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Nick settled into an armchair across from the two on the sofa, his elbows resting on his knees. The throbbing in his head seemed less insistent at that angle. His dark eyes scanned over Max as she sat across from him. He should be upset or freaked out or something other than calmly anticipating whatever they were going to say. And he had a sense that whatever came out of their mouths wouldn't freak him out, even if they told him that he was some kind of alien and it was time to return to the mother ship. He focused on Max, drinking in everything about her. Whatever it was, it would be okay as long as he could stay by her side.

Iggy returned from the kitchen with three beers in his hands. He set one next to Nick and the others right in front of Max. He dropped to the couch with easy grace and rubbed a hand through his messy auburn hair.

Max reached for a beer as soon as Iggy set them down and took a very long drink. She looked like she was going to snap herself in half with all the tension in her body.

The three of them stared at each other for a while, both Nick's and Iggy's gazes steady while Max's eyes darted around the room without settling on anything. Finally, Iggy rolled his eyes and cleared his throat.

"As you may have realized, for reasons you have yet to learn, we know you," he started. "You, actually, know us, too, but those memories - the real memories - are buried very deep, under layers of artificially implanted life experiences and perceptions. There are six of us. Myself, Max, you, Nudge, the Gasman or Gazzy, and Angel. And Total, but he's the dog. We're not like everyone else, which is why we've stuck together and why we spent the first seventeen years of our lives running for, well, our lives."

Nick took a small drink from his beer, glancing at Max. Her eyes were wide and hazy, locked on him. She looked so terrified that he could feel his own gaze softening as their eyes met. "What's so special about us, then?"

The Irish one glanced at Max and nudged her with his foot.

"We're part bird," she blurted out.

Iggy pressed his palm to his forehead and leaned his head forward in mild irritation.

Nick only raised an eyebrow.

"Sorry," she said. "We are human-avian hybrids, the first successful recombination experiment that has outlasted the expiration programmed into our DNA. Each of us contains approximately 2% avian DNA which endows us with quite a few additional advantages over the rest of the human population." She sucked her bottom lip between her teeth and bit down, watching his reaction carefully.

"Like what?" he asked.

Iggy heaved himself up off the couch and pulled his shirt up over his head, tossing it to Max. He rolled his shoulders and turned around.

Nick actually felt his eyes widen and his mouth drop open he took in the large pair of mottled wings as they untucked from the man's back and extended out a bit into the space around him.

"As you can see," Iggy said. "We have wings, along with ridiculously fast metabolisms, hollow long bones and senses that far surpass the average human."

"You said 'we.' I sure as hell don't have wings." Nick pressed his fingertips to his temple as he leaned back and took another drink from his beer.

Max's forehead wrinkled as she looked at him. "You do have wings, actually. When we were captured, made to forget, the scientists didn't want to destroy what we were by removing our wings. They pumped us full of drugs that made our feathers molt completely without growing back and sealed them into our backs with some kind of organic polymer that releases that chemical continuously into our bodies. The only way to get your wings back is to remove the polymer and wait for the feathers to regrow."

"And how is that supposed to happen?"

She pressed her lips together in a tight thin line. "It takes a while." She leaned forward suddenly, pressing the heels of her hands into her eyes. A shuddering gasp tore from her throat and she moaned.

Iggy was instantly on his knees next to her, his fingers pressing against the base of her skull. She ripped one hand away from her eyes and locked it around his wrist. He didn't react to the deep crescents her nails dug into his skin. "This," he said, "is their sick little joke. They provided a way for us to get our memories back, or they just underestimated how strong we are, but all that pain you've been feeling is a result of what they did. They buried our memories under deep, deep layers of...whatever. Our true selves are triggered by Max. Once she remembered one of us, that broke something they did in her brain. She's remembered how each of us feel to her once we come in contact with her, but the actual memories take a while to come out."

The throbbing came back in full force as he watched her face, as he heard Iggy's words. His vision darkened and he saw her again, wide-eyed and nervous as a skinny boy barely taller than she put his arms around her and clumsily pressed his lips to hers. Jealously flared inside him. She shouldn't be kissing that freak. He could never understand what she needed. He could never treat her the way she deserved. Nick scoffed, but he couldn't tear his eyes away. What if he was wrong...

With a start, he came back to himself. He blinked slowly and inhaled a shaky breath. Max was still digging deep crescents in Iggy's wrist, but her eyes were open and they pinned him with an intensity that took his breath away. Maybe it should have bothered him, but he only quirked one corner of his mouth at her. Those words in his head had been right. He was home.

Nick heaved himself out of the chair and crashed on the couch at her side. One arm slid around her shoulders and pulled her tightly against him, leaning his forehead on hers. She twisted her free hand into his shirt and screamed. The next second, her body relaxed and she fell over like a rag doll.

Iggy groaned as he dislodged her nails from his skin. "Well, in good news, that part of it is over for her." He sat back on the floor and rubbed the blood away with the hem of his shirt. "All of the barriers the scientists installed to block her memory are gone. She's going to remember everything, you especially, without the headaches anymore."

"That'll be nice. How much longer do I have?" Nick wondered. He settled back against the cushions after moving Max into a more comfortable position with her head on his lap.

The red-head shrugged. "It's hard to say. It took Nudge almost three months to get herself back. It sucked. And Angel got hers back the instant she saw Max again. It's been different for all of us."

Nick twisted a lock of her hair through his fingers, secretly enjoying the softness. "What was my name?"

"Fang. You're the second oldest, two months younger than Max, give or take. That also made you second in command."

"What was I to her?"

"To who, Max?" Iggy's mouth twisted and his forehead wrinkled. "I don't know if I'm the right person to tell you. Things were a little unresolved when we were separated." He sighed. "I do know that the both of you were ridiculously in love with each other, but super-in denial about it. You were going back and forth so fast it gave the rest of us whiplash." He scrubbed his hands through his hair.

A jolt went through his skull and he hissed.

"It's easier if you don't fight it," Iggy advised.

Nick set his jaw and pushed the pain to the back of his consciousness. "I'll let it run its course when I know she's fine."

The corners of Iggy's mouth curved up. "Same as ever."