Chapter 10

'Tread water, fighting for the air in your lungs. Move, move closer, maybe you can right all your wrongs.'

Max

"Don't worry about her. She's Max. She'll be fine."

Damn right I will be. Due to my enhanced hearing I could hear the flock discussing me even after I left.

I sighed. I knew Dylan would still come after me. But the thing is I don't need anyone to help me – I never have and I'm not going to start needing anyone anytime soon. And that's that.

I decided to lose this place. I poured on the speed and knifed through the air, the wind streaming through my hair and making my eyes water.

Flying helps. Flying helps a lot.

I went further and further out, leaving my world behind and I felt much better. Let's see Dylan do that!

I flew round for ages, liking the feeling of not knowing where I was, and then without warning dove down in to the nearby huddle of fir trees and still using my super speed, I swung onto a narrow branch near the top. I misjudged the landing, skidded, but quickly transformed it into a graceful loop, and spun around the branch like they do in cartoons, acting as if I'd meant to do that. My swift maneuver landed me on the branch just below.

And who should I see, sitting on that very branch, smug and unruffled, without a hair out of line?

Yep, you guessed it.

Dylan.

"Afternoon." I said weakly.

"Nice landing, by the way." He chuckled to himself. "Very smooth." I scowled at him, not caring about the fact that most girls would throw themselves at his feet, whilst I was scrunching up my face and making it very clear that I would do anything but.

I rolled my eyes as Dylan went on conversationally "So what you up to all the way out here then, Max?"

"Trying to be alone" I replied curtly. He opened his mouth, but I never got to hear what he said because without saying goodbye, I zipped off into the sky and flew like I'd never flown before.

I had one chance to glance back and I saw Dylan shaking his head. I couldn't tell if he was angry or not. I hoped he was.

Yeah, throwing myself at guys' feet – not really my style at all.

When I'd thought I'd finally lost him, I swooped silently down, and instead of trying to land in another tree, I settled for a running stop in a wide clearing smack dab in the middle of a huge forest.

This time I couldn't stop my jaw dropping. How the heck did he get here faster than I did?

Dylan was here, one step a head of me. Again!

There was no way that he could fly faster than me, it was impossible – unless he had super speed.

Which is still totally unlikely (and not to mention would suck big time.)

I narrowed my eyes at him as he emerged from behind a thick trunk. "OK, this is getting old now." I said.

He regarded me silently, daring me to ask him how he flew here faster than I did. Because he thought, what? That I'd surrender my pride and give in to my curiosity and ask him? As if.

"How did you do it?" I blurted out. Well, so much for that then. That's me, smooth ol' Max.

"How did I do what? Follow you?"

I snorted, "Following someone generally involves behind someone, you always get there before me. How d'ya do it? " I demanded.

"Max, remember - I can see far off things - things that are going to happen. I knew, before you even set off, where you were going to fly to. I flew straight there and waited for you whilst you flew took a long time to get there."

"I did not take a long time to get here!" I said indignantly.

"No, no I didn't mean that you flew slowly; I only meant that you flew around a lot before you came here. You went the long way round."

"If you could see that I would eventually end up here, why did you bother flying all the way to the first place?" I asked sourly.

He showed his white teeth in a big grin. "I didn't want to miss your spectacular landing."

I resisted the urge to punch his arm, and couldn't help noticing that he was acting and sounding more and more like my Ex-Boif, Mr. Strong and Silent. Which now I think about it was probably his intention. God, guys sometimes.

I narrowed my eyes at him, "So you gonna give up anytime soon?"

"No." My eyes stayed narrowed. Wrong answer.

"Well, guess what - neither am I!" I yelled and took off at full sprint through the trees. And this time I laughed out loud because, turns out I can run with super speed as well.

Bet he didn't see that happening!

After running for a bit, my feet aching and out of breath, I turned down what looked like a footpath and bumped straight into him again. I screamed in frustration. I was getting sick of this.

"Why do you feel the need to piss me off?" I yelled at him, causing some startled birds to fly off.

He shrugged looking calm and cool as a cucumber, whilst I was standing there sweating and panting.

"Can't you just leave me the hell ALONE!" My voice echoed in the woods and Dylan then looked as if he'd been slapped in the face.

He said in a quiet voice, "Max, I would never leave you."

Now it was my turn to feel like I'd been slapped in the face. What? Was he referring to how Fang had left me?

I wordlessly turned on my heel and ran away yet again. There was no doubt that he'd be waiting for me in the next place but to be honest I really didn't care – I just had to get away from him right now.

I'd been running for ages in a labyrinth of trees, positive I was going around in circles. I was no longer out of breath, my feet no longer in pain. I was tripping lightly over ivy and tree stumps, as if I was walking on air. Or underwater.

Everything felt surreal, I could barely hear but I could see everything in sharp definition and in colors I never knew existed. Running through the woods that night felt like a dream. I was suddenly burning up and was certain that if I had looked into a mirror right then, I would have seen the eraser Max.

Everything felt wrong, I could hardly breathe. My mind was spinning, or was it me that was spinning? I could no longer even tell which way was up or down.

Muffled and shrouded in a mist, my footfalls were the only sound. I concentrated on the black crows burnt against a blacker sky.

Suddenly my world was tipping over as if I was freefalling from a great height. I felt like I was reaching out to the highest sky and the deepest sea at the same time. And I was being tugged under a huge choking wave of nothingness.

Fang's voice was reading the letter to me loud and clearly. Was I finally losing it?

I felt my head hit the ground but could feel no pain from it. Just cold realization. I blinked and realized I was crying. How odd.

A split second before my world turned black, I saw very clearly two shoes and a pair of dark-jeaned legs. Fang?

But I knew those shoes. They belonged to Dylan. He'd found me - again.

Then I was pulled down into black. But I was smiling into the hard ground.

When I came around again I was flying but not of my own accord, someone was carrying me.

I opened my eyes wide trying to jerk into a flying stance, only to be held tightly but not uncomfortably by strong hands. I looked straight up into big and earnest, blue eyes. Deeper than Angel's, darker than Iggy's.

My eyes strayed to the face that the eyes belonged to. It was Dylan. Who else?

"Afternoon." He said dryly, ironically repeating what I'd said earlier. Ohh, wasn't he just hilarious?

"Something tells me, it's not afternoon any longer."

He looked around him at the dark sky and then down at me, "Yeah, you're right."

"Put me down. Please." I asked. Well, ordered actually. Though I realized that he'd be flying and carrying me – hard work for someone who hadn't known how to fly for very long. But now I actually looked, Dylan was no longer a lousy flyer. He was a quick learner, I'll give him that.

He let me go and I flew ahead easily. He looked surprised, so I scowled and flew ahead of him muttering something along the lines of "Can't we just get home now?"

I don't do damsel in distress well.

"Don't get a thank you?" An annoying voice buzzed in my ears.

"What?" I snapped.

"If I hadn't been there, you would have fainted there all by yourself."

"Yeah, but how long did it take for me to come around?" I said, finding it annoying how he patronized me and made me seem pathetic.

Dylan frowned seeing where this was going, "About 10 minutes… but still, you could have got hurt if I hadn't come to make sure you were okay."

"I did get hurt," I said angrily gesturing to a lump on my head where I'd banged it and scratches on my arms from brambles. "And it was because you came to 'make sure I was okay'. It was because you came that I actually passed out! So don't go saying that you saved me or whatever – I would have been just fine without you, as I said before hand. So in future, just leave me be. I don't need you, much less want you around." My voice was raising and I just wanted to go home and collapse in my bed and sleep for, like, a day. I really hate when people make me seem weak. Hate it.

I flew off leaving a dumbstruck Dylan behind. I was confused and angry and the last thing I needed was Dylan being all 'I told you so' etc. Plus he was starting to act in some ways worryingly like Fang and if he thought that was going to make me like him more, he was so, so wrong.

I flew in through the open window and Nudge greeted me by handing me a glass of water.

I sucked it down in record timing. When I'd finished I turned to Nudge who was yawning like there was no tomorrow and asked her what the time was.

"Past midnight." She shrugged one shoulder.

I nodded. "Thanks for waiting up for me. Where's Mom?"

"She left ages ago, she was bummed that she couldn't say goodbye. I think she assumed you would only be gone for like an hour; but she and Ella had to get back. You were out there for over three hours you know." She paused "What were you doing?"

"Long story. CBA to explain." She nodded as right on cue Mr. Perfect flew in, only he was looking a little less smug and cool. Red in the face and looking upset, he said "Max – why did you-"

I cut him off, "I just want this day to end." And walked silently to my room and shut the door.

I leaned up against my door and sighed. I heard Dylan say to Nudge, "I'm just…so - confused."

Right then, I so related.