4

"Max, where are we going?" asked Nudge, tiredness creeping in her voice. She was trying to keep up but occasionally fell back, too tired to make an effort. Angel was also close to her last thread. "Don't worry guys." I said. "We'll rest soon." We were on our way to Arizona. I had to check on Ella and Dr. Martinez. Hopefully Jeb would be there by now as well.

"Ok guys, we're here." I said, starting to descend. We landed in the woods behind Ella's house and as we approached I saw Dr. Martinez's silhouette against the window. It was about nine and I hoped it wouldn't be too late to come visit them. I had to be sure that they were all right.

I knocked on the back door and saw Dr. Martinez jump, I must have startled her. She opened the door and immediately embraced me in a big hug. "Max, I was so worried. Why did you need to talk to Jeb?"

"Um, because of this." I said, turning around and showing her my neck. Her hands flew to her mouth and moaned.
"Oh, no. Come in. if I new you would be here now I would have ordered more pizza." She said, leading me and the rest of the flock into her home. Not much had changed in the few days we had last been here except for one thing.

"Hey, where's Ella and Magnolia?" I asked. Total would have been complaining by now if the dog Magnolia were here. And Ella should have been here, hugging me.

Dr. Martinez sighed. "She wanted to figure some stuff out. I tried to tell her not to but she went to visit her dad." She looked down. I felt horrible. Poor Dr. Martinez.

"Oh, when will she come back?" I asked, plopping down on the couch. Iggy and Gazzy plopped down on either side of me. Angel, Nudge and Fang decided to stand. Total was running around the house, looking for food or something.

"I hope soon, I hope she learns how her father really was." Dr. Martinez looked me in the eye. "Maybe she'd come back if you convinced her to?" She was asking if I would go and collect Ella.

I considered. It would be the right thing to do and Dr. Martinez has helped me more then once in hairy situations. I shrugged. "Sure, where does he live?" I asked.

"In Agoura Hills. It's a little town about three hours from here by car." Dr. Martinez said. So what, an hour, hour and a half?

"Ok," I said. I turned to the flock. "Guys, you stay here, rest up and eat. I'll be back soon. Fang, talk to Dr. Martinez about Jeb." I said, orderly and leader-like.

"Someone should come with you." Dr. Martinez said, searching. "How about Nudge?" I laughed a little on the inside. Dr. Martinez didn't want motor mouth hanging around here. "Or Iggy?"

"Or Nudge and Iggy?" Fang said. "I'll take care of the youngsters, you take Nudge and Iggy." He gave me a weird look.

"Ok." I said. "Come on guys, we're going to Agoura."

Fang walked around the house, silently checking, making sure everything was in order. Gazzy and Angel were sleeping in Dr. Martinez's bed and Dr. Martinez had the couch. He expected Max and the others to get back by now but then again; Dr. Martinez did say that it was a few hours by car. They needed to take the bus back in order for Ella to come with them. He silently pondered. What if Ella didn't want to come back? What if she'd decided to stay with her father? But then he remembered all the horrible things about that guy that Dr. Martinez told Fang and decided she must be crazy to want to live with him.

Apparently he thought Dr. Martinez was a freak for getting involved with the School and he left her. Fang didn't blame the guy to be honest. He heard the front door open and walked into the entryway. Max usually used the back door. But it wasn't Max. Or Iggy or Nudge for that matter. It was Ella.

"Fang, you scared me." Ella said, sounding really weird. Fang thought he knew what was going on already.

"Oh, I'm sorry Ella." He said. He walked over to her and patted her arm. Then he punched it. In stead of it coming in contact with soft human flesh it came in contact with, you guessed it, metal.

"Hm, tell the boys at the School they might want to work on the personalities of people next time they make these fakes."

"Why doesn't Max tell? She's at the school right now. Her along with my original self and the two other freaks." The robot Ella said.

"Huh, how?" Fang was taken aback. He lost his cool. He felt dizzy. Max, captured? Why did they want Ella also?

"Yeah, by her own father. It turns out" She didn't finish her sentence; Fang looked behind him to see Angel with a baseball bat in her hands.

"Angel?" Fang said.

"I know, I heard. I'll wake up Gazzy." She ran into their room and shook awake the Gasman. "Gazzy, we have to rescue Max." She said. "The school caught her and Iggy and Nudge and Ella."

Gazzy groaned. "Wha- how?" he asked.

"Something to do with Ella's father, he most likely turned them in." Angel said, close to tears. "Come on, Fang's packing a bag."

"Where are they at?"

"The same school where they captured me, it's the closest." Angel said. They walked into the kitchen to see Fang writing a note to Dr. Martinez explaining the situation and that he would repay them for the food and backpack he took.

"Come on." Fang said.

Where was I? I blinked my eyes open and saw the deathly familiar roof of a K-9 Camper, large. I was back at the school. I bended myself into a sitting position and looked out of the little window attached to the case. To my right I saw Iggy. Directly in front of me I saw Nudge. To my left I saw Ella, bruised and scared looking.

"Ella?" I whispered. She was twitching slightly and I felt extremely scared. Her big eyes blinked open and she started crying.

"Max, it was my dad. He convinced me to come then when you showed up." She broke down sobbing. I already knew what happened. Her father contacted the school.

"Iggy?" I asked.

For some weird reason Nudge answered. "Yeah?"

"No, not you Nudge, Iggy." I said.

"I am Iggy." Nudge replied.

Afraid of what would happen next I poked Iggy through the bars. "Nudge?" I asked. Iggy's body sat up and screamed.

"How come I can't see, where am I?" Iggy's body screamed. Nudge's body opened her eyes and gasped.

"I can see again." Nudge's body said. Slowly it dawned on me.

"Oh, my God!" I exclaimed. 'Nudge, Iggy, don't freak out but I think the whitecoats may have changed your bodies."

"Whoa." Exclaimed Iggy in Nudges body. "I forgot how cool it was to see." I heard his-well I guess her voice well up. He was going to cry. "Max, this is great. I can see again." Iggy looked across at me.

Meanwhile in Iggy's body Nudge was freaking out. "I can't see, how will I move around, this is bad, real bad." Iggy's voice sounded weird when it talked fast and scared.

"Well this is interesting." I piped.

"Max?" Ella's voice was scared and she sounded so vulnerable. So scared. "My back, it hurts." She said. I looked over to her.

"Don't worry Ella; we're pros when it comes to kidnapping." I tried to force a grin on my face but failed miserably.

"Max, I don't feel so hot." She moaned. Maybe the whitecoats had experimented on her like they had to Iggy and Nudge.

"This is awesome." Iggy said.

"This is terrible." Nudge said. "I hope this isn't permanent."

I felt good that Iggy could see but bad that Nudge couldn't. A scientist picked up Ella's crate and dropped it. Ella burst out and I saw her back. There, where there should be nothing more then shoulder blades, were wings.

Going cmapnig. If you really don't want Ella to have wings just say so and I'll take it off.