I'm just doing so good this weekend! Three chapters in a row, that's a record!! Maybe I'm feeling generous, maybe I just have a lot of time…..you never know! And this chapter has to be dedicated to Someoneyoudon'tknowprobably! That review for chapter six was funny! And I agree!
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"What do you mean?" I demanded, my voice just under a shout.
Fang squeezed my hand—his version of a reassuring hug.
"Well, I'll need time and I don't know….But I'll try, Max. I swear I'll try."
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The next day, the flock and I were having loads of fun flying and playing a little ways down the beach. And swimming. Swimming is especially fun when you have invisible gills and don't have to come up for air.
Around noon, we walked down the beach towards the house, and went around to the front door, ready for lunch. A really big lunch.
But as soon as Gazzy yanked open the door, like fifty people yelled "Surprise!"
I immediately froze.
"Max!" My mom called, pushing through the crowd.
"What's—What's this?" I stuttered.
"The neighbors are here to welcome you guys to your new home. We've been planning this for a while." She explained.
"A party…." I said slowly.
She nodded.
The rest of the flock had already been introduced to kids their ages. Except me and Fang. Nudge was talking excitedly to a little girl with blonde hair that was her age. Angel was showing Total to about three girls that looked to be around her age.
Gazzy and Iggy were in the same positions. Iggy had a few guys his age talking to him, as well as Gazzy.
"Iggy's supposed to be Brian, Gazzy is James, Fang is Nick, Nudge is Krystal, and Angel is Angela. Jeb and I adopted all of you guys, except you, Max. That didn't change. Call Jeb 'Dad' around everyone." My mom whispered into my ear.
"And I'm assuming that everyone besides me knew this?" I asked.
"We went over it yesterday while you were out."
My eyes narrowed.
"Jeb and I are divorced and I'm just visiting." She added.
"Are you Max?" a girl my age with short brown hair asked. I nodded.
"Cool. I'm Stephanie. Everyone just calls me Steph, though." She said.
She looked pointedly at my hand that was laced with Fang's.
"I thought he was your brother." She said.
"Um, not really. He's just…it's different than that, really." I attempted to explain.
"Oh." That was all she said.
Fang squeezed my hand once more and moved away. I saw what direction he was going in, and started to follow. I hesitated and looked back at Stephanie.
"Food." I said and followed Fang.
I went into the kitchen and began to fill two plates with food. I noticed that Stephanie had followed and had only put a little sandwich on a napkin.
"Do you normally eat like this, or are you just starving today?" she asked with a smile.
"I always eat like this." I said nonchalantly. 'What about you? You not hungry or are you on a..a diet or something?" I asked, not trying to be rude.
"I ate before I came." She said, smiling. I smiled too. I guess she was kind of okay.
I noticed that Fang had disappeared and my heart gave a little cute.
"Is something wrong with your brother? Brian, I think." She said, looking at Iggy, who was trailing behind Gazzy, looking nervous.
"He's blind." I said, like I was talking to a kindergartener.
"Oh my gosh, how did that happen? Was he born that way?" she asked, actually sounding concerned. I frowned.
"Um….yeah. I think." I said. It made since. Technically, with our cover story, I could say that, since,--in our cover story—I hadn't known Iggy since he was born.
"You wanna eat in my room?" I asked suddenly, surprising both myself and Stephanie.
"Uh, sure. That'd be cool." We both pushed through the crowd and I led her up the stairs and all the way down the hallway.
I pushed open my door and she gasped.
"I'm totally jealous of your room!" she said with envy.
"I know." I said, and we both cracked up. We sat on the window seat and she munched on her sandwich while I noisily wolfed down my food.
About seven later, both of my plates were empty.
"How do you stay so skinny if you eat like that every day? Not to be rude, but I'm seriously curious." She asked.
"Well, I need about 3,000 calories a day, minimum. And I stay skinny because of my w—Well, I exercise a lot every day." I almost said wings. Why would I tell this normal girl with a normal life about my seriously weird, complicated, and really tiring life.
"Oh. Is it like a medical condition or something?" she asked.
"Sure." I mumbled and turned to stare out of the window.
I really wanted to be in the sky right now. I was even ready to risk snapping out my wings in front of this stranger.
My thoughts were interrupted when I heard a knock at the door.
I looked up and called "Come in."
Fang steeped through the door.
"Um, can I borrow Max for a few minutes?" He asked Stephanie.
"I don't mind. I'll go back downstairs." She stood up as Fang moved over to me. "I'll see you later." She called back at the door. "Later." I called back.
Once she was out of range, Fang grabbed my hand and pulled me up. "I have a surprise. That I just found." I followed him down the stairs and then under them, to a door that wasn't the bathroom.
"Where does this go?" I asked. I remembered seeing it, and then…Oh, yeah, it was the basement, which was the guest room. It had a bathroom down there, too.
Fang looked around, making sure nobody saw us and he led me down the stairs.
"Yeah, this is where Mom is staying. For now." I mumbled, mostly to myself.
"Yeah, and our escape." He said with a tiny smile. He opened a door and I saw stairs. That went up.
"Where does this go?" I asked again, impatient this time. His smile grew.
"Up."
We climbed steadily up the stairs. Until we reached a door at the top. Fang opened it, and I gasped, then smiled. We were on the roof.
"Well, what're you waiting for? Let's go." Fang called, and then hurled himself into the sky, his beautiful black wings unfurling, almost purple in the sunlight. He was soon a tiny speck even with my raptor vision. I sighed, watching him turn through the sky, looking very much like a hawk. Fang had always been the most graceful of us.
I sighed again and threw myself upwards, snapping out my wings at the last second, and felt that wonderful feeling of the wind gathering under them, blowing through my feathers.
I have to say, my wings were pretty darn impressive. All thirteen feet of bird kid glory.
Very soon I was right below Fang, who was smiling down at me. "Thank you." I said, just loud enough for him to hear. Let me tell you, it took mucho amounts of pride-swallowing for me to say that.
His grin widened.
"You're welcome." He said softly. I almost didn't catch it.
Finally, after eons of wonderful flying, full of wheeling through the sky, flying tag, and very careful kissing, Fang swooped down—carefully—and kissed me once more. This kiss was so awesome. I mean, it was like nothing I'd ever felt before. I quit flapping my wings, forgetting how to, forgetting my name, forgetting everything except Fang. We dipped about twenty feet, since Fang was holding all of the weight. I felt him grin against my mouth, and then we were falling.
Have you ever kissed while freefalling? Well, I guess you haven't. But let me tell you, it sure is something. We fell forever, never breaking the kiss. When the ground was scary close, Fang started flapping again, and pulled away, his hair blown straight up from the wind.
We were both laughing hard, and staring at each other in wonder. I finally pushed away from him and flew on my own.
"Wow." I managed. Fang chuckled once more.
"We should head back." He said, and we both swooped around in big graceful arcs and aimed downward.
We landed on the roof without any sound. Well, except for the noise of the trees whapping us in the face. It was way worse landing and going downwards through the trees than it was taking off and going through them.
We snuck back to the party and acted like we hadn't gone anywhere. Stephanie saw me and waved me over. She was with a couple of other girls our age.
Her eyebrows rose slightly at the sight of my messy hair.
"Max, this is Destiny, and Sarah." She motioned first to a redhead, who I immediately disliked because she was one) a redhead, and two) looking at Fang. Stephanie motioned next to a petite strawberry blonde.
"Uh, hey." I said awkwardly. They both mumbled 'hi' and smiled.
They both suddenly seemed to have somewhere else to be and walked off.
"Where did you guys go?" Stephanie asked immediately after they were gone.
"The roof." I said, which was partly true. "It's windy." I added, which was completely true.
"And what did you guys do up there?' she asked, one eyebrow raised.
"Nothing." Again, the truth. We didn't make out until we were way above the roof.
She rolled her eyes. "Sure. And I stayed down here with a talking dog." She said, sarcasm dripping. I couldn't help it. I laughed. She didn't know how right she was. She really had stayed here with a talking dog.
"What?" she demanded.
"You don't—" I giggled again. "Nothing." I finally said.
She rolled her eyes, then smiled.
"I know this will sound extremely weird to you, but your brother, Brian, is really cute." I gagged involuntarily.
"Sorry, what?" I asked, not sure if I'd heard right.
"Brian, he's really cute. And it's so cool how he never misses the trashcan or a high five or misplaces anything. And it's way cool how he doesn't make a mess when he eats." She said, blushing.
"Yeah, okay. I'll remember to mention that to him." I muttered absently, searching the room of crowded people for Fang. I saw him go down the hallway upstairs.
I bolted for the stairs, fear gripping my heart. A trickle of ice cold terror dribbled down my spine.
Oh no. I hoped that his day wasn't today. I couldn't remember anymore.
I crashed into his room, only to see him collapsed on his bed.
"Fang!" I cried, throwing myself at him.
"Who's Fang?" Stephanie demanded from behind me.
I ignored her.
"Fang? Oh god, talk to me!" I choked on a sob, and rolled Fang over.
"S'nothin'." He mumbled.
"Fang, it's—It's not today, is it?" I asked in a small voice.
"No. Jus' not feelin' good. Tired. It comes and goes like this. Since I found it." He breathed, his voice barely a whisper.
"Why didn't you tell me?" I demanded. His eyelids fluttered open, and his hurting black eyes locked onto mine.
"Didn't want you to worry." He muttered, closing his eyes again.
"Tell me next ti—" I was interrupted by Stephanie.
"What's going on? Why do you keep calling him Fang? Is he okay? Do I need to get somebody, call 911 or something?" she demanded.
"I'm fine." Fang whispered.
"M' kay." He mumbled.
His breathing evened out and slowed. He was asleep.
I stood, pulled of his shoes and threw a blanket over him.
"What's going on, Max?" Stephanie demanded again.
"I—I can't explain it. It's nothing." I insisted, pushing past her and going into my room.
She followed me and sat on my bed.
"What did you mean when you asked if 'it' was today?" she asked.
"Nothing."
"Why were you calling him Fang? Is that his nickname or something?" I disliked her more every second.
"No! It's his freaking name, now just leave me alone, okay?!" I shouted.
Her eyes widened with fear. I knew I looked menacing.
"Why—Why's his name Fang?" She never gave up, did she?
I was so angry, I didn't even think about what I was doing.
I threw open my window and tossed myself out, unfurling my wings and pouring on the speed, not caring who saw.
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Wowie, I ended this with 2107 words! This is a loooong chapter, and it has another cliffy!! Mwahahahaha! Reviews please! Reviews make me happy, and me being happy produces more long chapters faster!