I woke up to something laying on me. I groaned, trying to push it off, only to hear a small "Hey!" come from the object. Startled, I sat up and was face to face with Angel, who was now rubbing her eyes with the back of her hand. Celeste was clenched tightly in her hand.

"Angel?" I asked, groggy. It'd been a long night. Fang and I had talked about a lot. I smiled and blushed at even thinking about it. Then I remembered who I was in the room with and I quickly focused on something—anything else. "What are you doing in here, sweetie?" I yawned and lay down again. Angel snuggled against me.

"I had a bad dream," Angel said, her voice shaky. I held her close, closing my eyes.

"It's ok. I'm here," I told her. I had no idea what time it was; I just knew it was too early for my brain to be functioning and having thoughts.

"I know," Angel said very tiredly. Geesh, the dream must've really wiped her out. I hummed a random tune that I thought was soothing and brushed back her hair as she drifted to sleep. As soon as I heard her breathing get heavier I sighed and got up. I couldn't go back to sleep now. With a tired yawn I reluctantly got up. I nearly squashed Total, who was curled up at the edge of the bed. With a startled 'eep!' I narrowly missed him and instead fell to the floor. Well, slumber party in Max's room huh? I just hoped next time somebody would inform MAX! I silently got up and walked across the room, chuckling at the sight. It was cute, though, I had to admit. Angel slept soundly in my bed and I gently closed the door behind me.

So far I was the only one up. It was eight in the morning, and I figured I might as well get breakfast going.

With a small excited leap I glided away from the cabin in seconds, closing my eyes and feeling the thrilling rush of the wind as it whipped past me. I was in total and utter bliss, as I always was when I flew.

"Mind if I join you?"

I cried out and instinctively swerved away from the voice, almost hitting a tree. Fang's hand reached out and grabbed mine and pulled me away from the hurtful branches. I glared at him.

"A little warning would've been nice!" I shouted over the wind. Fang grinned.

"You're just mad because you're flawless hearing can never pick up on me," he said jarringly. I glowered and swooped forward more. I knew he was right, but no way was a going to tell him that. "You know I'm right," he said bluntly. I turned red.

"Yeah? What makes you so sure?" I asked, annoyed. Fang unexpectedly glided towards me and shifted himself under me so that he was flying with his back to the ground while he looked up at me. "What're you doing you weird creep!" I shouted, afraid he'd fall or something. He smiled. Without answering he drifted up more and kissed me. I couldn't breathe. It wasn't till it looked like the ground was about to smush Fang that I realized we were losing altitude. I grabbed him by his black shirt and pulled us both back up to the clouds.

"Close call," Fang said shrugging. I rolled my eyes at him and continued flying. "So, what's for breakfast, Chief?" I sighed.

"I don't know. Iggy and Gazzy found that vineyard. How about fresh grapes? Plus Nudge said something about a shopping mall not too far. I'm sure we'll manage," I said, stroking the small plastic card that I held tightly. It was a credit card we'd found a while back, and we were able to take out the usual two-hundred dollars. It would hold us for now.

Fang and I landed a little ways in the vineyard, staying low and picking as many grapes as possible. Since I hadn't exactly planned ahead, I took off my sweatshirt and we used that as a sort of knapsack. We loaded it with grapes and then pushed off the ground and were soaring towards the mall. I gave Fang my sweatshirt and told him to wait up in a large tree for me while I went in and stocked up on the food.

"What? No way!" As usual, nobody listens to me. He stubbornly crossed his arms and glared at me.

"And what do you propose we do with the grapes, Oh Wise One?" I asked, throwing my hands up. He smirked at me and gave me one of his famous Why am I so brilliant? looks. I rolled my eyes and watched as he stealthily flew up into the tree and secured the sweatshirt onto a branch way up at the top. He hopped down all 'hot-stuff' and raised an eyebrow at me.

"You were saying?" he asked.

"Shut up," I mumbled, and he laughed.

We walked into the mall with attitudes that said, 'Birdkids? Where?!" and found a small store that sold juices and other things. I bought at least forty juices and so much Chex-Mix that I was pretty sure I'd never want to look at it again. Fang held my hand as we walked around, and I had to really concentrate in order to contain my joy and play it cool. Fang wasn't fooled though, as always, and every now and then he'd kiss my cheek, laughing as my face lit up. I'd growl at him and he'd enjoy every second of it.

As we walked around the mall sometimes we'd pass a mini-herd of gaggling girls. As we were about to leave, though, one of them made a mistake. She was a little shorter than me, had big poofy brown curly hair and blue eyes. She was giggling and her friends all whispered as she approached Fang, who was a few feet away from me admiring a new laptop that had just come out. I was sitting on a bench, watching the crime.

"Hey," said the girl to Fang, who looked up, startled. "I'm Joy."

Joy, I scoffed in my head, huffing. What kind of a name was Joy? Joy was an emotion, not a freaking name.

Of course, before this moment I'd kind of been fond of the name Joy. I was horrified at myself and watched Fang intently.

"Hello," Fang said, not giving his name. He looked for me but the herd had moved in front of me. I could see his dark eyes and the top of Joy's head. He began to move away. I needed to help, so with a totally not jealous sigh, I broke in right through the girl's herd.

"And you are?" Joy asked, her eyes looking up at Fang through her eyelashes. She hadn't noticed me yet. Poor thing; and that was it.

"Not available," I answered for Fang, who looked relieved. I kissed him quickly on the mouth and took his hand. "Sorry," I said, though I wasn't sorry at all. I quickly pulled Fang away and was delighted at the surprised look that came onto Joy's face. We were far enough away from the danger but I continued to pull Fang away quickly.

"Could you believe the nerve of that girl?" I babbled, hardly paying attention to what I was saying. "I mean, I was sitting right there on the freaking bench." Fang was laughing and I turned to him. "What?" I demanded.

"Nothing. You're jealous," he snickered. I gave an appalled cry and let go of his hand. We were outside the mall and I was carrying the three bags of food we'd bought.

"Jealous!" I couldn't believe the word. "I saved your life," I said, flying up to the tree in an attempt to carry the sweatshirt of grapes too. Fang came up beside me and gently took some of the load.

"Jealous." He repeated, wagging his eyebrows at me, a small grin on his face. I screeched and flew high above him, and I could still hear him laughing. Ok, so maybe he was right. But jealous was such an icky word. I prefer the word protective. I nodded, smiling. Yes, I was just protective. I told Fang of my new revelation and he rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, okay." He said sarcastically. Well, he might not have been satisfied, but I sure was. We flew back to the cabin and everyone was up. They cheered when they saw the food and immediately started pigging out. Not that it mattered.

&

The rest of the day went by in a flash. Gazzy and Nudge went swimming in the creek, and Angel, being the little angel she was, decided it'd be fun to talk to the fish and get them all to jump out of the water one by one and smack Gazzy in the face with their tails. I had to admit—it was pretty hilarious.

As the sun started to set, I put everyone to bed, getting ready to take watch. Fang met me on the roof, as we'd done for the past couple nights. I settled myself against him and we stayed like that for a while.

"It's cute that you were jealous this morning," Fang said suddenly, tightening his hold around my waist because he knew what my reaction would be—I tried to get up.

"I was not—." I began, but Fangs lips attacked mine and unfairly cut me off. He stole my breath; but of course, in an amazingly wonderful way. Finally, he let me breathe. "—jealous," I finished shakily. He gave me a look that said Come on and I sighed. "Okay," I said, holding up my thumb and pointer finger together to create a small space between them. "Maybe a teensy bit." Fang lifted an eyebrow. "Okay, a little more than that. Like, a little." He tilted his chin and stared at me. I threw up my hands. "Okay a LOT! Are you happy now, you manipulative jerk!" Fang smiled bigger than I've ever seen him smile before.

"Yes," he said simply. Then he kissed me so hard I thought my heart was going to explode. I loved every minute of it and I never wanted to let Fang go. We broke apart, breathing heavily, and I happily sank into his arms. "I love you, Max," Fang said quietly. He whispered it, and his voice was so sincere that I couldn't help but believe him. I looked up into his dark eyes and his gaze pierced mine.

"I love you too, Fang," I told him. I blushed hopelessly and he laughed as an embarrassed and annoyed expression came up over my face. I smiled at him and he kissed me again. That's when everything went to H-E-double hockey sticks and back.

Everything had been going great until he showed up.

I stiffened under Fang's kiss, and at first he thought it was something he'd done. He pulled away, hurt, but I shook my head.

"Listen," I said quietly. It was dead silent—but I knew something was coming. Fang sat up straight then and was on high alert. Just then there was a swarm of—yup, you guessed it—Erasers! They were coming from virtually every direction. I was on my feet in a second, Fang was surveying the threat. "We have to get the kids!" I shouted, enraged. What the heck! We couldn't have more than three freaking days to ourselves! Fang nodded and we both jumped from the roof quickly and hurried into the cabin.

"ERASERS!" I shouted at the top of my lungs. The house was up in seconds, including Total who was growling. The Flock all lined up in the living room.

"How much time?" Iggy asked.

"A minute, maybe two," Fang answered, his eyes cold.

"But I thought the Erasers were all 'expired'," Gasman said, rubbing his eyes. I nodded.

"We all did, Gaz," I said wearily. We needed to get out of here—and fast.

In sync we ran to the door and I threw it open, herding the Flock out. We were surrounded already, hundreds of disgusting, drooling Erasers. Their eyes were bright with excitement and I went up front, trying to cover as much of the Flock as possible.

"Hey, didn't you guys hear? Your edition was cancelled. There's new and improved Erasers. Sorry, guess you're out of the job," I said. I narrowed my eyes at every single one of them, just daring them to try anything. Just then they all looked behind themselves and parted like the Red Sea. A tall man with dark black hair and very dark eyes—darker than Fang's—stepped up. He looked threatening, and I actually felt my heart stutter.

I folded my arms and yawned, pretending to be bored. "So, you must be the new head-honcho." I said nonchalantly. "I hope the ex's told you about us. We're too smart for you."

The man laughed darkly and made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. I got goose bumps on my arms and I immediately glared at him. "Hello, Maximum," he said. His voice lacked any trace of life—of a heart.

"Max, if you don't mind," I said, false politeness dripping from my tone.

"Max, then," said the man. His features darkened more, if that were possible. "My name is Ethan. I was a founder of Itex. I assume you've heard of it?" He grinned darkly, his eyes narrowing. I continued playing it cool. I scrunched up my eyebrows and raised a hand to my chin to make it seem that I was deep in thought.

"Hm. Itex. Doesn't ring a bell." Ethan remained the way he was, not even flinching. I remembered how easy (and fun!) it had been to get under ter Borcht's skin. "Oh, oh wait," I said, snapping my fingers. "Owned everything? Located in areas scattered over the entire world? Pent on destroying mankind as we know it? Now non-existent?" I nodded. "You know, I think I may have heard something about it. But enlighten me, please." Okay, Max I thought to myself shakily. Get the Flock out of here and keep Ethan distracted enough to not notice. Piece of cake. A simple walk in the park. Right? Wrong.

Max, I'm scared. Angel's tiny voice budded in on my thoughts and I quickly looked over my shoulder at her.

Don't worry, sweetie. You'll be fine. I thought back to her anxiously.

Okay, Max, she thought, sounding relieved. I had to get them out of here.

"Enlighten you," Ethan repeated, chuckling darkly under his breath. His hate-gaze focused on me. "You, my dear, will regret what you've done here. You will pay." I saw Fang stiffen to my right and I brushed his hand lightly with mine, which told him not to do anything. "Itex, the most powerful company this world has ever seen, would've made this world a better place. We had big plans—bigger than you could ever imagine." I sighed.

"Well, thanks for the ego-boost," I said, looking disappointed. Ethan smiled forebodingly and continued, ignoring my quip.

"All of these plans would have been realized if you hadn't meddled in things that were none of your business." The Erasers that were surrounding Ethan began to move around threateningly, looking anxious.

"Um, excuse me, but I live on this planet too," I pointed out, raising my hand. "I think that gives me a say in what happens to it." Ethan looked angry, and I have to admit, it was quite possibly one of the most terrifying things I'd ever seen.

"Maximum Ride," he said, his voice low and full of rage. I took an involuntary step back and felt Fang's hand resting against the small of my back. Ethan pointed at me, "You will pay for what you've done here," he repeated. His fingers twitched ever-so-slightly and suddenly the Erasers were upon us.

I shouted a quick battle plan and we were back into our old lives—fighting for them. An Eraser got a hold of my shoulder and its claws dug into my skin. I screeched and landed a solid drop-kick to its face. With a howl the Eraser stumbled backwards, a few teeth going flying. With a quick elbow to the head, the Eraser was out for the count.

Another came at me, and as I fended him off I did a quick check on the rest of the Flock, who seemed to be taking care of themselves. I got quite a few more bruises and bad cuts. Blood stained my one good sweatshirt, which help my rage breed and surge on to become a whole new fighting style.

Suddenly, as I kneed an Eraser square in the chest, I saw out of the corner of my eye as Gazzy and Iggy nodded at each other. I knew what that meant, so I shouted it before they could. "Duck!" The entire Flock dropped to their stomachs just as a deafening BOOM erupted, throwing Erasers far off into the distance. Suddenly, they were retreating, Ethan too.

Ha! The Infamous Flock! We'd won again. I looked around at the rubble. "Report!" I shouted.

"Here!" Total said, coming up, sniffling and he sneezed.

"Here," Angel said, crawling out from under a piece of wood. So much for home-sweet-home.

One by one I heard a 'Here!' from everyone—almost everyone.

As the Gasman and Iggy gushed over their latest explosion, I realized one vital member of my Flock was missing.

"Where's Fang?" I asked, trying to hide the panic rising in my voice. Everyone stopped talking, looking around. When he didn't come out in the next five minutes I didn't care about hiding it anymore.

"Fang!" I shouted, trying to keep myself from falling into hysterics—it was becoming difficult. That's when Angel looked at me sadly.

"Ethan wants you to know that he has Fang," Angel said, looking at me. My eyes narrowed.

"What?" I said between clenched teeth, totally pissed. My hands balled into tight fists.

"Ethan is thinking to me. He said to tell you, 'Don't worry about him, little Maximum. He'll be here. Where all your nightmares began.'" Angel looked ominous and Iggy swallowed hard.

"They've got Fang?" Nudge asked slowly, as though just catching on.

"Yeah, but, where?" Gazzy asked.

I looked at all of them, my family, my Flock, one by one.

"They took him to the beginning," I said slowly, looking down. "They took him back there," I said, horror clear in my voice and I was sure on my face as well. I looked up and back at them fiercely. "They took him to the School."

Reviews please! I hope you guys liked this chapter! I told you it would be intense!

Chapter 5 should be out sometime this week. Review, review, review! Thanks for reading!

Falling Rose Petals