Chapter 1(Max’s POV)

Oh great. Flyboys. I went into a fighting stance, blocking the flyboys from the rest of the flock. If they wanted the flock they’d have to get them over my dead body. Fang stood on one of my sides, Iggy on the other. Ella, behind me, whimpered. I lunged at one of the flyboys. I went for a roundhouse kick. The flyboy grabbed my foot and flung me away. I landed in the yard with a thump. I sat there dazed and confused for a little before getting up and sneaking up behind one. I jumped on its back and started punching its head until it blew up. I heard a scream as a flyboy grabbed Ella. I growled and leaped to her rescue. I kicked its head until it picked me up and flung me over its shoulder.

“Fang!” I screamed. It signaled to the other flyboys to stop and they took off with me.

“HELP!” I screeched at the top of my lungs. Nudge leapt up only to be pushed back to the ground by a flyboy. The flyboys flew off with me kicking and screaming at the flyboy who had me.

Chapter 2(Fang’s POV)

“Fang!” I heard Max shriek then “HELP!”  At the top of her lungs. Nudge tried to go up and get her, but she was pushed back to the ground. They had Max. Now I was mad.

“C’mon guys.” I growled and launched off the ground. Iggy had Ella.

“It’s all my fault, Max was only helping me.” She said to them.

“I’m sorry.” She said.

“It’s not your fault; it’s Itex who did this.” I growled.

They could see the flyboys now, grouped around something. That something was Max, her beautiful wings extended, her face stone as she tried to punch all of the flyboys at once.

“Iggy put Ella down on the ground.” I ordered.

Chapter 3(Max’s POV)

So there I was, just going to give up. No. I leaped off of the flyboy’s back and unfurled my wings. They clustered around my, beating me up. I dropped altitude as one punched me so hard that I forgot to flap my wings. I flew up only to be punched so hard that I rolled back a little. I then saw Fang and the flock. While I was distracted, a flyboy took his chance and took out his gun and I heard a gunshot and felt a searing pain in my wing. I shrieked and started to fall. I closed my eyes waiting for the ground to connect with my head. Suddenly, strong arms were around me, holding me up in the air. I opened my eyes to see Fang looking at me, his face expressionless as usual.

My wing was bloody, blood still running down in streams. Tears were rolling down my cheeks. I shuddered with sobs as Fang lowered me to the ground. I layed down and let it all out.

The rest of the flock came down after fighting off the flyboys. I stood up and ran. I ran as fast as I could, as far as I could and when I couldn’t run, I collapsed to the ground in shuddering sobs that shook my whole body.

Suddenly strong arms were holding me, cradling me. I was spent. I took some long, deep, shaky breaths and opened my eyes. There was Fang, but his face showed something that I had only seen once, and that was when he was looking at me, one time. That emotion was love, affection. Fang loved me, though he would never admit it. I leaned against his rock hard shoulder. My face was red with blood. My right wing was red with blood and my body was sore. My lungs were screaming for more air. I was a wreck, yet he still loved me, and I still loved him.

I finally looked up at him and had the courage to tell him this.

“Fang, there’s something I want to tell you. I, well, I- uh, I love you.” I waited to see what his reaction would be

“I love you too.” He whispered into my hair.

We stood up and walked back to the flock. We went back to our house. Oh great, we have school tomorrow.

I cleaned up my wounds and painfully tucked my wings in for bed. I crawled into bed and turned my cd player on. I fell asleep.

“Max, Max get up, it’s time for school.” I heard a gentle, male’s voice. I opened my eyes to see Fang shaking me.

I groaned and got up. We walked to school. I pulled my wings in tighter. I ran into Mike, my ex boyfriend.

“Hey, looking good.” He said.

“Just leave me alone.” I said.

“That’s okay, I like em’ feisty. Why don’t we go to dinner and a movie.” He said.

“I said leave me alone.” I said again.

“Mike don’t take no for an answer.” He growled at me.

“Well Mike is gonna have to live with no.” I growled back.

He shoved me. I was hurt enough as it is, and I didn’t want to fight Mike, who was on the football team.

“Are you going to say no again?” he snarled at me.

“Mike, I don’t want to fight you, but I’m not going out with you again. I got hurt enough as it is by you and I don’t need another scar on my heart.” I said to him.

He smashed my head into the wall. He kicked me and I blacked out. The last thing I heard was Fang say, “Leave her alone.” I then blacked.

I woke up at home with six, including Ella, very concerned faces looking down at me.

“Ow.” I groaned

“Max, are you okay?” Angel asked me.

“I feel like someone smashed my head with an extra large mallet.” I groaned.

“Iggy, get some ice.” Fang said to Iggy who nodded and ran into the kitchen.

He came back with some ice, which I positioned onto my forehead.

“I’m going to get that jerk. He’ll make sure that I’ll be seeing more of him.” I snarled.

The doorbell than rang and Angel got it.

“It’s for Max. It’s Mike.” She said.

I groaned and got off of the couch, using Fang to get my balance before walking to the door.

“Now that you’ve seen what I can do, will you go out with me? The relationship we had was golden.” He said. His eyes were narrowed in anger.

“I. Will. Never. Go. Out. With. You. Again.” I grinded out through clenched teeth.

Fang and Iggy both walked up behind me and fixed him with glares as hard as stone with me. Mike backed out of the doorway and walked back to his convertible. I slammed the door and barely made it back to the couch before collapsing and groaning again.

“I will never see the end of him.” I moaned. I turned the TV on.

The rest of the flock except for Fang went to their own rooms. I sat up so that Fang could sit down. I leaned against his shoulder and channel surfed until I found Discovery channel, which was showing a show called Ice Truckers.

“He is such a jerk. I don’t know what I ever saw in him.” I said, turning to Fang.

“You thought he was cute.” Fang said quietly.

“I’m sorry.” I whispered and burst into tears.

Fang wrapped his arms around me. The tears didn’t last long.

“I knew you had something against him, but I never knew what.” I whispered, barely audible over the TV.

“It’s ok. Everything’s fine.” He said.

I sniffled and looked up at him.

“I should get to bed.” I said.

He nodded and I said good night to him. I went up to my room and got straight into my pajamas. They had puppies on them. I turned out the light and climbed into my bed.

I woke up at about five in the morning. School started at eight. I got dressed. Fang was already up. I walked downstairs with a splitting headache. I walked into the kitchen and grabbed a bag of ice. After the headache was gone, I made a waffle in the toaster. I ate it and sat down with my head on my arms. Fang and I hadn’t talked at all this morning.

“I hate my life.” I said.

“What’s wrong with your life?” He asked through a mouthful of cereal.

“Everything except the flock. My dad hates me and the flock, even though he says otherwise. My mom and sister don’t know anything about what he does to me through my brain and the only one who really knows what I’m going through is you.” The words spilled out of my mouth.

“Max, what happened to strong Max, who let nothing get in her way?” Fang asked me.

“I don’t know.” I sighed.

“Well, when you find her, tell me.” He said, getting up.

“Good morning Max!” Angel said cheerfully.

As we walked to school, Mike drove up in his convertible.

“Want a ride, baby?” he asked.

“From the biggest loser in the world, I don’t think so.” I said in a girly voice.

Chapter 4(Fang’s POV)

We were walking to school when Mike drove up to us in his Mustang convertible.

“Want a ride, baby?” He asked Max. I clenched my jaw and smirked at Mike when he heard Max’s response.

“From the biggest loser in the world, I don’t think so.” She said in a snotty, girly voice.

That set him off, because he pulled out his gun and shot Max.

“WHAT THE HECK!” I yelled, but Mike drove away laughing.

I kneeled at Max’s side. Her breathing was shallow and irregular as she fought for a breath. I picked her up and they raced to a hospital, where the doctors took her. They put her in a room and hooked up many tubes, including a breathing machine.

“Fang?” she murmured.

“Yes, Max?” I said.

“Why is he such a jerk?” She asked me.

“I truly don’t know, but what I do know is that I think you found strong Max.” I said.

She laughed a little then went into a coughing fit.

“Water.” She said in between coughs.

I got a glass of water and gave it to Max who took it thankfully and drank all of it in one big gulp.

Chapter 5(Max’s POV)

I was in the hospital, with a bullet wound in my stomach and Fang beside my bed as I gulped down a glass of water to stop the coughing fit that I had gone into after laughing a little.

“Ok, laughing is a no no.” I said smiling.

He rolled his eyes at me. I tried to sit up.

“No, Max.” Fang ordered me. I ignored him.

I sat up. I arranged my pillows so that I could lean against them which were positioned against the wall.

“I want to sit up.” I growled playfully at him.

“Oh jeez, splitting headache.” I said, holding my head.

“That’s what you get for trying to sit up early.” He said, but he still got me some aspirin.

I popped them into my mouth with some water.

“Max?” I heard Angel say.

“Come on in guys.” I said. The flock walked in cautiously and looked around my room.

My room smelled fruity. It had tan walls and a flat screen TV. I grabbed the remote and turned it on. I flipped through the channels until I found Discovery channel. They were playing a show called Myth busters.

“Ms. Ride, you should not be up.” A doctor said.

“I’ll sit up if I want to, and you can’t stop me.” I growled at him.

“Ok, Ok, don’t bite my head off.” The doctor said as he came to check my heart rate.

“You asked for it.” I muttered. Fang hit me lightly on the shoulder.

As soon as he was finished, he looked at my bullet wound. It was bleeding again. Well, that’s the price I had to pay to sit up.

“Oops.” I said and shrugged my shoulders.

The flock was trying to stifle laughter, but it didn’t work, because soon everyone in the room except the doctor was bursting into laughter. I laughed along with them, even though it hurt my stomach and bullet wound. The doctor walked out of the room and talked to another doctor. It was a girl. She came in.

“Only family is allowed with you.” She said.

“This is my family.” I said with a sweet smile.

“They can’t all be your family.” She said shocked.

“They’re my cousins and my boyfriend.” I said gesturing to Fang.

“Oh, ok.” She said, looking shocked.

She backed out of the room.

“Boyfriend, huh?” Fang said with a smirk.

“I had to think on my feet, so shut up.” I said, hitting his shoulder.

The day continued on with doctors coming and going, watching Discovery channel with the flock.

“Oh, I do love Discovery, I really do.” I said.

We were watching Ice Road Truckers. Then it happened. Ari came in with erasers and flyboys by the hundreds. We gasped. We leaped into action, bullet wound forgotten, that is until I tried to stand up and it hurt, really bad, so, of course, Fang picked me up, bridal style I might add, and we left. We went home. I collapsed on the couch, dizzy by the sudden movement and suddenly, I was going unconscious. The last thing I saw was Fang, his face showing concern as I went unconscious, again.

I woke up with a gasp. I needed water now! My throat was hurting like crazy, my bullet wound hurting more. Fang was already there with a glass of water and a bloody paper towel, which I’m guessing is from my wound. I took the water gratefully from him and gulped and gulped until it was gone. My parched throat was suddenly filled with clear, cold water.

“How long was I out?” I asked him.

“About two hours.” He answered me, pressing the paper towel up to my stomach.

“Iggy, I need another paper towel.” He called into the kitchen. Iggy came out with a paper towel, which he gave to Fang.

I looked down at my stomach. There was blood all over it. It was smeared with new blood and crusted with old, dried on blood. I then noticed the pile of bloody paper towels on the floor. Wow, that’s a lot of blood, my friend. Finally, the bleeding stopped. Fang gave me a wet towel, which I used to wash up my stomach.

“Thank you, for everything you do for me.” I finally blurted out.

He looked shocked for a minute then the expression faded and he just mumbled “You’re welcome.”

I blushed.

“Max is up guys!” I heard Angel squeal from upstairs.

Then they came, sounding like a herd of elephants.

“Jeez, guys, could you be any louder?” I laughed.

“Probably.” Gazzy said, also laughing.

Then the whole flock was laughing and I was getting up to get sodas. I walked into the kitchen. The smell of food made me nauseas and I got out as fast as I could, looking green, I might add.

“You look bad.” Nudge commented.

“Oh, just the smell of food.” I said truthfully.

“Oh, Ok.” She replied.

I handed out the Pepsis. I ended up giving Iggy mine. I didn’t feel like food or drink. I grabbed a glass of water instead. When I finished drinking my water, I walked up the stairs to take a nap and maybe upchuck, because I felt sick. That’s exactly what I ended up doing. I was in the bathroom when Angel came up and passed the bathroom. She stopped and grabbed my hair back.  I nodded to thank her. After I thought I was done, it turns out I wasn’t. It was worse. Angel was getting restless, so she called Gazzy, who got green just looking at it. He called Nudge who also got green. Iggy was taking a nap, so Fang was the only one left. I hadn’t stopped when he came to the door. It hadn’t even got thinner. He held my hair back while I leaned over the toilet.

When I was finally done, I was tired and cold so I thanked Fang and layed down in my room. I pulled the blankets up to my chin. I stopped shivering and fell asleep, still feeling sick.

I woke up. Oh boy, I needed to barf again. I ran to the bathroom. Someone was in there. I rushed downstairs where the rest of the flock was and turned the corner to go to the restroom. I got there just in time. Angel rushed in after me and held my hair back again. I was practically barfing my guts up.

Iggy walked in.

“Max? Are you okay?” he asked.

“No, she’s barfing.” Angel answered for me.

After I was done, I sat up.

“That one hurt.” I groaned.

Angel ran and got me a Tums. I took it and tried to make it back to my bed, but ended up on the Lazy boy. My legs felt weak. I fell asleep there, shivering and still not feeling well.

When I woke up, it was twelve at night. Everyone else was in bed, except for Angel.

“Hi Max, How are you feeling?” she asked.

“Better.” I said honestly.

“That’s good. Everyone else is in bed. I wanted to stay with you. I put this blanket on you.” She said.

“Thank you Angel, but you should be in bed with the rest. We have school tomorrow, remember.” I said sternly.

“ok.” She said frowning.

Chapter 6(Fang’s POV)

I heard murmuring downstairs and heard small feet coming up the stairs. Angel. She had decided to stay up with Max. I had tried to tell her no, but she had used the bambi eyes. I was affected by that, big time.

“Fang?” I heard a young voice. I got out of bed.

“Yes, Angel.” I said softly.

“Help me stay up with Max, please.” She said. Oh crud, bambi eyes, noooooooooooo.

“Fine.” I sighed. I came down with Angel. Max frowned.

“Just let her stay.” I said.

“Fine, but you have to fall asleep before me, which won’t be very long, so you better hurry.” Max said, still frowning.

“Thank you!” Angel said and layed down on the couch. She fell asleep instantly, with Max right behind her. I walked back upstairs and layed down on my bed and fell asleep almost instantly.

“Fang, get up, It’s important!” I heard Angel say urgently.

“What’s wrong?” I asked her.

“Max is barely breathing and when I looked into her mind, I saw images of death.” She whispered the last word. I got up instantly and ran down the stairs so loud that the rest of the flock woke up and came down to see what was up. What they saw was horrifying. Max was ghostly pale and Angel was looking very worried. Max was gasping for breath. I was rummaging around in the kitchen and put lots of ice bags around and on her. The fever went down and me and Angel looked relieved. Angel’s brow furrowed as she looked into Max’s mind. She visibly relaxed.

“What happened?” Gazzy finally asked.

“Well when I woke up, she was fine, but suddenly she just started gasping and getting pale. I got Fang as soon as she started gasping, but when I got back, it had gotten worse and I saw bad things in her mind, like death.” Angel said quietly.

Max woke up with a gasp.

“I, you, huh?” she said confused.

“It’s ok.” Angel said.

“I had a dream, but what I felt was real.” She said.

“What do you mean?” Angel asked.

“Ari was choking me, but what I felt was real. I really felt it, but I couldn’t wake up.” She said, just as confused as the flock.

“Huh?” she said. She shrugged and snuggled back in. Her breathing slowed. The flock went back to their rooms, except Angel. It’s a good thing she was with Max, I observed.

“Fang, it’s time for school.” I heard Max, wait, MAX?

I nodded and got up as Max closed the door. I heard voices downstairs, and laughs. I got dressed and pounded down the stairs.

Chapter 7(Max’s POV)

I went to wake up Fang. What had happened last night seemed to make me feel better? Weird. Fang pounded down the stairs. I was at the kitchen table eating eggs. He gave me a why-are-you-up stare and I just glared at him. We walked to school. I didn’t’ see any Mike, but when we got to school, there he was surrounded by his group of jock friends. I tried to avoid him, but I failed.

“Well, well, look whose back at school. It’s a shame I didn’t kill you.” He said, high-fiving his friends.

“Hey everybody, it’s the biggest loser and he’s talking to me!” I yelled to the students. I was popular at this school, but I wasn’t snotty like Jessica, who hung all over Fang. I acted like it didn’t bother me, but Fang knew it did.

“You are such a loser!” He screamed and stormed off. I had won once and for all.

“YOU DID IT! YOU ACTUALLY DID IT! YOU BEAT MIKE IN AN ARGUMENT!!!!” Ashley yelled to me. I high-fived her and everybody who was crowding around me. I’m surprised I made it out alive.

“Nice job!” Iggy said, high-fiving me. The whole flock did, even Fang.

The bell then rang. School was good that day. News of my victory spread through the school like a wildfire and everybody came up to congratulate me. I took it all in. Jessica stood back and glared at me. I walked up to her.

“I don’t see what you have against me.” I said to her.

“You’re more popular than me.” She said, still glaring.

“Well, that’s what you get for being mean.” I said before walking off to lunch. She followed me and pulled my hair.

“Ow.” I said mildly as I turned around.

“You are so mean.” She said as Fang, known to her as Nick, walked up.

“I didn’t do anything to you.” I said calmly. Fang knew it took all of my strength just to not hit her.

“Come on Max, It’s not worth it.” Fang said.

“Arrrrrrrrrggggghhhhhh! I hate you!” She screamed at me before stomping off to the cafeteria.

After I got my lunch, I went to sit alone, as usual. I know I was popular, but I wasn’t into the whole high school clique` thing. I wanted real friends. Fang and Iggy sat with the popular guys, and I sat alone. I occasionally sat with Ashley and her friends. I sat down and started to nibble. After I finished eating, I went to my locker. Someone had written on it, and I can guess who. She is such a snob. I went to the janitor’s closet to get something to wipe it off with and when I got back, Jessica and her friends were huddled around it with a sharpie.

“Get away from my locker.” I said to her, calmly.

“Make me.” She said.

“Just get away!” I practically screamed.

“Um, ok.” She said as she and her friends backed away fearfully.

I started scrubbing. I was going to be late for class. When I finally finished, I was five minutes late. I came in and the math teacher glared at me.

“Tardy!” she snapped.

I nodded calmly and took my seat next to a boy who wouldn’t stop staring at me.

“You’re hot.” He told me after class.

I glared at him and walked away. Guess what, there was more writing on my locker. They were calling me a dork and a snob and a nerd. Fang then walked up.

“I see you’re redecorating and calling yourself a dork. Wow Max.” He said.

“Jessica did this. Jessica and her friends.” I said as I scrubbed.

“She thinks she’s my girlfriend, I swear, it’s annoying.” He said.

“Hey Nick, oh look, the dork did some redecorating.” She said.

“So sweetie, what are we doing today?” She asked sweetly.

“Ummmm, you’re not my girlfriend. I don’t even like you.” He said.

“Geez, Max. Vandalize school property then steal my boyfriend. I don’t know why everyone thinks you’re so nice.” She said to me, getting right up in my face.

“First of all, you wrote on the locker, second of all, you were never his girlfriend, so don’t go blaming me for all of your problems.” I said.

“Like I said, I don’t know why everyone thinks you’re so nice.” She said walking away as I continued to scrub.

The end of the day bell finally rang and I was finally done scrubbing my locker. We picked up the rest of the kids and went home.

We got home and got to our homework. I tapped my pencil against my book as I tried to figure out the math homework. Hmmmm. 2x+19=? X=?  That was hard.

“Max? I need help.” Angel said as she walked into my room.

“On what, honey?” I asked her.

“History.” She replied.

“We’re learning about ancient China. Why was the Great Wall of China built?” she asked.

“To keep the invaders from the North out.” I answered.

“Thanks!” Angel said.

“Uh huh. Now then, 2x+19? What is x? Wow, that’s hard.” I said to myself.

“The great Max, struggling?” Fang asked as he stood in my door frame.

“Oh, shut up!” I said. I tapped my head and started chewing my pencil eraser.

“Chewing isn’t going to help you.” He said smirking.

“Math is hard.” I complained.

“Not really.” He said and then came in to help me.

I finally finished my math. Now on to Language Arts. Jake ain’t nobody. Fix this sentence.

I blew through the rest of my homework.

“I’m going out for a fly, anyone want to come?” I offered.

“Sure!” Angel said.

We took off. I did a few graceful flips before coming back to Angel.

“Is something on your mind?” I asked her.

“No, I was just a little disturbed by all of the recent events that have been happening. You almost dying, Fang is being more talkative, plus he learned how to block me out of his mind. I can’t learn anything from his mind. He seems to smile a lot more ever since you and him came back from your outburst with the flyboys. What did you do?” She asked.

“I told him something that I think he’s been waiting a long time to hear from my mouth and that was I love you. That’s what I told him, I’m telling the truth. That’s all I did.” I said.

“I believe you. I’m happy that you and him finally said that, or at least you. Did he say it too?” she asked.

“yes.” I said.

I heard a twig snap in the forest below us. I landed silently on a branch and saw a girl, about my age dashing through the forest. She kept looking back. I landed in front of her.

“Who are you?” I snarled.

“I could ask you the same thing, now then let me go, I’m being chased by flyboys and erasers, if you know what they are.” She said.

“Follow me.” I gestured to her to follow me and we dashed towards the house with Angel flying over us. Suddenly I heard a buzzing.

“Guys, get out here, we got some business to take care of!” I screamed through the door.

The flock ran out the door. We all got into fighting stances, even the girl. I screeched and leaped at one. It grabbed my foot and pushed me off. I leapt right to my feet. The girl was fighting an eraser. She clapped her hands to the side of its head and it shrieked. I leaped at the flyboy. They were gone in an instant.

“By the way, I’m Serina. I know I can trust you. I’m an avian hybrid.” She snapped her wings open. They were pure white with some black and brown spots. They were beautiful.

“I’m Max. Same here and with the rest of the flock. This is Fang, Iggy, Nudge, and Angel.” We all snapped out our wings.

“I never thought that there were more of my kind. I always had dreams of a girl that looked exactly like you, Max.” she said.

“How long are you staying?” Max asked.

“Wow. Ummmm I really hadn’t thought about staying.” She said.

“You have to!” Angel squealed.

“Who’s there?” I heard a wary, but familiar voice from the forest

“K-Kate?” I stammered.

“MAX!” She shrieked.

“OH MY GOSH! YOU’RE OK!!!!!!” I screamed as I ran out to meet my friend from the school. She had been in the cage next to me. We had really bonded. I had gone back to get her one night while the flock was asleep, but she hadn’t been there. She was like my sister.

“YOU GOT OUT!” she screamed just as loud as me.

We hugged and hugged and hugged some more. I realized that the flock and Serina were just standing there looking shocked. They didn’t know who Kate was.

“Ummmm, Serina, this is Max. I knew her from the school.” She said.

“Guys, this is Kate. I knew her before I met you guys.” I said, addressing my flock.

My eyes were watering with happiness and when I looked back at Kate, hers were too. We then burst into tears of pain and happiness mixed together and sunk to the ground on our knees. We held each other tight as we remembered all of the pain we had gone through together.

“When I went back to get you, you were gone.” I sobbed to her.

“I’m sorry.” She sobbed back, crying just as hard.

“Kate, what did they do to you?” I heard a male’s voice.

“Nothing. I found my soul sister, the one I told you about.” She was still crying.

“I promise I’ll never leave you again.” I said, crying harder than she was now.

“Me either.” She said, new tears streaming down her face, which made me cry even harder. Finally I got up on shaky legs and staggered over to Fang to catch my balance. He wrapped his arms around me and I put my head on his shoulder. I caught a glimpse of Kate doing the same thing to the male I had heard earlier.

“Max, this is Jason. He is a bird kid too. Who is that, your boyfriend?” she asked.

“Yes, this is Fang.” I said, my arms still around him, his arms still around me.

I finally let go of Fang after I thought I could hold myself up. Turns out not. My legs collapsed instantly under my weight and to catch myself, I grabbed Fangs arms.

Chapter 8(Fangs POV)

Max stood up and staggered over to me after her crying session had ended. I wrapped my arms around her and she did the same and put her head on my shoulder. My body tingled at her touch. It wasn’t teen hormones, it was pure love. After a while, she thought she could hold herself up. Apparently not because as soon as she let go, she grabbed my arms as her legs gave out. I continued holding her up while she regained her strength.

“She’s back.” She whispered weakly to me. This had affected her, bad. I would have to take control for a while.

“Why are you so weak, Max?” I heard Angel behind me.

“Angel, this was a big shock to her.” I replied for Max.

Max was shuddering with sobs against my body.

I looked over at Kate and the other male. The same thing was happening to her.

“We should get them inside.” I said to the boy. He nodded and we all walked inside.

Max and Kate collapsed next to each other on the couch. I pulled a blanket over them. They held on tight to each other as if they were going to lose each other.

Chapter 9(Max’s POV)

As I held on to Kate, I fell asleep. I woke up in the morning to find an empty spot where Kate was. It was still warm. There she was, sitting at the kitchen table with Jason and the flock. I stood up and walked sleepily over to the table and sat down next to Fang and Kate. I yawned and dug into my bacon, which Iggy had so kindly made. I then walked up to my room to change into new clothes. Kate followed me and I lent her some clothes. I was wearing jeans and a sky blue t-shirt with clouds on it. Kate was wearing jeans and a pink t-shirt that said cutie on it. My socks matched my outfit as did Kate’s. We walked down the stairs and slumped onto the couch, still half asleep. I flipped on the TV.

“Morning, guys.” Serina said cheerfully.

“Morning.” I groaned. Fang sat down beside me and slipped his arm around my waist. I leaned on him. Jason sat beside Kate and she sat down on his lap.

I was still weak from last night. I tried to stand up to go to the restroom and leaned against the wall for balance. I made it to the bathroom and came back. I fell back against the couch, almost falling on Fang as I barely made it to the couch.

“sorry.” I mumbled before leaning back on his shoulder.

“Max, I missed you so much.” Kate whispered, close to tears.

I was crying again, with Kate. We had been best friends and then we had just left each other and now here we were again, it was a time for crying for us two. I kept Fang’s arm around me while holding Kate so tight, I thought I would kill her. She was holding just as tight to me as I was to her.

“It’s ok, you’re fine.” Fang said as did Jason, trying to comfort us as we sobbed so hard that it shook our bodies.

As we finally stopped sobbing, our bodies still shook with heaving, shaky breaths as we finally let go of each other. I put my face into Fangs shoulder as his hand made circles between my wings on my back. I looked out at the rest of the flock and Serina, who were all staring at Kate. She was crying again, to me about how she would never leave me again and she missed me and soon I was crying the same thing to her. We continued crying for about an hour. The flock and Serina sat down to try to comfort us. The only thing that could comfort me right now was Kate and Fang. When I tried to stand up to get a glass of water, my legs buckled under me and I toppled to the floor. I was sad and relieved at the same time. I stayed with my face on the floor until Fang basically picked me up and set me on the couch. I was crying again, Kate was too.

“How long is that going to last?” Nudge asked.

“Probably a few days, guys, sorry.” I said between sobs. I gave a small nod at Kate and we leaped up and ran out the door and took off.

Flying always helped us. We saw Fang and Jason at the door as we did graceful flips and arcs. We had made up a special flying routine that always helped us calm down. As we hovered mid air, we hugged and we kept hugging until we went down. We were ready. No more crying, not for a while. We calmly strode in the door with Fang and Jason behind us. We walked up to my room and turned on my CD player. I put on the Hannah Montana song True Friend. I turned it up as loud as I could and Kate and I started singing as loud as we could. I admit that our singing voices weren’t very good, but who cares the only people who could hear us was everyone in the house, but we didn’t really care.

“Max!” Nudge yelled over the CD player. I paused it and opened the door.

“Dinner is ready.” She said. I sighed and walked down stairs with Kate. I sat down next to Fang. Iggy had made a special dinner for me and Kate. Steak! Yum! I snarfed it down and was done before everyone else was even halfway done. I grabbed another steak and finished it when everyone finished their first. Fang snickered.

“And you said you were a lady.” He said.

I rolled my eyes at him and put my dish in the dishwasher.

I started doing the dishes. Then a brain attack hit. I hadn’t had one of those in a while. I collapsed to the floor holding my head.

“Max?” I heard Fang right next to me.

“Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh, what’s happening to her?” I heard Kate ask.

“Shhhhhhhh.” Iggy quieted her.

The pain slowly eased away. I ran to the bathroom with Kate behind me. I leaned over the toilet. Kate held my hair back. I felt like I was barfing my guts out. I staggered out of the bathroom and collapsed onto the couch. My limbs felt heavy, I was exhausted. I fell asleep on the couch.

Chapter 10(Fang’s POV)

Max was doing the dishes when she had a brain attack. Kate was freaking out. Iggy made her quiet. Max went to the bathroom and barfed after the pain was gone. She then fell asleep on the couch.

“What was that?” Kate asked.

“A brain attack.” I replied.

“oh.” Is all she said.

“Fang, can I have a glass of water?” Max asked sleepily after a few hours.

“Yeah.” I went to get it.

“Thanks.” She said.

Chapter 11(Max’s POV)

After I had a drink of water, I sat up.

“Get the girl, Maximum Ride.” I heard outside the door.

I stood up and got into a fighting position. I nodded to the others to go upstairs. They did. This was my fight. It burst through the door. It was omega. Oh great. I screamed as he hit me so hard it made a hole in the wall. Fang came running down the stairs with the rest of the flock.

“Get out of this house and fly!” I yelled to them.

“Not without you. I’m not going to lose you again!” Kate yelled back at me as Omega hit with an uppercut that made me fly up and hit the roof. I shrieked in pain as I hit the floor. Omega started kicking me as I struggled to get up. I pushed him off and flew out the door with the flock, Jason, Serina, and Kate. We went to a cave not far from the house.

“Ah man, they follow me everywhere!” She yelled, hitting the cave wall.

“Calm down!” I yelled at her.

“I’m an Itex magnet!” She yelled back at me.

“Kate, it’s ok.” Jason said, putting his hand on her shoulder. She rounded on him.

“NOTHING IN MY LIFE IS OK, JASON!” She screamed at him and threw herself out of the cave and unfurled her wings. I stood up and followed her.

Chapter 12(Kate’s POV)

I flew out of the cave after yelling at Max and Jason.

“Kate!” I heard Max. I stopped.

“I know what you go through every day, even though the flock and Jason might not. It’s hard, I know. Just think how hard it is to take care of five kids while going through this. I understand how you feel. It’s not easy, feeling like this. You feel like there is nothing good in your life, depressed, let down, and all together, well, bad, cruddy. You have a headache that comes back daily, I know. Kate, we can get through this together, me and you.” She said to me.

I nodded to her and we flew back together. I stopped.

“Max, I can’t do this. The flock hates me, Jason probably never wants to see me again, and well, I just can’t do this.” I said.

“The flock doesn’t hate you, and Jason looks like a sensitive guy who will understand. Just come on.” She said. I sighed and followed her into the cave.

“Kate, I’m so glad you’re okay.” Jason said as he hugged me.

“I’m sorry.” I said.

Chapter 13(Fang’s POV)

Max looked at me and followed Kate out.

“I blew it big time.” Jason sighed.

“It’ll be fine.” I said, my mind wandering to Max. Gosh, she was beautiful. She was perfect, an angel sent down from heaven. She was perfect and I was, well me. She still loved me. I could see it in her soft gaze, feel it in her kisses. They were passionate and loving. I loved the way her blonde hair fell over her shoulders. I loved her chocolate brown eyes that showed nothing when they were around the flock. She was always sure to block her emotions when around the others, but when she was around just me, she told me everything. She let her feeling flood her when the flock wasn’t awake. I had sometimes woken up to her crying. Whenever I asked her if she was okay, she told me that she was stressed. I would sit next to her and most of the time she would count on me to help her get through it. I came out of my trance as we did our stacking fists bedtime routine. Max came and sat down next to me.

“I feel really sick.” She confessed to me.

“That’s not good. What kind of sick?” I asked.

“It feels like a cold.” She told me. She moved away from me, as to not get me sick; at least, that’s what I thought.

“I’m moving away from you to not get you sick, if that’s what you’re wondering.” She said to me. Sheesh, how did she do that?

“I hope it’s not bad.” I said. She sneezed.

“I’ll take first watch.” I offered.

“Thanks.” She said before she layed down. Almost as soon as she went to sleep, she started shivering. I pulled a blanket out of my pack and pulled it over her. She stopped shivering.

“Fang, I’ll take second watch.” Iggy said.

“Sure. Thanks.” I said. I went to sleep, curled up next to Max, but not close enough to get sick. Max started coughing in her sleep. She inhaled, or tried to, but that just made her cough even more. She finally stopped after Kate started lightly massaging the back of her neck. She snuggled even deeper into the blanket and her breathing slowed down.

“Fang, Fang, Max is gone!” I heard Kate later in the morning. My head snapped up, my eyes flew open.

“I saw her go out, but I don’t know where she is. Let me check her mind.” Angel said.

Angel, help me! I’m in the river. I went to get a drink and… AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!! HURRY!!!!!!!!

“She’s in the river. All I caught was ‘I went to get a drink and…’ before she screamed in her mind!” Angel said. I got up and ran as fast as I could towards the river. Just as I got there, I saw Max’s head go under. It came up as she gasped for breath. Her legs and arms were floundering in the water. I skimmed along the bank towards her, but couldn’t catch her before she fell over the waterfall.

“MAAAAAAXXXXXXX!!!!!!!!!!!!” Angel screeched.

“HELP ME!!!!!!!!!!!!” I heard before she went over.

I practically flew down to the pool below, using my wings to propel myself down. I saw her blonde hair, barely visible above the mist at the bottom. She was swimming towards us with all of her might. She was tired, I could tell. Suddenly, she stopped moving all together and she went under. I flew towards where she went under. I saw her motionless body. I went in head first and brought her back up. I put her on the bank and started on her lungs, pumping the water out of them. She started coughing and gasping for breath.

“I’m sorry, I was thirsty.” She said between coughs.

“It’s ok, Max. You’re okay and that’s the important thing.” Angel said.

“Fang, why are you- oh my gosh, Max!” I heard Nudge as she ran to Max’s side. Max had gone unconscious and started shivering. We needed to make her warm. I picked her up, making sure to be careful. We walked back to the cave. Iggy had started a fire. I put Max by it and pulled the blanket up to her chin.

“We should go back to the house.” Gazzy said. I wrapped Max up in the blanket and we flew back to the house. Kate undressed Max and put her pajamas on her. Kate settled her in bed, then came out of her room. I walked in and sat on the edge of her bed. What had she been thinking, going alone? I got up and walked out. I closed the door as I went out.

“Fang, don’t be mad at Max. She just didn’t want to wake you up.” Angel said.

“She knew you would say no.” She said. I sighed and went up to my room.

Chapter 14(Max’s POV)

I woke up in my bed, in my puppy pajamas. My whole body hurt, I couldn’t move anything. I heard a noise, somewhere in between a groan and a whimper, if that’s possible, escape through my lips. I struggled to sit up and leaned against the headboard.

“Max, you’re up!” I heard Kate as she came into my room, holding a glass of water. She handed it to me. I drank it. Fang came into my room. Oh great, here comes the anger, the rage.

“What were you thinking?!” Fang practically screamed at me. I shrunk back. I had never seen him this angry.

“You weren’t thinking at all, that’s what you were thinking!” He was screaming now. I shrunk back even more.

“FANG! SHUT UP!!! YOU’RE JUST MAKING IT WORSE!!!!!!” Angel shrieked at him, as the flock came to the door at the sound of screaming. I leaped up, despite my screaming muscles and wrenched the window open and took off. The screaming was giving me a migraine on top of my muscles hurting really badly. I was mad at Fang, but I was madder at myself. I understood his anger. He was worried about me.

“MAX!” I heard him shout out the window as I flew. I flew and flew, and finally, I stopped. I landed on a tree and sobbed.

“Max. It’s ok.” I heard Angel.

“Yeah, it’s fine.” Kate said. Sounds like the girls came to comfort me.

“You’re fine.” Nudge.

“Nothing is ok.” I yelled at them. Could I ever get away from the nagging thought that was always at the back of my mind? Was I meant to be alive? The girls all backed away from me as I took off again. This time I landed on the roof of the house. I must have made a thump because the people who had stayed behind came out looking around wildly. Gazzy saw me first.

“Max!” he said. The others turned their heads.

“Just leave me alone! I never want to hear the stupid voice in my head, never wanted to be given to the school, never wanted to be alive.” I sobbed.

“Oh Max, why?” Fang whispered.

“I don’t know!” I was sobbing harder now. He came up to me and wrapped his arms around me. I pulled away from him.

“Max.” He said. I could hear the hurt in his voice. I had hurt my best friend, my right hand man, the love of my life.

“No Fang, that’s not how I meant it!” I said, looking up at him.

“I know, Max. Whatever you think, I will always love you.” He said.

“I love you too.” I whispered to him. He kissed the top of my head. The others had gone in already. I heard a buzzing sound. I tried to scream, but the flyboys covered my mouth and took me away. Fang tried to get me, but the flyboys blocked him.

“MAX!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” I heard him scream as they flew away with me, my wings tied up with my feet and hands.

Chapter 15(Fang’s POV)

“MAX!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” I screamed.

“HELP ME FANG!” She shrieked at me as she flew away.

“Fang, what happened?” Gazzy asked as I flew down from the roof and burst in the door, very angrily.

“THEY TOOK MAX!” I screamed.

“Let’s go get her!” Angel said. I nodded and the flock plus Jason, Kate, and Serina all followed the flyboys. I could just barely see them, flying with the flyboy that held Max in the center. We caught up with them over a lake just as they dropped her in the center of the lake.

“HELP ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” She screamed as loud as she could. I tucked my wings in to catch up with her. She hit the water with a loud splash.

“MAXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” I yelled.

“Forget it Fang, she’s gone.” I heard Ari. I turned and lunged at him. He fell in after Max. Tears started falling down my cheeks. I was Fang, and I was crying in front of the flock. Max was gone.

 

 

2 Years Later.

Chapter 16(Max’s POV)

You may be wondering, Max is still alive? Yes. Jeb had saved me and now I lived with him and real Ari. I hadn’t seen the flock in two years.

“Sweetie, can you order a pizza for you and your brother?” My dad asked me over the phone.

“Sure.” I said. I called the pizza guy and got two pepperoni pizzas. I suddenly heard a buzzing and a screaming. I ran outside and saw them. There was the flock, hovering above our house, fighting off flyboys by the thousands. I got a new power. I can control weather, so I made it rain and they all exploded. Suddenly, Angel, my little baby, started falling. They were a few thousand feet in the air and none of them would catch up with her, so I jumped up and snapped open my wings and caught her. She was ghostly pale.

“Get your hands off Angel!” Gazzy yelled. He obviously didn’t recognize me. I didn’t pay any attention to him. I brought her inside and layed her down on the couch.

“ARI! GET ME THE FIRST AID KIT!” I yelled up to Ari.

“Okay!” he screamed down at me and came down with the first aid kit. I layed it down beside her and started checking her for any bad cuts. She had one that was making blood spill over her arm. She was going unconscious because of blood loss. I applied pressure to the wound and bandaged it up. Suddenly, Gazzy came bursting through the door.

“Stop touching my sister!” He screamed at me.

“CHILL GAZ!” I screamed at him.

“How do you know my name?” he asked cautiously.

Just then, the rest of the flock came bursting through the door and recognition passed over Nudge’s face and she ran up to me.

“MAX!” She squealed. Tears started falling down my cheeks in waterfalls. I was sobbing so hard. Nudge was the only one who was hugging me. I looked up at the rest of the flock and stood up to face them.

“Max?” Iggy asked.

“But you’re dead.” He said.

“Jeb saved me.” I whispered as I stood up to face them.

“Max.” Fang whispered.

“This must be a dream.” He said.

“No, I’m real. I’m as real as you.” Finally I couldn’t stand it. I ran over and hugged him. He stood stiff and rigid.

“THANKS FANG! THE FIRST TIME YOU SEE ME IN TWO YEARS AND YOU WON’T EVEN HUG ME! THAT MAKES ME FEEL REAL GOOD!” I screamed at him. I ran to the stairs and ran straight into Kate and Serina. Yeah, they lived with me.

“Calm down, Max.” Kate said. I pushed past them and ran to my room. I slammed my door.

Chapter 17 (Fang’s POV)

This had to be a dream. Max died. Apparently not, because here she was, running towards me and wrapping her arms around me. I stood stiff and rigid.

“THANKS FANG! THE FIRST TIME YOU SEE ME IN TWO YEARS AND YOU WON’T EVEN HUG ME! THAT MAKES ME FEEL REAL GOOD!” She yelled at me as she barged past Serina and Kate and slammed her door.

“Smooth move, Fang.” Gazzy said.

“Dude, this has to be a dream.” I said.

“Fang, this is no dream. I don’t appreciate you hurting my daughter like that.” Jeb said as he walked into the living room. I ran up the stairs and found Max’s room. I could hear her crying really loud through the door. I knocked softly on her door.

“Go away!” She screamed. I opened the door. She was on her bed, sobbing so hard that it shook her body.

“Max.” I said softly.

“I said go away.” She said, turning to look at me. Her eyes were red and puffy.

“You’re alive.” I whispered.

“Really, Fang, I hadn’t noticed.” She said, sarcasm dripping from her voice.

“Max, I missed you so much.” I said. She stood up and ran to me. She wrapped her arms around me and put her head on my shoulder. I put my arms around her waist and pulled her closer. She looked up at me and pressed her lips to mine. Her lips felt soft under mine. She tangled her fingers in my overgrown black hair and continued until she pulled away from me. We were breathing raggedly.

“I don’t know what I would’ve done if I hadn’t found you.” She whispered.

“It’s ok, you found us now.” I whispered comforting words to her. We walked down the stairs and Gazzy ran to Max, Iggy holding on to his belt loop. She pulled them into a tight embrace. Angel woke up and came over to us. Pretty soon, Max had collapsed onto the floor, sobbing. Her whole body was shaking. I kneeled down next to her and wrapped my arms around her.  She continued crying for a half hour before she was finally done. She wouldn’t look at the flock.

“PIZZA!” Ari screamed, bounding down the stairs.

I got into a fighting stance as Ari ran past me and paid the pizza guy, and handed Max a pizza.

“Don’t worry guys. That Ari that was trying to kill us was a clone.” She plopped down onto the couch next to Ari and dug into her pizza. She had finished about five minutes after she started.

“OH! Sorry guys!” She said apologetically. She ran into the kitchen and came back with lots of food. She set it down on the coffee table. We dug in. This was the most food we’d ever had. She came back with even more food and we continued eating until we were full.

“DAD! I’M GOING TO THE STORE!” She yelled.

“OK! IS THE FLOCK GOING?” He yelled back. She looked at us. We nodded.

“YEAH, BUT ARI IS STILL HERE!” She said. She grabbed a set of keys and walked into the garage. I stopped short and gaped at her car. She had a black mustang with black seats.

“You guys coming or not.” She said, snickering at my expression.

“Yeah. Move your big butt, Fang.” Gazzy said. She snickered some more and climbed into the driver’s seat. I climbed into the passenger seat and the younger kids and Iggy sat in the back.

“Sooooooo.” She said awkwardly.

“How has life been for you?” I asked her.

“I spiraled into depression for about six months when I first woke up.” She said.

“But after that, life was good.” She said, looking straight out the front window. We stopped in front of a super Target. We got the food first and then Max walked over to the clothes, picking out some cloths for Angel and Nudge and told us to get some clothes. After we picked out our clothes, we loaded our things onto the conveyer belt and Max pulled out a credit card.

“You got a credit card?” Nudge asked in awe.

“Long story.” Max said as she was signing. She thanked the guy and loaded the stuff into the trunk of her Mustang and drove off.

“Hey Max, can I play Rock band?” Ari asked as soon as she came in, staggering with the weight of the groceries.

“Uh” She grunted as she set the groceries down.

“With who?” She asked.

“John and Jake.” He said.

“Fine.” She sighed. She showed us to the rooms we would be sleeping in tonight and walked downstairs to put the groceries away.

Chapter 18(Max POV)

After I put the groceries away, I went up to my room.

“Boo!” Fang said. I jumped three feet in the air, literally. I turned around and faced him.

“Don’t do that!” I said, hitting him playfully on the arm.

“Why? It’s fun to scare you.” He said.

“Maybe it is for you, but it’s not for me.” I said, glaring playfully at him.

Suddenly I heard a crash from the basement. I ran down both sets of stairs with Fang behind me. There was my antique vase from China in pieces on my Xbox 360. Ari, Jake, and John were looking guilty.

“ARI!” I screamed.

“It was an accident!” He said.

“That vase was from China and I bought that 360 with my own money!” I yelled at him.

“I’m sorry Max. I didn’t mean to throw the drum sticks.” He said, shrinking back fearfully. I picked him up and hung him by the underwear and pants on the fan.

“MAX!” He yelled at me.

“You guys, what’s going on down there?” Dad asked us.

“SHE HUNG ME ON THE FAN AGAIN!” Ari screamed while struggling.

“Max, put your brother down.” Dad said down the stairs. I slipped his pants down a little and he fell onto the floor with a thump. I snickered. I ran up the stairs.

“Dad, Ari broke my vase from China. There was a reason for hanging him on the fan.” I said.

“Max, I’ll get you one from Africa. ARI!” He called down the stairs.

“You guys, I’m going to Africa. My plane takes off tomorrow at five in the morning.” He said.

“K. You aren’t going to ship us to Aunt Sarah again, are you?” I groaned.

“No, the flock is here.” He said. I pumped my fist into the air and ran up to my room. Fang followed me.

“What’s wrong with your aunt?” Fang asked.

“Nothing, except for Ari and I have to share a room and he snores louder than anyone I know. The flock saves the day again.” I said playfully.

“Max?” Angel called. I walked down the hall to where Angel and Nudge were sharing a room.

“Yes?” I poked my head in.

“We’re glad you’re okay.” She said.

“I’m glad that we finally met.” I said. She nodded and continued playing with her stuffed animals. I smiled and walked back to my room.

“MAX! SARAH’S HERE!” Ari yelled up the stairs. I bounded down the stairs to meet Sarah. She had black hair. She was like Fang. She wore all black with dark eyes and bangs that covered her eyes. It’s like her and Fang were twins.

“Hey Sarah.” I said, high fiving her and walking upstairs to my room.

“Sarah, this is Fang.” I said.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa. Fang?” She said. I nodded.

“Fang, as in my brother, Fang?” She asked. Fang stood there gaping at her.

“Sarah?” He asked. She ran over to him and hugged him hard. He hugged her back.

“Wait one minute. Fang is your brother?” I asked her, gaping at her.

“Yes. When you guys left the school, they hid me from Fang.” She said.

“You never told us you had a sister.” I said.

“It was too hard to bear.” He whispered.

“Oh, wow.” I said, putting my hand up to my mouth. I heard a whizzing sound come through my window and felt something prick my neck. I felt dizzy and suddenly I collapsed to the floor with Fang and Sarah looking down at me with concerning eyes.

Chapter 19(Fang’s POV)

My sister was here, hugging me.

“Oh, wow.” Max said, putting her hand up to her mouth. Suddenly, I heard a whizzing sound. Max crumpled to the floor with a tranquilizer dart in her neck. I closed the window and put the blinds down. I put her on her bed.

“Itex.” Sarah said. I nodded. It was a while before Max woke up. No one was with her. She came stumbling down the stairs. She tripped at the top and rolled down the rest of the way. She sat up at the bottom and started snickering. The snickering turned into full out laughing. Max was laughing, rolling on the floor clutching her sides. Kate came down, saw Max, guessed what happened and was soon on the floor with Max.

“You always trip at that one step, Max.” Kate said after laughing.

“I know. It’s a cursed step.” She was still snickering. Sarah was snickering now. Pretty soon they were all laughing on the floor again.

“What’s up with them?” Gazzy asked as he came down the stairs, stepping over the girls that were now turning blue with lack of oxygen. Finally they gasped for breath.

“Max tripped on a step that she trips on a lot all the time. She rolled down the stairs and now they’re laughing.” I told him. They were laughing again. Wow, those girls know how to laugh a lot. Serina had joined them on the floor. There were four girls at the bottom of the steps, laughing so hard that they turned blue. All of them had started breathing, but Max was still turning blue. She wasn’t laughing any more though.

“It’s happening again.” Serina said. She, Kate, and Sarah started rubbing her neck.

“IT’S NOT WORKING THIS TIME!” Kate screamed. Max’s eyes were darting around wildly. She looked scared. Her eyes met mine. She squinted her eyes and looked determined. Suddenly, her eyes locked on her dad. He was looking just as scared as she was. There was something behind the scared eyes though. It was hatred. I got up and punched him and Max started gasping for breath. She had trusted her dad. Max was coughing. I beat up her dad some more. He ran out. Max was still coughing. Angel was at her side. Angel’s brow furrowed. She looked worried.

“He’ll be back.” She told me. I slammed the door shut. Max’s eyes were glazed over. Suddenly she started clutching her head screaming and crying. Max never cried. I kneeled beside her and put my hand on her shoulder. She continued screaming. Jeb was doing this. I stood up and ran out the door. Jeb was standing there, an evil grin plastered on his face. I could still hear Max screaming. I hit Jeb with a roundhouse kick. The screaming stopped. I pushed him to the ground.

“Leave her alone.” I snarled in his face. I continuously punched his face.

“Fang! Stop!” Max shrieked.

“Max, do you understand that he did that to you?” I asked her.

“Yes, but I just can’t stand it!” She shrieked. I stood up and walked over to her. I wrapped my arms around her. She put her head on my shoulder.

“Watch out!” She shrieked. I spun on my heels and punched Jeb right before he had a chance to get me. Jeb threw me to ground and went for Max.

“Finally, I get to watch you be exterminated.” He said. He whistled. Three erasers held me down. Max gasped as an eraser walked up to her and showed her his sharpened fangs.

“Max, no!” I screamed, suddenly fueled by adrenaline and love, hatred towards Jeb and the school. I pushed the erasers off of me just as the eraser lunged for Max’s neck. She ducked and growled. She leaped on its back and started hitting its head. It fell over backwards. She flipped backwards off of its back and landed in front of me. The erasers swarmed around us. We punched and kicked until the erasers were all on the ground.

“Look who fought off the erasers.” Jeb snarled. Max lunged at him, making him fall down. She started punching him.

Chapter 20(Max’s POV)

Jeb was annoying me now. I lunged at him. He fell down. I started punching his face. He pushed me off and got in his car and drove away. I sighed and walked into the house. The phone rang.

“Hello?” I asked.

“Hey, Max. I’m, um, I’m breaking up with you.” My boyfriend, Jake said.

“YOU’RE WHAT!” I screamed.

“I’m sorry Max.” He said.

“Whatever.” I said and hung up. I ran up to my room and opened my laptop and put on 7 Things by Miley Cyrus.

I probly shouldn’t say this,

But at times I get so scared

When I think about the previous

Relationship we shared

It was awesome

But we lost it

It’s not possible for me not to care

And now we’re standing in the rain

And nothings ever gonna change

Until you hear, my dear

The 7 things I hate about you

The 7 things I hate about you, oh you

You’re vain, your games, you’re insecure

You love me, you like her

You make me laugh, you make me cry

I don’t know which side to buy

Your friends, they’re jerks

When you act like them, just know it hurts

I wanna be with the one I know

And the 7^th thing I hate the most that you do

You make me love you.

 

It’s awkward and it’s silent

As I wait for you to say

What I need to hear now

Your sincere apology

When you mean it, I’ll believe it

If you text it, I’ll delete it

Let’s be clear

oh I’m not comin back

You’re taking 7 steps here

 

The seven things I hate about you

You’re vain, your games, you’re insecure

You love me, you like her

You make me laugh, make me cry

I don’t know which side to buy

Your friends, they’re jerks

When you act like them, just know it hurts

I wanna be with the one I know

And the 7^th thing I hate the most that you do

You make me love you

 

And compared to all the great things

That would take too long to write

I probably should mention

The 7 that I like

 

The seven things I like about you

Your hair, your eyes, your old Levis

When we kiss, I’m hypnotized

You make me laugh, you make me cry

I guess that’s both I’ll have to buy

Your hand in mine

When we’re intertwined, everything’s all right

I wanna be with the one I know

And the 7^th thing I like the most that you do

You make me love you.

You do, oh

Ooh

Fang walked in as the song finished. There were a few stray tears that ran down my cheeks.

“He broke up with me.” I whispered to him. He came up to me and hugged me. I held on tight to him.

“Max, are you ok?” Kate asked as she stood in my door frame.

“Kate, he broke up with me.” I said over Fang’s shoulder.

“Do you think I’m ok?” I asked.

“I’m sorry.” She said.

Beep Beep Beep Beep. I grabbed my alarm clock and threw it. I groaned and hauled my butt out of bed. That was my third alarm clock this week. I got dressed and bounded down the stairs, avoiding the top step, which was the step that I always trip on.

“Morning Max.” Kate said cheerfully.

“Good morning.” I said. I grabbed some bacon and me, Kate, and Serina followed by the younger kids, Fang and Iggy ran out the door, locking it on the way out. We stopped by the primary school. Ari showed them inside. Fang, Iggy, Serina, Kate and I walked to the high school. We went inside and stopped by the principal’s office. Fang and Iggy got their schedules and locker numbers and combinations. Fang was known as Nick, Iggy as James. Their lockers were right next to mine, Kate’s and Serina’s. I opened my locker and grabbed my text books. Iggy and Kate had the first class together. Serina and Fang had the first class together. I had the first class with Sarah. We walked our separate directions. I met Sarah at the entrance and we walked to our usual seats in the back. The school day was finally done. I waited at the meeting spot that we had designated with Serina. Soon Iggy and Kate came. Now we were waiting for Fang. That’s when I spotted him kissing a blonde Barbie. She was wearing a skimpy halter top with a short mini skirt. I turned and ran. I ran as fast as I could. No one followed me. I ran away from the direction of the house. I ran into a forest where I ran into a group of erasers. I snapped my wings open and tried to take off. One of them grabbed my ankle. I tried to yank my ankle away from his grip. While my ankle slipped out, it broke. I didn’t make a noise. I flapped my wings. I looked behind me. There were the erasers, so I went into super speed and turned around. I was far away from them. The house came into view. The flock plus Serina and Kate were pacing in front of the house. I looked behind me. The erasers had multiplied. Not even the flock could fight that many erasers, so I turned to face them. They swarmed around me, beating me up. One hit me in the neck and I gasped for breath. I lost altitude. I fought them all off. By then I was panting and bleeding all over. I flew over to the house and landed a very clumsy landing. I barged past Fang and got the first aid kit. I bandaged myself up in my room.

“Max.” Fang said.

“What.” I snarled.

“What did I do?” He asked.

“Oh, nothing, you just ripped my heart into pieces.” I said back, getting onto MySpace. Sarah was on.

“Now get out of my room.” I said.

“Max, how did I do that?” He asked me quietly.

“I saw you kissing Barbie and I know why. Fang I thought we had settled this. Thanks a lot, now get out of my room.” I said. He backed out.

Chapter 21(Fang’s POV)

“I saw you kissing Barbie and I know why. Fang I thought we had settled this. Thanks a lot, now get out of my room.” She said, tears slipping down her cheeks. I backed out of her room and ran to mine. I grabbed my guitar and went back to her door frame and started singing when you look me in the Eyes by the Jonas Brothers

If the heart is always searching

Can you ever find a home?

I’ve been looking for that some one

I’ll never make it on my own

Dreams can’t take the place of loving you

There’s gotta be a million reasons why it’s true

 

When you look me in the eyes

Tell me that you love me

Everything’s all right

When you’re right here by my side

When you look me in the eyes

I catch a glimpse of heaven

I find my paradise

When you look me in the eyes

 

How long will I be waiting

To be with you again

Gonna tell you that I love you

In the best way that I can

I can’t take a day without you here

You’re the light that makes my darkness disappear.

 

When you look me in the eyes

And tell me that you love me

Everything’s all right

When you’re right here by my side

When you look me in the eyes

I catch a glimpse of heaven

I find my paradise,

when you look me in the eyes.

 

More and more I start to realize

I can reach tomorrow

I can hold my head high

And it’s all because you’re by my side.

 

When you look me in the eyes

Tell me that you love me

Everything’s all right

When you’re right here by my side

When I hold you in my arms

I just gotta let you know

I never wanna let you go

 

When you look me in the eyes

 

You tell me that you love me

Everything’s all right

When you’re right here by my side

When you look me in the eyes

I catch a glimpse of heaven

I find my paradise

When you look me in the eyes

Oh

“Oh Fang.” She whispered, tears pouring down her cheeks in waterfalls. She stood up and ran over to me. She tangled her fingers in my hair and started to kiss me. I kissed back. Our lips moved in sync. I wrapped my arms around her waist and pulled her closer.

“I’m sorry.” I whispered into her hair.

“Me too.” She whispered back.

“Max, wake up.” I woke her up the next morning. She groaned and opened her eyes, rubbing the sleep out of them. I walked downstairs. Max pounded down a few minutes later. I just realized that she had been wearing makeup lately. We walked towards the school, dropping the younger kids off at primary school. I grabbed Max’s hand as we neared the school.

“Hey Nick.” Lisa, or as Max called her Barbie, pranced up to me, her blonde hair up in a ponytail that flipped at the end.

“Who’s that?” She asked, glaring at Max. Max glared back at her.

“I’m his girlfriend.” She said.

“Excuse me? I’m his girlfriend. Didn’t you see us kissing yesterday? Oh yeah, that’s right, you’re the one who ran off.” She said. She grabbed the hand that was holding Max’s and got in between us. Max glared at me. I gave her a helpless look. She shook her head and stared straight ahead.

“So, Nick, What are we doing today after school?” Lisa asked me.

“Not hanging out with you. Max is my girlfriend.” I said, pushing her away from me. I grabbed Max’s hand again. Lisa pushed Max away from me, but I wouldn’t let go of her hand so Max yanked me back with her.

“Come on Nick, I am way better than her.” Lisa said.

“Not really. Just get over it.” I said. We walked on. Lisa stomped past us. I snickered. Too bad I had first with her.

It was lunch time. I saw Max sitting alone, picking at her food. Lisa stormed up to her table. Max looked up. Lisa dumped her lunch on Max. Lisa laughed and pranced towards me.

“Hey Nick. She accidentally bumped into me. Can you buy me another lunch?” She asked.

“I saw what you did. Face it, I like Max.” I said as I walked over to Max who was picking spaghetti out of her streaked hair.

“Hey, that was mean.” I said as I sat down next to her.

“You’re telling me.” She said.

“I’ll be right back.” She said, getting up, presumably to go to the bathroom.

She came back a while later. Her hair was wet. She had wiped off as much spaghetti sauce off of her shirt as she could. Lisa had come over. She giggled. Max pushed her away from the table. Lisa rolled her eyes and walked away. Max sat down and finished her food. The bell rang.

The end of the day finally came. Lisa skipped out of the school. Max was behind her. They both headed for me. I sighed and walked around Lisa to peck Max on the cheek. Max smiled her sweet smile that she only really used around me. I loved that smile. Lisa glared at her and walked off to her ride. I held Max’s hand in mine as we picked up the rest of the kids.

“Are you two together?” Gazzy asked, noticing me holding Max’s hand. Max looked down and blushed.

“Yes.” She said quietly.

Chapter 22(Max’s POV)

Ohmygosh! Fang was holding my hand! My heartbeat sped up.

“Are you two together?” Gazzy asked. I looked down and blushed.

“Yes.” I said quietly. I could feel Fang smiling down at me.

“Yay!” Angle said.

“Finally!” Nudge said, holding her boyfriend’s hand. His name was Jason and he had already asked her out even though it was only her second day here. I continued looking down. Fang tightened his grip on my hand. I looked up. Oh great, Jake.

“Hey, Max, we need to talk.” He said. I sighed and looked up at Fang. My eyes pleaded to him.

“Only if I can stay with her.” Fang said. Jake looked as if he was going to protest, but then he sighed.

“Fine.” He said. I nodded to Kate and Serina to take the kids home. Once they were out of sight, Jake started.

“Look, Max, I’m really sorry about breaking up with you, it’s just that, you aren’t exactly popular and I only date popular people.” He said. My relaxed grip on Fang’s hand tightened.

“So, you broke up with me because I’m not popular.” I said. He nodded. Just then Barbie pranced up to him and put her arm in his.

“Hey Jake.” She said sweetly challenging me with her stare. I snorted and walked away with Fang.

“Wow.” I was crying again. When we got home, I ran up to my room and cried my eyes out on my bed.

“Max.” Fang said. I continued crying. Why was high school so hard? He put his hand on my back. Shivers ran down my spine. His hand was making soft circles between my wings. My sobs subsided. I looked up at Fang. My eyes were red and puffy.

“Don’t listen to him.” Fang said to me. I sniffled and stood up. Fang wrapped his arms around me. I put my head on his shoulder. Suddenly, I heard a scream. We ran downstairs. Jeb had Ari and was taking him out the door. I growled and leaped on Jeb’s back. Jeb put Ari on the ground, and Ari ran upstairs.

“You little liar!” I snarled.

“Anything new?” Jeb snarled back and threw me off. I leaped to my feet. The flock was at my side. Jeb ran out and drove away. I sighed and crumpled onto the couch. The doorbell rang. Fang answered.

“Hey Nick, is Max there?” I heard a male’s voice. I recognized the voice as Chris.

“Hey Chris.” I said, inviting him in.

“Sorry about Jake.” He said.

“Nah, it’s ok.” I said.

“Well, I just wanted to see how you were doing.” He said. He walked out, nodding at Fang. I walked upstairs and opened up my Mac. My favorite picture was my background. It was a picture of the flock, Ella and mom in mom’s backyard. I logged onto MySpace. Jake was on.

Jake: Sup, babe. Lisa dumped me, you wanna go out again?

Max: In your dreams! I’m going out with Nick.

Jake: Sheesh, man, calm down

Max: w/e,

Nick had logged on

Nick: Sup Max, Jake.

Jake: Yo man

Max: Hey

Max has changed her name to Too_good_for_you

Too_good_for_you: Like the new name?

Nick: Dude! =( ur too good for me?

Too_good_for_you: of course not!

Too_good_for_you has changed her name to Nickz_gurl

Nickz_gurl: Better?

Nick: Totally =)

Jake: u guys suck!

Nickz_gurl: lol! Good!

Jake: AARRRRRRGHHH!

Jake has signed out

Nickz_gurl: Ur cute. =)

Nick has changed his name to Full_of_himself

Full_of_himself: what do you think?

Nickz_gurl: I hate it, truly.

Full_of_himself: That hurts.

Full_of_himself has changed his name to Max_Is_hot

Max_is_hot: better?

Nickz_gurl: sweet!

Max_is_hot: good, cuz wen ur happy, so am I =)

Nickz_gurl: AAWWWWWWWWW u r so sweet!

Max_is_hot: I know.

Motormouth has signed in

Stayupwind has signed in

BigBoom has signed in

InUrHead has signed in

Stayupwind: dude! Change Ur name, nick!

Motormouth: Seriously!

InUrHead: I totally agree.

Max_is_hot changed his name to WingsRock

WingsRock: I hope ur happy.

BigBoom: Much.

Nickz_gurl: u guys suck! I liked that name!

Motormouth: Well of course u did, cuz it was about you.

Nickz_gurl: grrrrrrrr! I can hurt u Tiffany!

Motormouth: Back away! I have a chair and I’m not afraid to use it!

BigBoom: Calm down children. Let’s not fight.

WingsRock: now, now kids, let’s not have a scuffle. I’ll change it as soon as the kids and Iggy are off, Max

Nickz_gurl: *pouts* fine

InUrHead: u guys r creeping me out.

Nickz_gurl: well uh, Ariel, me and Nick r going out, what do u expect?

InUrHead: Ur just, not this, well, open about it.

Nickz_gurl: we’re also not on the run, so we can have slightly normal lives.

BigBoom: I’m gonna start on dinner, anyone wanna help?

All but WingsRock and Nickz_gurl: YES!

InUrHead signed out

Motormouth signed out

BigBoom signed out

Stayupwind signed out

WingsRock has changed his name to Max_Is_hot

Nickz_gurl: WOOOOOOOOOOO

Max_is_hot: YAY! UR HAPPY!

Nickz_gurl: AND UR SWEET!!!!!!!!!

Max_is_hot: SO R U! Y R WE TALKING IN CAPS?

Nickz_gurl: idk.

Max_is_hot: g2g, iggy is finished with dinner.

Nickz_gurl: k

Chapter 23(Fang’s POV)

Nickz_gurl has signed off.

I got off of the computer. The previous conversation was awkward, but made me happy. I bounded down the stairs and sat down next to Max. She flashed me her rare smile and dug into the food. After she was done, she did the dishes and ran back up to her room. I smiled to myself. I followed more slowly. I walked past her room. She was digging around in her dresser.

“Whatcha doin?” I asked her. She jumped.

“Looking for clothes to wear tomorrow.” She answered me. I nodded and walked to my room. I turned off the light and fell asleep.

“Fang, get your big butt out of bed.” I heard Max’s voice the next morning. I opened my eyes and my jaw dropped open. She was wearing tight jeans and a sky blue shirt that had happy bunny on it and said ‘It’s cute how you think I’m listening.’ She looked hot. Did I just think that about Max? Well, she was my girlfriend. Angel was at the door giggling and looking guilty. She ran off and I heard a shriek.

“HE WAS THINKING WHAT! SHE WAS WEAERING WHAT!” Max snickered and walked out.

“MAX! WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU WEARING?” I heard Gazzy shriek.

“EWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!EW! EW! EW! EW! EW!” Nudge shrieked.

I snickered and ran down the stairs taking them two at a time.

“You are so nasty, Fang! I never want to read your mind again!” Angel yelled at me.

“It wasn’t that bad.” I replied back.

“I’m six!” she shrieked.

I snickered and we all walked out the door. I grabbed Max’s hand and she blushed. Wow, I love it when she blushes. We dropped Ari and the rest of the younger kids off at primary school and went to our school. What we found was not pretty. There were erasers everywhere. We got into fighting stances. Max jumped at the nearest eraser who had a girl. The eraser let the girl go and grabbed Max’s wrist. It twisted her arm. She let out an ear piercing shriek and started punching the eraser with her free had. It finally let go. Her wrist was swollen and bruised. She clapped her hands over its ears. It sunk to the ground. We fought them off. Max’s wrist was worse.

“You should go to the nurse.” I said to her. She was looking at her wrist.

“Come on.” I took her to the nurse.

“Thank you for bringing her. Yep, she needs to go to a hospital.”

“I can drive her.” I volunteered, so we got out of school and went to her house. She handed me the keys to the mustang and I drove her to the hospital. When we got there, her relaxed grip on my hand tensed up as soon as we walked through the doors. I squeezed her hand reassuringly. I filled out some papers and she got her hand put in a sky blue cast. I was the first to sign it. We walked out and went back to school.

The school day finally ended. I saw Lisa, but not Max.

“Hey Nick.” Lisa said sweetly.

“Have you seen Max?” I asked her.

“Yeah, she should be out soon.” I then saw Max. She smiled at me and ran over to us. I pecked her on the cheek and we walked to meet the others. One of Lisa’s friends waved to Max, and Max waved back. I would ask about that later.

“What happened, Max?” Gazzy asked Max.

“Erasers happened.” She said.

“Hey, Zephyr, wait up!” I heard a girl’s voice. I turned to see a girl running towards Gazzy.

“Hey Ally! This is Max, Ariel, James, Nick, and Tiffany.” He said.

“Would you mind if I came over?” She directed the question at Max.

“Sure.” Max said.

“Oh! Max, Ariel, James, Nick, Tiffany, this is my girlfriend, Ally.” Gazzy said. Wow, everyone had a boyfriend or girlfriend. When we got home, I logged onto MySpace.

Jake: Sup dude! Can we at least be friends?

Nickz_gurl: Hey! Guess so.

Max_is_hot has just logged on.

Max_is_hot: Hey guys, what’s up?

Jake: nothin much, u?

Max_is_hot: nm. How bout u Max?

Nickz_gurl: hmmmmmmmm, lemme think. Ummm, I guess I’m good, just hungry. Grrr gtg, Zephyr is requesting my services. Cyas.

Nickz_gurl has logged off.

            Max_is_hot has logged off.

I heard Max run down the stairs. I opened my door and snuck up on her.

“Crud, Fang, stop doing that!” She said.

“What, breathing?” I asked innocently. She snorted and turned the T.V on. I sat down next to her. She scooted closer to me, though she still looked at the T.V. Her cheeks were turning redder and redder as I slipped my arm around her waist. She snuck a glance at me. She giggled and looked down. I rolled my eyes. Giggling is something that Max doesn’t do. I pulled her closer. She was practically a lobster now. She was cute when she blushed. She was getting sleepy. Her head lolled onto my shoulder. I stiffened, then relaxed. Her breathing slowed.

“Awwww, isn’t that cute. Sorry to break it up.” Jeb snarled as he burst through the door. Max immediately stiffened and her eyes flew open. The flock ran down the stairs and we burst past Jeb. We snapped our wings open. We took off. Max looked tired. Her eyes kept closing. We stopped at a cave for the night.

“I’ll take first watch.” I said.

“Okay, I’m going out for a walk.” Max said, walking out of the cave. She walked towards the edge. Suddenly I heard a scream.

“Fang, help me!” Max yelled. I got up and looked down at the edge of the cliff. Max was falling, flipping in the air. Tears were whipping around her head. I launched myself off of the cliff. I flapped my wings madly as I tried to catch up with her, but she hit the ground with a sickening crack and her head whipped to the side.

Chapter 24(Max’s POV)

“Fang, help me!” I shrieked. Ari had pushed me, but I didn’t know that I would stumble. I was crying, the tears whipping around my head. I was flipping. On one flip, I saw Fang. I thought I would be saved, but I hit the ground. My head whipped to the side. One of my wings had a rock in it, my shoulders both had small pebbles. I was missing some flesh. Blood trickled out of my mouth. Fang landed beside me and kneeled down.

“Don’t leave me, Max. Don’t leave me. I need you.” Fang whispered gently as he pulled me into his lap.

“Fang, I love you.” I whispered.

“I love you too.” He said. Tears started falling down my cheeks. Fang pressed my bloody face into his shoulder. I cried until I didn’t have any more tears to cry. My face was hurting because it had scraped the hard forest floor. My whole body went numb. Fang picked me up bridal style. We lurched as he flew up the cliff. He held me closely and tightly. My head flopped onto his chest. He had his own unique scent. We landed in the cave.

“Oh my gosh, Max, what happened?” Nudge asked.

“Not now, Nudge.” Fang said. Their voices sounded distant and hazy. The edges of my vision started getting black as black consumed my body and I went unconscious. I fell asleep on Fang’s lap.

I woke up, still on Fang’s lap. His arms were protectively around my torso. My head was on his shoulder. I could tell he was awake.

“Fang?” I croaked.

“Yes, Max?” He asked.

“Can I have some water?” I asked.

“Sure.” He said. I tried to get off of his lap, but his arms were still around my torso. I opened my eyes, and bitterly regretted it. The light filtered into my eyes and I winced in agony. I closed my eyes again. I felt a plastic cup slip into my hands and I took it and gulped down the drink. My throat was no longer hoarse. I tried to turn over and groaned. My whole body was sore. I just snuggled deeper into Fang.

“Aren’t you guys cute.” Gazzy teased. I just groaned in response and I have a feeling that Fang was glaring at Gazzy.

“Shut up, Gazzy, She’s really hurt and she needs someone.” Nudge defended them. I opened my eyes to slits. Iggy was making breakfast. Nudge and Angel were playing with Total and Gazzy was helping Iggy. I looked up. Fang was looking down at me. I fully opened my eyes too look at his facial features. His jaw was tight. He was worried about me. I tried to grin up to him, but it turned into a grimace as a wave of pain came to my body. Fang’s protective grip around me tightened as my body shook with pain. I curled up into a ball as the pain got worse. The pain slowly eased away. I slowly uncurled. I put my hand to my mouth and Fang let go. I crawled out of the cave, away from it. I blew chunks. I slowly crawled back to the cave and collapsed with my head in Fang’s lap. I fell asleep to him stroking my hair softly. I could feel the others, including Iggy, giving us weird looks. We never showed this kind of emotion near the others, but I needed comforting that only Fang could give.

I woke up. My head was still in Fang’s lap. His breathing was slow, so I knew he was asleep. Iggy must be on watch. Fang’s hand was resting lightly on my head. I kept my eyes closed. My body was still sore from my fall off of the cliff. Fang’s breathing quickened as he woke up.

“Good morning, Fang.” I murmured sleepily.

“Good morning, Max.” He said back, starting to stroke my hair. I enjoyed it when he did this. It made me feel wanted. I know that sounds cheesy, but that’s how I felt.

“It’s not cheesy, Max.” Angel, my baby, said.

“What’s not cheesy?” Fang asked.

“Max likes it when you stroke her hair because it makes her feel wanted.” Angel said.

I looked down and blushed. Fang continued to stroke my hair. My heartbeat had quickened when Angel said that. I kept looking down at my hands.

“You’ve gotta look at me some time.” Fang said above me.

“Not yet.” I mumbled.

“Then when?” he asked.

“When Angel doesn’t embarrass me to death.” I said.

“Come on, Max, it wasn’t that bad, was it?” Fang asked quietly.

“I looked like a lobster.” I said.

“A lobster?” Fang asked. I finally looked up at him. His face had amusement on it. I tried to push him, but ended up pushing myself farther away from him. I couldn’t go too far because his arms were wrapped around my torso. I started to struggle against his grip and I finally got away from his killer grip. I stood up and brushed my pants off. Suddenly, Erasers swarmed in. Strength and adrenaline poured into my body. I got into a fighting stance. The erasers eventually left, taking the fallen comrades with them.

“Come on, guys.” I said, going back to leader Max. Fang looked at me. I rolled my eyes and took off with my flock. We stayed in a hotel for that night. I took a hot shower. The water felt awesome on my back.

“Max, Angel is gone. The erasers took her.” I heard a voice. I shut the water off and put my clothes on. Everything became dizzy and I fell to the floor.

“Max, wake up.” Fang said. I opened my eyes.

“You had a seizure.” Fang said. I sighed.

“Go to sleep.” Fang said. I nodded and layed down. Fang layed next to me and wrapped his arms around me. I snuggled against his chest. I felt safe in Fang’s arms. I always did. I fell asleep.

I heard a scream. My eyes shot open. I leaped out of bed and looked around my room. Fang was leaning over a girl. She had wings that were crumpled at her sides. She had a bleeding wound in her stomach. I kneeled down next to her. I grabbed my pack and treated her wound. Her eyes opened. She looked around her and her eyes went wide when she noticed that her wings were out.

“I- uh- I” She said.

“It’s ok, we have them too.” I showed her my wings. She smiled.

“I’m Rachael.” She said.

“I’m Max, this is Fang, Iggy, Angel, Nudge, and Gazzy.” I said motioning to them.

“Can I join you?” She asked. I went into deep thought.

Chapter 25(Fang’s POV)

Wow, this Rachael girl was cute. Wait, what was I thinking, I like Max. I turned around. Angel was glaring at me. I looked back toward Rachael. Max was helping her up. Rachael was smirking at Max, who was looking at me. Huh, I wonder why Rachael was smirking.

 

 

It was later, in a cave. Max was off on her own. She was looking depressed and sad.

“Alright, guys, time for bed. Max can take first watch.” Rachael said. She sat down on my lap to go to sleep. I wrapped my arms around her torso. I fell asleep. I woke up to Angel screaming.

“What’s wrong?” I asked her. She handed me a note.

            Guys,

I hope you guys have fun with Rachael as your leader. I know that sometimes I wasn’t a very good leader. I am happy for you Fang. I always knew that you and I would never be more than friends. By the time you read this note, I will be long gone. Don’t come looking for me. I will miss you all. I love you all.

            Max.

Max was gone. The flock was crying. I crumpled the note and threw it down.

“Was I the only one who noticed that Max was alone?” Angel asked.

“No, but I thought that she needed time alone.” Gazzy said. Rachael was crying as well.

“You liar! You never cared about how Max felt! You just wanted the flock for yourself!” Angel yelled at Rachael. Rachael snarled at Angel and leaped at her. I held her back.

“Let go, Fang!” She yelled at me.

“Get out, now.” I growled. She ran and launched herself off of the cliff.

“Come on guys, we’re going to find Max.” I said. They nodded.

 

We’d been flying for hours now. Suddenly I heard a scream.

“Get off of me you little liar!” It sounded like Max. I followed the noise and found Rachael fighting Max. She pushed Max and Max stumbled off of a cliff into a river. I landed and punched Rachael. Rachael ran while I launched myself off of the cliff into the river. Max’s head came up. She was gasping for breath, but her arms were moving furiously. Her eyes showed anger and hatred. She made it to the bank as I met her. She pulled herself up with her arms. I wondered why she wasn’t using her legs. That was when I noticed that her right leg was twisted in a weird way and her left leg had a huge gash that ran all the way down her leg.

“Max, are you okay?” I asked her.

“I’m fine.” She snapped at me. I put my hands up in a whoa Nellie gesture.

“MAX!” Angel squealed. Angel hugged her. Max hugged the flock, all except for me.

“You should get your legs looked at.” I said.

“I’m fine.” Max had put her head in her hands. She tried to pull her legs up to her chest and winced.

“Max, listen to Fang.” Iggy said gently. Max was crying. Wait, MAX was CRYING?!

“Fine.” Max tried to stand up, but ended up falling on me. I grabbed her arms. She tried to get away from my grip, but I wouldn’t let go.

“Let go of me, Fang.” She snapped her wings open and took off as I let go of her arms.

I followed her with the flock. She looked weird with her legs hanging limp behind her. We stopped at a hospital. Max was hovering in the air, not sure how to land.

“Do you want some help?” I asked her. She nodded. I put my one hand under kneecaps, my other around her shoulders and landed. I carried her to the door of the ER.

“We need some help.” I said. The lady at the desk looked at Max’s legs and called for a cart. I gently put her down on it and followed it with the flock. They gently moved Max from the cart to a bed. They called a doctor in and he looked at Max’s legs. The gash was infected.

I could see that Max was trying to not hit the doctor who was carefully examining her leg with the gash.

“She is going to need a surgery. There is something in her leg, but I can’t tell what it is.” The doctor said. Max’s eyes grew as round as dinner plates.

“I will prep you immediately.” The doctor said, walking out of the room.

“S-surgery?” Max asked weakly. I nodded. She broke into a fresh wave of tears of pain mixed with fear. I entwined my fingers with hers. She stopped crying, her sobs subsiding into deep shaky breaths.

“It’s time to prep you.” The doctor came in with a needle. Max’s breaths grew fast and sharp.

“No.” I said firmly.

“It’s just to numb her leg for the surgery.” The doctor said.

“No.” I said, even more firm.

“Sir…”

“No.” I growled.

“Fine.” The doctor said, grumbling under his breath. He gently moved her onto a cart and they were off to the surgery room.

“No one is allowed in the surgery room with her.” The doctor said. Max gave me a look that pleaded to me.

“She needs someone with her.” I growled.

“No, I’m sorry sir.” The doctor said.

“Please.” Max whimpered.

“I’m sorry.” The doctor said sternly. I nodded reluctantly and waited for Max to come out. She came out crutches. Her broken leg was in a cast and the gash on her leg had many stitches on it. I walked over to her as she started towards the flock and me. She went straight past me to the flock. They all hugged her. I had totally blown it with Max. I never knew that she still loved me.

“Come on, we’re going to Mom’s.” She said. The flock nodded and we were off. Max was fumbling with her crutches. I flew over to her and took them from her.

“Thanks.” She said. I nodded and we continued on in silence.

I would probably never get to kiss Max again. She would never tangle her fingers in my hair. I would never feel her soft lips on mine again, never get to wrap my arms around her waist.

Chapter 26(Max’s POV)

We finally got to Mom’s house. Fang handed me my crutches and I landed. I rang Mom’s doorbell. She answered the door.

“What happened, Sweetie?” She said.

“Let’s go inside first.” I said. She nodded and invited us in. I sat down. Mom and the flock sat down with me.

“Well, there was this girl, Rachael, she took over the flock. I left and she found me. She broke my leg and used a claw to scratch my other leg. I got surgery to remove the claw that she had lodged in my leg.” I said. My mom gasped and put a hand up to her mouth. I grabbed the remote and layed down. My mom gave me a pillow for my leg. I thanked her as the flock went to their designated rooms. I sighed. Fang sat down next to my legs. I made room for him. He looked at me.

“I’m sorry, Max. I never thought that after you almost died that you still loved me like that.” He said. He had surprised me. I looked at him.

“Fang, I never stopped loving you. It was thinking about you that made me get through the trama of almost dying. I still love you Fang, and I always will.” I said. He stood up and I lifted up my head as he sat down. I put my head on his lap. He started stroking my hair. My eyes drifted shut. I heard boom followed by a scream from upstairs. Fang’s hand disappeared from my head and my head was soon on the couch. I watched as Fang ran upstairs and herded everyone downstairs. The smoke alarms went off.

Chapter 27(Fang’s POV)

I herded everyone out. Max’s mom pulled out her cell phone and called the fire department.

“Where’s Max?” Ella screeched. I looked around. I didn’t see her. I started to panic. I heard a scream from the house. I dashed towards the house. The door was open. The whole house was burning now. Max was struggling towards the door. She went into a coughing fit and fell to the floor screaming and clutching her head, still coughing. I gently picked her and her crutches up and walked to the door. I heard a fire engine coming. I dashed out the door. Max had stopped screaming, but she was still coughing, her eyes shut tight. Her face was black from the ash of the burning house. She had curled into a ball. She was gasping for breath. The fire engine stopped in front of our house. They put the fire out. The firemen gave Max an oxygen mask. She finally opened her eyes. They were red and bloodshot. She immediately closed them. She blinked her eyes a few times and looked up at me. She looked so frail and fragile, lying there with an oxygen mask, her whole body black from the ash. Her mouth opened a little, like she wanted to say something to me. She then closed it. Soon, she took the oxygen mask off. I sat down next to her. She leaned onto my shoulder. Her eyes drifted shut.

“Okay, we’ll stay in a hotel for a while.” Max’s mom decided. We all nodded. Max grabbed her crutches and followed us. She still wasn’t talking. She had looked pretty mad when the firemen had showed them the shell of a bomb that had caused the fire. When we got to the hotel, mom got four rooms. I had insisted on sharing a room with Max. There were two queen sized beds. I layed down. Max grabbed the T.V remote and channel surfed. Iggy and Gazzy came in. Max looked at them.

“I can’t believe you guys set a bomb off in your room!” She said, her voice sounding strange because of the smoke that had gotten into her throat.

“We didn’t mean to!” Gazzy defended himself.

“Yeah, sure, I know that you didn’t mean to, but what did I say about setting off bombs in your room!” She practically yelled. She went into a coughing fit after that. She was still glaring at Iggy and Gazzy. Gazzy looked scared because Max hadn’t stopped coughing in five minutes. She stopped coughing soon after five minutes. She looked mad. Gazzy and Iggy backed fearfully out of the room. She sighed and fell back against her pillow. I looked at her.

“I’m going to take a shower.” She said. She stood up.

“Looks like your leg is better.” I commented.

“Oh yeah, that’s right.” She reached down and ripped the cast off. She threw it on the floor and went to take a shower. I closed my eyes and drifted off into sleep.

“Good night, Fang.” She said. I heard a rustle as Max climbed into her blankets.

I woke up in the morning. Max was gone and there was a note on the TV.

            Went to go get breakfast, come down when you wake up, Max.

            I took a shower and got dressed in the clothes that Max’s mom had bought us.