Thanks so much for all your reviews! Especially you "Taco"! Now back to the story.
Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride (but I wish I did).
Max POV
"Gazzy, Nudge, get the others. Now. Meet up back here. Allay bandada bezheet." I said with urgency, using the secret language we used back at the School. They immediately understood and ran in different directions. I headed out the door and back to the main office and the stupid receptionist.
I ran through the glass door, nearly knocking another student over. Before the woman could get out her "Yes may I help you?" I chocked out between pants, "I need to use your phone, now." It wasn't as demanding as I wanted it to be, but it did sound urgent.
She hesitated a bit, then showed me to a room behind her that had a copy machine, a couple printers, a fax machine, and a phone. I dialed the number I was forced to memorize incase anything went wrong.
Jeb picked up on the second ring.
"Hello?"
"Jeb! Call my mom, I don't care where you are, just call her and both of you turn on channel 10 news. It's an emergency."
"Max calm down. What's so important?"
"Just turn the news on and see for yourself."
I hung up without another word. Hopefully he listens to me, for once. I ran out, said thank you to the receptionist, then ran back to the dorm building as fast as I could manage.
Oh god, oh god, oh god. Fang! I couldn't believe we had actually found him! And on TV too! We could know exactly where he is and how long he could be there for in a matter of seconds. I only wondered why he would so easily allow himself to be on public television when he was running away from us. Of coarse he knew that we would go to him if we got the slightest hint of where he was…
I found my entire flock, even Total, in the living room of the girl's dorm.
"Max, what is going on?" Iggy said with a demanding, almost irritated voice. I heard the news tune go on, and I waved everyone towards the TV.
Back to our top story tonight. A fifteen year old boy who goes by the name Nick Ride has been charged with grand theft auto, thievery, and harassment.
Nudge gasped next to me and cupped her mouth with her hand. Her eyes slowly went wide and filled with sadness, and a couple tears. Nick Ride had been the fake name I'd given him when he had to go to the hospital after our first encounter with the failed flying Erasers. Why would he use a name we knew him by? Sometimes Fang was just confusing. It was like he wanted us to find him.
He was seen by several bystanders casually walking out of a local mini-mart with his jacket literally stuffed with any portable unpaid food he could carry. When local resident Mathew Soapy tried to stop Nick in the parking lot, Nick assaulted Mathew, fracturing his collarbone and braking his nose and arm. Every one of the witnesses commented that Nick was professionally trained.
"Typical Fang," Iggy muttered. I shushed him and glued my attention back to the news report. I noticed that many other students from the dorm were gathering around to listen in.
Nick stole the closest unlocked car he could find and drove away, only to be stopped by the police ten minutes afterwards.
As the reporter was saying this, a video played of Fang sloppily driving and being pulled over, the food falling from his windbreaker as he opened the door. He was never that great of a driver. Neither of us were, given the fact that we're only fourteen and never had driving lessons. Heck, Iggy was probably a better driver than we were. As the cop pulled Fang out of the car and hand cuffed him, we got a really good view of his face. He looked straight into the camera, showing every detail of his face: his dark eyes, his equally dark hair still growing longer, a scar from a recent accident (that story ought to be good). It was as if he were screaming into the camera "Hey flock! I'm right here!"
I gasped in realization. Of coarse! He did want us to find him! Why else would he throw himself out in public like that using a name we knew? All the pieces slowly fit together in my mind: the illegal stunt that would get him on TV, the way he used the familiar fake name, the way he stared straight into the camera…
Angel gasped behind me, reading my mind and understanding also.
"But Max," Angel said, loud enough for the rest of the flock to hear, "it doesn't make sense. Why would he run away just for us to find him?"
"He knows something. Something we don't know about, aren't suppose to know about. I think he's warning us of something. I think he wants us to go to him." I said without turning from the TV.
"How do you know that?" Angel asked.
"Just one of my famous gut feelings."
"Who is that?" a girl whom I didn't recognize asked us. "Do you guys know him?"
"His name is Fang, and we sure as hell know him." I said while getting up off the couch.
Nick will be held in court this Thursday in Arizona. In other news, a possible suspect for the Hay murder was found…"
I stopped listening at that point. Arizona! That's so close, we could make it there in no time! It was presently Tuesday. If we left right away, we could fly there and arrive pumped up and ready with a plan.
"All right guys, let's pack up some stuff and start heading to Arizona--"
"Oh, no you're not," A very familiar irritated voice cut me off. I turned to see Ms. Hamilton at the doorway of the living room. This chick was really starting to get on my nerves. "You're not going anywhere. You seven are to stay here. You've only been here for two days, and you already want to leave?"
"We have to," Angel said, coming next to me and taking my hand, "Fang is a part of our flock, and we refuse to pass up an opportunity to get him back."
I was so proud of her. Despite how things have changed between us in the past, I felt closer than ever to her.
"I understand why you feel the need to go to him, but if he left you, why on earth would you believe he wants to come back?" She said, her jaw tensing with every word she spat out. Overwhelming rage took over me.
"Look," I said in my scariest voice, "I don't care what you think. But we know Fang better than anyone on this whole damn planet. And we are going to find him whether you like it or not."
"I'm sorry but I don't believe this is your choice." She spat.
"And I believe it is." I said, raising my voice and pushing through her, the flock following at my heels.
"Max, if you leave, how do we know you'll come back?" Ms. Hamilton asked while we were just stepping outside. I turned around to face her.
"When you see us land in front of the school with one more flock member." I said to her, making sure everyone could hear me.
"So we are coming back this time?" Nudge asked me softly.
"I gave Jeb my word. It's a promise I kind of have to keep, even if Fang objects to it."
"Which he probably will." Nudge finished for me.
We packed some clothes, food, and other supplies we would need in individual backpacks. As I was packing my second tank top into my pack, I heard a knock at the door. I looked over at Nudge and Angel. They shrugged.
"Nobody I know," Angel mouthed silently.
I looked through the peephole on our door to see a girl my age with dark brown hair streaked with red, black eyeliner, black clothing, and a medium sized box in her hands. I didn't want to open the door at first, but I figured what harm could she cause me? I alone could easily make mincemeat out of her. I opened the door, and the girl smiled.
"Hi, um, I'm Silica. You're Max, right?" she said.
"Yeah. Um, can I… help you?" I asked, kind of confused.
Silica smiled sheepishly and looked down at the small blue box in her hands.
"I heard about your missing friend in the living room." She said.
"Oh he wasn't missing he just… um…"
"It's okay. I could tell how you must feel about him. I came here to help you."
I hesitated a bit, my eyebrows pushing together. What did she mean she knew how I felt? Was she a mind reader or something like Angel? Was she clairvoyant? How could any of them possibly know how much we care about him?
"How do you think I feel about Fang?"
Silica looked deep into my brown eyes, and I glared right back into her golden hazel eyes. Like she was looking for something, and the answer could be found by staring me down.
"You all love him. A lot. You especially, Max. He's the earth and heaven to you. You feel alone, empty, lost, confused without him. He probably loved you back just as much, if not more. He probably didn't tell you he was leaving in person. I bet he left a note or something. Tell me, how many days did you cry when he left?" She said without removing her eyes from mine. I blinked a couple times, my mouth hanging open.
"How-- what-- are you, like, psychic or something?"
"No. I could tell by the way you looked at his image on the TV," Silica said, finally taking her eyes away, but now looking down, "I had that same look on my face when my soul mate left."
I then realized, if anyone outside my family would know how I felt, it was Silica. If she could figure all that out just by a look on my face, then her situation couldn't have been much different than mine (in a general sense, I mean). I led her inside, and sat her down on my bed where my bag still laid only halfway packed.
"You're lucky, though," Silica said, "you can at least go to the one you love, see him again. I can't."
"Why not?" Nudge asked, talking for the first time in Silica's presence. I was shocked that she kept quiet all this time. "I mean, he has to be somewhere on this planet. There are a lot of ways to track people down. Ooh! Maybe we can help you look for him! I'm amazing at hacking into computers. There has to be some file on him. He couldn't have just dropped off the face of the earth."
"That's just the thing. You can't track Damon down. He's dead." Silica said, her voice cracking on the last word.
Angel gasped. "Oh, that's horrible! I'm so sorry!"
"Thanks. But I didn't come here to talk about my old boring life." Silica said, putting on an all business expression. I decided I liked her. She knew when to talk about feelings and when to get down to business, and she really knew how to stare a person to death. "Tell me more about this Fang. I only know his name and already he sounds interesting."
I laughed, which was very rare in the past few weeks. This girl obviously knew people well.
"Well, Fang has a very impressive wardrobe, and he plays a mean harmonica. But let me just say he is not goth. He just likes dark clothing. And his hair is naturally black like that." I said. Talking about Fang made me miss him more, and made me eager to get out of there and go to him already!
"Okay, so that's what he's like on the outside, but what's he like on the inside? What's his personality?" Silica said with lots of interest.
"He's the silent and strong type." All three of us said at almost the exact same time. I smiled.
"You have to really know him for a while before you get him to laugh, let alone grin." I remembered seeing Fang grin, his beautiful smile that stopped my heart and made my world go round.
"Okay, and what are the rest of you like? Sorry if I'm being pushy, but I know it's your first day and I haven't gotten the chance to really know to you. I usually introduce all the new kids to, well, the rest of the school." Silica said. For a person who looked like the princess of darkness, she was really high-spirited and friendly. Then I let her words sink in. She didn't know us that well? Hadn't she seen our little episode at recess?
"Um, when did you come in for school today?" I asked, choosing my words carefully.
"Oh, just after sixth period. I had some… important business to take care of." Silica said suspiciously, but I let it slide. Sixth period was after recess.
"Okay. You need to see this." I said, waving Nudge and Angel out of the way, warning them to make room.
"What are you--" Silica said, but she gasped and cut herself off as I spread my wings, wide and beautiful. I usually didn't do this for many people, but Silica came here to help us, and she could help us again in the future, so she needed to know the basics.
"Oh my god--" She nearly screamed. I tucked my wings in and covered her mouth before anyone heard her and came in to investigate.
Silica looked at me with intensity. "Tell me everything."
So I did, well, almost everything. I started with when and why Fang left us, then went on until she knocked on our door. I even included that we were genetically enhanced, had to have over 3000 calories a day, usually went dumpster diving when we got hungry, and occasionally stole a car when it was completely necessary, which all explained why the things he did on TV were norm for him. But we just never did them so publicly.
"So, now that you know everything, I need to know something," I said when I finally finished. "What's in that pretty little box of yours?"
"I knew that he was being charged and was no doubt going to jail. So, I brought something that might help that little dilemma." She said, lifting the cover of the dark blue box.
What the box contained honestly shocked Nudge, Angel, and myself, which is saying something.
Please review, and no suggestions to what was in the box are needed. I already had that planned out in my head. ; )
Thank you to all my readers, and spread the word about this story! It's going to get really good really fast!