Oh, my goodness! I got it done! Sorry I haven't been posting, like, at all this week. Things have been pretty hectic, what, with my three day long dance/drama/vocal workshop and all. Anyway, I really hope you enjoy chapter seven, and I promise you there is Fax-y goodness to come for any of you who are concerned! Love!

Chapter Seven

Max

I'd been lounging on the couch, reading through a textbook (Yes, even the teacher could learn) when Gazzy came racing down the hall and right into my face. He was out of breath and white in the face.

"Gazzy?" I said nervously. "What's the matter?"

"I can't find Iggy!" he wailed. I set aside my textbook and stood up, trying to keep a calm face.

"Now, Gazzy, I'm sure he's around," I said calmly.

"But I've looked everywhere!" Gazzy protested. "I looked everywhere in his room, and all over the house, and I couldn't find him anywhere!"

My heart rate quickened. Too many people had left my life lately. I didn't know how much more heartbreak my body could take. took a deep, relaxing breath, preparing myself to take the worst.

"Alright," I said. "Let's go look together."

Gassy led me through the house and we searched through every room. He wasn't in any one of them. I started to freak out just a little bit.

"No, this isn't right," I said, running my hands through my hair, one of many stress habits I'd gotten into. "Iggy wouldn't just leave. He would at least tell someone before leaving." At that point, I wasn't sure whether I was reassuring Gazzy or reasoning with myself. Once again, I wished Fang were here to help me find Iggy. If Fang were here, we would have found him by now.

If Fang were here, Iggy probably wouldn't have left in the first place.

"What are you doing?" Nudge asked, coming down the hall. She looked worried. I didn't blame her.

"Looking for Iggy," I replied as calmly as I could.

"He's missing!" Gazzy wailed again, ruining all my efforts of trying to keep things relatively calm. Nudge's eyes bulged open.

"He's missing? Missing where?" she demanded.

"If we knew where he was, he wouldn't be missing," I said matter-of-factly, even though I felt like screaming.

Nudge joined our search party, and eventually, so did Angel and Dylan, right after we had a similar conversation to the one that I'd had with Nudge. We checked, rechecked, and re-rechecked every single room. Eventually, a thought popped into my head.

"Did anybody bother to check outside?" I asked. The remaining flock members exchanged glances and I assumed that the answer was no, no one had. I groaned, hurried for the front door, and jumped off the porch, catching the air under my wings. It felt amazing to completely surrender myself to the wind for the first time in…had it really been a month and a half? Wow. I searched through the skies for Iggy, glancing up at the dark rain clouds. I hoped I could find him before it started to rain. I swooped down into the woods a few times, hoping to find him there. I didn't have any luck.

It wasn't until I'd pretty much given up (not all the way given up. Maximum Ride never all the way gives up) and doubled back, still swooping in and out of the woods, that I spotted something. A 98% human something. I felt my heart pounding in my chest. Thank God, he was alive and in state.

He was sitting on a thick branch about halfway up the tree, leaning against the tree and hugging his knees to his body. I could see the streaks of dried tears which had stained his face, and I immediately felt a painful lump develop in my throat. My tough flock hardly ever cried before, but recently it seemed like nobody could help themselves. I knew I was probably the last one Iggy wanted to see right now, but still I flew down and landed beside him on the tree branch.

"Hey, Iggy," I said softly. He turned his head away from me.

"Hey," he said, so quietly I almost didn't hear it.

"You know you scared the crap out of us, right?" I asked.

No answer.

I narrowed my eyes at Iggy. "You shouldn't just take off like that! I didn't know where you were! I thought you might have…"

I trailed off and realized that I had tears running down my face, too. I quickly wiped them away.

"I'm sorry," Iggy finally said, standing up. His face was blank and emotionless and he spoke in a monotone. "I didn't mean to worry anyone. Let's go." And with that, he jumped up and flew off. I was quick to follow him.

When we got back home, the flock was there, obviously pleased that we still had six in our flock. I sighed, still holding back tears from the reminder that Fang had abandoned us. At least some people still bothered to stick around.