Iggy's POV

Good news: I heard a lot of gasps, and I imagined everyone's eyes bugging out like bush babies.

Bad news: I had just hit a tree. With my bare hands. And despite my awesome strength and general amazingness, it hurt.

Like, immensely.

"Wow. That is a lot of blood…" Jacob slurred uncertainly.

"Awww, he's fine," Nudge assured, and I heard a slap: she'd just smacked Jacob…playfully? Is she crazy?

"Okay, Nudge," I said, scooting over and grabbing her arm. Pulling her toward me, I patted her head and did the best I could to glare at Jacob. When was my eyesight when I needed it? "Now that we know I'm not going to die, what do you want?"

There was a pause, and I imagined Jacob running his fingers through his hair; I heard little wispy sounds that usually come with the motions. "See…I don't know. I was hoping you could tell me what just happened, I guess. I mean, who are you?"

"And that," I said, smirking, "Is an excellent question. We're all mutants, created in a lab to sprout wings," I extended them slightly, "and fly around like hawks and stuff. As I recall, you heard this at the hospital before you went completely berserk. Okay, goodbye!" I tried scooting everyone out of there, but it was quite hard, considering I couldn't exactly tell where they were…

"No, wait!" Jacob yelled, grabbing my arm.

I stopped, and without even glanced at him, I said, "Take your hand off of me." I sounded pretty deadly, or at least, a little threatening, because he let go immediately.

"Please," Jacob begged (I liked the sound of his groveling). "Sam says to check up on you every once in a while. He says you're dangerous. Are you?"

I said what was true. "Yes."

This clearly wasn't enough from the insightful Jacob. I was surprised to hear him ask a pretty good question.

I heard the shuffling of feet; he was nervous. "When?"

I was confused. "When what?"

"When are you dangerous?"

I had to think about that for a minute.

Angel spoke up. Grabbing my hand tightly, she murmured, "We're dangerous when we have to be."

"Yeah!" Gazzy threw in. "When, like, people want to kill us."

Nudge added, "Not only people. Robots. Mutants. Stuff like that."

"Oh," Jacob huffed. "Well, then, I'll come around every now and then and look after you guys. Where are you staying?"

"Up at Bella's," I said, pointing in the general direction. Or what I thought was the general direction.

I heard nothing, and then Jacob sighed loudly, like he was trying to catch his breath. He seemed tired, and though barely two seconds ago my girlfriend was—dare I say it?—flirting with him, I felt kind of bad for him.

"How are you holding up?" I asked. "With the whole werewolf deal?"

He sighed again. "It's hard. Everyday I wake up and for a few seconds I still think I'm…me. And then the next moment I spot a giant wolf bounding outside my window." He laughed humorlessly. "It's like that for everyone. Yet all the same…" he trailed off, unable to finish his sentence.

I knew exactly how he felt. Sometimes I'd dream and wake up expecting to open my eyes and see Nudge beside me, the sky, that green grass I feel beneath my fingertips. Yet all remains black, and reality rolls over my consciousness with a vengeance.

"Hey, you want to come with us?" I blurted out before realizing I was even thinking the idea. Hmm…maybe I shouldn't have opened my mouth…

"What?" Jacob asked, sounding bewildered.

"Do you want to come to Bella's with us? She'll want to see you," Angel said seriously.

"Yeah!" Jacob, said, his woe-is-me attitude completely dissolved. I felt like punching him. Here am I, attempting to reach out a consoling hand of sympathy, and now he's bouncing around like he'd drunk a pack of Happy Juice.

Well, of course, I'm not sure what he was doing at the moment, but by his voice he was pretty damn happy about something. And I'm guessing his happiness has nothing to do with me trying to make him feel better.

Then the genius seemed to realize that he was just a little too happy for the present circumstances. "Uh, I mean, yeah, I guess I could take a look around, see if it's safe and all." He cleared his throat.

I decided what to do. I mean, we could all just fly up and get high in the clouds, he wouldn't find us until it was too late. I could whack him with a baseball bat. I could discreetly trip him—when he gets all ticked off and springs into his wolf form and attacks me or whatever, I could beat him like a piece of meat. While Nudge was watching. And then she'll kiss me and we'll ride off into the sunset—

"Yeah, whatever," I said, sounding indifferent. I flipped out my wings and jumped in the air without preamble. The rest followed, and I heard distinct ripping noises. Jacob was running below us.

And for a moment I didn't care. I didn't think about anything, just the wind casing my body with chill, the wisps of clouds engulfing me with droplets of moisture, the slight flutter of Gazzy's wings tickling mine, guiding me…

"Uh, Iggy?" Gazzy said uncertainly.

I snapped out of my dream world. "What?" I snarled, more than a little irked.

"We're going the wrong way."

Max's POV

I couldn't really believe what I was seeing. Over the past week, I've been kissed, killed and transformed into something I've never thought actually existed. My heart has been broken, sewn, and ripped apart because Fang—someone who the Voice thought was my soul mate—said that he did not love me. And Edward was there for me when I needed it most.

So, all of these things points to what?

That my life is pretty much as bad as it gets. And then, of course, it gets even worse.

And that was before Jeb just sprouts out of nowhere. I mean, did he want to get killed?

Well, it doesn't matter what he wants anyway, because it isn't his choice.

It was mine.

I have to admit, the whole picking-people-up-by-the-meager-scruffs-of-their-shirt usually sets people off. Makes them completely freak out. Yet Jeb stared back at me, holding himself up slightly by gripping my arm gently. "Now, Max…"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," I muttered. My burst of anger was gone, and I ended up dropping him. I turned my back to him as he picked himself up off of the ground. Edward was staring at me curiously, and I opened my mind, letting him know who Jeb was. His eyes narrowed as he glanced at my father.

"What do you want?" I asked bluntly, staring at the mountains.

"Max," Jeb began. I imagined him straightening his stupid little glasses on his stupid little head. "You have to try to understand that I'm only trying to—"

"Help," I cut in, finishing his sentence before he could get it out. "Yeah, I've heard that before. Yet here I am, a mutant, because of you, and a freaking vampire, and there you are, not helping."

Jeb sighed…and it sounded long and winded, blowing out steadily and loudly. I noticed purple bruises under his eyes. He looked tired. And, wouldn't you know it, my heart leaked. All of those things he did to me, what he did to us…for a second, it just…disappeared.

"I know, Max…" he said. His eyes grew red and shiny. "You can't imagine how I feel about what I've done with The School, the flock…and with you. But I'm trying to make up for it. You just need to give me a chance." Okay, evil Jeb, I was used to. This remorseful one? No amount of Valium would have diluted me to believe that was ever going to happen.

Yet my heart was still leaking, and I glanced down at my hand, shimmering in the sun like a thousand twinkling stars. And I realized that I could blame Jeb for everything that's ever happened. I could yell at him for years about the freaking wings, the freaking sparkles…but was it going to help?

Hell no.

"How do you want to help me?" I murmured, closing my eyes, refusing to look at Edward's startling gaze, and Jeb—my father—staring at his shoes like a 5-year-old who ate the forbidden cookie out of the forbidden cookie jar.

Jeb had been staring at his shoes, and I heard his neck crack. My eyes weren't open, but I could see him…I could see him staring at me with an expression I haven't seen in a long time. An expression I trusted.

"I'm here to give you a warning, Max.

"There will come a time in the future when you will be tested beyond measure. Itex is back, Max. I'm sure you know this. And we will need you. Not just me, not just the Cullens, not just the flock, but the world."

I sucked in breath, snapping open my eyes. So this was finally it? Now? At this freaking moment?

"Fang will need you. He needs you now, more than ever. And you need him."

"He doesn't give a rat's ass about me," I said quietly. "Edward read his mind. He hates my guts because I tried to drink his blood." Despite my dead tone, I was laughing a little. The sentence sounded so weird when I said it. The "he hates me" part. Not the "because I tried to drink his blood" part.

Just got to be clear with you all.

Edward looked away, his eyes at the ground. He was clenching his fists. He's probably thinking of Bella, I thought sadly. Poor guy.

Jeb looked slightly irritated, and the parental look that was on his face vanished like Harry Potter under his invisibility cloak. "You'll realize soon enough that you're not right about everything, Max. I hope it's too late when you finally do."

And with that last loving statement, he walked back toward his car, stepped in, and drove off without a last word.

And my heart was cemented shut.