Hiya Peps!!!!
Emerald: Wow, that greeting was uncool in soooo many ways…
Me: Emerald, shut it.
Emerald: Wow, that comeback was uncool in sooo many ways…
Me: Ignoring, Ignoring… So, thanks for all the reviews for the last chapter! This is the chapter were everything will be… somewhat explained. So yeah, the disclaimers… Emerald?
Emerald: IwriteUread does not own Maximum Ride, because she is a loser with nothing better to do with her life…
Me: Emerald, shut it and do the claimer! (I should have kidnapped Angel)
Emerald: She owns me and all my friends, and the plot. Go her.
Me: So, onward!
"What happened?"
"Is she okay?"
"Chase, what's going on?"
Pain, lots of pain. And voices. Different voices, all speaking at the same time.
"She had a Flashback. It's one of those great slash crap abilities. When she hears or feels certain things, like what you just said, she has a flashback to a memory that reminds her of it. She can control it sometimes, like flashbacks of the school, because she has so many memories of it. I'm guessing that when you said," Chase muttered the next word, "she had a very powerful flashback, something that's only happened to her once in her life."
"And that's why she screamed and fainted?"
"Yeah."
Now I had enough consciousness to be embarrassed. Of course, I had to scream.
I suddenly felt a warm hand on my shoulder.
"Emerald?" a voice said, then I realised it was Max's, "Emerald, I'm really sorry. I didn't know that would happen…"
I opened my eyes, and Max's face flew into focus. Her face was white, and she was biting her lip.
"You couldn't have." My voice sounded weak and faint, "I should have told you sooner."
"You sure you're okay?" Nudge said, looking concerned, "D'you need some water?"
"Water would be great, Nudge." Chase said, putting his arms around me and lifting me into a kind of sitting position. Nudge gave him a dazzling smile and dived into her backpack. Chase hugged me and whispered to me.
"Em? Was it really bad?" he whispered.
I nodded into his chest, but it wasn't really that bad anymore. Nudge handed me a bottle of water, and I drained it. I leant back, and saw Flock staring at me.
"What?" I said, my voice back to normal.
"That was…interesting." Iggy said.
"That's one word for it." Fang said.
Max smacked them both in the head.
***
My Flock and I went to sleep shortly after, even though it was probably only around midday. Not that it made a difference. We still woke up about every half-hour. Dreams. Of the school. After waking up for the forth time, I gave up and decided to go for a fly. I loved the feeling of being weightless, flying in ever widening circles. I was completely alone. Max's Flock were looking for food and my flock were back at the cave. Or, so I thought.
"Emerald?"
I yelped loudly and leapt about three foot. And yes, that is possible in mid-air.
"Harry, don't do that! You scared the crap out of me!"
"Sorry." He said, shrugging, his grey wings working hard to keep him hovering.
"What are you doing here?" I asked, "You're meant to be back in the cave."
"Had a bad dream." He muttered.
We flew in silence for a while, then I heard him say quietly, "Emerald?"
"Yeah?"
"Are we…Are we free?"
Hmmm… There was a knotty little question. On one hand, Max had already told us we could go off and do whatever we want when she said we could. I didn't know what she was planning, and I was pretty sure she wasn't gonna tell me anytime soon.
On the other hand, we weren't in cages. We were flying in the sky, not in a wind tunnel or other such crap. We weren't hooked up to treadmills, blood pressure cuffs or heart monitors. We weren't imprisoned. Sooo…
"Yes." I said finally.
"For how long?"
"For," I paused, thinking. Finally, I got what I hoped would be a sensible answer.
"For the Foreseeable Future."
***
YOU'RE NOT RUNNING FAST ENOUGH, MUTANT!" The Whitecoat screamed at me, making the treadmill go faster.
"I'm- going-as fast as- I can!" I yelled, panting and trying to draw breath.
And then he was whipping me. Again and again and again…
I woke up with a start. More stupid nightmares. And this time it was actually at night. I saw the night sky, and then I heard a voice.
"Why'd you bring them?" Fang asked quietly. Gee, I wonder who he was talking about?
"I-I donno." Max whispered, "The Voice told me to go to the School, and look for another group of Bird-Kids. It said something like… Like we had to keep them with us, like they would come in useful later on or something."
What the Hell? Who's The Voice? I couldn't worry about that now, I was too tired. My eyes closed…
***
"Okay, you guys need some proper clothes." Max said the next morning. I looked down at my hospital dress, which was covered in mud and blood stains. Maybe she had a point.
"OMG, OMG MAX! Does this mean we get to go shopping? 'Cos I saw a little mall around here yesterday, and it looked like it could have clothes shops in it! Please, please, please, please, please Max?" Nudge said, looking delighted.
Max bit her lip. "Fine, we'll go now."
"Now!!! Yay! This is brilliant! I can help you and Poppy pick out clothes, Emerald! This is gonna be so much fun!"
***
We were flying above the trees, the twelve of us in our own little groups. For some reason, Gazzy had insisted on carrying Dreamer, even though she was almost the same weight as him, and they were scrolling through Iggy's Ipod. (Quick A/N: It says in the forth book that Iggy has an Ipod. If you didn't notice, scrape that crud out of your eyes and go read The Final Warning again (even though it's the most crappy one in the series) Sorry for the interruption.) I kept getting bits of their conversation flying back to me.
"Who's Queen?" Dreamer said.
"Oh, their a really good band. Listen." Gazzy said, putting one of the headphones in Dreamer's ear and the other in his own.
I flew forwards to fly with Poppy and Nudge, who was plaiting Poppy's hair.
"You're hair is so great, Poppy!" Nudge said, her voice full of excitement. She was so anxious to get to the mall, she sounded like she'd had too much sugar.
"Thanks!" Poppy said, "I like yours!"
"Nah, yours is better," Nudge said, "It all straight and red and down to your waist. Max won't let me grow my hair too much. She says it's too convenient for an Eraser to tear out." She grinned at me, then narrowed her eyes, "Hey, how come Poppy's hair is so long and yours only reaches your shoulder?"
"Oh, that's because she nicked a knife from an Eraser and hacked it off a month ago." Poppy said, laughing. "I thought the Whitecoats were gonna faint form shock when they came in and saw her hacking away."
Nudge rolled her eyes at me. "You are so like Max."
I grinned at her, then flew over to Max. Gazzy and Dreamer were both singing now, something called "We will rock you." Max smiled at them, then saw me.
"Hey," She said.
"Hi." I said back.
"So, what other abilities do you guys have?" Max asked me after a pause.
"Well, I have my brilliant 'ability'." I said, using my fingers to make air quotes, "Chase can, like, melt metal and stuff with his eyes."
"Really? How does that work?"
"He just looks at metal and pictures it melting." I shrugged, "Dreamer has amazing balance and can land on her feet at eighty feet drops. Poppy can run really, really fast. Jake can talk to birds. Harry can create force fields."
"Awesome." Max said, then groaned, "Great, I can see the mall coming up."
"What's a mall anyway?"
"A building full of shops and people, most of them preppy teenagers." She said. I couldn't help noticing that she glanced towards Fang as she said this. But I pretended I hadn't noticed.
"Max, is that…" Nudge yelled.
"Going down!" Max moaned, then, like the super cool mutants that we were, we all flew downwards.
Very, very long chapter. Read and review, and there's only one more day to decide what story I should write next. So please, please vote.
Emerald: Just vote, she's getting desperate…
Over and out, next chappie coming soon!
IwriteUread.