A/N: Hey guys… DON'T KILL ME! I'm so uber duper sorry about not updating for a while. That's inexcusable. I don't think over a month is excusable. I promise, swear, that I will never leave this story hanging this long ever again! So, yeah, sorry? Also, I wanted your opinion on something, my mom said she'd let me have guitar lessons, right? So, I wanted to ask, which one is better? Acoustic guitar or Electric guitar? If you review, I promise I'll update within a week! Say hello to my awesome beta: Dreamin'OfABlondeFang! ;)

(This is her beta! The awesome beta! I vouch for the electric guitar...)

Disclaimer: I wonder what would happen if I didn't do a disclaimer... Would I really be sued? Also, don't the words, "Disclaimer", automatically state that I don't own the series, Maximum Ride? Because I don't want to be sued, I don't own the series! That's a long disclaimer and this is probably adding onto it too… ON WITH THE AWAITED CHAPTER!

Max POV

California- Home of the "Hollywood" sign, Hollywood itself, celebrities, and Disneyland. I just hope that we don't get discovered there. With all of the attention put on the state, us bird kids have a big chance of being caught.

To keep you up to date, we were flying for a couple of hours now towards the state. We don't know where exactly we were going, just that we had to be in California. Sure, there might be a few Schools to destroy, but other than that, I just see California as a big trap to be discovered.

Sure, fame would be nice, but so is privacy and secrecy. Plus, if we were famous, the School would instantaneously know where we were at all times and could always set up traps ahead of time to catch us. To the public, the old flying bird kids were just stunts and faked. We're fine with that, just as long as the people, who know, stay the same for a long time. As they say, what happens to us bird kids, stays with us bird kids. Or something like that.

"Hey, Phoe? Do we have anything good to eat?" Nudge asked who was being surprisingly quiet at the time. Now that I think about it, mostly everyone was quiet, pin drop silence. Of course, you couldn't hear a pin being dropped from this high up, but you get the point. Jeez, zoning out like that isn't good for me at all, or anyone else for that matter.

"As a matter of fact, we do. Here, catch!" I told her, tossing her a granola bar. She looked at it distastefully before remembering she'd eaten worse, and took a big bite out of it. Everyone was in their own world, even Total! Flyboys and Erasers could have snuck in on us and we would have been less prepared than the surprisee at a surprise party!

Escaping the hotel was the easy part. We just had to get up early and leave through the balcony. Since the credit card wasn't charged, because of my sarcasm, we were just able to get up and leave.

The most unusual thing would have to be the way Angel was staring at me and starting to whisper to Lilly. Then again, god knows what those girls are up to. Before I knew it, everyone was loud and rambunctious again, except for Fang, who was playing some game made up off the top of Desiree's head.

Time seemed to pass by quickly, as did the scenery down below. It differed from green rolling hills to dry desert rocks and sand, back to palm trees. Some of the palm trees were hairy, causing a few looks of distaste towards those trees. A second look showed that those were just dried palm tree leaves that never fell off. How sad.

Sooner or later the thin layer of clouds became thicker and you could see as they started graying. That obviously meant that a storm was going below. I hovered for a minute in the air to feel the wind speed and check which way the clouds were moving, depending on that, we would have to decide which way to go.

Apparently, our luck was good, seeing as how the clouds were moving east, as to us flying west. In a way, that was a bad thing too. We would have to fly against the wind and the little ones seemed to be tiring more and more throughout every wing stroke. Seeing as how I had some elemental powers, I used whatever energy was left and cleared as much of the clouds as possible.

We should have stopped flying about a half an hour ago, but we kept going, against our body's wishes, in our enthusiasm to get to California. The clouds and wind were working against my will, trying to close up that space. I panicked as the wind grew stronger; we were obviously flying our way into a big storm. It was either a hurricane or a tornado, not one of those smaller rain storms.

"Flock! Get through these clouds and land! There's a huge storm coming and it's not going to be pretty! Trust me, just land!" I yelled out to my flocks, panic clear in my eyes.

The little kids followed the older ones and I began struggling more to keep the clouds open. I wanted- no wait, needed to get everyone to safety. All of these kids meant something to me. We created a bond over the week and a half we spent together, and I wasn't about to let anyone go. I watched as Fang went through the clouds and landed on the ground, and then I went.

I was tired from flying so long and holding the clouds up, that once I went through, I couldn't land completely. I couldn't help it- I fainted. I felt something or someone carry me and felt relieved at the back of my heat that I didn't land as a flat pancake.

Then a distinct thought pulled into my brain, what if I was being captured?

(Review for the guitar! And Max!)