Sorry about that. But literally while I was trying to upload, the Ninjas found us. It was a pretty short fight—I don't think they knew about our little alliance, they'd only sent five. We knocked all of them out within fifteen minutes, and left just as quickly. The first one was just starting to wake up when we took off, Ella driving the car with Jeanne and Jay inside. The car stopped after about ten minutes and I flew down to see why. The others started to land while I asked Ella,"What? The town's only a half hour away."

"Fang and Iggy," she said. "They don't know, they'll be walking right into all the Ninjas."

"Crap," I muttered.

"I was just going to call them but Iggy doesn't have a phone," she explained. "And I don't know Fang's number."

I took out my phone and handed it to her. "Call Fang," I told her.

She rolled her eyes and gave me back the phone. "Grow up and call him," she said. I sighed and dialed the number.

Fang picked up after one ring, sounding confused. "Max?" he asked.

"Yes, it's me," I sighed. "The Ninjas showed up. Don't go back, we've got your stuff. Meet us in town."

"Oh," he said, almost sounding disappointed. "Okay."

"Well, what did you think I was going to say?" I demanded. "I know that voice, Fang."

"I, um—we'll be there," he said. I groaned and hung up. This had to stop. We needed to talk about this.

"He's coming," I told the others. "Let's go."

Nudge and Astrid shared a look. "What?" I demanded.

"Well…" Nudge began. "It's pretty obvious, with you guys…"

"We're done, Nudge. That's it. Accept it. Sorry," I sighed, trying to keep my thoughts—and my feelings—as quiet as possible. I can't take this surrounded-by-telepathic-children thing anymore. It's getting annoying. Actually, it got annoying a while ago.

"Okay," she said, looking at the ground, sounding like she didn't believe me. Well, why would she, with Astrid, Angel, and probably Maggie telling her otherwise?

I looked down at my phone then and it was ringing. I sighed and picked it up again. "What?" I asked, slightly annoyed.

"You never told us where to meet you," Fang said quietly.

"Oh, um… I think there's a park somewhere, go there, we'll find you," I said, and hung up before he could respond. "Okay, guys, we're going to the park." Ella got back in the car, still looking like she wished I would just proclaim my undying love for Fang or something. Which I don't have. God.

We got to the park and Grant, Nudge, and Halley are back on Salvation's trail. They said they might actually be close. We had food, finally, at around eight. Honestly, I'm beyond exhausted. I'll be back soon. In the meantime, keep your eye out for 'fresh starts' provided by your friendly neighborhood cult leaders. Somehow I don't think they'll be fun.

—Max