Chapter 29-Rescue

Because I added the little unplanned bit about the killer in there, that makes him another loose end which means there may be about 10 chapters until I end this.

I'm disappointed. I wrote over 3000 words for the last chapter and I only got 4 reviews. But you guys must've liked it because I was bombarded with new story follower emails. So lazy-pants, start reviewing.

So shout out to my reviewers:

gigglesandbooks- it might not be possible for a while until Max and Fang escape but yeah, they will.

Elemental Dragon Slayer- yeah… I agree. Max was being pretty irrational about the whole thing.

Larafares96- Don't worry, I have that planned in the next two or three chapters.

I Am a kick ass Princess- What does pizza have to do with this? And Max was wearing something along the lines of dark leggings, a green blousy-tunic thing, a brown thin belt, and a tan-colored small cardigan jacket.

Oh, special POV this time again.

Anyways, R&R.

Holden

We were all sitting in a nearby park, relaxing and waiting for Max and Fang to come running back but it was taking a while.

"Oh my god!" Angel shot up to her feet, her eyebrows furrowed in deep concentration, "Max is in trouble. And Fang just disappeared."

"What?" I asked, "How did you know that?"

"That's not important," she moves on, her eyes unfocused and staring at the direction of the Director's house, "She's in a cage. It's dark, there's someone else in the room. There are lots of animals too. But Fang's been… taken."

Then her eyes refocused, "She's gone."

"What!" Valencia hissed, "Where'd she go?"

"We have to go get her!" Gazzy shouted.

"Wait, wait, we need a rational plan, you guys," Kate said, pulling us all back to calm, "Why isn't she escaping?"

"I got a feeling that she can't, something's keeping her put," Angel explains, her eyes closed, "I'm looking for her but she's gone."

"Wow, can you read minds or something?" Ratchet asks.

Angel looks alarmed and I narrow my eyes in suspicion. She can, can't she?

"Yes, I can, Holden," she says, looking at me, "I kept it from you guys because you might think I'm a freak."

Her blue eyes were dejected as she continued, "Sometimes I can read people's minds really clearly and I can hear individual thoughts; but sometimes it's fuzzy and I can only sense feelings. But Max feels like she's there but there's like a wall and I can't get to her. I've never felt anything like it."

"Okay, she's in a cell," Kate muses, pacing. She has a habit of pacing and moving when she's making up a plan. Then her eyes snap at me. Everyone else follows her gaze and look at me too and I practically see the gears in their heads working before they smile in realization.

"Whaaaat?" I ask slowly, dragging out the syllable. Star shoots me a sheepish look and I feel like everyone knows except me. She comes over to sit next to me.

"Come on, please?" her blue eyes look up at me hopefully, the corners turning down sadly.

"Please, what?!"

"This is what you're going to do…." Kate starts.

Max

It was dark and cramped in the smelly cell. Did I mention that it was cramped? They hooked something up to me so that I couldn't shift. I was curled up, hugging my knees to my chest, afraid to sleep or I might tip the cage over and can't get up afterwards.

"Hello, Max," the Director said, a blue-filled syringe in his right hand and a small machine in the other, "Hold out your arm."

"NO," I snarl, shifting myself as far back in the cage as I could but it didn't really make a difference.

"Are you sure?" he says and then he presses a button. A terrible pain traveled up my spine and I screamed. He takes advantage of my still moment and plunges the syringe into my arm. Slowly, my vision clouded, my thoughts were blurry. There were pretty watercolor butterflies flitting around the room. I looked around the room and followed them with my eyes. The Director's features blurred and his mouth made a few words. He handed me something sharp and I looked down at my thighs. I must've understood what he said because I dug the blade right into my thigh and the whole world disappeared.

Holden

"So I just need to go in there?" I ask, slightly intimidated.

"Yeah, you'll be fine," Kate insisted.

I peck Star on the lips and sneak into the alley. It was completely dark and I fumbled for the door handle but I push it open easily. That's suspicious.

There's a narrow tunnel that opens into a dimly lit room. There's sleeping animals in cages, but some nocturnal animals were screeching and pounding on the cages. There's a soft singing that shifts from a small whimper to a soft melody and back. I follow it to a cage on top of two empty cages. Max is sitting there, serenely and I think she's content there until I see the red.

I almost can't register what's going on. I start at Max's head, looking at her softly closed eyes, a strange song coming out of her slightly parted mouth. My eyes move down to her arms, her hands clutching a knife! It's driven into her thigh, blood gushing from it.

"Max!" I yell, and then shut my mouth, working at the lock as hard as I can.

She turns to me, her eyes half-lidded. She giggles, "Holden, is that you?"

"Are you drugged?" I ask, slamming on the cage.

She startles, "Maybe. What are you doing?"

"I'm getting you out, Max," I tell her, half shifting so my fingers can fit in the the lock.

"NO!" she screams and pushes me away. My fingers are almost yanked off.

"Ow!" I yelp in pain, "What the hell, Max?"

"You can't," she says desperately, her eyes still slightly unfocused, "They'll kill Fang if I get out."

Then her eyes are scared as she looks at something behind me.

"Yes, so you understand if we keep her here, right?" the Director comes up behind me. I jump a little and I get ready to fight.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," the Director said pressing a button. The most unearthly wail came from Max, "I can kill her right now. Your precious Cardinal will be dead in seconds."

I look at Max and her eyes are begging. I pause just long enough for three black-dressed men to grab me.

"Get him a cage too," the Director said dismissively.

I'm thrown into a cage with iron bars that dig into my spine. Luckily, I'm in the cage under Max's. "Max, we're going to get out of here," I tell her. I take the knife I had in my coat and throw it into Max's cell, making sure it didn't hit her. I shift into my starfish form and leave my cage, climbing up into Max's cage.

I try to get the wires off unsuccessfully but I'm not going to turn back and get in a tiny cage with Max. That would be uncomfortable to tell Star. I look at her wound and found that the skin was growing back around the knife. I jump out of the cage and land in human form, pulling the knife out. She winces a little bit but she looked completely out of it. I think she was asleep.

"I'll be right back, I promise," I tell her and take both knives in case she wants to hurt herself again.

I run out of the lab to the pack, "Max is drugged, Fang is gone and there are animals trapped in there. The Director has some thugs there and we need to save her."

"What about Fang?" Iggy asks.

"He's somehow back in the Realm, I don't know how."

"Well we need to get them," Kate says matter-of-factly, "Here's the plan."