Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment

Thanks, Ella, I thought, refusing to feel sad. Thank you both, for everything.

Angel, I’m on my way at last.

PART 3. SCHOOL-WHAT COULD BE SCARIER THAN THAT?

49

After about half an hour, I felt like I’d worked most of the kinks out of my muscles. I knew tomorrow I’d be horribly sore, but right now I felt okay, and right now was what mattered. I flew hard and fast, coasting on air currents whenever I could.

This time, I didn’t look down.

An hour later, I was approaching the meeting place, praying that Nudge and Fang had waited for me.

I was two days late, and I wouldn’t blame them for giving up on me, but I didn’t want to think about the possibility that they had decided to rescue Angel on their own.

When I got close to the meeting place, I started circling big, losing altitude slowly while examining the ground, the cliffs, the shadows. Nothing.

I flew the length of a canyon, looking for signs, but was disappointed again. Panic made my throat tighten. I’d been so stupid.

Oh, God, what if they had never made it here? What if-

A shadow fell across me, and I glanced up, thinking, helicopter! But it wasn’t-just a scattered flock of hawks above me, wheeling through the sky.

I frowned and angled myself upward. Several of the hawks were oddly large and misshapen. But they were flying right along with the others and seemed part of their flock. I squinted and focused, all the time gaining altitude.

My heart swelled-there were four way-too-big hawks, all right. Except hawks usually weren’t quite as awkward as these four. And hawks didn’t usually wear sneakers.

They had waited for me, all right, and they were safe. Relief and joy flooded through my body and soul. Now we would go find Angel, and then the flock would be whole again.

And yes, I did say soul.

50

They spotted me, and bright, goofy smiles lit the faces of the Gasman and Nudge.

Iggy of course didn’t see me at all, and Fang wasn’t a big smiler. He caught my eye and motioned with his head, over toward a cliff. It had been only two days since I’d seen him, but he seemed to be flying with a new grace and power, his fourteen-foot wingspan glinting darkly in the sun. As we got closer, Nudge squealed happily, brushing her wing against mine. “Max! Max! I can’t believe it! Can I believe it?”

Fang landed first, almost disappearing into nothing. It was only when I was about twenty feet from the cliff that I saw he had tucked into a shallow ledge scraped out of the cliff face. It was an excellent waiting place.

One after another, we flew in and landed, scurrying toward the back of the cave so others could come in after us. We were together. We five were safe, at least.

“Max!” Nudge cried, rushing over to hug me. Her thin arms gripped me tight, and I hugged her back, scratching her wings where they joined her shoulders, the way she liked. “We were so worried-I didn’t know what had happened to you, and we didn’t know what to do, and Fang said we were going to eat rats, and-”

“Okay, okay. Everything’s okay,” I told her. I met Fang’s eyes over her shoulder and mouthed Rats? silently. A flicker of a grin crossed his lips and then was gone. I looked down into Nudge’s big brown eyes. “I’m just so glad to see you safe,” I told her. I turned to the Gasman and Iggy. “What are you two doing here? Why didn’t you stay home?”

“We couldn’t,” the Gasman began earnestly. “There were Erasers all over the mountain. They were hunting for us. We’d be dog meat by now.”

“When did they start hunting for you?” I asked, startled. “Right after we left?”

“No,” said the Gasman slowly. He slanted a glance at Iggy, who was standing impassively, brushing dust he couldn’t see off his dark pants.

“What?” I said, suspicion starting to rise in me. “When did they start coming after you?”

“Was it-was it after the oil-slick Hummer crash?” the Gasman asked Iggy tentatively.

My eyes widened. Oil-slick Hummer crash?

Iggy rubbed his chin, thinking.

“Or maybe it was more-after the bomb,” the Gasman said in a low voice, looking down.

“I think it was the bomb,” Iggy agreed. ‘That definitely seemed to tick them off.“

“Bomb?” 1 asked incredulously. “Bomb? You guys set off a bomb? Didn’t that tell the Erasers exactly where you were? You should have stayed hidden!”

“They already knew where we were,” the Gasman explained. ‘They’d seen all of us-they knew we were in the area.“

“It was just a matter of time,” Iggy agreed.

I didn’t know what to say. To tell you the truth, I hadn’t actually considered the fact that the Erasers might find our house. I opened my mouth and closed it again, at a loss. Maybe in about twenty years I would get the hang of dealing with boys. And maybe not.

“Well, I’m glad you’re safe,” I said lamely, and heard Fang trying to smother his laughter. I ignored him. “You were right to come here. Smart thinking. Excellent.”

I hugged the Gasman, then Iggy, who was almost five inches taller than I am, I realized. I hugged Nudge again, and she clung to me as I stroked her hair. “It’s okay, sweetie,” I said softly.

Finally, she let me go and I reached out to hug Fang. Fang is not the huggiest person in the world-he turns into an unbending statue, and you just have to do the best you can. Which I did.

Then I held my left hand out in a fist, and the other four instantly stacked their left fists on top of it. We each tapped the other’s hands twice, then threw our arms up in the air.

“To Angel!” I yelled, and their voices echoed mine.

“To Angel! To Angel!”

Then, one by one, we fell off the side of the cliff, opened our wings, and headed for the hated, dreaded School.

51

“Okay,” I said, once we were high, flying with a steady rhythm. “How about some quick reports?”

“I tried to find my mom,” Nudge said with no warning.

“Whaaat?” My eyes went as wide as they could go. “Your mom?”

Nudge shrugged. “I made Fang go down to Tipisco while we were waiting for you. We found the right address. I saw a woman, and she was my kind of color, but I wasn’t sure. Then the Erasers, including that dirtbag Ari, showed up, so we kicked butt and left.”

It took me a minute to digest this. “So you didn’t talk to her? Umm, your mom?”

“No.” Nudge carefully examined her fingernails, keeping her wings moving steadily.

“Did she look nice?” I was consumed with curiosity. Parents were something we all obsessed about, talked about constantly, cried about-if truth be told.

“I’ll tell you about it later,” Nudge said offhandedly, so I knew it had gone badly.

I narrowed my eyes at Gazzy and Iggy. “We know what you’ve been up to,” I said. Gazzy gave me his sweet, abashed smile. That kid.

Time for news of my own.

“I think I have a tracer chip implanted in me,” I said baldly, feeling a coaster current in my face. I angled my wings and glided. “I’m not positive, but it showed up on an X-ray, and that’s what it looked like.”

Jaws dropped. Everyone stared at me in horror.

“You had an X-ray?” Fang looked incredulous.

I nodded. “Details later. If I do have this chip, it explains all the Erasers everywhere-but not why it’s taken them four years to hunt us down. And I don’t know if any of you have one,” I added, seeing the question on Iggy’s face.

Everyone was quiet, flying with their thoughts and fears.

Then, “Max? Do you think there’s still a chance?” The Gasman was forcing himself to be strong. Another reason I like that kid.

“I don’t know. I hope so,” I said honestly. Honesty is always good, except when it’s better to lie. Like to protect them. “I know I’ve delayed us by two days. I’m really sorry about that. I just did what I felt I had to do. But we’ve come this far-there’s no turning back. We’re going after Angel, no matter what.”