Hi everybody!

I know I've had this chapter done forever and haven't posted it yet, and I feel awful about it. I am so sorry! The next chapter will be up sooner, I promise! It's just that I messed up my laptop and couldn't get on the internet. Again, I am so sorry!

QOTD: How do you feel about destiel?

"What do you mean you can't see?" I whisper, the fear in my voice almost tangible.

"I mean, I'm fucking blind!" Iggy shouts, more terrified and sad than angry.

"Maybe it'll wear off in a few hours," Nudge says quietly, but something in the back or our minds screams that it won't; that Iggy is blind and there's nothing we can do about it.

"Or maybe I'm a blind, avian-human mutant," Iggy shouts, obviously panicking. He tries to stand but falls back down quickly, obviously unsure of himself now. He has no clue where to go or what do to.

Nobody knows what to do, nobody knows what to say. No matter what words we give Iggy, he's still blind.

Finally, Fang utters something we've all wanted to do since we got here. "I'm going to kill them."

Iggy grumbles his agreement before he finally gets to his feet and stays standing. He walks around, swiping his hands around in front of him and trying to grow accustomed to his new life. "I can't see anything," he mumbles, the anger fleeing his body. "I heard some blind people can still see shadows or slight movement. But it's all black."

I make my way to him, slowly and announcing my presence so he doesn't get scared. I don't want him to freak out because of me; he's already terrified enough already. Placing my hand on his shoulder, I pull him into my arms. Hugs aren't either of our things, but we both need one right now. He doesn't complain, just wraps his arms tightly around my waist.

Tears hit my shoulder, but I say nothing. Again, he doesn't need to feel any weaker than he already feels.

Angel wraps her arms around us next, and it only takes Iggy a minute to guess who it is. "Angel?" he whispers after placing a hand on her halo of blonde curls.

In response, she tightens her hold on his waist. Nudge joins us next, and then Gazzy, and even Fang. Iggy doesn't just need me. He needs all of us. We all need each other. Because maybe I've only known Gazzy for a little while, and I was separated from Nudge for months and months, but I still wouldn't know how to cope without them.

"This is almost too sweet to break apart," a voice I never want to hear ever again echoes through the room. "But I need the tall, dark one."

Ari takes another step into the room, menacingly raising his fully morphed hands.

"And I need you to jump off a cliff," I reply, but my voice doesn't carry the attitude it usually does. I don't want to let go of the moment. I want to wrap my arms around the people that have become my family and pretend I'm home and happy and that my ribs don't protrude from my body.

He takes another step, and that's when I snap out of it. They took away Iggy's sight, and now they want me to let Fang go with them?

Fury rips through me, and suddenly, I'm in a battle stance, ready to take anything they throw at me.

"Aw," Ari coos, sarcasm the only thing I can recognize in his voice. "Does Maxie want to fight?"

My fist connecting with his face is the only response I give. Well, until my knee ends up slamming into his family jewels. And then my foot with his neck.

I'm kicking his ass until three pairs of strong, furry arms find their way around my waist and swinging fists. And then something cold and metal pinches my arm and the world is fading away slowly.

I blink once, twice before giving in completely.

Fang's screams and protests are the last thing I hear before my world goes black.

MAXIMUM RIDE

"Max!" Multiple screams of my name hit my ears at once. The world is blurry when I open my eyes, so I close them. "Please wake up!"

I don't want to wake up. It's dark and nice and nice here and I can't really remember where I am or what's going on. I know that it isn't good, but I'd rather not remember the specifics.

"Max!"

This scream is louder, more frantic than the others, forcing me to open my eyes again. The world is clear this time. A blonde head is the first thing I see.

I pull Angel close to me, happy that she's safe. Everything floods back to me at this point, making me sit up and search for Fang. Is he back? Is he safe? I can't handle two people I love getting hurt in one day. I'm not sure I can even handle Iggy's problem yet.

Iggy. He's probably still freaking out. He lost his vision for crying out loud.

It takes a minute for my thoughts to stop swimming in my mind like goldfish. But when my head is clear, I stand and find Iggy, who is sitting on a cot next to Gazzy, who is busy tracing things in Iggy's open palm.

"I'm teaching him letters," Gazzy informs me, not looking up. "Are you okay?"

I nod and sit, my head still racing a bit. "I think they just sedated me. Is Fang back yet?"

Gazzy shakes his head. "You've been only out for an hour. You know how they take forever."

I nod and watch for a few minutes as Iggy guesses words and phrases that Gazzy traces on his left palm. "It's a way to communicate silently with him until he gets used to it," Gazzy tells me after a few minutes of silence.

"Let me try," I suggest. I don't need to spend all of my time worrying. I should try to help distract both Iggy and myself.

So I spend a few minutes tracing the alphabet in random order on Iggy's hand before I move onto words. They're simple, like 'hello' before I move onto phrases. It's an easy way to pass the time.

After Iggy gets good at it, I begin to trace jokes on his palm, some which make him snort, others make him chuckle a bit. Considering he just lost his sight, I'll take any sign of happiness.

Nudge and Angel join us at some point, and we all take turns with Iggy's new language. As the leader, I suggest that we all learn how to do this. It'd be helpful when we don't want the white coats to know what we're saying, or we need to sneak around. It helps distract us all from the fact that one of us is missing and one of us lost one of his senses.

But the illusion of happiness has to end at some point, and when it does, we're all left feeling even worse than before.

MAXIMUM RIDE

Fang still isn't back when I wake up. Where there is usually another warm body pressed against me, there is cold air and a sense of loneliness.

Angel wakes up a few minutes after me, but instead of getting up and starting another awful day, she simply curls into my arms and falls back asleep. We both need a day of relaxation; it's easier than staying awake and having to face the nightmare head on.

Hunger's dull claws tear at my stomach like they always do. They do inject us with the needed nutrients, but that doesn't stop the beast. It brings protruding ribs and haunted faces, along with the weakness. I've become used to it, but every once and a while it gets really strong and knocks me back to the ground.

It's the same with the thoughts of how awful these people truly are. I've grown used to their terribleness, but once in a blue moon, I realize again how many people they've killed, how many dreams they've broken, how many orphans they've made, and how many parents' children they've stolen. It's just something that throws you to the dirt and makes it impossible to get back up.

These thoughts hit me today, for the first time in a long time, and harder than they've ever been before. Maybe it's because they took Fang, or maybe it's because my brain is so passed fucked up, but I find myself trying not to wipe my tears on Angel's generic, cotton, white t-shirt.

I end up crying myself to sleep. Again, it's been a long time since that's happened, but today seems to be a particularly bad day in a string of horrible days.

"Max?" Angel's voice is the one to wake me.

"Yea?" I reply, wincing at my voice crack. I wipe at my eyes, trying to figure out if they're still red or if my nap erased the evidence of my tears.

"Are you okay?" she asks, and I can almost feel the anxiety in her voice.

Are you okay, Max?

A scream rips up through my throat and into the dead silence, stunning both the flock and me. The voice came out of nowhere. It hasn't returned ever since it told me about Gazzy, and I thought it would be gone and I could mark it up as a onetime thing that the white coats used to capture us again. But here it is again, messing with my head and confusing me more than the school ever can.

"What?" Iggy is the first to break the silence, the first to get over his shock. "What happened?"

Maybe it's because he can't see, and he needs to know, or maybe his concern is overwhelming, but whatever the case is, he has me stammering out, "The voice. It's back."

If he replies, I don't hear it, because the voice is speaking up again, its voice so strange and generic. Again, I am unable to tell its gender or if it's even human.

I never left, Max.

I almost scream again, overcome completely by fear and utter surprise. I mean to say it in my head, but it comes out as a screech, "Leave me alone!"

I'm just here to help.

I may be imagining it, but I swear there was a tinge of sadness to it that time. Go help someone else, I think angrily, if thoughts can even be angry.

There are things I need to tell you, important things.

If there's one thing I know for sure about the voice, it's that it is the most annoying, question-evading little shit on this planet. Well, then spit it out and leave me alone.

There are people you can trust here.

I snort out loud, and the flock's complaints about what was going on are faint in the background. They almost drag me out of the little hole I've carved for myself and the voice in my mind, but I hold on, now interested in what it had to say. Well, I wouldn't be too sad if it stopped talking and never came back into my head again, but if it's here, it might as well make itself useful.

Yea, the flock, I respond sarcastically.

No, I swear if this thing was a person it would have rolled its eyes. White coats. They won't hurt you. In fact, they'll help you.

Bullshit.

Max, you have to listen to me.

Again, I make a sound of disbelief. Because you were so helpful before, with getting us all caught and sent back to the school and all.

The voice doesn't pick up my bait. It doesn't want to fight. It just wants to get its message through and get out, apparently.

Jeb can be trusted.

The presence leaves my mind, and I know I am alone. It sends relief flooding through me, enough to make me sag and lie back down on the cot.

I'm only this way for a second, because it takes about a millionth of that time for the flock to pounce on me and ask what just happened.

"It was the voice," I say, not caring enough to explain it to Gazzy or Nudge. But they don't look confused when I say it; Iggy or Angel probably explained it to them. "It told me we can trust some of the white coats here."

Disbelief coats everybody's faces, even Iggy's. It's just strange, seeing his sightless eyes carry emotion when they can't even carry visions.

"White coats?" Gazzy asks, his voice small and scared.

"It only named one," I say, "Jeb. But that is the biggest load of crap I have ever heard in my life."

Iggy makes a sound of agreement.

Everybody asks me more questions, none of which I have the answer to. But I have to pretend, have to act as if I have a clue what's going on. Angel is the only one who understands what I'm thinking, as she's a freakin' mind reader.

But she just gives me a knowing, concerned look as we fall back asleep.