Chapter Three

Max's POV

"Good flip, Annie!" I called out, marveling at my eight year old daughter showing off in the clouds above the rainy town of Forks. If we stayed just above the clouds, we could avoid getting our wings wet. The negative charge up here meant we couldn't get that close to each other though or we'd be electrocuted. Win some, loose some.

Anastasia grinned in response. Her tan wings were speckled with brown like mine, her blonde-brown hair was the same color as mine, and she had my brown eyes, but there were so many ways that she was nothing like me or Max II, her biological mother.

Annie is a spirited girl, but she isn't wild or rebellious. She's sweet as sugar, but shies away from strangers and can barely say more than two words to anyone she isn't comfortable with.

She knows who she is and she loves everything she has been given. Though she sometimes has nightmares from before she was four and still living at the School, she doesn't ever let it get her down. She's dealt with her past in a way that makes her so much more grown up than even I was at that age.

AJ let out a whimper and I found my five year old son in the mass of birdkids in the sky this morning. His brown speckled black wings were beating normally and there didn't seem to be anything wrong with him so I raised an eyebrow.

"He is just anxious to see Allie." Nudge said, her skin sparkling in the sunlight to where I had to look away. It was still weird to see her and Iggy out in the sunlight, because otherwise, I don't remember that they're both half vampire, forty-eight percent human, and two percent bird now.

"I mean, he hasn't seen his imprinter in, like, two days and from what Ella is always saying, that's like an eternity. But she could just be stretching truth 'cause she's married and she just thinks its that way for everyone. Is that how you feel when you are away from Fang…"

She continued to ramble on but I tuned her out and looked at my son for confirmation.

He looked at me with Fang's dark eyes and I was torn. On the one hand, this was family time and I loved spending time with just the Flock and my own mini-Flock; on the other hand, my son was in physical pain from being away from his imprinter.

I looked at Fang for help deciding what to do but, at the same moment, Sierra shot in between us and took off into the cloud below us. Her dull mocha skin was shimmering slightly, but at the speed the two year old was descending Iggy wouldn't have time to scold her about being in a human's eye line because she'd be struck by lightning in the storm below us.

Since no one else was fast enough to catch her before she got too deep in the thick, grey cloud, I shot down after her. Her brown hair was whipping crazily in the wind and I could see all of her underlined natural blonde highlights that I usually couldn't.

Sierra turned around to fall backwards and I could see Iggy's cocky smile on her lips. She stared at me with her startling blue eyes and I could see nothing but fun and amusement in them. She didn't see the danger in this at all.

I grabbed her and pulled her upwards, hitting my hyper drive just as a bolt of lightning shot off next to us. Her parents were worried, and Nudge looked about ready to cry, but when I passed Sierra back to them, they both smiled at their little girl.

"You really are in your terrible twos, aren't you?" Nudge said with a laugh, kissing the top of her vampire bird daughter's head.

"Sierra Griffin, you are in trouble when we get back to the main house." Iggy scolded, but I knew he wouldn't be able to stay mad at her. She was too adorable.

Sierra was a firecracker, no pun intended towards Iggy's pyroness. She was always getting into trouble by being reckless and doing things she knew was wrong, but she rarely actually got punished. She had her parents wrapped around her little finger; but that was Iggy and Nudge's business though so I tried to stay out of it.

"We really should go before this storm gets too bad and we're stuck up here." Gazzy said. My little trooper was eighteen if you could believe it, and was getting ready to ask Bex to marry him (unknown to her, of course). My how the time had flown.

That just left sixteen year old Angel as the only unmarried member of my family, and even she already had her husband lined up. I couldn't ask for a better guy for my little girl, though, so I wasn't upset with the arranged marriage type situation. The way her and Seth acted together, you would think they were already down the aisle.

When we got to the house, Bex was already waiting for Gazzy and the two took off in her car like usual. They never stayed put; always finding something fun to do somewhere else-movies, restaurants, arcades, picnics, even just window shopping in Port Angeles.

"Nessie isn't going to be happy when she finds out." Alice predicted, pointing her finger in the couple's direction. They were already long gone now though so there was no point in going after them.

"Do you know when the Blacks will be here?" Annie asked sweetly. "Will promised to take me to the beach to pick shells. I'm even going to wear the new swim suit you bought me yesterday." She added and Alice's face lit up.

Though Alice loved all of us, and especially our children, Annie was definitely her favorite. The little girl loved being Alice's clothing guinea pig. Another thing that sets us apart.

"Who else will be there? So I can try to see what time you'll get to First Beach." Alice said.

"Allie is gonna watch us…well watch AJ mostly, but its just gonna be the four of us." Annie stated. "Most of the wolves are preparing for the bonfire so they shouldn't get in the way."

Alice nodded. Her visions were still fuzzy when it involved the wolves and half vampires, but she could see experiments just fine since we are mostly human.

"I see you there in two hours." Alice predicted and Annie and Arian's faces fell. They really missed their imprinters.

"Why don't you go play with Arian and Sierra for a little while until they come?" I prompted.

The children disappeared into the backyard and I sighed. This was so much harder than I'd expected it to be.

"Now you know what I felt." Edward said, coming out of nowhere with Bella beside him. "Having your daughter imprinted on from such a young age is the hardest thing for a parent to have to deal with."

Fang simply nodded in agreement and Angel frowned. "Imprinting is the greatest thing that could happen to a person." She stated and I laughed. She had been away from Seth too long and was getting grouchy.

"Am not." She replied to my thoughts and I laughed again. "Besides, he'll be here in less than a minute so I won't be 'grumpy' anymore."

I frowned. This whole 'I can feel when my wolf is near' business was still something that my mind hadn't begun to process.

Sure enough, though, a minute later, Seth walked in the front door. Collin was behind him and had my half sister being carried piggyback style. She had a certain glow to her, but I shook it off. She couldn't be…

Angel was at Seth's side at once, her lips permanently attached to his as she stood on her tiptoes and he wrapped his arms around her. Ah, young love.

Most people would be freaked out that their sixteen year old sister was dating a guy who was twenty-five, but there really was no stopping them. Angel's mind control alone was enough to convince me that she was ready to have a boyfriend. She didn't want to have to wait to kiss him until she was legally of age because, as she so cleverly pointed out, Fang and I kissed when we were only fourteen.

"Where's Jake?" Collin asked with a huge grin on his face.

Seth, who finally pulled himself away from Angel and now had her sitting on his lap on the floor, smiled as well. Stupid werewolf power that let them know each others secrets before anyone else.

I could see that Angel was trying not to pry in their minds, but eventually caved. I only know that she caved because she let out a squeal.