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Fang POV
The door. Max's closed bedroom door. That was where I needed to go.
I put one foot on the plush carpet of Dr. M's hallway. I'm one step closer to Max.
Because that's what I knew what I'll find beyond that door—Max, as vibrant and alive as she was a week ago, before all of this had happened.
I'm striding now, eager to see Max, eager to be reassured that everything was alright, that everything was going to work out fine. I start jogging.
Three metres away from the door and what lay beyond…two…
My hand reached out for the doorknob, anxious to turn it, to open the door. But before I even touched it, the door disappeared, reappearing another few hundred metres away.
Worried now, I started running for it.
As I ran, I noticed the light in the hallway fading, almost receding altogether. What used to be a bright, cheery-looking corridor now was foreboding, dark, and shadowed. The overhead florescent lights are gone now, replaced by dim torches on the walls on either side of me. My sneakers hit the grey stone floor, bringing up dust that made me want to sneeze.
But I didn't dare sneeze. If I did, then all of this might vanish completely, leaving me with no chance of seeing Max again.
And still I ran.
The hallway was a lot more complicated now. Sometimes passageways branched off it, into the dark unknown. Sometimes routes doubled in on itself, making large, pointless loops. The torches on the walls are a lot fewer now, leaving whole sections of corridor unlit.
And still I ran.
This place was turning very mazelike by now, with unexpected turns and twisting passageways. Several times, I tripped—over what, I did not know, nor did I want to.
The only thing that kept me going was the sight of the simple wooden door at the end of this hallway. I knew that if I reached there and into whatever lay beyond it, then I will be safe.
The door was so close now, so close…
My feet closed in the last few metres of space between me and the door, and I reached my hand out again for the doorknob.
I was so close to the knob…just a few more centimetres…
And then I woke up.
To Nudge's excited chatter.
Believe me, you don't want to be woken up at—what, seven in the morning—to a shouting, excited Nudge. You just don't.
I groaned, and stuck my face deeper into my pillow. She'll stop eventually, I told myself. I didn't believe the lie.
In my place, Max would have probably gotten up and shouted for Nudge to get back into bed, 'cause it's like, a freakin' six-thirty in the morning, and that—unless whatever-it-was was really important--it could wait until morning.
Unfortunately, I was not Max and my patience was running short (whether from the strange dream, Nudge's chatter, or the fact that that strange longing I had during the dream had not quite gone away, I don't know).
"For goodness sake, Nudge, shut up!" I shouted in what's got to be the loudest I've spoken in my life.
Ahh, sweet silence.
But only for a moment.
Nudge ran into my room, and pulled me out of my nice, warm bed.
"Fang! You've got to get up, like right this instant. I think Angel and I have found Max's blackmailer—"
That sure got my attention. I quickly rubbed my eyes and tried to ask Nudge what she found about him. However, she was already pulling me out the door, words pouring out of her like a flood.
"…He's like this really powerful man—he owns three Itex buildings! I also think he's been stalking us 'cause he's got our address and everything. Angel's still hacking into his computer, but we're finding more and more suspicious data by the second. He disappeared completely a few years ago—can you believe that? Like, there's no information about him at all since three years ago. He's completely dropped off the radar, figuratively, of course, and—"
"Nudge," I said, finally finding an opportunity to get a word in, "what's his name?"
"Alexander Martinez."
Wait…
"Martinez?" I asked, panicking slightly inside, "You mean, like Max's mom, Martinez?"
Nudge nodded. "Yup. They're related and everything. I think he's her older brother—scary, right?"
Scary, very scary. "Are you sure about that?" I said, hoping that she had got something wrong.
"I'm positive. If you want, I can show you their birth certificates…the government should keep their files under tighter security."
Time to worry about the government chasing after us later, this information meant something very bad.
As Nudge continued to give me specifics about Mr. Martinez, I pondered what his being related to Dr. M could mean. Obviously it meant that he could probably easily get information about the Flock, it also meant that he probably had easy access to the house. That could not mean good.
Nudge showed me the laptop with which she had hacked into Alex's computer. I had to admit, she and Angel were skilled in doing this kind of thing.
By the end of half an hour, I knew everything I wanted to know about Alex Martinez, probably more.
Suddenly, Nudge said, "We have to compare Max's blackmail note to this writing on computer. Every computer types differently—you know that? Like, some types the letter 's' crooked, or have weird spacing. I want to see if the typing on Max's note match's with the stuff here, just to make sure we've got the right guy. Come on, I think it's still in her room!"
I followed her back into the hallway. I looked longingly at my unmade bed as we passed my bedroom, and then we were in front of Max's closed door.
Suddenly, I felt that weird sense of longing again, like I have to see what's behind the door, like I have to find out everything about this.
Nudge opened the door and there was the note—right where we had left it in the bedside table. But there was something wrong.
Max had disappeared.
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