Authors Note: My updating is so . . . mediocre. (Because really it's not as bad as I like to think it is)

READ IT BECAUSE YOU KNOW YOU WANT TO!

Chapter Sixteen:

Mistaken

The very tips of my toes skimmed the ledge of the rocky outcropping; just barely breaching the deep void beneath me. The distance to the ground was dizzying, causing me to sway dangerously as I craned to see the dusty, brown, barren desert below. My arms were spread out at my sides, fingers splayed wide like that would help me keep my balance if I were to pitch forward into the unknown.

I squinted into the bright light of the sun, whose perch at the highest point in the sky was blinding with a fiery intensity that made it hard to breath. It bobbed and shimmered in my vision, floating in the surreal sea of deep blue water that was the sky.

Behind me the silent, inky enclosure of the cave beckoned to me. It's dirt floor and smooth, red walls seemed much safer than the unidentifiable in front of me. All I had to do was take a few steps back, and all the potential danger I was in would be gone.

An unfamiliar pressure on my back kept me glued to the spot though, feet immobile. I could feel the weight of it there, pushing me onward like an actual animate object. With each small breeze that blew towards me, they rustled and twitched.

Wings.

They were slightly folded; the span of them too large for the open mouth I was standing at. I could feel the soft feathers rubbing against my bare skin though, poking and prodding. A voice inside my head whispered to me; urging me on.

Fly, it demanded in a hushed, muted tone. Fly, fly, fly.

How, how, how? was what I wanted to scream, but no other sound, even from myself, reached my ears. It was as if I was deaf to the entire world, my ears filled with an impenetrable amount of cotton. The only noises I heard were from my mind; my own thoughts and that voice that continued to order me.

Fly, it said. Fly.

Then my limbs were moving, without my conscious permission. I was stepping back, without taking my gaze from the horizon in front of me. At first I felt relief, thinking I was giving up. But the only thing I was giving was in. In to the nagging voice in my head that was telling me to spread my wings and go with the flow of the wind.

I panicked, brain whirring to stop my arms from where they began pumping at my sides as I ran, and my legs as they crouched down; ready to take a running leap into the formidable sky ahead of me.

It happened anyway.

Before I knew it, there was no hard ground beneath my feet. For a single, split second in time I was suspended without motion; hanging in nothing but air. That didn't last as long as I would have hoped though. In the blink of an eye I was free falling, slicing through the seemingly calm atmosphere even though my heart was racing like it was the exact opposite.

Fly. I was supposed to fly. Not fall.

My wings wouldn't work though. They just twisted painfully on my back, completely useless as the ground -and my impending doom it seemed- grew ever closer. I struggled to gain some sort of upper-hand, but it was a lost cause. I was losing the battle before it even started.

There was nothing I could do but try not to scream as I squeezed my eyes shut tight and hoped it wouldn't hurt too bad when I hit the ground.

And hit the ground I did.

My breath was knocked out of me harshly as I impacted with the carpet, which offered no cushion much to my distaste. I lay on my back, gasping in breaths as quietly as I could. I had a feeling the thump my body had made as it came in contact with the floor was enough to wake at least Ella up, though.

Sure enough, not a moment after I had thought this, she began stirring across the room. With a shake of her matted head she sat up, rubbing her eyes. Yawning she peered down at me, confused and groggy.

"Max?" she inquired sleepily. A bewildered look leaped across her face as her thought process caught up to her a little more. "What are you doing on the floor?"

I winced a bit, sitting up. Rubbing my head I looked up at my bed, where my blankets were a tangled mess; half off the mattress. My pillow, as it was, was somehow on the other side of the room, near the door.

"I fell off when I was sleeping," I explained. It seemed the most likely guess. Besides, with the dream I had been having, I'm sure I had been thrashing around at least a little bit; if the placement of my bed was any indication of that, or my position now.

"Oh," she muttered, her mouth gaping wide as another heavy sigh passed her lips. Without another word she collapsed back onto her pillow, rolling so that her back was facing me. Within a few seconds her breathing relaxed and she was asleep once more.

Not feeling the least bit tired anymore, I peeked at the clock. It was around five thirty. Not exactly the prime time for waking in the morning, but good enough for me. And after yet another strange wings dream I was anything but ready to fall back asleep, lest something like it happen again.

Pushing myself to my knees I wrestled the blankets back onto my bed, tossing my pillow on it as well once I managed to clamber to my feet properly. I opened the door as swiftly and softly as I could, creeping out into the hallway without disturbing any other inhabitants.

Angel and Gazzy shared a room just beside mine, so I stopped outside their door. Placing my ear up against the wood I listened for signs of life, but it seemed that my accident had escaped their notice. Fighting down the urge to go in and check on them I turned away, heading for the stairs.

To my surprise, a soft glow was already coming from the kitchen. As I approached the golden arch it created loomed larger, until I was squinting in the doorway from its brightness. After my vision had adjusted I saw Aunt Val sitting at the table, staring out the window blankly. She didn't seem to notice me until I fully stepped forward, the floorboards creaking under my weight.

"Good morning, Max," she greeted me somewhat cheerfully, trying for a smile. I could see the troubled look in her eyes, though. Something was definitely bothering her, even if she was trying to hide it. "You're up awfully early."

"Couldn't sleep anymore," I offered up as an excuse, taking a seat across from her. "Didn't you hear a big thump?"

Her dark brown eyes -almost a mirror of mine, actually- focused more directly on me. "Actually no," she said with a light laugh. "I've been kind of . . . spacing for awhile. Just thinking some things over."

"Like what?" I inquired. I was doing my best to have a normal conversation with her. After all, it wasn't her fault she had to go back to Arizona and steal away my family with her. Deep down I knew she wouldn't be doing it if she didn't absolutely have to.

"Everything. Work. Moving. The kids. You in particular," she admitted, smiling sheepishly. A tendril of curly hair fell into her face, and she brushed it back with a practiced ease, tucking it behind her ear.

"What about me?" I asked, my brow furrowing.

"Your mom told me what you decided to do."

Ahh. Of course.

"Are you mad?" I managed to say after a slight moment of hesitation. Despite my anger towards her before, I honestly cared about her opinion. She was my aunt, after all. I was losing her, too.

To my utter surprise, she laughed.

"Mad? Why would I be mad?" she demanded, shaking her head like I was completely silly for thinking such a thing. "If anything, I'm proud of you, Max. You're making decisions for yourself; for your future. You see what's at stake by leaving here, and you recognize that it's too much to lose. Most people my age can't make informed decisions like that. So yes, I'm very proud of you."

Okay, so maybe I was glowing a little bit by the end of that.

"Besides, I understand. At least I think I do, so forgive me if I'm wrong. And it may me hard to believe, but I can relate. Your mother and I grew up in Arizona. Did she ever tell you that?" Aunt Valencia went on, a sparkle in her eyes as she spoke.

"No, she never said anything about that," I replied, curious.

"Well we did. Then, when I was about twelve and she was probably ten, our father got a job offer in upstate New York. It was too much of a good deal to refuse, so that summer we packed up all our things and moved across the country."

"That must have been hard," I commented, biting my lip.

"It was," she acknowledged, running a hand through her hair. "But we all managed. After some time, everybody seemed to find a place. Dad did well at his new job, Mom bonded with the neighbors and Rebecca made so many friends it was unbelievable . . ."

"What about you?" I prodded, even more interested in her tale.

"I never found my niche, to say the last," she continued wistfully, staring off in the distance like she was lost in the memories of it all. "I couldn't wait until I turned eighteen. As soon as I did I would be gone. There wasn't anything in the world that I wanted more than to be in Arizona again. Nothing."

"You got what you wanted then, didn't you?"

"Of course. Everything worked out flawlessly. I went back to Arizona where I felt I truly belonged, and your mother stayed in New York; the place that she loved. It all panned out for everybody, really. The point I'm trying to make though, is that I don't want you to feel the way I did," she said solemnly, her gaze locking with mine once more.

"What do you mean?" I asked in confusion.

"New York is your home. You don't want to leave, and I don't want to force you to either. As much as I would love for you to come with us, you're at an age where you can choose the life that you want to live. That's something I neither have, nor want, control over. It's all up to you."

And that's how, in the wee hours of the morning when nobody else had yet to awaken, I felt for the first time that I had completely made the right decision.

- }{ -

Fang was really starting to piss me off. Again. All I wanted to do was tell him the good news; that I was staying in the city. It made perfect sense then, that he was absolutely nowhere to be found, as per usual.

I called his phone a million times. Left numerous messages. I even went around to Iggy's place to see if he was lurking there.

"So you haven't seen him?" I asked helplessly, leaning heavily on the door frame to Iggy's apartment. The blind boy in question stood with his hand propped on the door, shaking his head sadly.

"Sorry, Max. He hasn't been over in the past few days. I talked to him this morning though. He said he had some lunch thing with his parents right about now. That's probably why he hasn't called you back," Iggy insisted emphatically. I felt a little better after that. I mean, it seemed logical enough.

"Yeah, you're probably right. I just . . . I shouldn't have to make a habit out of having to hunt him down. He was always there before, and now it's like he's going into hiding or something. Has he said anything to you?"

Oh God. Was I really having a heartfelt conversation about my feelings towards Fang with Iggy? Of all the people in the world I could talk to, it had to be him? I was officially going bonkers. Something wasnot right with my head.

"No," Iggy responded, a little too quickly. Some emotion flickered across his face, but it was gone before I could identify it. Suspicious, much? I think yes. "I'm sure everything's fine. You'll tell him you're staying, which I'm really happy about by the way, and he'll be so excited he'll never leave you alone again. Then you'll just get sick of being joined at the hip."

Only if I was lucky.

I left Iggy's shortly after that, still feeling a little bit off about the entire situation. Obviously he knew something I didn't. I could tell by his reaction to my questions. At the moment though, I had too much on my plate to really dwell on that, which was fortunate for him.

Deciding that I needed to get my mind off of Fang for awhile, I drove Aunt Val's car (which she had graciously let me borrow) into a shopping district area. They had a few good restaurants, and I was sufficiently starving at that point.

I parked a few blocks away, then walked into the mix of things. Thankfully, there weren't that many people out and about, so I was relatively safe from any claustrophobia that could possibly kick in. For about fifteen minutes or so I browsed around, thinking about my dining options.

My hand was on the knob of some random burger place when a flash of something through the window of the restaurant beside it caught my eye. Cautiously and surreptitiously I walked by, examining the person from my peripheral vision.

The building itself was fancy, seeming like the kind of place fit exactly for them. Besides, I couldn't mistake the back of that dark head. It was Fang alright, with his parents just as Iggy had suggested. They had a guest, though. A red-headed guest.

My first, immediate thought was Brigid. Mrs. King adored that woman, and despite her older age, would love nothing more than for her and Fang to get together. Fang was getting up though, offering his hand to her. When she stood, she was slimmer and just over-all different than Brigid.

There was a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach as I backpedaled, crouching in the doorway of a shop a few feet away. I only had to wait a few agonizing moments before Fang was stepping onto the sidewalk, his friend on his arm.

At first I refused to believe what my eyes were so obviously seeing. It couldn't be true. It just couldn't. He wouldn't do that to me; to anybody. Especially after everything we had gone through to get to this point. The bitter taste in my mouth wouldn't go away though, and I knew I wasn't mistaken.

It was Fang. Hand in hand with another girl. A girl I knew all too well. And he was wrapping an arm around her waist, holding her close. And she was leaning against him, grinning like she was just oh so lucky. Then he was brushing her hair away from her face. He was kissing her, right there in front of his parents. In front of everybody.

He was kissing Lissa, like he had never loved anybody more in the entire world.

Authors Note: Uhm uh WHAT? Is Fang . . . cheating? Or is there more to this situation then meets the eye? Ooohh. This will most likely lead to q uestions I can't answer for the sake of the future of this story, but REVIEW ANYWAY BECAUSE, ONCE AGAIN, YOU KNOW YOU WANT TO! DO IT DO IT DO IT!

P.S. What's your favorite FF of mine, if you've read any of the other ones? (: