I do not own Max Ride, sadly. James Patterson gets all of the credit.

We continued to follow Jeb down the sterile white hallway. My mind was overflowing with questions:

Where is this room?

What is there to discuss?

Why is the flock so important to Jeb?

How did he find us, again?

Why is he doing this?

The list went on and on. I felt someone tug on my arm a little. I jumped and floated back to reality. Fang was pulling me along next to him around a corner. I looked up at his hard face. He was starring forward at Jeb with his jaw clenched. He had a weird look on his face, and for once, I couldn't quite tell what that look was.

Jeb silently led us through a large white door that led us to another hallway. The new hallway was just like the other. Blank with white doors all lined up on the sides. This place was getting creepier by the minute.

My head started pounding again. I breathed in deeply to try and relax my mind, but it only got worse. I couldn't let myself have another brain attack, especially now. I put my hand on my forehead and rubbed it. I realized that was drenched with sweat now. I felt my cheeks get all flushed, and my head start to spin a little.

I guess Fangs had noticed me because he was holding my arm again. I could feel his gaze on me. His eyes felt like laser beams on me, burning my skin.

Suddenly, Jeb stopped in front of a door and pulled a key out of his pocket. He put the key inside of the knob and unlocked it. He then turned around to face us.

"Here we are. The kids are inside, you can go on in." He said calmly. Then he looked at me, "Max, are you okay sweetie?" He reached out his and to touch my face, but I backed away.

"I'm fine." I grunted.

Fang started to walk into the room, pulling me along with him. The room was a peach color, much different than all of the other rooms in this place. A large desk with stacks of paper stood in the corner of the room, and there was a white door on the wall next to it. Other than that, the room was pretty bare. No sign of the kids.

"Where are they?" I could hear Fang ask Jeb behind me.

Jeb then pressed a button on the wall, and the door on the other side of the room swung open. The kids were all standing there shivering. I ran to them and hugged them all. They were all wearing hospital robes like mine and they were freezing.

"What happened to you guys?" I asked.

They didn't move. They were just standing there looking at me. I wiped to face Jeb.

"What did you do you freak! What do you want from us!" I screamed in his face.

Jeb stood there and looked at me sadly.

"I'm sorry Max."

He then walked out of the room and gently closed the door behind him. I heard the locks on the door switch and his footsteps walking away down the hall. My head started to pound even harder now. I dropped to my knees and started crying.

'What is happening?' I asked myself.

'Talk to your flock Max. They need you now more than ever. You need to figure things out.'

"How?" I asked out loud. But of course, the Voice didn't answer me back.

"Max?" I heard Angel say from behind me.

I turned around and saw her standing there crying. My heart broke as I walked over and bent down in front of her. She wrapped her arms around me and buried her head into my shoulder.

Nudge and Gazzy walked over and wrapped themselves around me as well. Iggy bent down next to me, looking blankly ahead of him. I grabbed his hand and squeezed it. His face brightened.

We sat there for a while and held each other. I didn't want to ever let go of them. When they were gone, I felt like I had lost everything. But now that I had them back, I felt a little more whole again. I tried to soak up this feeling as much as I could, because I knew that this feeling might not stay forever.

"Max, come here." Fang said in a serious tone. He was standing over the desk, looking through the papers.

I got up with the rest of the kids and walked over.

"Look." He said, pointing down at a piece of paper.

I looked down at it and my stomach flipped. That happy feeling I had was now completely gone.

"Oh my gosh," I said, trying to comprehend what I was seeing.

"Where are we?"

Gasp. Mwahaha! Okay, well hit the blue button and REVIEW PLEASE!