Hey Everybody! Thank you to everyone who has reviewed on my story. There will not be a blog entry this chapter but there will be one next chapter so if you have any questions for the blog please submit them. Even if you don not have any questions please review because when I have to make up the questions I will use the pen names of people who review for the usernames in the blog entry.

IMPORTANT: Please go to my profile and vote on my poll with your thoughts on Ember being able to heal people and giving Iggy his sight back.

On with chapter 5. ENJOY!

Disclaimer: I hate saying this but I do not own Maximum Ride. All rights to publish Maximum Ride remain with JP.

I could faintly hear voices in the distance but the words were jumbled together so I couldn't make out what was being said and I couldn't see anything. I felt like I was being held down, I was not able to move any part of my body, my mind wouldn't function right and I was starting to panic. Slowly I could feel myself gaining control of myself and I was able to move certain muscles. I felt the sun beating down on me and a breeze blowing and with my sensitive hearing, I could hear the rustle of the leaves on trees. Carefully I began to open my eyes and the voices became clearer.

"Hey, look she's waking up."

"Finally, she's been out for practically the entire day."

I suddenly recognized the voices as the same ones that belonged to those kids that had fought the Erasers. When my eyes were fully opened I saw that I was surrounded by all six of them and a dog that I did not remember seeing that last time I had seen the group of kids. Even though I knew that, the people surrounding me had saved my but this morning I was instantly uncomfortable being surrounded because it brought back the memories of being cornered at the School with no escape. So naturally I was on edge causing me jump up off of my back and stand in a fighting crouch in front of the older teenagers because they would give me the most trouble if I had to fight my way out of this situation. The older girl and the older boy with the dark hair and olive complexion instantly tensed and prepared to fight me.

"We don't want to hurt you. We know what it's like to be chased," said someone from behind me but there was no way in hell that I was going to turn my back on the two people in front of me. They were practically wearing a sign that said, "I have no problem attacking you if you step out of line." It was obvious they did not trust me. Considering I was outnumbered and they had saved me, I decided to give them a chance and stand down. I relaxed my shoulders and stood up out of my fighting stance.

"I'm Max," said the girl in front of me. "I want answers to every one of my questions and I want truthful answers because I have no problem putting you six feet under if you so much as step a toe out of line." Jeez, she's intense, I thought to myself and I could have sworn I heard a giggle come from behind me.

That's when it hit me. I had seen the name Max on Fang's blog entries. I shifted my head slightly to look at the boy standing next to her. His hair and skin tone was the same as mine and his dark eyes were exactly like our father's eyes while mine were like our mother's eyes. My mouth fell slightly open and not even my usual show no emotion mask could hide the shock I was going through.

"Fang," I whispered though I'm sure they were able to hear me because if this was the Flock then they had the same heightened hearing that I had.

"Excuse me," he said confusion evident in his voice. "Do I know you?"

"I, I am, I uh," I stuttered, unable to form coherent sentences.

"Well, spit it out already," came the voice of Max who was clearly impatient and annoyed at my inability to speak.

"Oh my God!" screeched a voice behind me and this time I did turn around and everyone's attention was diverted to the smallest of the group, a young girl with blonde curls and bright blue eyes.

"Angel, what is it, what did you hear," said Max in a very leader like tone obviously enforcing the fact that she was the boss because no one else made any attempt to ask what the small girl had heard. However, what confused me the most was why they were wondering what she had heard. I had heard nothing out of the ordinary and all of us here had the same range of hearing even if they didn't know I could hear like they could all of them had enhanced hearing.

She looked directly at me and said "You're Fang's little sister!"

Everyone immediately began shifting the direction of their heads between Fang and me noticing the many similarities in our appearance. I was the only person staring at the small girl in front of me who they had addressed as Angel and said to her, "How did you know?"

Max recovered from her shock first and rudely said to me "We ask the questions first. When we are sure we can trust you then we can get to your questions, got it."

"Fine," I replied. If Max was this bossy, all of the time I could tell we were not going to get along but it was probably only because the Flock were her closest companions so I let the bossiness slide. She seemed to be especially close to my brother. No one else may notice but I certainly did not miss the silent conversations they had with each other.

"Why are you here?" asked Max.

"I was looking for you guys," I replied.

"How did you find us?"

"One of my blog readers found Fang's blog and told me about it."

"How do you know Fang is your brother?"

"Other than the fact that we look like each other," I said sarcastically, "I stole some files off of the School's computers and the names listed for our parents are the same." I was quickly growing tired of Max's interrogation session.

"Why are the Erasers chasing you?"

"Because I escaped from the School a few months ago."

"What did they do to you?"

I was generally shocked by the look on Max's face. When I told her, I escaped from the School I had not thought that she would care what happened to me there. I also did not expect her cold expression to soften at the fact that I had experienced the same torture she had. Instead of answering her in words, I decided to show them my wings. Standing tall with my back straight, I took of my jacket and unfurled my large wings hovering a few inches above the ground before touching back down with my wings spread out behind me.

"Wow, you have wings like us," said a girl with dark frizzy hair and a darker skin tone, "Hey, they are the same dark color as Fang's wings."

I watched as Fang unfurled his wings and spread them out next to mine. The black color in them was the same. All of a sudden, I could not look at him so I just stared at the ground and put up my mask designed to block out the world. I did not want to know what he was thinking in case it was an emotion that I didn't want to see. However, when I looked at him his face it was blank like he was hiding his emotions behind a mask like me.

"She's telling the truth Max," said the little girl named Angel.

"How do you do that," I asked her.

"It's one of my powers," she replied "I can control, manipulate and read minds as well as talk to people in their minds."

I had no idea what to say so I just nodded my head and looked back in the direction of Max. She was once again engaged in a silent conversation with Fang that consisted only of gestures. I was instantly jealous that she knew my brother so well and I knew nothing about him. I haven't even spoken to him yet in words and here Max is showing off that she didn't even need words to speak to him.

"Okay," Max said turning her head to face me. "I believe you so we are going to go to Arizona where Mom and Jeb are living. Jeb is a former whitecoat and Mom is Dr. Martinez, she is a veterinarian. They are also my parents. Jeb will be able to tell us if you were at the School and confirm everything you have told us."

"Okay," I said. To them it may look like I didn't care but inside I was jumping off walls. They believed me and were letting me come with them! I could get to know Fang who was the only family I have left! Maybe I would even know him as well as Max someday.

"We are going to stay here for the night and head to Arizona tomorrow," Max continued, "I do not trust you enough to take watch yet at night so the only people who will take watch is Fang, Iggy and me; as usual. If Jeb confirms that, you are telling the truth and when you prove your loyalty to us, you can start taking watch as well since you look about the same age as us. Also, to clear this up since you are going to be staying with us Iggy is blind because of what the School did to him."

I looked over at Iggy with concern and compassion written all over my face even if he could not see it.

"Oh, two more questions," came Max's voice from about seven feet away from me. "What is your name?"

"Ember," I replied evenly.

"How old are you?"

"Thirteen."

"Okay, I am Max and I am fourteen," she pointed at Fang, "Fang is fourteen and Iggy is fourteen," she said shifting her finger to point at Iggy. "Nudge is eleven," she pointed to the girl with the dark skin. "Gazzy is eight and Angel is six." When she was done I looked at the last two kids they looked as identical as Fang and me. "They are the only blood related siblings among us not counting you and Fang," finished Max as if sensing my question. "The dog is Total."

"Hey," replied Total.

"He talks," I said flabbergasted.

"Yeah, so what," said Total daring me to say something about how dogs do not talk.

"We found him at the School," said Angel with a completely innocent expression on her face.

"Oh," was the only thing I could think of saying.

"Don't forget just because I believe your story does not mean I trust you," called Max from the other side of the small camp they had made.

Everyone separated and began finding spots to sleep while Max, Fang and Iggy discussed who would be taking what watch. I sat down with my back against a tree and slowly closed my eyes. My first meeting with the Flock was not as graceful as I had imagined it, mostly because they had found me getting my but kicked by Erasers but in time, I think they would come to trust me. At least I hope because Max had a very strict "do not give me crap" attitude and I did not want to be on the receiving end of her anger.

Please review and vote on the poll that is on my profile. I need opinions about the healing power. Till the next chapter!