Iggy P.O.V.

The two bruised and beaten Omegas opened their limp wings and fluttered helplessly into the sky. Angel, Gazzy, and I had crept silently into the branches of a tree and waited while they licked their wounds. I waited until I could barely hear the flap of their wings before I burst from the tree with Angel and Gasman following close behind. Angel took the lead, keeping tight on the Omegas' tail, while staying far enough away not to be noticed. They would lead us right to Max and Fang.

Nudge P.O.V.

Fang came back first, he didn't look too bad, but he was covered in mud, it was difficult to tell. I sighed quietly in relief when I saw him saunter in. He still had that serious face on, showing the whitecoats that nothing they did could ever bother him. I shake my head. If only he knew that breaking him was their goal, and they would stop at nothing to reach it.

Max P.O.V.

Fang was already there when I got back, that maze went on for miles. He was covered in mud, dripping it onto the floor. I held back a giggle. He was anything but comical, and yet here he stands, with that look on his face, glaring daggers beneath a mud face-mask. His eyes moved the slightest bit in my direction as I stumbled in the room. His rigid posture seemed to soften ever so slightly in my appearance.

A whitecoat was jotting notes down on his little I'm-So-Scientific clipboard. 'Jeb' came through a door, and looked at the other whitecoat's notes. He nodded and scanned each of us over.

"Fang, we'll get you cleaned up before you head back to your room." What the hell? "We don't want mud on the floor in the hallway." He turns to me, "Blood, is a whole new story." He smiles a wicked little smile, motions the whitecoat to take Fang into some other room, grabs my arm, pulling me to the door that should take us to the hallway. I don't say anything, but I stare at Fang, willing him to be okay, no one can tell what's underneath that mud, most of all, how could I be sure they were taking him to "get cleaned up". But I went with 'Jeb' all the same. 'Jeb' was sure to grip my injured arm tightly. I kept up with him easily, I was through with fighting him. Something would come up, something would happen, and Fang and I would escape. I was sure of it.

Gazzy P.O.V.

The Omegas eventually led us to a gray building, looming amongst the trees of the evergreen forest. The sun was just starting to touch the horizon, casting shadows all throughout the woods. We perched ourselves in the thick branches of a tree within sight of the building, which we assumed was a School. Angel began explaining in great detail the environment around us to Iggy, who listened intently while I waited and brooded for what to do. How were we going to get in? Even if we managed to get inside how were we going to rescue Max and Fang? And what about Nudge? Too many questions were jumbled inside my head.

Iggy motioned for us to gather around him, "Here's what's going to happen, Angel mentioned an air vent coming up on the roof, we'll get in through there. Angel, focus, what can you hear inside?"

Angel scrunched her face for a moment and relayed what she heard to us, "They are thinking about new plans for experiments, not all of them are for Max or Fang, but," she paused, "there are more thoughts about Fang than Max. Someone's really pissed at him, he's thinking somewhere along the lines of fire, more people are thinking about performing an experiment to do with water. I don't know….hold on." An urgent tone entered her voice. Her face scrunched together even more. "I think I hear Max!"

"What is she thinking?" I demanded, jumping up from my branch.

"She's worried about Fang. They aren't together right now. She's hurt real bad. Fang's covered in mud," Angel stopped there and opened her eyes, "Something really bad is going to happen to Fang."

Fang P.O.V.

'Clean me up' my ass. This was bullcrap. I was taken to a room that couldn't have been bleached much whiter. They tossed me inside and shut the door. Everything was so white. White was falling into white, the only other colors were my muck-covered hands. There was some kind of light. A cold, white light, coming from somewhere, but there were no lights here. The door opened again behind me, and a woman walked out. A very attractive woman. She wasn't even wearing a whitecoat. Her red dress immediately brightened the room. Her blonde hair spilling over her shoulders, shining in the no-light. She was holding a clipboard though, that was definitely a turn-off. Small, wire-rimmed glasses perched on her perfectly curved nose. She scribbled something on the clipboard then finally looked at me. Her eyes were the first thing that struck me. Those eyes. They were the deepest blue I'd ever seen. Oceans of blue sucking you in, drowning you in their beauty. Wait, was this the experiment? Was she some kind of test? What, did I have to hold back my manly urges, or something?

"I'm Diane." She said simply.

"Fang." My voice cracked. That was a first. Why now?

"It is my understanding that you are a fifteen-year-old male, of excellent physical condition, relatively-well health?" She says it like it's a question. What a sexy voice.

I nod. She scribbles something else on her clipboard.

"Good." With that, she turned, knocked on the door, and was released out of this psych room, and into the wild. When she was out of sight, I leaned against the wall and breathed out a sigh. What a woman. But what about Max? Why don't I think like that around her?

I didn't have time to ponder this.

Iggy P.O.V.

Angel informed me that the sun was down, and we flew to the building roof. Angel ran my hand along the air vent, I tested its strength, and, with Gazzy's help, kicked it right in. We crept silently through the space, trying to make our footsteps soundless. Angel was leading, Gazzy brought up the rear while I felt around in the middle, sometimes I hate being blind. Angel tapped my hand, which, for now, meant she was picking something up. Gazzy and I waited in silence.

"Fang's having some impure thoughts right now," I barely stopped myself from laughing out loud, "he's in a room that's all white, and he's still covered in mud. He's thinking about Max now, no, no he's not!" Angel almost screamed.

"Angel," I said, shaking her shoulders, "what did you see?"

"I didn't see anything, it just went black. That's never happened before, Iggy!"

Max P.O.V.

I stood back in the bird cage, alone, worrying about Fang. My injured arm hung, limp, at my side. I pulled my hair back, yanking through the knots. I was beginning to wonder if that easy escape was possible.

Nudge P.O.V.

I sat alone in that tiny office for what seemed like hours before 'Jeb' returned.

"You little Fang friend won't be with us much longer." He sighed. He sounded almost tired, worn down. I could feel a sob in my throat I had heard their plan to kill Fang almost a hundred times, but I still didn't believe, but it seemed so unlikely that he would survive.

Iggy P.O.V.

Angel had never said what was going to happen to Fang, she had only said that we needed to hurry. I was curious, but I could hold my peace. Angel was obviously troubled by whatever it was. It seemed that with every step through the vents, we were moving faster. Angel stopped suddenly, and I almost mowed her down. She pointed at the floor of the vent, and said, "Max is down there."

"Right below us?" I asked dumbly.

"Yes."

Without even thinking I brought my foot down hard on the floor so that it gave way and all three of us plunged down.

It was completely black. I threw open my wings. Feeling desperately for anything, walls, anything. But there was nothing. All I could hear was the high pitched screaming of someone, a girl, below us. Max.

Fang P.O.V.

The white was blending into a snowy landscape. A blizzard was raging through, ice crystals stabbing my face. I reached out, grasping for something to hold onto as I fell, fell, fell……into a white nothingness. There was an immense pressure on my chest. Each breath drawn out, and ragged, tearing through my throat as I struggled to breath. I dropped to my knees, feeling for the bottom of this whiteness, but there was noting there. There was a high pitched squealing noise, threatening to burst my ears. I stood up again. Throwing myself in any direction looking for some place to hide from this. The noise grew louder and louder. I could barely hear the whistling of the wind as it tore through, pelting snow, cold, cold, cold. Then, nothing, I could hear nothing. The white as still there. I felt something to hold onto, anything, when my hand brushed something. I held it tight, it was a hand. A cold hand.