Chapter 29

"Angel, sweetie," I pushed her hair away from her face and stared deeply at her little lips quivering in pain. Sweat had broken out along her forehead. My entire body rushing in fear was of two things.

One, for Angel because I was so afraid that I was losing her.

And Two, because Jeb said we had no choice but to take her to the hospital.

Every five or ten seconds, I tried to looked at the skin on the back of her neck which was hard because she was resting on a pillow. Seeing the IV in her small little arm was making me panic.

But her skin was always blank, there was no date. Jeb and I were the only ones in the room. The doctors asked everyone else to stay outside. I knew they were just as worried as I was. Poor Gazzy, this was his sister after all.

"There won't be anything Max," Jeb whispered as I checked her neck for the fifth time. Angel was in one of those cheap, hospital gowns and she was placed on the side she didn't have an IV so her wings weren't crushed into the mattress.

"Why not?" I demanded watching as her eyes moved from underneath her eyelids. She seemed frightened in her nightmare.

Jeb took a deep sigh, "Well, we never expected you to live past age ten with all the DNA we put into your body. Yours was strictly just human and bird. Angel, well, we never thought she'd live past being an embryo but evolution was on our side. She has more strands of genetic mutation than the rest of you. It's why she has so many abilities."

I wanted to jump over Angel's bed and strangle him. Why had they ever done this to us? Why make poor Angel suffer more than anyone else? "So you've killed her? From the moment you created it, you set her up to die?" My hands shook in anger.

I thought that saving the world would be more about Angel because she was so special and so much more powerful. Now I learned she was just an experiment that lived past the estimated date of death by six years. Technically, she was never supposed to be with me? She was supposed to be dead.

"How could you Jeb?" I heard Angel's heart beat pulsing at its fast normal rate on the machine she was connected to. "How could you ever get involved with this?" Some father he was.

"Max, let's not worry about what I did and did not do." He had Ari still sleeping in his arms. Jeb refused to let him go now after thinking he had lost his son once. "This is Angel you have to worry about."

"Then tell me what the heck is going on!" A nurse stopped in the open doorway and stared at me. My arms were in the air but I quickly dropped them and walked to the door. I slammed it in her face to make sure she wouldn't bother us.

"You know," Jeb pointed his finger towards the door, "Angel could be hearing those loud noises. It's not good when her mind is in the state its in." He cuddled Ari close to his chest. He loving, perfect son who shouldn't have been raised the way he was.

"What state of mind is she in Jeb? Tell me now or you will regret ever making me 2% bird!" Such a weird statement that was sadly true.

Jeb sighed, "Angel's evolution seems to be…backtracking." I narrowed my eyes, I wasn't a scientist here. Jeb's glasses reflected the bright light that hung overhead. Everything here was making me antsy. The white walls and the antibiotic smell made me feel like I was in The School or in the prison I had been in just two days ago.

"Angel's mind is rejecting her powers now. Evolution has deemed them insufficient and in order for Angel to be one of the surviving species, her powers are slowly deteriorating." Jeb stroked his chin with his fingers in deep thought.

"So her being able to read minds? I asked.

Jeb sighed, "Gone, they caused her life too much trouble."

"Talking to fish, breathing underwater?"

He shook his head, "Gone again. They didn't help her at all.

"Being able to fly?"

Jeb shrugged, "It depends. You and the rest of the flock have been able to survive with that so I think…if her mind doesn't keep rejecting her powers…she can still do that. But if her mind doesn't stop, she'll die, Maximum."

I glared at him. He had been the one to do this to her. Him and all the other Itex freaks who thought they could play God. Angel's body temperature was low and she remained still.

I went back to her side and grabbed her hand, "Angel, honey, I need you to keep fighting. If you can here me, fight this off. I'll make sure you're all right. We're all hurting with you and we need you to make it through this." I wish it was like in the movies, where the sick person squeezes your hand so you know they're listening. Angel didn't squeeze. She didn't twitch or make a sound. She remained the silent, sleeping princess that she was.

I knock came at the door and Fang entered. I could see his worried eyes that instantly fell on me. I wondered if he was hurt because he couldn't make things better. He knew, that even with all that we had gone through, he couldn't help me. Angel was my baby. No one was allowed to hurt her.

"Max, can we talk?" I stood up reluctantly and stared at Angel. Could I leave her? 'It's just for a second Max," Fang whispered reassuringly. I took my eyes off of her and headed towards him. We stepped out in the hall. "Are you all right?"

"Great," I whispered, then bit my lip for sounding so stupid and not great. I crossed my arms and stared at the floor. Suddenly, I couldn't tell what Fang was getting at.

"Don't lie to me, just tell me." He whispered reaching out a hand but I backed away from it. I should be in the other room watching Angel and making sure she was okay.

"You wouldn't understand," I replied, with a really harsh tone added on that I hadn't intended before.

"Help me understand!" He yelled, but for Fang it was still a whisper only I could here. After all we had gone through, I still was holding back parts of myself. I stared up at him, this broken hurt in his dark eyes.

"I can't," I answered back about to break down in tears. I just couldn't say the words. Angel was slipping through my grasp and now, so was Fang. What was I suppose to say? That I loved him but I couldn't tell him. That was the truth after all. But he walked away, with his hands in his pockets, in a harsh, cold, Fang style that hurt me to watch.

Stupid how love works, you think you're ready for it until it slips away.