Chapter 3: Kindness (or rather the kind you get when elders think you're up to no good)

"Why is he so special?"

Iggy's face drained of color. Then he arched his golden eyebrows; as if in deep thought. He cleared his throat and said, "You have a boyfriend."

He looked super uncomfortable. How can I have a boyfriend? I think I would remember that one. "Who? Since when?"

Iggy opened his mouth. He seemed to be struggling for words. "His name is Fang. For a few months."

Fang? What kind of name is that? "What's he like?"

"Um, he has black hair, wears black clothes, and doesn't talk much."

He sounds horrid. I sighed loudly. He sounds boring. A real emo kid. I have such bad taste! I just wanted to scream. I was taking a shine to Iggy, the guy who saved me. "Where is this Fang guy, and why didn't he save me?"

That was the last thing I said before the throbbing in my head overtook me.


I walked up to Fang's door. I was wondering whether or not to go in or not. I would have to straighten this out. I sighed deeply and knocked on the door.

"Fang, its Angel."

"Go to bed!"

I see he's mad. That's okay. I can straighten him out.

"I'm coming in." I whisper-yelled.

I heard some shuffling for a minute. What is he doing? Figuring I gave him enough time, I walked in he was reading the copy of Twilight Nudge had given him. I took the book from him, put his bookmark in it and set it down next to him.

"I have good and bad news for you." I murmured and glanced at Gazzy. Still asleep, good.

"For me or Iggy?"

I smiled, "For you."

"Iggy was really confused when Max was flirting with him. She was hit with metal in the fall. She didn't cheat on you, technically. She doesn't remember you."

Fang seemed clearly relieved, I think. Then he said, "What's the bad news?"

"Well," I say "Iggy tried to get her to remember you but she can't. Max has decided to meet you. If she likes you she won't break up. So do your best. Oh, and keep her away from Iggy. She's planning to kiss him." Fangs fists clenched and he left the room. It is so easy to make him mad. I need to for me to have a shot with him. I started to read his mind.

This isn't fair!

Just do your best to win her back and it wont be a problem!


"Where is this Fang guy, and why didn't he save me?"

I was about to answer when she fell to the ground. Oh, yeah, her head! I fished out my medical supplies from my pack.

I rinsed her head with water, put medicine on it and bandaged it up. I rinsed out my cuts and put medicine on them. I didn't bandage them because they could heal by tomorrow morning.

When I woke her up she stared at me. I was holding her in my arms from bandaging her head. I blushed and let her up. She felt at the bandages and said.

"Thanks so much."

She gave me a hug. I was amazed at how good she felt. Max was so warm, inviting that I forgot about the storm, almost. Stop it! This is Fang's girlfriend. I let go of her and she pouted at me.

"We should be getting back to the others." Her eyes darkened for a second. "Can we fly?" she says pointing at my wings.

"I can't. They're scraped too bad." Her face looked disappointed.

"Okay, let's just go." She took my hand in hers as she led me into town.


I took Iggy's hand and led him into town. I could tell he wanted to keep hugging me earlier. He must really like this Fang guy. I wonder if I will… We walked for a long time. There was a grocery store up the road. I walked in and saw an elderly woman at the counter.

"Excuse me?" Iggy says.

The woman smiles at us and says, "Yes, young man?"

"Do you know where Belles Comfort Inn is?"

Her face looked puzzled. "Are you going there with your girlfriend?" He blushed and I found that I was too. I let go of his hand.

"No," I said. "We're meeting a group of friends there. And we're not-"

"I see," she interrupted "Would you mind staying with me for the night? You surely can't get there in this storm without catching a cold."
Iggy thought for a minute and said, "Sure but we have to go tomorrow."

She smiled, "What are your names?"

"I'm Jeff and this is Anne."

"Such lovely names. My name is Amiele. Give me a minute to close," she paused. "There's not much business in storms anyways."

She locked up the store while Iggy and I sat in some cashier chairs. "Anne, are you serious?"

Iggy only smiled and said, "But its such a lovely name."

I smiled back and we sat in silence until she was done. When she was done we piled into her car. It was a small yellow Jeep. We had to cram ourselves in this car because as Amiele said 'you are very tall kids'. Amiele had her stuff in the passenger's seat so Iggy and I were all pressed up against each other. Although it was psychically uncomfortable it was emotionally comforting.

When we got there I would have to say that my mouth formed an o of surprise. Her house was beautiful. It had eight bedrooms, and five bathrooms (I counted!) and was super humungous. She told us it was big because her five children moved out and visited her constantly.

Next, she showed us our rooms for the night. Mine had purple walls and a bed on a brown wooden frame with black sheets. Iggy's had red walls, a computer and a bed with red and a hardwood floor.

I left Iggy and went back to my room and put my stuff down. I took my shower and sorta ran to my room. I did not want him to see me in just a towel. I locked the door and changed into some clothes in my pack. I put the others in a pile to wash later.

Ahh, I feel much better! I unlocked my door and threw my clothes into her washing machine. I sat next to the machine, waiting for them to finish while I very slowly read a copy of The Tell Tale Heart by Edgar Allen Poe but I didn't get it. Why would you kill someone and bury him under your floorboards? It's ridiculous. I just think he was crazy. I mean, come on! When someone dies his or her heart stops beating and you can't hear it anymore! I know that for sure, thought.

Memories of wolf men flooded my brain. Erasers! They used to try to kill my flock everyday until they all expired. Even my brother, Ari. He expired too. My crackpot dad Jeb, killed him. My mom loved me no matter what. Dr. Valencia Martinez is my mother and I have my half-sister Ella. I smiled. I miss my family, except Jeb. He basically killed Ari.

I will visit as soon as I can.

My laundry is done. I wipe my eyes, grab my clothes and run to my room, my copy of The Tell Tale Heart flipped over to page twelve on the floor. I set my clothes on the foot of my bed and lay down. It was so wonderful and horrible to have had all of those memories come back. Iggy knocked on my door. I didn't feel like answering and he came in anyways.

"Jeff, Anne come and eat! I have Chinese food!"

I smiled at the chance to leave. "Gotta go, I'm starving!" I ran out of there. I didn't feel like talking about things right now. Things were complicated and I wanted to go hide until it was simple again. I really just wanted my memories back. I ate about half of my food and gave the rest to Iggy.

He didn't ask questions and basically inhaled my food. I washed my plate and ran back upstairs to my "room". I lay on my bed in a fetal position, my arms hugging my long legs. Iggy knocked again. He is so persistent. I quickly get out of my vulnerable position and say, "Come in."

He came and sat on my bed. I never did know how he knew the position of things. "Are you okay Anne?" Anne? Oh yeah, my incognito name. He touched my shoulder. He moves so silently that he scared me.

" Yeah, what's up?"

He turned toward me and touched my head bandages. As soon as I winced he pulled his hands away and brushed my hair back on top of them.

"Do you don't remember anything, do you?"

"Just a little. About my family. Ari, Jeb and Erasers, stuff like that."

He frowned, "What about Gazzy, Nudge, Angel, FANG?"

"Nope."

"What about Angel? You love her so much and call her your 'sweetie'." As soon as I heard that name it came back to me. Our little Angel, a super cute and sweet seven year old. I smiled and nodded.

"Thanks for trying to help me to remember."

Iggy (filler)

She leaned forward and kissed me on the cheek. It was so quick that I barely had any chance to respond to it and like that, it was over. I rose a hand back to my cheek and stared at her, dumbstruck.

"Please don't do that."

"Why not?"

Why did she have to use her bambi eyes on me? I almost gave in, too. I got up and walked to the doorway. I turned around. "You're F-Nick's boyfriend."

Angel

I woke up to the sound of my ragged breathing. I hate when that happens. I hate when this happens. I pick up on strong feelings when I sleep. I read Iggy's mind while he was sleeping. Or maybe it was just me. It was just so real.

"Why would I dream that though?", I whispered.

"Dream what?" said Nudge sleepily.

"Can you keep a secret?"

"Of course, Ang. I wont tell a soul."

"I picked up on Iggy's thoughts while we slept."

"What did you see?"

"Max and Iggy making out."

"MAX AND IGGY MAK-!" I ran out of bed and covered her mouth.

"Do you want Fang to hear?"

"Ahh!" I heard from Fang and Gazzy's room. Then there was a bunch of shuffling. "What was that?" I whisper-asked Nudge. She shrugged and motioned for me to follow her to their room. There was a lot of shuffling going on. Then there was a thud and silence. Nudge opened the door and gasped. I peered in and didn't see anything.

"Look!" she says.

At what?, I sent her. She pointed to the bed. There was blood all over it. I ran over and looked for Fang. He was invisible but when I touched him he reappeared. His face was pale and his eyes were closed. I lifted his head (at the foot of the bed) and cupped it in my hands.

"Nudge, what do we do?"

I put Fang down and went to go tap Gazzy (who slept like a rock) when Nudge's face grew hard and said, "Don't wake him up."

Nudge and I then inspected his body for the bruise. The blood was coming from his left upper arm. Nudge applied pressure and cleaned it while I fished some gauze bandages out of his pack. The bleeding had stopped and I was glad. Nudge quickly wrapped the bandages around his arm.

"What could have happened to him?" I cried.

"I don't know what could have happened but we are going to find out! Angel, read his mind." I closed my eyes and his thoughts swirled around me. Max …Iggy… sad. I focused more and got something better.

Bandages. Where are they? Gotta get this to stop bleeding. Apply pressure. Still bleeding. Dizzy. Pain pills. How many? Four, Five or Six? Five. Girls coming gotta put it away.

I reopened them.

"I only got stuff right before he passed out. He was trying to fix it before we noticed," I said sadly.

"That is so something he would do. What are we chop liver? We can fix him up. I just did it now! I hate that they under estimate us because were younger. We are all kids and us younger ones can do anyth -"

I put my hand over her mouth. "Shh. He's waking up."