Max's POV

I walked down the stairs, my hand running along the smooth wood that the railings were made of. It had been rubbed smooth by the many times the boys had slid down the rails, not bothering to use the stairs. Nudge and Angel tisked them for being so immature, but I had secretly seen them do the same when they thought no one was looking.

Nudge ran around the corner, her hand gripped the rails, ready to jump on them. Her eyes spotted me and she stumble before regaining her composure and running down the stairs, flashing me a way too innocent smile. I just rolled my eyes and walked into the kitchen.

Iggy was flipping pancakes, Fang was flicking through the paper, pretending to read but really just looking for the comics, Angel was reading a magazine with Nudge who had just sat down, Gazzy was bouncing behind Iggy with a small amount of drool hanging out, and Dylan, Dylan was on where to be seen.

"Dylan went for a shower" Angel answered automatically, reading my mind like it was more interesting than the magazine. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Fang frown before pulling the paper high enough so I couldn't see face.

"Thinking about me?" Someone said and I turned as Dylan walked into the room. I rolled my eyes and sent a regretful swear word at Angel as I sat at the table.

Since Fang had come back, leaving his gang behind, things had been tense. It had been 2 months and I had made no move towards either Dylan or Fang, I was on a guy break, or that's what I tried to convince myself of. With both guys fighting to get me, you think I would feel like the luckiest girl in the world right? Wrong. It was a miracle I could sleep at night with all the feelings inside me. It was horrible.

But I guess there could be worse things. So far no one has attacked us, no one had found us, and no one wanted us dead. Yet. I tried not to think about it, I didn't want to jinx us.

I snapped out of my thoughts as Iggy pilled pancakes onto the table and we all dug in.

After breakfast and a long shower I went to my room and got changed into jeans and a shirt. I loved that the CSM was paying for this house, so I didn't feel too guilty about long showers. I let my wings stretch out, feeling the power of them as they stretched out to their full length, they were twice as big as I were tall. I slid my hand down the brown feathers, feeling how soft they were now I had learned about this thing called grooming.

I felt as peace sitting in the quiet of my room, acknowledging the uniqueness and beauty of my wings.

Then I heard it. The scream that broke the silence. That broke my safeness.

I rushed downstairs. I froze as I saw the impossible. Erasers were in my house, fighting my family. My 16 year old avian badass genes kicked in and I grabbed the hair of the closest eraser to me and smashed his face into the stair rails.

I slid down the bloody rail and kicked an eraser in the face with my decent. To my right I saw Fang sink his fist into some guys face, and then another.

I also saw Nudge and Angel taking on a large group of about 18 erasers and I felt relief wash over me as Dylan dove into the group to help. I heard a high pitched scream and ran into the kitchen to see Iggy sitting on one eraser while he burnt on the hot stove, while he swung a frying pan around, knocking out eraser's teeth everywhere.

I heard a high pitched whistle and suddenly everything stopped. The erasers stopped fighting and just walked away, ignoring us. They had gotten what they had come for.

I rushed outside to see them all pile into a van as it sped away. The flock rushed out, confused as I was. It wasn't til then I realised a flock member was missing.

"MAX!" I heard Gazzy screaming as a helicopter from behind our house started up and lifted into the sky. I snapped open my wings and took off after it.

"MAX!" He screamed again, his baby face dirty from tears, dirt and blood as he tried to jump, but the eraser had tight grip on him.

I flew faster but I wasn't fast enough to dodge a bullet. It sunk into my wing, causing me to drop from the sky. As my right hand man, Fang was always there to catch me. To hold me as I watched my other baby fade into the distant like some twisted déjà vu.