Reminder: I am uploaded 4 chapters tonight (32-35). If you've been keeping up with this story, make sure you start at Chapter 32 tonight!

Hope everyone had a fun Halloween! ^_^

CHAPTER 33

Max POV

"Crap," I sighed.

Jeb, Anne, Mom, Fang, and I were in the large conference room, reading over the latest e-mail for the um-teenth.

"Max,

It's a shame you had to remove Fang and Iggy's chips. However, you will not get away from us that easily.

See you soon,

Itex"

The tension in the room was wound so tight that one wrong move would send any one of us over the edge.

"When was this sent?" Fang asked Anne.

"About thirty minutes ago," she replied. "That doesn't leave us much time if they really plan to attack."

"Do you think they'll really come here for all of you?" Mom asked me.

"I definitely wouldn't put it past them," I answered honestly. "They've been hunting us down for a while."

I glared at Jeb until my mom spoke again. "The School is in California, though. It'll probably take them a while, right?"

The rest of us remained silent with grave expressions.

Finally, Jeb said, "We expect an army of some kind here in about two and a half hours."

"Max, you should get out while you can," Mom pleaded.

I looked around at each face in the room. I decided.

"We can't, Mom," I said quietly. "Then, you all would be put in danger. We can't run anymore. We need to finish this once and for all."

Fang met my eyes and gave me a nod, saying he was with me until the end. His eyes shifted to the door, and I immediately knew what he was saying. We had to get the others together and ready to go.

"Jeb," I stated in my leader voice. "We're going to need supplies and stuff. Food, drinks, you know. Have it ready in fifteen minutes."

"Of course," he nodded and hurried out of the room.

My mom was fighting tears. I guess that's where I got my stubbornness from.

"I love you, Mom," I whispered as I hugged her tightly.

Her tears fell when she squeezed her eyes shut and hugged me.

"Be safe," she choked.

Fang POV

Max and I left the room quickly in search for the others.

"Go check the bedrooms," Max instructed. "I'll go check the obstacle courses."

I nodded, and she took off running down another hall while I dashed to bedrooms.

I found Angel, Nudge, and the Gasman in one room playing a board game.

"Hi, Fang," Nudge smiled. "Wanna play?"

"Not now," I replied quickly.

Angel stared at me with a confused look on her face.

"What's wrong?" Gazzy asked.

"Oh, no," Angel frowned.

"What?" Nudge asked with concern. "What's going on, Fang? Where's Max?"

"She'll be here soon," I answered as calmly as possible. "We split up to search for you guys."

"Oh," Nudge replied. "Well, Iggy and Ella went for a walk around the school. I guess they wanted some alone time. Why are you guys looking for us, anyway? You haven't really answered my questions yet."

I nodded and said, "Finish your game up. When they get back, we need to talk."

All three faces were painted with worry.

"I'm gonna go look for Max," I stated and left the room.

Max POV

I ran up and down the halls where the obstacle courses were. My flock was nowhere to be found.

They're probably in the rooms, I thought and ran towards the stairs that led to the rooms here.

Wait! I stopped and ran in the other direction. There's a lobby area on this floor. Maybe they went there.

When I reached the lobby, I froze at the sight I saw before me.

Iggy and Ella were basically making out right there.

Ella had her back up against the wall, Iggy standing in front of her with one hand on the wall next her head. His other hand held the back of her neck, holding her closer so he wouldn't have to lean down as much. Ella's hands were tangled in Iggy's hair.

I turned my attention away, trying to give them a little bit of privacy. I cleared my throat in an attempt to get their attention, but they didn't budge. Again, I tried making noise and got nothing. I could've been a freaking white coat, here to take them away, and they could've cared less. Ugh. Whatever.

Someone else cleared their throat behind me, much louder, I might add. I looked up and saw Fang standing behind me, staring wide-eyed, for him anyway, at Iggy and Ella.

Finally, they broke apart, red-faced and slightly embarrassed.

"Come on, Iggy," I instructed. "We need to talk. Now!"

"Max, wait!" Ella began frantically. "This was my fault. Not Iggy's! Don't be mad! He was just showing me around and—"

"Ella," I interrupted with a slight laugh. "I'm not mad. We need to talk to Iggy about the e-mail we just got from Itex."

"E-mail?" Iggy asked seriously. "Again? What's up?"

"Come on, Ig," Fang said. "We'll explain when we get to the others."

"I'll be there in a minute," I called after Fang and Iggy, who were already hurrying down the hall.

"Max?" Ella asked worriedly. "What's going on?"

"Go talk to Mom, sweetie," I said reassuringly and gave her a hug.

I ran back to the rooms and found the others putting a board game away.

"Max!" Angel and Nudge shouted as I entered the room.

"We don't have much time," I said quickly.

The room fell silent, and all eyes were on me.

"Itex knows we took out Fang and Iggy's chips," I began. "We believe they're on their way here, now. Here's the plan—"

"Max," Nudge interjected. "Wait! Why are we in such a rush? How long do we have?"

"Not long," I answered. "Now, listen! We need to get out of here and try to head them off. We can't let them get here and hurt my mom or someone. We don't know how many or who Itex is sending for us, so we need to be prepared for anything."

The others nodded.

"Guys, this is going to be the final showdown with Itex," I continued. "Once we get in, we can't back down. Got it?"

After another round of nods, we ran back to the cafeteria, ate, and made our way to the skies.