A/N: So...here's the first Angelic Tyranny chapter of 2010! Happy New Year!


Chapter 29: Rudely Interrupted

Max's POV

We watched as Iggy paused, mentally preparing himself for what he was about to tell Tess. I guessed that it wasn't easy for him, especially not knowing what her reaction would be. For all we knew she was going to freak out and want nothing else to do with us. I didn't even want to know what that would do to Iggy.

After about a minute, Iggy finally took a deep breath and opened his mouth to break the news to Tess. "Okay, Tess, what you need to–"

He never got to finish his sentence. Or his explanation, for that matter. Just then, a pegasus landed only ten feet away from us, kicking up clods of dirt.

I know, it sounds utterly insane. I was certain I was hallucinating, but that was quickly dispelled when Angel jumped off of its back.

"Hello, Max," she said.

I looked at her, then I looked over at Fang. He was glaring at Angel, murder in his eyes. Then he moved closer to me and took my hand. For once, I really didn't care that the whole flock could see. I needed the comfort.

Angel walked over to where we were standing. "Aren't you going to say hello back?" She held out her arm, and a colorful parrot came down and landed on it. Then she looked back at us. "Firewing thinks you should say hello. Don't you, Firewing?"

Squawk! "Say hello!" Squawk!

Oh, dear God. Was Angel mind-controlling the parrot or something? And how the hell did she get a pegasus? They didn't exist!

"Language, Max!" Angel reprimanded sternly. "And they don't have to exist."

Huh?

I'm sure Angel picked up on my mental confusion, but she didn't respond to it. Instead, her head whipped around to stare at Tess.

"I know it's strange," she said sweetly. "And don't worry, Iggy thinks you're wonderful. He won't ditch you like your last boyfriend did."

Oh, no. I watched as Tess's face slowly drained of its color. Iggy had whipped around and was doing his best, and startling effective, blind glare directly at Angel.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Angel said, her smile sweet enough to give teeth instant cavities. "You hadn't told her yet, had you?"

Tears stung my eyes. How had Angel become such a little monster? Was it my fault? I had always considered myself her surrogate mother, so did that make her awfulness my responsibility?

"Only if you want to think so," Angel said. "But then, your mothering skills were severely lacking, weren't they? It's no wonder I turned out like I did."

Fang actually growled, and his grip on my hand became suddenly tighter.

Angel turned to face him, smiling. "Oh, you can call me all the names you want, Fang. I am way above you guys, and you all know it. Would you like to know about my new power?" She turned so that she was facing everyone. "It's really kind of extraordinary. My Voice told me about it. I can manifest stuff. Make it real just by thinking about it. Isn't that cool? I'll show you."

Her eyebrows furrowed as she concentrated, and slowly a small dragon came into being next to her pegasus. And when I say 'small', I mean the size of a horse. As soon as it was solid, it flexed its neck and let out a small jet of flame, catching one of the trees on fire.

"Isn't it just amazing?" Angel asked us, not seeming to care about the tree that had become a huge torch. "Anything is possible now. I can create anything."

"You're insane!" Nudge yelled, and I could see the wetness in her eyes. "You're not even Angel anymore! You're some creepy, power-crazy maniac that took over her body. Angel was a good person. She was my friend. You're just the nasty, horrible creature that killed her, and I hate you for it! Do you hear me? I hate you, I hate you, I hate you!" She fell to her knees, tears pouring down her cheeks.

I hadn't realized how hard this had hit Nudge. Gazzy had been devastated, sure, but Nudge had just pretended that she didn't care about Angel. Seeing her break down like this…It made me see just how much we'd all been torn up by this. It made me feel empty inside, like my chest was hollow and my heart was just…gone. How could we be a flock when we were all so broken? Could we manage to hold each other together? If we could, we sure weren't proving it very well.

There was a long silence after Nudge's outburst. Surprisingly, Angel didn't say anything. The look on her face was conflicted, and it was the most emotion I'd seen out of her since she left. Was she actually hurt by Nudge's words? Was it possible that there was a little bit of the Angel we all loved inside of that demon that was currently standing in front of us? I wasn't sure I dared hope.

Iggy was the first to speak. "If you want something, Angel, tell us. If not, leave us alone. I don't think any of us can deal with this right now."

Angel's expression of almost-pain vanished, and she said, "I didn't want anything. I just thought I'd show you what I can do." Then she turned around and walked back over to her mount. Moments later, she was gone, along with her parrot and her newly created dragon, the burning tree the only reminder that she'd ever been there at all.


Tess's POV

Tess was confused. No, that didn't really cover it; Tess was bewildered, intrigued, in way over her head, and a little hurt. What was going on? Didn't they think she had a right to know?

But no one was explaining. Max and Nick–no, wait, Fang–were still just standing where they had been, staring after the little girl that had come and then gone. Iggy was standing a few feet away from them, his head hung low, looking crushed. Tiffany-Krystal–unless she had a nickname too–was still on her knees, crying, and Zephyr was kneeling next to her, apparently trying to comfort her. Whoever this Angel person was, she obviously had a profound effect on these guys.

And what was with the pegasus? And the dragon? Especially the dragon. Things didn't just appear, especially things that weren't supposed to exist. It was unnatural.

Finally, she got desperate. "Okay, I know you guys are all depressed and stuff, and I don't mean to be rude, but what the hell was that?"

Iggy raised his head. "Sorry, Tess. You're probably confused, aren't you?"

"Gee, you think?" she said impatiently. "Something really weird is going on here, and it's kind of obvious that you know more than I do, so I would appreciate it if you would explain things a little."

"I'll start with what I was going to tell you before Angel got here," Iggy said. "We're not normal, Tess. In fact, we're about as far from normal as you can get."

Tess wanted to say "Nobody's normal these days" or something equally snarky, but the strange things that she had just witnessed stopped her. Obviously something very far from normal was going on here. So she just decided to let Iggy finish whatever he was going to say.

"When we were younger," he continued. "We were experimented on in a place called the School. It was highly unpleasant–"

"Major understatement, there, Ig," Fang interjected. "It was hell."

Tess shivered, though she wasn't completely sure why. They hadn't given her enough details yet for her to even really know anything about this…School. But for some reason, she suddenly felt unsettled.

"Yeah," Iggy agreed. "It was hell. They kept us in cages, making us do things so they could monitor us. Finally, about five years ago, one of the scientists who was working on us broke us out and brought us to live in a house in the Colorado Mountains. We ended up with some…souvenirs, though. My blindness, for one." He pointed to his eyes, rather unnecessarily. "And these." And that was when Tess's mind got blown.

From Iggy's back sprouted two large, tan wings. They looked like they were about fifteen feet from tip to tip.

Tess gasped. "You…you have…wings," she breathed. "Wow…"

Iggy nodded, looking a bit anxious. Did he think she was going to shun him for it? "Yeah. That's our big secret. All six of us have them; me, Max, Fang, Nudge, Gazzy, and…and Angel." His voice got quieter on the last name.

"Angel was that girl that just came, right?" Tess asked. Iggy nodded in confirmation, and Tess continued. "So, she's like you? Was she with you guys?"

"Yes." This time it was Max who answered. "'Was' being the key word there. She left a couple weeks ago. She seems to think she's too good to be part of the flock."

Tess cocked her head. "Flock?"

"It's what we call ourselves," Iggy told her. "The flock. Like birds, you know?"

She managed a small smile. "Ah. Clever."

He shrugged. "Or completely unimaginative. Take your pick."

"So, to summarize," Tess said. "You guys all have wings because someplace called the School experimented on you when you were little, before you escaped." She paused. "That all?"

"Basically," Iggy said.

"So you guys don't have any parents?"

"Max does," he said. "She found her mom and sister. I found mine in D.C. last year, but they wanted to sell my story to the media. I ditched them."

"Oh." Tess wasn't really sure what to say to that. "I'm sorry."

Iggy waved his hand, dismissing her condolences. "Don't be. I like it better with the flock anyway."

"How come Max doesn't live with her parents?" Tess asked. "You said she found them, right?"

"Yeah, I did," Max said. "But they get that I can't live with them. It would put them in danger, since we're always on the run from stuff."

"Oh," Tess said again. "Wow. This is a lot to take in."

"I know," Iggy said sympathetically. "I'm sorry you even got brought into this. You'd have been safer if you'd never known."

"Maybe." Tess shrugged. "But I don't really care." She paused, then asked, "Will you guys take me with you? Please?"

Iggy raised his eyebrows. "You want to come?"

Tess nodded emphatically. "I would love to. It sounds so exciting! And…" She trailed off, blushing. She'd been about to say, "And you'd be there". "Well, the point is, yes, if you can take me, I want to come."

"I think we can manage," Iggy said. "But what about your parents? Won't they be worried?"

Tess's face grew dark. "No." She paused for a minute, then said, "I'm an orphan."


A/N: Gasp! I bet you guys weren't expecting that! I do so love playing with characters' back stories. =D

And I hope no one dislikes the wing color I picked for Iggy. It never actually says in the books, so I had to make it up. Hope it works for you guys.