Disclaimer!

I still do not own "Twilight" or "Maximum Ride", just to let you know.

2.

It was extremely dark after I was pulled into the shadows. The man had covered my eyes with his hand and pushed me along. After about three minutes, I reached out my free hand to find Fang. He couldn't be too far, if we'd been snagged by the same people. I really hoped it wasn't some new Itex experiment taking us to the insane crackpot that had once convinced me I was her daughter. What a whopping lie that was.

"Fang?" I whispered trying to hear other footsteps.

"Quiet," the silky voice rang through my ears. "Do not talk to yourself."

"If you were only so lucky to hear me do so," I replied, rolling my eyes behind his hand. "Now that we're both in a dark pit of despair together, would you kindly tell me your name? Since you forced me to tell mine?"

"Felix,"

I smiled a little, "Aw, that's a cute little name, sort of like that cartoon cat, you know. I'm gonna' call you Kitty from now on if that's alright with you,"

My eyes were uncovered and my other hand was yanked behind my back. "You will call me Felix, and nothing more." He whispered in my ear, his cold breath sending a shiver up my spine.

"Dude, no offense, but you're a creepy dude to be named Felix, are you sure that's your name, or are you lying?" an all-too familiar voice came from two people in front of me. I held back a sigh of relief, the Gasman.

"Is your friend lying about being Max?" Felix asked, tugging on my arms.

Pain is just a message. I reminded myself mentally, grinning and bearing it as I shook my head. "My full name is Maxine Joanne Alicia Jane–I have about twenty middle names if you'd like to hear them all–Anne Jean Marie Anastasia…" at this point I was using every name I knew just to spite Felix. I was smiling as we walked along; it was really getting fun to see how far I could get before he snapped. "…Nicole Hannah Beth Elisa Jessica Isabella Kiera Janice Carlotta Christine Andrea Erica"–

"Shut up, will you?" Felix tugged on my arms again, and this time I forgot to block the message and yelped.

"Hey! Leave her alone!" Fang. It was Fang! I relaxed my shoulders a little and sighed a sigh of relief.

"Nick!" I breathed, making sure I'd heard right at the same time. "Nick, where's Ariel and Tiffany?"

"We're both here," Nudge called softly, and I guessed one freak had grabbed both of the younger girls.

Felix chuckled darkly and I could feel him lean to the left and whisper, "Dibs on the blonde little one,"

"You know we will have to wait on that one if Aro wants her,"

"She could be a playmate for Jane."

Who the h was this Jane? What did they want with Angel? Who was Aro? Why were they calling dibs? I hoped it was just for the buddy system and not anything horrid. We walked along in silence for quite a while, and it took me only a few minutes to put together that these guys were not good news for the flock.

"If you put Ang–Ariel in any danger I swear I'm gonna"–

"Do not worry, child," a new voice sent a visible tremble up my body. It came from a grey-cloaked man in the front of the room; he pulled the hood off his head to reveal a shockingly beautiful face and a head of black hair. I blinked twice, checking if he was real, which he was.

"Woah," I said simply, shocked as others in the room repeated the process, all looking like supermodels, including the youngest girl, who looked about my age, maybe a little younger or older.

"What are their names, Felix?"

One by one, we were released and pushed forward, depending on when we were identified. "Max, Nick, Jeff, Zephyr, Tiffany, and Ariel. The youngest claims that the mutt is named Total."

"She doesn't claim," Nudge interrupted, "He is really named Total," her tone made me laugh. A mass of eyes focused in on me, bringing to my attention their blood red eyes.

"Okaaaay," I murmured, feeling creeped out to a thirty on a scale from one-to-ten.

"What is your business in Volterra?"

I walked forward, causing a large number of grey-cloaked people to swarm forward two steps. The man chuckled and gestured for me to speak. "I'm just curious, who are you and what do you want with us?" I stated.

"You are one to get right to the point. Very smart, Bambina di Angelo."

I stepped back, looking shocked. "Excuse me?"

"Angel Child," he chided gently, making my squirm. "I am Aro, and this is the Volturi. We see you are very gifted children,"

The one who had been holding Gazzy almost scoffed. Poor guy. "The blond boy is a walking stink bomb, is that a gift or curse?"

Aro shot him a glance before looking back to me. "We would like you on our side for a certain project,"

I couldn't help but suck in a sharp breath. "If you're reducing the world's population by half we're not interested."

At that, Aro burst into full-on laughter that startled me into scurrying over to Fang and clinging to him for dear life. Fang seemed a little shocked as well, though I'm pretty sure it was because of how I acted. I admit I wasn't usually so keen to cling to Fang in front of strangers, or at all. Clinging in general was out of the question most of the time.

"No, no, children! We do not plan on lowering the population so far and so drastically! Brooke saw you coming, and well, she said we might want to see you and ask you about a few things."

Angel tilted her head quizzically, "Who's Brooke?"

"One of our newest additions. She has a special talent we like to use to our advantage. Brooke, would you care to show yourself to the guests?"