The sun blinds me, as we fly straight towards it. We've been flying for a couple hours at least. We've left the Santa de Cristo mountain range behind, however California is still a long ways away. Nudge has been occupying my time by talking to me, not about one particular thing, but lots of topics. Then she interrupts one of our conversations with, "Max, I was thinking about it and if we get separated somehow, what should we do?"

"We meet up at Lake Mead…You know this seems like an important plot point, I better remember this."

"What?"

"I mean, this might be important if we get lost, so remember this." We continue to fly, crossing little towns and cities. I lazily gaze down every once in a while and watch the people living their normal lives. I picture myself in their position and wonder if that could have been me in a different lifetime. Strangely enough, it seems unfamiliar to even imagine myself as something so normal. Carrying groceries, reading in the park, walking a dog, getting bullied- wait what?

I notice a group of what looks like older boys, surrounding a smaller kid. I know that they're not real, just made up characters in a book. I know that if I help then I'll probably end up deviating too far from the storyline and the Editors will come and find me, or the Erasers will get to me first. All these facts are telling me to just look away and keep on flying, but my conscience just won't let me.

I look at Fang, about to tell him my plan when he shakes his head (as if he already knew what I was going to do). I'm not going to let him stop me that easily though.

"Meet me at Lake Mead."

"Max, no."

"Fine. How about this? There are three of those guys down there, and three of us. We go down, take them out, and then fly away." He doesn't answer. "If you don't agree to help me I'll just go do it on my own."

"What if they see our wings?" He asks. I roll my eyes.

"Who cares? If they try to tell anyone, no one will believe them."

"What if they have cameras?"

"People will claim it's a hoax. Sure, maybe some people will believe them, but everyone else will just assume they're crazy." Fang doesn't say anything to this, just stares angrily ahead.

"Come on." I urge him. "What if that were Angel? What if that were us and no one came to help us?" He grumbles to himself.

"Fine." He relents.

"YES! Thank you!" With that I dive bomb down to the city with Fang and Nudge following close behind. At the last second I come up right above one of the bully jerks and grab him at the armpits and pull him into the air with me. From the screams coming behind me, I assume Fang and Nudge did the same with their bullies. Then I flew over some woods nearby and deposited him in a tree. After I fly back up into the air, Fang and Nudge join me.

"That was fun!" She says in excitement.

"Yeah. Imagine if you hadn't agreed to help me, and I had to go up against those jerks by myself. Can you imagine?" Fang doesn't laugh, but I can tell he's trying hard not to. Then out of nowhere, there's a searing pain in my shoulder and before I can even scream out in agony or shock, I'm falling. What happened? I land hard on the ground, and I hear something crack.

"Ahh. Ffaannnggg. Nuuddge." I try to call out to them, but I had the wind knocked out of me and I can barely breathe, let alone yell out to them. I see their shapes growing smaller. I didn't yell out cause I was so shocked, so they must not have heard me. They're probably wondering where I am. Great. I'll just have to meet them at Lake Mead. I knew that would be important.

I try to rise, but my shoulder is on fire. I fight through the pain. My hand brushes against something metallic and I pull a bloody bullet out of my shoulder. One of those kids must have had a gun. This sucks. I don't know how I can fly to Lake Mead in this condition. I can't go to a hospital. I don't know what to do, so I just start walking. I finally make it out of the woods. I wander along the streets, hoping no one will notice the blood all over my clothes and call 911.

Finally I can go no further, and exhaustion overwhelms me. I trip and fall into some hedges next to a house. Maybe if I just lie here a few minutes I'll feel better…

I awake to rain pouring on my face while a dog tries to bury me in the mud.

"What have you got there Magnolia?" A little girl's voice asks. I brush the dog off me and sit up. The girl screams in horror when she sees me. I'm covered in mud and blood and I'd probably scream if I saw me too. Then I notice it's the same girl from before.

"Wait. Don't be afraid. It's me. From before. With the bullies? I saved you." A flash of recognition dawns across her face.

"So I wasn't imagining it then. Do you really have…you know, wings?"

"Yes."

"Where are your friends?"

"Well. There was some gunfire and we got separated."

"Was someone hit?!" I take my hand off my shoulder, just as a new gush of blood comes out.

"It's just a flesh wound."

"Omg! We need to get you help!"

"NO! You can't call the hospital or they'll put me in a zoo." She thinks about this for a moment and then her face lights up.

"My mom's a veterinarian. She can help you." I start laughing.

"That's very coincidentally appropriate. Help me inside." Ella lets me lean on her as we go inside.

"Mom. Mom! This girl needs help!" Ella shouts. A dark haired woman with worried eyes comes out from a door. "What is it Ella? What's wrong?"

"Mom, this is-" Ellas stops, her hand in midair. I realize I never gave her my name.

"Max." I say instinctively. I'm shocked how quickly I've adapted to Max's name.

"My friend Max. She's the girl I told you about. The one with the wings."

"You mean you didn't make that up?" Her mom asks in shock. I unfurl my wings to prove it.

"Oh my."

"Yeah. And she got shot!"

"Oh no! Let me get my stuff. Take off your shoes and go with Ella to the bathroom. We go to the bathroom and I sit on the edge of the bathtub. Her mom comes in a few minutes later with a first aid kit. She starts treating my wound. "I think the shot nicked a bit of bone. First we have to clean the wounds and stop the bleeding. When's the last time you had a tetanus shot?"

"About that…"

"It's alright. I can take care of that too. And you can call me Dr. Martinez."

As I wake up, there's a moment of confusion because I don't know where I am. I'm lying in a perfectly normal bed, in a perfectly normal bed. Could I finally be home? That's strange. I don't even remember coming home. Maybe it was all a dream. But I don't remember my name. Or my memories. Or anything. It feels wrong. Then the door slowly opens, and Ella peeks her head out.

"Oh right…" I murmur to myself. I'm in Maximum Ride, how could I forget?

"I think she's awake." Ella says. Ella mom's appears behind her.

"Morning Max. You hungry? Do you like pancakes?" Her mom asks.

"And little breakfast sausages?" Ella adds. "And fruit and stuff?" My stomach grumbles.

"Does that answer your question?" I joke. Ella's mom laughs. With that she heads downstairs and leaves me my clothes, freshly cleaned.

The breakfast was so good. Like iHop good. And we all sat around a table and ate it together, as if we were a real family. Then Ella had to go to school. I'd forgotten about school. It made me wonder what my school was like. Who my friends were, my teachers, how smart I was, was I popular or sporty or nerdy?

"So, Max?" Ella's mom says, disrupting my thoughts. "Do you want to talk about…anything?"

"Actually yeah, there is a question I've been meaning to ask you…It's hard to explain but I'm not sure if I've missed my period or not because, I haven't really been keeping track of it because, well umm just cause, and I know it's not really your department being a veterinarian and all, but do you think I should be concerned?" She blinks a few times and I'm sure she's about to give me the dumbfounded look, but then she laughs.

"That's not what I meant, but I don't think you should be worried."

"That's a relief."

"But that's not what I meant." I stare at her, not comprehending. "I mean about your wings."

"Oh. I don't really know what to say about it."

"Okay. How about, do you have a last name?"

"It's Ride. Like Sally Ride, the astronaut. Maximum Ride."

"That's a good name. Are there others like you?" She asks.

"With the last name Ride? I'm sure there are, but I don't think I'm related to them."

"Haha. You really know how to make me laugh. You're a funny girl Max."

"Thanks. You should hear me when I'm actually trying." There's a bit of an awkward silence. I can tell Dr. Martinez wants to say something.

"Max, I don't know how you would feel about this, but I couldn't tell the extent of your injury, and I could give you a better idea if we had an X-ray." I shrug my shoulders.

"Why not?"

Dr. Martinez shares a vet practice with another doctor. Today is her day off, but she reassures me no one would think it weird for us to show up at the office. I walk inside and all the blood rushes out of my face and a wash of terror sweeps over me.

"Max?" Dr. Martinez asks, concerned. I feel worse than that time in Phantom of the Opera. Hmm. I feel like I'm forgetting something. Then I catch sight of a man in a white coat and the terror comes back. Flashes of Max's memory show me quick glimpses of the School and the horrible experiments they performed there. I flinch as I feel the pain and horror Max felt. I know it's a totally irrational fear to be afraid of doctors and hospitals (especially because I know how harmless most of them are). I try to tell myself this, but it doesn't help.

Dr. Martinez senses something is wrong and pulls me into the nearest examination room.

"Max, what's wrong? What's the matter?"

"It's okay, I'll be fine." I lie. "Let's just do this quick." It does go very quick. She carefully positions me on a table, a machine hovers over me, and there's a little buzz and it was done.

"Look," She says, tracing the shoulder blade on the X-ray picture with her finger. "This bone is fine. It's all muscle damage you can see the torn tissue here and here. And your wing bones all seem fine. Which is good. Unfortunately-"

"Unfortunately? I don't like 'unfortunately'. What's 'unfortunately'?"

"Unfortunately, muscle damage usually takes longer to heal than bones do. Though you rate of regeneration seems weirdly fast, I must say."

"That's convenient." Dr. Martinez is frowning at the X-ray and it's worrying me. "Is something wrong?" I ask.

"No. I'm just trying to figure out what this is." She says, pointing to a bright white square, maybe half an inch wide that sat smack-dab in the middle of my forearm. "It looks like a microchip."

"What?"

"A microchip. We put something similar into animals. To identify them in case they're lost. Yours looks like a, like ones we use on really expensive pets, show dogs and such. They have a tracer in them in case they're stolen. They can be tracked, wherever they are."

"At least it's nice to know they view me as an expensive show dog."

"I'm not saying that's what it is, it's just what it looks like."

"So it's a microchip. Can you take it out?"

"Not without the possibility of you losing the use of your hand." I ponder on that for a moment. I remember Nemo saying something about how you can actually get hurt in fanfiction or something. I'm about to ask Dr. Martinez a question when I hear smooth, charming voices that reminded me too much of Ari. I freeze.

"I'm sure this is nothing, Max." Dr. Martinez says calmly. "But why don't you step in here for a minute?"

I step inside the closet she motions to and flatten myself against the wall behind some old boxes, lab coats and such. It's very dusty. Then my hand brushes against one of them, and a flower falls out of its pocket. I conceal a curse. Who keeps flowers in their lab coat? This must be the author's doing or the plot (or just bad luck), just to make things interesting. I hold my finger under my nose to keep from sneezing, just as the Erasers walk in.

"What's going on here?" Dr. Martinez says sharply, sounding outraged. "This is a doctor's office!"

"Sorry, ma'am." One voice says as if it were made of honey. I take a deep breath in.

"Doctor!" She snaps. Daaammn.

"Sorry, Doctor." Another voice says. "Forgive us for interrupting. There's nothing to be concerned about. We're with the local law enforcement."

"We're looking for anything unusual." Like a kid with wings? "Just a precaution. I'm afraid I can't tell you more than that."

"Unusual like what? A double rainbow? Gasoline for less than a buck fifty? Sugar-free soda that actually tastes good?" I accidentally start to laugh, and then catch myself, but not before I sneeze. It's quiet and barely audible, but I'm sure the Erasers heard it. Great. Just what I needed.

"Did you hear that?" One of them asks.

"Hear what? The sound of my time wasting away?" Dr. Martinez sasses back.

"We're sorry ma'am. What was your question? Oh yes. We're just looking for any unusual people, for instance. Strangers in the neighborhood, children or teenagers that you don't know or who even look suspicious. Or unusual animals even." Nice subtly.

"I'm a veterinary surgeon. To tell the truth, I usually don't look at my patients' owners much. And I haven't seen any strangers around. As for unusual animals, last week I treated a cow that had a bicornuate uterus. She had a healthy calf in each side. Does that help?" Wow. I wish I hadn't of understood what that last part meant. I make a mental note never to make Ella's mom mad.

"If you gentlemen will excuse me, I have a business to run."

"If you see or hear of anything unusual, here's a number for you to call. Thanks for your time. Sorry to disturb you." Heavy footsteps fade away and I hear a door slam. I peek my head out and check, it's all safe. I come out.

"Those guys were bad news?"

"Yep. I better get going."

"Tomorrow morning is soon enough. One more night of rest. Promise me."

"I don't know…"

"I can make pancakes again."

"You had me at pancakes." So I stay. We make cookies. They are delicious. It's been a while since I've had fresh cookies and it was very nice. I can't remember when the last time I did have one to be honest. I brush off these feelings, but they keep coming back. Ella's mom just makes me wonder about my past life. Finally the next morning comes. I eat my pancakes, pull my new sweatshirt on, and get ready to take off. Ella's mom hands me a backpack.

If you ever need anything, anything at all, please call us. I put my phone number inside the pack." I just nod. Before I can do anything, they both hug me tight and squeeze me.

"What would you do-o for a Klondike bar?" I joke, but I'm not really feeling it.

"Oh Max, you have a lovely voice. Do you sing?"

"You could say that…" I disengage myself and open the door. I turn back to look at them.

"Thank you. So much. I-It's been great." I can't believe it when my voice stutters like that. I should feel sad that I'm leaving because I've felt so safe and loved here, but I don't. I push my feelings back down and focus on the task at hand, saving Angel. I turn back and give them one last smile goodbye. Then I run a few step, take a jump in the air, and fly away. The wind rushes into my face and it feels so liberating. I take a glance back, wondering if I should stay. I tense in shock as I see a flash of white. An Eraser or an Editor? My mind is made up, and for Ella and her mom's own safety I turn and fly high into the sky.

7