IMPORTANT NOTICE: If you haven't read the new and somewhat improved Chapter One, please go back and do so.

Those of you who have subscribed to this story wouldn't have received an email about Chapter One, because it wasn't technically an "Update," but rather a chapter replacement.

Enjoy!


Zoey Redbird

I looked at the strange boy and the girl he was gripping tightly, and was suddenly wide awake again. Shaunee had gone over to see who they were after Kalona was gone, and apparently they'd freaked out on her, and the girl had passed out. From what the boy had said, she had all the telltale signs of a fledgling that had just been marked.

Darius had tried to take her from him, but he refused to give her up. I led him into a room in the Benedictine Abbey that could serve as an infirmary. Stark's still form laying on a hospital bed caught my eye, but he looked fine—at the moment—so I decided to take care of this girl first. I bet Darius brought him down here…

"You can put her down there," I instructed him.

I watched as he set her down with the utmost care, and observed him curiously. He looked back at me, and his bright, cerulean eyes reminded me of an ocean in the background of a beach photo inside a calendar. His shaggy, blonde hair just barely touched his eyes—he had to twitch it out of the way every so often—and he rolled his shoulders back occasionally, as if stretching out sore muscles.

I'd have to guess that both of them were about my age, but each was surprisingly tall. The girl, even with her unconscious face partly covered by her dark hair, had a very adult look about her. As if she'd endured far more than she should have at such a young age. Kind of like how I felt.

"Will she be okay?" the boy suddenly asked in a low voice, startling me out of my stupor.

"Yeah, now that she's with us she should be fine."

"Did she get sick because of that thing on her forehead?"

"Most likely," I answered. The way he said that thing made me wonder if he was part of the People of Faith, or something. I glanced at her mark, and almost gasped out loud. Her mark was filled in and added to; just like mine. How did I not notice before? There were beautiful wings on either side of the blue crescent on her forehead. But, she had all the symptoms of a newly marked fledgling! Not to mention that this guy acted like it hadn't been there long.

"How long has she been marked? She hasn't completed the change, has she?" I asked him urgently.

"Not long," was his only reply. "Does everyone with that," he gestured towards her mark, "Get sick?"

"When they first get marked, yeah. Why?"

"I've gotta go. I'll be right back!"

"Where are you going?" I called after him, but he was already out the door.

He was back within ten minutes. Probably closer to five. This time he was carrying another boy even taller than him. The new arrival had pale skin, strawberry-blonde hair, and was completely unconscious. He an unfilled mark on his unusually pale forehead, with a similar variation of the wings that were part of the girl's mark around it. I swiftly led them to another bed, which he set the new boy down in.

"He passed out on the way here," the first boy explained. He wasn't sweaty or tired or anything. He wasn't even breathing hard.

"Were they marked at the same time?" I asked after I got that feeling in my gut that they had been.

"Yeah," he replied softly, gazing at them in worry.

"How long ago?" It must have been awhile for them both to have passed out.

"'Round five-thirty, last night."

I raised my eyebrows in surprise. Again. By now it was now almost 7:25 AM, so they must have been feeling like death itself for the past fourteen hours. It was a wonder they weren't dead.

"Are you sure they'll be okay?" he asked.

"Positive," I answered comfortingly.

A few minutes passed by, and he suddenly spoke in an undertone, "Those bird things, and that guy last night; did the—School, do that?"

The School? What does he mean? He spoke of this 'School' with the simmering disgust that a Person of Faith spoke of our vapyric culture and our Goddess, Nyx, with.

"No. They, and everything that happened last night, is…a long story." I paused for a moment, my curiosity growing. "What is the School, anyway? I've never heard of it. You talk about it like it's something bad," I noted, but he had shut down right after I said that I'd never heard of it.

He simply shrugged, crossed his arms, and leaned against the wall in between the two beds. He didn't say anything else after that, but there was a dark look in his eyes that didn't leave.

I sighed, and a sudden wave of fatigue began to cloud my mind. I stretched and headed over to Stark's bed, wanting to see how he was doing. I murmured hello to Stevie Rae and Damien as they passed me. They were headed towards the girl and boy on the beds. Maybe to talk to the strange boy. I never did catch his name…

"How is he?" I asked Darius as I approached Stark's cot.

"He's seen better days," he answered without looking up from his patient. I looked at the bandages now covering the gruesome wound on his chest. My heart clenched as I saw that the dressing had already been soaked through with blood and puss from the burns across his chest. Darius was removing the old ones and putting fresh ones on.

I reached for Stark's hand, and I swear I saw his eyes flutter open for a moment. I squeezed it gently, and got the tiniest constriction in response. He mumbled my name, but I could tell that he wasn't fully awake. As I was tenderly caressing his hand, Grandma called for me.

"Get well soon," I whispered, before meeting my Grandma with a half-hearted smile.


Maximum Ride

I was awake, but just drifting on the edge of consciousness. I could hear voices far away. I listened to what they said out of paranoid habit. The first to speak was male.

"She can't be an adult vampire, or else she wouldn't have been so sick."

A vampire? Who's a vampire? Sucks for them. Ha! Get it? Sucks? Oh, I crack myself up.

"Her mark's complete; just like Zoey's."

What a strong southern accent. She must have been talking about my forehead-moon.
"The other one has an extended mark, too, but his isn't filled in."

"Where do ya think she came from?"

"Where do you think they came from?"

The harsh smell of antiseptic unexpectedly assaulted my nose, and my eyes flew open. Then shut again. I'd been blinded by bright, fluorescent lights. My heart started pounding, I opened my eyes just a crack again. I was in a small room; no windows, one door. Which was guarded by a huge man with a blue forehead-moon. Crap.

I pretended like I was still unconscious, and scanned the room carefully with barely opened eyes. The first thing I noticed was the two people standing over me. They didn't look threatening, and they weren't holding any pain-inducing or wing-removing instruments, so I calmed down. A little.

The girl looked like she could be about sixteen. She had blonde, curly hair, and creepy red eyes. Her eyes matched her blood-red forehead-moon, which was bordered by swirling floral designs. The boy looked roughly the same age. He had big, brown eyes and dark brown hair. He was pretty tall, and had a blue, unfilled forehead-moon. The way he stared at me reminded me of a whitecoat's face when they were examining one of the flock. But not quite as evil and I'm-gonna-tear-you-apart-and-study-you; more like an interest to learn about me in an unobtrusive way.

The flock!

I sat up swiftly, and the two looked taken aback. My eyes scanned the room more thoroughly now. There was the boy and girl beside my bed—which, might I add, was a hospital bed—the tough lookin' sentry dude, the old wheelchair lady, Zoey/A-ya, two other teenage girls, and a red forehead-moon guy laying unconscious on another hospital bed across the room. It was the one who tried to shoot Zoey/A-ya. But I was too busy to note what everyone looked like, because of the still form laying parallel to me.

Iggy was stretched across a bed similar to my own only a few feet away. He was still unconscious, but I noticed with relief that his wings weren't visible. Dylan was standing in between our beds. He was fidgeting and switching positions every so often. It was strange, because my relationship with Dylan had sort of become like a timid version of mine and Fang's before…stuff happened. So we were just friends; promise. He was more reserved than before, but not so much that I was worried about another suicide attempt. Dylan had a place in the world now, and realized that he wasn't as alone as he'd thought. Or at least that's what the Voice said.

I shared a look with him. Can we trust them?

He gave a little nod.

Iggy began to stir, and I started to get up. I wanted to tell him where he was, you know, before he freaked out. And I knew he would.

"How are you feeling?"

I turned towards the sound of the voice. It was the guy that looked like he wanted to study me. I narrowed my eyes.

"Fine," I answered tersely.

"Well, good. Darius and Stevie Rae are adult vamps, so you should be fine now."

I just stared at him. What was he talking about? Who was he talking about?

"So, uh, how long ago did you get marked?" he asked when I didn't reply.

"Marked?" I asked stupidly. "Oh, you mean this thing?" I pointed at my winged forehead-moon once I understood.

It was his turn to stare at me.

"What?" I said defensively.

"Are you telling me that you don't know what that is? Or what it means?"

"Well, I wasn't telling you. But since you asked, no, I do not know what it means," I answered sarcastically.

When he just stared at me some more, his eyes bugging out even farther, I hinted, "Maybe you could tell me? It's been kinda freaking me out."

"Uh, I'll…be right back," he stammered before darting away to Zoey/A-ya.

"W-whaaa'?" Iggy let out a moan before sitting straight up. Anybody that hadn't known him as long as I had wouldn't have noticed the fear in his tense form. His blind eyes flicked around the room. I hopped over to his side and took his hands.

"Max?" he barely whispered. "What's happening?"

"It's okay, Ig, I don't think they want to hurt us." I assured him, reassuring myself at the same time. "The room looks like a sort of infirmary."

He relaxed a little, but his eyes still swooped about the room.

"Hey, um, what did you say your name was?" It was that boy again. This time Zoey/A-ya was with him. She looked really tired.

"I didn't."

They waited like they thought I would actually tell them. I had no intention of doing so.

"Well, I'm Zoey, and this is Damien," the girl said tentatively to both me and Iggy. "That's Stevie Rae," she was pointing at the red eyed, red mooned, blondie—and obviously not understanding that Iggy was blind— "That's my Grandma Redbird," Wheelchair lady, "And that's the twins—Shaunee and Erin." A pair of nervous looking girls. But I didn't understand how they could be twins; one was a blond haired, blue eyed Caucasian girl, and the other was a dark haired, dark eyed, girl with skin a little lighter than Nudge's.

"They're not really twins," Zoey explained when she saw my expression. "It's just bizarre how…um, mentally the same they are. Oh, and this is Stark."

The red forehead-moon guy that had been laying on the hospital bed had joined us, and was standing defensively—yet in an exhausted fashion—next to Zoey. He had kind of light brown hair, brown eyes, was on the short side of tall—if that makes sense—and his eyes held a confident, intense, guarded look. He reminded me of us. But what kind of name was Stark?

But, that's the guy who tried to kill her, I thought suddenly. But they seemed all buddy-buddy now. Maybe he's got a split personality, or something.

Note to self: Ask what the heck his problem is.

Dylan joined us then. Zoey examined us three, and I wondered again, Where the heck is the rest of the flock?

"What's your name?" Zoey asked when none of us said anything.

"Jeff," Iggy replied.

"I'm Michael," Dylan lied easily.

"Max," I said brilliantly. Why did I never give a fake name? Iggy rolled his eyes at me.

"Max?" The Stark guy scoffed.

"Stark?" I retorted. He looked at me for a second, and his eyes softened. "Touché," Stark said after a few moments. I think I'm going to like this guy.

"Sooo," I began congenially. I pointed to my forehead-moon. "What is this?"

"Well," Zoey began, the poorly concealed surprise extremely evident in her eyes, "it means that you've become a fledgling." Iggy tensed up beside me, and I could only imagine Dylan's expression.

Well, what else is new? I've had wings all my life; why was I just now getting 'marked'? And why didn't Dylan or the rest of the flock? But I wasn't going to ask—I didn't know for sure that she meant our wings. And even if she did, I hadn't known her long, and definitely did not trust her.

"And if you're not near an adult vampire, you get really sick. And die," She added uneasily.

Whoa, whoa, whoa.

Wait a second.

Stop right there.

Vampires?

"Vampires?" Iggy voiced my thoughts. "You mean blood-drinking, and burning up in sunlight vampires?

"Are you serious?" I asked, not giving them a chance to answer Iggy.

"I think they're serious, Max," Dylan muttered from behind me when they all just stared at us. Again.

"But, there's no such thing as vampires," I exclaimed.

"Where have you been?" asked a very surprised Stark. "The whole world knows about us now!"

Well, obviously not the whole world…

A sudden thought struck me.

"Was it the School? Did they do…all this?" I dared to ask in a low voice.

"I already asked," Dylan surprised me by answering quickly. "They've never heard of it."

A curious look flashed across Damien and Stark's faces, but Zoey seemed to already know that she'd get absolutely nothin' from us, and pushed onward.

"It means that you've become a fledgling vampire," she continued. Whew, I was glad I hadn't spilled the beans when she said Fledgling. But again with the vampires…

"I think I'll pass." I crossed my arms.

"Well, you can't. Or you die." Stark declared. I narrowed my eyes at him as he continued. "V-A-M-P-Y-R-E. Vampyre. You're one of us now. Get over it."

Oh, well I guess that means I've been spellingit wrong this whole time. Oh, well. Not gonna go and change it now. And I'll just ignore his rudeness. I'll assume he was recovering from trying to murder another human—or as they liked to call themselves—vampyre-being!

"So you believe everything you saw last night, but not in vampyres?" Stark demanded. I rolled my eyes. I'd seen so muchweirder. I am the Queen of weird. I'd even go so far as to say the King.

"Is there anyone you'd like us to contact? Like, your parents, or family, or anything?" Zoey asked politely.

I thought for a moment, and then decided yes. I needed to talk to my delightful mother about this.

"Do you have a phone?"

"Yeah, right here."

She handed me what I assumed was her cell phone. I looked everywhere for the stupid buttons, but I couldn't find any. What kind of phone was this? When Zoey saw my dubious expression, she said, "It's a touch screen."

"Oh," I said evenly, as if I knew what that was. I used my messed-up head, and tentatively poked the screen. It lit up, and my eyes widened. Where have we been in the past couple years, as technology advanced beyond even my own, astounding comprehension? Oh, yeah, that's right.

I had no idea what to do from there, so I looked up for assistance. Damien and Zoey had stepped aside, and were muttering quietly to each other. But the Stark kid was still pretty close. He looked really tired.

"Uh, hey, Stark? Could you, um, help me?" I hated that I had to ask, but c'mon! Who would make a phone with no buttons? Iggy snickered from behind me.

"Sure." Stark took the phone, and started messing with it so confidently that it must have been his, not Zoey's.

"Here." When he held it out to me, it was at a dialing pad. I gratefully reached for it, and wondered again what was with him. He had a really funny look on his face.

As the skin of my hand just barely grazed his, I felt a bolt of electricity run through me. I was thrust forward, like I had been sucked into him through his hand. But I hadn't moved; it was more like my spirit or soul or whatever you want to call it. My 'Inner Max'. But whatever it was, I could see him—the true Stark.

I felt his dedication to Zoey. His deep, overwhelming love for her. His overpowering desire to keep her safe, and to always be near her. I could also see that he was jealous of some other guy that Zoey was in a relationship with, but he tolerated him. I think his name was some kind of candy bar—like, Reese, or Heath or something. I felt his hatred towards another, different guy in Zoey's life—jeez, what was her deal?—and guilt for some of his past actions. He was afraid he would fall into the darkness he'd been in before Zoey had saved him. I felt how much he missed his big, yellow lab, Duchess, and how—

Suddenly the onslaught of information slammed to a halt, and I was thrown backwards as I jerked away from his touch. But I wasn't the least bit off balance, and I could tell that my body hadn't move at all. All that from hardly touching Stark for a fraction of a second. I blinked in surprise, and looked to see his face. It was completely impassive, like he hadn't known I was just peeking at his soul.

How did I do that?

Well, Max, you've been given a new ability, chimed the little Voice in my head.

Except it sounded different than normal. And when it talked, it felt like a feather stroking my brain—yeah, that that sounds healthy—rather than the usual ouch-ness.

Long time, no hear, I thought sourly. The last time the Voice and I had had a chat was about a week ago. Bugging me to go try to save the world. Again. Quite frankly, it was getting mucho annoyingo.

That wasn't me, the Voice I was more accustomed to said distastefully. Wait a second…

That's right, Max. Make room, The newest Voice said.

Oh, dear Lord. Please, no! One voice in my head was waaaay more than enough! What did I do to deserve this?

I do agree. Voice one muttered unhappily. Now that I thought about it, the newest voice sounded deeper. And, strangely enough, as if it belonged in my head. I wonder what that said about my sanity…

You're going to save the world, Max, the deeper, feathery Voice declared.

I could have told her that, Voice numero uno argued.

You have. I replied bluntly, too shocked to say anything else.

And no one seemed to notice the inner turmoil I was in as I talked to the Voices in my head. Before you know it, I'm gonna have to name them all.

And you thought I was crazy before.


I would very much like reviews. Tell me what you think of the new twist…or what you think might happen…

(PS, Something insanely funny just might happen in the next few chapters...hehe...)

PPS, What do you think of the summary for this story? I was looking back on it, and I could/might re-do it, but they don't give you much room...

Your Pal,

SuperOreoMan