My head was spinning. I was mean, I knew that. Angel - though her name fools many people quite easily - was mean. Ella was mean. Nudge was mean. We were all mean and we knew it. But I couldn't believe how sadistic this was.

"Angel, this is crazy," I said, voicing my opinion.

"Isn't everything we do just as crazy, if not more, Max?" She shot back.

"Angel," Ella bit her bottom lip, "Max might be right."

"Are you having second thoughts, Ella?!" Nudge demanded, turning on the girl angrily.

"No, no, of course not, Nudge!" Ella quickly defended herself. "It's not like I'm planning on backing out - not now, not ever! That's just plain idiotic and I know it just as well as the rest of you do." Her voice started to raise and waver in a scary way, "After so much work, no way am I backing out! It's just," her voice started to get lower again, "what if this blows up in our faces? It may not go as we plan. It may not work like we hope it will. It may just be the destruction of it all instead of the power that pushes us up..."

"Ella," Angel said in a calm and sweet voice. Uh-oh. Death could be either miles away or right next to us when her voice gets like that... "Sis, remember that time when you were crushing on Tony Toads?"

"Angel!" Ella squeaked in protest. Obviously, this was a secret she didn't want to be shared... seeing as I didn't know about it and Nudge looked bewildered, so I'm sure she didn't either. Plus, Tony Toads? Nobody, and I mean, nobody, liked him and it was a shock to find that pretty little Ella ever liked the guy. But hey, it's her love life.

Angel rolled her eyes, "Oh, calm down, Ella, it's not like I'm telling them you still sleep in footy-pajamas with your ratty old pink teddy bear who you still calm 'Mizzuz Glickerst-Muffintop,' or anything of the like, anyway."

"Angel!" Ella cried.

Angel blushed a deep crimson, "Oops. Sorry, Ella..."

But Ella was crying now. Nudge was comforting her. And me? I, being the awkward and unsentimental big sister I am, complete with the non-empathy I hold so dearly close to my heart, I didn't know what to do but stand there watching them silently and uncomfortably. Angel looked at me like I was useless. And, right now, I actually was.

"Ella," Angel sighed, "Please stop crying, I said I'm sorry, and I really, really am! Please! I'll buy you that pair of high heels you wanted! And that designer purse! And a new outfit! Anything, Ella, anything!"

Ella sniffled. Her sobs had quieted halfway through Angel tiny speech of begging and pleading, "I want more than that, Angel."

I was both horrified and insanely proud of my sister. Horrified, because she wanted more clothes and accessories and... shopping. Ugh. Proud, because she wasn't giving in and forgiving so easily. Such mixed emotions...

Angel squeaked, "More?!"

"Jewelry, too."

"A necklace!"

"And bracelet."

"Under five-hundred!"

"Over three-hundred - each."

"No, please! I'll buy you a ring."

"With a thirty karat diamond."

"What?!" Angel squeaked again. Boy, she was squeaky today.

"And I want the band to be gold."

"White gold!"

"And I want not only one outfit, but three."

I was smiling, yet I was also terrified. Terrified of whether Ella would do this to me, and smiling because I couldn't believe how funny this exchange was. I could see Nudge with tears in her eyes. She seemed to be having the same problem - mixed emotions. But for different reasons, I'm sure. She probably felt like she wanted to be Ella - getting so much just because she cried, but she was probably freaking out at the thought of being in Angel's place - having to buy so much stuff for someone else and it, even more the reason to be frightened, costed so much... And when she spoke, I found I was right about that much. Of course, though, unable to take any of her 'Nudge-ness,' I zoned out, catching only bits and pieces of the unwanted ramble.

"Max!"

I snapped out of my internal nothingness, "Huh?! What?!"

Nudge sighed, "Honestly, Max! I was calling your name over and over. I tried to call you, like, seven or eight times - maybe it was nine, I don't know - but you never answered. Plus, you had, like, a vacant look in your eyes and you were totally expressionless and it was like I was talking to a rock or a soulless husk of a body! And I know you aren't that, of course, because you're Max! But still it was really weird and anyways, Max, what were you thinking about? Or were you thinking at all? And if you weren't then were you just in, like, a dark nothing? Ooh, maybe like a pit of oil? Oh, no, eww, that's too gross. Or was it-"

"Nudge please! My ears are gonna fall off!" I cried, cutting her off. The girl will make me go deaf one of these days... "Please put me out of my misery and shut up!"

She blushed, smiling, "Sorry, Max. I'll be, you know, slower."

I rolled my eyes, saying sarcastically, "Sure you will be."

She whacked my arm while grinning, "Shut up."

I playfully socked her in the shoulder and said, "you first. I'll shut up when you will."

Angel huffed and we turned our attention to the twins. Ella looked satisfied and Angel looked worn out. Well then...

"So," Nudge muttered, "I guess we're going shopping?"

Angel frowned, "Yeah."

My eyes were wide, "Angel! I never thought I'd hear you sound so glum about having to go to the mall and shop - for any reason!"

She gave me a death glare that made me feel so proud. When did she get so evil? Sickeningly sweet... it was just a perfect look for Angel. She growled, in something that would easily be described as a deathly calm and angelic voice, "If you know what's good for you, big sister, you'll shut up right now. Get it, Max?"

Nudge chuckled nervously, glancing swiftly between my younger sister and I, "I'm sure she's got it, Angel."

Angel's eyes blazed, "Good."

She turned on her foot and stormed out of the room.

Ella looked at Nudge and I, "Anyone want to get their nails done? Mine look chipped."

Of course, Nudge jumped at the opportunity and I was left in the house wondering what had just happened.

I was in my room when my door flew open and all three girls - Nudge, Ella, and Angel - looked murderously at me.

"What's going on?" I asked, and, of course, was ignored.

Nudge spat, "I can't believe that rotten, dumb-ass whore did that!"

"And," Angel said, furiously, "In front of us, to boot!"

"She is such a bitch!" Ella screamed.

"Lissa?!" I asked, automatically. Bad, I know, but it was obviously the most reasonable choice here.

Angel turned her fiery gaze on me, "Who else would we be talking about? Of course it's that slut-bag!"

Ella said, venom laced thick in her voice, "If I ever see her again I am going to -"

"What happened?!" I yelled, not caring that I had interrupted my younger sister's threat.

Nudge screeched her speech this time, "Lissa was all over Fang! She was pushing herself all over him while we were just right there standing next to them. She'd been so close to him and we wanted to freak her out a bit, so we got really close and all yelled, 'hi Fang! Hi Lissa!' and what happened? She looked at us and sneered, 'Go away, buzz-killing bitches,' and turned to Fang, pushing her glittered and gooped-up lips onto his face! She was practically trying to undress him while we stood there, completely shocked. She was just doing it right there and I saw the looks she was giving us! We could all read the warning in her eyes! She was telling us to back off. She was saying he was hers. She was telling us that you, Max, would never get him, and she would die before letting you get close to him again!"

Angel and Ella, both with disgusted looks on their faces, shook their heads, "We all saw it Max."

Nudge continued, "And that's not even the worst part! You know her friend? Brigid, or something like that? Well she was there, smiling evilly at us and she came over and tore Ella's new bag from her hands, shoving a ratty old backpack in Ella's arms instead and walking away. You'll never guess what we found inside, Max."

"We found pictures!" Ella cried.

"Videos, Max!" Angel added.

"We found a notebook, too," Nudge huffed.

"The pictures were of Fang and Lissa, Fang's room, Lissa's room, and, umm," Angel bit her lip, "and of you with black marker on it."

"What was the marker for?" I demanded, "tell me."

Angel whimpered, "to write things on your face."

"The videos were..?" I didn't bother finishing the question. I already knew they'd tell me what I wanted to know.

"Of Fang and Lissa, ugh," Ella fake-gagged.

Nudge said, "In the notebook, there were doodles. Awful ones. It was full of doodles of dead girls with the name of 'Max' and slutty girls with the name of 'Lissa' standing with guys with the name 'Fang.' It was like that for every single page."

"I think it's clear what needs to be done. What we need to do," Angel said darkly.

"Angel?" Nudge muttered, clearly confused. She wasn't used to dark Angel. None of us were. We'd all been introduced to her early on, but still. As far back as I could remember, she'd never looked so... dark.

Angel gave Nudge a withering look that made her cower in fear, "We have to knock that bitch off her high horse."

"How?" Nudge whimpered.

"Dylan." Angel hissed.

Ella cried, "Don't you get it Nudge? Max, Nudge, there's a secret that Lissa doesn't want to be found out. It has to do with Dylan. That's why we use him."

Nudge looked like she couldn't take it anymore, "What secret?! What is so damn important for her to hide that has to do with Dylan of all people. Why should it matter to her? Why do we need Dylan? They don't even act like friends, Angel, Ella!"

I couldn't believe this. So much was happening - so much drama, so much pain, so much... ugh! I couldn't help but think about how, no matter what way you look at this, it'd be obvious that this was all because of me. All because of Fang. All because of a damn bitch called Lissa.

Angel and Ella both said in icy voices, sounding eerily dark, "They're half-siblings."