Our little unexpected stop in New York only happened because- wait for it- Erasers were chasing us. And that's pretty much, the story of my life. Literally.

We were flying high up over NYC, seeing the lights that they had on- even in daylight- flash up at us. Oh, yeah- we can fly. Don't act so surprised. "We" equals my flock. There's Fang, who's 14, Iggy, blind and also 14, Nudge, 11, The Gasman, aka Gazzy, who's 8, Angel, only 6, Total, the flying and talking dog, and finally, me. Maximum Ride, 14. But you can call me Max.

Nudge- Motor mouth Nudge, that is- had wanted for us to stop there, but we've already been there once, and that was one field trip I didn't want to revisit. Not a good idea. So, I led us further up New York. Soon, the bright city lights and traffic noise disappeared into rolling fields, farms and the silent, crisp air. I swear, it was like we were back in Virginia- and that wasn't a good thing. It was so extremely peaceful, that I kept waiting for something to happen.

And then, right on schedule, the Erasers showed up. The lupine-hybrid murderers could chase us anywhere, even in the air, what with their new wings. I didn't even know where the Erasers had come from- I thought they'd 'expired'. That was the white coats- from the School, that is- term that really meant 'murdered' or 'exterminated', but I guess they liked using code phrases. "The milk has expired" and stuff.

"Erasers!" Iggy yelled. He was blind, but had way better hearing than us, and we have raptor ears.

I groaned. Here we go again. "Scatter!" I shouted, and everyone followed suit.

I took a glance over my shoulder and saw them. About 5 or 6. We could take them, easy. I was about to call for the flock to fight, when the rest of the erasers flew nearer. About 100 more- Ten, we could take. Fifty, with a lot of luck. But one-freaking-hundred?

"Dive!" I ordered.

I saw Fang dodge a nearby Eraser and tuck in his wings, dropping altitude quick. The rest of us followed. Erasers were terrible fliers. By the time we touched ground, they would probably figure out how to even dive.

As we got closer to the earth, I spotted a big brown building- a school. But not a School school. A school- ah, you know what I mean.

"Land here!" I tried to make my voice heard over the whistling wind, and one by one, we smoothly dropped down- straight into the middle of a huge crowd of students. In a flash, we tucked our wings into our jackets, so no one took any notice. Then, the Erasers finally spotted us. I could see them, hurtling towards the ground. We split up and wandered through the crowd of students, who were waiting for the front doors to open. If the Erasers tried landing here, they'd just create chaos. I glanced up, and saw them flying away in bunches. Yes, I thought. Mission accomplished.

We met up again, and I told my flock my plan. "Guys. We're going back to school."