Chapter 2

She was back in a crate, staring through the bars at little blond boy, maybe nine years old. He reminded her a bit of Gazzy, fluffy, blond and sparky, but with brown eyes rather than blue. He looked terribly familiar, but it was hard to see him since most of his crate was taken up by white, silver and navy feathers.

"Max!" The boy beamed when he saw her awake and she felt the blood drain from her face. This little boy had her smile, her eyes, the same blond curls she had as a child, this little boy looked just like her. The boy either knew why they looked so similar or didn't notice, because he just continued on like nothing was wrong, "You're okay! I was scared they were going to put you to sleep!"

"Mathew?" The name was out of her mouth before she even registered that she knew it, she started to push herself up, "Mathew, I forgot…"

"Max, your arms!" The boy named Mathew screamed. Her eyes snapped to her forearms, there were deep bleeding cuts running down the inside of her arms from wrist to elbow. She screamed.

Max woke with a yell, grabbing at her arms to stop the bleeding before she realized the cuts were gone. She shuttered, slowing her breathing to a normal pace.

"Max?" Nudge was looking at her with wide brown eyes, "What's wrong?"

"Just a dream." She shook her head.

Gazzy stared at her for a second before he managed, "Are we back? Is this The School again? It doesn't look like it."

"It smells like it." She pointed out, but he was right. The room had dark wood floors and forest green wall paper. The lights were dim, but she could see that the only furniture was a simple, dull metal table with six metal chairs positioned around it like a dinner table. There was a file folder sitting on top, "Anyone remember what happened?"

Angel, Nudge and Gazzy shook their heads, but Iggy nodded, "Fang and I heard you yell from the bedroom. When we went in to find you, the room was full of gas."

"Really original, knock out gas," She nodded and forced herself to stand up and look at the file. There were no words to be read, just a logo on the front and pictures inside. The pictures freaked her out, they were all of children with oddly familiar faces. The first three she was sure she'd never seen before, a set of Asian twins, no older than Angel, and a boy around her age with ash blond hair. The twins were a cute pair, nearly identical, however the boy's inky hair was short and spiky while his sister's had been left to grow long. Th older boy reminded her of Iggy, thin and lanky with shaggy hair and blue eyes that seemed to never focus on anything. The next two made her breath catch in her throat, they were two of the three boys from her dreams. In the picture of the chestnut haired boy he was younger than she remembered him being and it seemed much older than the other photos. She got the sinking feeling that he really wasn't around to take pictures of anymore. The other was of the boy she'd called Mathew, older now, maybe eleven or twelve.

"Who is that?" Nudge asked, peeking over my shoulder, "Max?"

She frowned, "His name's Mathew."

"Do you know him?" Fang wondered.

"I… I don't think so." She admitted, "I just dreamed about him. I knew him in my dream… and he knew me…"

"Maybe it hasn't happened yet." Iggy suggested.

She shook her head, "He was younger in my dream… like nine, but he's got to be about eleven in this picture."

"He looks kinda like you!" Angel piped up.

"She's right," Fang nodded, "He's got your smile."

"And your eyes." Gazzy pointed out, "They've got the same sparkle."

Nudge looked super excited, "Maybe he's your time traveling son from the future come back to warn you about some terrible danger you're about to face!"

She couldn't stop her self from snorting at the idea, "My son? Sorry Honey, I don't think he's my son."

"Nice," Iggy chuckled, "Am I the only one enjoying the fact that she's cool with the idea of time traveling, but as soon as he's her kid, she slams on the breaks?"

"Max?" The familiar voice floated across the room from three dark shapes she hadn't noticed before.

"Mom?" She frowned, going to kneel at her mother's side, "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Dr. Martinez nodded, "Just a headache. Where are we?"

"I don't know," Max shook her head, "What's the last thing you remember?"

"I was in the living room, having tea with Jeb." She frowned, "We were talking about… I don't remember what… Ella came home from school and came into the living room for some cookies. Then the window smashed and the room filled with gas… that's it. That's all I remember."

"Us too," Max admitted, "Nudge, Angel and Gazzy never even woke up. The gas originated in their bedroom."

"Is that Jeb and Ella?" Her mom asked, glancing at the other two bodies.

Max knew one was Jeb, but she brushed the hair from the girls face and nodded, "Yeah, it's them. Why would they take Ella, too?"

"She's probably just collateral damage," Her mom worried.

A flare of anger rose in Max's chest, she'd put her mom and her sister in danger. She didn't have time to say anything else before the door swung open and a dark haired, scientist-like man came in.

"Welcome back, Max," The man smirked, "In fact, all of you, welcome back. You're all a lot better behaved than the first time, but then, you knew what was happening then."

"Who are you?" Jeb, who was just waking up, demanded. Ella, also now awake, was cowering behind him.

"Hm, bossy, bossy!" The man tutted, smiling at Max like they shared some old joke, "I see why you don't like him, you've never liked pushy people telling you what to do."

"I like him a lot more than I like you!" Max snapped back, annoyed.

"Oh, that's cold! And we're such good old friends, too!" The man practically cackled, and then a light went on in his eyes as he noticed the picture in her hands, "Oh? You want to know who this is?"

She rolled her eyes impatiently, "Duh!"

"Mathew." He told her mockingly, "You were so close, the two of you. I wonder how he'd feel? Knowing you forgot him. It really couldn't hurt any more than your abandoning him. Not that any of that is really your fault."

Max's face went dark, "What did you do to me?"

"I had one simple interest when I met you kids… and adults," He sobered, nodding to her parents, "Mathew is very special in ways the those bumbling fools at The School never realized. His blood, you see, had very unique properties that could prevent illness and even old age. For the most part, it doesn't even affect him, raises his immune system at most. But with it, I could devise a serum for immortality! Not to mention, he's a universal donor. He could safely give blood to anyone in the world."

"Nice story," Max sneered, becoming more and more aware of how much this guy liked the sound of his own obnoxious voice, "What's it got to do with me?"

"Well as you can probably imagine, Mathew is a rather difficult person to get your hands on. He's hardly ever alone and, thanks to you, is quiet adept at defending himself. So, I figured, there was a chance that his niece or nephew would have similar blood. The nephew was preferable, more active, easier to get at." His expression changed to one that reflected extreme inconvenience, "Unfortunately, Junior died. You remember how, don't you Max? It was such a shame, a little boy like that falling out of a tree; broke his dear little neck. Of course then, the sister was also unobtainable, everyone watching her like a hawk. I almost went back to the idea of grabbing Mathew himself…"

"Enough beating around the bush!" Iggy finally cut in, "Just spit it out already! What's this got to do with Max."

"Well I wanted the girl." He turned his eyes back to Max with contempt in his gaze, "So I had to get rid of Mummy, now didn't I?"

Lol, now anyone who hasn't read The sequil to When the Wind Blows is like WHAT? BTW the sequil is called The Lake House and you might want to read it because radical stuff happens in it. ~Tygger