Ch. 3 Iggy Found

Nudge and I soared over the trees on the way to Iggy's supposed home. I know we were both worrying over the same thing: were they okay? Were we too late?

I began to speed up a bit. I needed to get to Iggy's house so that we could find Angel, Gazzy, and most importantly Fang!

Nudge could barely keep up with me, unfortunately. I knew I was on the borderline of power-flight.

"Sorry Nudge, but we need to get Iggy NOW." And I was off.

I sped all the way, not tired at all, to Iggy's house. I knocked on the door of 1123 Angel Street, apprehensive of what would happen. Was Iggy different at all? Was he still blind?

It took a while for the door to be answered. I waited impatiently, as you can imagine.

"Hello? I'm blind, you know. Can't see. So I have no idea who you are," Iggy, a much older Iggy but still Iggy, the Iggy I knew from long ago.

"Iggy?" I asked uncertainly.

"M-Max?" he asked, tears leaking out of his foggy eyes.

"IGGY!" I threw my arms around him as we hugged.

"Max! Oh my God, I have been trying to reach you guys for 3 years, but your phone and email and P.O. Box is always too full! You can't even stop saving the world to reunite the flock!" he laughed.

I was beginning to cry now, too.

"I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! We couldn't find you too- but now we have a problem!"

"Yes, I'm assuming so, because today's your freaking WEDDING DAY. You never even told me!"

"SORRY! But Fang's gone, so is Angel and Gazzy!"

His eyes became darker when he heard that Gazzy was gone.

"Nudge is following; you know how fast I fly. We need your help, Iggy!" I continued to cry.

"Here, come in: we'll wait for Nudge while developing a plan, okay? My parents are out- they've been out for a long time," his eyes darkened even more.

"How long, Iggy?" my voice was soft.

"About two months. I've got the neighbors helping me out, though. No big deal."

"This is why you're now going to leave with me," I decided, "no arguments."

He didn't, thank God.

I was sobbing on Iggy's shoulder. I was so worried about Fang, I just broke down in the minuet of our planning. He didn't care, he comforted me all the while.

"A-and," I blubbered, "h-he told me that he loved me so m-much, and that t-t-tomorrow would be the best day of his l-life! To b-bad that it was the l-last day!" I wailed until Iggy's shirt was soaked.

"Listen, Max," his voice was kind and soft, I knew he was trying to comfort me, "I know you're really hurting right now. I'm so sorry. I'll help you find them, I promise: you mark my words, we and Nudge are going to find them. I promise, I swear."

I wailed again, despite myself. "H-how? W-who took them, anyway?"

"We're going to find that out. All we need is Nudge and her hacking abilities. Don't worry, Max."

"I have a bloody right to worry!" I screamed, annoyed now.

"No, I mean, stop worrying on my shoulder, I don't mind comforting you, but my shirt is really stained," Iggy smiled a little.

"Oh, s-sorry. I'm just…"

"I know. Imagine how worried I had been when my parents weren't back in a week, like they said they would? But they abandoned me. They're probably sick of a stupid blind bird-mutant who can't leave home at the age of 20."

"Who would ever be sick of you?" I grinned a bit, "but you need to gain confidence," I sighed.

"I know. This is why we are leaving now."

I wanted to kiss him then: a sisterly kiss. I was so grateful.

"Come, we need Nudge, and she's not here yet. Let's go!"

We ran through the door and took off. I felt my heart soar: I was going back with Iggy. Finally, I hadn't seen him or heard from him in 3 years.

"We can get to a library to use a computer to look up things. I'm assuming Nudge can hack better than us, and then we should probably go back to your house to see if they left a ransom note," Iggy began.

"Okay," I nodded as we collided (literally) with Nudge.

"IGGY!" she screamed and threw her arms around him. They hugged for a while, then Iggy told Nudge the plan.

"Great, let's get to Max's house first to look for a ransom note: we'd probably want as much evidence as possible."

We got to my house, and I immediately checked for messages while Nudge searched the house for a note.

I had one message. Quickly, I listened to it.

"THIS MESSAGE IS FOR MAXIMUM RIDE. WE ARE COMING FOR YOU NEXT IF YOU DON'T ANSWER OUR RANSOM FOR YOUR FAMILY. YOUR FAMILY IS BEING HELD AT THE ITEX BUILDING IN ROME. YOU HAVE TILL A WEEK FROM OUR TAKING THEM TO GET HERE TO HEAR OUR DEMANDS. IF YOU ARE NOT HERE IN A WEEK, WE ARE COMING FOR YOU AFTER KILLING YOUR FAMILY." I immediately panicked, and ran to Nudge and Iggy.

"LISTEN TO THIS!" I cried, and they both did, eyes wide, faces pale.

"Off to Rome!" Nudge cried, and we ran up to the attic, and took off once more, spreading as fast as we could towards the Atlantic Ocean. Towards my lost family.

(922 Words) The plot thickens! REVIEW PLEASE.