Chapter 39: A Family Reunion

The closing of the doors made a resounding bang, creating echoes overhead in what must have been a significantly taller area than the hallway that we were just in. I plodded along into the spacious room feeling overly cautious about the sudden silence, until I was brought to a halt by Leo's gentle tugging. The idea of me really getting special treatment seemed like a promising one, but the booming voice of Jake distracted my thoughts.

"There you are. I was just wondering if I had to get the whole group to go fetch you," stated Jake, and I wasn't sure if I was the only one who noticed it, but there was definitely more than an ounce of displeasure that was trying to blend in to his playful tone.

"Sorry for the wait. I just couldn't resist taking the long way around," I heard Alyssa say from somewhere behind me. Her voice seemed stripped of her arrogant, threatening confidence, almost like a frightened little kid still trying to act tough. I vaguely wondered about the look on his face and if it was scary enough to make me back down as much as Alyssa did.

It's probably not the face that's scary. There's probably pain that comes later on. And she must know the price for making him angry...

"It's fine. You're here now, and that's what matters," he replied smoothly, trying to conceal his anger. "And please take off those blindfolds. It's unsightly." Our blindfolds were removed immediately to reveal that we were presently being held in a large metallic warehouse with a very high ceiling.

I looked more closely at my surroundings to get a feel for the place and spot anything that might be an advantage for us. There was a long, winding staircase to the left of me that led to a single rather large metal door. That didn't look too promising, so I searched for more. The only other door was the one that we had just entered the room from.

Ok, no dice on the doors. Maybe there are window exits.

I was quickly disappointed. One glance up showed that the entire warehouse was lined with what seemed like extravagant ornamental windows that were bolted over with metal slates, blocking the outside world completely. The place was still well lit, and it was only then that I took notice of the fancy chandeliers that hung from the ceiling, shining with radiant beams of light and bouncing their rays off of what I could only assume were real diamonds.

Perching right under the very first chandelier was Jake dressed to the nines in a classic white tuxedo coat and matching pants with a red tie, easily encompassing his princely status and power in his attire. He was perched on a pearl white love seat with chocolate colored armchairs on either side, and in front of him sat a very expensive looking oak coffee table. The whole setup seemed so bewildering that I didn't know whether or not I was being held prisoner or being considered as a guest.

In handcuffs.

Yeah, that's really traditional.

This guy is really over the top, I thought to myself with chagrin.

"Finally, they took off this damn blindfold! Oh wait, there's just one problem...I still can't see a thing! Well imagine that, a blind person who can't see," Iggy stated before mumbling something about idiots.

Glancing out of the corners of my eyes, I picked up on the fact that we were all standing in a line formation; Fang and Gazzy were on my left, and Nudge and Iggy were on my right. But even though Nudge and Fang were the closest to me, we were still more than an arm's length away from each other; there was no way that I could communicate with them without getting caught. And I definitely wasn't going to use my mind abilities to talk to them. I couldn't afford to seem like an empty shell in front of Jake. He might realize that I was up to something and that was the last thing that I wanted to happen.

"Welcome everyone. I'm sorry if I've caused you any inconvenience, but I figured it was time to stop playing hide-and-seek," he stated as he got up from his comfortable seat and made his way towards us.

"Cut the crap. You don't give a flying fart in space about our 'convenience'. You only want Ember, but you know you can't take her without dealing with us first," retorted Nudge.

"Then again, you didn't expect us all to survive, did you?" challenged Iggy. I looked toward Jake to see if he was caught off guard by this question, but he merely shrugged his shoulders and grinned. Iggy didn't even wait for him to reply with something smart. "That's why you sent so many of your dogs to come and fetch us. So that they could get rid of some of us and do your dirty work."

I mentally cursed at myself. How did I not notice that obvious fact? There were so many...no, too many enemies to even count that had surrounded us, and even more of them in the woods when we somehow managed to escape. It was completely unnecessary for there to be so many of them just to simply capture a small rag-tag group like us. Why did it never occur to me that he may have wanted some of us to die?

Iggy let slip another rather nasty comment, and the Eraser escorting Iggy lost his cool, grabbing him by the roots of his thick head of hair and yanking his skull back. "I dare you to say something again, and I swear those will be the last words you ever speak," growled the Eraser as Iggy struggled in his grasp.

"Now now," began Jake calmly. "Let's not have any violence. We're just here to have a friendly little chat." Although his voice was cool, he stared down the Eraser with eyes rivaling a dictator, eyes that said "know your place". The Eraser, flinching under his stern gaze, released his grip on Iggy and donned his mask of relative indifference once more. I gazed at Jake, wondering whether or not he had some kind of bi-polar disorder.

One minute he sends an army of Erasers and Flyboys to kill us off, the next he is restraining his goons from even hurting us. What is he planning to do?

"That's right, obey your master like the sad little mutt that you are," Iggy added.

"Cool it, Ig," Fang interjected, beating me to the punch. It was clear that Iggy was frustrated that we were getting nowhere, but him antagonizing our "gracious hosts" was not helping the situation at all.

Jake suddenly swiveled on the heels of his feet to face Fang, his malevolent thoughts that he had tucked away inside of his head becoming more and more apparent on his face as he grinned and walked towards him. "Oh, so the big man finally talks! C'mon, what else do you have to say?" Jake taunted. There was no answer to his question. "Tell you what. I'll make a deal with you. You say what's on your mind right now, and I'll release you and your little friends. I'll keep Ember and Melody of course, but I'll throw in that blonde brat that you came here for. Sound good, right?"

Fang didn't say a word.

"What's the matter? Isn't that a great deal? You and your little friends get to keep the livelihood that you once had, and I won't come chasing after you anymore! Don't you want that again?"

Again, Fang kept silent and resorted to staring straight into Jake's face with a look that seemed to be somewhere between of lack of interest and exasperation, even though he was a head shorter and less brawnier than his adversary. I had to give it to the kid; he was definitely one tough cookie to crack. My money was still on Fang, though.

I watched as Jake's smile faltered a little bit before noticing his fingers curling into a fist. I could already see where this was going, and it wouldn't be pretty. "I see you're not pleased with my deal. I thought I was being pretty generous," he stated calmly.

"Hey," I mumbled.

"In fact, it seems you're looking down on me, even though you're the one who is in a jam."

"Stop it."

"Well, you've made me quite angry. So it looks like I'll have to release my anger by making it so that you can't make that face again."

"I said enough!" Jake broke off eye contact with Fang and finally turned his attention to me. "You're really pissing me off. Quit fooling around and just tell us why you even captured us when you obviously want us dead." Leo tightened his grip on my restraints to keep me in check, but I wondered who would actually win if I really wanted to break away from his hold.

Jake regained his composure, seeming to remember that his true motive was not to pummel Fang into the ground, and made his way to stand in front of me. He smiled again, but his features were softer and gentler. I could still see that he was planning something that was far from nice.

My grimace deepened on my face, but before Jake could spew out a word from that mouth of his, the door at the top of the staircase slowly creaked open. Behind it was a girl just a little taller than me with tawny colored shoulder length hair. She shuffled in through the doorway with her arms outstretched towards the ceiling and her mouth as wide as an opening of a dark cave as she yawned. She took no precaution to hide her wings like the Flock and I were used to - in fact, it almost seemed that she had grown accustomed to letting them freely hang out in the open.

"Can't a girl get some sleep without having to hear some type of commotion going on?" she drawled as she rub the sleep dust from her eyes. It was only moments later that she actually took a look at what was going on. "Hold the phone...well well, this is definitely a surprise," she said, her tone switching gears and taking one of interest.

"No way..." I heard Nudge whisper. I looked over in her direction and saw not only Nudge, but Gazzy and Iggy's faces stricken with a plethora of emotions, none of them being pleasant. Glancing over at Fang, I saw the same look.

Surprise.

Fear.

Anguish.

Anger.

What's going on? I wondered as I took another look at the new girl.

"Is...is that...Max?" asked Gazzy, his voice trembling with disbelief.

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Author's Note: WHAT? ANOTHER CHAPTER? *dies*

Yes folks, there is indeed a new chapter, and new chapters shall continue to pop up on this site. When exactly, I have no clue (I've given up on giving tentative dates because I never follow them XD). So yeah. I haven't abandoned this story, not by a long shot. Just keep a look out for new chapters every once in a while.

THANKS FOR YOUR CONSTANT SUPPORT! :)