Chapter 6

Fang's POV

Every time I turn around now, I see Max and Mela together. Normally, Max is off on her own, thinking and planning on what we're going to do. Even though we've been living in this safe house for a few months (except Mela and A.J.). No monsters so far to worry about, but Max is always worrying. And I'm always worrying about her.

Around Mela, however, Max gives the young girl her full attention. Mela is a bit of a chatterbox but not as bad as Nudge. The girl started waving her hands in the air or running her fingers through her hair. She learned that from Max. Mela did that, she followed Max about, trying to do the same things as Max. I could understand why Mela did it. Max is amazing.

When Max mentioned how Mela looked like me that night a week ago, I couldn't stop thinking about it. Did Abraham have other children for experiments? But it wouldn't explain A.J. or why they kept talking about their parents.

Suddenly, someone tugged on my shirt. I peered down to see A.J. staring at me. Hi, he told me with his mind. What are you doing? He crawled into my lap and craned his neck to see what I was staring at. We were in the kitchen, sitting at the counter on a chair. Through the window we could perfectly see Max and Mela on the patio furniture. We had sent the rest of the flock to get pizza, seeing that they were old enough. They wanted to do it- Max was just the reluctant one. They were still kids in her mind.

Pretty, A.J. thought while staring at Max. I silently agreed. I love Max, he told me earnestly. She's like Mommy. I miss her. Daddy too.

"What happened A.J.? Where are your parents?" A.J. kept his eyes forward. For a moment, I thought he wouldn't answer and remain silent. A.J. was like me in that sense.

Bad men kill Daddy- he protect us. Told Mommy and us to run. Mommy fought though and died too. The young boy turned to face me from where he sat. He was clearly upset from the way his voice quivered in my mind. His face was expressionless. He was getting better at that everyday. Mela and I run from bad men. Auntie N found us. Then, she took care of us before bringing us here.

I wrapped my arms around A.J. and hugged him. He was so tiny, even Angel hadn't been this small as A.J. at this age. I smoothed his hair and patted the spot between his wings- what Max did when one of the kids were upset.

I love you, A.J. thought.

"Love you too bud," I honestly replied.

Max's POV

Fang, he probably didn't notice but at every second of every day, A.J. was following him around. Whenever Fang was swimming, A.J. was swimming (the two kids were either too young or too afraid to fly). When Fang was in deep thought, A.J. sat beside him trying to look like Fang, stealing glances at him to make sure he was doing it just right. If it weren't for the light brown hair, A.J. could've almost been a younger version of Fang if he didn't seem to look like me so much (which I don't know how that would be possible). Honestly, it was the cutest thing I ever saw.

"Max," I stared down at Mel. A few days ago, we gave the flock haircuts. Mela asked for a short hairdo. I had chopped it to her shoulders but she wanted it even shorter than that. Bearing a pixie cut (she had hated getting strands of hair in her face) she gave me a wide smile. "How did you meet Fang?" What should I say…the truth that we had grown up in dog crates next to each other?

Instead, I said, "I've known him my entire life." That is the truth, I just made it a lot nicer than it actually was.

"You're lying. I can feel it," Mela whispered with a grin. "It'snot a complete lie. I know you met him when you were young but you're holding something back."

Woah- how did she know? Mela giggled. I narrowed my eyes, "Mela, is there something you should tell me?" She sat on the chair next to me. The sun was at the horizon. Where was the flock? Taking their time getting pizza against my orders. Fang was the one who said they should go because they were "old enough". I didn't think so.

"You're worried about the flock. You're kind of mad at Fang but you still love him." Mela ran a hand through her hair- she did that more and more everyday. I wondered why. I wanted her to tell me what was going on. How was she doing what she as doing? "I can tell what people are feeling and why," Mela explained. "Mom said A.J. and I were special. We weren't made to have these powers. They just happened. Fang wants us to go inside." Mela jumped down from the seat and went inside as if our conversation was over. Believe me- it wasn't. I followed her in.

Fang's eyes watched my every move. I never get tired of it. My body shivers from his stare. "Hey, what's up?" I try to be casual. Fang's dark stare connected with mine.

"A.J., tell Max what your real name is." The little boy smiled at me, I returned the grin.

Fang had A.J. in his lap, they looked so cute as if they did that every day; as if we were normal. Then, A.J.'s smile disappeared as he tilted his head towards Fang- listening to his thoughts. "Go on, tell her," Fang's voice was a comfort to him.

"My name is Ari Jeb."

A.J. whispered this, his voice quiet from rarely being used. My heart stopped- oh my gosh. This couldn't be a coincidence. I don't believe in that kind of thing. What chances are that this little boy- who looked like me, had my brother's name for his first name and my father's name for his middle name.

"What's your last name?" I asked, feeling my throat go dry. Mela was picking up on my emotions.

Mela replied, "Our last name is Ride like our mom and dad."

RIDE?!