A/N: Sorry for the long wait. I was sick on Wednesday (grr!) and had writer's block. And I practically died (my math teacher killed me with the quiz she sprung.) But read on!

Disclaimer: God, how many times do I have to say this? I don't own Twilight or Maximum Ride. Happy now?

Chapter Five--BPOV

Driving to school I ran over my plan. The number one rule: avoid the Cullens.

My car's engine spluttered loudly as I parked and I could tell that it drew everyone's attention. Including the Cullens.

Dang it. Looks like my plan is failing… already.

Hurriedly I opened the door and rushed into the English classroom 5 minutes early.

"Well, Ms. Swan, I must say that you're unusually early," the teacher mocked me, referring to the way I usually came in a couple minutes late every day.

I placated myself by retorting; "You should be waiting for the apocalypse then."

He sighed and muttered, "Fine, Ms. Swan," and continued setting up his materials.

Score! Then, whoa, I thought to myself. When did I become such a teenager?

Classes passed fast and soon it was lunch.

"Hey guys," I said, addressing everyone at the lunch table with me. "I need to go to library for some research. I'll see you in class."

"Research?" asked Jessica with a bit of surprise in her voice.

"For what?" asked Mike right after her.

"Okay," agreed Angela, who I was really close to hugging right now for not prying.

"Uhh, that English report we have to do," I said the excuse that was at the top of my head. "Now, if you'll excuse me…"

I walked away muttering about high school kids and how nosy they were.

I mean, really? I didn't know that I was that important. I should be flattered—but I'm not. Too bad for them.

The library was quiet and the head librarian gave me a smile as I walked in. I returned it and sat down in a corner that had a computer sitting on the desk in front of me. On the bottom of the desk were pieces of gum; used gum. I tried not to grimace.

Google came up and I sighed in relief. I wasn't a Nudge who was practically a computer genius but I could work with Google. I stretched my shoulders, wishing I could unfold my wings—it was getting annoying hiding them under my parka—and got down to work, grumbling.

In the search bar I typed in 'the Cullens.' So, let's see… what exactly are you hiding, Edward Cullen?

A lot of hits came up; Cullen must be a popular last name. Eventually I typed in each family member's separate name and scrolled through pages of info.

A supermodel… naw, even though Rosalie could be one.

Rob Pattinson… remind me why this came up?

Alaska… ookay…

Then…

Ah-ha! Got you!

I mentally celebrated. The page told me of a family of 7—or 5, it wasn't that clear. But one name was definitely clear—Carlisle Cullen.

The info continued. It appeared Carlisle Cullen and his family had lived in Forks… 50 years ago.

What?! I shouted in my head. Then Carlisle—if this was the same blond, handsome doctor that I knew, well, sorta knew—would be in his 80s at least. And the Carlisle that I saw looked barely in his 30s.

This must be a different Carlisle, I assured myself. But there was a little, nagging suspicion in the back of my head. Carlisle wasn't a common name. And most people didn't have a big family and wouldn't move to Forks in the middle of a year, like the page said they had.

Freaked out by my discovery I left the computer and searched for a book to read. Incidentally the book I picked reminded me faintly of the Cullens.

The man on the cover was pale and—though not that beautiful—had that same I'm-weird-yeah-I-know vibe coming from him, even though it was only a book cover.

And one thing stood out about him.

His eyes were blood red.

Because of course the book I had picked was Dracula.

A/N: Look, I've never read Dracula or seen the cover so this isn't true—not that I know of anyway. Sorry.

After reading a few pages I got curious about vampires. The whole Transylvania accent thing seemed faintly unrealistic to me anyway.

So I got back on the computer and typed in 'vampires.'

A couple of sites came up. Some mere just false—I could tell right away. Because, of course, vampires were scared of garlic. I mean, come on, give me a break.

Then I came across the site that immediately got my attention. It was a site of Quileute legends. One in particular stood it.

It was about the 'cold ones'. Blood drinkers, the site said. Or more commonly known as vampires. I started reading. It appeared that these 'cold ones' had a few distinct qualities.

They had superhuman speed… pale skin… were freezing cold…

And suddenly every fell into place. It was that feeling that you get when you find the exact puzzle piece you need and it fits perfectly. Or, let's say, when you find out that your incredibly gorgeous classmate that you sorta like—scratch that part actually—that has been threatening to discover the fact that you're not completely human, is a vampire.

As in one of the living dead.

Wait, I thought to myself. Am I really telling myself that Edward and his family aren't human? That they're vampires? Creatures that doesn't exist? But, a different side of my brain argued, you're not supposed to exist.

True, I admitted. And it certainly does fit everything. The speed, the changing eye colors, the pale skin, the freezing skin temperature, the secret that they're hiding, and the page about Carlisle Cullen.

Which would mean that it would be the same Cullen family that was here 50 years ago.

"They didn't just move here," I whispered. "They just moved back."

I sat in stunned silence, going over my discovery. This left one thing.

Time to confront them.

Lucky me.

I got up, my fingers trembling, quickly closed the Internet, and threw Dracula in my backpack.

Turing around, I opened the Internet again and before I could change my mind, I erased the history of all the web pages I had been too.

Then I quickly walked out of the library, too frazzled to smile goodbye to the librarian.

The bell rang suddenly, startling me, and I jumped a mile high in surprise.

Hearing a chuckle behind me, I turned around and saw all of the Cullens behind me. I narrowed my eyes at them and ran to Biology.

Slamming into my seat, just on time, I noticed that for once Edward was there before me.

As Mr. Banner gave our assignment I knew that sometime soon Edward would try to start conversation. I could slip up about my past, about what I knew, so I thought of a plan. A good one, if I do say so.

You will have no chance, Edward Cullen.

Well, before we go on, you need an explanation. You know I have information flashes. I have another "power", if you will call it that. I can manipulate sound waves. It's sort of like the Gasman's power but he can only imitate voices. A/N: I'm pretty sure he can only imitate voices, but if I'm wrong, don't get mad. I can make any sound and it doesn't have to be a voice. It can be the sound of a lion roaring, for example and I can throw sounds all over the place, like a ventriloquist. I think it's pretty pointless and I don't use it that often but it was perfect for this. It's also easy to do, like molding clay. That's the way I think of it, except I'm molding sound waves, not clay.

"Bella—" Edward started, turning to face me.

Before he could finish, I quickly, using my power, manipulated sound waves, and made a voice (one completely unlike my own), whisper into Edward's ear, "Hello, Edward."

He whipped around in his seat, but seeing no one behind him, got a mystified look in his golden eyes.

"Bella?" he asked.

I got the feeling that he thought I had something to do with the whisper.

"What, Edward?" I asked, giving him an innocent smile, and jotting down some notes.

When he was about to start talking again, I quickly made the sound of a lion roar which was so low only he could hear.

He soon turned suspicious though when I wouldn't talk to him and the random sounds continued.

"So do you—" Edward started again.

He just didn't get it, did he?

I remembered Edward's tone of voice—which was so completely velvet and musical—and quickly made another voice in his tone. "Hello, my name is Edward," the product of my manipulating sound waves, said to the real Edward.

You'd think that hearing your own voice talk to you wouldn't be that bad but he had this confused and sort of scared—if I believed that Edward would ever be scared—on his face.

The bell rang soon and I ran out of Biology as fast as I could, sliding down to lean on the hallway wall as I laughed.

"What are you laughing at?" a high, tinkling voice asked me. Alice.

She stood in front of me, with Jasper at her side, glaring down at me as if I was a threat.

"Jeez, I'm not going to hurt her," I told him exasperatingly.

"What?" he sounded shocked.

"Whatever," I muttered, rolling my eyes. "Anyway…"

Emmett, Rosalie, and Edward had come up behind Alice and Jasper. It was almost as if they had planned this… knowing them, I wouldn't put it against them.

And suddenly, confidence swept through me. Almost as if someone was encouraging me to confront them. I narrowed my eyes, staring at my hands awkwardly.

"Hey," I started just as suddenly, looking at them. I had no clue where I was going to go with this confrontation but…

Another scene replaced the one if front of my eyes. An information flash, I noted in some back corner of my brain.

But when I concentrated on the actual info flash, I gasped. It was the picture of an Eraser—but an improved Eraser. The last time I had seen an Eraser they had had bulky, clumsy wings that didn't work that well.

This Eraser though… the wings were formed better and I could see that flying would be much easier for him.

"I'm so dead," I breathed, coming out of my information flash and bolting upright.

The Cullens were staring at me curiously and I dismissed it, they already knew something was different about me.

But if I were correct, this batch of improved Erasers would be coming for me today. I didn't have much time.

"Alice?" I asked, some hidden instinct prompting me to ask her this. "If you knew the future, would you stay and fight or run?"

"I—I," stammered Alice. I could see all of them staring at me, their mouths hanging open.

"You know what? Forget I ever said anything," I interrupted. "It's my decision anyway."

"Bella?" asked Emmett strangely. "Are you sure you're okay?"

I'm mentally fine, if that's what you're asking, I thought snidely.

"I'm fine, don't worry about me," I answered.

"Bella?" It was Rosalie.

"Look, guys, don't worry," I sighed. "This stuff is normal. I've been dealing with it since I was born." Born, if that's what you can call it. A snarl coated my face. I continued. "Just do yourself a favor. Don't get involved."

What am I doing? I realized suddenly. Am I really giving them clues?

"Bye," I called over my shoulder, rushing off.

Control yourself, Bella. No one can know. No one. You're fine on your own. You were on your own for those three years in the School, why is this any different?

It isn't, I reassured myself. You're a bird-mutant; your classmates are vampires. There's not much of a difference.

Except that I didn't drink blood.

"Whoa," I realized, speaking out loud.

The Cullens are vampires…

Vampires drink blood…

So why haven't they hunted or killed anyone? Of course I don't know that they haven't, but it should have been on the news… or they just covered their tracks very well… I'm not sure I want to find out.

Gym was horrible—I wanted to stretch my wings. I was feeling all cooped up in the sweater I was wearing, who wouldn't?

Finally school was over and I escaped to my truck and drove to the place I usually parked my truck. It was a little ways into the forest so no human would see me.

I took off my sweater and flapped my wings experimentally, sighing.

All better.

But when would I find Max? So my wings got cramps, I could deal with it. I hadn't seen the flock in over three years; I was ready to tear my hair out now.

Why weren't they searching for me?

Maybe they didn't want you in the Flock, a little voice whispered. You were never anything to them.

And when that doubt struck me, so did the Erasers.

"So," a familiar voice rasped into my ear. "Vacation's over. Ready to go back home?"

Ari.

"Are you freaking kidding?" I hissed, twisting out of his grasp and assessing the situation. "The vacation has just started."

Air was in front of me, already 100 percent hairy monster. 14 Erasers surrounded us.

I smirked, hiding my fear under a confident cover. "They sent 15 of you out to get me? Wow, I'm flattered."

"Yeah, don't let it get to your head," another Eraser snarled, advancing, as did Ari.

A/N: So I can't remember if the Erasers really talk that much when they fight the Flock but that's how it is my fic. Sorry.

An idea came to my head; I smiled wildly. It was 15 Erasers against little old me. I hoped that they had happened forget that little old me had supernatural powers.

Again, I "molded" sound waves, remembering how tense Ari had been when I had brought up Jeb, his father.

"Hello, son," said Jeb's voice, which I had thrown so it appeared to Ari that Jeb was talking to him from behind.

Ari whirled, gasping.

And that was when I attacked.

I threw a quick kick to Ari's head, flying upward, too late to see if he had been knocked down or not.

The Erasers rose confidently in the air and I realized that their ability to fly had been improved.

"Now, I'm sure most of you want to die before your expiration date," I started, "so I'll help. Which one of you wants to go down first?"

Which, I'm pretty sure, was not the right thing to say since they all attacked.

One flew forward so fast I wasn't sure if I saw right and threw a punch to my face. He hit correctly and my face snapped back, on fire.

That was when I started seeing red.

"Listen here, buddy, no one gets with doing that to Bella Swan," I snarled.

I grabbed him, ignoring his struggles, and kicked in between his shoulder blades, something that I knew made Erasers go limp and crash to the ground.

The satisfying thwack! I listened to was interrupted as he hit another Eraser and brought him down too.

Domino affect, I thought proudly.

Then a hairy wrist wrapped itself around my throat and bad memoires resurfaced. I struggled even harder but my air supply was being cut off.

I have big lungs, I reminded myself. It's the product of being a bird-kid. And if I have big lungs I don't need to breathe as much. Now get him to stop choking you!

I reached out blindly with my arms but found one being twisted around and pinned to my back.

Okay, so we're going to do this the hard way.

I struggled even harder, managing to land some light punches with my one free arm.

I could hear the other Erasers laughing in the background. It only fueled me further.

I jabbed one elbow into the Eraser's side and kicked both of his shins before he let go of me with a small hiss.

I turned around quickly, purposely hitting him hard in the face with my wings and he dropped.

My wings groaned from the protest but I continued. More cuts and gashes appeared along my arms as time passed.

I flew loops, trying to confuse the Erasers. It didn't work that well seeing as they could fly better now. But I was more used to flying long hours and their wings tired easily.

I targeted one that was slowly flying, aimed a high kick at his head, and bringing the other Eraser that had been following me to his level, flew up fast, smashing their heads together.

Ouch. Too bad my sympathy isn't reserved for Erasers.

"Poor you," I mocked the Erasers. "Have you thought about giving up yet?"

Boy, I just keep saying the wrong things, don't I?

Ari snarled from behind me, and before I had time to react, aimed a strong kick at my back.

I snapped forward, almost losing control of my flight and wobbled, trying to fly away from him. My back stung like… you get the idea.

Ari followed almost leisurely.

I flew with some trouble, glancing back. All the Erasers—which, I thought proudly, wasn't much—were behind Ari and they were all flying slowly, almost as if they knew that I was beaten and they all were going to enjoy taking me back to that torturous prison.

The forest we were flying over had gaps in between trees and strangely enough I saw seven white blurs moving between the trees.

I wondered what they were but pain struck again and my task was back; I needed to get away.

The Erasers sped up their flight and I counterattacked like a trapped animal, throwing punches ad kicks. But I just didn't have any energy and they knew it.

I was losing altitude but as long the Erasers lost too it didn't matter. We were skimming the trees now and I had somehow managed to injure most of Ari's remaining posse.

"Let's fast-forward to the end," I said, bluffing since I was pretty sure that I was losing. "It's where you all fly away beaten."

Ari seemed to look around him, noticing none of the Erasers with him.

I smirked, about to let most of my defense down, foolishly thinking that I would win this.

Ari propelled himself towards me in the air faster than I had seen and I flew backwards but it was no help.

I felt a needle prick and looked down in dream-like horror to realize that he had just injected something into me.

"Till next time," Ari smiled wolfishly and turned, flying away.

I couldn't respond, just watched him go. My wings were burning with unimaginable pain, locked in place. I couldn't move them at all. I wondered if Ari had injected me with poison but he had said, "Till next time." So there was going to be a next time. And of course I had to be alive for that time.

But I had other worries on my mind. Like how much it would hurt when I smashed into the ground because I couldn't even flap my wings though they were locked in an outward position.

Tree branches and leaves battered my body and I saw both of my wings lose more than a couple of feathers. I also tried to pull my wings but even more pain flashed across my wings and they stayed in the same position: stretched straight outward.

I was getting even closer to the ground and had to resist the urge to close my eyes in fright. Strangely enough, I noticed that I was quite close to those seven blurs that I had noticed earlier and now they looked like… people?

I wondered if I was going to crash into them but the pain filled my head once again as I got closer to the ground and to the people.

I got even closer. Please let me not crash into the people, I prayed. How am I supposed to explain that I have wings?

I closed my eyes, waiting for the impact…

But I wasn't falling and there was no impact. No impact… No, someone was holding me. Someone had caught me.

Someone holding me? I opened my eyes in complete panic.

Edward Cullen stared down at me in his arms, my wings outstretched so that he and his family that surrounded us could plainly see them.

You could only imagine my facial expression.

A/N: Like it? Love it? Hate it with a passion? Seriously, I want to know.

And I know that I've told many of you that the Cullens wouldn't find out what she was till later but this idea came into my head and it just seemed to fit so well that I had to write it this way.

If any of you are confused, here's the summary of this chapter: Bella found out what the Cullens were at school, went home, Erasers attacked, she lost the fight (sort of) and starting falling because she couldn't fly. The Cullens were running home from a hunt and Bella fell into Edward's arms with her wings out because she couldn't close them (Ari gave her that needle shot, remember?) The Cullens don't know EXACTLY what she is, but now they know that she had wings.

I know that this chapter is filled with stuff so tell me if it's too filled. And how did I do on the fight scene? It's my first time writing one so detailed.

REVIEW!! Since I can't send Cerberus from Daughter of the Ocean after you because I gave him to DarknessXAnime (she asked for him), I'll send… a hungry Mrs. O'Leary! Please review?