I spun around to find broken glass scattered everywhere.

Then I saw Max and Daniel.

My first thought was, Oh hello there, nice weather out today. Then I cleared my head of impulsive sarcastic thoughts and made my way over to them.

Then I screamed.

"OH MY GOD! You're Maximum Ride!"

Then I turned to Daniel. Only, I didn't really know who he was at first.

"You must be…" I trailed off pointedly.

He bowed, fake-humbly.

"Daniel X, at your service."

Then I screamed again.

"OH MY GOD! You're Daniel X!"

He smiled, pleased that I'd remembered him.

But the next newcomer wouldn't be so lucky.

"Wait," said a breathless voice from outside the window. A young girl climbed onto the windowsill.

She stared at me expectantly.

I stared back quizzically.

"Well? Aren't you going to scream, 'Oh my God, it's Wisty!'?"

"Errr…that name doesn't ring a bell…" I said.

"How did she escape from the closet?" Daniel muttered.

Wisty sighed.

"I'm from Witch and Wizard," She explained.

"Ohhh," I said back, finally comprehending. "You mean that lame spoof James Patterson wrote about Harry Potter… or in his opinion, Gary Blotter and the Guild of Rejects?"

"Man, was that a funny line," snickered Max.

Wisty's lower lip started trembling.

She hurled herself from the window, crying.

We listened to her moan when she hit the ground.

"Freak," said Daniel.

Max's eyes took on a fiery sheen. "What…did…you…just…call…me…"

She balled up her fists.

"Wait-no-I meant-"

Daniel's protests died out when Max bashed in his windpipe.

While her hand was still on his throat though, he grasped her other hand inches before it smashed into his face and brought it back around to Max's.

More fighting ensued.

While all this was happening, I was trying to figure out why they were in my room in the first place.

Obviously, they were from a book. Two different books, in fact. And both of these novels had been written by James Patterson. From what I could gather from my own experiences with characters, only the author of a story could make his characters come to life and interact with them. They were also the only people who could see the characters.

So why could I see characters that I hadn't written about?

And so went the great process of deduction.

(Basically, that means I read way too much Sherlock Holmes.)

My cell phone rang.

I picked it up.

It was an unknown number.

"Hello. This is James Patterson."

I dropped the phone.

And screamed.

Then, rationally, I picked it up again.

"Please don't do that," said James. "Anyway, I take it that you have received my pests… er, characters?"

I nodded breathlessly.

"Well, I take it from the silence you are nodding. The reason I sent them to you is because the are having… issues."

Max hurled a vase of flowers at Daniel, but missed and hit the wall. I found my voice.

"You can say that again," I muttered.

"I cannot stop them from fighting. They just won't listen to me. But you're a pretty creative writer. And a strong one, too. Maybe you can help them become friends. That's all I want you to do: just write a story about them apologizing, or something like that."

"Uh, okay," I said uncertainly. As an after thought I added a question.

"How on earth did you get my phone number?"

"I have my connections," he said mysteriously.

Then the line went dead.

So now I had two freaks that hated each other, another one sprawled unconscious on the ground, and a very weird author spying on me.

But, that's life.

"I should get started on that story," I muttered.

Half an hour later, everything went wrong.

At first, Max had acted out everything I'd written: being nice to Daniel, giving him ice cream. And Daniel had done the same.

But soon came the part where they actually had to apologize to each other.

This is what I wrote:

"I'm sorry, Daniel. I shouldn't have said all of those mean things to you," said Max.

"That's all right. I forgive you," replied Daniel.

This is what happened.

"I'm sorry Daniel. I shouldn't have said- HEY WAIT A MINUTE! WHY DO I HAVE TO APOLOGIZE FIRST!"

I scowled.

"Fine. Let's make Daniel go first-"

"No way am I going to apologize to that stubborn flying pig!"

"Who are you calling a pig, you elephant-obsessed freak!"

And on they went.

Then it dawned on me: they were both stubborn and full of pride- neither one would yield.

So in order to cure them of their stubbornness…

"I have to prove which one is better," I concluded.

"Hey guys! Break it up already!"

"WHAT!" They both shouted.

I smiled.

"I have a solution," I said confidently.

"We're taking it to the ring."