Chapter One: Lost and Found

The only sounds in the darkness were chirping crickets and Fang's own breathing. Everything else was silent. There was no moon, only stars. Fang liked the peace. He could think in solitude, without constantly facing the distractions of their creaky house or Gazzy's loud snoring.

Fang gently unfolded his wings, letting them rest against the shingles on the roof of the house in the warm, summer air. He looked out over the forested mountains, reduced to mere shadows during the night. Everything was utterly still and silent.

There was a creak and a whisper in the darkness below him. "Hello?"

It was the voice of a female, one who appeared to be terrified. Nonetheless, Fang moved cautiously and slowly, careful not to stir the air too much. He climbed carefully to the edge of the roof, and looked down.

A child stared calmly up at him, a young girl. Her eyes were wide, and Fang could see her unshed tears sparkling in her eyes in what little light the stars gave off. She was sitting in the dirt, her right leg bent awkwardly beside her.

After a quick scan of the forest surrounding them, Fang dropped silently to the ground beside the girl. She immediately flinched away from him, and he could understand why. His wings were still unfolded, and he had just dropped thirty feet like it was nothing. She probably had not seen anyone like him before.

"Who are you?" he asked, wishing his voice didn't sound so harsh.

"I…I'm like you," she whispered.

Fang opened his mouth to ask what she meant, but he soon understood. The girl slowly unfolded her wings from behind her. They were all shades of brown and white, contrasting deeply with Fang's, which were black as night.

"Where are you from?" Fang asked, kneeling down beside the girl to look at her injured leg. He could now see that she was older than he had originally thought. She was about his age, but the fear in her eyes made her seem younger. She was covered in dirt, sweat, and a little bit of blood. There were several cuts on her arms and face, and she looked to be in a lot of pain.

She watched him fearfully as he examined her leg. Her knee was clearly broken, and there was a deep cut oozing blood above her knee. "Can you straighten it out?" he asked quietly. She moved around, finally finding a position that allowed her to stretch out her leg without hurting it.

"Your knee is definitely broken," Fang muttered, trying not to touch her too much. "What happened?" He looked up, directly at her.

She looked away. "I was attacked. By Erasers. Not far from here. I didn't mean to come here and put you and your friends in danger, but I just…I couldn't keep going anymore."

"How did you know we were here?" Fang asked, glancing upwards. There could be an attack at any moment, for all he knew. The girl could've lead them here.

She struggled for an answer to his question. "The, uh, whitecoats experimented on me. I can, um, track people. I could sense the six of you from several miles away. You're the only ones out here, aside from me. I covered my tracks pretty well, I think."

"What's your name?" Fang asked, looking for other serious injuries on the girl. She had other cuts and bruises, but none were severe. He would have to bring her inside to treat her injuries, and that would mean waking Max and trying to explain things to her. And she certainly wouldn't be happy with him.

But Fang decided to make one of Max's famous, leader-like snap decisions. The girl was still puzzling over the name question, like it was something she really didn't want to answer. "C'mon," he said, moving over to her to help her up. She scooted away from him. "Where are we going?"

"Well, I'm not going to let you sleep out here, and I won't be able to fix your leg unless you come in."

She looked hesitant. "Are you sure? Max won't be very happy."

"You can read minds too?" He wasn't overly surprised. Angel had been able to do it for years. This girl was different, just like Angel.

She nodded. "I've been hearing your thoughts for about an hour." She almost looked embarrassed. Had he been thinking anything bad? Probably not.

The girl smiled slightly. "No, you were mostly just chilling."

Typically, Angel had kept her distance from his mind, but this girl seemed to be really aware of him. He wasn't sure if she was doing it on purpose or if she really couldn't control herself.

"No," she said quietly, and a little sadly. "I can't control it. But I'll stop answering the questions in your head, if you'd like." She smiled weakly again.

This time, she allowed Fang to move closer to her. He gently put an arm around her waist, carefully lifting her off the ground. She was light, but she leaned heavily on him, unable to use her right leg. Fang tried his best to quietly open the door, but he instantly realized that his attempts at sneakiness had failed completely.

Max was standing in the doorway, her hair and face illuminated by the lights from inside the house. She had apparently flicked every single one on, and both Fang and the mystery girl blinked in surprise as their eyes slowly adjusted.

"Who are you?" Max snarled at the girl, who instantly shied back from Max's intensive glare. She started stuttering something random.

"Max, move it," Fang said, causing Max to turn her basilisk glare on him. "I promise she'll explain. She's not gonna hurt us. She needs help."

Max wrinkled her nose in disbelief, but moved aside, opening the door wider for the two of them.

Fang led the girl to the kitchen, and carefully helped her into a chair. Max followed, not liking to be talked down to by Fang. The new girl could clearly sense this, because her small shoulders hunched, like she knew she was messing something up between them. It was their unspoken rule: Max led, Fang followed. That was just the way it was. Fang never told Max to do anything, and Max generally didn't have to order Fang to do anything either. They just had a mutual understanding, but that had just changed in a matter of seconds.

"Who are you?" Max demanded, glaring at the girl. She scooted back in her chair, as far as she could get from the grimacing Max. "I'm from a School, a lab, somewhere in California," she whispered. "I escaped. The Erasers were chasing me. I knew that you guys were near, and I just…I couldn't keep going."

Max shook her head before the girl even finished. "I don't believe you. We came from that same School, and we didn't remember ever seeing you. We escaped several years ago. We would've known about you."

"They kept me a secret from you. They wanted me to be their weapon. They gave me special powers, and they didn't want you to know about me. Only two scientists actually knew I existed."

Fang would've guessed that he and the flock had had some of the worst childhoods in the history of the world, but this girl's must've been even more miserable. They had had each other. She had no one. No wonder she was so afraid of people. She probably hadn't met any other children or teenagers in her whole life.

"Well, what makes you so special?" Max snapped.

"I can, uh, read minds. And I can location people real easily. I knew you guys were here, because my, um, sense of mutants is different from regular people. I knew where you were from the moment I escaped the School. I didn't mean to come here, but I didn't know where else to go. I thought…" she trailed off, embarrassed. "I thought you guys might help me, I guess."

"But they found you," Max said, her face expressionless. "And now, you're leading them here."

The girl quickly shook her head. "No, I promise they're not coming. I've been scanning regularly, but they've turned north. They don't know where you are, I promise," she said again.

Max studied her for a moment. "What's your name?"

The girl looked at her blankly. "I don't have a name."

"Well, pick one," Max suggested. "I don't know…how about Hush? You always seem to be so afraid all the time…"

The girl nodded. "Uh, okay."

Max nodded and straightened up. "Okay." She sighed, probably trying to regain her composure. "All right. Fang, go wake Iggy. We'll need him to help with her leg. Hell, wake everyone up. They'll all be annoyed unless we explain everything."

Fang nodded and left the kitchen. He could only hope that Max wouldn't interrogate Hush to death while he was gone. The kid had clearly been through a lot, and he didn't want to freak her more than she already was.

Fang jogged up the stairs, into the darkness that was the second floor. He didn't need light to find Iggy and Gazzy's room, which was just to the right of the stairs. Gazzy's snoring was obnoxiously loud, yet Iggy somehow managed to sleep soundly on the bed next to his. Fang flicked the light on, but still had to shake both boys awake. "C'mon, guys, we gotta get downstairs."

"Wha's goin' on?" Iggy muttered, running a hand through his messy blond hair. Gazzy was studiously ignoring Fang while pretending to be asleep.

"Emergency meeting," Fang said, contemplating kicking Gazzy to wake him up, but he finally rolled out of bed with several groans and complaints. "Can't it wait 'til morning'?" Gazzy muttered.

"No, it can't. We need you, Ig, downstairs right away."

"What's going on?" he asked sleepily.

"Um…" Fang began, not sure how to describe the new girl. "Well, there was a girl outside, in the woods. She's…like us. She was running from the Erasers. She's hurt."

Iggy's sightless eyes widened. "She has wings? Really?"

Gazzy snapped awake. "Seriously? That's awesome!"

Fang nodded, not really sure if it was awesome or not. "Yeah, well, go on down there. I'll be down in second, after I wake Nudge and Angel."

The boys trooped downstairs while Fang went across the hall to the girls' room. He pushed open the door and hit their light switch. Nudge immediately chucked a pillow at him. "It is not morning yet. Get lost."

Fang smiled slightly. "No, it's not, but Max needs you guys downstairs for an emergency meeting."

He crossed the room to the corner that belonged to Angel. She had put a screen in, and had filled the area with stuffed animals, blankets, and pillows. She was sleeping peacefully, half in, half out of the pile. She looked so happy that Fang felt bad about waking her up. "C'mon, Angel, you gotta get up."

She opened her big brown eyes and squinted at him. "Is it morning, Fang?"

"No, hon, it's not, but you still gotta get up. Sorry for the bad timing."

He led the girls downstairs, down to the commotion below. He heard everyone talking at once, and he knew Hush would be terrified. She probably hadn't met many people in her life, and this many at once would seriously scare her. He hurried to the kitchen, hoping she was all right.

Hush was sitting in her chair, her leg up on another one. Iggy was examining her knee, and Max was helping him. Gazzy was talking excitedly to Hush, who was cautiously answering his questions and occasionally nodding. Iggy and Max were quietly talking about what they could do about her leg.

When Angel, Nudge, and Fang entered the room, everyone looked up. Hush almost looked glad to see him. Then her eyes fell on Angel.

With a horrified gasp, Hush leaped up from her chair, causing both Iggy and Max to jump back in surprise. Hush scooted as far away from everyone as she could possibly get. She pressed her back against the wall, her eyes wide and scared, looking like she was about to run away as fast as she could.

"Hush? What's wrong?" Iggy asked.

Hush shook her head. "It's her," she whispered, pointing to Angel. "She…she's dangerous." She shook her head again.

Max stepped forward, closer to Hush. "It's all right, Hush. Angel's with us. She won't do anything bad to you, I promise. Just…just sit down. It's all right."

Angel held Fang's hand, equally worried about Hush. Fang squeezed her hand reassuringly.

Hush eventually unstuck herself from the wall, and cautiously moved back over to the table, her eyes on Angel the entire time. The room was silent while everyone tried to figure out what was going on, and why Hush was so upset.

Hush gradually lowered herself back into her seat.

Max cleared her throat. "Okay. Well, um, I'm Max, if you didn't know. Maximum Ride. That's Iggy and Gazzy." She pointed to each of the pyromaniacs as she said their names. "That's Fang, Nudge, and Angel in the back. We're all mutants, like you. We all came from the School, in California. We escaped four years ago, with the help of a white coat named Jeb. He disappeared two years ago." Max's expression grew distant as she remembered the day Jeb had gone missing.

Everyone was gathered in the kitchen. Bright light streamed through the curtains, signaling the beginning of the day. Iggy stood at the stove cooking eggs, which spread smoke and a delicious smell throughout the house. Max was at the fridge, probably hunting around for butter or milk. Fang and Nudge were setting the table, and Gazzy and Angel were demanding food with the banging of their knives and forks on the table. Everyone was in a good mood. Nothing was wrong.

Max eventually sent Fang into Jeb's office to wake him up. He usually spent long nights in there, researching, writing things down, and eventually conking out on his desk. Fang came back into the kitchen with a piece of paper. A note.

His voice was solemn as he read it. "'There comes a time in one's life when they have to do something they don't want to do in order to help others. I fear that now is my time. There isn't much I can tell you, except that I will probably be dead by the time you read this. There isn't anything you can do, so please don't come looking for me. Stay strong.'"

Fang looked up the group as he finished reading. Nudge and Angel were both crying and clinging to Max. The others were just a mixture of confusion and disbelief. "You mean he's gone? He's…dead?" Iggy asked.

No one could answer his question. Rather, no one wanted to. The pleasant mood had evaporated. No one wanted to move, or talk, or do anything, really. They just wanted Jeb to come back. They wanted someone to lead them.

That's when Max's life of leadership started. She had always been tough, but now she was even stronger than she had been before. She had lost a lot of her silliness and indifference to the problems in the house. She had to act a lot older than she was, which was only twelve. Fang remembered trying to help her as much as possible, and trying not to get upset when everything didn't go as perfectly as it had when Jeb had been in charge.

Max continued to explain things about them: where they were from, about Jeb, and she also asked a lot of questions about Hush.

She had spent her entire life in the School, and had only escaped a few days before. The white coats had experimented on her constantly, trying to make her stronger than she already was. She was supposed to be the best of the best. A new kid of superhuman soldier. She was even more special than Max. Max and the rest of them were just test runs. Hush was the only one that mattered. Fang realized this through Hush's quiet explanations. They meant absolutely nothing. They were only there to help the white coats while they were messing with Hush. She was the only reason they existed.

Fang wasn't sure whether to be upset or relieved about this. He didn't want to be worthless, but at the same time, he was glad that the Erasers hadn't been tracking them down for the past four years. They were relatively safe where they were. Hush wasn't, however. They wanted her back, as Hush quietly reminded them. She wasn't happy about putting them in danger, but Max wouldn't let her leave until she was healed and no longer limping.

Once Hush's leg was tightly bandaged, Max found her some of her old clothes and told her to take a shower. It was now about six in the morning, and it was almost completely light outside. Hush was even paler than before, due to Iggy having to reset her knee. Fang sent the younger kids out when the real pain started, because Hush was whimpering and doing her best not to scream, and Fang didn't want the kids seeing her in pain like that. Hush endured though, and she only screamed once. Iggy spent the entire time apologizing for hurting her. Max, too, grimaced, but she dealt with it.

After that was all finished, Iggy disinfected the deep cut above her knee and wrapped it in a clean white bandage, not the ratty bandana Hush had tied around it. They would change it again once Hush cleaned herself up. Fang had to agree that she definitely needed a shower. Stumbling around in the Colorado wilderness for a couple days could do that to someone. Iggy promised to make her breakfast once she was clean, and Hush's deep blue eyes lit up excitedly at the mention of food.

Fang didn't miss the smile she and Iggy exchanged, and the way Iggy jumped up immediately to help Hush up the stairs to the bathroom. Max raised her eyebrows, but didn't say anything more.

***

Well, I hope you liked it. :] It's the first FanFic I've ever written, so please review and I will love you forever!

(Sorry if that creeped you out ^-^)

-Skye