Hey everybody! I apologize for the silliness of the past few chapters. I just reread them, and they're not very good… I was trying to speed it up, but it doesn't make sense for the characters to have it so easy. Well, bear with me for this last chapter, please, and thanks for sticking it through! :) I'll write you guys some Fax to make up for it. Sorry for the huge wait, I've been ridiculously busy with school and volleyball.

Disclaimer: I don't own Maximum Ride.

Angel's POV:

"Max is here." I announced.

Nudge sat up, Gazzy opened his eyes, and Iggy stuck his head through the other connecting room. I sighed inwardly. I loved Max, but I wish I could get the respect she did. Even though I was doing a good job leading them, they still wanted Max.

Well, of course they did! I was six. So what if I did okay leading them to survival for a few days? Max brought them out of that godforsaken place, Max had tied their shoes, and fed them food, taught them everything they knew, and tucked them in and hugged them tight.

I couldn't get close to compare, because at the end of the day, Max did all those things for me, too. So I would always be the baby of the flock, and Max would always be the mother.

And she deserved to be.

But that didn't mean I had to like it!

"How do you know?" Nudge chirped, sounding much perkier than she had the past day. Nudge hadn't been herself at all. Max and Fang were the binding that held us all together, and once they were gone, even she didn't feel like talking much. We hadn't talked at all, actually, and I knew that she cried before she went to sleep every day.

The thought that something might have happened to Max or Fang was more than any of us could bear.

"I heard her thoughts. Barely, but she's here. I can feel her out there." My power had increased, a lot. I could feel people, especially when I knew them well and they were close to me, both physically and in my heart.

"We need to find her." Iggy stated, and Gazzy nodded his agreement.

"Can you tell anything else, Angel?" My brother asked. "Like where she is? And if there's Erasers with her?"

"Nope. But she has to be close, and I can't hear Ari, but that doesn't mean Erasers aren't there. I think Fang's here too.' I said, scrunching up my brow in concentration. Wait, wait, yup. I got it, Fang's mind. It was closed off, like always, but I could feel his presence.

The flock cheered. I did too. Fang was like my dad. We'd missed the comfort of having someone take care of us, and if Fang and Max had really escaped and found us, we'd all be thrilled.

"Let's go outside and walk in any direction. I'll tell you if it's getting clearer or fainter, and maybe we can figure out where they are that way." I suggested. Everyone nodded their agreement.

"Let's do it!" Nudge said enthusiastically. We all put coats on and went outside.

I started walking left and could feel a faint tugging at my mind. I sent out a mental shout.

MAX!

I don't know if it worked, but Max's mind seemed to be getting closer so I kept walking that way.

I didn't realize how ahead of the flock I was until I reached a cross road. Oh well, I just wanted to find my family. I took one step left and another, hesitantly. I couldn't tell if the feeling in my mind was fading or not. A couple more steps down the street, I decided to find out. I sprinted down the street, and realized it was fading. So I ran back to the crossroad and took the right path instead. As I got further down the road, the connection in my mind was getting stronger.

Aka, Max was getting closer. I picked up the pace, eager to find Max.

A lot of times, I came across as angry at Max and greedy, and selfish, and wanting to be leader. It wasn't true. Quite honestly, I just was jealous of Max. Jealous of amazing she was. I wanted to be that way. It was more admiring than wanting to bring her down.

Even when I read her thoughts, I could tell how much she really loved us all. How much she loved Fang, even though she didn't realize it.

And that's when I was really ashamed for being so mean to Max. Like I said earlier, at the end of the day, she would always be my mom.

I followed my mind all the way to a shabby little hotel. I wrinkled my nose in disgust. This is where they were staying? Then I remembered. They didn't have a credit card. How were they going to pay?

That just made me determined to find them, so that they could stay the night in our comfy, huge, mice-free hotel room.

MAX! I screamed out to her. If she was okay, she would come outside and hug me tight and then yell at me for trying to blow out her eardrums. But she didn't.

MAX! MAX! I screamed louder, getting no response.

The rest of the flock caught up to me in a minute and found me crumpled to the ground in front of the hotel, tears streaking down my face.

"Angel?" Angel, what's wrong?" Iggy asked.

"She didn't respond. I shouted for her." I whispered.

"Can you do it louder?" Gazzy asked me.

I shook my head no. "It was loud enough to give you a pounding head ache. If she isn't responding, that mean she's not okay." I said, hating to give the bad news.

Nudge's face crumpled, Gazzy's looked shocked, and Iggy looked furious.

He marched inside the hotel. The rest of us followed.

"How can I help you?" The clerk asked.

"Has anyone come into this hotel in the past few hours?" Iggy asked.

"I'm sorry sir, I can't tell you that." The clerk looked confused.

I came forward. "Please." I whispered brokenly. "Please, please tell us. My sister is missing." I didn't even have to suggest it to him; he took one look at my grief stricken face and softened up.

"No. I'm sorry, but no. Good luck finding her!" He told me. I nodded my thanks, and we all rushed outside.

When we got outside, Nudge burst into tears and Gazzy looked troubled. It wasn't that they weren't here. It wasn't that we hadn't found them. It was more at how close we had been. And there was one last thing.

I couldn't hear Max's mind anymore.

So they must have left.

They must have left, or they must be dead.