MAXIMUM CAPTIVITY!

Chapter 1

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" asked fourteen year old Travis. "I know that we're both musically gifted – surprisingly – but is street performing really necessary?"

Alison pulled his arm, dragging him to an empty corner of one of Virginia's huge parks. "If you want money and food, then yes. Besides," she turned to face him. "You can play guitar, I can sing, and we might as well put our talents into some use, even if we sound suckish to some."

He rolled his eyes. "Fine, but as soon as I see a police officer coming our way, we're running."

"Max," Fang called out her name four about the twentieth time this hour. "Max!"

She couldn't hear him. Max was flying in front of him, something that he normally wouldn't mind. Without her nagging at him all the time, he could actually think. But this time… well, a huge part of him just wanted to land. Something caught his eye.

After having her name screamed numerous times, Max finally looked back with an annoyed expression on her face. Yeah right, like she should be the one affected. "What?"

Fang didn't stop to explain. He just tucked in his hawk like wings, similar to Max's, and let himself plummet through the sky. "Follow!"

She rolled her eyes and glided towards the alley he was heading to. There were no people there (drug addicts or anything of the sort), so she was greatly relieved.

In less than a minute they both reached the ground. After pulling their wings back in and putting sweatshirts over them, they seemed like regular kids. If, you know, being a mutant fourteen year old was considered regular.

"Check it out!" exclaimed Fang in a voice he never used. He seemed… excited. Impressed, actually. But in reality, that feeling couldn't be avoided.

"Every time's the same, every time we kiss I can't think straight, but I'm okay…" A girl about their age with long brown hair and hazel eyes was singing this wonderful acoustic. There a boy a tad bit taller than her – probably close to six feet if the singer looked about 5'7 – was playing the guitar, strumming and catching her beat. What an amazing team.

Fang listened carefully to the song. He wanted to remember as much as he could so he could tell Iggy later. Sure, it obviously wouldn't sound as nice, but Iggy was great when it came to sensing things. Why should this be any different?

Mental note: Take Iggy and the rest of the flock to see these two. Take note of their facial expressions as they get blown away.

"So please, give me your ha-a-a-and. So please, just take my ha-a-a-and."

And with the final strum of Travis' guitar, the song ended. To their astonishment, it started a wave of coins being tossed at them as well as a good round of applause and hoots, making Alison blush. She turned to Travis and saw that she was grinning from ear to ear. When he glance at her, she shot him a look saying, "Told ya."

He shrugged as if to say, Whatever, then bended over to collect their reward. This so beats… Regular life!

Alison got his guitar and put it back in its case, then removed her backpack and opened the front zipper. "Here," she told Travis, bending down and scooping up coins into the open pocket. "Well count 'em later."

"Should we?" asked Max once the performance was over. There was a good three feet distance between them, but Fang could still hear her perfectly, even with the sound of Virginia streets at night.

He nodded, and they both made their way up front. Let Max do the talking.

"Um," she started, clearing her throat. Two heads snapped up at the same time, the one of the girl's a bit jerkier than the boy's. "We just wanted to say that we were really taken a back. We'd say we threw is some coins, but our parents our missionaries, and our allowance is pretty tight, and-"

"We don't have squat," Fang cut in, turning his jean pockets over. Geez, Max. You're starting to catch the Nudge Bug.

They smiled awkwardly. "Thanks," said the girl, zipping up the back pack she was holding and handing it to the boy, who flung it over his shoulder. "It was a lot of fun."

The four of them just stood there for a moment, not really knowing what to say next. Fortunately the buy, broke the silence by saying, "We better get going. We have a long ni- I mean day ahead of us tomorrow." He gave his companion a small smile and a wave of his hand as if he were trying to send her some secret message.

"We understand," said Max, and Fang nodded in agreement, understanding what they meant completely. "We're pretty busy, too. School and all, you know? We just decided to get out and do something since our parents, being missionaries, usually make sure we're in doors of either our house or the Church. I'm Max, by the way. And this is my… brother, F-Nick."

Fang rolled his eyes. How many times has she made this mistake? "I am so telling Tiffany-Krystal that you're catching her motor mouth disease."

The two kids in front of them laughed. Definitely siblings. "I'm Travis," introduced the boy. "And this is my cousin, Alison."

Alison nodded, smiling. "We're just trying something new for a change, and, you know… Getting some change," she said, shaking the bag full of coins.

This statement made Fang smile to himself, as corny as her joke was. He's never met anyone who was this comfortable around new people. He also had to admit – she was a pretty thing. Long, brown hair tied into a ponytail, hazel eyes that seemed to pop out, a thin body, and a nice 5'7 height, just like Max. That last thought made his blood freeze – what if she was older than him? What if she wasn't fourteen, but a college student looking for some cash? Or worse – what if she were an Eraser?

He tried brushing this thought away as she started a new conversation with Max. Fang turned to Travis, who was just standing there, staring at his worn out basketball sneakers, which made him almost as tall as Fang himself. And really, that's saying something.

"Girl companions – forever talking, don't you think so?" he asked, hoping Travis would respond. Might as well be courteous, right?

Travis looked up and nodded, grinning. "Yeah. You're pretty lucky you've only got Max – I've got a nine year old named Gracie waiting for us at home."

"Trust me, man. That beats two fourteen year olds, an eleven year old, and eight year old and a six year old."

Travis winced. "You're right. It does."

And that's how the friendship of the four started.