"BACON!" Iggy screamed, swinging off of a vine like Tarzan. I ducked and he flew above me, cackling maniacally.

Gazzy appeared, stirring a cauldron of what looked like a magic potion. Total popped out of it. "THE CSM HAS FALLEN!"

He did a somersault and dived back in. Looking back at Gazzy, he now had Nudge's face. "Hey Max," he/she said, his/her voice echoing, "buy me clothes…"

Gazzy/Nudge dissolved and the cauldron stayed, getting bigger and bigger. My face dipped forward into it and I saw swirls of ink everywhere. I caught wisps of memories: Jeb at the E house, Angel and Total, Iggy and Gazzy after the makeover in New York…

The world righted itself and I saw Fang. He was oddly dressed: he was wearing a golden net. Only a golden net. I was about to faint when he opened his hand to reveal a small cube.

"Want a sugar cube?" he asked, his voice low and seductive. The sugar cube morphed into a miniature Total. Total grew until he went back to his normal size. Fang threw a trident at him and he dissolved in a shower of sparkles.

"Good morning," a voice said. I opened an eye and saw Fang—fully clothed, not a golden net in sight. It was all a dream. Of course—a scantily clad Fang is too good to be true.

"Mrghhh," I answered, tossing my head to escape Fang.

"Come on, no one else is awake yet," he whispered.

"So?" I managed. Fang sighed.

"Either we do this the easy way, or the hard way," Fang said.

"Easy?" I mumbled, not thinking straight.

"Well, then that would be 'Get up, please, darling,'" he said.

"No."

"Hard way, then," he said. He wrapped his arms around my waist and I thought he was hugging me. I didn't resist. Suddenly, he lifted me up and dragged me to the ground.

"OW!" I shouted. I tried struggling, but he had me pinned to the floor.

"Not so invincible now, are you?" he taunted. I stopped struggling.

"That wasn't a fair fight. I was asleep."

"You think you could pin me awake?" he said.

"Definitely," I answered.

"Winner gets to make the loser do one thing. Deal?" He extended his hand. I shook it weakly, still trying to wake up. Fang got up, easing the pressure on me.

"After breakfast," I said, shooting him my most intimidating look.

"Oh, and Max?"

"What?"

"Your 'scary look' isn't working."

! #$%^&*

Luckily, Mom was asleep. I'm pretty sure she wouldn't have been too happy about us fighting for—what was it already? I forget. There was a bet riding on this, so it had to be done. I was pretty confident I'd be able to pin Fang. I'd always won at wrestling back in the E house with Jeb.

On one side, there was Iggy, Ella, and Gazzy cheering for Fang. Ella had told me she was actually cheering for me, but she just wanted to sit with Iggy. On the other side were Angel and Nudge cheering: "Max! Max! Max!"

Oh, I forgot one thing: they were in trees. Ella had climbed up, and the rest had flown. I was facing Fang, both of us in a crudely drawn circle in the lawn. Iggy had the whistle.

"On three! One! Two! Three!" He blew the whistle. I started walking a little, moving in the ring. You weren't allowed to purposefully leave the ring, and you had to be pinned for ten seconds inside of it. My favorite part: everything's allowed.

I waited for Fang to make the first move. I never initiate the fight. He punched experimentally to my left, and I dodged. I ducked another punch just as he was about to trip me. I snapped out my wings and flew up.

Fang joined me in the air, trying to sneak up on me from behind, when I caught him in the jaw with a roundhouse kick. He stumbled and lost some altitude. I socked him again in the jaw and he fell even more.

The girls were going wild: "MAX! MAX! MAX!"

"Get back up!" Iggy shouted. I pushed him to the ground and pinned him. He wasn't even resisting. I held him down on his back, smiling into his face. His eyes were closed.

"FIVE! SIX!" Iggy counted. Was Fang okay? I worried, looking at his face. Without warning, he shot up and pushed me onto my back.

"FANG! FANG!" Gazzy shouted. Fang pushed down on my shoulder harder, while I struggled. I kicked and thrashed, but he was too strong.

"FOUR! FIVE! SIX! SEVEN!" Iggy screamed, the excitement mounting. The cries of "MAX!" or "FANG!" distracted me even more.

In a last burst of effort, I bucked Fang off of me. I pushed him down, but I was tired from getting free from Fang's grip. He pushed me off easily and kicked me in the gut.

I sucked in my breath while Fang pushed me down. I was trying to breathe, but his heavy weight was crushing me. I gasped, trying for a gulp of air.

"THREE! FOUR! FIVE!" I coughed again, hoping he'd notice. Fang shifted a little, his weight now on my shoulders instead of my chest. I took a deep breath, trying to control the shaking.

"SEVEN! EIGHT!" I tried pushing him off of me, but he just fell back on. "NINE! TEN!"

The pressure eased and Fang let go, still not moving from on top of me.

"Move," I groaned. Fang shook his head and crashed his lips against mine. I stayed pressed there, moving my lips sloppily, hoping maybe he'd forget about the bet. When we both ran out of breath, he pulled away. Fingers crossed, I thought.

"You still owe me for the bet," he said, getting up. Crap. He left me there, still lying down on the grass.

! #$%^&*

"Hi, Mom," Ella and I said together, leading the flock into the kitchen as normally as possible.

"Up early?" she asked.

"We went out for a fly," I lied.

"Ella too?"

"I, um, watched," Ella said nervously. Mom nodded, obviously not convinced but nice enough to refrain from asking.

"The CSM got you guys an invitation for a carnival out in Tucson," Mom said, changing the topic completely.

"Cool!" Gazzy said.

"Yay!" Angel added.

"Can I go to the gift shop?" Nudge asked.

"Sure. You each even get thirty dollars to spend," Mom chuckled. Nudge squealed, showing her approval. Iggy, Fang and I hadn't said anything yet. I finally said what all three of us were thinking: "Do we have to go?"

"Yes, you do," she said. All three of us groaned. "Oh, and I think it's time for us to leave!" she said.

! #$%^&*

A big, sagging banner proclaimed that this was the "Tucson Carnival." It was a carnival in Tucson. No freaking duh.

Mom gave us each a ten and a twenty like she'd promised. She split us up into groups: Angel and Nudge, Gazzy and Iggy, and Fang and I. Everyone was happy with that arrangement, especially Fang. Oh, okay, I'll admit it: I was happy to finally get some alone time with him.

We passed by a pie-eating contest. It was going to start in five minutes. Fang looked at me pleadingly with his warm, dark, beautiful eyes.

"Let's do the pie-eating contest!" he said.

"No way," I said.

"You have to. We made a bet," he said. I looked over abnormally large, sweaty people eyeing ungodly piles of pie.

"Don't you want to use your one wish on something else?" I asked. He grinned at me.

"Hey, I did say anything," he mused. I'm sorry, but I was not giving him that power.

"Okay, fine," I grumbled. I paid five bucks and wrote my name in. Fang did the same and we sat together at the end of the table, as far away from the sweaty others as possible.

"The contest starts in thirty seconds, folks!" one of the judges announced. People cheered.

"I'm gonna win," Fang said.

"No way," I answered.

"GO!" the judge screamed.

! #$%^&*

"I want it."

"Please, Angel, can't we buy you a stuffed animal?" Nudge pleaded. Angel turned to Nudge.

"It's not just any stuffed animal. It's a huge, tie-dye unicorn!"

"I want to go shopping," Nudge insisted.

"Meet me here in five," Angel said, taking aim again. She handed another five-dollar bill to the man and adjusted the big rifle on her small shoulder. The plastic ducks started to move around. Pop! Pop! Angel took down two, vaguely aware of Nudge leaving.
She needed to shoot down twenty in two minutes to win, and she only had enough for another round after this one. Pop! Pop! Pop! Angel grimaced. The last one had been a red duck. She'd lost two points.

She took aim again, taking out five more, one of them another red one. Angel heaved the heavy rifle over her shoulder again. It was too heavy—she was too young to be allowed to play, but she'd, well, convinced the man to let her play anyway. She kept shooting some, once in a while hitting a red one.

"Time's up!" the man said, and he stopped the ducks. He counted them. "Fifteen," he announced.

"Darn," she said. So close! She handed the man her last bill. He took it skeptically. The ducks started up again, moving in circles. She heard the familiar popping sounds, as she took down six plastic ducks, one of them red.

She shot down more, the popping filling her ears rhythmically. Occasionally she'd wince, having hit a red one.

"Time's up!" the man announced. "Seventeen. Sorry." Angel's eyes filled with tears. She'd spent all of her money. She looked into the multicolored unicorn's shiny, beady eyes. It was at least three-quarters of her size!

"I've been playing a while, and I spent a lot of money…" Angel started.

"No can do, miss. You have to win to get the toy."

"I really want it!"

"Sorry," he said, turning away. Angel opened her eyes wide, her face one of concentration. He turned around slowly.

"Why… not?" he murmured. "You…can…have…it." He walked over to the unicorn slowly, took it down from its hook and handed it to Angel. She smiled and thanked him.

Nudge walked over to her, wearing heart-shaped studded glasses, huge hoop earrings, a big knit hat, a sparkly, thin scarf and a new, frilly skirt over her jeans.

"You got your unicorn!" she beamed.

"You got accessories," Angel said. They smiled together and went to get cotton candy—pink, of course. This is why Nudge was Angel's best friend.

! #$%^&*

"Test your strength! Who's the strongest?" a man with overly white teeth shouted out. Iggy elbowed Gazzy.

"Hey! I want to do that!" he said. He dragged Gazzy over and asked the guy how much it was.

"Three bucks," the guy said. Iggy nodded and held out his bills to Gazzy. Feeling color wasn't much help there—all the bills were green.

Gazzy picked out three ones and handed them to the guy.

"What's wrong, can't count?" the man snickered. Iggy's face hardened.

"I'm blind," he said shortly. The man paled.

"Oh. Oh, I'm sorry," he stuttered. Iggy shot him a glare (a little too low, the man was taller than he thought) and took the huge hammer from him. He lifted it up high, and cocked his head.

"Left." Gazzy said shortly. "K." He'd just told him exactly where he had to hit the hammer. Iggy brought it down hard. This machine was made for regular humans. It was a wonder Iggy didn't break it.

The lights lit up until the top of the pole. The bell on top dinged and the man was beyond surprised.

"What do I win?" Iggy asked. Wordlessly, the man handed him twenty bucks. He'd just seen this scrawny kid hit harder than he ever could, and he was a strong guy.

"Twenty!" Gazzy gasped. He high-fived Iggy.

"Here, take it and go buy us popcorn. Oh, and cotton candy. Throw in a funnel cake while you're at it!" he yelled after Gazzy who'd already taken off. Iggy grinned and handed the man another three dollars, taking the hammer again.

! #$%^&*

"GO!"

I grabbed a plate of pies. They were still warm as I savagely ripped into them and stuffed a piece of one in my face. There were people counting behind us. I didn't chew, swallowing without thinking.

I tore through two pies, rushing into the third. When I saw Fang on his fourth, I tried swallowing what was left of my third. I choked and managed to force it down, the fourth one already in my mouth.

"GO! GO! GO! GO!" people chanted around us. Fang was on his fifth right when I started mine. I chomped a little, swallowing more easily. The regular humans around us were only on their second or thirds. We started our sixth pie together.

"TEN! NINE! EIGHT! SEVEN!" I chomped through the sixth pie. Fang was choking on his, and I finished mine. Feeling horribly heavy, I stuffed pieces of my seventh into my mouth.

"FOUR! THREE! TWO! ONE!" the contest had ended, and Fang still had a little of his sixth left. I'd won.

"AND OUR WINNER HERE, THIS YOUNG LADY, MAX RIDE!" I smiled weakly as the main judge held up my arm.

"IN SECOND PLACE, FANG… UH, FANG!" He almost smiled as he got up for the crowd. Some other guy won third place, but whatever. As soon as we'd gotten our prize money, Fang grabbed my hand and we ran out of there before they could ask any questions.

As soon as we were away from them, Fang shoved me against a wall, creeping dangerously close.

"I win," I taunted.

"I won this morning," he pointed out.

"Even?"

"Even." I said, and with that he leaned over and kissed me gently.

"EW!" Gazzy screamed. I jumped back and saw the flock. Hi, guys.

"What?" Iggy asked.

"They were sucking face," Gazzy whispered, horrified. Angel ran up to me, her whole upper body hidden behind this multicolored pile of unidentifiable fluff.

"Look at my unicorn!" she announced proudly. Looking more carefully, I saw what looked like an upside-down ice cream cone on its forehead. Yup, definitely a unicorn.

Nudge had earrings, sunglasses, a hat, a new skirt and a scarf. She beamed at me. Mom looked over at me, smiling slightly. I guess it was worth it—for the kids. Too bad I totally missed out on some quality Fang time. Why did Gazzy have to pop up right then?

"Oh, calm down, you can make out at home," Angel huffed. I desperately hoped no one else had heard. Judging by the looks he was sending me, maybe Fang had.

A/N: Whoever finds the 2 Harry Potter references, and the Hunger Games reference in the dream gets a surprise next chapter... Review and try to win!

Fly on!

~greysky3