"Is she awake yet?"

"Shh...You might wake her up!"

"Oh my gosh! Is she going to be okay? I mean I'm really scared. I don't know what happened to her. Really, I don't. One minute she's getting all worked up about the Advanced Group and then she just faints and starts to scream. It was so scary. And then someone just knocked me down unconscious after I screamed for help and I thought it was some mugger and I really didn't know what-"

"Shut up, Nudge."

Exactly what was going on here? I tried to open my eyes but it felt like they were literally glued shut. I began to panic. Calm down, I told myself, I mean what's the worst that can happen in a spy school where any student probably has the ability to kill you faster than you can say wait. Yeah, I didn't get any calmer.

"Her heart rate is picking up! Do you think something is happening again?"

"I don't know! Why isn't she waking up? I swear if she doesn't wake up I'm going to file a lawsuit against you. She's my first friend. Well, not my first. I mean there was this one girl, but she totally ignored me when we got into high school. I'm not sure of her name though. I think it started with a L. I don't know. I don't have that great of a memory. But I am a good athlete. Right? Well at least that's what-"

"Nudge! I said shut up!"

Nudge? Nudge was here? That was right. Nudge and I were roommates. We were in a room until I got that terrible headache. But headache wasn't enough of a word to describe what I felt. It simply didn't suffice.

Hello, Max.

What the hell! That's it! I'm going crazy! What was that?

Max, you are not going crazy. I'm simply a sort of..err...subconscious for you. It's just that I'm not exactly you.

Okay what the hell is going on? Who are you? And what are you doing in my mind? I mean I know that this place was strange but now its downright creepy!

Calm down. I'm not going to harm you.

Oh yeah. Okay. I don't even know who you are so how do you expect me to trust you?

Max, please explain to me how a voice inside of your head can harm you in any physical way.

Okay. The voice has got a point there.

Of course I do.

Know-it-all.

I do know it all.

Wow. Someone's conceited here. But that's not the point. Why are you in my head? Who are you? And how does that even work? And what's happening? How long are you going to be in my head?

Well, Max, I am in your head because I feel like it. Not. I'm here to help you. And I can't exactly tell you who I am. Duh.

Okay. Then what about my other questions?

As for how this works, even I am not quite sure. And right now you're sort of in the state of consciousness and unconsciousness. You're in the campus hospital by the way. And I'm going to be in your head for as long as I feel like it. Because I can. Haha.

Wow. Okay. So you're just going to invade my mind without asking?

Pretty much. But soon you will understand exactly why you should want me in your head. Now it is time for you to wake up. You have many things in store for you.

Wait, what? What do you mean by that?

A silence followed my question.

Hellooo? Voice? Hellooooooo?

Oh okay. So it appears and disappears whenever it wants to. Great.

"Her heart rate slowed down again! Is she going to be okay?"

"Why do you keep on asking me? I'm telling you, I'm not here for the brains! See every single time I talk to you, you keep on expecting me to know everything! Why don't you go ask Gasman? I'm sure that he won't disappoint you! I mean you guys are always together to gang up on me! Oh, I know! That's probably the reason why nobody in this freaking school wants to talk to-"

"Nudge?" I interrupted, rubbing my eyes.

"Oh my gosh! She's alive! Yay! Max, I thought I lost you there! I was so worried. What happened? Do you know? Because I really don't know. I guess if I don't know then you wouldn't know either. Right? Or am I wrong? I don't know! Wait so are you-"

"Nudge. I'm alive. And I really don't know what happened, but I have my guesses," I replied, taking in my surroundings for the first time.

I was in a white hospital bed covered in white sheets. Practically everything was white. White walls, white celling, white furniture, the only thing that stood out was a boy wearing...black clothing? Well, that'sso appropriate for a hospital. It's nice to know that some people were already in mourning.

Wait. Hold up. Black clothing? I looked up to see the mysterious boy's face. He had black hair, black eyes, olive skin, and don't take this the wrong way but he was seriously handsome. He had this whole mysterious and strong feeling about him.

"Who are you?" I asked, looking directly at the boy.

He didn't answer me. He just stared at me as if he was sizing me up for a fight or something.

Then it hit me. This boy was the person who carried me here. The one I thought was Fang.

"You know if you don't answer me, I'm just going to assume that you're Fang or something," I warned. The boy chuckled.

"Uh...Max? He kind of is Fang," Nudge told me, whispering in my ear.

"Wait. What?" I asked incredulously. I mean I had my suspicions and all but to think I'd hit the nail right on the head...what were the chances of that?

"Okay so youare you or are you not Fang?"

"What do you believe?" he replied. It took me a while to realize that this was the first time I was hearing his voice. It sounded deep and masculine. I was practically drooling.

"So you are Fang? You're real?" I asked, taking precautions to make sure I wasn't really drooling. Just mentally drooling. God, I hope the Voice wasn't listening to my thoughts right now. I could seriously just kiss those goddamn lips. And that voice.Seriously, I bet he could recite the Gettysburg Address and I would still be drooling. Really, this wasn't like me. And I hated thisFang for affecting me like this.

"Yes, Max. He is Fang and he's real. Duh. He's standing right in front of you. How could he not be real? What did you think he was? Well anyways, can we like hurry up with this wholeFang thing? I want to introduce everyone else!" Nudge exclaimed.

"Hold up. You know all these people?"

"Oh. Well, yeah. Sorry Max. Actually, Gasman is my cousin," she replied, biting her lip.

Wow. Not that I really cared. I'm just amazed because that is possible the shortest thing Nudge has ever said.

"Nah, it's okay. But isn't Gasman one of those prodigy people?"

"Oh, yeah. See over there is Iggy," she said pointing to a boy with strawberry blonde hair and light blue eyes.

"Hi."

"And over there is Angel," Nudge pointed to a petite girl with curly blonde hair and dark blue eyes.

"Hi, Max! It's nice to meet you!'

"And that's Gasman, but he likes to be called Gazzy," Nudge jerked her head towards a boy who looked exactly like a male version of Angel.

"Sup."

"And you already know Fang," Nudge finished.

"Wow."

"Yep, we are a big family," the boy named Izzy said.

"Well anyways, I should leave. It's really important for you to get comfortable around these guys. I mean I wish I could stay but the Director told me to leave after I introduced everyone to you. Because you know….I'm the only one you really know around here and all. So-"

"Wait, but why is it important for me to know all of these people?" I interrupted, cutting Nudge off.

"Isn't it obvious?" Izzy said, rolling his eyes.

"Umm...No?" I replied.

"Max. Haven't you looked at your schedule yet? You're part of the Prodigies," the girl named Angel said.

What. The. Hell.