I awoke suddenly, startled. What the fuck?

"Forget about the voice, Snow it doesn't matter right now," I told myself. So I wiped sleep out of my eyes and looked outside. It was getting brighter. We had slept through the night, about six hours. Wait…..SIX HOURS?! Oh my god! Angel!

"Guys!" I yelled. "Get up, we slept for six hours!" They all awoke at once. It was kind of creepy, actually. Max wiped the sleep from her eyes.

"Kay, let's go!" Max pulled a sleepy Nudge to her feet, and we flew out the window.

"We're sorry, Angel." I sent her a message through my mind and into hers. "We're coming now. To save you." I hoped she could hear me.

So we were off again. Flying through mountains, over Lake Mead, over some woods, when Max suddenly stopped.

"What is it, Max?" Asked Nudge. Max was facing the ground. I followed her gaze and saw a girl, around my age, or a year younger, next to five fifteen year olds. I was willing to guess that they weren't her boyfriends.

Fang grabbed Max's shirt. "Max, focus."

She shrugged him off, and said "Wait at that cave near Lake Mead." She angled herself downward.

"Wait!" I yelled quickly. She paused briefly.

"I'll come," I smiled and flew after her as we shot down into some bushes. We landed soundlessly and folded in our wings quickly. We watched from behind a bush.

"I told you not to tell anyone about my little situation with Ortiz! It was none of your business! I had to teach him a lesson!" One of the boys was yelling at her. My hands curled into fists. I really didn't like him.

"By beating him up? He looks like he got hit by a car. And he didn't do anything to you," the girl shot back. I smiled. "You go girl," I heard Max think and laughed silently.

"He mouthed off to me. He exists. He breathes my air." Said the same guy, laughing meanly. His stupid friends laughed along. What creeps. Unfortunately, they were armed. Fortunately, I didn't care. Max and I stepped out at the same time. Max glared at them and I cracked my knuckles in anticipation. They looked unimpressed. Surprised, but unimpressed. The boy kept talking.

"So Ella, what have you got to say for yourself?" He taunted her. "Is there any reason I shouldn't teach you a lesson, too?"

"Five guys against one girl. That seems about even," Max interjected sarcastically.

"Shut up, chick." One of them said. "You better-"He didn't finish his sentence before my fist collided with his nose. I heard a crack and couldn't help being satisfied. "Take that, you asshole." I smiled.

Max turned to the girl. 'You might want to run." She quickly obeyed and ran off. The guy whose nose I think I broke glares at me. The leader frowns. "Get them!" The boys came at us. But it wasn't really fair. Five teenage boys against two genetically enhanced teenage girls? They didn't stand a chance. Max's leg collided with the leader's chest and I heard a rib crack. I grabbed the shotgun out of another guy's hands and hit him in the side if the head with it, knocking him out cold. I punched another in the face, as Max (accidentally) broke another's nose. I had dropped the gun, and one of them picked it up and aimed it at us. "You're going to be so sorry," he promised, fire in his eyes.

"Bet we won't," Max winked and we ran. We ran through the underbrush easily, and would have just flown off but we couldn't let them see our wings so we kept running. I hear a loud cracking sound. The gun. "Run faster Snow," Max muttered as we ran faster. I heard another pop and Max pushed me down.

"Ow! What the hell, Max?!" I said, trying not to be too loud. With horror, I saw that she had jumped in front of me, taking a bullet in the shoulder. It would have pierced me through the heart. "Oh Max…. I'm sorry," I apologized quickly. "Can you still run?"

She nodded and we ran on, with Max applying pressure to her shoulder to stop the bleeding. We lost the boys, and I turned to Max as we stopped. "Can you fly?" She tried to extend a wing, then stopped. The pain was obviously too much. It had pierced her through the wing. After living with doctors all my life, I knew an injury when I saw one, and this was bad. "Max, you're going to hate me, but we need help," I told her firmly. "Professional help."

"Snow, we can't go to a normal hospital," she told me firmly.

"I know, but….." and looked around in desperation. Like magic, we were right by a house. Out came Ella with a dog, the girl from before. "Max, it's that girl Ella, I'll ask her to help."

"Snow, are you sure?"

"Yes." I walked over with Max. "Umm…hi," I said to her. She looked up.

"Oh! You're the girls from before! Thanks, by the way." She smiled at us.

"Well um… we need help." I gestured to Max, who was still bleeding. She managed a weak smile. "Hi."

Ella gasped. "Oh my god, did he shoot you?! Antonio, that jerk! I'll get my mom." She ran inside, calling for her mom. She gestured to us. "Come in you two." Should we go inside? I couldn't really trust that many people….. but Max needed help. I helped Max inside and we went to the kitchen, where Ella's mother was. "Hi, Ella told me you were shot by those bullies… That's terrible! Let me just get my stuff. Help's on the way, umm…. Sweetie what's your name?" Ella's mom finished.

"Max." She answered. "And you?" Asked her mom, looking at me.

"Umm… I'm Max's friend. My name is Snow," I told her truthfully. Ella's mom went to get her "stuff", as Max asked "What's her "stuff?"

Ella smiled. "She's a vet. But she's good with people injuries, too." I smiled, thinking about how appropriate that was, since we're two percent bird.

Ella's mom, who told us to call her Dr. Martinez, or Dr. M, helped Max to the bathroom. I followed, and watched as she washed off Max's shoulder, cleansing it. Then she had to cut off Max's outer jacket to get to the tank top, where her shoulder was clearly visible. "Oh crap," was my first thought. Dr. M and Ella would see her wings. But I was too late. Dr. M saw the tip of Max's wing peeking out. "Max," She asked in a controlled voice. "What's that?"

Max laughed nervously. "It's my wing." She smiled sheepishly.

Ella gaped and Dr. M. But for the first time ever, the human accepted the bird kid. She continued to work on Max. "Well Max, your shoulder and wing were both hit," she said. "Okay, first we have to clean it and stop it from bleeding. When's the last time you had a tetanus shot?"

Max looked as surprised as I felt. "Umm...never?"

"Okay I can take care of that too." Dr. M smiled again. She started cleaning Max's wound. "Ella, can you get our guests some juice?" Ella quickly complied. She came back with two tall glasses of juice. I grabbed one, draining it in two seconds flat. Max started draining hers as well, almost as fast as me. And she was supposed to be hurt in her arm! Half an hour later, they had finished and laid Max down in Ella's room to rest. Then they confronted me.

"Snow….." Dr. M paused. "Are you….. like Max?"

I felt speechless. "Uhh…yeah pretty much."

"How…. How did this happen?" Ms. M asked me softly, gently.

"I don't know," I lied after a moment's hesitation. "It's just, we were flying, and we saw Ella in trouble so we went to help her but one of our other friends is in trouble, we need to help her," I blurred suddenly, changing the subject.

"Isn't there anything we can do to help?" Ella's sympathetic voice reached me.

"No, it's just…. We need to fly there, so…." My voice trailed off. It was a lame excuse but it was good enough for her because she merely nodded in understanding.

"So I need to take Max for some tests tomorrow at my lab," Dr. M started. "Snow, would you like to go to school with Ella?"

My heart almost stopped. Me? Go to school?