Chapter 36

The first thing that I realized when I woke up was that I was in a strange, unfamiliar place. I leaped out of the bed as a wave of pain shot through my body. Collapsing back on the bed, I realized that maybe that wasn't such a good idea, and the events of the previous night came flooding back to me.

Daisy's dad tried to kill me. In fact, he nearly did kill me. Looking at my arms and legs, I noticed that they were bandaged. Which made me think of something else – where exactly was I?

My first thought was the School, but knowing them, I'd be in a dog crate and not a bed. Plus, they wouldn't take the time to put bandages on me.

How far was I from home? Did the rest of the flock even know where I was? I started making an escape plan. There was a window that I could crawl through so I could fly away. It wouldn't be easy, with my injuries, but I could do it.

I started to stand up again. That was when the door opened. I fell back onto my bed in surprise as an unfamiliar lady peered at me curiously.

"You're awake," she said.

I crossed my arms over my chest. "No duh. Who are you? Are you with the School?"

She looked confused. "What do you mean?"

I narrowed my eyes at her. Of course, she could be pretending, so I would keep my guard up. "Whatever. Where am I, anyway?"

The lady came in and sat down on the edge of the bed. I scooted away from her. She shook her head. "We found you last night, passed out behind our house. You…uh, looked like you….crash-landed."

My eyes widened. Did that mean she'd seen my wings? But the lady didn't say anything else on the subject. Instead, she told me, "I'm Caroline," she told me, holding out her hand for me to shake.

I glared at her, not saying anything. The less she knew about me, the better.

She sighed, standing up. "Well, if you're hungry, we have breakfast waiting."

I shook my head. "No. I need to leave."

Caroline looked at me. "You're injured. I'm not sure it's a good idea for you to leave yet."

I frowned. "No, I have to go. My flock – I mean, family is probably worried about me. I need to get back."

Caroline shook her head. "You can't leave yet. You'll hurt yourself even more, and I won't allow it." With that, she left the room and closed the door.

I crossed my arms over my chest, thinking. Too bad for her. There was a window, and I was leaving. Slowly, I stood up, my legs shaking. As I crossed the room to the window, I thought, This isn't too bad.My injuries always healed quickly, so I was sure I'd be fine within the next couple of minutes.

I shoved the window open and climbed up onto the windowsill, which made my arms and legs ache. I tried not to pay attention to that.

"Bye," I whispered with a smirk, unfurling my wings.

Right before I could fly away, the door opened again. Caroline had come in, carrying a tray filled with food. When she saw me, she dropped the tray and ran over to the window, grabbing me.

"Let me go!" I yelled, flailing my arms and legs as she pulled me away from the window.

"No!" she yelled back. "What are you thinking, trying to jump out of the window? Were you trying to kill yourself?"

"No!" I shouted, breaking free from her grip and darting back to the window. "I told you, I'm leaving. I need to get back to my flock!"

For the first time, she looked at my wings. "You…can really fly with those?" she asked, sounding shocked. I guess most people would be pretty shocked.

I crossed my arms over my chest. "How do you think I got here, anyway?"

She shook her head. "I know you want to find your family, but you need to rest. You should come have some breakfast, and maybe you'll feel better after that." She kneeled down. "Let's start over. I'm Caroline. And you are?"

"Max," I muttered, looking away from her. I hated people that treated me like a kid. I mean, I was eleven. I could take care of myself.

She smiled. "Come on, Max. Breakfast is ready." She stood up and reached out her hand to me.

I rolled my eyes and walked past her. I wouldn't be seen holding her hand like a little baby. And as soon as I was done eating breakfast, I would be out of this place.

~~::~~

Fang glanced out the window, frowning. Max had gone to that sleepover and never came back. Knowing Max, Fang thought to himself, she's in some kind of trouble.

"Faaaang?" Nudge whined, looking up at him. "When's Max coming back? Is she okay? What if something happened to her and she needs our help? We need to go find her!"

Fang nodded, just as the phone rang. "I'll get it!" Nudge yelled, running to the phone and picking it up.

"It's Jaz!" Nudge called a few seconds later, holding the phone out to Fang. "She says it's super important!"

Gazzy ran into the room, followed by Iggy and Angel. "Is it about Max?" Gazzy cried.

Fang shrugged, taking the phone from Nudge. "Hello?"

"Fang!"Jaz's voice practically shrieked on the other end. "About Max, did she ever make it home last night?"

"No," Fang said, frowning. If Jaz didn't know where Max was, they might have a serious problem on their hands.

"Well….Daisy's dad turned out to be…well, evil," Jaz continued, sounding panicked. Fang nodded – he'd already known that. "And he hurt Max. She flew away, but I didn't know if she made it home okay. I have no idea where she is."

"You're sure she got away?" Fang asked.

"Yeah. Positive!" Jaz paused, then added, "I hope she's okay. I hope you guys find her."

Fang nodded. "Yeah. Thanks, Jaz." They said their goodbyes, and Fang hung up the phone, turning to face the others.

Four worried bird-kids looked back at him. "What are we gonna do, Fang?" Nudge asked, looking like she was about to cry.

Fang put his hand on her shoulder. It was time for him to be the leader again.

"We're going to find Max," he said.