Chapter 20

Hello again! It might be a while before I post the next chapter...I'd say the snow days down here are over. And I'm having writers block on hilarious things to say to ter Borcht....grrr.... I hate writers block. It's so inconvenient.

Anyway, I hope you like this chapter....You all have been wanting more on Fang, so I wrote a chapter devoted to his POV. Sorry if it's boring, but it's actually necessary.

Enjoy!

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(Max POV)

Normal. Well, that word is not in our dictionary. I mean, it sort of is, but not in the same context. While a normal day for people without wings would be this: wake up, Starbucks, school/work, McDonald's, sleep. A normal day for us is this: wake up, dumpster dive, run from Flyboy's, get captured, talk to annoying accent guy, escape, run from Flyboy's. Rinse and repeat.

But enough rambling self-pity. It's not like this is happening!

Oh, the irony.

Toad Butt had left us alone, locking us in and angrily saying something that sounded like, "Vooleesh children....doo chanzez.....death upon vem!" As soon as the door closed, our laughter faded as if it had never been there. WE stared at each other gloomily, then started mapping exits and escape routes. Plans of action. Not that there were any. No window's, one door. Life couldn't get better than this!

"I kinda feel like we've been grounded....I mean, they just locked us in this room with stuff in it...like we've been bad children..." Nudge mused.

"They don't know the meaning of bad children yet. Just wait till I get my hands on them!" Gazzy growled. Angel nodded, a fierce look on her face. Summer just stood, looking fearfully at Fang's tank.

"You know what I feel like? I feel like throwing pencils into their ceiling. Who's with me?" Iggy cried dramatically. We just stared at him. He must have sensed it because he said, "What? While we're stuck here, we might as well trash their stuff!" Gazzy suddenly grinned and went to find some pencils. Iggy and Nudge followed. Angel went off with Summer to the other side of the room.

An hour later, we were still stuck doing nothing in that room.

Angel was trying to help summer get better control of her wings. How to dive, twirl, and spring up. All the simple aerial acrobatics. Summer's flying was still a bit sketchy, but at least she could rise on her own now. Angel was even taking the time to show her some fight moves.

Nudge, Iggy, and Gasman were playing hang man on some important looking documents that they had found. Hey, if they leave their stuff here, we're gonna destroy it. That's how it works. Haven't you ever heard the expression, "Finders vandalize, Loser's curse?"

I sat in front of the tank. Fang's tank. Poor Fang. It just had to be him. He floated in the green liquid, apparently unconscious. He was still dressed in the clothes we had left New York in. The clothes were tattered and torn, hanging off his body in an eerie way. At first glance, you would think he was dead. But if you took a good look at him, you could see the slight rise and fall of his chest as he breathed. And if you listened carefully, you could hear the soft sigh of Fang exhaling into the mask. My heart ached with longing to be beside him, for him to hold me, to fly beside me. His wing engulfing me. His silent understanding. It hurt so bad to see him in the state. Occasionally, I would get up and start hitting the glass; daring to hope that I could break it. Like my heart was breaking. But it didn't work. No duh.

I was numb. And blank. And lost. There goes my fabulous plan, out the door with ter Borcht. I couldn't even reach Fang, let alone get us free. So, we waited. Waited for a new event to happen, waited for something I could work with.

Waiting's overrated...

I got up again, thinking, "Oh, maybe another chair will do it........"

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(Fang POV)

There's still pain....lots of it. And I still can't move...But I can see and hear.

I cracked my eyes open. The mask over my face kept the green liquid from reaching my eyes. And what I saw was Max.

Beautiful Max. She sat in front of the glass, staring up at me sadly. Looking as though she'd been crying. It had been a long time since I'd laid eyes on her. Half healed cuts and bruises riddled her body. Probably from the fall.

The others were scattered across the room. They all looked relatively okay, But by their expressions I could tell they were scared and worried. Why wasn't Max going over escape plan's with them or telling them it would be okay? She was just sitting there!

A strange girl was with Angel. Who was she? Another avian hybrid? Obviously, or she wouldn't have wings.

I tried to move again, but my limbs were dead weight. Almost as if I had forgotten how to move.

Why wasn't Max trying to free me? What's wrong with her? Why is she even here?! I knew this was an Itex lab, so that probably means they were captured like me. But why were they free? Unless this was some sort of drug-induced hallucination. Ugh! But I don't think it is. It's too real. Too full of emotion.

Even as I thought that, Max stood up and walked over to a desk with a wooden chair. She picked up the chair and walked back to me. Swinging with all her might, Max busted the chair over the glass.

A sharp ringing sound erupted around me. I wanted to cover my ears, but all I got was a finger twitch. Max didn't seem to hear it, though. She dropped the broken chair and pressed her hands against the glass. Her lip trembled, and a tear rolled down her cheek.

No! No, please, no crying! No!, I thought. I couldn't stand to see her cry now. She was, strong, unmoving. Stone.

Angel and the girl came over to stand beside her. Max put her arm around Angel and gave her a watery smile. Angel smiled back, then looked up at me. Her face was tight and stressed.

"Fang? Can you hear me?" Angel's voice entered my mind.

"Angel!" I cried. "What happened? Why are you here? What's going on? Are you all okay? Why...?"

"One question at a time!" she thought.

"Let's see...we are fine....we are here to rescue you...right now, we are waiting for something to happen...and as to what happened, we met Dr. Martinez, who patched us up, then came here to save you."

"Whose the girl?" I asked.

"Her name is Summer. She helped us find you, in exchange for freeing her and several other hybrids."

"Why are you all just standing there? Get me out of here!" I thought.

A desperate look came over Angel.

"We can't bust the glass...and we can't find another way to get you out. I'm sorry, but you will have to wait a little longer until we talk to the white coats or something. Can you hang in there?"

"I don't think I have a choice," I thought sardonically.

Angel giggled. Yep, that's me, funny man! Woooooo!

Max looked down at Angel with a confused expression on her face. Angel nodded her head at me.

It took Max a couple of seconds to realize that Angel had been using her mind-reading powers. Apparently, she was a little slow on the uptake. Comprehension dawned on her, and she looked at me with hope in her eyes.

Angel came back into my head.

"She misses you. She is lost without you. You're the only one who makes her feel free. Max loves you more than you could believe," Angel said.

"Tell her that I love her, and that I'm okay, to take her time!" I told her.

Angel turned and related the message to Max. Max smiled up at me and mouthed, "I love you too. We're going to get you out. Promise!"

Nudge, Iggy, and Gasman came to stand beside Max. They looked up at me, with a mixture of expressions.

And at which point, the last person I wanted to see walked in.

"'Ello again," ter Borcht said. Then he looked over at us.

"Ah, I see vou 'ave dak'n intrest in vour lidle prisnor, yah?"

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Ok, sorry for the short chapter. And that it really didn't move forward with the story. But a lot of you were asking about Fang, so I decided to devote a chapter for his POV. Sorry for any typo's, I haven't got a chance to proof read this, so please, just ignore them.

I love reviews....and reviews will get the next chapter written faster. I have a pretty good idea of what I'm going to do, and there should be a lot of ter Borcht. SO REVIEW!!!

Also, I'm having a lot of trouble thinking up funny stuff for Max to say to ter Borcht. If any of you have some idea's or suggestions, they would be most welcome!

I want a total of 180 reviews before I post the next chapter. But it might take me a while, so hang in there.

Bye! REVIEW!