Chapter 1
My heart had been shattered into pieces. Fang, my right hand man, my best friend, my first and only love, the boy who had always had my back had left me. He had promised, promised that the flock would never split up again but he had broken his promise.
I was laying on my bed at my mum's house, mourning. Why had he left me and the flock? What was the important thing that he had to do? Did he still love me? Would I ever see him again? These questions needed to be answered and I as the one who would answer them.
I leap off the bed, feeling much better than I had in the past few weeks. I was finally going to find out what had happened. But as you know, things aren't that simple.
I opened the living room door. Everyone stopped what they were doing. Nudge put down her fashion magazine, Iggy and Ella froze in the midst of putting the food in the oven, Angel released her finger off the button of the camera and Gazzy paused in mid-pose. Dylan just stared at me calmly. How I'd love to punch that good-looking face.
"Hey..." I say suddenly lost for words.
Then they all speak at once.
"Max!" Nudge and Angel squeal in delight.
"Glad to have you back with us." Iggy said.
"Oh Max..." Ella said happily.
"Hey, I've been wanting to show you this for a while, isn't it so cool?" Gazzy said holding up a drawing of something I couldn't distinguish. Only Dylan stayed silent.
"Yeah... what the hell is that Gaz?"
"It's a bomb." He says his face falling. "Is it that bad?"
I ignore this and say, "I want answers guys, and I'm gunna get them. I want to know what was the so important reason that Fang left us is. I want to know whether..." I cut off, blushing. "Never mind."
Angel gives me that I-know-what-you're-thinking look and I feel irritated. What gives her the right to read my mind anyway? Oh, if you haven't picked it up already, we are freaks. We all have wings and can fly - Me, Fang(OMG! I miss him so much!) Nudge, Gazzy, Angel, Iggy and Dylan.
I (Max aka Maximum Ride) can fly at wicked speeds, can breathe underwater and has an irritating and sometimes useful voice in my head.
Fang can blend into the background when he is still (I thought that he had disappeareed once) and can also breathe underwater.
Nudge can attract metal to her, hack into computers and can sort of sense who was at them last and what they did (freaky huh?).
Iggy can tell what colours things are by feeling them (by the way, he's blind), has really good senses and knows like everything to do with bombs.
Gazzy can imitate anyone, has a problem with his digestive system (don't stay in an enclosed space with him) and like Iggy, is great when it comes to bombs.
Angel can read and control minds, breathe underwater, talk to fish and can change into the bird of paradise. Okay, that's our lives in a nutshell, back to business.
"So, who's up for it?" I ask awkwardly. I hadn't spoken or been in contact with the flock for the past few weeks.
"I'm in." Nudge and Gazzy say instantly.
"I don't know Max." Angel says. "It could be dangerous."
"Our lives have always been dangerous!" I say my temper rising. "That's how we have lived, brought up in a lab as experiments and been on the run for the past few years. Where have you been? You live in the real world, Angel."
But she doesn't back down. "No." She says firmly.
"I agree with Angel." Iggy says nervously.
"Fine then!" I shout and storm out, taking off into the air. I didn't check to see if any of them followed me.
"Max?" I hear Nudge's voice. "Can we still come?" I look round to see that Gazzy and Nudge had followed me out.
"Yes." I say my voice softening.
"I'll come with you, I think that you're doing the right thing." Said a calm voice behind me. You know who that is, don't you?
"Nobody asked for your opinion." I snapped at Dylan. "I don't want you anywhere near me." I gave him a hard shove but he only shoved me back harder, just like Fang would have done. I miss Fang so much!
"Fine, I won't have your back then." And he flew off before I could snap something back at him. Good riddance, I thought.
I suddenly remember that I have Gazzy and Nudge with me still and I turn to them. "We need to make a plan. Lets stay over at a hotel somewhere for the night, get a bite to eat and then put our head together. Agreed?"
"I'm in for it." Gazzy says wholeheartedly.
"Same but one problem. Where we going to get the money?"
I pat my pocket. They both stare at me."Where'd you get that from?" Nudge asked.
"Lets just say I found it." I say mischievously.
"Awesome!" Gazzy yells. "High five." We all smack hands. We point our wings east.
"Off to Mexico!" I announce. They cheer and I feel a smile spread across my face, for the first time in weeks.
"Lets land there." I say pointing to a large playing field hidden well behind a tall building. "No-one will see us then." We angle our wings downwards and then our sneaked feet are touching the ground. I run a few steps before I stop.
"I'm hungry." Nudge says. She has the biggest appetite of the flock.
"We'll find somewhere to sleep first then I'll take you to a restaurant."
"Ok." She says satisfied. "How much money do you actually have Max?
"A few hundred." I say.
"Can we go shopping?" Gazzy asks.
"Yes! Yes! Please Max, say we can go shopping." She begs.
"We're not on holiday guys. We have business." I say firmly. I try not to look at Nudge but I falter and look at her. Stupid me. She looks at me with puppy eyes, her eyes are like melted chocolate.
"Alright then." I sigh.
"Yes!" Gazzy cheers punching the air.
We lay in bed that night exhausted. We had eaten at a mexican restaurant and we had ordered half the menu. We had been shot funny looks but no-one stopped us. Then we had gone shopping. Nudge had got a new outfit out of me and I had given in and let her have her ears pierced.
Gazzy wanted his ears done too but I had told him that he was too young. He had complained that both Nudge and Iggy had theirs done but I had stayed strong on that. I had bought him a new comic book and a bag of sweets.
"So... we need to make a plan." I say. "Any ideas?"
"I have an idea." Nudge says slowly. Oh great, I think, here we go.
"We need to find out where Fang is. I... I saw a video on his blog and... and Max two was there. We should kidnap Max two and put you in her place. Gazzy and me will stay nearby. You need to question Fang. Ask him why he left the flock and whether he still loves you or not. Make sure you say Max not I. then you need to escape in the middle of the night and put Max two back. She won't have a clue what is going on and Fang will notice that somthing is fishy but we would have been long gone by then. I've been thinking this over for a while." She smiles sheepishly. "Sorry I didn't tell you about the video. I didn't think that you would want to know."
"I can't believe that he's replaced me! I hate him so much but I love him at the same time. Does that make any sense?"
"Yeah, that makes sense, um... is my plan alright?"
"Yes, that's a very good plan. Can you find out where he is Nudge?"
"I can go to the local coffee shop tomorrow and use the computers there and try to trace where he is writing his blog from, but I want to go to sleep first." She curls herself up in a ball on the bed and I tuck her in. Gazzy has already fallen asleep so I climb into bed but I can't get to sleep. I lay there thinking. Does Fang still love me anymore?
I would find out very soon.