Chapter 4

I woke up early and quickly as soon as my mind registered that I was no longer leaning against the door like where I had fallen asleep. Why had I even fallen asleep? I was supposed to make sure that Fang didn't get up and hurt anyone. Now, I was sleeping on my bed? No, stupid, stupid, me.

I sat up, the sunlight barely shining through the blinds on the window by my bed. I searched instantly, enough light and with my bird-vision skills to see a figure leaning against the door, too large to be Fang alone. I saw him but he was holding…Angel?! Instantly I stood up and raised my fists, not quite sure on how I was going to fight Fang with him holding my baby. He would hurt her….he was threatening to do it.

I watched as Fang raised his hands out in defense. Looking closer, I noticed that Angel was actually sleeping and curled up into his arms. A book was by the ground, she had come in here to have him read her a story. Sometimes, I worry what trouble Angel would get us into. Fang slowly shook her and it took a lot in me not to freak out and grab her. I would have to scold her later.

"Morning Max," Angel mumbled while rubbing her eyes, she yawned as she sat up. A piece of her hair fell in front of her face but she pushed it away just as easily. "I couldn't sleep because Fang's voice here was new so my mind was turning it up assuming it was a threat." She stood up and stretched. Her white wings too spread out a bit and slightly hit Fang in the face. She giggled, "Woops, sorry Fang. Iggy's up. I'm going to eat some pancakes. Nudge is dreaming about Justin Timberlake. Ari's in his room. Gazzy's watching t.v. See you later," Angel waited for Fang to move aside before opening the door and leaving.

When the click of the door informed us that it was securely shut, Fang's eyes shifted over to me like a dog. He was waiting to be told what to do. I hadn't even thought this far. So much for always having a plan…

"All right, as long as you are here, you stay with one member of the flock- no, you just stay with me. If you reveal the location of this house to anyone, I will personally break both of your wings. Understood?" He nodded his head. I reached out my hand again and he took it surprisingly. If it had been me, I would've been stubborn and refused. "We'll start with Nudge, since she's sleeping."

I opened the door and let him go out into the hall first. I pointed towards the next door over that was slightly ajar. I closed my door behind him, "We run a simple routine- breakfast, hygiene, chores, lunch, free time, dinner, bed. Depending on what happens, we won't do exactly that. Today might be one of those days."

Inside, I saw that Nudge had a rough night sleeping. Her bed sheets were tangled over the place, around her legs, and half of them on the ground. One of her pillows was on top of her head and the other was by her feet. I went to her side and lifted the pillow. Her eyes squinted at the recognition of the light now. I saw the wet stain of a drool on the sheets. Fang stood by the door and I could feel his eyes watching me.

"Sweetie, time to wake up," I placed a hand on Nudge's shoulder and shook her a bit. "There's someone here you need to meet." Nudge sighed heavily and rolled over, turning her back to me. "Don't make this harder than we have to," I demanded. Catching the tone of my voice, Nudge grumbled and sat up.

Letting out a huge yawn (knowing it would be the last moment of silence from her), I waved a hand to Fang who stepped forward. "Nudge, this is Fang. He was injured and he's going to be staying at the house until he's healed. From now until then, we treat him like he's one of us." Nudge's brown eyes went wide as she recognized him.

"But Max, I thought-isn't it- wait, I'm confused. Did I miss something? Seriously, what is going on here?" Nudge turned her head from me to Fang then back to me. "Did he apologize? Is he not going to hurt us? Seriously, did you lose a lot of blood or your mind yesterday. He could've killed you."

I could feel Fang feeling uncomfortable beside me. I laughed, "As I recall, I owned that fight and besides, Nudge this is not the point. He's like us and he deserves help. We're no better than the School if we don't." Nudge shrugged while adjusting the strap on her tank top. "Iggy's cooking breakfast so hurry up."

"All right, do you know if he's going to make some French toast? I love his French toast like the stars love the moon," then she adjusted her eyes on Fang, "Welcome to the "E" house, we call it that because from a bird's eye view it looks like an eye. Ha, there was no pun intended on that bird's eye view thing. Seriously though, if you turn out to be okay…maybe…well, if Max allows it of course, maybe you could be one of us officially."

"Okay Nudge, time for you to take a break and let me introduce the newbie to the rest of the flock." I turned Fang around and pushed him towards the door. Back out in the hall after shutting Nudge's door behind me, I saw him trying to read my mind, maybe to see how I was reacting to Nudge's invitation. "Listen, I'd rather not talk to about anything right now. Tonight, once the younger kids are off to bed, I normally go for a night fly, but we can talk." Fang nodded his head. Something told me I would be doing most of the talking.

"Max?" Suddenly Ari was stepping out of his room. His eyes were on Fang, not me. He seemed so scared and fragile. I think even Angel was stronger than him in a way even though he was a year older than her.

"Ari, this is Fang. He's hurt and he's staying with us." Ari didn't even blink and his mouth hung open a bit. His brown hair was messed a bit. "Nothing bad will happen, I promise." Then, Ari shut his mouth and stared at me with eyes that said he couldn't trust me after the time I told him the flock wouldn't outcast him for not having wings but that's exactly what happened. Here was Fang, another bird-kid to make him feel more alone. With a turn of his heels, Ari practically ran back into his room.

Fang remained still and silent through this whole ordeal. "Ari, he's Jeb son in case you don't remember and he's perfectly normal. He hates it here because, well, in some strange paradox, he feels like the freak instead of us." I started down the stairs and when I didn't hear Fang. I stopped instantly and turned only to collide with his moving body. We fell down the last few remained steps.

My first thought was that this kid was so quiet that I couldn't hear him down the stairs which always squeaked and moaned when anyone stepped on them. Then, I was processing the thought that he was lying on top of me and cutting off my air supply. Plus, it was very uncomfortable. "Ow," I stated. Fang rolled over to my side and we both stood up. "That never happened," I informed him. What I realized then was he could've easily killed me. I had my defenses down. I had to be more careful.

Think Max! I scolded myself. He's only been here a few hours, just because he hasn't tried to kill me yet doesn't mean he wasn't planning on it. I walked into the living room to see a motorcycle show and Gazzy on the couch staring up at it. "Gazzy, this is Fang." I watched as he barely turned his attention off the television to get a glimpse of us. "He'll be here for awhile while his wing heals all right?" Gazzy nodded then went back to the show.

"Just know, I can build a bomb out of a soda bottle alone," Gazzy said short and simple.

"Gazzy!" I crossed my arms. Fang raised an eyebrow, clearly interested. He was observing Gazzy for a moment, or at least, the back of his head from where we stood. Then, he stared at me. "It's true," I informed him, "Unfortunately. Gaz, there's breakfast coming up." He nodded his head before lifting the remote and changing the channel to another automobile show.

I turned my attention to Fang, "If anyone gives you a hard time- without being provoked by you- let me know." I walked into the kitchen to smell the usual. Iggy is a great cook, beyond great but I couldn't be the best reliable source. I've only ever eaten the food he made. There were six plates set up as usual. I noticed right away that Iggy had purposely forgotten Fang's seat at the island. "Igs," I began to scowl.

Fang placed a hand on my shoulder so lightly that I barely noticed. He noticed something in the open cabinets and went for it. To my surprise, he grabbed one of the ravioli cans that hadn't expired yet. He used the tab to open it and politely held out an empty hand. I reacted instantly by grabbing him a fork and handing it over. Fang dug in, the metal scrapping against the edges of the inside of the can.

"That really isn't a breakfast," I told him. Fang shrugged and kept eating. "Don't you think you'll need more…" my voice trailed off as I remembered. When we had first escaped from the School it had taken months for our stomachs to adjust to the large amount of food we actually needed. Fang waited for me to finish my sentence. "Never mind. Iggy, I need to talk to you."

"Let me finish cooking, we'll talk. Chill Max, unless you're worried that we're going to be dying anytime soon." I scowled at him even though I knew he couldn't see. Fang was concentrating a bit too hard at the rim of his ravioli can. I guess no one had missed Iggy's stab.

"Iggy now, Angel can flip a pancake," I said with my arms crossed. Of course, I had to show him how angry I was through the tone of my voice. He drastically dropped his spatula on the frying pan. Angel, who had been sitting in the room witnessing the entire scene, stood up and replaced Iggy's spot. I grabbed his sleeve and pulled him outside through the back door in the kitchen.

"Hopefully, Angel can flip a pancake better than you can, Max." Iggy crossed his arms and leaned against the house. He was glaring at my direction. Great, now he was commenting on my cooking. That's exactly how I wanted to start off my day.

"Iggy, what are you doing? I am in charge here. Jeb left me- me- to take care of you and everyone else. My word overrules yours. This is not a democracy," I was screaming almost. I wouldn't be surprised if everyone could hear me.

"You're right, this is a dictatorship. No wonder I feel like my life is being threatened. Max, seriously, you are letting the enemy into our house. I don't care if the rest of the flock is all right with this- they're just kids. But you know that I'm the one who is right." He pushed himself off the house and stepped towards me. I hated that he was so much taller than me. I preferred the days when I could stare down at him.

"Iggy, I am the oldest and the leader here. Not you! Just because I turned to you for help doesn't give you complete power. And after everything, my judgment is better than yours." I stepped closer towards Iggy and I poked him hard in the chest. He lifted his hand to the spot and moved back a bit.

"So, he's hot because the only thing that I can tell that makes your judgement different than mine is you can see and you're a girl. Thinking with your stupid girlish feelings, aren't you Max?" His mouth was pressed in a hard line as he frowned. "Never knew you'd fall for the enemy but hey- it's cool. It's not like we were much of anything." My mouth dropped open.

"Iggy, what are you talking about? We weren't anything…did you think something was going to just because we're the only guy and girl our age? Besides, I spent all night sleeping and Fang sat by the door wide awake. Not only did he not kill me but he read Angel a story and she fell asleep in his arms."

"Great, now the six-year-old's opinion is more trust worthy than mine. He could've hurt her you know. Besides, what if he's building up our trust just to get us when we least expect it." Iggy was snarling now, obviously pissed off. Did he seriously expect something to happen between us? That's disgusting, I thought of Iggy as a brother. Was he really telling himself that Fang was here because I thought he was hot?

"Igs, you don't understand, we're better than the School. We ought to give him a chance."

"Technically, when he beat the crap out of you, was his chance. I might not see anything Max, but I heard it. You don't even know how sickening it was- the sound alone. When he does that to you again Max, I don't want to be around to hear." Then, Iggy was walking back into the house. I followed after him.

"That conversation wasn't done!" I called as he went towards the stairs up to his room. I turned around to find the rest of the flock and Fang all in the kitchen staring at me. "Ignore him, Iggy's just a cranky teenager," I assured them, trying to pretend everything was all right. I went into the kitchen to see that breakfast was ready. "Angel good job."

"Fang helped," she said with a smile. I stared at him to see him shrug. I noticed he had finished his ravioli. "He doesn't want anything else to eat, he's full," Angel explained for me.

"Thanks for helping," I said. He nodded his head in response.

***

"Go to bed and I mean it," I watched as Gazzy and Nudge both ran up the stairs after I caught them sneaking down for the fourth time this night. Fang and I were going to talk but it occurred to me now that we wouldn't get the chance in the house. "Let's head out," I told him, waving my hand for him to follow. We went outside into the dark where the moon was hanging lightly on the top of the trees.

"Listen," I told him as we entered the forest, "Jeb miscalculated the day we left. He thought he'd have enough time to get you but the alarm went off earlier than planned. I've regretted leaving ever since. You're part of this flock Fang…or a part of me feels that you were meant to be. It may have been a different story now, had you been with us all along, but we've got this version."

I sat against a tree and to my surprise, he sat right next to me, listening. His leg actually was touching mine. I decided to talk than worry about the closeness. "Today went well for the most part, the flock really likes you and Ari too, which is saying something because I can barely get him to talk to me. You're a lot like him though, with the whole silence." I took in a deep breath just from being out later than I had expected.

"We'll be friends…if you want to stay." I began. Fang was staring at me through the corner of his eye. "You fit in too easily, even Iggy will adjust. He's just stubborn and apparently, thinks of you as competition." I smirked at that.

"So, I can stay?" His voice was soft and delicate, more like the spring wind that you felt instead of heard. I could feel his voice, if that makes any sense.

"After today, yeah. Oddly enough, I've begun to trust you but don't blow it, please." That wasn't like me. Maximum Ride doesn't beg but to be honest, I wanted to have another member to the flock. Fang was the perfect fit. He was at the age where he could take care of himself and help out with the rest of the flock. Plus, I could have someone to talk to for once who I knew was listening unlike Iggy who acts like he's deaf instead of blind half the time. I also felt the need to make up for leaving him behind. It was my fault he was fighting me the day before. He didn't know the whole story. "So, do you want to be a part of this flock?"

Fang smirked, "Sure, why not?"

"I'll still have to keep an eye on you, just to be safe."

"I understand."

And I knew, at that instant, that he was honest and that he really understood because we connected so easily like that.