Wow. I think this is the first time I ever actually made a deadline I set for myself. Well, it is 10:30 on Wednesday night, but you get the picture.

Disclaimer: This is purely a work of fiction. The major characters from previous MR books belong to JP. All other junk are drawn from the author's imagination and resemblances to people, places, and other garbage and insanely coincidental and are not intended by the author.

"I know you want to curse
This place but there's only
One thing that's stopping us now."

--Bon Jovi

Chapter 12: Fang P.O.V.

"Well, holy bananas. I would major bucks to live here," Max breathed out as they stopped at the end of the driveway. Only it was more like a freaking highway.

"I bet they do, too," Fang said, and Max smiled at him.

It had taken about two entire minutes to actually get from the edge of the property to the actual house of the Gasman and Angel's father. They had imagined him living in a mansion during one of their many fantasies, and Fang was didn't except to see a grand house. But, man, they were closer than they thought.

"I bet this place is bigger than Anne's," Max said. "I mean, really. This house has to have, what, twelve bedrooms? At least."

A man walked out the front door and stepped down from the porch. He looked young, probably in his early thirties, and he walked up to the car. Jeb opened his door and Max and Fang quickly followed suit.

"Hello," said Jeb, walking up to the man. "You must be Dan." They shook hands and Fang noticed that he looked extremely uncomfortable.

"I'm Max. And this is Fang," Max said stepping forward, her ever-present I-know-what-you-did look, which was normally saved for Gazzy and Iggy, on her face. Fang realized right then that Max did not know why Angel's and Gazzy's parents had sold them.

But they were going to find out.

A smiling woman waited on the porch. "I'm Wendy," she said, cheerfully. "Would you like something to eat?"

"No, thank you," Jeb said. "We're just here to talk."

Max and Fang exchanged a look. Jeb didn't act so cold around the other parents. So why start now? Didn't he know them already?

They walked inside and Fang's eyes wandered. This house was huge. It wasn't fancy or anything, not too posh, but it wasn't gigantic. The ceiling was tall enough to bungee-jump from and there was a balcony coming off of the second floor. And this was only the entry way.

Walking down the hall, Fang noticed mounds of photos. Everywhere. There wasn't an inch of wall-space that wasn't covered. Most of the pictures were of scenery or monuments. Apparently, these people were travelers.

Max stopped walking abruptly and Fang bumped into her. Placing his hand on her back, he followed her line of sight and found what had made all the color from her face drain.

There was a room to their right. It was incredibly small and reminded Fang of a mud room because of the jackets lined up in the corner. But that wasn't what had made Max freeze.

In the room, were four cages.

Exactly like the ones in the School.

Fang stared, but noticed that Dan and Wendy had kept walking, into what seemed like a living room, and Jeb had followed. When he turned around to look for them, confusion light his face.

"What's going on?" Jeb asked.

"Oh, don't worry about those," Wendy said. "We just put the dogs in there at night."

Max's eyes flared. "You mean you actually use these things?"

"Well, yeah," Wendy said, surprised. "To be honest, they kinda like them. It's like their bed. They're comfortable in the crates."

"Max," Fang said, pushing her gently forward, before she threw a fit. "I'm sure it's fine."

They continued into the room and sat down awkwardly on the couch. Fang was watching Max intently as Dan began to speak.

"Do you really have my kids?"

"We do," Jeb answered. "But we need to clear a few things."

Wendy took Dan's hand before he answered. "Of course. It's probably very confusing to you. But I have a question."

They waited, Wendy nodded, and then Dan whispered, "What exactly did they do to them?"

The man seemed terrified and heartbroken. Fang got the feeling that there was a lot more to his story than just him selling his own children. Max had lost her hard glare, but stared straight at him, without emotion.

"Well," Jeb started, but he was cut off.

"Do I really want to know?"

"Probably not," answered Jeb, truthfully. "But as you know, they both have… wings."

Dan exhaled. "Right."

He looked down. "I didn't mean for this to happen," he whispered, almost to himself. Fang looked at Max in question, but she just shrugged.

Dan looked up. "Where is Samantha?"

"In jail," Jeb said, in a cold voice.

"Who's Samantha?" Max broke in.

Fang paused. How come Max didn't know who she was? Wasn't she with Jeb when she made the phone calls? Or was she just as lost as he was?

"Samantha," Dan said, looking straight at Max, "is my ex-wife." Pausing for a moment, he then added. "She was the one who sold my children to the… School."

Max's mouth opened as she stared at him. Why didn't Max know that? Fang wondered. Jeb did, so how come Max was out of the loop.

"I… didn't know that," Max said quietly. "So you…" she trailed off.

"I," Dan said, "didn't have any part in that. Samantha told me she was pregnant with our first child about a month after we got married. It was a boy; we were going to name him Brian," he remembered, sadly. "But he died at birth. Or so I was told.

"About a year later, she got pregnant again. A girl this time. Catherine. But, once again, she died right after she was born."

"How could you not know what was going on?" Max asked.

Dan shrugged. "She was very secretive. She told me she went away on long, weekly business trips, when really she was seeing an embryonic specialist.

"But then, about two years after Catherine's "death," I accidentally, picked up her cell phone when it rang. A guy was on the phone saying how she had another chance to make fifty thousand dollars. I said I was her husband and I was interested, and he went on to tell me that if we had another baby again, we would just sell him or her to the science lab, like we did before.

"I talked to Samantha, who vehemently refused to know anything about this. A week later, I called the police and filed for a divorce."

Fang blinked. Was this guy serious? Was Max actually believing this story?

"You have to believe me," Dan said. "I would never sell my own children for money. No matter what is wrong with them. That is just so…" He stopped talking and hung his head. Wendy squeezed his hand, and Fang realized he was crying.

Fang looked at Max. She was staring intently at Jeb, her eyes narrowed. And that's when Fang went on red alert.

Something was up. And Max wasn't telling him what it was.

Max turned to look at him. "What to you think?" she asked, almost silently.

"I believe him," Fang said. And he did. He could feel it. This guy was no softie, but Fang could tell Dan was a decent guy with no interest in selling his own kids.

Max nodded, but didn't say anything.

"Who are you?" she asked Wendy, when Dan looked back up again, dry-eyed.

"His fiancé," she said. Max smiled weakly.

"How come you don't know this?" Fang hissed under his breath. Wasn't Max there when Jeb called them? Would she really come into a stranger's house without knowing the simplest things? Fang didn't think so.

"What?" she asked, but Fang shook his head. They would talk later.

"So," Dan said. "Am I really going to see them? Are they really coming home?" His voice was so full of adoration that it hurt Fang's head.

Jeb nodded. "But first, a couple things you need to know."

"Anything."

"The wings. Those must be kept a secret. No one outside of immediate family should know about them. This includes where they were kept, and what was done to them. If they want, Angel and Gazzy, your kids, can tell you two, but you must keep quiet about the whole topic. Government orders." Jeb started.

There goes that whole government thing again.

"And second," Max added. "You may want to get rid of those dog crates."

Sorry for the shortness. But now that all the meetings of parents are over, the real good stuff is coming. I was kinda tired and kinda impatient to finish this chapter, so if it's lame, I know. And everything will clear up in the near future. EVERYTHING. Another update by possibly Thursday or Friday. Reviews please.