OH LOOK. A WILD UPDATE APPEARED, ALONG WITH THE DEAD BODY OF DYLAN.

Yeah, he's dead. Fang and I were too happy while doing that for it to be healthy. Oh well.

Fang: Way too much sick, twisted glee indeed.

Anyway. Here's yo chapta. (Why do I insist upon talking like that occasionally...? It doesn't suit me.)

MaxPOV

"What?" Fang looked- dare I say it- surprised as he said this. I nodded and looked away, not meeting his eyes.

"His name was Ari. He was older than me by three years," I told him. "He was my everything after Mom died. But one day, when he was thirteen… Ari ran away. He told me he'd see me again someday, and I believed him. I was only nine. Only nine, and he left me to deal with Jeb by myself. I haven't seen him in six years. I don't even know if he's alive or not." My voice broke, remembering him, his smile, his light blond hair and blue eyes- my mother's face, but my father's eye and hair color.

Hot tears pricked at my eyes again. My brother. Ari. I missed him, so much. "He's gone," I whispered to Fang, and he slipped his hand into mine.

"I know," he whispered. And he did. He lost them, too- his family. "I know what it's like."

I made no move to pull my hand from his. My world was on the verge of collapse- I needed a steady point. Something to hold on to, literally.

Ari had been that once.

FangPOV

Now I know. Everything. I know why she doesn't like to be touched. I know what the bumps I felt on her back are. I also know that if I ever find out where Jeb is, if he's alive, I am going to hunt him down and hurt him so badly he'll wish he'd never been born.

All without a hint of regret.

I mean, that's sick. Wrong. He cut wings into her back. He hit her, kicked her, cut her- and probably scarred her more mentally and physically than I can imagine. Max was tortured. Every day of her life. I felt like throwing up just thinking about it; the thought of Max being hurt so badly was…. unbearable.

And then her brother- Ari- left her. Alone, with that monster. She doesn't even know whether he's alive or dead! I see now why she was afraid to trust me. If she let me in, who knows if I'd leave her or not?

Well, me. And I wouldn't.

But Max doesn't know that.

I can't watch her. I can't watch her shake like this, sitting alone and yet only a couple feet away from me, clutching on my hand like it's the only thing holding her to the ground. This isn't Max. There's someone else in there, a scared nine-year-old who's hurt and doesn't know why everyone she loved left her.

And that's the Max I'm seeing now. A Max beyond repair.

I desperately want to comfort her, just reach out and pull her close to me, so she'll know that I'm not leaving. I'm here, and I'm not going any time soon. But I can't, and it frustrates me. Holding hands, she can do, apparently. (It feels more like she has to, the way she's practically crushing my bones right now.) But I still remember the day Iggy clapped her on the back, and she freaked out- and I know why now. Max can't get rid of the sense that if someone's touching her there, they're going to cause her pain.

Jeb really messed her the hell up.

"Is he alive?" I murmured the question, hoping it wasn't a bad one to ask.

"I told you I d-don't know." Max struggled for breath, furiously wiping her tears away, not letting herself just cry it out. I honestly wouldn't care if she did- hey, I once had a sister, one wayyy more emotional than Max. I'm kinda used to this… (Not saying I'm good with crying girls. Still not good with those.)

I should've been more clear. "Not Ari… Jeb." Max flinched when I said their names- I hated putting her through this, so much. But I had to.

"He's in prison," she choked out. "I wish he was d-dead."

"He can't hurt you now, then," I said, lying a little. He could hurt her, wherever he was, with the memories he'd left. Hell, I was watching it now.

Just not physically.

Max nodded shakily, finally in a little better control of herself. "Thanks," she told me quietly. "For… listening. I should've shut up a while ago."

"No, you shouldn't have. You needed that," I assured her. "You should get some rest, you know. You're tired."

"No I'm not," she yawned, contradicting herself. "It's only six p.m…"

"And you are tired."

"Am not."

"Are too."

"Am n- oh, whatever. This is stupid. I am kinda tired," she admitted. She stretched out on her bed, and I stood, carefully removing my hand from her now loose grasp.

"Hey, don't go," Max mumbled sleepily. I raised an eyebrow at her. Out of character much? Oh well… I just witnessed about twenty minutes of not-Maxness… "I kinda… um… I dream sometimes."

"If you're sure," I said, shrugging. I understood- nightmares are nothing new to me. "But I am not sitting in your bed. I like my head where it is, thank you very much." A psycho Dr Martinez would probably remove it.

Max's eyes drifted closed and she barely nodded. I sat on the floor right next to her bed, leaning against it and waiting for her to fall asleep.

What? It's not like I'm going to watch her. Only creeper man fairies do that. (In case you're wondering, Nudge once ranted to me about Twilight for approximately half an hour. I know these things, and regret that I do. Extremely.) I sat there for about ten minutes, and the sounds of Max's even, slow breathing filled the room. Getting up from my spot, I saw her frowning slightly in her sleep, but there wasn't much I could do.

For in our dreams, we enter a world that is entirely our own.

I just quoted Dumbledore.

Badass.

Yeah, Maya had sort of been a Harry Potter addict… she made me go to all the movies with her. At least I didn't have to read the books- I never really liked that series. Moving on…

I faintly heard Dr Martinez's voice calling everyone down to go eat- Max still slept through it, and I looked hesitantly at her. I'm kinda really hungry… She'll be fine, right? Probably.

I walked out her door, shutting it softly behind me, and followed Ella and Angel down the stairs and to the kitchen, where I could smell pizza. Not just any pizza- Iggy's pizza.

Yesssss.

"Hey, where's Max?" said Angel suddenly. Everyone turned to look at me. Even Iggy, who's blind.

WHY ME? It's always me.

"She's sleeping," I said defensively.

Dr M frowned. "She shouldn't be. If she sleeps now, she won't be able to fall asleep later."

"She's sleeping," I told her again in a more forced tone. Max really doesn't need to be woken up right now. They all shot me strange looks and went back to eating… or drinking… or whatever.

I ate my food slowly for once, thinking about… the future, I guess. I wondered if we were ever going to go to real high school- or hell, college. Are we going to stay here? Dr M took us all, with our faults and problems- I was especially surprised that I wasn't out of here already, after she found out that I cut…

Which I hadn't done since that day, actually. Sure, sometimes I felt like I needed to… but something kept me from just going and stealing my knife back. (I know where it is, and I could definitely get my hands on it if I wanted to.)

And as I said earlier, there's just something. I don't know what it is; I can't recognize the feeling.

But I think I like it.

IggyPOV

I heard Fang stand and leave the table when he was done with his food, taking his plate and putting it in the sink. Soon after, Ella followed- but not before tugging slightly on the long sleeve of my shirt, doing it so that no one else would notice; almost like she was telling me to follow her.

"I'm suddenly not hungry," I mumbled, and dumped my mostly eaten piece of pizza in the trash, following the sound of Ella's light footsteps.

What does she want?

When we got out into the hallway, Ella turned me to face her, even though I couldn't see her… oh well. "Hey, I was wondering if you wanted to go on… sort of a mission with me," she said in a mischievous, quiet tone. "Normally I'd take Nudge, but she can't stay quiet."

"Does this mission involve being even remotely devious or doing something we shouldn't be?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Of course."

"Well then! Give me the plan."

Ella lowered her voice even further so that the people still eating couldn't hear us. "Fang and Max keep disappearing into her room. Mom seems fine with it, but I want to know what's going on."

"I'm listening," I told her, nodding slowly.

"I propose that we eavesdrop. I have a bathroom that connects to Max's room- and they're in there now, even though Max is supposedly asleep. So we hide in my bathroom behind the door and listen," she explained.

"Sounds good. Let's go," I said eagerly. I didn't show it, but I wanted to know why they were up there- who doesn't want to know a secret?

EllaPOV

I led Iggy into my room and across it to the door of me and Max's bathroom. As quietly as I could, I opened the door, stepped inside with Iggy after me, and we crouched behind the door that led to Max's room. I pressed my ear against the door and listened intently.

There was a yawn, and the sound of someone stretching. "Fang?" Max muttered sleepily. "What are you doing here?'

"You told me to stay here, remember?"

"No I didn't."

"Yes, you did."

"No, I didn't."

"You did."

"Did not!"

"Did too."

I pressed a hand to my mouth to keep myself from laughing at their childish bickering, and Iggy was smirking beside me.

"I feel like crap," Max grumbled.

"I'm not surprised," Fang told her. "You don't exactly look like Miss America either."

"Hey! Oh well, I know I don't. My hair's a mess."

"Whoa, Max cares about her hair? That's new."

"Are you sure this is really Fang?" whispered Iggy. And he was right- this was a side of Fang I'd never seen, let alone knew about. He spoke in full sentences!

"Not exactly," I murmured back.

We heard Max stand up. "I'll be right back, I'm just gonna go fix my hair in the bathroom. It's too tangly."

Iggy's unseeing eyes went wide with horror. "Abort! Abort!" he hissed. I ran to the door that led to my room and tugged furiously on the doorknob.

"It won't open!" I whispered frantically. And suddenly, Iggy grabbed me and pulled me into the shower, jerking the door back so that we were hidden and standing on the slightly moist floor- thank god it wasn't one of those semi-clear ones were you could see the silhouette of the person inside.

And then, the bathroom door opened, and someone walked in. Max. We heard her open a drawer (the one that I knew had her brush in it) and start to comb it out.

I then realized that I was in a shower meant for one person with Iggy, the guy I admittedly may or may not have a slight crush on.

Let's just say that I was really glad he was blind right now so that he couldn't see me blush.

After a minute (I regret that Max doesn't do more with her hair. I mean, it's so beautiful! If only I could give her a makeover… hmmm….) Max walked back out, shutting the door behind her. I finally dared to exhale, Iggy doing so with me, and we stepped out of the shower.

"Well, that was kinda pointless," I admitted.

Iggy grinned. "A little bit. I guess they really do just talk. Boring."

"Mhm," I agreed. "Let's go before we get almost caught again."

IggyPOV

As I walked back to my room, I couldn't help but grin to myself a little. That had been pretty fun, even when we thought Max was gonna catch us- slight adrenaline rush, you know what I mean?

I entered my room, and I heard Gaz throwing a ball repeatedly against the wall and catching it. Bored much? Oh well, I'm a hypocrite. I am too…

I plopped onto my bed and sat in the direction that hopefully faced him. "Got any bombs?" I asked. "I've got nothing to do."

"Dude, do you even need to ask? But we shouldn't use them up now. Let's save 'em."

"Don't say dude, it makes you sound like a surfer or something."

"Does not. Anyway, man, what's the deal with you and Ella?" I could almost see his eyebrows waggling.

"What do you mean? She's cool. That's all," I said, shrugging.

"Riiight. I know you better than that. And anyway, all you ever do is hang out with her."

"That's not true…"

"Yeah, it is. When was the last time you hung out with Angel? She used to be around you all the time. She's been with me a lot more than you lately."

Maybe he has a point. Angel always stuck to me like glue before we got here- I was the 'older older brother' to her, because I was born two minutes before Gazzy. I shrugged. "I'll make it up to her."

Gaz sighed uncharacteristically. "Okay, but just make sure you don't forget that you have a little sister. We've always stuck together, the three of us; remember that." And with that, he tossed me the ball and I caught it- yes, I did- while he walked out of the room, leaving me sitting still and kinda stunned, processing what he just said.

I really, really hate guilt.

FINALLY. I actually put in some of the other characters in the story… Heh heh…

Anyway.

Random conversation I had:

Me: So is there a cure for the infection?

My Brother: Yes. PULL THE SQUID OUT OF THEIR HEAD.

Don't ask.

Hey. Hey you, in front of the computer screen. You see that little button down there? The one that says Review This Chapter? He wants you. Click him. Turn him on.

-Sierra