Max POV

That night was a sleepless one for Fang and I. Both of us knew that we were going to separate again. Looking at Fang made me feel like I was going to explode. It was possible I wouldn't see him for another twenty years after this.

It was about midnight and everyone in the cave was asleep except for Fang and I. The thunder storm had died down to barely even a drizzle. Sitting at the mouth of the cave, Fang grabbed my hand and squeezed it, "I won't stop until I find out who is doing this." He whispered, not wanting to wake the others. "I won't stop until I can be with you again, Max." I looked over at him. His long black hair was draping into his eyes, covering whatever emotion that was hiding in them.

I sighed and leaned my head on his shoulder, "Fang, I know. I just wish we would find out quicker. I don't think I can wait longer than a week for you…" My voice cracked making me sound more vulnerable than I already was. "I miss you too much." I looked up into his eyes. My heart was shrinking. His dark eyes looked like a black abyss; an abyss I wouldn't mind getting lost in.

Fang leaned down and kissed me gently on the lips. I would miss everything about him. I would miss the way he kissed. I would miss the way his lips felt on mine. I would miss the way he smelled. I would miss the way he drove me insane. I would miss his sarcastic comments. I would miss him.

The kiss intensified quickly. I ran my fingers through his hair; there were unbelievably no knots in it whatsoever. Fang wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me closer to him. There was about an inch of space in between him and me. He pulled out of the kiss and stared into my eyes. He smiled and kissed me again. Fang laid down, his back flat against the cave floor and I was on top of him. He put his hand on my back and pulled me closer, leaving no space between us at all.

The only thing that mattered to me was Fang. We were both so preoccupied with our kiss that we forgot we were sitting at the mouth of a cave. The mouth of a cave that was thousands of feet above the ground. With one large roll, both of us fell out of the cave. It caught both of us off guard, but we snapped our wings open and hovered in the air for a moment.

I stared at him and ran my fingers through my dark blonde hair. I went through the events that just happened in my head. We kissed. Check. I was on top of him. Check. We rolled. Check. Fell out of the cave… Check.

I shook my head in disbelief and started laughing. Fang looked at me and smirked. "Did we just fall out of a cave because we were kissing?" He asked.

I looked at the opening of the cave that was about a hundred feet above us, "Yes." I said, laughing. "We have to watch out about that…" Fang smiled at me. Not a smirk, a smile. Fang actually showed his teeth in this smile. Never in my life had I seen him smile like that. It was an accomplishment to get him to lift the corner of his mouth into a smirk. But he flashed his perfect teeth at me.

Smiling back, I flew over and hugged him. Fang wrapped his arms around me and looked up at the night sky. "Max, we are going through so much. We love each other… can our love survive?" He asked me, sounding very poetic. What he said made my stomach flutter. He didn't doubt that we loved each other, but he was asking if it would stay that way.

"What do you mean?" I said slowly.

"I want to know something…" He took a deep breath and kissed my forehead. "You don't think anyone can get in between us… right?" My mind instantly went to Dylan. Fang was still worried I preferred Dylan over him.

I cupped his cheek in my hand, "Absolutely no one can beat your awesomeness." I kissed him. I had never kissed Fang while flying, but I wish I had done it more often. It was the most heart-fluttering feeling you could possibly get. His kiss made me feel like flying, but I already was. Fang closed his wings around us, still flapping gently. The kiss felt relieved. Fang knew that Dylan couldn't possibly get in the way of me and him and that is all that mattered.

I really think you should stop making out. Xavier is freaking because he thinks Fang is eating your face. I was surprised to hear Hawk talking in my head, but I remembered she could read minds and talk telepathically to people.

I was reluctant at first, but I slowly ended the kiss and leaned my forehead on his. His breathing was deep and controlled, unlike my rapid and shallow breathing.

"Why did you stop…?" Fang asked me.

I smiled, "Because Hawk told me to." I started to fly up to the cave.

He looked confused at first, but then he looked up to the mouth of the cave where Hawk was standing. She had a big grin on her face as she stared down at us. Fang sighed and started flying up towards the cave with me.

"Why are you guys up? It's almost one in the morning." Fang asked as he landed in the cave with me. He retracted his wings and stared at Hawk.

"We are leaving to get Max home in about five minutes. My flock went to bed at about five o'clock last night. That's enough sleep. Also we don't want to be seen. The clouds are receding like a seventy year old man's hair." Hawk looked back at the owl kids who were throwing two days worth of clothes into small sacks.

I smirked and looked up at Fang, "I guess I am going home faster than we expected." He looked down at me; his face was totally free of emotions, but his eyes showed how disappointed he was. I shrugged, "Do… do you think you can talk to the flock. They are going to kill me when they find out that I found you and didn't let them talk to you."

Fang sighed and sat down on Janie's bed, "Maybe… I am doing this for their safety. If the person is someone close to us, then you are going to say you never found me and you gave up and went back home." I nodded as my heart clenched. The image of Iggy popped into my head.

I remembered when Iggy went on his rampage because Fang left. He punched all of the walls and bloodied up his knuckles. If Iggy knew that Fang was staying away for the flock's safety, he would go on another rampage. Not only because he feels that he doesn't need anyone's protection, but also because he misses Fang too.

There were a couple of moments of silence when Hawk finally broke in, "We should leave now. I don't want to wait much longer. I don't want it to be past dawn when we get to Max's house." Hawk stopped talking. Her forehead creased, "Uhm… Max? Where do you live? We just know that we are dropping you off somewhere."

"Colorado." I said. "I can lead us to the house."

Hawk nodded and pulled her light brown hair into a ponytail. "It should be about dawn when we get there then." Her bright blue eyes looked grey from the shading in the cave. The rest of her flock put their backpacks on and looked and Fang and I.

"Let's go." Hawk said. One by one, the owl children jumped out of the cave and unfurled their gigantic wings. Fang and I followed. I flew a little faster than usual to get next to Hawk, who was leading everyone. "Just point me in the direction of the house whenever we need to make a turn."

I nodded. The flight was going pretty well, until another figure came flying at Hawk and I. It was a winged person…

Oh great, I thought. This is just what I need right now.

Iggy POV

Have you ever woken up because someone punched you in the back of your head? No? Well neither have I… until now.

I shot up from my sleeping position and grabbed the back of my head. When I pulled my hand away, I felt a liquid too dense to be water. Blood was pouring out of the back of my head… Just great.

"Who is there?" I asked.

A harsh laugh came from across the room; it sounded… animalistic. Especially because they growled.

"Who are you?" I asked, louder this time.

I heard footsteps coming towards my door. The door went flying open. Gazzy's sleepy voice had a shocked tone, "Iggy… there's an Eraser!" He said. No wonder they sounded like an animal… "I thought they were all killed!" He yelled. The cruel laugh came from across the room again.

"Obviously we were not all killed if I am standing here. Blind one," The eraser said, regarding me. What the hell? Blind one? "Gather the children, you are coming with me."

I didn't bother to hide the laugh that crept up my throat, "Are you insane? I would never just hand the Flock over to you!" The Eraser growled at me, obviously not liking my refusal. "You are insane…" I whispered. The Eraser must have heard it because he punched the wall in anger. Two more pairs of footsteps came running down the hallway. Angel and Nudge stopped in the doorway.

"Holy shit!" Nudge yelled.

"Mouth!" I yelled at her. Nudge was twelve, she shouldn't be cursing. I don't care if she is a mutant bird kid or not, Max's rules are that you have to be older than fourteen to curse. Max may not be here to correct Nudge, but I am.

"Sorry…" She muttered, "But why is there a frikin Eraser standing in your room?"

"Iggy…" Angel muttered.

"There is an Eraser in my room because it wants to take the Flock to…" I turned my head into the direction of the Eraser, wishing I could see its facial expression of our bickering over the curse.

"Itex." It said. I rolled my eyes. Please! I would never go voluntarily to Itex. This thing must be nuts.

"Iggy…" Angel said again.

"Why are you not destroying the thing as we speak?" Nudge asked. The Eraser growled at her and moved closer to the doorway.

"Stop right there dog-boy." I hissed at him, "Take one more step towards them and you will be blown to bits. I mean it."

It took a few steps back.

"Iggy!" Angel yelled at me.

"What?" I yelled back.

She didn't have to tell me. Gazzy snuck his way over to the side of the room that the Eraser was on. He was silent as he was doing this, for I didn't hear him walking away from me.

Don't look surprised that he is there. The Eraser doesn't know he is over there yet. It was too preoccupied with your and Nudge's bickering. Angel said to me through telepathy. He is going to sneak a grenade into its pocket and kick it out the window. I gave a slight nod.

"So, what's your name?" I asked the Eraser, trying to make small talk while Gazzy slipped the bomb into its pocket. The Eraser obviously wasn't expecting me to ask him that, because he stuttered.

"Uh…well…it is…Bob…" It replied. Nudge didn't hold back. She laughed so hard that she fell to the floor.

"Bob!" She breathed, "That's not possibly your name!" She couldn't hide her giggles, they were flowing out of her mouth like a river. She stopped laughing as the Eraser ferociously snarled.

I narrowed my eyes towards the Eraser. Nudge was right… that couldn't possibly be his name. He just came up with it on spot, and for some reason that name was the first thing that came to his head. He was lying about his name… why would he lie about his name? It's not like we aren't already going to hate you, telling us your name won't make us hate you any more. That means it was afraid to give out their real identity. But why?

The Eraser snarled, probably from hearing the window being opened and having something shoved into its jeans. Before the Eraser could do anything, he was thrown out of the window by four bird kids. None of us looked out of the window as the explosion occurred. Nothing could have survived that. Nothing.

For some reason I felt like someone was missing… I went through the names of the Flock.

Max- Finding Fang.

Fang- Being Found by Max.

Me- Of course I am here!

Nudge- Next to me.

Gazzy- Laughing hysterically on the floor from the Erasers sudden death.

Angel- Next to Nudge.

Dylan- Unknown.

"Where is Dylan?" I asked suddenly. "He couldn't have possibly slept through that."

As if to answer my question, Dylan came running through my door.

He looks like a mess. Angel said to me. He has black marks all over him and his clothed. There is ash in his hair and burns everywhere.

"Did you guys see that explosion out there?" Dylan asked. "I was out for a nighttime fly and I was flying past the side of the house when someone fell on me. I saw it was an Eraser and dropped it, then he exploded! I was able to get away just in time!... What happened to your head, Iggy?" Oh shit… Dylan got caught in the path of the bomb. Oops. Even worse, I felt the blood trickling down my back. I sighed and pulled off my t-shirt and pressed it to the back of my head.

Gazzy whistled and I rolled my eyes.

"Well, we probably can't get sleep after that. Let's go have a talk in the living room about this all." I sighed as Gazzy recommended blowing things up instead… That doesn't sound that bad of an idea – no Iggy. No blowing things up while Max is gone. Well, other than that Eraser.

"Actually, I am going to go for another fly. That Explosion got my adrenaline pumping, I'm going to go wear myself out." I raised my eyebrows as Dylan walked away from my doorway and out of the house.

I gave the Flock a confused look, "I just shrugged, Iggy." Angel said, informing me what she did because I couldn't see it. I took a deep breath.

"Well, we have to talk about what we are going to do if Max doesn't come back in a week. I am getting worried. This is the second night she has been gone and I don't like it one bit." I said.

"Okay." Nudge, Angel, and Gazzy said at the same time.