So I know waiting in the lines sounds exciting and all, but the truth of the matter? It's pretty boring.

Go fish gets pretty old with a mind reader on hand, and even when she was removed (after fifteen consecutive victories), Iggy and Gazzy started betting possessions (your ipod for my dynamite) and I figured it was maybe it was time for a break.

Literally 6 hours after the discovery of the achoo's we were still on stand by.

And yes, we are calling them the achoo's, as the term has been adopted by the flock and I am powerless to what the people want. Even though this is supposed to be a Maxocracy. I blame Fang – he was the start of the rebellion.

At this point I was so antsy I made Nudge look calm. It was all I could do to keep from gathering my flock and getting the heck out of there as quickly as possible. Two years might have softened my instincts, but they were still there and in tact. Staying purposefully in harms way? That ranked pretty high on the stupidity scale.

I stubbed my toe passing the couch and yelped, hopping around and clutching it. Have you ever tried to keep from swearing out loud and in your head? It's not exactly what I would call an easy task, even when you're not in pain and have extreme hatred for a certain piece of leather furniture.

'Do my ears detect the voice of the lovely Max?' came Iggy's voice from down the hall. 'I always said she should be in the royal ballet – so graceful. And there's always that lovely outfit.'

Make that hatred of leather furniture and blind bird kids.

I shuffled into the kitchen and made my way to the fridge looking for ice, something always on hand when it comes to our house. I reached for the handle when-

A cold metal arm wrapped itself around my waist. I let out a blood-curdling scream, but it was instantly muffled by an equally cold hand over my mouth. I struggled, kicking and thrashing, but it didn't have any effect. I managed to get my elbow free and jammed it into whatever was holding me.

OW.

It was a good thing there was something over my mouth or nothing would have stopped the issue stream of curses that I left fly. Mental note – do not hit hard metal objects if possible.

I felt my eyes water from pain but I quickly blinked the water away and started thinking about exit strategies.

'There is no escape. Resistance is futile.'

Ah how I had missed that voice, always so warm and friendly. At least I knew they hadn't bothered to update its voice programming with anything halfway original. Was it to much to ask for a little attitude?

'You will come with us-'

A metal object went soaring through the room and hit whatever was holding me in what I assumed was it's head. There was a whirring noise and I was released instantly, gasping for breath.

'-do not struggle, come quietly and you will not be harmed,' came an equally robotic voice from across the room. 'Yeah, yeah we know the drill.'

I looked over to see the rest of the flock standing in the entrance and Fang looking furious, still holding what looked the handle to a – an axe??

'Angel heard your thoughts!' said Nudge, hurrying over to me, but keeping her distance at the same time.

'Yeah then we hurried over and tall dark and angry used the handy dandy wood chopper,' added Iggy, also coming over and muttering under his breath 'have you considered anger management for him?'

Fang strode over and bent down to examine the thing behind me. For the first time I actually looked at what it was. It resembled a metal skeleton, only made up of old pieces of different appliances. I recognized arms, legs, hands, and something that I think was supposed to be a face.

Fang kicked it, not so gently and two red lights blinked on. Gazzy paled and backed away and Nudge covered her mouth in fright. 'Who sent you?' asked Fang gruffly, making sure not to touch it if he didn't have to.

The achoo whirred and made a funny clicking noise. It tried again and it came out fast, all as one word. 'Iamnotauthorizedtogiveyouthatinformation' It still had the blade coming out of it's neck. Fang pulled it out and held it threateningly. 'How about now.'

'Automated shut down initiated' came a voice from somewhere inside the machine. Its red eyes grew large, then blinked out. Fang swore and threw the blade down on the machine. Then he got up and walked past us outside. Without a word we followed him. It was time to leave.