A/N: We get back to some real chapters now, and I also have the 2nd preview chapter.

Dr Akana

"SURFACING!"

I jumped off my bed, where I was replying to blog comments, and followed Max outside. I could really do with some fresh air. Max raced up the ladder, and was outside in a flash.

I followed more sedately, and saw that John, Brigid and the Captain had joined Max on deck.

I looked at the sign on the shore. Haleakala National Park. A National Park?

"So how come we're here?" asked Max.

"We're picking up a marine biologist," explained Captain Perry.

"A colleague of ours," went on John, "She specializes in bony fish, which are mostly what the dead groups have consisted of. Ah, here she comes now."

A small woman, with long braided her, and the local tanned look, came towards us. In the background there were kids staring open-mouthed at the Nuclear sub that had surfaced outside a National Park, and Fremont Middle School.

"Hello," called the women amicably, "Aloha." I thought she sounded like a Native.

"Aloha," said Captain Perry courteously.

"Noelani! It's good to see you again," said John, hugging her. He turned to Max.

"Max this is Dr Noelani Akana. She knows this waters like you know junk food, and she can help us."

She must know this place pretty well then. Max looked like she wasn't sure if it was an insult or not.

"Hi," she said coolly.

"Ah, Max," she said, "Max, the miracle bird girl." She looked over her, sharply, but kindly. What do you say to that?

"Uh, that's one name for me," said Max awkwardly.

Dr Akana smiled. "I can't wait to see the others! All right Captain, let's get this ship underwater!"

Did I not count as one of the others or something? I looked down at myself. Oops. I'd faded out.

She threw her bag down the hatch, then slid down the ladder elegantly. John grinned and followed her.

Captain Perry gestured for Max to go down the hatch.

"How about I just fly overhead and meet you there?" asked Max hopefully.

"Okay," he said, "How long can you hover without landing on anything?"

"Uh, I guess about eight hours," said Max. Now that's an exaggeration. If she hovered for eight hours without food she'd probably pass out at the end. And I think the Captain knew that.

Captain Perry just looked at her expectantly.

"Okay, fine," said Max sourly. I chuckled silently. This guy knew exactly how to play Max. I liked him.

"You know we can get you some Valium or something," he offered.

"No!" said Max frustratedly, "Why does everyone keep wanting to drug a child?"

The day Max takes Valium again will be the day Gazzy stops farting, Iggy gives up his bombs, Angel stops trying to control people and I become a speaker for Congress.

I remembered the last time she'd used it. Now that was a good moment. I'd finally got her to tell the truth.

I shook myself back into existence, took one last breath, and went down the ladder.

Dr Akana clapped once. "Okay! We're going closer to where the attacks took place, then stop at about sixty metres deep. Then we'll go on a field trip. Let me put my stuff down, and I'll get ready." She went off to find herself a room.

Finally, we were going to start getting some action. All this waiting had been unbearable. I just hoped that whatever those things were, they didn't decide to attack us.

We're coming Mr Chu, and I'll teach you to try kidnapping Max.

A/N: Here's the next preview chapter:

Chapter 2

"Incoming!" I shouted to my flock. "Down, down down!"

Fast moving object directed towards the flock usually belong to one of three categories: bullets, mutant beings with a taste for bird kids, or vehicles hired by an evil megalomaniac wanting to kidnap us and use our powers. Which might explain why I was working on the assumption that the three black dots meant one thing and one thing only: imminent death.

"Max! Relax!" Fang managed to stop me before I could execute my dive. "I think those are the CSM cargo planes."

It was the Coalition to Stop the Madness (CSM), the activist group my non-winged mom was involved with, that had asked us to go on this humanity relief mission to Chad and to help publicize the work they were doing there. And what with our previous adventures helping them combat global warming and ocean pollution, we were slowly being turned from feral, scavenging outlaws on the lam into Robin Hood do-gooders. Meanwhile, I was still supposed to save the world at some point. My calendar was full, full, full.

So full that I had forgotten that this was the part of out journey where we were supposed to meet with the CSM planes so we could be guided into the refugee camp.

I gave Fang a thank-you-for-saving-me-from-myself look. When his eyes met mine, I shivered down to my sneakered toes.

Gazzy called over to me, "I can't see anything!"

"I can't see anything either!" Iggy complained.

"I'm rolling my eyes, Ig." I had to tell him that because he couldn't see me do it, what with his blindness and all.

"No, there's, like dust clouds below," Gazzy clarified.

I glanced down, and sure enough — the blurry endlessness of sand was even more blurry.

"Not dust devils," Fang said. His dark feathers were covered with a layer of dust, and grit was caked around his eyes and mouth.

"No." I peered downward again.

"Just then angel said, "Uh-oh," which is always enough to make my blood run cold. In the next second, I focused sharply on a few dark specks at the front of the dust clouds. One of the dark specks raised a tiny dark toothpick.

This time I knew for sure i wasn't overreacting.

"Guns!" I shouted. "They've got guns!"

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