AN: Here you guys go! This chapter took forever to write, so I hope you like it:P

DISCLAIMER: Maximum Ride belongs to James Patterson.

CLAIMER: Any new plot ideas and characters in this story are mine, unless otherwise noted.

Chapter Seventeen

The eight of us flew away from the smoking building for about an hour, Serena and Jayden struggling slightly behind us. I don't know how they learned to fly; we didn't learn how to until we lived in the E house with Jeb. Maybe the whitecoats in Washington were nicer than at the School and actually taught them how to fly.

"Land down there, guys," I called out, deciding that I didn't need Serena or Jayden to fall out of the sky from exhaustion on their first day with us. The Flock all landed gracefully, with the two newcomer's stumbling slightly when they touched the ground. My face turned scarlet as I remembered what had happened when that had happened to me.

"Max, we saw a town a little while ago, can we go and get some dinner to bring back?" Nudge asked.

"Alright. You guys can go; Fang, Jayden, Serena and I will stay here. Be back in an hour." I handed Iggy my credit card, and he stuck it into the pocket of his cargo pants before jumping into the air behind the kids.

"I guess we should introduce ourselves a little better, huh?" Jayden commented once the kids had left. Serena stood a little ways off, looking around at the forest. I guess it's pretty amazing when you don't see it every day.

"Sure," I said. "I'm Max, fourteen years old. I'm the leader of the flock, and am able to fly over two-hundred miles per hour."

"Fang, second-in-command," Fang began from beside me, sticking to as few words as possible as usual. "I'm also fourteen."

"I'm Jayden," the boy said. "I'm fifteen, the oldest living American-avian hybrid. I can transfer all pain, physical and emotional, from one person to myself, or vice versa."

"So you can heal people?" I asked. That would be really useful for us.

"Not exactly. I'd still be injured, I just wouldn't feel it. Also, I can't make pain go away. I can either make others feel my pain, including Flyboys, or I can take their pain."

"I'm Serena," the girl behind him said, finally stepping out of the shadows. Her long black hair had camouflaged her so well I had almost forgotten about her. "I'm fourteen and can freeze time for myself for up to ten seconds at a time."

"Only for yourself?" I asked. She nodded. Their powers were both useful, but were very limited.

"What's his power?" Jayden asked, nodding towards Fang.

"I don't have one," he replied, his voice cold.

"Oh…"

"Yeah, but he can beat any Flyboys butt, any day," I said, grinning, trying to break the tension.

"Why do you trust us so much?" Serena asked suddenly. Apparently they were just as paranoid as we were.

"We have a mind reader in the Flock. She already told us that you guys were trustworthy," I admitted.

Jayden nodded. "So, what happens now, Max?"

"We eat when the kids get back, get some sleep, and figure out what to do in the morning," Fang said, placing his arm around my waist. I didn't get why he was being so protective; I was the leader, and Jayden was just acknowledging that.

"We got hotdogs!" Gazzy exclaimed as he landed and ran towards us, waving the famous hotdogs in his hands.

"Did you get any buns?" I asked, laughing at his gleeful expression.

"I knew we forgot something!" Iggy said, setting down the hotdogs he was carrying so he could set up a fire. We all gathered around the steadily growing fire, spreading out of logs. We stuck several hotdogs on sticks and began to let them cook.

Iggy and Serena were chatting on the other side of the fire, which really surprised me. I thought she was silent, like Fang. She was probably just shy, though. Nudge was sitting next to them, glaring at Serena, not noticing that her hotdog had caught fire. Gazzy was gazing at his hotdog, his mouth watering. Angel was stroking Total's back, and Jayden was staring across the fire at me. Fang noticed, of course, and quickly spoke up.

"Max? Can I talk to you for a minute?" he asked. I nodded, stuffing the last bite of hotdog into my mouth. I tapped Iggy on the shoulder, letting him know that he was in charge, and followed Fang into the woods.

"What's up, Fang?" I asked him once we were out of earshot of Iggy. He didn't respond, but he pushed me up against one of the trees gently, lowering his soft mouth to mine. It wasn't exactly talking, but you didn't hear me complaining.

"Well, first I wanted to do that," Fang whispered, pulling back slightly, his arms still on my hips. "And then I wanted to talk to you about Jayden and Serena."

"What about them?" I asked.

"Do you think they should join the Flock?"

"I guess, if they want to. They do have wings, it's not like they'd slow us down. And their powers might come in handy."

"Yeah, that's what I thought. That Serena girl was pretty quiet, huh?"

"She was really opening up to Iggy during dinner, though. I felt so bad for Nudge; she must have been heartbroken."

"Jayden seemed interested in one of the members in the Flock, too," Fang said, waiting for me to figure out who he was talking about.

"Who, Nudge? I hope not; he's four years older than her!"

"No, not Nudge."

"Then who? I highly doubt that it's Angel." Fang sighed deeply; apparently he thought that it was extremely obvious.

"You."

"Me? Yeah, right," I said. Though it would explain why Fang had been so protective when we introduced ourselves, and why he had glared at him during dinner. Fang began to say something else when we heard a stick break behind us.

"Am I interrupting something?" Jayden asked, walking up to us.

"No, you're not," I told him, thankful for the distraction. I slipped out of Fang's hold and backed away from him slightly.

"Can I talk to Max for a minute, then?"

"You can talk to both of us," Fang said, his arm quickly slipping his arm around me again.

"Fine. Are you guys together?"

"Yeah, we are," Fang said, glaring at Jayden. I just stood there, too surprised at how blunt Jayden had been to answer.

"Max?" Jayden asked, not believing Fang's answer.

"Yeah," I replied, resting my head on Fang's chest to prove it.

"Oh," Jayden said. He opened his mouth to say more, thought better of it, and turned around to head back to camp.

Once he was out of earshot, I turned to Fang. "I guess he does like me," I admitted.

"Yeah. But he's never going to get you," he replied, wrapping both arms around me. He leaned down again, placing a gentle kiss on my lips that didn't last nearly as long as I would have liked. "We should get back soon," he whispered, pulling away from me.

"I guess," I replied. He let go of me, so that the kids wouldn't suspect anything, and we headed back to the camp.

"Time for bed, guys!" I called out. The kids all groaned but took out their blankets, claiming a spot for themselves. Iggy searched through the bags, coming across two extra blankets that we use when it's colder, which he tossed to Serena and Jayden.

I grabbed my own blanket and began to walk over to where Nudge and Angel lay, only to be stopped by Fang grabbing my wrist. "Hey, where are you going?" he asked. "Stay here."

I blushed deeply for the second time that day, glad that the darkness masked it. I was really going to have to get these hormones of mine in check; I can't go around blushing all day! "Alright," I whispered back. He led me to the edge of the camp and sunk down to the ground, resting against a large oak tree. I sat down next to him, leaning against his warm chest.

"Get some sleep. I'll take first watch," he whispered, kissing my forehead lightly. He tightened his arms around my waist, and I decided not to argue with him about who gets first watch for once.

"Good night," I whispered, closing my eyes to block out the light from the dying flame.

"Good night."

AN: Did you like it? It's about 1,400 words; my longest chapter yet. It was really hard to write, but I finally got it done. I spent about three hours on this; you better review:P