"Damn," I muttered as my wrists hit the strong metal binding again. "Damn, damn, damn!"

Letting out a frustrated sigh, I let my back press against the back of the bed. They Whitecoats could come in any minute now to take me into the Deathrooms.

I slid my finger along a latch I found on the side of my bed. Considering my hands were chained and bound down, I couldn't explore it very much, but I figured I might as well try to do something.

Ah-ha! I thought. I found a little screw pin, and twisting it to the left made the bands tighter, and twisting it to the right made the bands looser. I was so concentrated on trying to get the screw looser, that I didn't hear someone come into the room.

"Oh no you don't, Max, you naughty girl," a Whitecoat chastened, slapping away my hand and twisting the bands even tighter, almost to the point of cutting off my circulation. "Don't think that we would let you escape that easily this time, silly girl."

Glaring harshly at the woman (seems like when I'm all tied up, glaring is the best I can do), I watched as she unlatched the wheel stoppers on my bed and rolled me into the hallway. Here we go again.

Jacob was furious. Actually, he was more worried. No, scratch that, he was more furious and wanted to blow somebody's head off. Here he was, in the middle of nowhere, Ohio, and he had lost all scents of Max. Actually, he lost the scent a while back, but just kept going.

Stupid fool! He thought to himself. Turning back, he started running towards Forks again. It seems like searching for Max himself wasn't going to do any good. He couldn't concentrate; he was too panicked in his mind. Along with that, his stupid imprint wasn't doing him much good either. His legs were sore, his back was sore, his paws were sore, heck, his tail was sore!

Max, he thought. Please be alright.

"So you want us to find your little girlfriend?" Paul asked, twirling his cup by the handle in circles on the coaster. The pack was sitting in Sam and Emily's living room.

"How long has she been gone?" Sam asked, always the one to get down to business.

"A few hours, I guess. She's been gone since the morning."

"She could have just had to go do something," Embry pointed out. "Maybe she had some errands to run."

"And so she would just get up and leave without telling me or leaving a note or something?" Jacob asked.

"She doesn't have to necessarily," he said. "You guys may be an imprinted pair, but you guys have only known each other for such a short span of time. Maybe she just wants to have some privacy."

Jacob ran a hand through his hair. "You guys don't get it. Max is gone! She's not here anymore, and she's not in Forks!"

"Yeah, well, what if she had to go out of the state? I don't know, to visit some friends or whatever?" Embry said.

"Maybe I don't have any place to say this," Quil started. "But I've known Max for an even shorter time than Jake, and I don't think she would go visit any friends or do anything without telling a single person around here. Have you tried asking Dr. Martinez where Max went?"

"No, she's not at her house. Dr. Martinez is on a business trip. Something about some animals in Kansas," Jacob said.

Rolling into the kitchen, Jacob's father, Billy Black, spoke. "Why don't you go ask Bella? She might know. Or if you really want to, you could ask Charlie if he could try to find Max."

"There's no way I'd want the police to get involved in this!" Jacob protested, but his father cut him off.

"Now, I never said anything about the police. I just suggested talking to the Swans. Anyways, the police wouldn't count her as a missing person until it has been at least 24 hours."

Jacob ran a hand through his hair again. God, Max. How long are you going to make me worry until you've had enough?

"Aren't you rushing things a bit?" Leah asked. "Besides, I can understand why she'd want to go off for a while. You've been so attached to her lately, it makes us all sick."

Ah, Leah. Always the one to play devil's advocate, Jacob thought.

"Okay, I don't know if you understand, Leah, but we're imprinted. In other words, we're mated. I have every right to be by her side all the time."

"You can give her some breathing space, you know. Gosh, why don't you just leave it alone for a few more hours, and you might just hear back from her?"

Leah had a point. But was Jacob ever one to listen? Nope, he just went with his gut.

My eyes popped open. They fluttered open and shut for a few seconds. I felt like energy was bubbling inside of me, and that I could just finally break free of these darned chains and fly around like a madwoman.

"How are you feeling, Max?" A female Whitecoat asked.

"Like I could jump over the moon," I replied honestly. I normally would have lied, but then again, most of the time when I woke up from a surgery I would feel like crap.

The woman smiled at me. "Good," she said. She turned to some other Whitecoats. "Take her back into the room."

The people wheeled me back into "the room", which was just the room I was held captive in before.

Here's to another day of trying to break out, sighing in defeat, and mixed in would be occasional visits from Jeb and Sam so they can laugh and sneer at me without getting clawed to the death.

Eventually, Charlie had no luck finding Max either. He couldn't track her down, and said that she didn't leave enough of a trail to track.

Quil patted him on the back. "That's okay, Jake," he said. "We can find her on our own."

Embry nodded in agreement, as well as Sam, Paul, Seth, and reluctantly Leah.

"So, do you have a plan, Jacob?" Sam asked.

"She's probably still on the west coast, since I lost her scent once I started going towards the east."

Sam nodded. "So we'll just search for her in California?"

Jacob shrugged. "I guess."

The pack stared at him for more, but he said nothing.

"Can we get something of Max's? Like a shirt that she wears a lot or something?" Seth asked. Jacob glared at him.

"For what purpose will that serve?"

Seth stared at him like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Obviously, it's to catch her scent."

Jacob mentally whacked himself. "Yeah, of course." He needed to get it together, or this search will be fruitless and they won't find Max at all.

I found out a good way to annoy Jeb and Sam was just to pretend to be sleeping when they're trying to talk to you and then to mutter insulting things to them while you're "dreaming." I felt very satisfied at the end of the day.

I heard a scratching at the window. Jerking my head towards it, I saw nothing but darkness. It probably was a squirrel or something. Besides, the windows were gated and locked. Nobody could get in.

Why did they have a window in here anyways? Looking at my strength, if I managed to break loose of this machine, I could break the window and kick off the gate.

I bet they put it there to taunt me.

The scratching kept going. I'm going to kill that squirrel.

I heard a click, and the window slowly slid open. God, what a smart squirrel.

All the other experiments were asleep, I assumed, since none of them reacted to the strange window opening. I half-expected some kind of alarm to go off, but it didn't. The School was stupider than I thought.

A dark animal slinked into the building. If it were a squirrel, then I would piss myself. That thing was too big to be considered a normal squirrel.

"Maximum," I heard.

"Who's there?" I was freaked out. Was it that thing talking to me?

"It's me," it hissed back.

"Who is 'me'?"

"Me, as in Maeve," it replied. OH MY GOD MAEVE'S GHOST IS HAUNTING ME

"Maeve, are you not resting in peace?"

The voice sounded confused. "What in the good name of the lord are you speaking of?"

"Maeve, aren't you dead?"

"No, clearly, I am not."

It was slightly uncomfortable conversing with something (or someone) you could not see, so you could never know for sure if it really was the person or not.

"But that day, you never came back," I recalled.

I heard a smirk in the voice. "I managed to escape."

"How?"

"Let's get you out first, and then we'll talk, how does that sound, Maximum?" Oh yeah, this was Maeve all right. Nobody else calls me Maximum.

I heard a slight tapping of her movement, and then I felt her next to me, working out all the tricks and buttons on the side of the bed.

"Wait," I told her. She froze. "What if it sets off an alarm?"

I felt her unfreeze. "Oh, don't worry. I know how to release you with authorization."

"How?" Maeve was smarter than I thought.

"Well, thanks to you, I figured that my cat form was better than I first thought. I just went around the building, watching the scientists remove patients from their beds."

"You went around as a cat, and nobody noticed?"

I heard her chuckle quietly. "I was good at hiding."

"Is that how you snuck in?"

"Bingo," she replied. There was a small beep, and I felt the chains loosen.

"Damn," I whispered. "Thank you, Maeve. You're brilliant."

"Don't thank me, Maximum. You've done so much for me in the past. I owe this to you."

She grabbed my wrist. "Come," she said, motioning for me to follow. She changed back into her cat form, I assumed, since she jumped up on the windowsill as the black form that I saw near my bed. I followed her up, climbing through the window, and closing it behind me. I didn't lock it though- maybe one of these kids will get lucky and get a Maeve to help them escape, so the window will be one less problem for them to deal with. I laid the gate back against the window, and stood up straight.

"Where to now?"

"That's the thing," Maeve said, wringing her hands nervously. "I don't know how to get out."

"Let's find out," I said, walking towards the electrocuted fence.

"It's too high for me to jump, and I don't have any other way out."

"Did you forget about these?" I asked, unraveling my wings.

Her eyes widened. "Oh, right." I held out my arms. "What?" she asked.

"Come on," I gestured for her to come here.

"Are you taking me out with you?" she asked, pointing to herself.

"Yeah, of course," I said, mentally rolling my eyes. "You didn't think I was going to leave you here, right?"

She smiled at me. "Thank you, Maximum. You save me again."

"Honestly, this is a no brainer. This is what friends are for." She changed into a cat and crawled into my arms.

Pushing off, I glided easily over the high fence, and then I finally heard the alarms go off. I smirked. Too late again.

Flying through the air, I asked, "So, where do you want to go?"

"Aren't I staying with you?" Maeve asked.

"Well, staying with me isn't exactly safe," I said. I imagined the pack towering over her small body. Think about when they changed forms, too. They'll be like these monster wolves on steroids and she would be this tiny kitten in comparison. Not too safe. "Is there anywhere you want to go?"

"Well, there is, but it's quite far from here."

"Name it," I said breezily.

"My family is in Maine," she said.

I let out a laugh. "We'll be there in a few hours. Just hang on tight," I said, and I felt her claws indent into my skin.

Bursting out at full speed, I sped off to Maine.

Jake let out a howl of frustration. Just a while ago, Max's scent was so strong, Jacob was sure she would be here. Now, it seems to have faded.

They had been searching for hours, and nobody came up saying that they had found the girl.

Jake, why don't we just call it a night? Embry thought. It's getting really dark. We can just search for her in the morning.

Yeah, I'm tired. My senses are starting to fail me, Leah thought.

With more responses of complains, Jacob agreed to put the search on hold. They would start bright and early tomorrow.

After dropping Maeve off at her house and meeting her family (who had insisted I spend the night, but I told them I couldn't. Who knows how worried Jake was?), I left for Forks.

Once I saw my house, I flew straight onto my balcony and opened my door, which I always keep open. It probably really unsafe, but I could handle anyone who dared to rob my house or kidnap me. (Ironic, since I was just kidnapped by Sam not too long ago)

I took a shower and blow-dried my hair. I wanted to sleep as soon as possible.

Collapsing onto my bed, I was asleep before my head hit the pillow.

The next day, I woke up really early. Like, really early. Like, five A.M. early. I couldn't fall asleep again, so I went downstairs and fixed some breakfast. I stretched, and felt a few bones crack. I need to exercise again. After being on a bed for so long, my muscles were sore and just calling to me. They were like, "exercise, Max, exercise!"

After finishing off a bowl of cereal, an apple, a glass of orange juice, the remainder of our milk, and another cookie, I went upstairs and changed into a sports bra (so my girls wouldn't be jiggling around while I ran), a t-shirt, some running shorts, and my running shoes. I pulled my hair up into a tight ponytail and kept the fly-aways out of my face with a headband.

If you could not tell, I was planning on going running.

I grabbed Ella's iPod from her room, some headphones, and headed out.

Five minutes into my workout, my face was already contorted with disgust. Not that I was tired, but of Ella's awful taste in music. She had literally, Justine Bieber (Oh sorry, I meant Justin.), One Direction, Adele, and Demi Lovato. Where was the Passion Pit? Where was the Maroon 5 and the Coldplay?

I ran the hills and the rocky trails, and I wasn't even breaking a sweat. Normally, I would be sweating buckets, but not today. I ran into the woods, and soon, I was in front of Emily's cabin.

Why was the pack outside? Normally, I wouldn't think too much, but it was exactly 6:34 A.M. Hopefully they were up for a good reason, considering that it was Saturday and all.

"Hey, what's going on?" I asked. Maybe it was none of my business, but I was curious.

They all looked shocked to see me. "Max, what are- I thought- w-why- I," Jake stuttered. Obviously, he could not speak. I looked at the rest of the pack for an explanation.

"Why are you here?" Seth nearly yelled.

I was taken aback. Was he angry? "Well, I just wanted to run for a little bit."

"Where were you yesterday?" Sam asked.

"Me? Oh I was just kidnapped and brought to Death Valley, where this building full of crazy crack scientists experimented on me, but luckily my friend who can turn into a cat helped me break out and I spent the rest of the night sending her home to Maine, but luckily it didn't take that long because I have wings and can fly wicked fast! But don't worry, it's just the norm."

Yeah, I wished I could say that.

"I was out of the state," I said, trying to buy some time. "I went to a, um, farmer's market."

Jake raised his eyebrow. "You went out of the state for a farmer's market?"

"My mom wanted me to get her favorite kind of baking powder, which is specially imported from Tanzania, so you can only buy it there," I blabbered. Max, what kind of shit were you spewing out of your mouth?

"Um, okay," Jacob said. "So you were out for the whole day?"

"No, it only took a few hours," I said, then I wanted to slap myself. If you said you were out for the whole day, then it wouldn't seem fishy that you were back so fast!

"So where were you the rest of the day?"

"I was, um, at home?"

"Great," Leah laughed half-heartedly. "Fantastic! We spent the entire afternoon searching for a girl who was at home the entire time we were searching?"

"You guys were looking for me?" I asked.

"Yeah, little Jake here was freaking his ball sack off trying to find you! Next time, leave a note or something, okay? That way, we all save some drama!"

Leah stormed into the cabin, and Seth followed, trying to get his sister to calm down.

We were left in an uncomfortable silence. "Well, I guess we can all go home then, since Max is here now, and we don't need to worry about her." Everybody else seemed relieved that they could go home and get a few more hours of sleep.

I shrugged, and was about to keep on running, but Jake held onto my arm.

"Ow!" I yelled. "What do you want?"

"I know you're lying," he said.

I looked at him. "What?"

"I know you didn't go to the farmer's market and come back in a few hours, because I went by your house and you weren't there. Stop lying to me, Max."

I jerked his hand away. "I have no idea what you're talking about. Anyways, you have no proof."

"I know you're lying," he repeated. With that, he left me standing in the woods, by myself, rethinking and grilling over what just happened.