Chapter 3- Reunion

Thanks for all the compliments everyone but if you guys have any suggestions about my writing or if you find any errors just tell me. Always accepting constructive criticism, thanks! Anyways, on with the story. Oh and just a note to remember, Jeb wasn't Max's dad. So Jeb isn't dead yet. It's not going to matter right now but it will.

Max

It was the dead of night when I finally experienced fresh air. I was so happy I could cry. I took a deep breath in and yelled into the night. Signals rose up in alarm but by that time, I was long gone. Twirling and diving in the sky, I flew towards the north instinctively, towards the closest Cardinal City. Although it was blind of me to hope, I'm going to look for survivors.

I flew over my village, I could still see the bodies, half rotting lying there. I shivered mid-flight and spiraled downwards to pay my respects. Earth and ash darkened feathers lay among misshapen skeletons. I bow down and press my forehead to the ground.

There was a stirring sound behind me. Something snaps. I whirl around and see something drop onto the dirt.

I step closer to it to get a better view. Something moved overhead. I looked up. There was nothing.

There was a doll buried in the dirt. It had a head full of blond hair made from corn silk. It was stuffed with beans and had a dried wildflower for a mouth. Scraps of cloth made up its blue flower print dress. Its eyes are small stones. It was unmarred by the fire. I'd recognize it anywhere.

I whirled around, looking up.

"Angel?"

Fang

"Mother, why?" I stormed into her office.

She looked at me with stony eyes, "What are you talking about Nicholas?"

"You already killed her entire family, her entire race, why do you insist on hunting her down too?" I commanded.

"You don't know what you're talking about," she said dismissively. She turns her attention back to her papers.

I swipe them off her desk and look her in the eyes, "Stop looking for her. She's supposed to be free. What have they ever done to us?"

"They kill humans," she doesn't look up, already proclaiming without words her utter boredom with the topic and her decision, "They hunt people like you down. They're nothing but monsters. And look, the shifter girl already hurt you, and you still want to protect her?"

"No, she doesn't deserve this."

"Get out," she says darkly.

I leave but as I do, something flashy and silvery flies past me. I turn my head away but it catches my nose and right cheek. It leaves a trail of stinging pain. A knife sticks itself into the door. I put my hand to my cheek and see blood on my fingers.

"From this day forward, you're no longer my son."

Max

"Angel?" I call out again. I put my fingers to my mouth and whistle one long low note ending with two short high notes.

There's a flutter of feathers and then something lands behind me.

"Angel? Mom?"

They shift back into human form and run towards me disbelievingly. Angel hugs me around my waist and I kiss her blond hair.

"Max?" Mom hugs both me and Angel, "We thought you were dead!"

"Are you hurt? The night of the fire, how did you two escape? I was looking for you but I couldn't see you."

"Angel and I were hunting the night of the fire in the woods. I didn't know what happened until I saw the fire. We hid in the canopy to avoid being caught. Where have you been?"

I told her about the Queen's men who led me to the castle and imprisoned me but I didn't tell her about Fang. I just couldn't.

"Is your father there too?" Hope was so clear in her eyes and it broke my heart to tell her that we were the last ones left.

"Mom, um, dad, he- he-um," I take her by the arm and take her away, telling Angel to play with her doll.

"Mom, dad was- he was-he was shot during the fire by the Queen's soldiers."

Mom looked away from me and crumpled to the floor. I lunged for her before she fainted dead away.

"Mom!" I shook her, "Mom!" I turn to Angel, "Angel, help me carry her to the river!"

Fang

I ripped off my sleeve and cleaned my wound with water from a river. It stung but I grit my teeth against the pain.

"Fang! Hey!"

I closed my eyes in frustration. Why did he have to come after me?

"Iggy, go away!"

"Hey, I heard about you leaving so I had to see if it was true," Iggy tackles me.

"Get off," I shove him onto the ground.

"Ooh, nasty cut you have there," Iggy laughs, "Heard that the Queen disowned her favorite son, had to see if it was true. Come on, let's go hunting, like old times sake."

"No, we're going to go find the shifter," I tell him.

"Why?"

"Because we have to warn her."

Max

"Mom, wake up," I put the cold rag on her forehead, "Please wake up."

Angel was curled up next to me on the floor. The running water seemed so peaceful. There weren't any birds, the usual bustling of the village nearby wasn't there anymore. The silence seemed unnerving.

Mom's eyes fluttered open.

"Max?" she whispered weakly.

"Yeah, it's me Max. I'm here, so is Angel."

"But your father, Daniel," she starts to shed a tear.

"No, mom, please don't say anymore."

Angel looks at me, "Max, what are you talking about? What's mom talking about, what happened to daddy?"

"Angel, there are some things that you don't need to know yet, I'll tell you when you're older okay?"

"No, I can tell, daddy's dead already isn't he?" she starts sobbing. I look away across the river. Someone's there.

I take pick Mom up onto my back and tell Angel to be silent and we run back to the village. It's Fang and a pale weak-looking human. A/N aha, Iggy.

"Let's go to the North City okay?" I tell Mom and Angel.