Sorry for such the long wait. My computer was infected with a nasty virus and some summer lightning blew out my modem on my computer. Then life played a huge factor-which I don't even want to go into. Hope you can leave a review!

Enjoy ^^

I do not own Maximum Ride

* Ghost *

Screaming. Cries and shouts. The crack of the whip. Blood stained straw. I stood in line, fear and anger churning waves in my stomach, my heart beating wildly in my torso. Adaline was ahead of me, teeth gritted and wings open as she was lashed on the back. She didn't cry out. Didn't wince. She stared Ring Master straight in the eye, tears slowly streaming down her cheeks one by one, her eyes flaming with an intensity so strong, Ring Master could bare to watch.

Adaline stayed strong. Her back was lashed raw, blood trickling like molasses down her spine.

"Next."

Thorn stepped forward onto the block. She was shackled to the post. She bent over so her spine was curled, her wings opened. The Conductor opened the back of her gown.

Thorn screamed as the whip cracked against her skin. She clutched the bar, her teeth sinking into her lip. She stared down at the pool of blood collecting around her toes.

Ring Master stepped up to unlock her shackles. Thorn's head shot up, glaring into his eyes, her hands clutching his wrists.

What happened next is what I can't explain. Ring Master fell to the ground as if he had been shot, as if pain was ripping through his chest.

"Give...her twenty more." He spat when he finally got back to his feet.

Twenty lashes and a bloody, unconscious little girl later it was my turn.

"Next."

I stepped forward, catching Adaline's watering eyes. I would be as strong as her. I would be. I had to be.

There was the repeated crack of the whip...

Burning like flames against my side...

And my world went black.

*Drakkon*

Some girl laid next to me. She looked about my age, maybe a year older. Considering I was ten, of course. About ten. Heck, I'm not really sure. I think Ring Master called her Thorn. I was shackled to her, against my will, of course. Everything in my life had been against my will. Getting black, shimmery wings put on my back, getting my eyes messed with, causing my odd power. Being held in a cage and working for the Circus...

I preened my medium brown hair that fall to about my hips, being careful not to look at the girl with my hazel eyes that contained flecks of gold. If I looked into someone's eyes...

The worst it can do is kill them.

Like my sister. I was forced to look into her eyes, and now she's dead.

Getting branded was against my will. Getting whipped for trying to escape wasn't fun either. Like I would choose that. Thanks to my unnatural super fast healing, where I was whipped between my wings was now only a pink line, a scar that would last forever.

"Adaline? You awake?"

I jolted at the words, accidentally yanking on the girl shackled to me. She only whimpered.

The girl the boy had asked for had save my life. I was being strangled by a Conductor, and she had knocked him off me. The girl who had lead the escape party of mutants out of the now heavily guarded crate trailer. She groaned, slowly turning over so she was on her back, looking up into Shade's eyes.

"W-What are you-?"

"We share a cage now." Shade muttered. He showed her his wrist, and hers raised in unison with his. They were too shackled together to the gasped, tugging at the shackles.

"T-This can't be happening. I-It can't be!"

"That's offensive." Shade muttered, trying (and failing) to lighten the mood.

"Addy?" A sweet voice echoed through the darkness of the crate trailer. "You awake?"

"I am now." The girl called Adaline mumbled. "You okay?"

"Fine. The lashes sting, but I can manage." I caught the small fox girl smiling weakly. She was shackled to a tanned boy with golden-copper colored hair and mesmerizing dark blue eyes with silver flecks. He was whispering urgently to a boy in another cage, who was laying, clutching his face.

"Ghost?" Adaline called. The wolf boy in the crate next to mine moaned, holding his side. A girl with white, cat like ears that stuck out from her wavy, jet black hair. Her gray eyes were wide with fear.

"Ghost?" Adaline called, this time more urgently. Ghost grunted, unable to respond. He clutched his side where he too had been lashed and blood was still gushing from the source of his pain.

"Ghost!" Jini cried, tears flowing freely down her cheeks at the sight of her brother. "Ghost-"

"I...I think he'll be fine." The snow leopard girl gulped. She turned, her gray eyes slowly fading to a pale green. "I-I'm trying to stop the bleeding."

"Ghost-" Adaline broke off, unable to continue. A sob caught in her throat, but she quickly swallowed it. She then breathed, "Ghost...I'm so sorry..."

Ghost's ears twitched, but he remained silent. Jini was sobbing, tugging at the bars of her cages, helplessly unable to get out. The sight of her mangled brother must have been driving her insane.

"Ghost...please forgive me..."

"Oh, just shut up and stop being a baby."

I knew the girl who spoke. Her name was Violet. She had long, straight white blonde hair that fell to about her hips. Long lashes framed her cold violet eyes. Her gown dipped a bit, exposing her shoulder, where the word PERFECT was carved into her light tan skin. It was raw and still bleeding.

Which conductor had done that to her?

Violet looked about thirteen. Things ticked her off real easily.

"Excuse me." Adaline glared, her lip curling. "I wasn't talking to you."

"Now you are." Violet responded, her vice icy but a small smirk was causing the corners of her lips to twitch.

Adaline closed her mouth, running her tongue over her teeth. I watched the bulge move, her eyes narrowed in annoyance. They flickered back to Ghost, becoming warmer.

"I mean, it's your fault, isn't it? You lead us out of here." Violet continued.

"I realize that, thanks." Adaline snapped. "How about you shut up before you regret it?"

There was silence. The laughter. High, cold laughter. It was demented. Violet was grinning as she cackled.

"What ever you say, 'Addy'." She wiped tears of laughter away from her eyes, sinking back into the corner of her crate. "What ever you say."

* Adaline *

My back stung as gingerly opened my wings, testing how raw my back still was. Ring Master had commanded that I had gotten the most lashes. I didn't care as long as now one else had to suffer. No one would any more.

"When's the next show?" I croaked. Shade handed me the water bottle that came with our meal. I drunk it down in a gulp.

"Thanks."

"Sure thing." He nodded. "I think it's tomorrow. Today, maybe. Time doesn't seem to exist here..."

"I know." I whispered. I curled up as far from Shade that the shackle would permit, and closed my eyes.

It seems I had just closed my eyes when a sudden burst of light awoke me.

"Circus time. Better behave now, freaks. Bunch of ya are being auctioned tonight."

Shade's and mine's crate was shoved open. We were dragged by the link of our shackles to the changing room until our collars were put on. We were dressed in the usual black trench coat, but this time we were dressed in a one piece black jumpsuit.

We were lead into the spotlight. I held my chin high. We flicked off our trench coats. With the beat of our wings, we were in the air, the flesh on my raw back screaming.

I sat in the back of my cage, Shade's wrist pulled up over his head as he slept. Anxiety crawled and scrambled through my stomach, making me want to barf. Why couldn't I be as defiant and strong as I had been when I had been being whipped? What if Ghost, Jini, or I was auctioned? We would never see each other again...

"No show, no possession..."

Possession? What possession did I have? I didn't even have rights or wills!

There was a shaft of painful light, and the slamming of crates.

"Adaline?" Ghost slurred, his head bobbing up from his knees. "Jini..."

"Jini what?"

"The show's over. Jini was the last act with a few others. They just returned. Jini's not with them."

The auction...

I strained my ears, my eyes squinted shut. My raptor hearing picked up the words of the Conductor, the breath of someone dear and loved...

"No show, no possession..."

The words of Ring Master murmured quietly in my ears as it struck me. No show. We tried to escape.

But I did have one possession.

Jini.