The cave is gone, disappeared. I'm standing in a bedroom. A completely average, normal bedroom. Not my bedroom, but it'll do.
"It worked." I smile to myself. Now I just have to figure out where I am and I can-
"Where are we?" I hear a familiar voice behind me say.
"What in God's name?" Another male voice adds. My eye twitches. I turn around slowly, and freeze.
"Christine, where are we?" It seems Raoul and the Phantom somehow followed me here (not sure where "here" is…).
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE!?" I screech in panic. "How is this even possible? I did everything right, at least I think I did. I didn't even know something like this could happen!" I pace back and forth around the room talking to myself. "How can I fix this? Maybe if we-" There's a sudden knock on the door. I throw my hands over Raoul and the Phantom's mouths to shut them up.
"Max? Are you okay in there? I heard screaming." I assume I'm Max.
"What yeah, I'm fine. Just um, getting dressed." I shove the Phantom and Raoul into a closet just as a short little kid with spiky hair wearing pajamas comes in.
"Mornin' Max."
"Mornin', um…little one." The closet door creeps open as the Phantom and Raoul try to get out, and I lean against it trying to act casual.
"What's for breakfast?"
"Well, it's um, a- a surprise?" I say. The kid just shakes his head and walks out in a sleepy daze. I breathe a sigh of relief. Then I open the closet.
"How could you do that to me Christine?" Raoul whines. "The Phantom almost strangled me again."
"He was asking for it, he stepped on my cape."
"Look you two," I say, straightening them out. "This is too complicated to explain, but if you love me you'll listen to me."
"I would do anything for you Christine." The Phantom says.
"No, I would do anything and everything for you Christine." Raoul challenges.
"No-" The Phantom begins.
"Okay, okay, I get it. Look, I just need you two to hide out in this closet until I come and get you. Don't talk to anyone, don't do anything. Don't. Even. Breathe. Just stay put. When I come back, I'll try to explain things and get you back home. Can you do that for me?"
"Anything for you Christine." They say in tandem.
"Great, so just" I say while shoving them back into the closet. "Stay in there." I catch sight of an umbrella lying on the floor in the corner of the room. I carefully push it through the closet handles, so they can't get out.
"Just to be safe." I whisper to myself. Now I have to figure out where I am. I peek my head outside into the hallway. It seems so ordinary. I walk towards the kitchen. Along the walls there are pictures of the kid I encountered already, surrounded by some other kids. In one picture an adult also accompanies them, but besides that, it's only them. I find the kitchen, where the kid is already sitting at the table.
"Hey, so breakfast?" I ask the kid, but he's fallen asleep at the table.
"I'll assume that's a yes." I begin foraging through the fridge, but it's as barren as Antarctica. Then I get a prickling sensation at the back of my neck. I straighten and spin around.
"Wwaaaa! What was that?!"
"What? Me breathing?" The dark shadow along the wall answers. To my shock, it comes to life and it's really another kid. He has long dark hair, and by long, I mean really long. Like longer than mine.
"Ahh...Right…Breathing." I feel faint already. This place is so confusing.
"I'll make eggs." Yet another kid calls out. This one's also tall, but lighter in complexion than the other one.
"Geez, these kids are popping up all over the place." I murmur to myself.
"What was that Max?" The one with the dark hair asks.
"What? Oh nothing. Just talking to myself."
"Don't you think you should go wake up Nudge and Angel?" He suggests.
"Um. Right yeah. Totally. I'll go do that now…" I wander back into the hallway. I try room after room without finding a living soul, until I finally wander across one with a girl passed out on a bed.
"Nudge?" I ask. And she twitches. "Hey Nudge, Nudgiepo (can I call you that?), it's time to wake up. Up and at'em. Another day, get up and face it." She doesn't move. "Alright, I guess we're doing this the hard way…" I roll up my sleeves, and throw her blankets off dramatically. Then I grab her legs and pull as hard as I can. She doesn't even budge. I push and I pull, but I get nothing. Finally, I can't take it anymore and I keel over from exhaustion. As my body makes a thud as I hit the floor, she finally stirs.
"Wha?" She says, still faint from sleep.
"Breakfast…in…five." I say from the floor.
"Hi Max." I hear from above me. I rise to find a little girl peering out from some curtains along the wall. "Can you do my buttons?" She asks innocently. I get up and start to button her shirt. Then she tilts her head and starts giving me a funny look.
"Max?"
"Yes?"
"No." Uh oh. My eye twitches, but I keep my smile on.
"No? What do you mean no? I'm your Max."
"No. You're not."
"What? How do you know?" I ask bewildered.
"I can read minds." I stare at her a moment. I blink twice to be sure I'm not imagining things.
"You read minds."
"Yes. And now you're thinking about how you can convince me you are Max, but it's not going to work."
"Wait. Look, please, I can explain…"
"You don't have to. I can read your mind. I understand what you've been through and how you've gotten here…it just doesn't make sense."
"Yeah. You don't have to tell me that. But I need to get through this story, and it would really mean a lot to me if you helped me out so I could get home-"
"If I help you do you think the real Max would come back?"
"Well, there's no point lying to you, so honestly I don't know. But I think it's your best shot." She's silent for a moment. Then she nods her head. She fills me in on who Max is, what the "flock" is, the members of the flock, some institute called "the school" that performed experiments on people, and that apparently I have wings.
"Wow. Hold the phone. I have wings?"
"Yes. The whole flock does."
"That is so freaking awesome." I exclaim. This is some of the best news I've had in a while. Wings. That is so cool.
"You got all the names?"
"Yeah. I think so."
"If anything happens that you're confused on, I'll help you out."
"Thanks. I really appreciate it."
"I would do anything for Max." She takes my hand and leads me to the kitchen. There I finally identify the rest of the family members as Nudge, Iggy, Gazzy, and Fang. This isn't so hard.
"I want to go pick strawberries." Angel says, sweetly. "They're ripe now."
"Okay Angel, I'll go with you." Gazzy agrees, just as he "let's one rip". The moment the smell hits my nostrils I start to choke. I grab my neck and then collapse onto the floor, gasping for breath.
"Max, are you okay?" Iggy says, nudging me with his foot.
"She's just feeling little headed today." Angel explains for me.
"Need…fresh…air…" I gasp. I say before collapsing again.
"Then it's settled, we'll all go pick some strawberries." Nudge says with a smile.
The fresh air really does make me feel better. It's been a while since I felt a real summer breeze. As we walk Angel grabs my hand. "You're doing well." She whispers in my ears. Then she says louder, "If you make a cake, I can make strawberry shortcakes." She says loudly, so everyone else can hear.
"Yeah, that'll be the day, when Max makes a cake." I hear Iggy say.
"Well excuse me for not conforming to the social norms of women being belonging in the kitchen."
"What does that even mean?" He asks, but he's laughing. In fact everyone is laughing hard. Angel pulls on my hand and whispers in my ear, "I forgot to mention that Gasman can mimic any sound or voice."
"Is that so?" I ask, a little fazed. That is probably one of the most annoying powers a person could possibly have. "Gazzy, was that you?" Before he can answer, I hear Angel next to me scream. Startled, I stare down at her, and in the next second men with wolfish muzzles huge canines, and reddish glinting eyes dropped out of the sky like spiders.
"HOLY SHIT! What the hell are those things?!" I shout. The rest of the family, and even some of the monster creature wolf things look at me confused.
"Erasers!" Angel shrieks, helping me out.
"Ohh…Right I remember. I meant, Erasers! They're bad right? So let's take them out …Go team?" They all spring into action. I follow after them, even though in all honestly I'm a little apprehensive about going up against these fierce "Eraser" things. I put aside my fears though, and launch myself at the nearest Eraser. I plant a roundhouse kick in his chest.
"Holy cow. I am enjoying these new fighting skills." I say to myself, as I plunge back into the battle. In all honesty, I'm probably having way more fun than I should be. I'm fighting for my life, but it feels nice to get my anger out on someone. Especially that one guy, who I went a little cannibalistic on. I didn't bite him hard, just hard enough to draw blood. I then jump on the back of the nearest Eraser and pull as hard as I can on his long spiky hair. It's very soft.
"Probably a bad time, but what shampoo do you use!?" I ask, honestly interested. He doesn't answer, just grabs me, and flings me to the ground. He roars in my face.
"Wow. Sorry for asking!" I kick him in the chest, sending him flying backwards. Just as I get up, I see Angel getting kidnapped by some of the Erasers.
"Angel!" I run towards her. I can't let them take my only hope in surviving this story away from me (plus I have grown a little attached to her, but who wouldn't with that cute little face?). Then two Erasers fall on me, and pinned me down. One of them leans over me, smiling horribly.
"Max, good to see you again."
"Do I know you?" I wheeze out.
"You don't recognize me?"
"Don't take it personally. I'm having a bad day."
"You don't recognize me? I guess I've grown some."
"Is that supposed to be some sort of clue as to who you are? Cause it's not helping"
"You still don't know who I am?"
"Hate to break it to you, but your long sharp fangs aren't ringing any bells. Can't you just tell me your name?"
"Ari."
"Hmm…Still not ringing any bells. Can I get back to you?" I ask just as his boot comes down onto my head knocking me out cold.
"Max?" I hear Gazzy calling to me.
"Ahhhhouuuu." I moan trying to brush off the fuzziness from being knocked out. "Whaa happened?" Everyone's silent. Then the memory returns to me, along with some others, about the flock, the School (not the nicest of memories), and Jeb Batchelder and his son, Ari.
"Where's Angel?" I ask, concerned about her. Fang looks me right in the eye and says, "She's gone. They took her." I stare intensely at the ground. I know the rest of the flock is waiting for how I'm going to react. I don't know what Max would do, but I do know exactly what I'm going to do.
"Then it's decided…" I stand up shakily and turn and start to walk away.
"Max!" I hear Gazzy call out to me.
"Max, where are you going? You can't just abandon Angel!" Nudge begs. I turn and look at her.
"I'm not. I'm going after her." I smile mischievously, "Anyone else care to join me?" They all stare at me.
"Yes." Nudge says in a tear-choked voice.
"I'm up." Iggy agrees. The Gasman nods solemnly at me. I look at Fang and we just lock eyes and he nods.
"Alright then team, let's-" My speech is interrupted by the faint sound of an engine.
"There." Iggy says, pointing.
"Okay gang. Looks like our rescue mission is going to start early. I hope you're all up for kicking some butt." I start to run in the direction of the noise. The others join me, but in a few seconds unfurl their wings and start to fly. I decide to give it a shot too, so I unfurl my wings. Instead of taking to the air though, the wind catches it strangely and it causes me to tumble backwards.
"Max are you okay?" Nudge asks from high above.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Keep going, I'll catch up." I hope. I try again, this time aiming my wings downward when I unfurl them. It works and the wind propels me into the air. I scream in excitement. Flying is one of the most incredible feelings. The world grows smaller beneath me. It's my first time, but Max's instincts take over and I'm flying gracefully as if I had been doing it all my life. Damn, I wish I had been doing this all my life. I do a somersault in the air, and then I remember I'm on a mission. I have to focus. I speed up and catch up to the flock.
Together we head towards the Humvee in tight formation. Fang grabs a tree branch and smashes it against the vehicle's front windshield. It swerves, and a window rolls down. I see a gun barrel poke out and dodge to the side.
"Angel! We're coming." Just as we get ready to full out attack, the car brakes awkwardly, sliding in the mud. Erasers pour out of the car. One of them throws a grenade, and we all fall backwards fast as it explodes in front of us. Then I see the familiar shape of Ari, running towards a helicopter with a sack over his shoulder. It must be Angel. I fly towards him. Just as the helicopter takes off, I grab ahold of the side of the copter. I pull my wings in fast so they don't tear off from the downdraft of the helicopter.
As I attempt to climb aboard, I see Ari aiming a rifle at me.
"Let me tell you a secret, old pal, old chap. You've got it all wrong. We're the good guys!"
"Good guys don't kidnap little girls you sick bastard." Ari's hand tightened on the trigger. Max's instinct is yelling at me at jump, because she knows Ari would shoot. It pains me to say, but I think he would too and I'd rather not die today.
"Angel! I promise I will come save you! And I promise you this, Ari. You have made an enemy of the wrong girl. And you will regret making me angry." He laughs at me.
"I'd like to see you try." He teases me.
"Be careful what you wish for." I say vengefully as I let go off the helicopter and fall backwards to the ground. I spin around and unfurl my wings. I land hard on the ground, very pissed and very angry. The rest of the flock runs up to me, but they can tell from my expression what happened.
"What are we going to do?" Nudge says on the verge of tears.
"I told you what we're going to do. We're going after Angel, and we're going to find her and free her. And then we're going to burn the School to the ground, and I won't let any Erasers, labcoats, Editors, or even the author of this story stop us."
"What?" Iggy asks, confused about the last comment.
"Nothing. The point is we're going after Angel."
"But we don't even know where Angel is." Gasman says.
"Where else would they take her? She's at the School." The flock gasps in shock and terror. "Why is that a surprise?" I ask, very confused.
"But we don't even know where the School is!" Gasman cries (ignoring my question).
"Oh…That's a good point."
"There's a map." Fang says. "It's in California."
"Oh. Okay. Well there you go. Easy. Now we just fly to California. Piece of cake."
"When do we leave?" The Gasman asks eagerly.
"About that…" This is going to be awkward. "You're not coming."
"Why?!"
"Because you're only eight." He doesn't take that well. Let me change my approach. "And because I have a special mission for you. I want you to stay here and defend the camp."
"What if the Erasers come back?"
"Then you fight them off. And that's why Iggy's staying too!"
"WHAT?" He says angrily. "You can't make me stay!"
"Yes I can, and you will. I told you I need you two here so-"
"Stop with the bullshit, it's because I'm blind!"
"Um…Only a little bit. It's also because I need you to look out for Gazzy." Although in reality something will happen that'll probably make them rejoin us eventually anyway, but I'm going to hold my ground anyway.
"Jeb would never have made us stay. Never Ever." He says defiantly. I raise an eyebrow.
"Maybe not. But was he the one would took care of you and raised you from childhood? Maybe a little, but no! I did most of it. And he's also dead so we'll never know." That was a little harsh, but necessary. "Now everyone get your gear together."
8