The Final Warning

17

AND JUST LIKE THAT, we were free again. Or as free as six homeless mutants could be. In three hours we were eight thousand feet over the Pocono Mountains, looking for a place to hang. Once again, a state park saved us. A big patch of green beckoned, and we slipped down through the trees as silently as we could, not far from the park entrance. The sun was setting, and we needed to find a good place to sleep, but there was something I had to do first.

I called my mom to let her know we were okay. Something I’d never, ever had to do before in my life.

“Oh, Max- are you all right?” She had answered her cell phone practically before it rang.

“We’re good,” I said. A pang inside me meant that I wished I could be with her but knew I couldn’t. I could never be a “home at five” kind of daughter. “They were just creeping me out.”

“I know,” my mom said. “They seem so arrogant. I really don’t think they have a good plan for you guys.” She paused, and I guessed she was biting her lip, trying not to ask where we were or where we were headed. Which was good, because as usual, I was operating without a game plan.

“No, me neither,” I said. “Give Ella a hug for me, okay?”

“Okay, honey,” she said. “Listen-Jeb is here and he wants to talk to you.”

I made an “ick” face, and Fang raised his eyebrows at me.

“Max?”

“Yes,” I said reluctantly.

“You’re safe?” His voice sounded warm and dad-like.

“Yes.”

“Good.”

“So you’re not the Voice in my head?” I asked. “I saw you be the Voice.”

“I can do the Voice, but I’m not the Voice,” saidJeb. “That’s all part of the larger picture.”

Great. Another puzzle. Good thing I got my kicks out of not understandingmy entire life.

“Whatever,” I said, knowing that made him crazy.

“Listen, Max,”Jeb said. “Dr. Martinez- your mom- and I want you to know that we trust you. Your instincts have served you well so far, and kept you and the flock alive. We feel that you’ll do the right thing, whether you know you are or not.”

Hmm. Compliments always made me suspicious.

“Oh, yeah?” I said.

“Yes,” he said firmly. “You’re the right person to lead the flock. It’s what you were created to do. You’re doing a terrific job at it, finding your own way. We trust you to do the right thing now.”

If I could have believed him, it would have warmed the cockles of my little heart. All I had to do was decide to believe him, take him at face value. After all, my mom was right there, hearing him, and Idid trust her.

“Huh,” I said.

There was a pause, as if he’d been hoping for more.

“Anyway, take care, Max,” he said finally. “Call your mom or me when you get a chance. We’ll be working on things from this end.”

“Working on what?” I asked.

“Oops, we better go,”Jeb said. “Don’t want to stay on the phone too long, in case someone’s tracing it. Give my love to the flock.”

The phone clicked and went dead.

I looked up. Fang was watching me. We still hadn’t talked about the Incident of the previous night. Nudge was shifting from one foot to another, the way she did when she got hungry. Total was taking a potty break in the bushes. Everyone looked tired, and we still needed to rustle up food.

Jebhad said that he and my mom trusted me and thought I was doing a good job. He’d said to trust my instincts.

My instincts asked me if he was playing another angle.

18

AFTER A LAME DINNER of scavenged food, we settled onto various branches of the tallest trees we could find. Did we sleep in trees a lot? Yes. Had we ever fallen out of a tree while asleep? As amusing as that would have been, no.

I was exhausted, still pretty hungry, and clueless about what the next day would bring. But I double-checked my flock before I let myself relax. Angel and Total were snuggled in the deepvee of an enormous oak.Iggy andGazzy were close together in the same tree. Nudge was stretched out along a thick branch, one arm hanging down. Fang was-

I looked. He’d been right there a second ago. Now, no Fang.

“Where’s Fang?” I tried to keep alarm out of my voice- don’t panic till you need to- but I’m so not into the whole missing-flock thing.

Angel andGazzy looked around, and Fang said, “I’m right here,” sounding surprised. And there he was, straddling a branch with his back against the trunk.

I blinked. “I looked- you weren’t there.”

“Yes, I was,” he said, eyebrows raised.

“No,” said Nudge. “I looked for you too. Were you behind the tree?”

“I was right here!” Fang insisted, waving his arms.

“I didn’t see you either, man,”Iggy said with a straight face.

I rolled my eyes at him, then said, “I’m rolling my eyes,Iggy.”

“Well, I was here the whole time,” said Fang, shrugging.

Five minutes later, he disappeared again.

“Fang!” I said, peering all around. True, it was dark, but thanks to raptor vision, we can all see perfectly well at night. Every other flock member was there, clear as day.

“I’mhere, ” said Fang.

There was nothing where his voice was coming from.

“Behind the tree?” I was starting to get irritated.

“Are you blind?” Fang demanded. “I’mright here! ”

And there he was. Complete with a brand-new skill. Let’s hear it for spontaneous mutation, folks!

19

NO, FANG COULD NOT actually make himself invisible. It was more like his natural stillness and darkness just sort of made him fade into the background till he kind of disappeared. As soon as he moved again, he was visible. If he stayed still, we could search for an hour, but our eyes would skate right over him.

“I want to do it too!” saidGazzy, sitting very, very quietly, completely motionless.

“Nope,” said Nudge, shaking her head. “You stand out like a fart in church.”

“Appropriately enough,” I muttered.

“What about me?”Iggy asked. He folded his wings in and went statue still.

“No, you’re visible,” I told him.

“Am not!”Iggy said.

I hurled a big prickly pinecone at him and heard itthunk hard against his chest. He howled in pain.

“Could I do that if I couldn’t see you?” I pointed out.

“Seriously, you can’t see me?” Fang sounded pleased.

“Not when you’re still and quiet,” I admitted.

He smiled big, and it was horrible, seeing only a mouthful of white teeth against the rough tree bark. He shook his head, and bam, there he was, all of him. I started to get an idea of how incredibly a

“Oh, guys, I had a couple thoughts I wanted to go over with you,” I said, suddenly remembering. I heard Total mutter something, but I paid no attention.

Iggypretended to snore loudly. I threw another pinecone at him.

“Quit throwing things at me!” He rubbed his arm.

“Glad you could join us,” I said. “Now, listen up. We’re on the road again. Erasers don’t seem to exist anymore, and we haven’t seen any Flyboys. But you know whatever’s left ofItex is regrouping and gearing up for the next war. Plus, someone tried to explode us. So, a couple guidelines: We need to move every other day, keep on the go. No staying in one place more than forty-eight hours.”

“Ugh,” Total said. He was curled up in Angel’s lap.

“We will not make friends with humans until after the apocalypse,” I went on, ticking items off on my fingers.

“What’s the apocalypse?”Gazzy asked.

“Basically, the complete destruction of the world as we know it. And we will not trust humans, even after the apocalypse.”

But Max, you’re mostly human,said the Voice.

So were Erasers,I shot back.Besides, you know what I mean.

“However,” I went on, “I do want us to try to recognize the good in things. Like my mom. And Ella. And chocolate-chip cookies. It just seems like we shouldn’t let our enemies make us all bitter and full of hate and stuff.”