile on her words.

"But you're happy? Actually, don't answer that. I know you are."

"Yeah." I sighed. "Pretty much."

Mom laughed again, smoothed my hair with one last snip, and pushed me off the stool I was sitting on.

"There." She told me, ushering me to the door. "Now go enjoy yourself."

I didn't need telling twice, so giving her a fleeting hug, I spun out the door and into the cool air.