I was scared. I don't understand why Max is gone again! Who took her from me? Why? I ran down stairs and banged on everyone's door to wake them up. Everyone filed in to the kitchen a few minutes later and went from sleepy to wide-eyed shock at the site of me covered in blood. No one spoke for a minute then Angel broke the silence.
"Fang! Calm down! Your thoughts are too jumbled up so I can't work out what's wrong!"
"Why are you covered in blood?"
"Whose blood are you covered in?"
"Are you hurt?"
"What attacked you?"
"What happened?"
Everyone jumped in asking questions at the same time, which just confused my jumbled thoughts even more. I swallowed the lump that had been growing in my throat, and closed my eyes for a minute before beginning to explain what I knew. As soon as I opened my mouth everyone else fell silent.
Angel and Nudge started crying silently and Gazzy looked like he was going to be sick. Iggy had balled his hands in to fists and his knuckles were turning white. I wish Max was here to be leader in the search for her. I didn't want to step up and be leader, but as next oldest, I had to. And most importantly, I needed to find Max!
"Alright everyone. We need to try and figure out what happened and where Max could have been taken, but be careful! Whatever hurt Max might come back for the rest of us. Nudge, Angel and Gazzy, I want you three to stay together and go up to Max's room and see if you find anything, even a journal would be helpful. Anything you find, bring to me. Iggy, you come with me, to check all the locks and windows to try and figure out how whatever got in, got in. And remember everyone, BE CAREFUL!"
Everyone started heading off to look where I told them to and I think I heard Nudge mutter something about that being the most she has ever heard me say in one go. She's right, but I have to be leader now, so I have to speak up.
Iggy and I start at the main door. As Iggy runs his hands over the door and windows downstairs I follow him. Nothing seems to have been picked or broken, so we head up to the next floor. We go in to Max's room, then Angel and Nudge's room, but find nothing broken or forced, so we head up to the attic, my room, and start looking. In one corner of my room we find a hole that looks like a bear tried to claw his way through to my room. A bear wouldn't have been able to get Max though.
"Maybe it was an Eraser. Ari or one of his friends. The new ones with wings could have gotten up high enough to get in." Iggy agrees with my fears. But could the Erasers have gotten Max so easily? How would they get her without waking me up? I was holding her!
The two of us go down to Max's room again and sit down on her bed with the others. They haven't found much yet, so we walk across the hall to the study and sit Nudge down in front of our only computer. Her hands move faster than I've ever seen them go as she opens file after file. Eventually, she ends up on my blog page, and screams. All of us rush over to her side and look at the screen. Someone had posted a video of Max, being held in a small room, not much bigger than a coat closet. She looked terrible, her wings looked matted with blood as well as her hair, and she didn't seem to be moving much, just enough to let us know she was alive.
Gazzy quickly explained the video to Iggy, who stood silently by our side. Suddenly I got an idea!
"Angel! Can you use your powers to get into Nudges head, while Nudge is connected to the computer like, to see if you can somehow get into Max's mind? We might be able to figure out where she is that way. Maybe…"
Angel looks up at me for a moment and I wonder if she thinks I've lost my mind, but turns away and puts her tiny hands on Nudge's shoulders, and Nudge puts her hands back on the computer. We three guys stand silently, waiting for the little girls to say something.
After about ten minutes or so, Angel looks up at me and says, "I know where she is."