Yo. Sorry I haven't really updated recently, on Thursday I didn't have any time because I was cleaning my room then on Friday I saw Catching Fire after school with some friends (Seriously, go see it. IT'S THE BEST FILM EVER!) and then they slept at my house and Saturday… Oh well. You probably don't care. You're probably not even reading this. By now you've probably just skipped on to the next chapter. I don't blame you.

Onwards!

Max POV.

I woke with a start.

Just a dream. Just a dream.

I screwed my eyes tight shut. I'm not back there. I'm safe.

I've been having nightmares about the school for years, but I'd just had a brand new one. I shivered.

After a very very awkward shower, it was very hard to shower while standing on one leg and only able to lift one hand, you know, I flopped back onto my bed.

"Max?" I heard Fang say softly from the door.

I lifted my head and blearily looked up.

"Yeah?"

"Do you want anything? Iggy's cooking."

That woke me up.

After a repeat of how I got downstairs yesterday (but with more resisting on my part) I sat heavily onto a kitchen chair.

Jason came down the stairs looking nervous.

I mentally braced myself. I knew that Gazzy had been with him all the time and had probably taught him some pretty nasty tricks.

"Um, Max?" He said walking up next to me.

I nodded cautiously.

"Emily was talking to me." I looked over to Fang and our gazes met. " and she said that you all have to get out of here. She said that she was hanging around at the school and overheard them saying they'd tracked Max."

I felt my eyes widen and saw a look of horror in Fang's eyes that I'm sure were reflected in mine.

"She said she heard them saying that Max's chip led them here, and they were sending Erasers."

Fang walked up to Jason, grabbing his shoulders. "Are you absolutely sure?" He asked, his tone deadly serious.

Jason nodded gravely.

We were all silent. Nudge and Angel looked at each other and Gazzy moved closer to Iggy.

Fang looked back at me over his shoulder.

I stood up.

"Ig, Fang, come here please." I said, hopping to the next room.

"And, Max." Jason added. I tensed up.

"Yeah?" I said without looking around.

"She said that you had to go that beach on California because it was the only place she could manifest enough for all of you to see."

I screwed my eyes tight shut, inhaling deeply. "Ok." I said calmly.

Fang shut the door when we were in the next room.

"What do we do?" He asked, turning to me.

I rubbed my aching shoulder, wincing. "I think maybe we should go."

Iggy looked up. "But what about Ella?"

Damn! I forgot about Ella. Dr Martinez left her here with us. We couldn't drag her out of here and risk her life. What if it was a trap? But if it wasn't a trap, we couldn't leave her here to die.

Or worse.

I made eye contact with Fang and all of these thoughts passed between us in a second.

"I think we go." I said. "It's not worth risking it. We can always drop Ella off with Dr Martinez."

"But Max, you can't fly yet." Fang said.

Oh yeah.

"I'll be fine." I said noncommittally, moving towards the door.

"Max." Fang said, blocking my way. "You can't even extend your wing."

"I can." I scoffed. Honesty isn't really a popular thing with me.

He raised his eyebrows at me.

"Yeah, Max. We can't let you get worse just because you think you can fly." Iggy chipped in.

Ok then. I had to try extending my wing now. It was a challenge to me.

I gritted my teeth and shook out my good arm, getting ready.

"No Max don't-" Fang began, but I cut him off with an icy glare.

I looked down and began trying to move my wing. It moved. It hurt, but I could move it.

I balled my hands into fists and shakily and slowly extended it, every movement sending agony down my shoulder.

I stopped when my wing was hallway extended, catching my breath, and then I soldered on until my wing was full extended, brushing the edge of the room.

I looked up at Fang. "See. I told you." I hope he couldn't see how much this was hurting me.

"I can see how much that's hurting you, Max. Drop the act." How did he- never mind.

I looked at my wing and frowned. It was a very dark brown. My wings had always been a light brown with white spots.

Never mind. That didn't matter.

"We're going. Whether I have to crawl or walk or whatever, I'm not risking all your lives just because of this."

Fang shook his head, rolling his eyes. "You can't even stand, Max." He said, motioning to the way I had been leaning heavily on the wall this whole time.

"I don't care." I said evenly, looking into his eyes. They were such a dark brown that if you didn't really know, you could assume that they were black.

I loved his eyes. I thought as I stared up into them. Fang was just so tall.

I loved that too.

Fang's POV.

I shut the door. We were getting the hell out of here.

The flock was getting ready to take off, Iggy holding Ella You guys want Eggy? Niggy? And Nudge holding Jason who was so light that she had absolutely no problem whatsoever. Even Max had lifted him with one arm.

I was going to carry Max. After a loooong argument, she'd been too tired to carry on and I'd won.

I picked Max up smoothly and she squeaked, making me smirk.

She was so light that I had no problem as we all took off.

We flew for what seemed like ages, though it was probably only around and hour, and landed outside where Dr Martinez was staying.

Everyone but Max and I had gone to walk her to her house (We'd landed a while away so that we wouldn't be seen.)

Max had settled down on the ground with her back against a tree, we were in a forest, and closed her eyes.

I sighed, gently laying myself next to her, and tipping my head back to look at the tops of the trees, and just catch a glimpse of the sky through the thick canopy.

"Fang." Max said, saying it like a question.

"uh huh?"

"Can we get my Ipod?"

I looked at her to see her already looking at me.

I nodded. "When should we and….. where is it?"

She thought for a few seconds. "Tonight, when we've set up camp somewhere."

I nodded. She was so beautiful. I was going to say something, but it was soon forgotten.

Her Ipod (and headphones) were very important to her.

She'd got her ipod for her twelfth birthday and the headphones for her thirteenth. Jeb had given her the Ipod, and I gave her the headphones.

I'd spent ages finding the type which had the best sound quality and looked the coolest. I'd ended up with some kick-ass purple headphones.

When I'd given them to Max, it was so worth it. He face had lit up and she'd hugged me super hard.

When she'd stressed, her music calms her down. When she's angry it spurs her on. When she feels weak it gives her courage. Music is her life. This is basically how much I love listening to music (and then some.) When she needs to get geared up for a fight, music gives her adrenaline.

It's the only way she can escape sometimes.

And why do I know this? Because it's the same for me.

Max's POV.

I woke in the middle of the night.

I had my Ipod back. Fang and I had gone to find it earlier.

Ugh. I really wish I hadn't tried to extend my wing yesterday. I was really paying for it now. My shoulder was just one mass of pain, and it spread all down my arm and to my neck.

I lifted my head blearily, looking around. Everyone was still asleep.

I looked the other way. Fang lay about a metre away from me. He was awake.

I crawled over to him and lay on my back looking up at the beautiful night's sky through the canopy.

I loved forests.

I looked at Fang. "Have you slept?"

He shook his head.

I yawned. "Why not?" My voice was a whisper.

He shrugged.

I started rubbing my shoulder, hoping to ease the pain, and then instantly stopped when my touch sent even more pain down it, hoping that Fang didn't see. I don't want to hold him back.

"Are you okay?" Fang asked me gently.

I nodded.

"I don't believe you."

I looked up at him. He was gazing down at me, his dark eyes unreadable.

I smirked. "I'm a lot stronger than you think."

He smiled. "I know just how strong you are, Max. You don't have to hide your pain all the time."

I didn't know how to reply to that, so I just stayed silent, looking back towards the inky midnight sky.

I shivered as a freezing gust of wind brushed over me, giving me goose bumps.

Fang sat up, shrugging off his jacket and gently draping it over me.

"Won't you be cold?" I asked, staring into his midnight black eyes.

He shook his head, smirking. "I'm a big boy, I'll live."

He lay back down next to me and we were silent for a while. I snuggled into Fang's jacket, deeply inhaling Fang's comforting smell.

After a while I was drifting off into sleep. Suddenly I was aware of a pair of arms around me, but I felt no alarm. I opened my eyes blearily to see Fang holding me.

Instead of pulling away, I simply put my head onto his chest and fell asleep.

Oooh, a bit of Fax. Sorry guys, I'm not very good at writing "romantic" stuff. Sorry for not updating for so long.

-Raven.