Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride or any of it's characters. I do however own Carolynne, Nick, Derek, Harshad, Tabitha, Raina, and Avel.

Chapter 7: Face-to-Face


Carolynne

The flock was at the park. They were all just sitting down. Anne and Tiffany-Krystal were on the swings but Ariel and Zephyr were on the playground. Nick and Jeff were nowhere to be seen. The sun was setting and they all just looked well, tired. After a while Ariel and Zephyr were just sitting on the jungle gym and no longer playing. Anne seemed to be talking to T-Krys about something serious. Her face was both serious and sad. After a few minutes tear streams down her cheek. Anne wiped the tear away and was making her feel better but then I noticed her eyes were tearing up too. Then she gave T-Krys a hug. At the same time the boys we intercepted this evening landed. They just came out of the sky, with wings?

How does a person have wings? If they have wings then what about the rest of them? Are they a flock, like birds? Jeff and Nick landed a few feet away from everyone. Anne and T-Krys walked over to them, holding hands. Aww, they made up. So sweet. Ariel and Zephyr also joined them. Anne asked them a question and they all started to think. It was obvious she was the leader. She started to think too and her face reeked of realization. She then said something to the flock and they looked skeptical. She was talking for a while. It was probably some type of speech. When she was done, Jeff stood next to Anne and looped his arm around her shoulder. He said something else and one by one everyone joined her side. The last was Nick, who still looked skeptical and angry. What was he angry at?

I followed his gaze and it was at Jeff's hand on Anne's shoulder. Ooh, this looks like a love triangle. Lynne, focus you need to learn about them. Wait? Since they have wings can't they just fly away from here? They will know about us and be able to tell their superiors. I won't let that happen. When I took our group to Michigan for the summer, I promised them that we would not get found out. Technically, I did keep that promise because it's autumn but these are my best friends. I think I should deal with this flock, and then head back to St. Xenia's (their school) because it's almost time for a new semester. They all take off and I see their wings. An assortment of white, gold, brown, and black fill my eyes.

Maybe this is what Tab was talking about. I thought she was being eccentric but she's my best friend and I will love her no matter what. She saw two large birds up in the sky. One was big, white and blonde looking and the other was big and dark. They matched Jeff and Nick's wings perfectly. Now I knew how they escaped from Tab the other day. They took off into the sky without a trace.

My head shot up and I gasped for air. I had another vision about those bird people. My throat was dry and I had a crappy headache; these were minor side effects of my visions. I had started having them a year ago so this was pretty minor compared to what usually happened. That was along the lines of spots in my vision, unbearable headaches, no energy and tons of vomiting. So I could deal. When I opened my eyes, I realized we were still in my room. After they got away from us we retreated to our vacation house that we rent until school starts. It was an average house, with three bedrooms. We all had to manage it because right now we were short on cash. My mom's café (that she gave to Lynne) isn't doing as well as it does during the school year and we have burned through most our savings.

I had a room with Tab and Rai (pronounced "Ray"); Nick has a room with Ave (pronounced ahh-vuh, full name ahh-vell) and Derek has a room with Harshad (Harsh-ahh-duh). I would have loved to get a room by myself but you make due with what you've got. I quieted my breathing and glanced at the clock. It was 2:47 a.m. I certainly didn't want to wake anyone up. I quietly crept out of bed and headed to the bathroom. I opened up the medicine cabinet and grabbed the bottle of Tylenol. I shook two pills onto my palm, put the rest back, and headed for the kitchen. I took out my favorite mug and filled it with heated milk. Then, I swallowed the pills with my drink. I don't know why but warm milk or tea always helps me feel better after a vision.

I sat back in a chair and sighed. What am I going to do? I sipped my milk until I felt a pair of hands on my shoulders. Surprised at the gesture, I jumped and saw that it was Nick. "Don't scare me like that."

He let go of my shoulders and sat in a chair next to me. "Sorry Car, I just heard someone moving around and came to see what was happening."

He glanced at my milk. "Did you have a vision?"

Ah, he knew me so well. So, I told him about it. "So, these people have wings?" I nodded. "This sounds very familiar."

I was confused. "It does?"

"Yes, when I was living in New York about a year ago this was in the news. There were sightings of teens with wings there and in places like Colorado, Arizona, and California too. I think that they are those people."

Nicholas and his grandmother are from the United States, but unlike me he had lived there his whole life. He had lived in New York for about fourteen and a half years. It was his home. When he was in the tenth grade he applied for St. Xenia's and got accepted near the end of the year and the rest is history. We met when he bumped into me in the halls after spring break. We really hit it off and he was soon in my circle of friends and my school club Natural Occurrences, my nature club. It ended up being completely made of psychics. In that time we started to date and have officially been together for about six months. "Do you really think so?"

He nodded. If they were this group then they should be good people. Maybe I should try to trust them and we can have and ally in Defeating Dr. D (Dashkov). Dr. D is this super evil scientist who wants to rule, manipulate and control everyone in the supernatural world. A while ago we temporarily stopped his plans to expand his empire into other parts of the world. Now he is on the move again. Right now he is trying to team up with this uber big corporation called Itex so they can have access to all of the worlds super naturals and hybrids because Itex has almost everywhere except a large part of Asia. Dr. D controls that part and more, including where I live, St. Petersburg.

I used to live here in Michigan when I was very little but as soon as I was old enough to go to school I was whisked away to St. Xenia's. It is called Saint Xenia Grigoryevena Petrova's School for Exceptionally Gifted Students. Long name right? It's a total mouthful. I just call it St. Xenia's or something like St. Petrova's. I have gone there since kindergarten until now, the tenth grade. This fall I will be starting the eleventh. Just thinking about it made my heart swell. I would get to see Vik (Viktor) and Jackson and Der would get to see Ang (Angeliqué) and Joe (Joseph) again. I've missed them so much. Sometimes I even miss Viky (Viktorya) too. She used to be my best friend until we got into a fight over Nick. We both had a crush on Nick but he liked me and I guess she couldn't get over that fact. We psychics have a strong connection to each other. We just couldn't resist because psychics are naturally attracted to each other and…never mind. That is something I don't even like to think about. I won't go deeper into detail or I will start thinking badly about Viky. She really is a good person; she just has too much pride.

"Yes. They match their descriptions perfectly." He had to be right because if not, what, and who the heck were they?

"Thanks, you're always a great help." I kissed him lightly on the cheek and stood up. I feel better now. I rinsed my cup in the sink and started to leave. I just wanted to sleep and he understood that. "I'm going to bed."

He told me to feel better and kissed my forehead. I still felt delightful tingles where his lips touched my skin on the way to my room. I nodded, slipped back into my room and tried to drift off to sleep.

Max

We were currently flying through the air. The wind felt wonderful but as usual there is a lot on my mind like, 'how are we going to find them?' and 'where are we going to sleep tonight?' This is so horrible and I don't want to let the flock down but I have less than a hundred dollars left. I don't have money for a hotel room or something. I knew I should've gone to that cheaper place. I am so stupid for spending loads of money like that. I just wanted to punch something. I just wanted them too feel better after us having to sleep in such horrible places.

So, where are we going to stay? Angel asked.

What am I going to tell her? A tree? I wasn't sure, because right now I am on zero for ideas. Not sure yet, sweetie.

I have an idea. She said.

What type of idea could she have? I've been searching the city for about an hour and I have nada, absolutely nothing. This city is just so nice so there is absolutely nowhere that I could go that we could hide. The streets were nice; the people were nice and everywhere was just so nice looking. I felt like I was in an untouchable heaven.

We could stay at Carolynne's house.

What? Carolynne? No way. She is one mean chic and she broke my nose and punched me raw. It may have all physically healed a few hours later, but still; the emotional pain is inevitable. Inevitable.

Max, -insert small Angel laugh here- that is so petty.

So what? It still sorta, kinda hurts.

She laughed again. Even if we do stay at her house there is one little problem. She doesn't like us and there is the little fact that I broke her nose, twice, I think. I don't think she would jump at the chance to let us stay at her place.

I've thought about that too. Huh? Oh yeah, she read my thoughts. Mhmm…continue. My solution is that we creep in silently and just crash. Plus, I have a feeling she'd be okay with it.

Hmm… I didn't like that tone. That meant something is up. And how do you know this?

I read her mind. She's …distracted.

Okay, nuff said. I started to change course, and even though I did it slightly everyone seemed to notice. What happened to my hawk-like superior stealth? Apparently, it died a long time ago.

"Where are we going now?" Iggy asked.

"How'd you know I changed course so quickly?"

He smirked. "Two things. Number one, you're stealth factor is like way below zero. Number two, you were this close-" He put his first two fingers together, closely, "-to hitting me in the face with your wing."

I shrugged at him and he continued flying. Oh, that's why. Maybe I'm just feeling a little less awesome today. I'm just a little sleepy. Don't flatter yourself, Angel joked. Angel! Sorry, couldn't help it. You're thoughts are so random today, almost as funny as Fangs. What was Fang thinking? I glanced over at him. He was nodding off. While flying? How do you even manage that? I was about tap his shoulder but Gazzy beat me to it. He said something like "Fang, wake up!" His eyes popped open and he was like, "I'm okay, just stop touching me!" Fang is such a girl sometimes.

I really hope isn't really trying to sleep because if he hadn't noticed, we were in the air. He should thank Gazzy and stop trying to act all macho. Since he is that sleepy, we should try to find someplace to land soon.

Angel took the lead and flew in front of me and that left me to think. She was following their thoughts and as if instinct we all followed her without question. We flew for a few minutes and then we landed about a block away from her house.

"We're about a block away from where were going to crash for the night." I paused to take a look at everyone. Fang looked like he was ready to fall asleep standing up. He would wobble every few seconds. Iggy looked refreshed, like he was ready to take out a thousand Erasers. Where is he getting this energy? Angel was okay. She looked sleepy but she was standing up okay. Nudge was holding up okay. She just looked like she wanted to sit down and Gazzy…well …he looked just like Iggy. I wondered if they were building a bomb. They shouldn't though, after what the last one did.

"When we get there we have to be very quiet. They are not aware that we are at their house." I paused again to look at everyone. They nodded.

"In the morning wait for them to wake up. When they do we will talk to them and see where that takes us. Okay?"

"Okay."

"Let's go." Now that we were at their house the challenge was getting in. This place looked insanely familiar. I couldn't tell why though, and that was probably because it was insanely dark outside. I could feel chilly breezes through my hair. Autumn is coming.

How to get into this place? I checked the windows and doors but they were locked. I even checked the second story and they were locked too. Man, these people are paranoid. I like it; it reminds them of me. I smiled for a second. I asked everyone to try to get into the house. Angel suggested mind control but I quickly vetoed that but then Nudge had a pretty good idea. She was going to see if any of the locks were made of metal so she could manipulate them. Smart move. She tried all the windows with no luck. She even tried the front and back doors. The front door worked.

Who knew the best way to break into a house is the front door? Amazing.

After successfully breaking into a house we looked for a place to sleep. The living room? Too obvious. The dining room? Totally uncomfortable. The bathroom? No way! After tiptoeing around the small house, we finally settled for the basement. It was a little cold down there but it would do.

Footsteps above our head caused everyone to hold their breath. It sounded like someone was staggering around. I heard some creaks and the running of water. Maybe one of them is sick? I heard a chair move. I guess this person was sitting down. I heard another person; his footsteps, more even. There were the sounds of the faint murmur of conversation. I could tell that this was a convo between a girl and a boy; one voice was light and the other was deep. They talked for a few minutes and then retreated back to their rooms.

When we were sure they were asleep, I could finally breathe. The whole flock mentally exhaled. That was close. I thought someone heard us come in. We silently made small sleeping spaces. I curled up with Angel on a small couch in the corner of the room. Fang had already fallen asleep in the middle of the floor, right on the carpet. Smooth. Nudge found an old blanket and went to sleep on an old desk and Gazzy fell asleep in a large, old office chair. When I was sure everyone was okay and drifting, I finally allowed myself to fall asleep.


Fang

I woke to complete silence. I kept my eyes closed to savor this moment. I love silence. I guess no one's up yet but I heard steady breathing beside me. Odd. I opened my eyes to see someone sitting in a chair next to me. Her boots were in front of my face. Only Max wore these clunky boots. Was she waiting for me to wake up? The really odd thing was that these weren't Max's boots. Her combat boots were straight black with lots of straps but these had pretty designs spread across them. They were back with white lines. These white lines were a drawing of a group of people.

If these weren't Max's boots then whose were they? I looked up and saw a book blocking her face. All I learned was that this girl was wearing dark blue skinny jeans and a gray graphic tee. I squinted and saw a picture of a guy on her shirt. Who was that? He is very ugly. He had fiery red curls, big green eyes and an awesome looking black top hat. His skin was pale and his happy expression looked… well, crazed. I immediately liked the shirt. It had… what do I call it? It had a brightly dark essence to it. Ah, and that comment made absolutely no sense at all.

I glanced at her book. It was called A Curse As Dark As Gold (good book!). The cover was black with a picture of a girl and gold string on the cover. The book looked pretty deep. It was something for smart people. She was almost done and had about a few pages left. I sat up and waited. When she was finished she silently closed the book and placed it on the table next too her. Her eyes stared into mine and I got to see her face. Her hair was a dark mud color and her eyes were an unnaturally light brown. Her lips were nice and pink with the bottom one being smaller than the top and she had a cute button nose. I found myself smiling at her.

She didn't return my smile. Her face was pale and deathly serious. "Why are you in our home?"

"I uh, need to talk to Carolynne. I mean not me! ah, uh Anne does." I pointed to Max. She was on the couch with Angel in her arms. "She's our leader."

She nodded and left for the stairs. Who was she? Angel said the only girls were Carolynne, Tabitha and Raina. It wasn't Carolynne; she was the girl with the black hair. I knew it wasn't Tabitha; she was the girl who chased us at the inn. So her name must be Raina. That is such a pretty name. What am I saying? I love Max. I've known her for my entire life. I sat there for a few minutes, lost in thought, when she came back. She had something in her hand and I discovered it was another book. Raina sat back in her chair and began to this new book.

This one was called The Rule Of Claw. It was totally different from the other book. This one was obviously sci-fi. The cover was black but had a picture of a dinosaur like creature on it. From reading the back of the book I discovered it was about rapid genetic evolution. It looked pretty cool. I was staring at the cover when she placed a hand on my head and pushed it back, as if to shoo me away. Her hand was worn and soft. She got up and silently pulled out an old box. The dust seemed to fly from the box as she opened it. After opening it she placed the box at my feet and continued to read. I guess she wanted me to look at it. I peered into the box and saw that it was full of books. I figured I might as well read since I am waiting. I dug around for a minute. All of the books were either chunky Sci-Fi's or books made of entirely pictures. They were called anime. Since I wasn't the best reader but I wanted to look smart, I picked one of that would be easy to look at but it was smart to look at. I picked out a book called Sweetblood and sat on the table, next to her chair, reading.

It was very cool. It was about a girl named Lucy (Lucinda) Szabo who was trying to prove a theory about vampires. The plot was good but I personally thought she was just whining and being emo because she was a diabetic. She thought that vampires were dying diabetics and considered herself undead, because she should have died from being diabetic but her insulin saved her. I got through less than half of the book when I heard someone moving. It was Angel. She woke up and started to move around, which made Max wake up. I put the book down next to me and waited. I noticed that Raina had read more than half of her book and was near finishing. This made me feel dumb. She can read more than half of that gigantic book in this time and here I am having trouble with a book that's half the size of hers.

Don't feel bad Fang. She goes to a school for very smart students. They all do.

Eh, that made me feel a tiny bit better but overall, I still felt stupid.
Max sat up and yawned. She saw us sitting next to each other. Raina heard her and folded the corner of the page to stare at her. "Well, what's going on here?"

I didn't say anything and neither did Raina. I was afraid I would get a sarcastic comment about being emo. After all the book's cover did look pretty scary. When she didn't get and answer she woke up the rest of the flock. I quickly put the book in the box. "Krys, wake up." Nudge got up and said something about being hungry. Iggy woke up at the sound of her talking. "Ze, come on. Up." Gazzy slowly got up and rubbed his eyes.

"So," Max said. "I believe we haven't been properly introduced."