Hello again! I know it's been a few days since I've updated, but school has been taking up most of my time, so the only time I found to write was during the end of math class or at lunch in a notebook, and then transfer it to my computer.

Anyways, I was super glad that I had more reviews this time! Thanks again to those who took the time to do that for me =]

I know this chapter was supposed to include Ella and Dr.M, and it does, but only at the end and in some phone-conversation dialogue. The next chapter will have more though, I promise. Also, a little Eggy ;)

Disclaimer: I do not own maximum ride, it all belongs to james patterson.

Now on with the show, ya'll!

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________

The rest of the flock was absolutely ecstatic when I told them the good news. Especially Iggy, I noticed with a smirk.

"Now you get to see Ella again, Iggy!" Angel exclaimed happily. I swear his face turned five different shades of red when she said that.

"Yeah, Ella's…nice." We all knew he thought she was more than nice, but we figured we'd leave the poor guy alone already because he couldn't see our meaningful looks (wink wink) and smiles anyways.

Suddenly, Total bounded up to me with a stack of papers in his mouth.

"Whatcha have there?" I asked him, eyeing what must have been at least fifteen papers.

"Poetry. For my darling Akila." He clarified.

I sighed. "Total, you do realize Akila can't read, right?"

He attempted to puff out his chest. "Then I'll read it to her."

I shook my head. What a hopeless case!

I looked at the carefully written cursive on the papers and Total's lack of opposable thumbs. "How did you write this, anyways?"

"Fang did it." He said simply.

My eyebrows shot up. "F-fang?" What a joke!

"Yep. I just recited the poetry while he wrote everything down."

Huh. Who knew Fang was such a hopeless romantic?

As if he read my mind, Total said, " Fang understands true love. He knows that love knows no boundaries and once it begins, it never dies."

I was sure Fang's writing was more like chicken scratch then that loopy cursive Total's poetry was written in. Then again, Fang was constantly surprising me, so there was definitely a chance I had just overlooked the fact that he does have a sensitive and/or emotional side because he was always hiding it. Except for whenever he tries to kiss me. Hmmmm…boys are just way too confusing to me.

There was still something baffling about this whole thing. "How do you know that Fang has such a strong opinion about love? He never talks about that kind of thing in front of anyone."

"Because," Total huffed impatiently, "He helped me come up with some of it. Like this part here." He pointed to a specific section. It said,

When I see you my heart skips a beat and my stomach fills with butterflies

I love everything about you, especially your eyes.

I can't imagine life without you; you're everything I see.

I just want you to know how much you mean to me.

Ok, so it wasn't the best poetry around, but it was dang good for someone who's only had a few months of school in their entire lifetime. Plus, it was a side of Fang he didn't like to show, which is probably why he didn't bother to mention it to the rest of us.

I cleared my throat. "Um…wow."

Once I got over the initial shock, I rounded everyone up. "Ok everybody, we can't just barge in so we're gonna have to make a stop at a town nearby to give them a quick call. Sound ok?"

"Does it involve food?" Was the general reply.

I thought about it for a second. There was just enough money left on my Max Ride Card for one last meal. Besides, my mom would be taking care of food for a while anyway. That was an odd thought. Someone else having that responsibility besides the teenage mutant ninja bird-girl. Ok, so I wasn't a ninja exactly, but it sounded cool.

"Yeah, why not." I answered.

"Yes! Real food! Finally!"

"Gazzy…" I said warningly.

"What?" He shrugged. "I'm hungry."

"True dat." Nudge agreed. Since when did she talk like that? The things kids can pick up when they travel from city to city all the time…

I gave her a look.

She smiled at me innocently. "Let's go homies!" she said, and with that, we took off.

A few hours later, we were all contently full. It only took about a million hamburgers and hotdogs (won't go in to the same old boring story about the waitress's reaction to our orders 'cuz that can get boring after a while), but at least we had finally eaten a nice, hot meal.

We had managed to borrow a cell phone from some kind old lady who took pity on us when she saw the rags we were wearing. Boy, was it hard not to start cracking up right then and there when we saw the look of sympathy on her face!

Now, I was standing with my back to the flock and listening to the phone ring. It felt like hours before my mom finally picked up the phone, but eventually she did, squealing "Max!" I didn't even need to identify myself, she just knew it was me. I knew for a fact that she'd been waiting for me to call her for weeks, which showed through the excitement in her voice.

"Hi mom, how have you been?" I tried to make casual conversation, but she wouldn't have it.

" Oh, don't mind me. How are you? How are the other kiddos doing? Are you guys ok? Have you eaten? Where are you?"

"Whoah, hold on! To answer your questions: I'm fine, getting better actually. The kids are good, too. We're all ok, not too many scratches or bruises at the moment. Yes, we just ate about an hour ago, and we are in some town in eastern New Mexico."

Of course, being the overprotective person she was, she chose to ignore all but one sentence of that entire thing. " Wait- did you say you didn't have too many bruises and scratches? How many do you have exactly?"

" That's not the point, I was actually going to ask you something." I was getting a little impatient. And the little old lady was staring at me through these freakishly huge glasses that made her look like an owl.

"What is it? Do you need money?" My mom asked.

"No, not that. I was actually wondering if we could maybe stay with you." All I heard was silence.

"Um…mom? ? MOM!" What was she doing?

An excited voice suddenly came over the phone. "Oh my gosh, Max!"

"Ella? Where'd mom go?" Did she not want us to stay with her?

" To bake some cookies. I guess she just got a little overexcited. So when are you going to get here?" Wow, they didn't waste time, did they?

" Maybe in a few hours, depending how our wings will hold up in this wind." Having wings and all, it was essential to know how calculate the wind speed and the time it takes to get from place to place.

"Oh, ok. Hurry though, mom's being going crazy for weeks worrying about you guys. She's not usually this jumpy, but with the new and improved flyboys out and about she's just about out of her mind."

My jaw dropped. Fang gave me a cautious look. " New and improved flyboys? How did we not know about this? Where are they? I mean, they could be anywhere and we wouldn't even be expecting it!" I whispered so the others couldn't hear. The old flyboys were bad enough, and just when I thought it would be safe to stay at Ella's I find out there's yet another pending threat!

Everyone else was starting to get worried so I gave them a small smile. No need to worry them now. I have to think of a way to fix this without them knowing. Then again, if we were suddenly attacked, they wouldn't be prepared. Argghhhh! Being the leader was so tough when you have to make such hard decisions!

"Max? Forget I said that, okay?" Ella sounded nervous.

"Ella! Why would mom want to hide that from us? We could get hurt!"

"Well…she was afraid you guys wouldn't want to come if you knew." She replied so quietly I almost didn't hear it.

I don't know what it was, but all worries gone from my mind, I said, "Well, screw that! We'll be there soon."

I handed the cell phone back to the old lady wordlessly. Then, we all opened our wings, getting ready for takeoff. The lady blinked at us and raised her fingers in the sign of the cross and ran away muttering something in Spanish (and quite fast for her age, I might add).

As we flew away, Nudge called down, " Can't you tell the difference between a devil and an angel, lady? Angels have wings, duh!" I swear the lady practically fainted after that.

It was dark by the time we got there. My mom and Ella's house looked very cozy compared to the dark forests we'd been sleeping in. It looked so welcoming and

family-ish I almost cried. Almost being the key word. Maximum Ride does not cry! Well except for the time at the beach when I tried to take the chip out of my arm. I shuddered.

Fang noticed this and put a hand on my shoulder. "You ready? I know this wasn't exactly your first choice. Sorry for pressuring you." He looked down.

I patted his head awkwardly, which caused him to look up at me. "No big deal. Who knows? This could actually be good in the long run." I smiled and I'm pretty sure he smiled back. It was too hard to tell in the dark.

We walked to the door and stood on the front porch. The younger kids were bouncing up and down with face-splitting smiles on their faces. Dang, I'd really deprived them of the real world for a while, hadn't I?

"Knock already!" Iggy cried.

I smirked. " A little eager, are we?" I asked slyly.

"Just knock, Max!"

"Ok, ok!" I knocked swiftly, two times.

I heard footsteps running towards the door before Ella ripped it open with so much force she almost tore it off its hinges.

" Hey guys! Come on in." She waved us in frantically, peering intently into the darkness behind us as if she were looking for something.

"Everything alright?" I asked, glancing behind myself quickly.

She nodded. "Just excited to see you guys, that's all!"

"Hi Ella." Iggy greeted her shyly.

"Iggy!" Ella exclaimed while throwing her arms around him. "I've missed you!"

He blushed and hugged her back. "I've missed you too, Ella."

Ella then moved on to hug the rest of us. Even Fang sort of put his arm around her stiffly while looking away, but it was close enough.

My mom entered the room, wiping her hands on her apron as she came from the kitchen. "Hey kids! Have a safe trip over here?"

I hugged her quickly. "Yeah, about that, Ella told us-

"Come on, have some cookies! I've been baking them since you called earlier! A fresh batch just came out of the oven." She interrupted before I had a chance to mention the flyboys. Ella helped by hurriedly ushering the group into the kitchen while my mom stayed behind. I followed, but not before peeking a glance at my her long enough to see her lock about five different dead bolts on the door and close all of the curtains on the windows.

Ok, something was definitely up, and I was going to find out what it was!

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Well, there ya have it! I know the end was kind of iffy, but it will all explain itself later on in the story. Also, I know Dr. Martinez is a little OOC, but come on, how would YOU feel if you were the mother of a teenage girl with wings? I for one, would not like it if that certain child of mine was flying all over the country with a bunch of other flying kids while there were tons of people out to kill them!

I will post the next chapter as soon as I can! Sorry if it's a little late but I will try to always post chapters within a week of each other, no more than that.

Review my darlings! Please! That would be fabulous :)