My Secret

Chapter 9: A Different Kind of School

Pain. That was the first thing I noticed as I woke up. My head hurt... heck, my whole body hurt. There was no escaping the dull aches that harassed each muscle that composed me.

The second thing that came to my attention was my surroundings. I wasn't in Kansas anymore Toto.

The room was dark, so the only thing I could make out was the cement I was stretched across. It was rough, scratching at my bare legs. My jean shorts didn't do much to protect me, especially not from the cold coat of water atop the cement. My sweatshirt however, would have been a great asset for just that, but it was mysteriously absent. The only thing left covering my upper body was my bra and a plain dark blue t-shirt.

"Fang?" I called weakly, propping myself up on one elbow. "Flock?"

No one answered. But was I really surprised? The room was too quiet to hold anyone else.

Slowly, I sat up and winced as my whole body screamed in protest. Whatever they knocked me out with was wicked. It worried me, not only because it made me so weak, but because my unborn child was exposed to it too. Right now I just had to keep faith that whoever had me captive, and my guess was The School, had nothing to gain from harming the baby.

Finally, I ended up on my feet, walking toward the nearest wall. The first step was searching for a door, then a window and last resort, a vent. All were means of escape and freedom.

My fingers glided over the equally rough wall, causing a few uncomfortable picks. I found the door on the third wall, a few feet off from the corner nearest me. It was smooth metal from what I could tell, with no doorknob.

After a couple of kicks to the bottom of the door, I abandoned that idea. My next plan would have been windows, but it was pretty obvious that there were none of those. Light would have been streaming in, unless it was night by now. If so, it would present itself later.

So vents it was. This search wasn't easy, because the vents are usually up high. I jumped a few times where I though the wall looked darker than other places, but my fingers never touched anything except for rough cement.

I put my back against the wall, sliding down it and scraping my back in the process. I could tell I had scratched the places where I didn't have wings or a shirt to protect me.

"Now what?" I asked myself. "How am I supposed to get out of here?"

My voice cracked as my last bit of hope died. Getting myself out of this was not going to be easy, or even possible. If I had to do anything besides walk, then I was screwed. Pregnancy doesn't exactly allow me to do the whole leader Max that destroys everything in my way role.

Tears rolled down my cheeks, falling to mix with the coat of water on the ground. I was wet, cold, sore and completely exhausted. Completely miserable.

But Fang and the flock would come. I knew they wouldn't just let these people have me, because that's what happens when one of us gets taken. We never give up. So they wouldn't stop looking until they found me here and got me out. All I had to do was wait and survive until then, me and the baby both.

I placed a protective hand over my rounded belly. I was still pretty small at four months along, but the bump was noticeable, especially with only a t-shirt on. Where was my sweatshirt?

A tapping noise sounded outside of the room I had been put in, someone was at the door. Whoever it was didn't wait for me to grant them entrance, they opened the door and walked in. And who did I see come through the door? Why none other than Jeb, wearing a stunningly familiar white coat.

"Hello Maximum."

"You've got to be freaking kidding me." I growled. "You did this?"

"Yes," He nodded, closing the door behind him. It was a pretty brave move if you ask me, because I was literally just seconds away from attacking him. "For your own good, of course."

"That's laughable." I remarked, rolling my eyes. "You are so predictable... and warped in the brain. If you want to do what is good for me, then you will let me out of here."

"Alright, let me rephrase that." He pushed his glasses up on his nose. "I'm doing this for the good of your unborn child. Fang's unborn child."

I stood, walking over to get up in his face. When I was just inches away from his face, I growled, "My child is none of your concern. I took part in creating him and I'm carrying him, so back off and let me make my own decisions concerning my child."

"You're going to kill him with your lifestyle, Maximum. You'll end up going into labor in a cave somewhere without a doctor and he will die. That's if he even survives the fights and stress you get into up until then." Jeb lectured, not moving back even a half a step. "You need to stay here until you give birth and then you can go."

I crossed my arms. "With our without my baby?"

"Without."

"That's definitely not happening."

Jeb's face colored red with anger. He looked like he wanted to strangle me by the way his hands were clutching his clipboard. Soon he was shouting at me, "Maximum, you cannot raise a baby on the run!"

"Watch me!" And with that, I gave him a good shove back toward the door.

His back hit the door, making him grunt. He seemed shocked at first, then incredibly pissed. He straightened his clothes and pushed his glasses back up to where they were supposed to be, then left the room without another word.


"Max!" Fang yelled opening the door to her mother's house. Him and the flock were beat up, but right now he was numb with worry. He had an unsettling feeling in his stomach that wouldn't go away until he laid eyes on Max.

"Fang?" Dr. Martinez asked jogging down the stairs. "Why are you home from school already? And why are you guys all dirty and bruised?"

"I thought Max would have explained that to you." Fang said, furrowing his brow.

"Max? She hasn't been home." Dr. Martinez said shaking her head. "Why isn't she with you?"

A searing pain went through Fang's stomach. It felt like someone had cut his insides to shreds. Max wasn't home, when there was no way they could have beat her back. Unless... she ran into trouble.

"Are you sure she hasn't been back?" Fang asked, panicking, as he ran up the stairs to her room.

"I'm sure." She called up after him.

He threw her door open, revealing an empty room. He looked in the other rooms, practically searching the whole house. As everything came up empty, the panic enclosed around him. Something was wrong. Max would have come straight here, yet she was nowhere to be found. So either she got hurt on the way there and he needed to go search the woods, or the erasers had nabbed her.

"Fang?" Dr. Martinez questioned hesitantly. "Is my daughter missing?"

He was frozen in place, feeling rooted to the ground. Numb with fear, yes that described it better than anything else. Panic stricken also named it.

"Fang?"

"Yes." He said confirming her fear. Then, without warning, he swung around and punched the wall. It left a dent the size of his fist, but he didn't care. Neither did anyone else. They all were thinking the same thing: Max was in big trouble... and they could already be too late to help her and the baby.


"Hungry, Maximum?" Jeb asked walking in once again.

"No." I said stroking my slightly bulging belly. Even at four months pregnant, it is still hard to believe there is a baby growing inside of me. I don't think I'll actually believe it until I have him.

Jeb didn't push me, which seemed like a miracle. I expected a lecture on how I need to eat for the baby to stay healthy. Instead, he nodded and took a bite of one of the apples on the tray.

I looked back to my belly. "You don't have to prove it isn't poisoned. I know that isn't your kind of thing."

"Glad to hear it." Jeb said with a smile that showed his teeth. "That implies you trust me somewhat."

I shook my head. "You're reading too much into it. I just meant that you are too obsessed with me having my baby that you wouldn't ruin things by trying to poison me."

"I'll take what I can get then. Maybe you will trust me sooner or later."

"Not likely."

There was silence for a few minutes. I could feel Jeb's eyes on me as I drew pointless doodles on my belly with my finger. I didn't care though, better to have him quiet than spouting some more warped nonsense.

"Have you thought of a name for your son?" Jeb asked gesturing with his head toward the focus of both our attentions.

I looked at him square in the eyes. "I don't think that is any of your business."


"Alright, let's not panic." Dr. Martinez said shakily. "Everyone come into the living room, sit down and tell me what happened."

The flock began to do as told, except for Fang who was rubbing his fist. "We got attacked by erasers, that is what happened!"

"Erasers?" She asked, obviously shocked.

"Yes." He whispered coldly. "Now where is Jeb? He's gotta know why erasers are all the sudden back in existence."

"He's not here." She said trying to clear her head. "He left a couple hours ago."

"Where to?"

"He said he had a business trip, but I made him promise he would be here for Max when she had the baby." Her eyes closed in realization. "He did this didn't he?"

Fang nodded, "He's my first bet."

"We still need to check the woods." Iggy added in. "She could be out there, hurt. We should go now."

"I agree." Gazzy piped up as the girls all nodded in unison.

"You're right, I'm jumping to conclusions." Fang admitted. "We'll go check the woods."

"What happens if she isn't there, Fang?" Nudge asked with wide eyes.

"I don't know."


AN: It has been FOREVER! To be honest, I didn't know if I ever was going to write for this story again. Funny how I considered abandoning the story that everyone seems to LOVE. Times have been rough and stressful in my life like always, but I'm surviving. A bunch has happened since I last updated. Car accidents, job changes, classes, guys, etc. The list goes on. Good news is that thanks to the last book MAX, James Patterson has rekindled my faith in him and the series. I didn't know if I was going to keep reading, but since he finally gave us FAX and got the story moving again... I have forgiven him and began writing. You guys are awesome for sticking around. I love you all and I'm glad to be writing for you again. I hope this chapter didn't disappoint anyone.