HEY!!!! Sorry I haven't updated in a while! It's kind of hard to set deadlines for myself and all, so I think I need to set specific times to write and stuff. What about if I try to update every two weeks? Every other sunday. I think I can manage that. Well, tell me what you think via review and read on!!!!

Disclaimer: I dis to the claim of Maximum Ride.

Please continue



MPOV

A chilly wind rustled through the trees. Leaves crackled and swirled by my head. I groggily opened my eyes. It was about noon by the looks of it. I brought my hand up to my face. It came away wet with tears.

Where was I?

I looked around just in time to see a… was that an arrow?

Sure enough, the sleek black metal tip raced towards my, glinting menacingly in the afternoon light.

I scrambled up from where I lay and dived behind a tree, by brain on hyper alert.

My breath came in shallow spurts. A bush somewhere to the left exploded. I could feel the heat of it on my back before scorching pain reached it. I nearly screamed.

Instinctively, I jumped up and into the high branches of the tree, fifteen feet above me. I tore my jacket off and pressed my back against the cold, smooth bark of the tree.

I let my breathing slow. That had been the strangest thirty seconds of my entire life. Easily.

I looked down in time to see a black hooded figure disappear into the forest.

He must think he killed me, I thought. I waited a few minutes before jumping down from the tree. I hissed in a breath of air. My back had been burned from the explosion.

Which led to another question. How had an arrow exploded?

I glanced around the smoking patch of the forest. My back hurt like crazy. I tried to move my wings, relieved to find that they had not been scorched. I kicked around some lose debris, coming up with an amorphous arrow. It was melted out of shape and left black soot all over my hands. I hesitated, wondering if I should go in search of the mystery arrow guy.

No, I decided. First things first. I had to get home.


FPOV

I gazed out the open window of Mrs. Martinez's second story. Actually, It was the room that Max, Nudge and Angel shared. I sat on the windowsill, my legs dangling out.

Max had been gone for hours and she had looked pretty spooked when I had last saw her.

Where could she be?

I looked behind me into her room, my eyes locking onto the picture of Max and I when we were six years old. We were still living at the School, but Jeb had snuck us some ice cream cones. The picture captured the moment when we had both looked up at the same exact time, our noses and cheeks covered with ice cream, big grins pasted onto our faces.

It was her favorite picture. And it was the only thing that had survived the fire at the E-shaped house back in Colorado. But not by much. When she had found it, the edges had been charred black, and the bottom left corner had been completely burned away.

It now held a place of honor in a handmade frame by Angel on the side table by Max's bed.

I traced the outline of her face over the glass. Every time I had seen that picture, it had been the image of happiness. The only color in the black and white world known as the School.

But now I looked into six year old Max's eyes and I saw straight into her soul. I saw her fear and her worries, and I saw that every emotion I had seen in this photograph had been a lie. A mask that covered up her real emotions. I looked at the six year old me and saw one of the rare only times I had ever smiled. I remembered that day. I had been happy for once. Because… because I had thought that Max was happy.

I glanced back at Max.

Now all I saw was grief.

I averted my eyes away from the old photograph, too sad to look at it any longer. I turned my head toward the window, half expecting to see Max flying towards me, the same mask of happiness on her face, those same sad, brown eyes with their piercing gaze, her…

Well, I'm sure you can imagine that I was quite surprised to see a black, glossy sedan pull up into Mrs. Martinez's driveway, though with it's neglectance to slow down, it ended up half way on the grass, halfway in the driveway, and a little bit on the side walk.

Although, what happened next made me nearly fall completely out the window.

Because none other than the traitor himself stepped out of that fancy black sedan. That's right: Jeb.

My hands gripped the windowsill to keep myself from attacking him right then and there. I looked down to see my knuckles had turned white and a long, narrow crack ran down the wood that had not been there before.

Jeb turned around from where e stood, giving me a big wave and a hearty smile. It made my blood boil.

So I did what I do best. I went into lockdown mode, hardening the mask that hid my emotions.

And I stared him down until he fidgeted and proceeded to the front door.

I seized my chance and raced downstairs as the cheery doorbell song echoed through the house.

I grabbed Iggy and Gazzy from where they were building a set of paper clip bombs in the living room and pretty much dragged them upstairs and into the bedroom that the three of us shared. We were followed closely by a curious Nudge and Angel, who had been painting near them on the floor. (They weren't actually painting on the floor. They were sitting on the floor with the paper and stuff right next to them. Just thought I'd clear that up.)

The door closed shut behind the five of us, and instantly the room was full of questions.

"Fang, what the heck? Me and Gaz were about to- "

"SHHHHHH!!!!!" I scrambled back to the door, a hand up telling them to keep quiet. On the bottom floor, I could hear Max's mom talking to Jeb, no surprise evident in her voice.

Nudge and Gazzy had their heads cocked to the side.

"Who's that?" Nudge whispered into the now dead silent room.

I opened my mouth to answer, but Angel beat me to it, a solemn, quite confused look on her face. But as confused as she was, there wasn't a hint of doubt to her tone.

"Jeb." She paused for a moment, no doubt listening to the minds below her. "And Mrs. Martinez just invited him to have dinner with us."

It'd amazing how those simple words can cause such a havok.

Thanks for reviewing!!!!! I have the next chapter almost finished, so i shall see, maybe i might update later this week (wiggles eyebrows)

***Let's aim for 25 reviews!***