Hey everyone! I have a couple announcements to make!

1-I think starting the 14th of July we will be on vacation in the Bahamas. So I don't think I will be able to find a place with Internet access but the good news is I'm allowed to take my laptop so I can probably get a chapter or two done! We'll get back a week later.

2-I would like to thank all of you for being such amazing reviewers and supporting me throughout this!

3-Saddly, I am coming to an end of the story! I plan on having only two or three more chapters left of this story! (Gasp!)

4-That last chapter was actually chapter 25, not 26, sorry!

5-The ending will be kind of, okay, majorly, cliff hanger-ish!

6-(IMPORTANT! MUST READ THIS!) If I can get TEN people, ten DIFFERENT people, in reviews, to tell me they want a sequel then I will write one. But only if you people want one will I write one. So all you have to do to get me to write a sequel is to click on the little review button and tell me I should write a sequel. Easy enough, right?

Okay, that's all the announcements I had! On with the story!

Chapter 26

Max pov.

"I'm gonna go look around. Make sure there's no one suspicious around here." I stand up and Angel stands up and walks over to me.

"Max, we should call Shane's house. Tell them what's going on. They'll wanna know." She tells me.

Oh yeah, the Tunnel Guards! I had completely forgotten about them . . . "Right, umm, okay, I'll use one of the plane's phones. Meanwhile, can you ask Fang how its lookin' outside. Tell him to make sure there's no one on our trail." She nods and I ask one of the flight attendants where the phone was.

She points off into a direction and I walk over to the phone and call Shane's house.

"Hello?" A perky little voice says.

"Hi, is Shane there?" I ask.

"Just a moment." A few minutes later Shane's voice comes onto the other end of the phone. "Yeah?"

"Shane, its Max--"

Max? Where are you guys?"

"Well, we're on a plane." I say.

"I thought you hated planes . . .?" He says suspiciously.

"Well, I do, but . . . you see, we found Fang's parents, the erasers busted into their house, Iggy and Gazzy took 'em out with some explosives, and so now half the flock is flying and half is on the plane with Fang's parents flying down to Arizona. We're gonna have them stay with my parents so we won't be back for a while."

Once I explain the entire situation I hang up the phone and turn to walk away but run into a man carrying a styrofoam cup of coffee. He drops the cup and a bunch of papers in surprise. He has black hair and light brown eyes with sharp features and probably in his late forties. "Sorry," I apologize.

"No," he sighs, "it was my fault. I should have been watching where I was going." He bends down to pick up some of the stuff.

I bend down to help him and pick up a stack of papers. A word on the paper catches my eye: Fang. I read it. It says, "Unnamed, goes by Fang, fourteen years old." The rest was just more information about him. I keep reading and find more info on the rest of us and Itex as well.

"You're with Itex." I remark.

The man looks up and snatches the papers out of my hand.

"How would you even know what Itex is?" He says snidely.

"Oh my, you work with Itex and you don't even know who I am. That's a new one." I raise my eyebrows.

"Okay," he says, lowering his voice so its barely audible, "first of all, I do NOT work with Itex! I'm completely against them--" I cut him off.

"In that case, I may not kill you after all."

"Let me finish." He glares at me. "Who are you anyways?"

"Maximum Ride, at your service." I roll my eyes and wait for him to start gawking.

His eyes change from hard to soft. "Maximum Ride? Max? Are you serious . . .?"

"No, I'm kidding, my name's Anne Frank." I say sarcastically. "And who might you be? Abraham Lincoln?"

"The papers were right." He mumbles.

"I take it you've also been informed on my stubbornness. Now who are you?" I give him a menacing look.

He returns the look. "I'm--"

"Max! Max!" Angel comes running over to me before he can finish the sentence.

"Fang wanted me to tell you . . . wait, who are you?" She stops mid-sentence.

"He was just about to tell me that before you--"

"Fang?" The man cuts in, eyes incredulously wide.

"Yes, jeez, what is this? Cut everyone off before they can finish saying anything day?" I shake my head. "Hang on will you, mystery man, I'll be right back." I pull Angel off to the side. "What is it?"

"Fang told me to tell you that its all clear. There's no one tailing us. He says there aren't any planes or choppers or erasers or flyboys anywhere near here. And that they're over to the right of the plane but up a little bit so they're out of view. Max, who is that guy and why does he know who we are?" She asks nervously.

"Kids, what's going on?" Airla walks over.

"Airla!" The man exclaims miraculously.

"Oh my God." Airla stands, frozen in shock, staring at him.

"What the heck is going on here? Who is he and why do you know him?" I ask.

Dominick, Will, Jonathan, and Emalyne all come over to see what's going on. Passengers turn in their seats and crane their necks to see what all the chaos was about.

Airla and the man are staring at each other intently.

"I thought you were dead." She whispers, almost frightened.

The man just stands there, stunned. "I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry?" Airla yells. "I'm sorry doesn't come near enough to cut it! Where the heck have you been?"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. lets back up a little bit." I announce. "Who are you?!" I practically scream at the man.

"My name's Jason." He says quietly.

"Jason?" I ask, my eyes widening. "You mean the Jason you told us about?" I turn to Airla.

She nods.

"You're Fang's father?" I ask skeptically.

"Yeah, I guess so."

Jonathan stomps over and slaps his brother on the face. "Idiot!"

Jason shrugs it off. "I deserved that."

Airla walks up to him. "How could you not come back to me after we had our son?" She slaps him even harder. Ouch!

"And you deserved that even more . . ." I say quietly.

He glares at me and suddenly looks tired. "Where's my son?"

I point outside and lower my voice. "Flying beside the plane."

"Oh." He nods. "I want to meet him when we get out of this plane."

I get up in his face and say threateningly. "We'll see."

GO READ ANNOUNCEMENT NUMBER 6 NOW!! If you haven't read it then read it. Sorry, but I know people tend to skip everything at the top and so I just wanted you people who did skip it to go back up and READ IT! Please review! -Kristen