Chapter 24: He Said, She Said
O::O::O::O::O::O
Fang's P.O.V.
My eyes shot open to see nothing but a ceiling in a dim lit room. It's the first time in months since I've had that dream.
Or more like a nightmare.
It still made me angry just thinking about it. The day that Max left us. The day she betrayed us and left us high and dry with anger and shock. I dreaded having this dream because it always happened the same way. It would be like me sitting in a movie theatre while watching the characters make mistake after mistake while I yelled at the screen. My voice couldn't reach them; they couldn't hear me. Because it was just a replay of my memories.
It was only months after Max gave her speech to Congress about saving our world and we took off on our own again. Max had mentioned something about us having another mission, but we didn't really care. We were all in total bliss, just glad to be alive and away from any real trouble other than searching for our next meal.
And that's where we made our first mistake.
Iggy's warning came one second too late, and before we could react, FlyBoys already had us in their grasps, holding our arms behind our backs with strength that we never knew they had, and we struggled against their holds as they dug their incredibly sharp nails in our arms, drawing blood. The only one who hovered freely with a sadistic kind of smile on her face, looking truly triumphant, was Max. And through the searing pain in my arms and a now splitting headache from the apparently enhanced FlyBoy hitting me across the head, I was shocked and angry. How the hell did they find us and why wasn't Max in a death grip, too? I couldn't understand what the hell was going on until Max opened her mouth.
"You all are truly pathetic" she said in a voice that wasn't hers, a mechanical, unnatural tone that left an empty feeling in my core, draining me of all that joy that I had felt only minutes ago. This wasn't Max at all; this was another copy.
It had to be.
"What happened to the real Max?!" Angel had demanded between struggles.
"Kid, I am the real Max" she had replied.
"No, you're not! Max would never sell us out!" Nudge had protested.
"Oh, really now. But I distinctly remember saving Angel's sorry butt the first time she got kidnapped from our house with Jeb. And that time on the beach with a bloody Fang looking as pathetic as ever. I remember that. So tell me that I'm not the real deal" Max had replied coolly. We kept silent after she said this because, even though we would later try and deny it, try to defend her, we all knew the truth. This was Max, our Max, and she had left us.
Even though this was all a dream, I could still feel the fear, the anger, and the pain course through my body. But I watched as I hit the back of my head hard against the FlyBoy's face and became free from its grip. The rest of the flock followed suit and we dashed out of there as fast as we could, willing ourselves not to look back even once at the face of what used to be our friend. The dream abruptly ended here, as it usually did, leaving me half-asleep.
The room that we were all in, Ember's room, was quiet; I could tell that everyone was still sound asleep, letting their fantasies take them wherever they wanted to go. I didn't feel like opening my eyes just yet and tried to settle into a dreamless sleep when a short yelp rang through the room. I immediately opened my eyes to find myself propped up on my elbow looking at Ember, who was sleeping in one of the beds. She was staring back at me with surprise on her face and her hands to her mouth. My confusion muddled my already slow brain. It was only when I heard a soft giggle and saw Ember's head swivel towards the door with her eyes squinting in a deathly glare that my thoughts caught up with me and I knew exactly what was going on. Ember growled before vanishing from in front of me, presumably going downstairs.
"I told you not to POKE ME!" I heard Ember yell as something clattered to the floor.
"But it was funny!" protested Melody, and I could just picture Melody running around the room laughing with Ember hot on her heels in total frustration as I had seen them do so many times before. The rest of the flock, who had also woken up from Ember's sudden yell, all groaned and flopped back in their pillows.
"Not again" muttered Nudge, who was sleeping in the bed adjacent to Ember with Angel. She was asleep again in a matter of minutes.
"Don't they ever stop?" Iggy mumbled next to me, covering his head on the pillow. The guys had floor duty since we had lost a pillow fight might a couple of days ago.
"WAHH! FANG, EMBER'S BEING MEAN TO ME!" Melody yelled. She had been caught, probably being held upside-down in Ember's arms.
"Don't call help from Fang, you little monster!" said Ember, who I could tell was obviously smirking just by the tone of her voice.
"Fang, HELP!" Melody called again, now giggling uncontrollably. Total chuckled from beside me.
"You heard her, Fang. Go and help the princess" said Total with sarcasm in his voice. I picked up my pillow and chucked it at him, then grabbed Ember's pillow and buried my head in it, blocking out the yells downstairs and the protests from Total.
A typical start to a typical day.
O::O::O::O::O::O
After the sister ordeal this morning, I ate some breakfast, took a shower, and got dressed. Everyone else was in a wonderful mood, even though I was a bit suspicious. It's been almost a month since we bailed my sister out of the School, and there has been no move from them, even though we probably aren't too far away. I would like to think that we put a dent in their actions with our sudden escape, but I highly doubted it.
But even though we were in hiding, we still left the house quite frequently. We needed a way to keep our food supply stuffed at all times, so every 5 days, two of us would head out toward a grocery store. We try not to shop at the same place twice for a certain number of weeks, just so that they won't recognize us, so we usually increase our flying range past the local town to buy food. I still have a bunch of cash left, and I try as often as possible to not use credit cards, but sometimes it can't be helped.
Fang always kept asking me what I wanted to do about my mom, but I always ignored him because I didn't want to answer for personal reasons. Along with teaching Iggy some cool techniques and helping Melody to fight better, I kept myself busy. And even though I still felt a little bit uneasy because it had been so quiet for so long, it was really nice to just relax, even for a short time.
I was just getting cozy in my room with my sketchbook when Angel and Melody both popped in and came to the side of my bed with gleaming smiles.
"Fang wants you!" Melody said in an angelic voice, and I glared at her. They have been pulling this trick for a week now, and it was getting old.
"I'm not falling for that again" I said, going back to my drawing.
"But this time it's really true. He really does want you" said Angel.
"I bet in more ways than one" Melody said with a small giggle. I kept my eyes glued to the paper, resisting the urge to chase her again.
What the hell was that supposed to mean, anyway? I wondered after an exasperated sigh. "
You still don't get it, do you?" asked Angel through thought.
Oops. I had allowed her to read my mind.
"Angel, how many times did I tell you how rude that is" I said, putting my book down since I knew I wasn't going to get anything done.
"Sorry. It's just that when you open up your mind, it's really hard for me to resist" she said apologetically. I sighed again and pinched the bridge of my nose just before hearing another knock on the door. I looked up to see Fang standing in the doorway with his black clothes that he once again looked too good on him.
"Hey" I said with slight apprehension.
"I told you he wanted you" said Melody and I threw a pillow at her, which she dodged before running out giggling. Angel followed behind her, giving me a knowing smile before scampering off. I put my book down and looked at him. "What's up?" I asked.
"We need to run to the store. Nudge wants more ramen" Fang said with a shrug, but something was up. If Fang want, he usually left with Iggy or Angel. So why did he want to go with me so randomly?
"Can't you go with someone else?" I asked, raising an eyebrow at him.
"Yeah, I could. But you seem like you want to get out of the house".
Of course, Fang was right.
It had been at least a week since I was able to fly for even an hour or so, much less go outside for something other than walks in the forest, which was SUPPOSED to be relaxing, but seeing as how I always took Melody with me...yeah, not so much.
My wings were actually aching at the thought of having them stretch out, but I wasn't going to let him know any of that. I got up from the bed, went to the closet, and opened it to store away my sketchbook so that Nudge couldn't get to it, as she was prone to do lately.
"You can still go with Iggy or something" I said nonchalantly, trying to put it back on the top shelf, but it was a little bit out of my reach.
How the hell did I get it down if I can barely reach it? Oh yeah, Iggy got it for me... I thought as I reached unsuccessfully for the shelf.
Suddenly, Fang was behind me, my head against his upper chest since he was taller than me. His hand was on mine against the closet door, keeping it restrained while I clutched the book. My eyes widened slightly and my heart instantly went into overdrive, thumping against my chest, threatening to jump out at any second. Fang's breath tickled my neck, making my hairs stand on end.
"I want you to go with me" he whispered in my ear, and I swear my heart skipped a beat.
Or two.
Maybe three.
I took a staggering breath, trying to give my brain oxygen to think straight. But it was silent, making me fly solo. I swallowed before opening my mouth to say something witty, something that would make me feel more like myself.
"Yeah. Sure. Ok".
Smooth move, Miss Dictionary.
Fang chuckled, sending chills through my body and kick starting my heart into a fast gallop yet again. His hand moved from mine to the book, easily taking it out of my grip, and reached the top of the shelf with ease to put it back.
"Good" he said simply as he walked out of the door with a small smile playing on his lips. I took several gulps of air as if I had been drowning. I began to feel more like myself, and with that, embarrassment and a huge blush entered my face.
Damn manipulative pretty boy, I thought as I took a slightly shaking hand and grabbed a light jacket from the closet.