Spy Games

Chapter 8

"Why does she like him anyways? I mean, god, this guy isn't even that good looking."

I just made a soft noise, not moving from my spot with my head in Fang's lap. I said I'd go on the spying mission; I didn't say I'd stay awake for it.

"I mean, look at him. He's not hideous or anything, but he's, you know, normal. Just usual. So why is she so caught up on him? Why did she flip out on you for him? Makes no sense. No-"

"Fang," I mumbled then, not opening my eyes. "When you spy, you're supposed to be quiet."

"I mean, just honestly look at him, Max."

I really wished I'd stayed up on the cliff and just slept. Seriously. All Nudge and this guy had done was eat. I hadn't even eaten yet! Fang should have taken someone that actually cared with him, because I sure didn't. Nudge was extremely rude to me in the hut earlier. Let her get knocked up. Let her. See if I care. 'cause I don't.

"What did Angel tell you?" I mumbled then. "She ran off to find you when we kicked her out."

"Oh yeah." He frowned down at me. 'You guys need to leave her alone."

"Okay, Daddy Fang."

"Shut up."

"You baby her."

"And you do?"

"Perhaps," I whispered. 'We need to knock it off though. She's not a baby anymore."

"She's still a child."

"Then start treating her as one."

"You're one to talk."

"I-"

"Shhh. They might hear us."

We both fell silent again, Fang going back to stroking my head.

"Fang, this is boring."

"Sleep, Max. Just sleep." He leaned down then, barely hovering above my ear as he whispered, "My little dove."

Shivering, I smiled as I drifted off. Nudge could look out for herself. After all, she'd been trained by the best.

Slipping Max head from his lap gently, Fang slowly stood, careful to remain hidden. With Max, he'd had to hide further away, in the underbrush and such. Alone though, he could put his power of invisibility to good use and really hear what was going on. Giving his sleeping girlfriend one last look, Fang closed his eyes tightly, concentrating hard. Not too long ago, while playing hide-and-seek with Angel, Fang had discovered that he could control his invisibility. He'd fine tuned it, nearly to protection now.

The tricky part, honestly, was being careful not to crunch too many leaves beneath his feet as he snuck up on the couple. They had their backs to him, the guy roasting fish over the fire they had going, Nudge happily munching away on fruit. It sickened Fang. It truly did.

"-tell me who and who I can't date. You know?"

"Not really," the boy responded to whatever Nudge had said. "I don't have anyone like Max in my life. You know, someone older than me or whatever. It's just me."

"You're so lucky."

"That I don't have a family?"

"Yes."

"Nudge-"

"I'm serious. They're, like, unbearable."

"I dunno. I've seen you guys all together. You guys seem happy most of the time. Joking around with each other and stuff. Especially the blind one.'

"Iggy."

"Yeah. He's real nice and funny. And that younger one? I play soccer with him sometimes."

"They're alright, Gazzy and Iggy, yeah, but I was talking more about Max."

"I can't say anything bad about her," the guy told Nudge as Fang settled down closer to them, blending perfectly in with his surroundings. "She's my leader."

"She's mean."

"You just think that because you guys are so close." He pulled the skewered fish away from the fire. "Here you go."

She just smiled at him. "So you've never, like, had anyone? At all?"

"I did," he said simply, planning on leaving it at that.

"What happened to them?"

Fang really wanted to stop Nudge. He really did. He didn't like this guy, certainly not, but Nudge was being nosey. The Flock hadn't had an easy life, no way, but Fang knew that there were kids on the island with much worse stories. Because no matter what had happened, the Flock had always had each other. Not everyone could be so lucky.

"Not them. Just my little sister." The boy turned his head and spit on the ground, clearly uncomfortable. "She, uh, died before I got to this island. Before that lady, Dr. Martinez, freed me. She wasn't really my sister or anything. Just my friend, I guess. She was only, uh, seven, so whatever. She didn't have wings anyways. I don't think she'd have been allowed here. So it's for the best, I guess."

"I'm sorry," Nudge said then. "I didn't mean to-"

"It's fine. Let's talk about something else." He ripped some fish off with his teeth,

Fang's stomach rumbling softly, reminding him that in his rush, he'd opted out of breakfast. A year or so ago, before island life had begun, skipping a meal would be nothing to him. Now though, it was rare that he didn't squeeze in four meals a day, if not five. He hadn't eaten dinner the previous night as Max had ruined his date idea, so he was running a completely empty stomach.

"Fang hates you."

"Fang?"

"Max's boyfriend."

"Max has a boyfriend?"

Nudge frowned at him. "That guy with the long black hair that's always skulking around her?"

"…I don't think I've ever noticed him before."

"Believe me, he'd be honored."

"What do you mean?"

"He likes to think that he's super sneaky or something. Always lurking around, all brooding and stuff."

"I really don't know who he is. I feel bad. I'm sure I'd know him if I saw him."

"Believe me, you don't want to."

"I'll have to meet him eventually."

"What do you mean?"

"You know, when I meet your family."

Oh God. Fang wanted to vomit. Seriously. Meet her family? Blow his brains out. He would make sure he was off the island when that fiasco happened. You know, if he let this charade of dating last. Nudge dating. Bah. It was a sickening thought to begin with. Why did she even need to date? She didn't. She just needed to be reminded of that fact.

And who better than to remind her than Fang?

I woke up alone, on the ground, leaves and grass in my hair. I'll kill Fang one of these days. I swear.

Yawning, I sat up and looked around. The sun was high in the sky now, the morning having faded to afternoon without me for once. Standing slowly, I took a good look around before opening my wings. I quickly took to the air, heading back up to Fang and my cliff to change clothes and get all that dirt and stuff out of my hair before figuring I had better do a wellness check on the island in general. I started by going to check on hut building.

"Ay, boss."

"Hi, Trevor," I greeted, smiling at the guy in front of me.

He was probably the oldest kid on the island and nearly the strongest. Definitely the most muscular. He was rather on the tall side as well, skin dark as night. He was always extremely nice to me though and loyal all around. He was an easy pick when it came who the put in command of the building department.

"Have you seen my boyfriend?"

"Ay, he was here. He and Kris worked together for awhile till his back gave out. Sent him to the labs, to your mother. Thought it the best place for him."

"Thank you. And has anyone completely ignored their work this week?"

"A few. I'll have a list for you tomorrow, if you'd like."

"I would. Thank you."

He nodded at me before getting back to work, carrying stacks of wood around. Moving right along, I headed to the labs next, knowing I needed to check on the status there and also wanting to find my boyfriend. It wasn't hard, locating him. He was in my mother's lab, lying on his stomach shirtless atop a table.

"What are you guys doing? Are you okay, Fang?"

"Just checking his wings, Max," Mom told me, tapping his right wing. Fang lifted it on command, Mom watching the tendons in his back move, visible under his skin.

"Is everything alright?" I came closer, frowning.

"I'd really like to operate," Mom said, looking at me. "Fang however-"

"You aren't cutting into my flesh." Fang sat up then, frowning at her as he retracted his raven colored wings. "You had my whole life growing up, you and your Whitecoat friends. Playtime's over."

"Fang, knock it off," I said with an eye roll. "Oh, and injured or not, ditching your girlfriend is not cool."

"You were sleeping," Fang defended. Then, nodding at me, he said, "And babe? I am the essence of cool."

Groaning, Mom went over to a countertop, grabbing some pills. "Here, Fang. More painkillers it is, I guess. Until you're ready to brave surgery."

Fang took the pills willingly. I thought about pointing out to him that if Mom really did want to harm him, giving him pills would be the way to go. Maybe some to knock him out. Poison him. I feared though that mentioning that would cause him to refuse them and suffer through unbearable pain. I knew if it came down to it, eventually I'd have to be the one to convince him to go through with surgery. He never listened to anyone else. If he wasn't able to work or get around, then Fang wasn't able to leave the island either. And what was the point then, of Fang? Other than, like, sitting there looking hot for me.

…Sometimes I think I spend too much time wit my sister.

"I gotta put two hours in around here," Fang said told Mom then who just frowned.

"No, you don't."

"I only worked for about an hour down at the huts. I gotta do something."

"You are not fill out anymore paperwork around here."

"Maybe there's something else Fang could do here, Mom," I tried.

"And what would that be, Max?"

"Maybe you could have him help you with your experiments. Like full on help."

"I am not a teacher, Max."

"Please, Mom?" I took a step closer to her, lowering my voice. "He feels all emasculated and stuff now that he can't work. Can't you make up a job for him?"

"I can hear you," Fang complained, jumping off the table. "And if you don't want my help, Dr. Martinez, fine. I'm sure one of the scientists does. Or I'll just go build more huts. Something."

"You do not need to strain your back anymore," Mom told him, but he just shook his head.

"I have to do something. I have to work."

"There's no monetary value in his work," Mom told me after Fang headed off. I made sure he was going deeper into the cave though, knowing that meant he was going to find a scientist to give him an assignment instead of going to do manual labor. "He's gaining nothing from it, but pride."

"He just feels worthless sometimes."

"He suffers from depression."

"What?"

Mom shrugged at me as she continued to do something over at her counter. "It's just what I've observed over this year. There's no true sign of when someone's depressed, but I've always thought Fang was. He has an emotional imbalance, I'm sure, given his parents."

I just stared at her for a moment. "Who were his parents?"

Glancing at me over her shoulder, Mom said, "No one you would know."

"Mom-"

"Max, it's not important. His mother just…was rather ill."

"Ill?"

"Mentally."

"What?"

"Fang wasn't supposed to, you know, actually be a part of the Flock. The Flock wasn't even a thing when they first grafted wings on him. They just needed someone to test things on before they gave them to you. He was a test dummy that overstayed his welcome."

"You don't have to be so brash about it."

Mom let out a long breath. "It's not good to gossip anyways. Though I did plan to tell you eventually. I mean, if you ever had children with him, I would want you to know before hand that he-"

"Mom."

"Oh, Max, like you haven't thought about it before. I know how you, Ella, and Nudge liked to chitchat."

"We don't talk about things like that."

"Not to mention you and Fang sleeping up on the cliff. I might not be young, Max, but I am far from naïve."

"Knock it off. Fang and I aren't dong anything up there."

"So you continue to say." Sighing, she turned to face me fully. "So what was it you needed, sweetheart? Other than to check up on Fang?"

"I just wanted to, you know, talk to you."

"About?"

"Um…If I was dating someone you didn't like, or Ella was, how would you get us to stop without causing us to hate you forever?"

"Max, honestly, I don't think I have any say in your relationships."

"Well, I'd like your blessing, but-"

"As for Ella, I would tell her flat out that she wasn't going to date that person anymore."

"But what about the hate thing?"

"Max, Ella is my daughter. I've raised her since birth. Sacrificed for her. There is no guy that could cause her to truly hate me. Not permanently at least." She stared hard at me. "Now what is this all about?"

"…I don't like the guy that Nudge is dating."

"What don't you like about him?"

That threw me for some reason.

"What do you mean?"

"What is it that you don't like about him?"

"Well…I haven't really met him yet, so I don't really know."

Sighing, she said, "Then why do you hate him?"

"Because Nudge was mean to me this morning when I tried to ask her about him."

"Max," Mom said, shaking her head. "I honestly have a lot to deal with. As do you. Two of the scouts came back today with papers from South America that you must sign."

"Mom-"

"Max, do you want to run this island or not?"

"Kind of."

"Max-"

"It's just a lot more work than you guys made it seem like."

"What did you think you would do, Max? Just hang around all day with your friends?"

I had a feeling she didn't want my honest answer.

"No," I grumbled.

"And as for Nudge's date, you have to let her make her own mistakes. I've let you make yours, have I not? And Ella?"

"I guess so."

"Besides, I know Nudge well enough now to know that it won't be long before this boyfriend is a distant memory."

Was she calling Nudge a slut or something?

"So run along now. Get to work. Your boyfriend, who's injured and can barely move, has done more than you today."

She knew that would get under my skin, the thought of Fang doing more than me. And it did as I exited the lab, headed now to find the scouts so I could collect what I needed from them. But still…work…ugh. Just the thought seemed so mind numbingly awful. I mean, honestly.