I woke up to sun in my eyes, loud voices nearby, and the realization that sleeping on sand wasn't the best idea. I groaned and rolled over, trying to recover my brain back from sleepy-land. It didn't work too well.

"Unnngh..." I moaned, brushing tangled hair from my eyes and propping myself up on one arm.

Angel looked over at me. "We have bacon if you want it, Max. Iggy's cooking."

I blinked at her. Huh? "Oh. Okay. Thanks." Was it that late already? Jeez.

I stood up, wobbly, and immediately sand poured off my shirt. It was even inside my shirt. Ugh.

Gazzy and Angel laughed at my expression. I smiled a little and shook the hem around, looking like an idiot, to get the rest of the grains off me. They laughed harder. Who said I couldn't relax? I don't have to take everything seriously! And this was just after I woke up. Some people are so judgmental.

I looked over at the loudmouths by the fire. Iggy and Fang were arguing about something while balancing a rolled out tin can over the flames. Strips of bacon sizzled and spat grease outward. Nudge sat nearby, staring into the distance with wide, unaware eyes.

Fang saw me and cut off his conversation with Iggy. "Get enough sleep?" he said, smirking.

I glared at him. Okay, so I fell asleep before him last night. Can you blame me? I was the one fighting super freaks. I was the one who flew across Europe. He sat on his butt and did what? Yeah. He blogged.

"Bite me," I replied grumpily. I snagged a piece of searing bacon off the 'griddle' and popped it into my mouth.

"I'm sure he would love to," Iggy said snidely. "Especially after yesterday's—"

Fang slapped a hand over Iggy's mouth and rolled his eyes at me. I decided not to dignify Iggy with an answer, stole more bacon, and went to sit by the now giggling Gasman and Angel. Nudge looked around, startled by the noise.

"What? What happened? Why is everybody laughing?" she asked. Angel motioned her over, rolling her eyes, and started whispering in her ear.

"So, what's going on today?" Gazzy asked innocently. "Where to?"

"Well, I was thinking...I've gotta talk to my...mother. About stuff." About why the hell she let me be turned into a freak, I thought, but I didn't say it out loud. About why she didn't tell me who she was when I first met her. About her and...Jeb. I shuddered. Angel looked at me knowingly, then smiled.

I stopped talking, glanced at the group and was unnerved by what I was seeing. The flock looked happy. Content. For once, they weren't wondering about the next Eraser attack and how to avoid it, and escape routes, and how soon they would have to go hungry again. Or maybe that was just what I felt.

In any case, everyone seemed relaxed. Fang and I peeked at each other and passed a look of understanding. He nodded. "Actually...what do you think about staying here for a few days? We need time to cool off," I said slowly.

Angel jumped up and threw her arms around my neck. "Oh, thank you, Max! We can go swimming and build sandcastles and sleep..." She trailed off in happy oblivion. "And the fish! This'll be just like last time!" She raced to the water, Nudge right behind her.

"Yeah, this will be so totally cool. And I like, totally need to work on my tan. Pasty legs are so not in this season," Gazzy said in a perfect imitation of a valley girl.

We cracked up. Even Fang smiled.

The rest of the day passed quickly. We all played in the ocean as much as we could without dying of heatstroke, and when we got hungry Iggy and the Gasman bought some food from a local grocery store. It was the best thing that had happened in a very, very, very long time.

After dinner, Nudge came up with the idea of telling spooky stories. The normal ones, not the truly frightening evil-scientists-are-after-me kind. We all told some [and many were self-created and very, ahh...creative but Fang's was by far the best.

"One night, a couple was driving along an old road that crossed a set of railroad tracks. It was rumored that an entire school bus had once gotten stuck while crossing over, just as a train was coming, and it was said that the ghosts of the children still haunted that spot."

Fang's naturally quiet voice added to the feel of the story, made it scarier. Wooh, boogeyman!

"The man—Freddy—stopped the car right in the middle of the crossing to scare Jean. She was scared, but he was laughing. Then the lights started flashing, and a bell clanged. Jean thought the ghosts were trying to scare them, but Freddy calmed her down and said, "Don't worry, it isn't the ghosts. It's just warning us that there is a train coming."

"Well, that didn't really help their situation. Freddy tried to drive off the raised platform but his car wouldn't cooperate. He kept ramming the keys into the ignition and flooring the accelerator. Now they were both scared. Jean finally figured that the car wouldn't move, and she yelled, "We have to get out!" at him."

Fang was grinning at our horrorstruck faces now. He always liked creeping people out. Weirdo. "Freddy tried and tried to unbuckle his seatbelt. It often got stuck, and of course now was the worst time for it to jam. Jean pounded the clasp, frantic. She was sobbing by this point. The engine worker on the train had seen them and was blowing the horn repeatedly, but he couldn't slow down in time."

Nudge had scrunched her knees up to her chin and was gnawing on a thumb. We were silent.

"Suddenly the car lurched forward until it was totally free of the tracks. The train rushed by, the conductor yelling obscenities out the window. Jean asked, "How did you get the car moving so fast?" Freddy looked at her, still breathing heavily. "I didn't," he said. "It must have been someone else."

"They eventually went out to look around. On the other side of the tracks there was nothing—no footprints, no anything. They gave up looking and headed back to the car. Only then did they see what was there. On the back trunk were handprints, small handprints. Child-sized handprints.

"Freddy and Jean didn't move. They couldn't speak. A gust of wind came out of nowhere and blew the dust up around them. The couple heard very faint, high voices say, "You're welcome," as the breeze swept through the area. The handprints faded from the back of the car as it died down. The dust settled, and Freddy and Jean just looked at each other."

I swear, if a twig had snapped right then, every one of us would have screamed and jumped a foot in the air. It was dead silent. Pun intended.

Fang grinned evilly in the shadows. Gasman and Nudge let out a long breath at the same time. I smiled, delighting in the shivers that ran down my spine.

"You win," Iggy said softly.

We laughed. It broke the silence, and the tension. I immediately noticed Angel's eyelids drooping.

"Come on. Time for bed."

I, being the selfless wonder-creature that I am, shot Fang a glare that clearly said there would be no room for argument about who was on watch duty. He raised an eyebrow and came closer to me.

"Wake me up, Max," he said quietly. "Don't even think of taking the whole night."

His nearness made me flush. I didn't look up. He chuckled but didn't say a word. That made it worse, of course. Just label me a hormonal teenage girl; the way I was acting made me fit the stereotype.

He bent closer, enjoying my discomfort. That was too much. I looked straight into his eyes, daring him to make fun of me. His breath blew in my face. I was getting angry.

"Don't be stupid," I whispered scathingly. "We all know you have a hard time fighting your natural tendency, but don't let it get the best of you."

I brushed past him with a smirk tugging at my lips. I didn't look back. God, it felt so good to get at Fang.

I settled down for a long night of alertness with a satisfied feeling in the pit of my stomach. At least I had this part of my life under control.

Well, sort of.

A/N: Well, here is chapter two. I don't especially like this chapter, but I hope you do. [I do, however, like Max being...ah...assertive...to Fang. Go independence!

Thanks to all the people who reviewed. Especially those who told me there was a fourth book - you made me a very happy person!

That story is not mine. It is S.E. Schlosser's, whoever the heck that is. I found it online because I couldn't think of any scary stories, and I'm unoriginal like that.

Review, please.