A/N: Happy late turkey day to all Americans!

"Rise and shine, Max! Come on, wake up!" a playful voice shouted in my ears.

Ugh. I was so not in the mood for this right now.

"Go chase some birds," I muttered, sitting up and rubbing my eyes. Angel was sitting in front of me, giggling. The smell of cooking reached my nose, and my stomach growled. "What's that smell?" I asked, twisting my head.

Iggy was by our reignited campfire. "We chased some birds," he smirked, turning over something on a spit. "I'm not sure if Nudge will eat it yet, but knowing her, she probably will if she can't find anything else."

I rolled my eyes and ran my fingers through my hair, trying to rid it of the sand that had lodged itself there while I slept. It was matted, but at the moment I didn't care. Then I realized that Iggy and Angel were the only ones around. "Where is everyone?" I asked, suddenly worried.

"Swimming," Iggy replied. "They were sick of watching you for hours."

"Hours!" I cried, horror struck. How had I been asleep for hours longer than them? "How long have I been asleep?"

"Just kidding!" laughed Iggy, holding up his hands in defeat. "They went swimming about five minutes ago, Max, chill."

"You shouldn't say things like that," I muttered, taking off my jacket which I had used for a blanket. "I'm going swimming," I announced to the general area. I turned to Angel, who was drawing in the sand. "Wanna come, Angel?"

"Okay," she said happily. "I was just waiting for you to wake up so I could too."

"Aw, thanks," I said, taking the hand she extended up. "Let's go."

We waded into the lake towards Nudge, Fang, and Gazzy, who were having a furious water fight. As we watched, Fang picked Gazzy up, threw him over his shoulder, and spun him crazily in circles. "I give, I give! Put me down!" Gazzy yelled. I suppressed a snicker. That was the wrong thing to say.

"Put you down? Okay!" said Fang and he dunked Gazzy underneath the surface. Gazzy came back up, spluttering.

"That wasn't fair!" he pouted. "You're practically a foot taller than I am and you're stronger!"

"You can fly," Fang said slowly.

Gazzy glared at him and vented his frustration on a giggling Nudge. He sent a huge tidal wave of water towards her. When it hit, she was gone.

"Where did she go?" I called to Fang. He shrugged.

"She must have ducked," he called back.

Then I felt a tug on my ankle. "Ow! What the-!" Then I lost my balance and was tugged under. I panicked, thrashing to see my attacker, but luckily I saw her face before I hit her – it was only Nudge.

I came up, gasping for air. Nudge resurfaced behind me, laughing again. "I got you!" she cried. "You should have seen your face!"

I bit back the lecture about not surprising me like that and smiled instead. "Did you think I wouldn't get you back?" I asked her. "Stupid you…" She had the sense to get scared and dove beneath the water again.

Angel had swum out towards Gazzy already. They began a new game. I couldn't tell what it was, but it was something to do with water monsters and wrestling each other. I wasn't that worried at the moment – even though Gazzy can't breathe underwater like his sister, Angel wasn't dumb enough to drown him.

We continued to fight in the water until Iggy finished breakfast. As expected, Nudge was hesitant to eat ("We killed the birds? Why? What'd they do to us?"), but her stomach got the better of her and she ended up eating as much as the rest of us.

"That's the most I've eaten in practically forever," Iggy sighed contentedly. "I'm still hungry, but I have to say, I'm a good cook."

"Excellent," agreed Gazzy, licking his fingers free of grease.

"Suck up," muttered Fang. "What do you want from him?"

"I'm bored," declared Nudge. "I wanna go swimming again."

I raised my eyebrows. It never got old! Either we were on the run and she wanted to stay in one spot, and now we were in one spot and she was bored. "Go swimming, then," I said, waving a hand. "Everyone can go swimming." The younger ones cheered and ran into the water again.

Fang started to get up, but I stopped him. "Not so fast. You, mister, are staying with me." He groaned and rolled his eyes at me.

"For what?" he asked.

"You're going to help me figure out where to go next. We can't stay here forever."

"Says who?" asked Fang. "I still think that we could." He shook water droplets from his hair onto me like a dog. Guys.

"Don't start that again," I warned. "We agreed that we would stay here for awhile and then we were leaving. Okay? Actually, scratch the okay. That's what we're doing." I dared him with my eyes to contradict me again. I didn't want another fight, but I didn't want to die either. I mean, let's see, on the one hand, we have being on the run, fighting off Flyboys, eventually defeating Itex, and then staying in one spot when we're safe..

On the other hand, we have staying in one spot now and dying. Hmm, wonder which one I'm gonna choose?

Fang didn't argue anymore, so I let it drop. "Anyway…." I sighed, "Back to the list of places to go."

"Thailand," Fang said tiredly, already bored with guessing.

"I'll think about that one," I said encouragingly, trying to keep the mood light. I think I was failing. "It's a possibility."

"Never mind, no, it's not," Fang said, shooting down his own idea. I looked at him questioningly. "We'd stand out too well. All Itex would have to do would be to say, 'Have you seen a group of kids, mostly Caucasian, one black kid, one with an olive skin tone?' and they'd point them right to us."

"Okay, good point," I said. I scratched at a bug bite on my left arm. "Next country."

"Japan!" said Fang, throwing his hands up in the air. I blinked. He never showed that much frustration. "Can we do this later?"

"Yeah, sure," I said, thrown by his outburst.

"Good," he said, and stalked off towards the water. I watched him go, wondering if I had made him mad. That was the last thing I needed. I sighed and pushed myself off of the ground. I wasn't going to just sit here by myself.

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"I figure that there's enough food here for months," said Iggy happily. "We could stay here forever." Fang glanced at me meaningfully, but I sent him a glance back that said, Nice try, but I'm not buying it. I pushed away the guilty feelings.

It's always a good idea to listen to your friends, said Jeb from his corner of my mind.

I thought that you were the one that told me to save the world? I asked him scathingly. Everyone needs to quit changing their minds on me. I'm not some science variable, you know!

I know that, Max. Oh, do I know how important you are.

Been there, heard that. What else is new?

You.

What? I haven't changed at all.

Silence. I hate it when he does this!

I will never forgive you if you don't answer me NOW, Jeb. Tell me!

You will find out. You haven't changed yet. You will change, though, Max. Count on it.

Jesus.

"Max? Are you okay?" asked Gazzy.

I blinked and came out of my mental state. "Yeah, I'm fine. Jeb was just telling me some useless info."

"What did he say?" asked Fang.

"Nothing that will help us," I replied. I put my hands behind my head, lay back on the sand, and let the sun dry me off from my swim. It was warmer today, and the sun felt oh-so-good. I could almost fall asleep, it was that dang peaceful.

"Have you and Fang decided where to go yet?" asked Iggy.

"Um, not really," I replied, looking at Fang, who was pale again. I frowned in worry. What was with him? One second he was fine, and the next he was pale and…sick! Something way in the back of my head dinged. Why was that slightly familiar?

"Staring?" asked Fang coolly.

I glared at him. "No, I'm thinking."

"Of?"

"What is going on with you!" I said, a little loudly. Nudge looked at me like I'd finally lost it. She does that a lot lately. Each new thing that happens, I get crazier, I guess. It's just a little annoying.

"Sweden," said Fang suddenly.

"What?" I asked, stopped in my train of thought.

"Sweden!" Fang shouted. "We can go to Sweden!"

"That's perfect!" I realized. "Since it's a neutral country-"

"-they won't be involved in any war that decides to go on!" Fang finished for me. Any hard feelings he might have had vanished, poof! This was perfect.

"When are we leaving?" asked Nudge sadly. Her face was sad, and I could tell that even though she had been bored, she really didn't want to leave.

"We can stay here for awhile, I guess," I replied. She grinned, and her face lit up.

"Thanks, Max! This is going to be great! We can swim and eat a lot, I guess I can live with the birds, and-"

I let her drone on and Jeb decided to chip in.

Listen to your friends, Max. I told you.