Flying was an addiction, she supposed. But even worse was the feeling of keeping her wings tucked away for so long. It was the same as keeping an arm tucked up near your shoulder for hours or even days at a time. Stretching them slowly she reveled again in the feeling of her muscles stretching and joints popping as they adjusted to their newfound freedom.

With little more preparation she took off down the road and, picking up what speed she could, jumped into the air. Several strong downward strokes brought her even with the lowest branches of the surrounding trees and a handful more saw her soaring above them. It was almost a completely different feeling, flying somewhere so utterly new.

So used to the same old turns and tucks of the land it was a brand new feeling to see the rolling hills and streams that littered the forests back behind their house. Looking around she decided to stretch her limits and took off as fast as she could, intent on burning off some much needed steam. She wanted to see just how much room she had to work with before coming back and exploring its nooks and crannies.

It was a greater distances than she had expected, actually. There were miles and miles of the land stretching between their city and the next. It looked as though several summer houses sat tucked away in the deeper parts of the forest around lakes and particularly big ponds. Thankfully it was approaching winter and she would have little to worry about for several more months. It was marvelous.

She flew long and hard, until she had reached the outer limits of the next town over and began to circuit her way back around. She kept flying her circular path until she was back at the edge of the same city limits and, to her great satisfaction, noted that it took well over two hours to do so. The distance didn't even comprise of that of the land perpendicular to the two cities. Max assumed they lived rather close to an animal reservation of some sort – it would make sense, given her mother's line of work she supposed – and was all the more thrilled for it.

Moving hadn't turned out half as bad as she had expected it might.

Thoughts turning back to this particular topic she decided now would be a good time to work them out. Flying always put her in a bit of a contemplative mood, as it was. There were no obstacles to keep her attention and flying was honestly muscle memory by this point. The feeling of flight was unrivaled by any other, but that didn't mean her thoughts didn't tend to wander.

Her new family was not at all what she had expected it might be. Angel most of all. It was a little disconcerting to find herself having become the apparent favorite of her two new sisters. Max had automatically assumed upon hearing that her little sister was, in fact a sister and therefore female, it would be Ella she would grow most attached to. Max had never really fancied herself much for clothes and makeup as most females tended in her experience. Chances were Angel was head over heels with the idea but, somehow, that hadn't put Max off for her.

Max frowned as she thought back to their first night in the house. The little blonde had woken up from a nightmare, as she understood, and for some reason or another had deemed Max the one to come to seeking comfort. The brunette had never been much for comforting. If someone picked on Ella when they were younger it wasn't Max she came to console her broken

feelings. No, Max was the one she came to when it was time to show the scrawny ass wimp a lesson. Typically Max had to find out herself when something of like happened, Ella disliking the drama it brought upon her reputation.

What Ella didn't know, was that Max was pretty good at subtlety as it happened.

In Max's sophomore year it had gotten around that a jock, Tad, and his two cronies had taken to harassing Ella and her friends after school and during PE. No one knew why but spring break head come and gone and suddenly the guy was avoiding them like the plague. Even his friends couldn't get out of him what had brought about his sudden change of heart.

As it happened, Max was rather skilled in matters of threat making and bodily harm.

Secrets she could manage well enough.

Stretching her wings wide Max held them as she hit an updraft and let the wind carry her up and along for several minutes, only angling her wings as needed to follow its intended course. Her inability considering most matters of discretion, Max didn't know what to make of her new step father. The strangest things seemed to set him off. She got funny vibes off him but other than the slightly strained relationship that he appeared to share with his young daughter, she had no reason to think there was anything wrong with him.

He wasn't the abusive sort, as far as she knew. He was quirky and made funny jokes that made Mom laugh. Aside from his initial putting down of the foot over the whole name versus title issue, he seemed pretty chill. When it came to Angel though, something just changed. He grew fidgety and couldn't stay in the same room with her for more than an hour. It wasn't quite like he was scared of her (I mean, what parent in their right mind would be scared of their seven year old daughter who was literally named for angelic beings?) but definitely uncomfortable.

She couldn't make claims of being the best at reading people, in fact she was generally pretty bad at it. But Angel didn't strike her as an evil or malicious child. Heck, she asked her Mom if she could help with the dishes last night. Whatever was going on between the two, Max figured it was more to do with Angel's father rather than Angel herself.

Angel was a total sweetheart in every sense of the word. Max couldn't fathom how anything the girl did short of killing off a city block could make someone uncomfortable. Still, the world was full of strange people. Max and Iggy being prime examples. Scanning the skies the brunette was happy to see it was just her and the trees. This far out in the country, though Ella might well hate it, did have some serious perks. No planes, for example.

Airplanes had always been a bit of a big deal when Max was trying to fly at night. It was dangerous to risk being seen by the giant monstrosities, but just as dangerous to fly under their radar. Nobody wants to get hit by a plane, that's for sure. Out here there was a much lesser chance of seeing one, let alone worrying that it would end up flying by overhead. It had been a huge problem back when they were living on the outskirts of a decently sized private runway.

Feeling like pulling out a few tricks Max angled her feathers marginally and dipped into a barrel roll, letting herself spin around a few times before angling herself down only to dive up, wings splayed. Yes, Max could certainly get used to this.

As she was considering her surroundings, trying to decide where she wanted to fly over next, Max noticed a black dot on the horizon. It was already dark enough as it was so she had trouble making out the shape of whatever it was. She could tell it was big, though. Big and headed her way. Max fell nearer to the tree line and hovered as she watched the object grow nearer. What the hell is that thing?