Wow. You guys reviewed a lot on that last chapter. Thank you! You have no idea how happy those reviews make me. And, the more reviews I get, the more encouraged I am to update sooner, FYI. Just a little fact that you might want to know on how fast this story goes.:)

ENJOY!

Disclaimer: JP owns everyone, except for Jaz. And the plot is mine, too.

Fang walked through the tiny woods with ease, jumping over logs and avoiding branches like he knew where everything was already. Maybe he did. But I was following him closely, as his hand intertwined with mine to make sure he didn't lose me in this jungle, and I was snapping every twig my foot came in contact with, every branch we passed slapped me in the face or some body part- depending on how high or low it was- and I would trip over every log that we passed. Great survival skills, Max. I scolded myself.

Finally we got out of the woods and saw a tiny foothill, and beyond that was a chain-link fence, and further beyond that were some big fancy houses. Fang looked back to check on me and make sure I was okay, and he proceeded to drag me forward to the fence.

"Where do you live, Fang?" I wondered. He pitched his head forward as if to say "right here." My eyes widened. "You live… here?" I whispered. He looked back at my amazed face and nodded, a little embarrassed. "Whoa." All of the houses were picture-perfect: not a weed in any lawn, not even a blade of grass too long. Every house had a white outside with large columns and shutters, hedges perfectly manicured around the house with white picket fences surrounding the property. Brightly colored flowerboxes hung out of every window, and I even saw one of those yippy dogs that never stop barking and try to look big and powerful, but really they're more scared of anything that comes near them than they let on.

Fang let go of my hand and started hopping up the fence like a trained squirrel. I watched as he nimbly hopped over the other side and looked at me expectantly.

I raised my eyebrows. "You're joking, right? I can't climb this thing! I've never been able to climb more than two feet on the rope in P.E!" I squeaked at him. He shrugged.

"Come on, it's the only way you can get over here. If you don't want to see my house, then fine. Stay over there." he smirked at me, knowing I would like to see his house, and I scowled back.

"Fine. But you can't let me fall when I get over to the other side." I leveled with him, and he nodded seriously.

"I promise you won't fall, Max." he told me.

I took a deep breath and linked my fingers in the fence, and he had a small smirk on his face as he watched me hoist myself up and painfully climb to the top. I made it and looked down at him, and he motioned for me to come down. I huffed and swung the leg that was on the other side of the fence over, going down backwards. I lowered down slowly, but my hands were starting to get sweaty on they chains, and my hand slipped. I couldn't help but let a small squeak escape my lips as I fell over backwards, positive I was about to hit the ground when strong arms caught me, bridal style. The air was knocked out of me and Fang huffed as my weight fell on his arms, and I instinctively rolled towards him as he stabilized himself. He looked down at me and smirked.

"I told you I wouldn't let you fall." He gloated, and I smacked his arm. This was pretty awkward, now that I thought about it. Fang looked me in the eyes, and I felt sort of trapped. I couldn't move anywhere, and his gaze was like chains practically. I found the strength to look away and cleared my throat.

"You can put me down, Fang." I muttered, and he let his arm under my legs fall so my feet connected with hard ground. His hand lingered on my waist a little longer than I would have liked, but I was still a little wobbly, so I let it pass. I nodded at him and said "Lead the way." He turned and walked across the street, then turned to the left. I followed right on his heels as he walked through two other neighborhoods, both equally nice. Finally we turned onto a different street, and he started up a walkway to a huge white house with pillars –like the other neighborhoods- but this house was amazing. The lawn was perfect, the stone walkway was perfect, and everything about this house was perfect. It literally looked like the White House, maybe even bigger.

I was no doubt catching flies, and my eyes were about to pop out of my head. I stopped dead in my tracks and Fang looked back at me with one eyebrow raised.

"Care to explain why I never knew you had a house like this?!" I squeaked. Man, I was doing a lot of squeaking today. He just shrugged, but I saw a smirk fill his lips, and my heart did a flip-flop. He's so… I started to think, then mentally slapped myself. No thinking about him like that! He's your friend, not your boyfriend. I shook my head to get these thoughts out.

He walked a few steps back to where I was still standing with my mouth open, and grabbed my hand again to drag me inside. If I thought the outside was amazing, the inside made it look like a public restroom. Everything was made out of marble, and the front hallway seemed like a ballroom. It was huge, with more pillars along the inside parallel to each other. There was a pattern of diamond shapes in the middle of the room, and they looked to be made out of gold embedded in the floor. There was a fairytale staircase leading up to an open hallway that split off into two directions: left and right. I had subconsciously taken a few steps forward and Fang had let go of my hand as I looked at this room. It literally looked like a fairytale castle, all that was needed was a princess in a poofy dress and a handsome prince to come waltzing through the doors. When I thought of the prince, why did my mind suddenly picture me and Fang? I gulped and turned back to him.

"Fang, this… this place is a… palace." He smirked.

"So you like it?" he guessed, and all I could do was nod. "Well, that's not the half of it." He seemed to be enjoying himself as he pulled me through the hallway to the right and past mazes of doors and more etched-gold floors. If I hadn't have been holding Fang's hand, I would have been lost in here forever. After passing what seemed like a million doors, he stopped outside one of them and stepped aside.

He motioned his hand to the white and gold-trimmed door like a butler might and said "Ladies first." Like a gentleman would. Though Fang was anything but a gentleman. Or was he?

I reached to the handle and slightly turned it, and the door swung open. Inside, I couldn't help but gasp a little. Everything was still etched in gold, and there was a fireplace on the far side of the room. Everything that was personal was black, and the rest of the room was white. Bet Fang wasn't ecstatic about that. The size of his room was probably around the size of the entire upstairs of my house, and that was a good sized house. He had a large king-sized bed in the middle of the room against the left wall that had a black bed spread (shocker, I know), and the rest of the room had posters of various bands. And, though weird to admit, it was beautiful. The whole house was beautiful, to say the least. I saw a door on the opposite wall and walked over to it.

"No-Max- don't go in there…!" Too late. I had already pushed open the door, and I saw a huge walk-in closet before me. He probably had more clothes in this one closet than I had had in my entire life. For probably the tenth time that day my mouth hung open and my eyes were huge. I turned back to Fang. He shrugged sheepishly. "I told you not to open it…" he grumbled. I blinked.

"This place is amazing, Fang. What do your parents do?" I asked him. He sighed and walked over to his bad and sat down, and I followed suit after closing the door to his closet (if you could even call it that). He laid in the middle of his bed and stared at the ceiling, and I just laid next to him with my eyes searching the beautiful room.

"They're scientists. I think they found some sort of… DNA, thing. I don't know, and frankly I really don't care. I never see them, and I think I'm just another thing to worry about. They are so arrogant about all of their work, sometimes they record the shows about them on TiVo and give them as gifts to people. That's why they have no friends. Other than their co-workers. And… one day, I think I remember them talking together and saying something about… Valencia Martinez." He looked over at me, and both of our eyes showed the same thing: fear. If they had worked with my mom, it would mean Fang could very well be a part of the same experiment. I couldn't stop myself from reaching over the small space between us and grabbing his hands, and he intertwined our fingers again. For some reason, it just felt right to hold his hand.

"Max… how did it happen?" he whispered, looking away from me. I knew what he was talking about.

"Well… I was sleeping, and dreaming. And… suddenly, my back hurt. Extremely. And… I was just achy and everything hurt. The pain was horrible, especially in my back. It went on for a while, and then I was just all sweaty and I went into the bathroom, and I saw… wings." I recalled, then sighed and rolled over so I was facing him. He did the same, and our faces were less than a foot away from each other. "Fang, I don't want anybody else going through that pain. It was horrible, and I remember that all I wanted to do was die, right then and there." I took a shaky breath, and he wrapped his free arm around me and pulled me close to him. I rested my head in the crook of his neck as he started massaging little circles into my back as he did before, careful not to hit a tender spot. I grabbed a handful of his shirt as I talked, pulling me even closer to him. "I swear, if I could, I would kill the scientists who made this happen. The ones who triggered it, not the ones who planned it." I clarified, thinking of my and Fang's parents. I closed my eyes, and Fang was silent.

We stayed like that for a while, until finally I fell asleep on the soft bed, still curled up with my best friend. I began to dream of something, but that was all ruined when Fang started screaming at the top of his lungs.

Okay, semi-cliffy. I would make it longer but I'm about to pass out here, so you're just gonna have to wait until I can get the next chapter up.:) So REVIEW and tell me how you like it! Good, bad, horrible, wonderful, anything! All welcome.

BoOk-NeRd38