A/N: I would've updated sooner, but my internet wasn't working. I have heaps of fanfics to catch up on now. I should be able to update soon, though. Please enjoy…
XXXXRULERXXXX
Recap:
"I made a mistake, Iggy. I'm trying to repent for it."
He stayed silent for a moment, his head creased in thought.
"Hurry up and go," I told him.
"Thanks," he muttered before he was out the door.
I watched him go, tears running down my face. I finally broke down. I slid down the wall and sobbed loudly. I knew that I was never going to forgive myself for putting him in danger.
XXXXRULERXXXXChapter 36- Not again!
Iggy's POVIt had happened again! The same thing happened with his so-called 'parents'! He'd thought he'd finally found where he belonged. That just maybe he could live a life or normalcy. But no, he had to get parents who wanted to sell his story to the world, who wanted him to suffer!
So he thought he'd actually had feelings for Shauna, but instead she stabs him in the back. She was spying on him the whole time. Did she mean anything she said? Was she sorry, or was that part of her act? How could he ever trust anyone outside of the flock again? Could he even trust the flock?
He banished that thought from his mind straight away. If he couldn't trust his flock, his family, then he was in for an even rougher life.
He let out a frustrated groan and met Max and Fang outside. He could feel their stares, and knew they were studying him closely.
"We need to get out of here now," he said forcefully.
"Why?" Max asked quietly. "What happened?"
He closed his eyes and scrunched up his face. "She was with the Director the whole time. She was meant to monitor me. She said they captured Nudge. I don't know whether to believe her…"
He could sense their disbelieving stares, but he didn't elaborate.
Max's POVPoor Iggy. I know he really liked that Shauna girl. So why did this have to happen to him? Were we destined to be a group of six bird-kids for the rest of our lives? And was it really fair that I had Fang, while everyone else only had friends? Would Iggy be lonely forever? Or was the Flock enough for him?
"We need to figure out if they have Nudge," I said, taking on an air of superiority. I had to be the leader in these situations.
"How?" Fang asked in his quiet, deliberate voice.
"I think we should find he Australian Itex," I said, making everything up as I went along.
"And do what- break in?" Iggy asked, obviously still agitated about his girlfriend.
"Let's walk and talk," I instructed, eyeing Shauna's house.
We walked down the street and talked tactically. We needed to find information. Somehow there had to be a place we could get it from.
"We need a computer," Fang suddenly said.
I spun to him and grinned. "Perfect!" I practically yelled. Fang was startled, but smiled slightly in return. I grabbed his arm, then Iggy's, and started walking swiftly.
"Iggy, take us to your school. We're going to research."
XXXXRULERXXXX"I can't believe we just accidentally picked the lock on the library. Now we aren't trespassing, we're trespassing and using the library's property," Iggy said.
"What's your point?" I asked, a little confused by his tone. He never used to care about this sort of thing.
"I think it is awesome!" he whisper-yelled. "Just like old times!"
I laughed quietly and even Fang joined in.
"Okay, type in 'Itex'," I instructed Fang, because out of all of us, he was the best with computers.
"This sure would be a great time to have Nudge," Iggy said softly, almost regretfully.
"We'll get her," I reassured him. "We'll all be a Flock again."
"I hope so," he mumbled.
"It lists all of Itex's branches on this site," Fang announced, peering intently at the screen. He clicked on a button labelled 'Australia' and then waited for it to load.
"I wish we could just click on a 'come and learn all our secret information' button instead of flying all the way to some outback Australian town or whatever," I said regretfully.
"Well, this site says there are a couple of Itex branches in Australia. One in the Northern Territory, one in Tasmania, and one in Western Australia," Fang said.
"Isn't Perth in Western Australia? If it was on the way to get Angel and Gazzy, that would be great," I said happily.
"It's in Kalgoorlie," he said slowly. He quickly opened up another window and brought up an Australian map. Tracing a path with his finger, he said, "It is definitely on our way to Perth. In fact, it's surprisingly close to Perth."
We all stood in silence for a moment
"Why does this feel like a trap?" I asked, breaking the silence.
"Because we're all incredibly paranoid?" Iggy put in.
"I have a bad feeling about this," I said, stressing my point.
"Max, no matter what we do, something is bound to go wrong. It's natural to feel paranoid, but I doubt they'd think we'd go for their Itex branch," Fang soothed.
"Well, I think we should get Angel and Gazzy first, so they don't know we're on our way," I said thoughtfully.
"But they're expecting us in Perth. If we go to Kalgoorlie, they they'll be surprised and we'll have more chance to get the information," Iggy injected.
"But then they'll expect us in Perth if they know where close."
"But they already expect us," Iggy argued.
"But they'll-"
"I think Iggy's right," Fang said, causing my mouth to drop open.
"What?" I demanded. Who did he think he was? He couldn't just undermine me like that!
"They're already expecting us in Perth, so we might as well go to Kalgoorlie first. Besides, it's on the way, it'll be easier," Fang explained.
I stood in angry silence, studying Fang's face.
"Fine," I huffed, then turned away and studied the computers. I could sense Fang's dismay to my reaction and Iggy's confusion, but I didn't look at them.
Why was I acting so selfish? you might ask. Well, I was ticked off that Fang was not agreeing with me. It was a silly thing to expect him to agree with me all the time, but I couldn't help it. Everyone has bad moods.
I had to accept that just because Fang and I were 'together' didn't mean that he had to do everything I said.
I sighed and turned back around. There was confusion in Fang's midnight eyes, and Iggy was frowning.
"Print off the information so we can get out of here," I instructed.
Fang heeded my order and we gathered our stuff.
"Who's in there?" a gruff voice called out.
We all froze.
"Crap," Fang muttered.
We ran for the back door of the library, dodging computers and bookshelves.
It was some teacher or grounds person or guard (who knows which one?) chasing after us, calling out the whole way.
We burst out the back emergency door and shot into the sky.
I looked down to the ground after we were a fair way up and started laughing when I saw the man searching the grounds frantically.
We dropped down a moment later and I doubled over laughing. Iggy was rolling around on the floor, probably laughing more out of relief than anything else. Fang grabbed onto me and we spent ages laughing together, even though there was nothing really funny in particular.
XXXXRULERXXXX Angel/Ariel's POV"Something suspicious is going on," Total muttered to Ariel as she sat in her room.
To some people, having a talking dog would have been crazy, but there were a lot of things Ariel could do that other girls' couldn't.
Like reading minds, for one thing.
"Mum's taking a lot caution than usual. I mean, I was grounded for no real reason! This is so unfair!"
"I just hope this doesn't turn around and bite us in the butts," Total said angrily.
There was a knock at the door.
"Come in," Ariel called.
Ariel's brother, Zephyr, entered the room.
"Time for bed," he said, sounding tired and mopey.
"What's wrong?" Ariel asked, pulling back the covers and climbing into bed. Total jumped up and sat next to her, snuggled close.
"Nothing…Mum just told me I can't go to my friend's birthday party. I was really looking forward to it," he said glumly.
Ariel frowned. "That's unfair!"
He shrugged. "It doesn't matter."
His mind was saying something else. This always happens to me! I was really hoping to go to that party, all my friends would be there!
"Goodnight, Ariel," Zephyr said with a sad smile.
"G'night," Ariel replied, sinking down into her bed and feeling really sorry for her brother. She had to do something about this whole thing.
Something was really wrong…