MAX
I wrapped my arms around him and twisted so that my body cushioned his fall. We hit the ground hard and rolled a few yards before coming to a stop. My heart was slamming against my chest and I had the worst ringing in my ears. My stomach suddenly flipped and I crawled as far away as I could before my body forced itself to vomit.
Once it stopped I spat and sat back, my eyes and nose were stinging. I wiped my mouth off and heard someone's feet hit the ground behind me.
Interesting…
"Who are you and what are you doing in my head?" I hissed as I stumbled up and faced whoever was behind me.
"Max?" Iggy's friend asked tentatively, reaching his arms out to confront me as if I were a wild animal.
Maybe I am.
Have you ever done something like that before Max?
"I…"
What just happened? I was on the other side of the park moments ago. How did I?
"Did you… teleport?" Iggy's friend asked in disbelief. "When were they passing out super soldier serum samples?"
The ringing in my head was getting louder and I felt bruises starting to form on my shoulder and hip. The pain was just… too much.
Careful.
ARI
Max's eyes rolled back in her head and she crumpled. I lunged forward and caught her, setting her down softly. Never took Max for the faint-y type, but then again, she just teleported. At least I think she did. I'll just—process that later. I saw Iggy descending not far from me and I shook my head, why is everyone flipping shit?
That blonde pip-squeak Max had just knocked out of the sky was attempting to haul himself up off the ground.
"You. What exactly did you do to my sister?" I interrogated as I took a few steps towards him.
He scrambled all over himself to get away but I easily caught him by his hair and flipped him so he was facing me. Iggy must of slugged him good up in the air, his eye was nearly swollen shut.
"We're on the same freakin' side idiot!" The kid yelled at me.
"You aren't really in the position to be calling me an idiot." I laughed as I rattled him a little.
His face scrunched up and I couldn't help chuckling.
"Me 'n Nudge thought that… Max was one of their Recons. We were just trying to protect ourselves!" He insisted.
"What's a Recon and who's 'they'?" I asked.
This guy obviously lost his marbles, or they got jostled around when he dropped a few hundred feet.
"There's only two Recons… that me 'n Nudge know of. A girl and a guy. Light and dark, like an angel and a demon," He muttered. "They just keep huntin' you, never stoppin'. Anyone who tried to get in their way will just end up dead, erased, like all the others."
I had a sinking feeling in my gut.
"A wavy haired blonde chick and a darker black haired guy?" I asked.
He nodded silently and I set him down.
"What was your name again?" I asked.
"Gaz, my friend is Nudge." He said as he rubbed his head.
This is just great.
"How long have these 'Recons' been hunting you for?" I asked.
"Three years, two for Nudge." He answered bitterly.
"And who's 'they'?"
"We aren't completely sure…"
Fan-freaking-tastic…
IGGY
It happened… again.
I pressed my palms into my eyes to try and stop the ache, but it didn't help. It never helps. I was in the middle of a cumulus cloud, a few hundred feet off the ground. The cold precipitation helped me calm down and get back into focus. My knuckles stung like I had punched something hard—that was never a good sign. I splayed out my arms and legs and let some air through my feathers, steadily descending.
What had I done this time?
A few seconds ago I had been talking to Max… How could she not remember who she was? That bandage on her head… Max doesn't know who I am, maybe that's for the best. I've been getting more and more unstable lately. If it's for the best why does my chest feel like that?
Whenever Max gets close enough to me it triggers the same memory of when she whispered in my ear at Dave's party. She was telling me about her secret. Her voice sent shivers through my entire body. Good shivers. Amazing shivers. Wrong thoughts for a time like this.
My feet hit the ground and I walked towards the Nudge girl. She was attempting to untie Ari's bonds with her teeth and it wasn't working very well. Interesting—improvisation—from both of them. Ari was the one who needed to get hit in the head, maybe he'd quit the irrational hostility towards me... or maybe it wasn't that irrational.
I crouched down and untied the girl's bonds. I felt her body smash into mine, I lost balance and cracked my head against the ground. Ouch. Godamnit. I shoved her off as nicely as I could—okay, that's a lie but I didn't hurt her. I'm just glad that head thing didn't set me off, it's so unpredictable lately—er—I'm so unpredictable lately.
"—" She screeched as she pounded my chest.
After a moment I just stopped trying to decipher what she was saying. This is ridiculous, what exactly did I do to deserve this? Well, I probably deserved it, haha. God knows what I did. After a few minutes I shoved her off once again.
"Calm down." I told her as nicely as possible.
It was either 'calm down' or 'you need a muzzle'.
"Calm down? CALM DOWN? Who do you think you are, telling me to CALM DOWN!"
Ugh.
ARI
Gaz and I turned to see where the ungodly ruckus was coming from. Iggy was getting royally bitched out by that Nudge chick, which, I totally understand. I'd most likely be pissed the hell off if someone dropped my bud from a thousand feet or two. I should probably be backing Iggy up, since it was my sister's head that got bashed, but this was just priceless.
"I'm assuming you're like us." I said as I gestured towards my back and extended a wing a few inches, not once tearing my eyes from the scene.
Gaz nodded, miming me.
"I would of just caught myself when I was falling but my shirt doesn't have holes in it." He mumbled, embarrassed.
The Iggy vs. Nudge battle calmed down a bit.
"We need to get the hell out of here before someone calls the cops." I thought aloud as I surveyed the mess we'd created.
"If there are cops, Recons will be right behind them." Gaz added helpfully.
That's motivation enough for me. I picked up Max and slung her over my shoulder.
"I'm grateful 'n all, but what's up with the teleporting?" Gaz asked as he walked with me back to Iggy and Nudge, who were back to being all over each other.
Room please, sheesh.
"The teleporting is new, definitely new." I said.
Iggy's head jerked up.
"What teleporting?" He asked, totally confused.
Nudge took the opportunity to knock Iggy's feet out from under him. You know how it goes; the bigger they are, the harder they fall.
MAX
Wednesday
"Wake up sleepyhead."
I opened my eyes. My body feels like one gigantic bruise and ugh, my mouth tastes like day old vomit.
"Iggy…" I mumbled groggily.
For a moment his eyes lit up with a hopeful expression but it left as fast as it had appeared. I propped myself up and quickly pressed a hand against my head, although it didn't do jackshit. My poor head… After the slight dizziness let up, I took in my surroundings.
We were in a motel room with two double beds and a skimpy kitchenette. The bathroom was in the corner. The T.V. was playing some reality show on mute and only a dim light was on. Iggy and I were on one bed and that one girl was on the other, sprawled out and practically snoring. I picked up a glass of water from the bedside table ad chugged it, rinsing my mouth out.
"Who's that?" I asked quietly, pointing to the girl.
"Nudge." Iggy replied.
"Oh."
"You really don't remember anything?"
"Nothing…"
Tell him the truth Max.
"Well, I remember some things I just don't know their… context, I guess." I attempted to explain.
There is a voice in my head.
"I don't understand."
"I remember things people said, but not who said it or when. Or I remember a place but I don't know why I was there or when. It's incredibly frustrating." I said quietly.
Iggy frowned and lightly touched my hand with his, in a kind gesture.
"Well, you probably need to be filled in on the details huh?" He asked with a grin.
"Yeah, I guess so."
"First off, you passed out after you teleported in the park—still trying to figure that one out. You've been sleeping for nearly twenty-two hours, Ari had to carry you everywhere. Oh, that tall blonde doofus is Ari, your younger brother." Iggy began.
"Wait, wait!" I interrupted. "I teleported?"
"Apparently. I—" Iggy hesitated. "Got angry and hauled Gaz—that's the shorter blonde doofus—up a few thousand feet then let him go. Ari was gonna catch him but you beat him to it. One minute you weren't there and the next you were."
"I didn't even…" I was at a loss for words.
"Forget about it for now, no point in stressing yourself out," Iggy offered sympathetically. "The thing you should be worrying about is what you were saying in your sleep. Sheesh. Nudge and I have been looking out for you while you caught up on your beauty sleep and you've basically recited an entire erotic novel that involved Robert Downey Jr. and Chris Hemsworth. Not a bad combo in my opinion, but at one point I had to cover that kid's ears."
My jaw dropped. "What?"
A grin quickly plastered itself across Iggy's face followed by his hysterical laughter. After a moment or two, he clutched his sides and started complaining about 'the pain' and how much it 'burned'.
I just crossed my arms and frowned, although I wanted to laugh too.
"Continue with the real explanations please." I demanded.
"Okay, okay. That was funny though, admit it." He irked.
"Iggy."
"Fine. Nudge is Gaz's buddy, she's the beast sleeping on that bed over there, but you know that. Not even my insane laughter can wake her up from her slumber. The third blonde doofus is Iggy, and he's your uh… well, best friend I guess. Although one time you were drunk off your ass and nearly tried to get in his pants, stop looking at my pants."
I laughed. Couldn't help it.
"Ha ha, very funny." I wasn't falling for that again.
"For once I'm actually serious." He said plainly with a shrug and a half smile.
"What? No way."
On second thought, way. Iggy's qwerky smile, his pale blue eyes, his carefree demeanor, the way you can tell he's listening to your every word, and that blonde hair with the slightest red hue that always seems perfectly moussed although Iggy obviously knows nothing about hair and doesn't own a drop of hair gel—I just want to run my fingers through it.
And his body…
"Uh, Max, I'd appreciate it if you stopped staring creepily at me. It's creepy." Iggy joked nervously, running a hand through his hair.
"So what exactly happened at this 'party'?" I asked, trying to distract myself.
"Well I was an idiot and gave you a drink—or two—and then you basically pranced around making a total fool of yourself and I felt a little bad so I stuck around to make sure you didn't fall off a cliff or something. You forced me to dance with you and also forced yourself upon me, even though I totally resisted." He explained as innocently as possible.
"For some reason I doubt that." I laughed.
"I'm just trying to not come off as a total creep, okay? I admit that I'm not a total angel, happy?"
We both looked at each other for a moment, totally silent. I hope I don't regret this.
I weaved my arms around his neck and closed the small space between us. I hesitated, then pressed my lips against his. Iggy was tense and unresponsive at first but he quickly melted into me, pulling me even closer. He tasted like…
Strawberries? Whatever it was, it was delicious.
"Now, I'm happy." I whispered between kisses.
Iggy and I suddenly lost balance and we fell onto the bed. My chuckle was quickly silenced by Iggy's mouth.
Be careful who you kiss, Max.
That voice… Oh God. I turned my head away from Iggy and covered my face with my hands. Some random person is in my head watching or listening or feeling me make out with Iggy. Ew, ew, ew—
Iggy crouched over me and kissed me anyway. I tried to pull away but he held me tighter, resisting. I felt anger spike through me. What the hell was Iggy doing?
He shifted and pulled away slightly, just to catch his breath. His eyes weren't blue… they were stone cold black with a sliver of blue edging the rim.