Chapter 21

"Max!" A familiar light voice of the heavens rang out. Six bodies stood in the center with a few feet of space all around them. Each head was recognizable as they turned to where my little one was looking. All that had scared me before was gone now. I stared up at the ceiling to see where they had broken in. They were the reason for the alarm. And I knew this room didn't have a sunlight before.

My flock had found me.

"Up and away!" I screamed. Then without hesitation, we forced ourselves up in the air, Mela included and raced for our lives towards the safe blue sky. Mr. Chu didn't even have time to react to give orders, we were just that fast. When we all hit the fresh air, we finally knew we were close to making it out alive.

Mela was smiling wide when I flew up beside her. "We'll go this way Max," Angel said. I desperately needed to reach out and touch them again to see if this was real and not another nightmare. Ari was light in my arms and none of my flock questioned why he was here. They trusted me enough to trust Ari, even though they had no idea that it was him.

"Thanks," Mela whispered, staring at me. Dirt was smeared all over her face but if hadn't been for the white clothes, you wouldn't have noticed. "You didn't have to save us all."

"Yes I did." Mela knew not to argue with me.

Nudge finally flew up beside me, tears streaming down her face, "Max! We thought you were dead, well, we didn't want to but both Mr. Chu and Brigid said it. Then, all these M-Geeks came." Just as she finished the sentence to take a breath, I checked over my shoulder to see the gray building fading away. Nothing was chasing us, why?

I then did a sweep of my flock, none of them were badly injured at all. Now, my entire mind was itching with questions. How come this felt and seemed more easier than I had planned? Maybe it was the nightmare medicine causing paranoia…oh wait, I already had that before I got that stuff injected into me.

"Max?" Gazzy suddenly flew up, exchanging himself for where Nudge use to be. She had flown off to the front of the flock to talk to Angel. "Are you mad that I blew up the roof?" I laughed, a good, real laugh that I hadn't had for five days now. There was a melting of all the terrible ice that had built up as Gazzy gave me a smile. I shook my head no and he knew that was enough.

"Got some nerve," I slowed my pace, allowing Mela and Gazzy to fly forward. When the finally flyer came into view, well, I guess I would've been in a mirror. Except, the other side had a lot more patience for fashion and looking good than I ever wood. Max II glared at me, "My favor towards you is repaid. I know we made amends Max but where we're going, you can't stay long."

I raised an eyebrow, "Where are we going? I didn't even know if my flock could find you." Beneath us the forests had faded for awhile and now we were over a large field. I found it amazing I could fly while so malnuritished.

"SAFETY," Max II whispered and for the second time of the day I was given a name to a place I didn't understand. She saw I didn't understand and shrugged. "You can stay a day, possibly two if I'm feeling generous, but the company will go after you before any of us. They'll kill whoever gets in your way. Including Ari." So she knew who I was holding, she knew that it was my flesh and blood in my hands.

My eyes narrowed, my hands formed into fists while still holding tight to my brother. I closed my eyes and let out a deep breath, "You're right." I could feel Max II's shock and I almost wondered if she understood what I had said. "I don't want to give you any trouble."

I heard a snort from my double. I opened my eyes at stared at her. I raised an eyebrow in question. "What happened to you?" There was no need to ask, I knew Max II would explain herself. Same DNA after all. Wind rushed by, fields waved below changing between yellow and brown. "What happened to Maximum Ride, the girl who fought about everything and never gave in?"

Then I sent her this look, the memories of my dying flock still an awful taste in the back of my mouth. I could see she was scared in whatever she saw reflected on my face…our face. "You grow up."

My muscles began aching badly from holding Ari for so long. Max II "ran" away from me, a bit chilled from what she had just seen. I turned my eyes to Ari, who remained trapped in his mind. His large eyelids were moving as if he was searching or dreaming. There was only a thin frown to say anything of what he was thinking. Why was he so afraid of the world.

Closer now, I could see each individual brown hair cut only centimeters above his head. I peered my raptor vision to focus beyond the strands to the pale skin. There was a scar, an image or message, bright red in comparison to the rest of his skin. I knew it wasn't an experation date, it would've been on his neck and have been smaller than this.

Drops of sweat dripped on his face and I realized it was me Adrenaline was gone and now I was slowly losing all my energy. I hoped we weren't too far away. Movement was visible just beneath me, black wings spread out, stretching longer than mine. He didn't have to say anything to know what he was thinking. He knew I was beginning to struggle.

"Landing break," Angel called, "Just a few seconds." She swerved down and my flock turned down towards the open fields. When they landed, I could barely see their heads and we were tall of course. I swirvered and angled down, the last one to hit the firm ground. I stumbled, my legs trembling from no energy.

As I began to fall, I pressed Ari closer against me and managed to turn so that my back would hit the ground. Instead, as I pulled my wings tight against my back, before I even come close to hitting the ground, hands are on my shoulders to catch me.

I stare up at dark, take my already weak breath away, eyes that glint with concern and amusement all at once. "Hey," he whispered and I knew I wouldn't even be able to manage something as simple as that. I straightened myself and stood on my feet, looking down at Ari to make sure he was okay. His hands move down to my forearms and have me turn.

Fang is smiling in a way I had never seen him before. He looked as if he had just found the answers to all our problems. Wind brushes past us, blowing hair in front of my face, and he pushes it away, then holds my cheek. Then he stepped closer and I tilted my head up anticipating the kiss. I felt his breath warm against my cheek. "Let me take him."

Ari shifted as Fang's hands went to take the boy from me. When the weight was gone my arms were still struggling and shaking. I wonder if Fang knew how badly I wanted to kiss him. My eyes were on the dark ground, corn surrounding all of me, trapping me from any quick movements. "Max," I darted my eyes up to Fang's face, with the perfect angles and dark black hair. "Time to go," then, he expanded his wings and went to take a running start holding my brother in his arms.

I pretended not to hear the teasing in his voice when I took off.