Disclaimer: I would've thought this was obvious by now
…………………………………………………………………………………………………...
MAX POV
Nudge stood in front of the cage she had been contained in moments before and reached back inside, gently pulling on Iggy's arm to help him out of the cage. He cautiously crawled out, wincing as his knee came into contact with the sharp edge of the metal stub where one of the bars had been connected to the floor of the cage. Once he was fully out, he stretched, reaching his pale arms up to the roof of the cargo hold, a smile on his face.
Nudge turned towards the cage housing Fang and I and bent down, wrapping her fingers around two of the bars. She had some difficulty with this as she hadn't figured out how to drop the other bars yet but she managed somehow.
Her face twisted with concentration as she yanked at the bars. They gave way with a horrible metallic screech that was agony to my sensitive ears.
I crawled out of the resulting hole and Fang followed. I stood up straight for what felt like the first time in days, wincing as my joints popped.
Nudge didn't waste any time and soon Angel and Gazzy joined us outside of the cages.
I hugged Nudge, then Angel and Gazzy.
"What are we gonna do now, Max? Where are we gonna go?" Gazzy asked, blue eyes dancing with excitement.
I hesitated, not quite sure myself, then smiled as I remembered something from before we had been separated. "We'll go to the house Jeb told us about; the one shaped like an 'E', up in the mountains. It should be safe there." I told them confidently, tilting my chin slightly upwards. It was a split second decision, but they didn't have to know that.
The younger ones and Iggy smiled back at me but I think Fang could see through my confident façade.
As Angel and Nudge walked away from me, he silently walked over.
"How are we going to find the house?" He wasn't trying to criticize me, I don't think, he just wanted to be sure of what we were doing.
"Jeb told me all about it; I should be able to find it." I think, I hope.
He looked at me speculatively before nodding. "Okay."
I smiled. "What are we waiting for then?"
He gave a slight smile back before walking over to where the door to the outside was. He ran his hands over the catch and then called Nudge over.
"Do you think you could break this off?" he waved his hand at the metal lock.
Her smile widened. "Sure." I noticed that she had finally managed to drop the bars from the cages and was walking unhindered.
Nudge reached out, grabbed the catch and, with a simple twist of her wrist, broke it cleanly away from the door. Her smile was brilliant as she proudly stepped backwards, dropping the broken catch to the floor.
Gazzy ran over to the door excitedly and went to pull it open.
"Hey, slow down buddy." I told him, grabbing his arm. "We should probably do some planning before you just jump out of the side of the aeroplane.
He smiled sheepishly and I loosened my grip on his arm.
"First of all, when we're flying, we have to all stick together and if anyone gets tired or something else happens, we have to stop, immediately.
They all nodded and looked at me expectantly.
"You all know we're going to the house Jeb had ready for us, but it might take a little while to find it." My eyes flickered to Fang as I said this. "But don't worry, we will get there." We have to, I added silently. "Okay, any questions?"
Gazzy put his hand up and I smiled. "Yes?"
"Can we go now?"
My smile widened, "Yes, we can go now."
I walked over to the door and pulled it open.
Wind swirled into the hold, tossing my long hair around my face but I ignored it, looking down at the view.
It was as if the whole world was spread out below us, trees, rivers, roads, houses, everything that Jeb had told us about, so small below.
I reached out and grabbed Angel's hand on one side and Iggy's on the other, squeezing them both tightly before releasing them.
"Max?" Angel sounded scared.
I looked down at her. "Yeah?"
"I've never flown before, what if I can't do it?" I noticed that Iggy and Nudge also looked a bit pale.
I ignored the doubt curling in my own stomach; I hadn't flown before either and answered her, trying to sound reassuring. "You'll be fine. If you fall I'll catch you." I mean, how hard could flying be?
I closed my eyes for a second, enjoying the feel of the wind on my face, then opened them again, looking at the members of my family lined up on either side of me.
"We'll go one at a time," I caught Fang's eye and nodded slightly.
We all stepped back from the edge as he spread his dark wings and jumped. Iggy followed him quickly and then Nudge, Gazzy and Angel.
I took a deep breath and jumped as well, pushing off from the edge of the plane with my feet and unfurling my wings as I did so.
There was a sickening moment where I just fell and then the wind caught my wings and I was jerked somewhat painfully upwards.
I opened my eyes and quickly checked that everyone was around me and somewhat stable in the air before grinning; I was flying, just like I had always dreamed. Flying away from the school, the Whitecoats, away from that woman who claimed to be my mother and, probably most importantly, away from the horrible past.
Fang was looking in my direction while the others were uncertainly flapping their wings. He jerked his head away from the plane, as if asking if we were going to get going any time soon.
I nodded. "Come on," I yelled out to the others. "We've got a house to find."
...............................................................................................................................
A/N: Well, there you go; the end. I do have part of an epilogue typed but I don't know if I'll post it.
Anyway, concerning a sequel, I think one needs to be written; this story has a lot of loose ends that really need to be tied up. If you do want a sequel, please tell me in a review.
Thankyou to goldenrose37, Sarra Elizabeth, dusk3ttex01, Clouded Horizon, clairerox101 and Fuzzylogic, who all reviewed the last chapter. I would also like to thank the people who reviewed other chapters as well; especially Love is the key to the world, who was the first person to review.
Thank you all for reading the story, I hope you enjoyed it, please review and tell me what you thought.