Fang

Jea

“Uh, okay,” I said. Jea

“Jea

Jea

Angel pulled an arrowhead-shaped rock from the pocket of her cargo shorts. It was so sharp it looked like the tip of a spear.

“Angel, what the -?”

“Just watch, Max,” she said, as she started to drag the rock’s point across the heel of Jea

And blood began to flow.

5

“STOP!” I SCREAMED. Lightning fast, I swept the sharp rock right out of Angel’s grasp, and it went spi

“It’s okay, Max,” Angel assured me, and Jea

I dropped to my knees and examined Jea

Jea

“I know, I know. I’m so sorry, Jea

“Yes, she will,” Angel said calmly. How badly was I going to kick her butt later?

Jea

“Jeepers, don’t touch that!” I said. “We need to keep the wound clean – keep it from getting infected.” I looked around. “Someone here who speaks French! Tell her not to -”

I broke off as I witnessed something unlike anything I’d seen before. And I’d seen a lot of weird stuff – including brains-on-a-stick (check out book three if you’re curious). Most of the weird stuff I’d seen had been nightmarish. But this was… something beautiful. Breathtaking. Miraculous.

As Jea

She had healed herself.

6

“ALL RIGHT, any second now…” The words were clipped, his accent thick. Mr. Chu leaned over his assistant’s shoulder, impatiently looking at a blank computer screen. And then, right on time, the screen flickered and split to show two charts, side by side. Points started blinking faintly, and small words began ru

His assistant peered at the charts for a moment, then typed “Maximum” on one side and “Angel” on the other. Mr. Chu became lost in reviewing the biological data streaming in from the microscopic monitors.

“Mr. Chu? You have a visitor, sir.” Another assistant stood in the trailer doorway, one hand on his weapon, as required.

Mr. Chu went down the short, narrow hall to the small receiving room. A young girl in a yellow dress stood there, twisting one of her thin braids between nervous fingers.

“Hello, Jea

“Les filles oiseaux sont trés belles,” Jea

“Here is your reward,” said Mr. Chu, taking a lollipop from his assistant and giving it to Jea

Mr. Chu nodded again, and his assistant quickly swabbed Jea

Jea

Jea

7

WE WORKED ALL DAY, until dusk. The flock is usually chock-full o’ stamina, but it kind of depends on getting three or four thousand calories a day. By six o’clock, we were ru

“Max?” said Patrick, walking up to me with a lumpy sack in tow. “Here’s some bedding – it’s not much, I’m afraid. There’s a tent set aside for you guys. Do you want to get it organized before di

“Sure. By the way, Patrick, who was the camel platoon?” I asked.

“Don’t know for sure,” he said. “But some of the locals have a thing against Americans. It’s complicated politics we can talk about later. Right now, if you want to set up…”

“Sure, thanks,” I said, taking the sack. I looked at my tired flock. “You guys wait here – I think chow’s coming. And drink some water.”

“I’ll help you with that,” said Fang, nodding at the tent.

“Sure,” I said casually, but my heart was already speeding up.

We ducked through the worn nylon flap of our tent, and I dropped the sack. In the next moment we had our arms around each other, ignoring the dust on each other’s lips and our hot and sticky skin.

“The flying was amazing, but… I’ve missed you,” Fang murmured, his hands getting stuck in the snarls in my hair.

“Yeah. And this is probably our only chance to be alone for a while.”

“I couldn’t stand seeing you get shot at today,” Fang said, kissing my neck.

I drew back in surprise. “You’ve seen me get shot at, like, a million times!”

He shrugged, scratching my back between my wings, making me shiver. “It’s worse now.”

“Yeah, I know what you mean,” I said, and held his face so I could kiss him again. It felt like we were in a time-free bubble, the only two people around, and in the ninety-eight-degree weather, I felt like I was burning up from my head to my toes.

“Max! Fang! Di

I jumped and pulled back. But no one came into the tent, so Fang’s lingering hands stroked up and down my arms as we tried to get normal expressions back on our faces. Part of me wanted to stay in there forever and forget the rest of the world, but I immediately felt guilty, thinking of the flock waiting for us outside. I was still responsible for them; we were still a family.

And always would be.