Iggy POV

They'd been gone for an hour and a half and I was way past being worried about them. I was crapping myself. What if something had happened? What if they'd been caught? All I knew was that the longest that Max's headaches had ever lasted was five minutes and well an hour and a half was way, way over how long they should have been gone. None of us could cope without Max.

I'd already got up and started going into the woods about five times already only to find myself back on the rock where I was keeping watch again. The flock needed me more than Max and Fang did. Nudge, although the forth oldest, was three years younger than Max. Too young to be left in charge of the other kids. Too young for everything we'd been through. Just too young.

Max and Fang were big enough and ugly enough (at least I hoped they were) to look out for themselves and for now I had to look after the flock.

If they weren't back in half an hour I would go and look for them but right now I had a job to do and I wasn't going to desert it just yet.

I listened into the night and heard nothing. Max and Fang had half an hour to get back before I took the rest of the flock out to look for them.

Max POV

"Fang" I said "why am I sitting here in my bra and jeans?"

He just gaped at me. The he did the most un-Fangish thing ever. He ran, well crawled real fast, over to me and hugged me like I was the most precious thing in the world. Which I wasn't but all the same it was nice. More than nice actually. I just leant my head against his shoulder.

I realised at that moment how much I needed him. How much I'd always need him.

I still wasn't ready for a relationship and I still wouldn't put our feelings before the flocks but I was starting to wonder if I really did have feeling towards Fang. From now on I'd have to be careful. Very careful. I'd lost Angel once before and I wasn't about to lose anybody else. I would never let any of the flock fall into the hands of the school again.

I realised I'd never actually told them that and wondered why

Because Max you don't want to make promises you can't keep

Hello Jeb. Did you know your psychopath Director just killed me? Couldn't stop that one could you? Face it Jeb Itex is losing control. They have too much power. Are you proud of what you've done?

Jeb was quiet for a while and I thought he wasn't going to answer but then

No Max I am not. But are you happy to just sit back and watch it happen?

I ignored him because for now I wasn't going to let anyone, not even Jeb, ruin the fact that I was still alive. I closed my eyes and listened to Fangs steady breath.

I shuddered to think about what I'd put him through. I remember how I'd felt that day at the beach when I thought he was going to die. The day when I'd kis- No I wasn't going to go there.

I needed Fang more than I thought was possible. But need wasn't the same as love. At least I didn't think it was.

Fang POV

It was real. Max wasn't dead. I was holding her so hard. I was afraid that any moment now she would disappear again and leave me like I'd left her in the cave.

I just wanted to hold her and protect her and I would have done just that if it wasn't for the fact that if I even tried to she would kick my butt so hard it would enter next Friday.

But for now I was just happy she was alive and happy that she wasn't murdering me for even attempting to hug her. Well she wasn't yet anyway.

Small mercy's in life eh.

Max POV

He suddenly pulled away quickly as if he was only just realising what he had just done.

"Fang why am I sitting here in my bra and jeans?" I asked again

Haha. It was worth the embarrassment of Fang seeing me in my bra and jeans just to see him trying to get together an answer. His mouth was opening and closing like a freaking fish and he was getting redder with every second.

I pulled on my jumper mainly because my t-shirt was dripping with blood. Not that the jumper was much better but still.

Also because of the small fact that I didn't really feel comfortable sitting practically topless in front of Fang.

I mean don't get me wrong I was more than curious as to why I wasn't dead and a bit glad too if I'm honest. Not to mention why Fang was so embarrassed about how I was parted with half my clothes, but I'll let him suffer for just a little longer. Maybe you think that's a bit harsh but hey I just died (I think) so I need a little cheer in my life.

Ha. Fang was so red he looked like lobster man.

"Maybe you have a new power" I said "I mean judging by how red you are at the moment we could use you as an eco-friendly central heating system"

Fang looked like he wanted to kill.

"So are ya gonna tell me what happened anytime soon. Don't get me wrong I could sit here watching you do goldfish impressions all night but I really would like to know what happened"

Fang abruptly turned back to his usual ice cool self.

"You tell me" he said "I got here and you were bleeding all over the place. Max you were dead"

Not one to beat around the bush is he? I mean I thought I had died but Fang was now confirming this and it made me feel well scared if I'm honest. Which I am. Well I was being honest now anyway.

"I know" I said even more scared now "I got shot in the chest Fang. How did I survive? People who die generally stay dead. Why should I be the exception to the rule?"

Fang stayed quiet for a minute before he spoke again and when he did he spoke so softly that I wasn't sure whether I heard him or not "I'm glad you are the exception"

I felt like my stomach had been turned upside-down shook around a little then put back into place. But before I had time to even think about what he'd said let alone think of what to reply he spoke again "Well obviously you have a new ability."

"What?" I questioned "What makes you think that?"

"Max you got shot in the chest and then healed again in less than five minutes. Not only that you have no scar. We're all fast healers but none of us are that fast"

Well yeah, but apart from that

"Well how do you know that it wasn't when you touched me when I healed?" I said

"Because I touched you before I took the bullet out. I had to touch you to get your jumper o-"

"You took my jumper off?" I said smirking a little bit

Well I knew he'd took my jumper off that much was obvious but I needed to see his reaction to it and I'd never get tired of seeing him blush. It was such a nice change.

"Oh come on" he said "How else was I supposed to see how you were injured?"

"Well I don't know. But if I was already dead why would you need to see how I was injured?"

Ok just to get one thing straight I did believe Fang and I didn't for a second think that anything dodgy had happened but well Fang had always managed to make me feel embarrassed so now it was pay back time.

"I needed to make be sure that there was no chance of helping you and of course I wanted to see how you'd died" he said looking shocked now "What do you think happened then"

It was my turn to turn red then and Fangs turn to smirk.

"Why else would I take your jumper off Max?" asked Fang still smirking

Yup. Getting redder and redder by the second. Any minute now I would start attracting wasps.

I was about to do my impression of a goldfish when something hit me right on the head like a errrr hard hitting thing.

They had found me and attempted (well succeeded) to kill me which meant that-

"Fang the flock" I cried

I was up and flying before I'd even had a chance to say them three words and Fang was practically my shadow.

Iggy's POV

I'd given them half an hour and they still weren't back. Something must be wrong. I moved over to where Nudge was sleeping curled up on her side and shook her awake.

"Mphhmmm" she grumbled "Is it time to wake up already?"

"Max and Fang have been gone two hours. Something must have happened and we need to find them" I said whilst rubbing her back like I'd seen Max do countless times in order to get her to wake up quicker.

"What? Max and Fang have gone?" she said her eyes wide in terror and suddenly wide awake "I'll go wake up Angel. But I mean should I tell her what's happened I suppose she'll work it out when she sees Max and Fang are gone and of course because she's a mind reader but should I tell her straight away or should I lea-"

"Nudge" I said desperately trying to keep the frustration out of my voice "Just wake her up and tell her"

I moved over to Gazzy and shook him awake

"Gazzy Max and Fang are gone. We have to go and find them so up you get"

Gazzy opened his eyes instantly.

"What? What do we do?" he asked his eyes as wide as Nudges were

"We've got to go and look for them. So up you get"

"Everyone leave your stuff behind for now. We need to hurry" I called

We were up in the air in seconds and let me tell you the atmosphere couldn't be worse. We were all sick with worry. Not even Nudge spoke. That should give you some idea of how bad the situation was.

I didn't know where my amazing direction sense was taking us but I followed it and after about twenty minutes we landed.

"Oh god" said Nudge

"What?" I asked

Angel started crying quietly.

"What's going on?" I asked "Someone tell me what's going on"

"It's Max and Fang" said Gazzy in a small voice

Max and Fang? But they couldn't be here. If they were I'd be able to hear them breathing. I could recognise their breathing patterns in a city of thousands of people.

"What they're here? I don't hear them breathing. Gazzy what's going on? They're not dead are they?" I said

Please don't let them be dead I thought

"I don't know Ig" said Gazzy "It's their shirts"

"What about their shirts?" I asked confused now

"They're both here and they're b-bloodstained" said Gazzy "Real bad"

Crap

"And Max and Fang?"

"They're gone Iggy. They aren't here" said Gazzy snivelling

All of us knew what this meant but none of us wanted to say it aloud.

If Max and Fang had been hurt and weren't here then that meant someone had taken them. Someone who's been after us all our lives.

There was only one explanation for this.

Max and Fang must have been taken to the School.

Fang POV

We were back at the camp and Max was almost in tears. No one was here and all the kit had been left behind. Which meant either the rest of the flock had left in a hurry or unwillingly.

Both of us knew it was the second one but we didn't want to say that out loud.

"How could I let this happen?" Max said

"Max this is not your fault" I said "It's theirs"

I was clenching my knuckles so hard it was starting to hurt.

It never ended. No matter what we did. We were still being hunted like dogs and it was all their fault. Once again the flock was split up and it was all because of power hungry idiots.

"I'm the leader Fang. I'm in charge of them and now they're back in the School. I promised never to let that happen again. Fang what are we going to do?"

Both of us knew exactly what we had to do.

"We're going to the school" I said

Max's face showed everything she was feeling. She never was good at hiding her emotions and right now fear and guilt consumed every feature you could see.

Max POV

Oh God. We were going back to the school and even worse than that the rest of the flock could already be there. We were flying as fast as we could but both of us were getting tired. Fast. We'd both been up half the night and I felt like I'd died. Which now that you mention it I did actually.

We couldn't carry on like this. We'd both soon be too tired to go on.

What were we supposed to do? We hardly had the energy to fly let alone get the others out.

Well voice if you have anything to say then now would be a goo-

Max Paris is the place to be

Why? Is it the flock are they in Paris?

You'll find what you're looking for in Paris

What am I looking for?

No answer

What to do? Where to go? The School in California or Itex in Paris?

The voice had never steered me wrong before so I guess….

"Fang. Change of plan we're going to Paris" I said

Nudge POV

We'd made good time. We'd been going for about eight hours now including our three twenty minute breaks and we were nearly there. There being the School.

The only question was what would we do when we got there? Angel was practically sleep flying and although Gazzy was trying to hide it he was on the verge of dropping any moment.

It all seemed so hopeless.

Now even I was getting tired. Total, who was asleep in my arms, seemed to be getting heavier and heavier.

I flew over to Iggy

"We can't go on like this Ig. The little ones are dropping off and we can't break into the school when we're this tired anyw-"

I cut off there because I'd just saw something that meant we were in serious trouble. We'd arrived. We were at the school. But worse still it looked like their people skills had improved since last time.

We had our own welcome party of say forty flyboys.

"You will surrender" said the closest flyboy

"Uh oh" Gazzy

Uh oh was right. We were tired and weak and hopelessly outnumbered. The odds were against us.

Nothing new there then I thought as I kicked the head of the flyboy nearest to me. That was when all hell broke loose.

Fang POV

"Don't be so stupid" I yelled "Do you really think you can take Itex when you're practically sleeping. God Max what good would it do if you were caught to. Now let's go and check into a hotel somewhere."

"I am not being stupid" Max yelled back at me "Fang they killed me as soon as they caught me. What's stopping them doing the same to the rest of the flock?"

"Nothing Max but they need hope. They can hold there own but if they see you caught they'll know there is no second chance. No one else left to come for them"

Max bit on her lip and reluctantly agreed. That's how we ended up in this five star hotel. Snazzy huh. Plasma TV, twin beds and even those little mints that get left on your pillow. But we didn't care about that all we wanted to do was sleep. The sooner we got to sleep the sooner we could get up and go save the rest of the flock. I was worried. More than worried I was terrified.

I closed my eyes and slowly drifted into a fitful sleep

I opened my eyes and saw Max and the Director. Max had the director by the throat and the anger in her eyes was all too plain to see.

"You think you're in charge of your own fate Max?" asked the Director "Your days are numbered and there's nothing you can do about it"

"Oh cry me a river" said Max before punching the director and jumping off a tall structure

Suddenly the scene changed Max was sitting on a rock by a fire and there was me sleeping on her right

Max suddenly grasped the back of her neck in pain and when she pulled her hand away I saw all to clearly what was there. Her expiration date.

I woke up sweating and breathing harshly. It was only a dream. Only a dream. That's all it was.

I closed my eyes and desperately tried to convince myself that that was all it was. But all to clearly last weeks dream flashed in front of my eyes

Max was being held by two flyboys struggling desperately

'Struggling is useless Maximum. You will not escape.' Said the Director

'Heyya wannabe mum. Long time no see. I'd say good to see you but I'm still trying to get that lying under control.' Said Max

'I don't think you are in any position to be making jokes Max' she smiled

'You think I was joking?' asked Max the sarcasm all to clear in her voice

'Max you are going to die, it's just a matter of when. You can either co operate with us and maybe live a little longer or you can die now. Your choice'

"Oh and that's the first time you've said that to me. Yet here I am" she said "I have no intention of co operating with any of you. But believe me, when I get out of this I will come for you and when I find you let's just say I hope you turtle butt can move fast."

"Don't you see Max? You aren't going to get out of this one. So let's stop with the empty threats shall we"

"I might not be able to get out of this one" shrugged Max "But I am sure as hell going to try"

Max struggled. The director pulled the trigger on the gun and Max fell onto the floor.

I knew. I knew all to well that it wasn't just a dream.

Well that's the end of the second chapter. Hope you all liked it

You all managed to triple how many reviews I wanted last time so let's see what you can do this time

Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed last time

youngraven